4.11 The Master (Confucius) said, “Where gentlemen set their hearts upon virtue, the commoners set theirs upon the soil. Where gentlemen think only of punishments, the commoners think only of exemptions.”
Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio: Planting Pears is a concise yet profound fable. Through its fantastical plot–“selling pears,” “begging for a pear,” and “magically growing a pear-tree”–it delivers biting satire on human greed, stinginess, and karmic retribution.