Once upon a time, a poor scholar named Lu met the Taoist Lu Weng at an inn in Handan, lamenting his lifelong poverty and hardship. Lu Weng took a pillow from his sleeve and said:
"You can place it under your pillow, and everything will go as you wish."
As the innkeeper was cooking yellow millet, Lu Sheng, exhausted from his journey, dozed off on the pillow the old man Lü had given him.
Soon, he drifted into a dream. In it, he found himself in an unfamiliar land, where he married a beautiful, kind, and gentle woman surnamed Cui. Not only was she from a wealthy family, virtuous and capable, but she also helped him embark on an official career and bore him several children.
Later, his children grew up, married and settled, each living in comfort and luxury. As for Lu Sheng, his career sailed smoothly, and he rose all the way to the high position of prime minister.
Years later, when his children gave him grandchildren, he retired to enjoy a leisurely life as the family patriarch. Always cheerful and with a constant smile, he lived in comfort with excellent food and lodging, eventually passing away peacefully at over eighty years old.
When he awoke from his dream, a satisfied smile still lingered at the corner of his mouth. But as he opened his eyes, he realized he was still in the small room of the inn—all that glory and wealth had been nothing more than a fleeting dream. The yellow millet the innkeeper was cooking had not even finished boiling yet.
Lu Sheng felt deeply disheartened and disappointed. Lu Weng patted his shoulder and comforted him, saying:
"Old friend, in truth, the glory and wealth of life are nothing but a fleeting dream; gains and losses in this world are merely passing clouds—why be so fixated!" Later, the idiom "Golden Millet Dream" came to describe illusory things or shattered desires, like waking from a dream.
Source: Shen Jiji (Tang Dynasty), *The Story of the Pillow*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "黄粱一梦" came to describe illusory things or shattered desires, like waking from a dream.