Sima guang
Su Dongpo wrote a long poem, which contains four sentences: come and sit under the tree, eat and rest. You can't be empty if you leave your son behind. These four poems are about packing: friends have dinner, all the food, wine and vegetables are left. Unfortunately, a buddy packed up and took it home for the children to eat.
Did anyone pack the Song Dynasty dinner? Of course, Sima Guang is an example.
Sima Guang settled in Luoyang in his later years and invited friends to dinner. There are only three rounds of wine and five flavors of food. If he doesn't like himself, he can drink another pot of wine, but the food will never appear again. He gave this stingy dinner a name, which means that friends should be true and frank when they meet, and whatever they have is what they want. As long as they have feelings, they will drink all kinds of wine. Don't always order abalone wings to pour Remy Martin and pretend to be a local tyrant in front of your buddies. It's terrible.
If someone invites Sima Guang to dinner, Sima Guang advocates eating less and eating enough. After the meal is finished, there is usually something left on the table, and Sima Guang eats and takes the rest himself. Eating is the end of a meal, and eating the rest is packing.
Some readers may think Sima Guang is too stingy. He is stingy when he invites others to dinner, and others take advantage of the packaging when they invite him to dinner. In fact, Sima Guang is very generous. 20 years old, a scholar, for decades. He has never embezzled a penny.
Song Renzong liked him very much when he was alive, and he was given millions of gold, silver and jewels. He gave half to his poor relatives and half to * * *. He bought a house in Luoyang in his later years, but he didn't have enough money, so he had to rely on his colleagues for help. His wife died and he couldn't afford the burial fee, so he sold the land to make a living.
Su Dongpo wrote a couplet to him, saying that when he died, there was no money left at home, only a book beside his pillow. There are fewer and fewer officials who are noble in character and full of energy and treat money like dirt. How can you say that he is stingy?
Since Sima Guang is not stingy, why doesn't he treat more guests and always pack up for dinner? This is to follow the old adage and avoid waste.
Sima Guang is a Confucian, and Confucianism has always had a tradition of packaging. When Confucius was alive, he advocated packaging, although he did not eat improperly cooked rice, vegetables out of season (vegetables out of season) or pork cut incorrectly.
The Emperor gave a banquet to entertain the foreign guests, including food and three major sacrifices of the hotel. After the banquet, we will pack all the unfinished pork, mutton and beef and send them to the hotel where the foreign guests are staying. Eat the leftovers and pack them. When friends and relatives have dinner, they should pack up the unfinished food and take it home. When their parents died, their children paid homage to the grave with wine and delicacies. After the memorial service, they should finish the food and wine, pack them up and take them away, and don't throw them around, otherwise their dead parents will be unhappy.
Unfortunately, except Sima Guang, most people in the Song Dynasty swept these fine traditions into the garbage dump of history. The poorer and uneducated the street class, the more they despise other people's packaging.
It is said that in the Southern Song Dynasty, a Confucian scholar went to dinner. He saw that half a duck had not been eaten, so he wanted to pack it up and take it away. He secretly wrapped it in lotus leaves and hid it in his robe sleeve. As soon as the cuff was loosened, the duck fell out and was laughed at by everyone.
I think people who laugh at him are fools.