During the Warring States period, the state of Chu had a famous literary figure named Song Yu, who served as an imperial literary attendant to King Xiang of Chu.
Song Yu was not only a brilliant poet but also strikingly handsome and elegant. A court physician named Deng Tuzi, jealous of Song Yu, slandered him before King Qingxiang of Chu, claiming Song Yu was a lecher. The king summoned Song Yu to question him.
Song Yu said, "That's not true. On the contrary, it's not me who is lustful, but Dengtuzi."
King Xiang of Chu asked him for evidence. Song Yu then wrote a piece titled "Ode to the Lecherous Dengtu" to explain. The piece says:
Song Yu defended himself before the King of Chu, saying, 'The most beautiful women in the world come from Chu, and the most beautiful in Chu come from my hometown. Among them, the loveliest is my neighbor to the east. Her figure is perfect, her smile could topple a city, making the dandies of Yangcheng and Xiacai lose their wits. Yet for three years, she has climbed the wall to peek at me, and I have never accepted her love. But Dengtuzi, my colleague, has a wife who is hideous—messy hair, crooked ears, buck teeth, and a limp—yet he adores her and has fathered five children with her. So it is Dengtuzi who is lustful, not me.'
After reading it, King Xiang of Chu found Song Yu's words quite reasonable and chose not to press the matter further.
Later, the idiom "Dong Jia Zhi Nu" came to describe a woman of unparalleled beauty.
Source: Song Yu, *The Lecherous Master Dengtu*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "东家之女" came to describe a woman of unparalleled beauty.