Friends in Days of Simple Life

During the Warring States Period, the King of Qin State coveted the Jade of Heshi, owned by King Huiwen of Zhao State. Therefore, he sent an envoy to pass on a message that he would like to exchange fifteen cities for it.Hearing that, the King of Zhao State sent the retainer Lin Xiangru hold the jade and headed for Qin State.

But after the King of Qin State took Jade of Heshi, he did not mention anything about ceding the fifteen cities as he previously pledged. So Lin Xiangru got back the jade by artifice. Then he rebuked the King of Qin angrily,“Your majesty, you want to get this jade and therefore you sent an envoy to convey this message to our king. Our king called the ministers together to discuss it. They all said that Qin is greedy. You attempt to barter empty words for the jade by right of your power. They are afraid that the fifteen cities will not be ceded to us. So they thought the jade should not be given to you. However, in my opinion, even friends in days of simple life don't deceive each other, let alone two countries.”

This idiom is also called“friends in days of poverty”, meaning the friendship between the common people. It also refers to the friendship between an official and a commoner.

It tells us that people should be honest. A common citizen is supposed to be honest, so are the officials.