In the late Tang Dynasty, there was a man named Zhao Zhongli, who was generous and loyal to friends and liked to make friends with others. One day, when he visited Suzhou and stopped in the Zhishan Temple, a wealthy businesswoman named Jing Shisanniang was there inviting the monks in the temple to conduct Buddhist services for her deceased husband. She fell in love with Zhao Zhongli at the first sight. Afterwards, they cohabitated like a couple and went to Yangzhou together.

Zhan Zhongli had a friend named Li Zhenglang, who had a younger brother ranking the 39th of all children in his family. Li Sanshijiulang got acquainted with a prostitute and they fell in love with each other. However, her parents tended to attach themselves to persons in power and with great wealth and thus sent their daughter to a mighty senior officer by force. Li Sanshijiulang found himself powerless against the situation and fell in desperate melancholy. He was afraid of the revenge of the senior officer and could do nothing but sobbed secretly. One day, when he mentioned the matter to Jing Shisanniang unconsciously, Jing Shisanniang told him, “It is not a big deal. Don’t be so sad. I will handle it for you. You cross the river first and wait for me at the Beigu Mountain in Zhenjiang on June 6 in the lunar calendar.”

Li Sanshijiulang followed her directions to wait at the foot of the Beigu Mountain and found Jing Shisanniang carrying a big hop-pocket on her back. With the pocket untied, his lover jumped out of the pocket with two heads left in the pocket, which turned out to be his lover’s parents’. Later, Jing Shisanniang and Zhao Zhongli returned to Zhejiang together and no one knows what happened to them afterwards.