In the early years of the Qing Dynasty，Nanhu Lake of Mengzi county in Yunnan Province is a scenic¹ wonderland. There are always men of letters reading poems.

相传清朝初年，云南蒙自县城的南湖风景优美，常有文人墨客攻读诗书于此。

In order to get an official rank through passing exams , a scholar named Yang builds a hut on an island in the middle of a lake, with one bridge linked to the bank. He studies assiduously on the island every day. His wife is so virtuous² and laborious³ that she sends meals to him back and forth⁴ and works the fields from dawn to dusk.Because of the great distance，when she gets there, the food has become cold and unappetizing. The scholar is wasting away with the passing time, so his wife is much worried about it.

有位姓杨的书生为考取功名，在湖中小岛筑了一间茅屋，与湖岸一桥相连，每日在岛上用功苦读。其妻勤劳贤惠，每日往返送食，因路途稍远，每次送到后，饭菜已凉，书生食之无味，天长日久日渐消瘦，妻子甚是着急。

One day, she kills a chicken and cooks chicken soup in a heated earthen pot, adding some rice noodles and slicing meat and vegetables. Unfortunately when she crosses the stone bridge on the way to the island, she falls senseless to the ground for working too hard every day.

一日妻将家养的鸡宰杀，把砂锅烧热，煨汤一罐，配上米线、肉片、蔬菜往岛上送去，过石桥的时候，因终日辛劳昏倒在地。

It has been a long time before she came to life. She is so surprised to find the earthen pot still hot. Her husband is surprised too. After a careful examination, He finds two secrets: there is thick chicken oil on the surface of the soup and the earthen vessel⁵ does not readily conduct heat. As a result, the heat of the soup is well preserved. He rains praises on it after eating it up.

良久醒来，妻摸砂锅发现还很烫手，妻子很是惊喜，急忙过桥向丈夫奉上鸡汤米线，丈夫感到汤很烫手，甚为惊奇，仔细查看，原来汤表面覆盖着一层鸡油，加之陶制器皿不易传热，把热量封存于汤内，丈夫食罢连声称赞。

Since then, the scholar has a balanced diet, becoming healthier and more hardworking. Finally he succeeds in a government examination. When his fellow scholars come to congratulate him, he asks his wife to treat them with the rice noodles with chicken soup. They praise it repeatedly and ask what the splendid meal is. Thinking of the bridge she crosses every day, she blurts⁶ out “crossing-over bridge rice noodles”. Therefore, crossing-over bridge rice noodles become famous and spread widely.

从此以后，书生饮食调匀，身体日益康健，越发用功读书，终获金榜题名。同窗前来贺喜，丈夫让妻子如法用鸡汤配制米线招待客人，大家食罢连连称绝，纷纷询问是何佳肴，妻子想到每天走过的小桥顺口说“过桥米线”，从此，“过桥米线”名声鹊起在民间广为流传。