Huang Gong was a citizen of the state of Qi, whose shortcoming was his excessive modesty to such an extent as to debase himself in spite of the fact.

Though his two daughters where beautiful ,he said they were ugly out of modesty. Being brought up in the boudoir, the girls could not show their faces in public, so they were well known for their ugly appearances. As a result of which nobody in the country proposed marriage to them.

An aged bachelor in the state of Wei, who had not gotten married mustered up his courage, and married Huang Gong's elder daughter. Seeing she was a peerless beauty, he told others, "My father-in-law was just modest. His younger daughter must be beautiful, too!"

After these words spread, many people strove to marry the younger daughter. When the man who married her returned home, he found her to be a stunning beauty.

黄公是齐国人，他有一个毛病，就是一位谦虚甚至到了不顾实际、刻意贬低自己的地步。

他的两个女儿虽然长的很漂亮，但由于做父亲的谦虚说是丑陋，而养在深闺的女孩儿又不可能公然出来见人,以至丑陋名声远扬，全国之大，竟然无一人向她们求婚。

魏国一个年龄很大却没有找到的老婆的光棍壮起胆子，娶了黄公的大女儿，一看是绝色美女，兴奋地对别人说：“我岳父不过是喜欢谦虚，她的小女儿肯定也很漂亮！”。

话传开后，许多人前来争聘。娶到小女儿的人回家一看，果然是国色天香。