Wu Niu Chuan Yue

Sima Yan was the founder of the Jin Dynasty. He was born in the Three-Kingdom Period as the Lord Prince of Jin. His father was Sima Zhao， who was an ambitious and cruel man. He killed Cao Mao， the king of the State of Wei， and replaced him with Cao Huan， turning the king into a puppet. Then， he appointed himself as the Lord of Jin and claimed to be the “chief assistant” to the king.

When Sima Zhao was dead， Sima Ya succeeded the lordship. He had proven to be more ambitious than his father. Upon his coronation， he immediately planned to take over the kingship and turned the State of Wei into his own country. He asked the ministers loyal to him to send a letter to Cao Huan， persuading him to give up the throne. Knowing that he had no power to retaliate against Sima Yan， Cao Huan sent an edict， in which he praised and appreciated the great contributions made by Sima Yan and his forefathers to the country. He also said that it was the right time for him to leave the throne and give it to a capable person， namely， Sima Yan.

Sima Yan was very pleased， but he feignedly refused the king’s offer. The ministers loyal to him put on an act by leading a group of men to send several letters to Sima Yan in a row， begging him to take the throne. Sima Yan， who thought it enough for the pretense， accepted the kingship from Cao Huan. He turned the State of Wei into the Jin Dynasty and established the capital city in Luoyang.

Though Sima Yan was an ambitious， he was very good to his men. Therefore， he could recruit a swarm of capable talents. Man Fen， whose grandfather was a famous minister serving the State of Wei， was one of them.

Man Fen used to be the Chief of Secretariat in the Jin Dynasty. He was described as a mild person with great talents and honor， but he had one defect the extreme fear of cold. It is said that Man Fen would wear a lot of clothes on a windy or rainy day， lest the wind or rain touched his body and brought the chill to him.

In a late autumn， Sima Yan summoned Man Fen to the palace to talk about the political affairs. When Man Fen arrived in the palace， the two immediately took seats in the main hall and began their discussion.

The windows of the northern wall were made of transparent and bright glass， which could easily make people think that the windows were hollow. Man Fen fell in that trap too. He was convinced that there was no window to shield against the chill. Thus he felt very uncomfortable and trembled like being assaulted by the chilly wind. His discomfort and unsettlement amused Sima Yan very much.

After hearing the emperor’s explanation and knowing that no wind could come in， Ma Fen blushed out of shame and said： “I am just like a buffalo in South China， which fears the heat so much that it would pant upon seeing the moon by taking it for the blazing sun.”