Zengzi, also called Zeng Shen, became a good student of Confucius（孔子）when he was 16.
Early one morning, Zengzi's wife left for the market. Her little son wanted to go with her. But he was too young and the market was too far.
Then she cheated（欺骗）her son and said, " I will soon be back. You stay at home and wait for me. If you do as I say, I will kill a pig and make a nice dish for you. " The child went back to the house happily.
When Zengzi's wife got back from the market, she showed no sign of killing a pig. So Zengzi himself prepared to do that, but his wife rushed to stop him and said, " Don't do that. I just cheated the child. "
" Honesty（诚实）is the most important thing," Zengzi said. " Children are like blank（空白的）pieces of paper. They understand nothing but they can learn from their parents' actions. Because you have cheated your son, he won't trust you anymore. In the future he will cheat others. "
Hearing her husband's words, Zengzi's wife regretted cheating the child. So she wanted to keep her word. She joined Zengzi in killing the pig, and cooked nice dishes for the child. While eating, the boy was happy and thankful to his parents.
One evening, when the child went to bed, he suddenly got up and ran outside. Zengzi asked him where he was going. The boy replied, " I promised I was going to return a toy to a friend today. But I forgot, so I am going to return it now. " The couple exchanged（交换）satisfied smiles, and waited until the boy came back.
