(the good person of Sezuan)
Of course it doesn't work out like that, as the other traders rip her off, the neighbours all move in and sponge off her, even/especially her lover Sun, who wants her money so he can go to Peking and become a pilot. There's a particularly comitragic scene where their wedding is called off at the last minute when it becomes apparent that she hasn't got enough money, but Sun and his family all frantically pretend it's not about that.
The only way Shen Te can survive is to disguise herself as her (male) cousin Shui Ta, who like every foreman or factory owner is a complete bastard, thus disproving the gods' proposition. But it gets a bit hard maintaining the disguise when she's eight months pregnant...
My favourite bit is the Song of the Eight Elephants, here in the original German, with an approximate translation.
