Zhen Zhong Ji(a story in a pillow) is a very famous Tang legends which was adapted into many miscellaneous dramas and opera in later ages. This paper mainly studies on the prototype, development and purport of this work. This paper holds that Zhen Zhong Ji was emerged from the story of "the pillow in the Jiaohu Temple" in Sou Shen Ji and the myth in Liezi. But the author expanded the meaning of it. Since Tang Dynasty Zhen Zhong Ji had been adapted into many miscellaneous dramas and operas and these works had two systems. The purport of Zhen Zhong Ji is that life is just like a dream, However, analyzed at a deeper level, it reflected the contradictory mentality of chinese ancient scholars: the desire of pursuing vanity, wealth or rank and this desire is very hard to fulfill.