Disciples

Chapter 45

Original
To use characters, you must ask clearly;
If you don't ask, it's stealing.

Translation
When borrowing something from someone else, you should ask the person directly; if you don't tell the person in advance, it is an act of stealing.

allusion
During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, a Lantern Riddles Conference was held in Hangzhou.At that time, Zhu Zhishan happened to come to Hangzhou to play, and after hearing about this incident, he also wanted to join in the fun.

Lantern riddles were hung everywhere by the lake, with many names. Zhu Zhishan also took out the magnifying glass prepared in advance, and looked here and there.

Zhu Zhishan walked for a long time, but he couldn't solve a single lantern riddle, so he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.Suddenly he came to a place and stood still.Because the riddles hung in front of him were different, he put on a face of Guan Gong while hanging a string of one thousand copper coins, saying it was a common saying.Zhu Zhishan took a look, moved a stool and stood on it without making a sound, picked up the bunch of copper coins and left.The onlookers took him to the director of lantern riddles and asked the director of lantern riddles to make a ruling.The lantern riddle master smiled and said to the crowd: "He guessed it right! This is exactly the saying 'All you need is the copper tin, not the face'."

Zhu Zhishan is indeed very smart, but his approach is not safe.Maybe it wouldn't have been misleading if he'd just uttered the riddle instead of picking a show and getting paid to walk away.

(End of this chapter)