File:Taihe Wuzhu (太和五銖) rubbing (Zsbeike).png

English: A rubbing of a Taihe Wuzhu cash coin. There is a story dating from the Southern Song dynasty period (南宋 1127-1279) that precisely illustrates the expression of a person going wide-eyed over the sight of a Taihe Wuzhu cash coin.

The story takes place in the Chinese city of Suzhou (苏州), which at the time was a major trade hub, and concerns an elderly businessman with the surname Chai (柴) who literally loved money above everything else. He was extremely wealthy and was also extremely greedy and stingy.

One day he was out walking when he saw a group of children playing with some Chinese cash coins in the street. Because he loved money so much, he fixed his eyes on the cash coins that the children were playing with. His eyes lit up when he noticed that some of the cash coins were Xianbei-led Northern Wei Dynasty period Taihe Wuzhu cash coins. Taihe Wuzhu cash coins were very valuable at this time and were much loved by the Chinese people at the time.

Suddenly, one of the Taihe Wuzhu cash coins rolled under his feet. He then proceeded to quickly step on it to hide it from the playing children.

The children walked over to the old businessman and asked for the cash coin but the old businessman said to the children, “I didn’t take your money.” One of the children replied, “It’s under your foot.”

The man quickly turned around and while his back was facing the children he picked up the cash coin. He then turned back around to face the children and said, “Look for yourselves, I don’t have any money under my foot.” Which he did so sneakily.

A child then pointed to the man’s hands and said, “It’s in your hand!”

The man spun around again and while his back was facing the children he put the Taihe Wuzhu cash coin in his mouth. He turned back to face the children and stretched out his hands to show there was no cash coin to be seen.

A child said, “It’s (the cash coin) in your mouth!”

Knowing he had to hide the Taihe Wuzhu cash coin, he quickly swallowed it. He then opened his mouth wide so that the children could see there was no Taihe Wuzhu cash coin to be found around him.

The man returned to his home with the cash coin stuck in his throat. He kept trying to cough it out of his throat but it would not budge. In less than a single day, his throat became very swollen, which caused him severe difficulty in breathing.

His four (4) sons wanted to call a doctor to try to save his life, but the old man glared angrily at them and gestured with his hand to bring him a brush and ink. He then wrote, “For the sake of money, what would be the reason to spend money?” indicating how greedy and stingy the old businessman was and not wanting to spend his money even to save his own life.

By the third (3rd) day, the man was close to death. His four (4) sons came to his bed to discuss the soon to come funeral as the man clearly wouldn't survive the cash coin lodged in his throat. The eldest son said, “You have worked hard all you life and should therefore have a coffin made of cypress.” The father just glared in disbelief at such remark, staring at his eldest son and shook his head indicating disapproval.

The Number 2 (two) Son then said to his father, “You have saved all your life and should have a coffin made of willow in order to save a lot of money.” The father again shook his head in disagreement indicating that he had different wishes for after he died. This was because the father was still too stingy to spend money.

The Number 3 (three) Son then said, “After your death, we could wrap your body in the old reed mat on your bed and bury you. Would this satisfy you?” The father again shook his head in disapproval.

The Number 4 (four) Son was only 14 (fourteen) or 15 (fifteen) years of age but said to his father, “After you die, we could chop your body into little pieces and fed the meat to your big yellow dog.”

The businessman smiled and vigorously nodded his head approvingly towards his 4th son. He then proceeded to by picking up his brush and breathlessly wrote the last words of his life:

"After I die, chop me into pieces of meat and feed me to the dog. But, don’t let him eat the Taihe Wuzhu cash coin!"

The story serves as an example of a person being extremely wide-eyed in love with hoarding money and refusing to spend any of it even at the end of his life. And was used as a metaphor against greed.