During the Western Jin Dynasty, a remarkable woman named Yan Xian displayed exceptional intelligence and virtue. Married at thirteen to Du Youdao, she became a widow at eighteen when her husband died young.
After her husband's death, Yan Xian devoted herself entirely to raising their two children, Du Zhi and Du, teaching them to read, write, and live with virtue. Under her strict guidance, Du Zhi became a renowned literary talent in the region, while Du grew into a cultured and kind-hearted young woman.
The literary scholar Fu Xuan, serving as an imperial censor in the court, wished to remarry after his wife's death. But because he was on bad terms with Minister He Yan and others who sought to frame him, no one dared to marry their daughter to him. Fu Xuan considered Yan Xian a rare virtuous lady and sent a matchmaker to propose—she accepted. Her parents and relatives, however, were terrified for her and pleaded, "How can you agree to this? His enemies are powerful!" Yan Xian calmly replied, "A gentleman's integrity is like jade—it cannot be tarnished by slander. I trust his character."
“He Yan and his faction wield immense power. Killing Fu Xuan would be as easy as toppling a mountain onto an egg (or pouring boiling water on snow). Why would you marry him?”
Yan Xian replied, "You only know one side, not the other. He Yan and his ilk are arrogant and debauched, doing all sorts of evil—those who commit many wrongs will bring about their own ruin. I see that they will be like eggs broken and snow melted; they certainly won't come to any good end!"
Yan Xian married Fu Xuan.
Soon after, He Yan and his associates were executed by Emperor Xuan of Jin.
Later, the idiom "Crushing Eggs with a Mountain" came to describe an overwhelming disparity in strength, an unstoppable force, or hastening the arrival of disaster.
Source: *Book of Jin*, "Biography of Yan, Wife of Du Youdao"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "排山压卵" came to describe an overwhelming disparity in strength, an unstoppable force, or hastening the arrival of disaster.