You Tanzhi steals the ice silkworm

You Tanzhi steals the ice silkworm from a monk at MinZhong Temple by exploiting the creature’s confinement within a medicinal circle and using the monk’s wine gourd as a trap. The episode turns his pursuit into a test of observation and improvisation: he studies the silkworm’s enclosure, waits until its keeper is called away, and adapts what he finds nearby to carry it off.

The silkworm and its keeper

You Tanzhi finds the monk in a vegetable garden, reprimanding a silkworm that repeatedly tries to escape a yellow circle on the ground. From its movement, he sees that the creature cannot pass beyond the boundary. He infers that the circle has been made with a medicinal herb, which he identifies as the silkworm’s black-star. The monk’s unusual attention to this small creature establishes both its confinement and the challenge facing anyone who wants to capture it.

The keeper is HuiJing, a short, stout Shaolin monk staying at MinZhong Temple. A middle-aged monk calls him away to attend the prayer session, reminding him that the temple’s schedule takes precedence over gardening. HuiJing hides his cooked lamb head and wine gourd before leaving, but does not look back at the silkworm. His departure gives You Tanzhi a brief opportunity to approach the enclosure without the keeper present.

How You Tanzhi carries out the theft

You Tanzhi waits until the monks have gone, then slips through the bamboo fence. Rather than seize the swiftly moving silkworm directly, he takes the gourd HuiJing had hidden in the straw. He shakes it, finds that wine remains inside, drinks some, and pours out the rest over the vegetable plot. He then slowly moves the gourd’s rim across the yellow boundary. The silkworm enters it, and You Tanzhi promptly replaces the stopper and seals the container.

The theft depends on attention to specific circumstances: the medicinal boundary restricts the silkworm’s movement, HuiJing’s summons leaves the garden unattended, and the discarded gourd supplies a ready-made vessel. You Tanzhi escapes through the fence carrying his prize. The scene presents the capture not as a contest of strength but as a practical solution assembled from what the keeper has left behind.

The cold of the captured creature

The gourd becomes difficult to hold soon after You Tanzhi leaves the temple. He shifts it from one hand to the other, then tries resting it on his head; neither approach solves the problem, and the cold passes through his iron mask. He eventually ties his belt around the gourd and holds it by the belt, which does not transmit the cold in the same way. A layer of frost forms on the gourd’s surface.

Thus the theft immediately reveals the ice silkworm’s extraordinary cold and makes possession hazardous. You Tanzhi succeeds in removing it from its enclosure, but the captured creature cannot be treated as an ordinary prize: even sealed inside HuiJing’s wine gourd, its effects compel him to improvise again just to carry it. The episode links his resourcefulness to the danger of the object he has pursued, leaving the silkworm’s cold as the problem that follows the successful escape.