There was a soldier stationed far away, and when friends came to visit, he asked them to bring back one hundred coins and a letter for his wife at home. Along the way, one curious friend opened the letter to take a look. He didn’t see any mention of the amount of money being sent; instead, he saw drawings of four dogs, a bagua symbol, two goats, and a flute. He then hatched a plan to pocket some of the money. Upon arriving, he only handed the wife the letter along with forty coins.
The wife read the letter and, noticing the shortfall in the money, decided to go to the magistrate for resolution. The magistrate asked:
– Your husband sent forty coins with this person, and they delivered it directly to you. What more is there to dispute?
The wife replied:
– Your Honor! He has taken some of it! My husband sent one hundred coins!
– How do you know?
– Your Honor! My husband wrote it clearly in the letter; please take a look and you will understand.
The magistrate opened the strange letter to read it but found it incomprehensible. He asked:
– What does this mean? The letter has no words at all; how do you know your husband sent one hundred coins?
– Your Honor, my husband made it clear. The four dogs represent four, and “dogs” sounds like “nine,” so four plus nine gives thirty-six. The bagua has eight trigrams, with each trigram having eight lines, which totals sixty-four. Thirty-six plus sixty-four equals one hundred coins, does it not?
The magistrate thought she was correct and ordered the man to return the missing money. However, he still had a question and asked:
– What about the two goats and the flute? What do they signify?
The woman blushed, her cheeks turning red, and smiled without speaking. The magistrate pressed until she finally replied:
– Your Honor, there is no special meaning! It was just a joke drawn by my husband.
– A joke? You must explain!
– Your Honor, the two goats and the flute are simply my husband’s way of saying that we plan to visit home during the Double Ninth Festival!
At that moment, the magistrate realized that he was not as clever as this uneducated woman!
