In the past, an official celebrated his birthday.
从前，有个官员过生日。
A small official under him heard that he was born in the year of “the rat”.
他手下的一个小官听说他属“鼠”，
To curry the official’s favour, he had a gold rat cast as a birthday present and went to the official’s house to congratulate him on his birthday.
为了巴结他，铸了一只金鼠作为寿礼，登门祝寿。
The official was very pleased at the sight of the gold rat and said:
这个官员一见金鼠，很是高兴，说:
“Do you know? In a few days my wife will celebrate her birthday too. She was born in the year of the ‘ox’.”
“你们知道吗?过几天，我的夫人也要过生日了，她是属‘牛’。”