Huaben literally means the stories which storytellers told in the washe house. These stories were recorded by intellectuals and printed for commercial purposes.

      Telling stories was a very popular recreation in the Song dynasty. And the sia story theme was one among the other favorite themes such as historical stories, love stories, mythological stories, etc. Jhao Taizu Cianli Song Jingniang was one of the standard sia stories.

      The story starts: Jhao Kuangyin, the founder of the Song Dynasty, liked to make friends with sia. He himself also had a righteous character, and he would stand up for the weak. After he broke the laws several times, he was wanted by the officials. So he ran away to the Taoist shrine where his uncle, a Taoist priest, lived in Taiyuan.

      In a secret cell in this shrine, he found a poor girl called Jingniang. His uncle was too powerless to help this girl, because she was kidnapped by two robbers. So Jhao decided to escort this girl back home.

      It was long and torturous journey. In the beginning Jhao killed the two robbers as they tried to regain the girl by force. Then Jhao had to endure all the inconveniences a single man and a single woman would confront when they traveled together. From time to time Jingniang showed her willingness to develop a further intimate relationship with Jhao, but Jhao did not pay attention to her. Even when she suggested marrying Jhao, Jhao refused by saying that he should not take advantage of her when she was in a difficult situation. So they merely pledged to be brothers and sisters.

      After traveling one thousand li, they finally arrived at Jingniang's home. Jingniang's parent believed that they were de facto husband and wife, so they planned to give them a wedding ceremony in case that no one was willing to marry Jingniang. Jhao Kuangyin was furious, and he spoke harshly denouncing this arrangement; then he left immediately. Jingniang could not stand the scorn from her family members, so she committed suicide.

      The morals of this story are simple and clear. They show the standard personality of the sia including (1) helping people without expecting a reward, (2) keeping oneself away from sexual seduction.