A eunuch who once served the emperor amassed a fortune worth millions. He had a beautiful young wife and concubines, but lamented that he had no children.
He adopted a nephew from a distant branch of the family, only to invite a wolf into his home. His concubine, who had endured years of loneliness, could not resist the adopted son’s advances, and the two began an affair. While the eunuch lay gravely ill and bedridden, they even resorted to murder.
They seized the vast fortune the eunuch had built up. To launder their crimes, they planned to observe mourning and remain chaste at his grave, but they still feared social and moral censure and dared not marry openly.
In the end, they parted ways and went their separate paths.
Once the fortune was squandered, nothing remained but a clean slate.
