天下第一关
the First Pass Under Heaven
从前有个叫萧显的穷书生，写得一手好字，想进京赶考却没有路费。于是他的邻居——一位孤老的婆婆，想办法给他凑齐了路费。正巧当时皇上贴出皇榜，要找人写“天下第一关”五个字，还要给献字的人一笔赏银。萧显为了感谢孤老，为她写了“天下第关”四个字，让孤老献字领赏银。孤老觉得奇怪，“一”字呢？萧显让孤老对山海关总镇说，“一”字晾晒时被风吹走了，“一”字好写，请总镇大人补一个就行了。
Once upon a time, there was a poor scholar named Xiao Xian who wrote very well. He wanted to go to the capital to take the exam but had no travel expenses. So his neighbor, a lonely old lady, found a way to raise all his travel expenses. Coincidentally, at that time, the emperor posted an imperial list asking for someone to write the five characters "The First Pass in the World" and also to give a silver reward to the person who presented the characters. Xiao Xian wrote the four words "the most important barrier in the world" to express his gratitude to Gu Lao, and asked him to offer the words as a reward for silver. The lonely old man finds it strange, where is the word 'one'? Xiao Xian asked the lonely old man to tell the general town of Shanhaiguan that the character "one" was blown away by the wind while drying, and the character "one" is easy to write. Please ask the general town to add one.
孤老向山海关总镇献字，总镇问“一”字去哪了？孤老就按照萧显的话回答。山海关总镇觉得“一”字简单，想独吞赏银，便将孤老赶走了。
The lonely old man presented his character to the General Town of Shanhaiguan, and the General Town asked where the character "one" went? The lonely old man answered according to Xiao Xian's words. The general town of Shanhaiguan thought that the word "one" was simple and wanted to swallow the silver for himself, so he drove away the lonely old man.
接着，山海关总镇快马加鞭进京，把“天下第关”四个字献给了皇上，皇上见了大为称赞，也问“一”字去哪了，山海关总镇便照实说了。皇上下旨让他找人把“一”字补写出来，可他寻访了天下的书法名士，没一个人能写出配得上“天下第关”的“一”字。皇上便贴出了皇榜，要重赏那个献“天下第关”四个字的人。山海关总镇于是又找到孤老，让孤老把“一”字交出来。
Then, the General Town of Shanhaiguan rushed to the capital and presented the four characters "the most important pass in the world" to the emperor. The emperor praised them greatly and asked where the character "one" went. The General Town of Shanhaiguan then spoke frankly. The emperor ordered him to find someone to write the character "one", but he searched for calligraphy masters from all over the world, and none of them could write the character "one" that was worthy of being the "most important character in the world". The emperor posted an imperial list, offering a heavy reward to the person who presented the four words' the highest pass in the world '. Shanhaiguan General Town then found Gu Lao again and asked him to hand in the character "one".
孤老便来到京城，找到已经在此做官的萧显，请他把“一”字写出来。写出来以后，萧显带她去见皇上，她将“一”字献给皇上，又告诉皇上山海关总镇想独吞赏银的事。皇上听后撤了山海关总镇的职，孤老这才带着赏银回去了。
The lonely old man came to the capital and found Xiao Xian, who was already an official here, asking him to write down the character 'one'. After writing it, Xiao Xian took her to see the emperor. She presented the character "one" to the emperor and told him that the Shanhaiguan General Town wanted to monopolize the silver reward. After hearing this, the emperor revoked his position as the head of Shanhaiguan, and the lonely old man returned with the silver reward.