In the Tang Dynasty, an official named Cui Shannan, had in his family the Grand Dame¹ Zhang Sun, Mr. Cui's great-grandmother.

崔山南，名，唐代博陵（今属河北）人，官至山南西道节度使，人称“山南”

She was quite elderly, and had lost all her teeth, thus she could not chew even soft rice.

年事已高，牙齿脱落，遂不能吃大米。

Eating was a big problem. Mr. Tswei's grandmother, the Lady Tang, realized the difficulty her mother-in law had in chewing food, and thus hit upon a solution to keep the Grand Dame alive and in good health.

吃成了大问题。她意识到崔山南的曾祖母长孙夫人不能吃东西了，因此，她在寻找方法让她身体依然健康。

The Lady Tang would wake up each morning, perform her daily toilet of washing her face and combing her hair, then she would enter her mother-in-law's chambers² and proceed to feed her breast-milk from her own body.

祖母唐夫人，每天盥洗后，都上堂用自己的乳汁喂养婆婆

The elderly matron had no trouble digesting this nutriment, and thus thanks to her daughter-in-law, even though she could not eat normal food, her body stayed strong and healthy.

如此数年，长孙夫人不再吃其他饭食，身体依然健康。

One day she fell ill, and knowing that her life was about to reach its natural end, she summoned³ all her generations of descendants⁴ into her room and told them

一天，她生病了，知道自己即将死去，将全家大小召集在一起,告诉他们

"All these years I have been looked after by my daughter-in-law. She has treated me most kindly⁵, and I am deeply grateful to her. I only hope that the wives of all my children and grandchildren will be as considerate and proper in their filial devotion as she has been towards me."

“我无以报答新妇之恩，但愿新妇的子孙媳妇也像她孝敬我一样孝敬她。”

When the family heard her final words, they were deeply impressed, and ever after, used the Grand Dame Jang Sun's advice as the motto of the household. The teaching was passed down and cherished⁶ through the many generations of the Tswei family.

听到这些话后，他们非常感动。此后，他们把长孙夫人的遗言当成了家里的名言，教导下一代。