Pu Songling was keen on imperial examinations all his life, but he was always frustrated. This pair of famous couplets is an inspirational couplet written by Pu Songling himself when he failed many times in the imperial examination in his later years and was extremely depressed.

"Burn one's bridges, one hundred and two passes will eventually lead to Chu" refers to the story that Xiang Yu burned one's bridges and defeated Qin Jun at the end of Qin Dynasty, and "Three thousand Yue families can swallow Wu" refers to the story of Gou Jian, the king of Yue, who died at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period.

This couplet was carved on a copper ruler at first, and then hung in the study of the bookstore.

Extended data

suggestion

Endure hardships to achieve some ambition.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a war between wuyue. Yue was defeated by Wu, and Gou Jian was captured by Fu Cha. Later, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, released Gou Jian and sent him back to Huiji, the capital of Yue.

Gou Jian hangs a gallbladder in the place where he sits and lies, and lies on the straw at night, facing the gallbladder. Every day when I eat, I taste bitterness and always blame myself: "Have you forgotten the humiliation of defeat?" In this way, Gou Jian shares weal and woe with fate. After ten years of developing production, accumulating strength and training, Fu Cha was finally defeated and Wu was destroyed in 473 BC.