Chapter 45 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms – titled “Zhou Yu Schemes to Eliminate Cai Mao and Zhang Yun; Jiang Gan Falls for the Bait at the Heroes’ Feast” – unfolds as a masterclass in psychological warfare and strategic deception on the eve of the epochal Battle of Red Cliffs.
An irascible person is like a raging fire; whatever he encounters he wants to burn it up.
A person of riches and rank should be magnanimous, and never be envious or stingy. Otherwise he would be acting like a mean person, and how then could he really enjoy his riches?
The cuttlefish has four pairs of legs which it can draw into its beak, and it can hide its beak under its belly.