At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a poor scholar named Jiang Wensheng in Shangyu County, Zhejiang Province, who was talented enough to write good articles. One day, Ma Xing, the son of the owner of a local silk house, invited him to go boating in the East China Sea. He hesitated and couldn't agree. Because he was going to Beijing to participate in the big competition next year, he didn't have the time and the time to go on a tour. Besides, Ma Xing is a rich young master who idles around all day and doesn't do his job properly. He doesn't want to be with him. When Ma Xing saw that he wasn't happy, he said, "How about you play with me for a few days and I'll give you five taels of silver to work?" Jiang Wensheng's heart moved: The widowed mother has been sick in bed for more than three months, and the illness is getting worse and worse because she has no money for treatment. With these five taels of silver, he can ask for medical

The two took a small boat down the Cao'e River into Hangzhou Bay in the East China Sea and suddenly there was a big wind and waves. The boat was bumpy with the waves and drifting in the wind, making the two confused and unable to distinguish between east, west and north.

Drifting along the wind and waves of the boat to the edge of an isolated island. They boarded the island and saw that there were peach blossoms everywhere. Birds chirped and the fragrant wind blew into the face, making people feel like they were in a fairyland. They passed through the peach forest and suddenly saw dozens of sedan chairs flying like butterflies. In each sedan chair sat a young woman. These women were different in beauty and ugliness, but they were all well dressed. The woman sitting in the sedan chair in the front seat was extremely ugly: concave face, cross-eyed, lion's nose, wide lips, and sparse hair like a frost-beaten thatch. In order to cover the ugliness, the ugly girl also deliberately waved her handkerchief and sleeves to pretend to be charming. The ugly girl was covered in beads and jade pendants, twinkling and twinkling "jingle" sound must be a rich daughter.

Behind the sedan chair was a group of poor women who did not apply fat powder and wore coarse cloth clothes and pants. The woman walking at the end was wearing a coarse cloth water red dress, but her appearance was as beautiful as a fairy.

Jiang Wensheng and Ma Xing saw that their eyes were straight and involuntarily followed them. After a while, they came to a yamen and all the women went inside.

Jiang Wensheng and Ma Xing were puzzled and asked the local people what was going on. A middle-aged woman told them: This is Taoyao Village. Every March, when the peach blossoms bloom, the girls who are waiting for the words have to enter the yamen and let the local officials set the grades according to their beauty and ugliness; let the unmarried men pass the exam and evaluate the rankings according to their literary talents; and then the local officials decide to pair the men and women according to their beauty and ugliness. The matching of first-class matches, first-class matches, and second-class matches are arranged in order of ranking. They get married on an isolated island on the same day.

The kind-hearted middle-aged woman also said, "If the two gentlemen are not married, why don't you try it? Today is the woman's registration and tomorrow is the man's exam." And urged Jiang Wensheng to stay in the inn and take the exam tomorrow.

Jiang Wensheng was secretly happy that he thought that he would be the first in the exam if he was outstanding in literature and rich in learning. That fairy-like girl would definitely match him. Thinking of this, he agreed to take the exam.

At night, Ma Xing tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. He thought that if he didn't have any ink in his chest and couldn't marry a beautiful woman, he had to think of some tricks. But what should I do if I'm not familiar with the place on this isolated island? Jiang Wensheng was confident and fell asleep for a while. The next day, the two entered the examination room together. Jiang Wensheng wrote a strange essay in one go. Ma Xing bit his pen, scratched his ears, and picked up his nostrils. When it was time to hand in the paper, Ma Xing had to write some crooked words randomly and handed in the paper cheekily.

As soon as the two returned to the inn, a person came to reveal the examiner's hint: "Whoever takes out three hundred copper coins will be able to win the first place." Jiang Wensheng was furious when he heard that: "Bah, I didn't expect the marriage examination room to be so dirty, I would rather marry an ugly girl than take money." The man left the door in dismay, and Ma Xing hurriedly followed. The two murmured outside the door for a long time. After Ma Xing returned to the house, he was happy.

After the list was released, Ma Xing actually won the first place. Jiang Wensheng never dreamed that he would be ranked last. That ugly girl should be given to him. Thinking of the ugly girl's "honor", Jiang Wensheng felt as if he had swallowed a fly and wanted to vomit.

Jiang Wensheng discussed with Ma Xing to quickly escape from this place of trouble. Ma Xing sneered together: "You fox who can't eat grapes wants me to give up that beautiful woman, which is impossible." Ma Xing refused to untie the cable and set sail. Jiang Wensheng had to hide in the peach forest. The yamen searched the whole island and caught Jiang Wensheng and warned him: "If you sign up for the exam, you must obey the marriage arranged by the yamen. If you dare to disobey it, you will be imprisoned for life." On the third day, the local officials were paired in turn: Ma Xing was the first beautiful woman; Jiang Wensheng was the last ugly woman who had to marry the ugliest.

All the couples got married that night, but Jiang Wensheng had no choice but to enter the bridal chamber. Seeing the bride sitting on the bed, he closed his eyes and peeled off his head. But when he opened his eyes, he was shocked to find that the bride was a beautiful woman in a coarse cloth and water-red dress that day. The woman was even more charming and moved under the flickering candlelight. Jiang Wensheng suspected that he was biting his fingers in a dream. But he thought it could never be the wrong match for the official? The bride was full of joy when she saw that Lang Jun was suave and suave. Seeing that the groom was suspicious, she told the truth: "I was originally ranked first, but when the poor examiner from my family sent someone to ask for three hundred congratulations, I was thrown out. He held a grudge and ranked me last." Jiang Wensheng looked up to the sky and smiled: "This is really a disaster. If I had paid for the first place, we wouldn't have been worthy of each other." The bride also sighed: "Yes, many things in this world are black and white upside down. Even this Taoyao Village, which is far away from the hustle and bustle of the world, is no exception, but people who are upright, kind, and self-respecting will always be happy in the end." The two of them talked affectionately all night.

The next day, Jiang Wensheng went to Ma Xing to discuss going home. When he arrived at the door of Ma Xing's bridal chamber, he saw Ma Xing resting his chin in his hand and staring at the peach blossoms in front of the door in a daze. Jiang Wensheng shouted three times before Ma Xing woke up like a dream. It turned out that Ma Xing's bride was surrounded by a group of maids and walked into the bridal chamber last night. Ma Xing could not wait to lift the bride's veil and was so frightened that he almost lost his breath. It turned out that his bride was the ugly girl with a big mouth. He hurriedly went to the official who matched the marriage to ask if there was a mistake. The official said yes. This ugly girl, like Ma Xing, also bought the first place with money. But she spent more money. She bought the first beautiful woman for one thousand taels of silver. It is logical that a man's first place matches a woman's first place.

When Ma Xing learned that Jiang Wensheng had married the beautiful woman he had seen that day, he fainted in anger, woke up, laughed up to the sky, and then threw the money he carried into the sea: "This stinky money is not enough to succeed, and there is more to lose." Ma Xing ran around Taoyao Village barefoot and shouted: "Stinky money - you hurt me -" Later, Jiang Wensheng and his wife rocked the boat and sent him back to his hometown.

The following year, Jiang Wensheng won the championship in one fell swoop. The prime minister of the dynasty wanted to betroth his only daughter to him. Jiang Wensheng told the truth: "It is difficult to obey the order if the family has a wife who is a mess." The emperor soon sent him to patrol the eight provinces of Jiangnan when he saw that he was talented and virtuous.