In a novel, there was a saying," Four wallets are as heavy as one." It was used to describe a person who was short of money. What was the story behind it?

Answer 1

The phrase " four wallets are as heavy as one " was often used in novels to describe a character's lack of money. It meant that the things in the wallet were very crowded. This story can be traced back to an ancient Chinese legend:

It was said that a long time ago, there was a young man named Wang Lun. His family was poor, but he was a very hardworking person. Every morning, he would go to the fields to work and earn his living expenses with his own sweat. However, his income was not enough to maintain his life. Whenever he received his salary, he would put a portion of the money into his wallet for emergencies.

One day, when Wang Lun was working in the fields, he suddenly met a kind-hearted elder. The elder saw that he was very poor and asked him if he needed help. Wang Lun expressed his predicament to the elder and the elder gave him a good idea.

The elder told him that there were four purses, each representing a portion of wealth. He could save all four of these wealth and wait until he had four of the same income before taking them out to support his life.

Wang Lun listened to the elder's advice and began to work hard and save his income every day. After a few years of hard work, he finally had four equal income and saved all this wealth. When he took out four sets of wealth, the four purses weighed the same, which meant that he had four sets of the same wealth.

From then on, the phrase "four wallets are as heavy as one" was used to describe the lack of money, which meant that one needed to work hard to make a living.