King Hui of Yi once asked Bo Pi, "What remarks have the people made about me?"

"I've heard people saying that you're merciful and generous," Bo Pi replied.

"Where will this lead me? How far will my achievements go?" asked the King, rejoicing over the people's praise.

In ancient times, there was a man who raised monkeys, which became more and more mischievous as they grew up and often destroyed his things. One day the man caught a cock. He assembled the monkeys and said to them:” If you don’t behave and stop causing trouble, you will end up like the coke.” Then he killed the coke in front of the monkeys. Seeing this, the monkeys were frightened and became obedient thereafter.This idiom is used metaphorically to mean to frighten somebody by punishing someone else.

Once in the Warring States Period (zhàn guó 战国,481 - 386BC), the State of Jin (jìn guó 晋国) was at war with the State of Chu (chǔ guó 楚国). Duke Gong of Chu (chǔ gòng wáng 楚共王) stood on a high platform built on chariot and watched the movements of the Jin army.

In the Spring and Autumn Period (chūn qiū 春秋时期,770-476 BC), a farmer in the State of Song (sòng guó 宋国) was one day working in the fields when he saw a rabbit bump into a tree stump accidentally and break its neck. The farmer took the rabbit home, and cooked himself a delicious meal. That night he thought, 'I needn't work so hard. All I have to do is wait for a rabbit each day by the stump.' So from then on he gave up farming, and simply sat by the stump waiting for rabbits to come and run into it.

This idiom satirizes those who just wait for a stroke of luck, rather than making efforts to obtain what they need.

During the Eastern Tsin Dynasty (dōng jìn 东晋,317—420AD),there were two tremendously talented young men named Yin Hao (yīn hào 殷浩) and Du Yi (dù yì杜义) ,both gained their big fame through metaphysics (xuán xúe 玄学) study.

At that time,Yu Yi (yǘ yì 庾翼),a famous general who attempted to reclaim the North area found himself in a urgent situation of talents shortage. One day,some officials strongly recommended that the two meta-physicists serve as his think tank. However,after serious consideration,he responded: "Though the two have household names across the kingdom concerning the metaphysics,they are rather high-hearted and pretty impractical.