In Wu Jingzi’s novel The Scholars, Fan Jin has failed the examinations for decades. When at last he passes the provincial exam, he loses his mind with joy. His father-in-law, the butcher Hu, who has always mocked him, is talked into slapping him back to his senses.
Now the butcher calls him xianxu laoye, “my worthy son-in-law, sir,” and says he is the Star of Literature come down to earth. The local gentry send silver and a house.