河南樂羊子之妻者，不知何氏之女也。

羊子嘗行路，得遺金一餅，還以與妻。妻曰：“妾聞志士不飲‘ 盜泉’之水，廉者不受嗟來之食，況拾遺求利,以污其行乎！”羊子大慚，乃捐金於野，而遠尋師學。

一年來歸，妻跪問其故，羊子曰：“久行懷思，無它異也。”妻乃引刀趨機而言曰：“此織生自蠶繭，成於機杼。一絲而累，以至於寸，累寸不已，遂成丈匹。今若斷斯織也，則捐失成功，稽廢時日。夫子積學，當‘日知其所亡’，以就懿德；若中道而歸，何異斷斯織乎？”羊子感其言，復還終業，遂七年不返。

嘗有它舍雞謬入園中，姑盜殺而食之，妻對雞不餐而泣。姑怪問其故。妻曰：“自傷居貧，使食有它肉。”姑竟棄之。後盜欲有犯妻者，乃先劫其姑。妻聞，操刀而出。盜人曰：“釋汝刀從我者可全，不從我者，則殺汝姑。”妻仰天而嘆，舉刀刎頸而死。盜亦不殺其姑。太守聞之，即捕殺賊盜，而賜妻縑帛，以禮葬之，號曰“貞義”。

The wife of Le Yangzi from Henan, whose maiden name is in oblivion.

Once upon a time, Le found a piece of gold on the road and brought it home to his wife. His wife said, " I have heard that a lofty man will never drink the  stolen water; an honest and square man will never eat the food handed out with contempt, let alone pick up any lost stuff on the road to blemish his character." Upon listening to his wife, Le was deeply ashamed of his behavior, so he threw the gold away. Later, he left home to get learning from polymaths.

A year after he left, Le returned home. With respect, his wife asked the reason why he returned. Le answered, "It has been a long time. I miss the families, nothing particular." His wife then fetched a knife to the loom and said, "These silk products are from the threads peeled from cocoons and weaved on the loom, thread by thread to reach an inch, inch by inch to make a piece of cloth. Now, if you cut off the threads on the loom, the cloth will be impossible, and the effort and time squandered away as well. Similarly, if you want to accumulate knowledge, you should learn what you do not understand day by day, every day, as a standard of morals to pursue. Therefore, if you are learning in fits and starts, what difference does it make as cutting off the threads on the loom?" Le was inspired by her words and resumed his learning for a span of as long as seven years without returning home even once.

During the interval, a chicken from their neighbor went astray into their yard, and the mother-in-law stole it and cooked it. The daughter-in-law shed her tears in front of the meal and refused to eat. The mother-in-law wondered why and got the answer, "I am sad because we are so poor that we can only eat the chicken of our neighbors." Then she felt ashamed and threw the chicken away.

Later, a robber intended to commit sexual assault against Les wife and took her mother-in-law as hostage. She ran out with a knife in her hand. The robber threatened her to put down the knife and do what he intended to do. She sighed a deep sigh and then killed herself by cutting off her throat. The robber released her mother-in-law and ran scared away. When the governor of the district acknowledged the whole thing, he ordered the arrest of the robber, hosted a funeral for her, and granted her a posthumous title of "chastity and righteousness" in addition to giving her family silk and cloth.