In the State of Chu, there lived a poor man who often dreamt of wealth but never worked hard.
One day, while reading Huainan Zi, he came across a line: "When the mantis preys on the cicada, it relies entirely upon a leaf to conceal its body." He concluded that possessing such a leaf would make him invisible.
Immediately, he rushed into the woods to find it. After a long search, he spotted a mantis hiding behind a leaf, poised to catch a cicada. He quickly climbed the tree and plucked the leaf, but in his haste, he dropped it. The ground was covered with fallen leaves, making it impossible to identify the right one. So, he gathered all the leaves into a bamboo basket and took them home.
Upon arriving, he held up leaf after leaf to cover his eye, repeatedly asking his wife, "Can you see me?"
At first, she always answered, "Yes, I can."
After a while, she began to feel weird. What was wrong with her husband? Why did he keep asking the same question while holding a leaf?
He continued this all day long. Finally, his wife grew impatient and humored him by saying, "No, I can't."
Overjoyed, he ran to the street. Holding the leaf in one hand, he used the other to grab goods from a shop. Before he could withdraw his hand, he was caught on the spot and handed over to the local yamen.