Once upon a time, in a place called Jhuluo (present day Chiayi), there lived an old teacher by the surname of Zhang. As he was almost 70 years old, he did not have many students. He had a friend called Leng-qian, who worked as a librarian for the government. One day, Leng-qian went to visit Zhang. Zhang complained that he barely earned enough to make ends meet, let alone buy his favorite lychees. Leng-qian smiled and told Zhang to bring a plate and a towel, and he would fulfill Zhang’s wish. Leng-qian covered the plate with the towel and chanted a spell. When he unveiled the cover, Zhang saw that there were beautiful lychees that were round and sweet. Zhang then asked Leng-qian to conjure some gold as he was very poor and needed the money.

Leng-qian said,“You were a spendthrift in your past life, so you are destined to lead a poor life in this lifetime. I cannot go against the will of heaven. I will only help you if you promise not to be greedy. Or there will be fatal consequences.”Zhang nodded and agreed.

Leng-qian took a calligraphy brush and drew a door on the wall. He turned around and told Zhang,“There is a mountain of gold on the other side of this door. Knock thrice on the door whenever you need money, and the door will open. Remember to only take what you require, and no more than that.”Then, Leng-qian left.

Zhang immediately knocked thrice on the door, which opened to reveal a mountain of gold. His greediness overcame him, and he immediately forgot what Leng-qian warned him not to do. He took off his coat and began to fill it with gold. As he was getting ready to go home, someone yelled,“Thief! Come and catch the thief!”A group of police officers surrounded Zhang and brought him before the government official, who asked him how he managed to get into the heavily guarded treasury. The official then had Leng-qian arrested. Upon arriving at the courthouse, Leng-qian asked for a cup of tea. When he raised the teapot, he disappeared into the teapot.

The official asked someone to smash the teapot to get Leng-qian out, but they still could not see him. They only heard Leng-qian’s voice saying,“You cannot catch me!”The official had the teapot fragments pounded into dust in order to catch Leng-qian. But the dust floated upwards and transformed into a crane. Leng-qian sat on top of it and said,“Humans are really too greedy!”Then, he flew away and disappeared among the clouds.

　　諸羅（今嘉義）有一位窮苦的張夫子，因為快七十歲，所以學生很少。他有一位好朋友叫冷謙，在衙門當書吏，有一次他去看張夫子，張夫子抱怨自己窮到連最愛吃的荔枝都買不起，冷謙笑著要他準備盤子及毛巾來，保證讓他如願。冷謙用毛巾蓋住盤子，嘴裡念著咒語後，再掀開一看，竟然變出又圓又甜的荔枝，張夫子又哀求冷謙變出黃金救濟他。
　　冷謙說：「你上輩子揮霍無度，這輩子註定窮苦一生，我不能違背天意呀！除非你不貪心，我才願意幫助你，否則後果不堪設想。」張夫子點頭答應。
　　冷謙拿起毛筆，在牆上畫了一扇門，轉身說：「門的後面有一座金山，需要錢的時候，在門上敲三下，門就會打開，每次只拿夠用的錢，不可以多拿。」說完便走了。
　　張夫子馬上在門上敲三下，門打開後出現多得數不清的黃金，貪心的他，立刻把冷謙的話忘得一乾二淨，脫下外套裝黃金，準備要回家時，聽到有人大叫：「有小偷！快來捉小偷！」四周跑出一群官兵把他捉住，縣官問他如何潛進公庫偷錢後，派人捉拿冷謙，冷謙到達衙門前要求先喝一口茶，才拿起茶壺人就不見，原來他跑到茶壺裡。
　　縣官叫人把茶壺打破，還是看不到人，只聽到聲音說：「你捉不到我的！」於是，又把碎片磨成粉，粉末突然飛到空中變成白鶴，冷謙坐在上面說：「世人真的太貪心了！」便消失在雲間。