1. In the case of purchasing bamboo slips and returning pearls, bamboo slips indicate wooden cases containing pearls.

Legend has it that a Chu man decorated the box, that is, the wooden box, in order to sell pearls. Another Zheng Man bought it after reading it, but threw away all the pearls, leaving only the beautiful wooden box.

3. This idiom refers to a person who makes improper choices, doesn't understand the essence of things, abandons the main things for the second time.

This idiom comes from Han Feizi's "On Left External Storage".

Some Chu people sold their pearls to Zheng, who served as Mulan's cabinet, smoked them with cinnamon, decorated them with pearls and jade, decorated them with roses, and braided them with feathers and jade. Zheng ren bought it back.