Chapter 37 In effect

In the Spring and Autumn Period, since the prime minister Yan Ying died, Qi Jinggong had no one to face his faults, so he felt very depressed. One day, Duke Jing of Qi had a banquet for civil and military officials. After the banquet was over, they went to the square to shoot arrows for fun.Whenever Qi Jinggong shot an arrow, even if it missed the center of the arrow, all civil and military officials cheered loudly: "Good! Wonderful! " "It's really like a god in arrows, unparalleled in the world." " Afterwards, Duke Jing of Qi told his courtier Xianzhang about the matter.Xianzhang said to Jinggong: "This incident cannot be entirely blamed on those courtiers. The ancients said: "Go up and then follow. "What the king likes to eat, the officials like to eat; what the king likes to wear, so the officials like to wear; the king likes to be flattered, so naturally, the officials often flatter the king."

Jing Gong heard Xianzhang's words and thought that Xianzhang's words were very reasonable, so he sent his attendants to reward Xianzhang with many precious things.Xianzhang looked at it and shook his head, saying: "Those who flatter the king just want to get more rewards. If I receive these rewards, wouldn't I also become a despicable villain!" He said nothing about accepting these precious things. Later generations used the phrase "acting from above to below" to describe what the people at the top like to do, and the people below will follow suit.Don't we see more people and things like this in our real society?For example, the host of a company often eats, drinks and has fun outside, ignoring business, and his subordinates follow suit.The meaning of this idiom is negative, so it must describe something bad.