Once upon a time, at the foot of a mountain on the western edge of Hunan Province, there lived two siblings. Their elder brother was called Chunsheng, and their younger sister was called Qiugu. When their parents died, they left them three acres of rented land and a shabby thatched house. The siblings worked the field at midnight, always wanting to get more grain. But as soon as the autumn millet was ripe, the rich man collected the rent. After paying the rent, the rest was not enough to eat. There was no way for the siblings to drink soup, eat porridge, and live a hard life.

One New Year's Eve, the rich man's house was full of chicken, duck and fish. As for Chunsheng's house, there was only a small cup of rice left. Qiu Gu cooked a bowl of gruel for her brother to eat. Chunsheng said: "I'm not hungry, sister, drink it!" Qiu Gu said: "I'm not hungry, brother, drink it!" You pushed me to let the siblings, but no one refused to drink it.

At this time, the snow of goose feathers was flying all over the sky, and the north wind was roaring in fear of people. In the snow and wind came an old woman who was begging. Her hair was gray and ragged, and she was leaning on a cane, and she walked step by step, shouting, "The north wind is my God, the snow is white! Good-hearted people, have mercy on my old woman!" The hoarse voice came into the shabby thatched hut, and the brother and sister heard it clearly. Qiu Gu said, "Brother, how pitiful you are!" Chunsheng said, "Sister, let's ask her to come in." Saying that, she hurriedly opened the door and went out to help the strange old woman into the house. Qiu Gu was busy dusting off the snowflakes on her body, and Chunsheng took the bowl of porridge that had been pushed for a long time and gave it to her to drink.

The old woman stayed at their house for the night. The next day, the snow stopped and the world cleared. She got up to say goodbye, and before leaving, the old woman took out a piece of white silk and gave it to Qiu Gu, saying, "Girl, use your dexterous hands to embroider this piece of white silk. Happiness is destined for hard-working and kind people." Qiu Gu took a look and saw a phoenix lightly painted on the white silk.

So Qiu Gu embroidered this white silk day and night. She embroidered the phoenix head with red silk thread, the phoenix eye with black silk thread, the phoenix wings with golden silk thread, and the phoenix tail with multicolored silk thread. Embroidered, embroidered needles pierced her fingers, blood stained the white silk, and she embroidered the fiery sun and clouds on it. She embroidered from early spring to early summer, and finally embroidered the phoenix.

This picture of the Phoenix was so beautiful. The phoenix looked up at the red sun in the sky, as if it were alive. The brother and sister hung it in the room, and the more they looked at it, the happier they were, the more they loved it. At night, something strange happened. Qiu Gu woke up in the middle of the night and saw a golden light in the room. Looking carefully, the phoenix came down from the picture. She woke her brother up, and the brother and sister watched quietly. I saw the phoenix walk a few circles in the room, then return to the white silk, and the golden light disappeared with it.

The next morning, Qiu Gu got up to sweep the floor and found a golden phoenix egg on the ground. The brother and sister sold it and bought a few acres of land and a scalper. As the saying goes: "Good things travel thousands of miles. The story of this phoenix picture spread to the county official's ears like a gust of wind. The county official thought to himself: The phoenix on this picture can lay golden eggs, it is really a rare treasure, I must get it! So he sent Chunsheng over and said," Master, I am willing to pay three hundred taels of silver for your phoenix picture. "

Chunsheng replied: "The phoenix picture was embroidered by my sister with a lot of effort, we don't sell it!"

When the county official heard this, his face sank, and he slapped the tree in shock, saying, "This is clearly the emperor's treasure, how can a poor family embroider such a treasure map!Without a word, he added the charge of "stealing national treasures" and put Chun Sheng in prison. On the one hand, he ordered the yamen to go to Chun Sheng's house to grab the phoenix map.

As soon as he got the phoenix picture, the county official was really proud. He looked left and right, forgetting to eat, and laughed happily. That night, he sat in the imperial chair, waiting for the phoenix to lay the golden egg. In the middle of the night, suddenly, the phoenix picture shot a dazzling light, shining all over the room with golden light, and the phoenix really came down from the picture. He thought that the phoenix was going to lay eggs, so he quickly squatted down to look, but the phoenix rushed towards him aggressively, pecking mindlessly, so painful that he rolled on the ground and shouted: "Come on! Help!" The yamen heard the sound and rushed, and the phoenix rushed out of the window and flew up the mountain." The yamen helped the county official up from the ground, only to see that his face was covered in blood and his left eye was pecked blind.

The county official suffered this loss, but he still didn't give up. He thought: If the girl can embroider this phoenix picture, she will be able to embroider a second one. So he passed Qiu Gu to her and told her that if she could re-embroider a phoenix picture, she would let Chunsheng out. Qiu Gu agreed to save her brother. She took back the white silk from the county official and embroidered it one by one for three months. The gorgeous phoenix was embroidered again, but a pair of phoenix eyes were left unembroidered. She told the county official that she would let her brother go first, and then embroider the phoenix eyes.

The county official asked the yamen to let Chunsheng out. When Qiu Gu saw her brother, she embroidered a needle into a phoenix eye. The phoenix had eyes, so it spread its wings and flew down, carrying the brother and sister to the top of the mountain and disappeared.

Later, people called this mountain "Phoenix Mountain."