There is a legend related to the stove sacrifice. It is said that the stove spirit was originally a common man named Zhang Sheng. He was initially prosperous, but after marrying, he squandered his wealth on wine and women, eventually reducing his family to beggary. One day, after begging at his former wife's door, he was so overwhelmed by shame that he hid himself in a stove and died there.
Upon hearing this, the Heavenly Emperor, feeling that Zhang Sheng had not gone completely rotten and had shown signs of repentance, honoured him as the Stove Spirit. The twenty-third and twenty-fourth of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar were designated as the days for him to ascend to the heavens and report on the affairs of the mortal world, after which he would return to the stove.
