From the prophecy revealed by the oracle bones, Jiang Ziya predicted that Di Xin’s loyal and benevolent courtier, Bi Gan would die soon, thereby giving a charm to Bi. Before long, Daji, the evil vixen told her husband that she had a heart attack and only a “delicate seven-aperture heart” (Qiqiao Linglong Xin 七窍玲珑心) could relieve her agony. No-one in the palace had that kind of heart — except Bi, who was given a heart by the goddess Nüwa, when he drowned once during his childhood. Bi, loyal as he is, swallowed the charm given by Jiang, grabbed his heart and pulled it out of his body to be given to Di Xin. Bi did not lose his life, nor shed a single drop of blood. Instead, he walked out of the palace and did what Jiang instructed: go straight home immediately without looking back. If he succeeded in doing this, he would recover after one day.

Yet upon the last few steps on reaching home, a female huckster yelled from behind Bi, “Hey! Cheap cabbages without stems (xin)!” (i.e., Baoxin Cai, literally a vegetable with a stem covered inside; xin, heart, rhetorically refers to the stem in this case).

Bi, curious and unsuspicious, turned back and asked the huckster, “How can there be cabbages without stems? ” The old lady donned an evil grin and replied, “You’re right, sir. Cabbages cannot live without stems as men cannot live without hearts (xin).” Bi shouted in his loud voice, fell to the ground and died without knowing that the lady hawker was a disguise made by the jade-made Pipa spirit. Thus, Jiang who was able to foretell Bi’s death, could not prevent the tragedy from happening.

(Above picture is Bi Gan Temple at Henan province.)