Idiom Explanation:
The secret discussion under the east window was lost, and is now used to describe a conspiracy that has been foiled.
Pronunciation:
东窗事发
dōng chuāng shì fā
Origin:
元·刘一清《钱塘遗事·东窗事发》：桧曰：“可烦传与夫人，东窗事发矣！”
Story:
Qin Jun was a notorious traitor during the Southern Song Dynasty. He is old and sly, ruthless, who disagrees with him, he will fabricate a crime, lightly arrested and imprisoned, or killed and executed. There were countless loyal generals who were framed by him. The hero Yue Fei was killed by him on a “trumped up” charge.
At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was in decline. In the north, the Jin Dynasty took the opportunity to attack the Central Plains and invaded a lot of Song territory. In this time of national crisis, Yue Fei led the Yue family army to resist the Jin soldiers tenaciously. Yue Fei brave and good at fighting, even won the battle, and once almost captured Jin Wuji alive. However, Qin Hui did not agree to resist the Jin, but advocated peace. He seized Song Gaozong cowardly and timid, indecisive weakness, trying to preach the benefits of peace. Song Gaozong agreed, but many ministers and generals do not agree, Yue Fei repeatedly submitted a letter, requesting a peace conference against the Jin soldiers. Qin Hui wants to negotiate peace, we have to get rid of Yue Fei. But Yue Fei in the people’s prestige is very high, and the hands of military power, so Qin Hui difficult to do.
One day, Qin Hui sitting under the east window, is unable to get rid of Yue Fei and sad face. Mrs. Wang walked in and said to him: “What is so difficult, you find a few charges on Yue Fei’s head will not work.” Qin Hui said, “It is not difficult to find the charges, but the difficult thing is to find the person who denounced Yue Fei, this person must be Yue Fei’s subordinates, in order to convince the people of the world.” Wang thought about it and said, “I heard that Yue Fei’s commander, Wang Gui, was cowardly and afraid of death in a battle, and Yue Fei wanted to behead him and show him to the public, but only after the generals begged for mercy did Yue Fei spare his life. He must hold a grudge, why don’t you ask him to denounce it?” When Qin Hui heard this, he couldn’t help but be delighted and praised, “Still your wife’s high opinion.” Next, the two plotted the various details of the frame-up of Yue Fei.
Qin Hui sent people to find Wang Gui, to him falsely accused Yue Fei “rebellion”, Wang Gui refused to do. Qin Hui’s group tortured and threatened to kill his family, Wang Gui had to give in. Qin Hui finally framed Yue Fei.
Later, Qin Juni died of illness. Seven days after his death, Wang invited the Taoist priests to do a sermon for him to reincarnate his spirit. The Taoist priest hated Qin Jun for killing the loyalty, so he pretended to do the puja for a while, and then said to Wang: “I saw Qin Jun, he is suffering in hell, and the king of hell is torturing him.” The Taoist priest then said, “Lord Qin said to me, ‘Please tell my wife that the east window is open.'”
Similar Idioms:
- 露出马脚
- 走漏风声
