Although James Zhang is a prime minister, his food and clothing are not as good as others, and he still insists on frugality. Even if there were strange eyes outside, he didn't take it to heart. Especially in winter, it is particularly cold. Almost all court officials wear several fur coats to keep out the cold, and animal fur is generally expensive. However, James Zhang, the prime minister, always wears only a fur coat. His clothes have faded badly and the patches inside and outside are worn out, but he still wears that fur coat when he goes to court every day.
After a long time, everyone suspected that James Zhang was stingy or deliberately dressed like this for the emperor. He sold badly to attract the emperor's attention. After a long time, the emperor became curious, so he made an excuse to leave James Zhang alone and arranged for the little eunuch to follow James Zhang and burn a hole in his fur coat. Because the emperor didn't trust a decent prime minister, he would always wear only a fur coat, and he would change it the next year, but it was only nine Niu Yi hairs. The next year, the emperor observed carefully and found that there were holes in James Zhang's fur coat, which showed that James Zhang was really diligent and thrifty.
So I asked him why. James Zhang said that his boss, Baiguan, only knew when he was diligent and thrifty, and his subordinates also saw him. This atmosphere is more conducive to the people, so the emperor was very happy and rewarded James Zhang with a tribute cloth to make clothes, but he only bought ordinary coarse cloth.
Diligence and thrift are China's traditional virtues. We should inherit and carry forward such virtues, knowing that a happy life is hard to come by now.