[Reprint] Beijing Xiaoyin Shadow Play Coloring Water Margin Leaves

Orig­i­nal address:Bei­jing Xiaoyin Shad­ow Play Col­or­ing Water Mar­gin Leavesauthor:Zheng­sheng Online Course Assign­ments

[Attached is a pag­i­nat­ed sto­ry]
Yan Zi’s Mis­sion to Chu
1. Yan Zi was sent as an envoy to the State of Chu. Because of his short stature, the peo­ple of Chu spe­cial­ly opened a small gate next to the city gate to wel­come Yan Zi.
2. Yan Zi refused to go in, say­ing, “Only envoys to the Dog King­dom enter through the Dog Cave. I am on a diplo­mat­ic mis­sion to the State of Chu, so I should not enter through this gate.”
3. The peo­ple wel­com­ing the guests had no choice but to change the route and invite Yan Zi to enter through the main gate.  
4. Yan Zi paid a vis­it to the King of Chu. The King of Chu asked, “Is Qi State with­out any one? Why are you send­ing me as an envoy?”
5.
Yan Zi replied, “Linzi, the cap­i­tal of Qi, is so pop­u­lous that if you spread your sleeves togeth­er they could block out the sun from the sky. Their sweat pours down like rain. With peo­ple shoul­der to shoul­der and toes to toe, how can you say Qi has no peo­ple?”

6.
The King of Chu asked, “If that is the case, why did you send such a per­son as yours as an envoy?” Yan Zi replied, “Qi has its own rules and reg­u­la­tions for send­ing envoys. Wise envoys are sent to the wise monarch, and unwor­thy envoys are sent to the incom­pe­tent monarch. I am the most incom­pe­tent, so I have no choice but to go to Chu as an envoy. 
　　
7. Yan Zi was about to go on a diplo­mat­ic mis­sion to the State of Chu. When the King of Chu heard the news, he said to his men, “Yan Ying is a man of speech from Qi. He is about to arrive, and I want to humil­i­ate him. What method should I use?” The men replied, “When he arrives, please allow us to tie up a man and pass him before the King. The King will ask, ‘Who is he?’ We will answer, ‘He is from Qi.’ The King will then ask, ‘What crime has he com­mit­ted?’ We will answer, ‘He has com­mit­ted theft.’ ”

8. When Yan Zi arrived in Chu, the King invit­ed him to drink. When he was enjoy­ing the wine, two sol­diers tied up a man and brought him to the King. The King asked, “What are you doing with this man?”
He said, “He is a Qi nation­al and has com­mit­ted theft.”
The King of Chu looked at Yan Zi and asked, “Are the peo­ple of Qi nat­u­ral­ly good at steal­ing?” Yan Zi left his seat and replied, “I’ve heard that oranges grown south of the Huai Riv­er are oranges, while those grown north of the Huai Riv­er become tri­fo­li­ate oranges. Their leaves may be sim­i­lar in shape, but their fruits taste dif­fer­ent. What’s the rea­son? It’s because of the dif­fer­ent water and soil con­di­tions. Now, this per­son who was born in Qi and did­n’t steal, but who start­ed steal­ing when he arrived in Chu, isn’t it the water and soil of Chu that make peo­ple good at steal­ing?”

10. The King of Chu smiled bit­ter­ly and said, “You can’t joke with a saint. I have only brought shame upon myself.”