1. Hanging Corners for Payroll
When carrying firewood, hang books in front of the pole; when herding cattle, hang the books you want to read on the horns of the cattle, so that you are ready to read at any time. It refers to reading while taking a break from work, describing studying hard and diligently, without fear of hard work.
This idiom story consists of two stories: "negative salary" and "hanging corner". It comes from the "Three Character Classic" compiled by Wang Yinglin of the Song Dynasty, "Like a negative salary, like hanging a horn, although the body is laborious, it is still bitter."
The "negative salary" refers to Zhu Maichen of the Han Dynasty. When Zhu Maichen was a child, his family was very poor. In order to maintain his livelihood, he had to go to the mountains to cut firewood every day and had no time to study. But he was eager to learn and would often hang the book he wanted to read on a pole. When he was tired of chopping firewood, he would take out the book and read it. Because of his hard work, Zhu Maichen was later recommended and became the prefect of Kuaiji.
"Hanjiao" refers to Li Mi of the Sui Dynasty. When Li Mi was a child, he herded cows and had no time to study. So every day when he went to herd cows, he put the books he wanted to read in his schoolbag and hung them on the horns of the cows. While the cows were grazing, he would sit on the grass and read hard. In this way, Li Mi became a very knowledgeable person when he grew up.
2. Drawing light through the wall
Drawing light through the wall means that Kuang Heng, the prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty, had no conditions to go to school because his family was poor since he was a child. He worked for others during the day and had no money at night. To buy lamp oil, he had to dig a hole in the mud wall of his home, borrow the light next door to study, and even went to a house with books to work for free in exchange for books. He studied hard and finally became the prince's young master during the Han Yuan Dynasty.
3. Bull-horn hanging books
Li Mi studied hard when he was young and had a strong ambition. He found out that there was a famous scholar in Goushan named Bao Kai, so he went to learn from him. Li Mi set off on an ox with a mat made of cattails spread on its back and a "Book of Han" hung on its horns. Li Mi was reading the "Biography of Xiang Yu" in the "Book of Han" while he was walking on the road. It happened that Yang Su, the Duke of Yue, came up from behind on a fast horse.
The young scholar reined in his horse and praised him: "Such a diligent scholar is really rare!" The young scholar turned around and when he saw it was the Duke of Yue, he quickly jumped off the back of the cow and saluted. An old man and a young man started talking on the roadside. Li Mi spoke well, and Yang Su deeply felt that he was unusual. Sure enough, Li Mi later became the leader of the Wagang Army, a peasant uprising team in the late Sui Dynasty.
4. Wei Bian's Three Wonders
Confucius studied all his life. In his later years, he even fell in love with the Book of Changes. However, because the I Ching is very difficult to understand, it is particularly difficult to learn. However, Confucius was not afraid of hardship and read it over and over again until he completely understood it. Because paper had not yet been invented at that time, books were written on bamboo slips or wooden slips, which were not only stupid but also very heavy.
After many bamboo slips were tied together with leather strips, a book was made. And because Confucius was too diligent in studying and displaying his slips, he broke his leather strap three times. Therefore, latecomers created the idiom "Wei Bian's Three Wonders" to praise Confucius' diligent and studious spirit.
5. Lü Meng studied
Lü Meng was a general of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. He had made great achievements many times, but he did not like reading. So Sun Quan said to Lu Meng: "You are now a general, and you have a heavy burden on your shoulders. You must read more and gain more knowledge." Lu Meng began to study. Slowly, he discovered that there were many things in the book that he had never known before.
Once, he read the story of Sun Bin using the "reduction plan" to induce Pang Juan to underestimate the enemy, and finally defeated Pang Juan, which opened his eyes. As a result, Lu Meng gradually fell in love with reading. When he was not busy with military affairs, he dived into the pile of books and read eagerly ancient military art and history books. Over the past few years, Lu Meng's military ability has improved greatly. Sun Quan was very happy and made Lu Meng the governor-general, commanding the country's troops.