After the nine suns were shot down, Hou Yi reported to the emperor back in the heaven, but he did not even know he met with a terrible disaster. It turned out that these suns were actually the emperor’s sons and the purpose of his sending Hou Yi was merely to warm his sons against being absurd. With his nine sons’ death, the emperor was furious, and he degraded Hou Yi and his wife Chang’e to be mortal, not allowing them to return to the heaven.
Hou Yi had non choice but to live on earth, feeling sorry for involving his wife in the punishment. Later, Hou Yi heard there was a Western Queen Mother on the Kunlun Mountains, who treasured up the magic elixir of life, and anyone who took it could live forever, or even ascend to heaven to be an immortal. With the guilty feelings for his wife, Hou Yi travelled over mountains and rivers, went through innumerable trials and hardships, and finally obtained a bit of this medicine from the Western Queen Mother. However, it was so little that both of them could live forever if they had shared the medicine, but only one of them could become a god in the heaven after one took all the medicine.
Hou Yi told his wife what happened in full detail when he was back home. After discussion, the couple decided to share the medicine and live happily in the world. However, with the dreams of returning to the heaven, Chang’e was actually playing a double game. She couldn’t resist the temptation, and in Hou Yi’s absence, she took out the medicine and swallowed the whole. In a flash she felt herself increasingly lighter. She gradually left the ground, and slowly flew up to the sky. Still with the love for her husband. Chang’e finally landed on the moon, the celestial body closest to the earth and became a goddess there.
Legend has it that in the clear full moon night, you might see Chang’e and hear her softly sigh up in the moon.
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