His father was called Yu-gong or Master Yu.
He was a county-level prison official and then a clerk in the bureau of decisions at the commandery level.
In judging cases, he administered the law fairly; no miscarriages of justice took place in his court.
None of those in the commandery who fell afoul of the law and came before Master Yu dared to conceal the facts in their cases.
The people of Donghai Commandery erected a temple to him while he was still alive: it was called the Yu-gong Temple.
In Donghai there was a filial woman with no children who had been widowed while still young and who served her mother-in-law with great devotion. Her mother-in-law wanted to marry her to another husband, but she would not consent to it.
The mother-in-law said to her neighbors, “It pains me to think that she has no children and must endure a long widowhood.
I am old; how can I subject a strong young person to such a protracted burden?” Later on, she hung herself.
The old woman’s daughter then lodged an accusation with the local judicial officer, saying, “The woman has killed my mother.” The judicial officer had the filial woman arrested.
She said that she had not killed her mother-in-law, but, when she saw that the court functionaries were about to subject her to torture, she made a false confession, whereupon the case was closed and a report submitted to the prefectural authorities.
Master Yu felt that the fact that the woman was well known to be a filial wife who had faithfully served her mother-in-law for ten years showed that she could not have killed her mother-in-law.
The governor did not listen to his representations and remained unmoved even after Master Yu argued the case with him several times.
Master Yu at that point resigned his office on pretext of illness.
The governor at length had the woman killed, and the community suffered a drought that went on for three years.
When the governor’s’s successor came, he had divinations made to seek the cause of the long drought.
Master Yu said, “The filial woman should not have been killed, but the former governor insisted on killing her—the cause of the drought probably lies in this.” An ox was killed and offered as a sacrifice before the filial woman’s grave mound.
The new governor and his subordinates attended the ceremony in person. Rain descended from heaven at once, and the harvest that year was bountiful.