Be chivalrous when making friends, and be sincere in life.

It takes a certain amount of loyalty to make friends. When getting along with friends, you should naturally treat them with sincerity. When a friend is in trouble, he should step forward to help. Three-point chivalry is the author's unique insight. Confucianism says that "the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water", which means a moral friendship between like-minded people. The author said that they are not only like-minded moral friends, but also life-and-death friends who share the same friendship and help each other in times of adversity. "Rely on your parents at home, and rely on your friends when you go out." It also talks about the loyalty of friends who help each other in times of need. But after all, the author is a Confucian scholar who has read the books of sages, and still has some reservations about loyalty to the world, and only emphasizes "three points of chivalry." He cannot fully agree with the Jianghu loyalty in "Water Margin" where he only recognizes friends and does not ask about right and wrong.

The author emphasizes that a person should have a little "plain heart", that is, a pure and innocent heart. This is consistent with the previous statement that "a gentleman is not as refined as a refined person; it is better to be unruly as opposed to a crooked person." Accustomed to the flattery and pandering in the officialdom, the author deeply feels that one should not be too sophisticated and tactful, but should still have some true temperament inside, and one should be honest and forthright in dealing with others. The Ming Dynasty was an era of active thinking. As the capitalist economy began to sprout, the consciousness of human liberation also grew. At that time, scholars and literati mostly had a strong sense of individuality and advocated true temperament. Therefore, most of the Ming Dynasty sketches are spiritual works that reveal true feelings, and this book is no exception.

——Zhengyang reads "Cai Gen Tan"