About Fan Li, Sima Qian not only tells the story of his assistance to Gou Jian, the King of Yue, to achieve great things and retire after his success, but also tells one thing in Historical Records:
Fan Li's family left Yue State, lived in Qi State for a period of time, and then went to Tao Di. He thought that Tao Di's road was smooth and he could get rich by doing business, so he called himself Tao Zhugong, became a businessman with his son, and soon accumulated rich family wealth.
In Tao Di, Zhu Gong gave birth to his youngest son. When the youngest son grew up, his second son was arrested by Chu for murder. Since ancient times, all prisoners with daughters will not be executed in downtown areas. Therefore, Duke Zhu decided to send his youngest son to visit his second son and let him take 1000 gold coins. Just as the youngest son was leaving, the eldest son said, "I am the eldest son." Now my brother has committed a crime. My dad didn't send me, but he sent my brother, which shows that I am a black sheep. " After that, I will kill myself. Seeing this, his mother said to Zhu Gong, "Sending the third son now may not save the life of the second child, but what if the boss says suicide?" As a last resort, Zhu Gong sent his eldest son to write a letter and asked him to give it to his old friend Zhuang Sheng. At the same time, he confessed: "When you arrive in the State of Chu, send the gold to Zhuang Sheng's home. Do what he tells you, and don't argue with him."
When the boss arrived in Chu, he gave all the gold to Zhuang Sheng according to his father's instructions. Zhuang Sheng said, "You should leave now and never stay here. Even after your brother is released, don't ask why. " The boss agreed, but didn't really leave. Instead, he secretly stayed in Chu and bribed the powerful people in charge of Chu with his own private money.
Zhuang Sheng was famous for his integrity in Chu, and respected him from the king of Chu to the bottom. When the gold arrived, he said to his wife, "This is Tao Zhugong's money. Please return it to him later. Never use it. "
Zhuangsheng found an opportunity to go to the palace to see the king of Chu, and advised the king of Chu to implement the policy of virtue on the grounds that the change of astronomical phenomena would be unfavorable to Chu, so the king of Chu was prepared to implement Amnesty. The powerful people in the state of Chu who accepted the bribe told the boss the news. He thought that since the Amnesty was implemented, his brother could naturally be released. Isn't that 1000 pieces of gold given to Johnson for nothing? So I came back to see Zhuang Sheng. When Zhuang Sheng saw it, he asked in surprise, "Didn't you leave?" The eldest son said, "No, I came for my brother's business. Now that Chu is going to grant Amnesty to the whole world, my brother can be released naturally, so I have come to say goodbye to you. " Zhuang sheng recognized the meaning of the words and said, "Go back to your room and get the gold yourself." The boss secretly rejoiced that the gold had been recovered.
Zhuang Sheng was deeply ashamed of being fooled by his eldest son. He went to the palace to see the king of Chu again, and said, "Now many people outside are saying that the son of Zhu Gong, a rich pottery man, was imprisoned in Chu after killing, and his family sent people to bribe people around the king of Chu. So it is not the king who sympathizes with the Chu people, but because Zhu Gong's son was pardoned. " The king of Chu was furious and ordered to kill Zhu Gong's son first, and then issued an amnesty decree.
The eldest son had to go home with his younger brother's body. My mother and neighbors are very sad. Only Zhu Gong smiled and said, "I knew the boss couldn't save the second child. It is not that he doesn't love his brother. It's just that he has lived with me since he was a child. He has experienced all kinds of hardships and knows the hardships of life, so he values money very much. The third child was born in a honey pot. I didn't know that money was hard-won, so I gave up without hesitation. I intend to let him go. The boss can't abandon his wealth and finally kill his brother. This is very reasonable. Don't be sad. What I look forward to day and night is that the body of the second child can come back. "
Undoubtedly, the above story further shows Fan Li's extraordinary vision of knowing people, and also verifies an old saying of China: "Knowing a son is like a father."
Regardless of the fact that the second child wanted to kill, he deserved it. It can be said that Zhuang Sheng killed his youngest son, and the eldest son made this decision, so he killed his younger brother, which was sent by Zhu Gong at the request of the child's mother, but the mother was helpless ... So, who killed the younger son?
It's Zhu Gong. If he really wanted to save his son, he could have explained his interests to his eldest son before, but he only explained a few words. Isn't he using the behavior of his eldest son and the life of his second son to prove his eyesight?