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"Surprise at Two Moments" is a collection of short stories in vernacular written by Ling Shuchu, a writer in the Ming Dynasty. It was written in the late Ming Dynasty. This book, together with "Three Words" compiled by Feng Menglong, is called "Three Words and Two Pats". It is based on urban life and contains forty independent stories that reflect various social trends. The themes of the works cover marriage and love, public cases, chivalry and anecdotes, such as "Pilgrims Read the Diamond Sutra" and other chapters, using realistic brushwork to depict the fate of characters and worldly relationships. The book has twists and turns and the language is popular and vivid, shaping classic literary images such as Song Gongming (Volume 40, "Song Gongming Lantern Festival Drama").

There are 40 short stories in "The Surprise at the First Moment", which is popular among the people and describes many fascinating stories, such as a businessman becoming rich from bad luck, and a scholar becoming famous from poverty; upright officials are like gods in solving cases, and corrupt officials are like tigers in bending the law; villains commit adultery and seek lawsuits, and swindlers are deceitful; how young people pursue loyal love, and how feudal ethics create marriage tragedies.