During the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), a man named Yue Yangzi from the State of Yue found a piece of gold on the road and brought it home to his wife. However, his virtuous wife was displeased. She said, "I have heard that a moral man does not drink a thief's water, and an honest man refuses unearned gains. What do you think of picking up another's lost valuable and keeping it for oneself?"
Ashamed, Yue Yangzi returned the gold to where he found it.
The following year, Yue Yangzi decided to travel and study with scholars to broaden his knowledge. He set off on his journey.
A year later, he suddenly returned home. "Why have you come back?" his wife asked in surprise. "You've only spent one year studying."
"I missed you dearly," he replied.
Without a word, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to her loom, where a piece of brocade was half-woven. Pointing at it, she said, "This brocade is made from the finest silk, woven strand by strand. If I cut it now, all my previous work will be wasted. Your studies are the same. Knowledge is acquired through diligence. By stopping halfway, are you not doing the same as cutting this brocade on the loom?"
Deeply moved by her words, Yue Yangzi left home again to continue his studies. Several years later, he became a learned man.