| | The woman of virtue from Jing Shi was the wife of a native of Dachang Li, Chang'an. Her husband had an enemy who wanted to take revenge on her husband but had no way to do so. Hearing that the wife was kind, filial, and righteous, he captured her father and made him demand his daughter to act as a go-between in a plot. Her father called for her and informed her of the situation. The woman thought that if she did not listen to him, her father would be killed; this would be an act of filial impiety. If she listened, however, it would result in the killing of her husband, which would be unjust. To be neither filial nor righteous, though alive, one cannot live properly in society. She decided to take the blame upon herself and so pretended to agree, saying: "Tomorrow morning, I will be newly bathed on the upper floor, lying with my head toward the east; that is when you should act." "I shall open the window and door to await him," she said. Returning home, she informed her husband and had him lie down elsewhere. She then bathed herself and went up to the upper floor, lying there with her head toward the east while opening the window and door. At midnight, the enemy indeed arrived, cut off a head, and took it away. When morning came and they looked, it was her wife's head. The enemy mourned deeply for her, considering her righteous, and thus released her husband without killing him. Righteous men said that the virtuous woman was especially kind, filial, grateful, and loyal to moral duty. Valuing righteousness and justice above life itself is the highest form of conduct. The Analects says: "A gentleman sacrifices his life to fulfill benevolence; he does not seek to preserve his life at the expense of benevolence." This is what it means.
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