Buying bamboo slips and returning pearls refers to buying a wooden box containing pearls and returning pearls, which means choosing secondary things is better than the main ones. The historical allusion of buying bamboo slips and returning pearls comes from Han Feizi? The foreign reserve said "left" and bought a bamboo slip to return the pearl. It tells the story that during the Warring States period, there was a merchant in Chu who specialized in selling pearls. He often buys and sells pearls between Chu and Zheng. In order to attract more customers and sell them at a good price, he thought of a way. He selected some very good wood, then made it into exquisite wooden boxes, carved various patterns on it, and selected many precious spices. Then, he put his jewels in these boxes to attract more people to buy his jewels. Then he gave these boxes and jewels to Zheng. When he arrived, he showed his jewels in the street. Many people around him feel very happy and think that he can make a lot of money. What he didn't expect, however, was that these people were not interested in his jewelry, but in the box containing it.
Later, in order to turn people's attention to his jewelry, he shouted his jewelry, but no one listened to him, but cared about the box containing the jewelry. Then a man picked up the box, read it over and over again, and came up with a high price to buy it. After some discussion, Zheng gave the money to the jeweler. He took the box and left, but it was folded again.
This historical story tells us that we should have a clear priority in doing things, and we should not only pay attention to the appearance of things, but also lose sight of their essence.