As he was born in the year of zi, and the rat was considered the deity of zi, he' especially shielded it. He not only didn't keep cats and dogs, but also wouldn't allow his servants to kill rats. He allowed rats to run wild in his granary and kitchen and never bothered about them. Hence, the rats told one another about this and moved one after another into his house, where they ate their fill all day long and lived in safety.

In the daytime, the rats walked in swarms around the master. At night, they fought for food, quarrelled and squeaked, making such a racket that no one could sleep. Yet this gentleman never felt annoyed.

A man in Yongzhou was afraid that doing things on certain days would bring misfortune.

Several years later, this gentleman moved away and another family moved in. Yet the rats went on brazenly with their evil deeds as before.

This gentleman's house was so ruined by the rats that there was neither an intact utensil nor a whole garment on the clothes rack. Even his own food was mostly leftovers by the rats.

Those rats probably thought they could always eat their fill without any disaster. Actually this was lamentable. The rats should never be tolerated.

He immediately borrowed five to six good cats, closed the doors and windows, and let them catch the rats. He also engaged men to move bricks and tiles, fill up the holes with water so as to close in on the rats on all sides.

The new master was very angry. He said: "These shameless pests steal things and make trouble so devastatingly. How could they be tolerated?"

Thus, the rats caught and killed were thrown to an out-of -- the-way place, heaped up like a hill. It took several months for the stench to dissipate.