It is said that in the land where the Dai people lived, there once reigned a tyrant and his minister, Xinagao, who oppressed the people, frequently launched wars, and raided neighboring states, causing immense suffering to countless innocent civilians. Everyone in the world resented their cruelty, even the tyrant's own daughter. This despot was utterly debauched; whenever he saw a beautiful woman, he harbored evil intentions, and the number of women he violated was countless. The tyrant had seven wives, who successively bore him seven daughters. Each daughter was betrothed by the tyrant to corrupt civil and military officials who collaborated in his wickedness, resulting in six utterly villainous men becoming his sons-in-law. The seventh daughter, tall, graceful, and beautiful as a celestial fairy, had just come of age when the tyrant again forced her to marry Xinagao's son. Although Xinagao's son appeared handsome, he was just like his father—arrogant and bullying, using the tyrant's power to commit evil deeds. How could the kind-hearted seventh daughter possibly wish to marry such a villain? But royal decrees were hard to defy, so she secretly devised a clever plan to avoid this marriage.
After the tyrant publicly announced that the princess would choose her groom by tossing a garland into the crowd—whomever the garland landed on would become the seventh son-in-law—the seventh daughter grasped the garland, closed her eyes tightly, and gently raised her arm, sending the garland flying into the crowd. At that moment, a gentle breeze blew, causing the garland to float and drift, refusing to fall. Xinagao's son ran frantically back and forth, chasing the garland and hoping it would land on his head, but it continued to evade him. Then, a poor young man named Yan Hongwo appeared in the crowd, and suddenly the garland dropped, landing squarely on his head. The tyrant and Xinagao were stunned, their eyes wide with shock.
The tyrant refused to accept Yan Hongwo as his son-in-law and was determined to have the poor wretch killed. That afternoon, he summoned all six sons-in-law and Yan Hongwo before him and declared: "Each of you must go up the mountain and capture a live deer to bring back to the palace, to prepare the wedding feast for the seventh princess and Yan Hongwo. Whoever fails to catch a live muntjac within three days, I will execute publicly by beheading!" Each of the six sons-in-law led a troop of warriors, armed with crossbows, riding fine horses up the mountain. But for two consecutive days, they scoured the mountains without even catching a glimpse of a muntjac. On the morning of the third day, they encountered a hunter on the mountain. The six sons-in-law begged the hunter to help them catch live muntjacs. The hunter readily agreed but demanded that each son-in-law cut off one of his fingers as payment. With no choice, the six sons-in-law each severed one fingertip. The hunter took the fingers, whistled sharply—"Whoosh!"—and six live muntjacs obediently appeared before them.
That afternoon, each of the six sons-in-law led a live muntjac into the palace, but Yan Hongwo had not yet appeared. The tyrant and Xinagao were overjoyed; it seemed certain that this poor wretch would die today. But in the blink of an eye, Yan Hongwo suddenly appeared in the palace, leading a live muntjac. Holding up six bloody fingers before the civil and military officials, he said, "Look! These are the fingers of the six sons-in-law. The live muntjacs they brought were caught by me in exchange for these six fingers." The six sons-in-law were so ashamed they wished the ground would split open and swallow them.
When one scheme failed, the tyrant and Xinagao devised another. He declared that, to make the seventh son-in-law's wedding more lively and entertaining than the previous six, a boat race would be held in two days' time. Each of the seven sons-in-law must purchase a boat to participate. The tyrant was determined to have Yan Hongwo drowned in the river. On the day of the boat race, the six sons-in-law arrived on large boats adorned with colorful streamers, while Yan Hongwo alone came in a small dugout canoe, propelled by a bamboo pole, carved with a dragon's head and tail. Not only did the six large boats carry drummers and gong players, but the tyrant, Xinagao, and a host of civil and military officials sat aboard, cheering them on. As soon as the starting gong sounded, Yan Hongwo immediately pushed his canoe toward the river's center with his pole. The six large boats, however, full throttle, charged toward the small canoe, attempting to capsize it. But before they could get close, enormous waves suddenly surged from the river, capsizing all six large boats, while Yan Hongwo's small canoe remained completely unharmed. It turned out that the small canoe was transformed by the Dragon King himself, and the towering waves were raised by his dragon descendants.
With the help of the dragon clan, the poor young man finally destroyed the tyrant and his gang of sycophants, eliminating a great evil from the Dai people's land and freeing the people living there from oppression and suffering.