Chapter 18: The True Meaning of "Poverty and Wealth"

I found the recipe from Group 1 and said to the woman:

"Go buy a pig's penis, clean it, add a little salt, and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once the water boils, simmer it over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Remove it from the heat, let it cool, and feed it to your child while it's still warm.

If you stop grinding your teeth after eating it on the first day, you don't need to eat it on the second day. If that doesn't work, you need to eat it three times.

When buying pig whip, ask the seller to cut it open with a knife and scrape the inner wall. Then, wipe it with starch a few times to clean it.

The woman said, "There are no pig whips for sale in the market."

"Can't you ask the butcher to leave one for you? He usually throws it away."

"Is this all right?"

"I don't know either, but my friends in the group have tried it themselves, so you should give it a try. Pig penis is meat after all. There will be no problem eating it."

"How much?"

"If I don't want money, how can I make money using other people's recipes?"

"Teacher Wan, you are so kind."

Then the woman asked again: "Teacher Wan, the butcher won't charge me for this pig whip, right?"

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

"He's throwing it away anyway, why would he want my money?"

I don't want to answer.

The woman left.

Chun said, "This person is funny. How much will this cost? And he keeps asking you."

I said, "Come on, spring, I'll teach you four words."

After saying that, I wrote the words "poor" and "rich" on the paper.

The traditional Chinese character for "poor" is: xue+gong

【富】The traditional Chinese character has not changed, it has always been like this: 宝盖头 + 口田.

Please note that the top parts of these two characters are different.

The character for "poor" has the character "xue" on top, which means living in a cave. The character for "poor" has the character "gong" on the bottom, which means living in a cave with the body bent.

[富], with a roof on top, means not living in a cave. It means living at home. The field below means having land at home.

So, the difference between being poor and being rich is whether or not one has land.

If you are poor and have no home, you can only live in a cave; if you are rich, you can live in a house.

Poor people don’t even have a house, that is, no homestead. Rich people have both a house and land.

Just now, this woman even wanted the butcher to give her the pig whip for free. She is really poor."

Haru said, "Oh, that's how it is."

I said, "In today's society, it's not that she doesn't even have a house. We need to see the key point: people are poor because of their ideology.

She thought that butchers usually threw away the pig whip, so it was useless. Since it was useless, she thought the butcher should give it to her.

But the key point is: if the butcher takes it, it is useless to him, but if he gives it to you, it is useful to you. Therefore, her thinking led to her poverty.

For example, your cardboard boxes are considered waste and need to be thrown away, but the scrap collector must pay you. If the scrap collector says, "This is all you have, just give it to me." Then, he will always be a scrap collector and will not open a scrap yard.

Chun said, "Yes, the scrap yard has to pay."

I said, "The reason why the poor are poor is because they are poor in their thinking. Now I will analyze for you the difference between poverty and nobility.

The two characters share the same radical: [貝].

[Shell], in ancient times, [shells] were used as intermediaries in commodity transactions, so it represents [money].

The difference between poverty and nobility is not the difference between having land or not, but the difference between having money or not.

So, strictly speaking.

The poor refer to those who have no land in the countryside. They have no roof over their heads and no land to live on.

Poor people refer to those who earn little money in the city, and are called urban poor. They are generally not called urban poor.

Rich people are those who own large houses, fields, and mines in the countryside. They are called landlords and local tyrants. Land is the key to their wealth.

A noble person is someone who lives in a city and has wealth and status. They are called dignitaries and nobles.

Therefore, there is a difference between poverty and poverty.

Being poor generally refers to being poor in mind and lazy in body.

Being poor only means that he earns less money, but he still has the possibility of turning his life around.

So there is a saying, "Poverty and humbleness cannot be moved." We would not say "Poverty and humbleness cannot be moved."

Poverty is not a problem; being poor is a problem.

Many people who came from poor families have achieved great things.

What is scary is the [poor mentality].

That is, he would rather stay in the cave with his body bent and not think of changing.

That is, they would rather bend their bodies and beg from others.

This also includes behaviors like grabbing prawns on a cruise ship, being scammed online, and stealing things in daily life. They believe that free lunch is the way to go and don't respect contracts.

So some families teach their children: "We are poor, but we should be poor with ambition." This means that they should change their way of thinking.

Chun said, "Master analyzes words and teaches me how to be a good person. How do you explain the word 'cheap'?"

I took a sip of tea and said:

The traditional Chinese character for "cheap" is "贝" (bei) plus two "戈" (ge). It's not a question of how much money you have, but rather that the "贝" (bei) has been damaged, mutilated, and turned into a second-rate good. It's no longer as valuable.

For example, if a concubine displeased the emperor, she would be banished to the cold palace and become a lowly woman.

For example, if a high-ranking official makes a mistake, he is thrown into prison or exiled thousands of miles away and becomes a pariah.

It means that people and things have been harmed, their value has been depreciated again and again, and their status has been declining.

In this process, people become debased, but that doesn't necessarily mean their character has deteriorated. There are unjust, false, and wrongful convictions. That's why they become debased, and that's why "poverty and humbleness cannot change."

The use of Chinese characters has strict origins. You can't use them arbitrarily. So, I wouldn't say absolutely, but most characters with the character "貝" (shellfish) next to them are related to money.

Expensive, more money means more status.

Like, sponsorship. It's about money.

Wealth, needless to say, is money.

Fees, expenses.

Funding, funding.

Earn, make money.

Goods, buy them with money.

Subsidy, subsidy.

Thief, stealing money and property.

Reward, prize money or something else.

Virtue: A valuable virtue.

Guan: One string of coins, a unit of measurement for money in ancient times.

Defeat: lose money.

Give: reward money.

Betting: using money as a bet.

Zhui: spend money to marry a man.

I won’t give you all the examples here. If someone asks you to do a fortune telling with the character [貝] in their horoscope, it’s more appropriate to start with the aspect of money.

Chun said, "You haven't taught me how to speak so eloquently."

I said, "Lotus is another name for Buddhism. When monks chant, they are reciting Buddhist scriptures, which means they are constantly spitting out Buddhist texts from their mouths, which is like spitting out lotus flowers."

At this time, a person came in and asked for a fortune telling of [缘].

I said: "Yuan" (缘) means the edge of a garment. To predict marriage, it's about destiny. This destiny is like touching the edge. Whether there's destiny or not, I can't say for sure. This word represents an uncertain state.

Fate is the most beautiful excuse for people to meet each other, and it is also the most gorgeous excuse for parting.

Whether you are destined to be together or not depends entirely on the two of you.

Some words are indefinite in their meaning, but their shape indicates that they are intertwined.

Emotional entanglements, financial entanglements, and many other things are entangled together. It can happen whether you are just starting a relationship, have been in a relationship for a long time, or are married and preparing to divorce.

If you don’t tell me your current situation, I can’t give you any advice.”

He smiled and left.

Chunlai was confused and asked me, "What does he mean?"

I said, "You can't keep asking me. Find out for yourself."

That morning, I only taught him the radical of the character "貝".