Zeng Shen, a student of Confucius in the late Spring and Autumn period, was known for promoting virtue, cultivating character, and being exceptionally filial to his parents.
When Zeng Shen was young, he lived with his mother in Feiyi. A man with the same name as Zeng Shen committed a murder there. Someone rushed to tell his mother, "Zeng Shen has killed someone!" She was weaving cloth and, without hesitation, replied, "My son would never do such a thing!" and continued weaving, unconcerned. A short while later, another person came and said, "Zeng Shen has killed someone!" This time, she wavered, saying, "That can't be right, can it?" Though she kept weaving, her calm was gone.
After a while, a third person rushed over, panting heavily, and said to Zengzi's mother, "How can you still be weaving here? Your son Zeng Shen has killed someone and been arrested by the authorities. You should flee immediately!"
Terrified by the news, Zengzi's mother dropped her weaving shuttle and fled in panic.
Later, the idiom "Zeng Shen Committed Murder" was used to describe the terror of rumors.
Source: *Strategies of the Warring States*, Chapter "Strategy Two of Qin"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "曾参杀人" came to describe how the terror of rumors.