Green, Red, Black and White(青紅皂白)
In the late Ming Dynasty of China, there
was a famous official and writer called Ling Mengchu.
He wrote a collection of short stories.
This phrase comes from one of the stories.
The summary of the story is as follows.
There are two people who have a partnership
and run a liquor shop together.
One person provides the initial capital and
the other is responsible for running the business.
The shop did very well and made a lot of
money.
A few years later, the person who provided
the initial capital asked for a settlement and a share of the profits. But the
person in charge of the business became greedy. The person in charge of the
business has prepared false accounts and told the person who provided the
start-up capital.
Our business is not making any money and
all the money you originally invested has been lost.
The person who provided the start-up
capital was very angry and went to the local government to lodge a complaint.
Unexpectedly, after hearing the news, the
person in charge of the business bribed the county magistrate in charge of
hearing the case.
Since the county magistrate accepted the
bribe, he did not investigate the case. He ignored the law and the merits of
the case.
He directly ruled that the person who had
provided the start-up capital had lost the case.
In addition, the district judge demanded
that the person who provided the start-up capital pay a lot of money to the
person who was responsible for running the business.
The man who provided the start-up capital
was angry, his mood became very depressed, he became very unhappy and
depressed, and soon after that man died.
The end of this story is that the person
who was responsible for the business later got his comeuppance.
The author uses this story to remind the
readers that we should be upright and honest people. If we do deceitful things,
we may gain short-term benefits, but in the end we will get retribution.
The direct translation of this idiom is
green, red, black and white.
This idiom has been extended to describe a
person who does not investigate the right, wrong and reason of an event, just
as the person deliberately does not recognise different colours.
Dear friend, what inspirations or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
Have you ever gone into business with your
friends? Do you believe that there will be retribution in this world?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
青紅皂白(Green, Red, Black and White)
中國的明王朝末年，有一個著名的官員與文學家，他的名字是凌濛初。
他寫過一本短篇故事集。
這句成語就出自其中一篇故事。
這這故事的概要如下。
有兩個人合夥生意，他們兩個人一起經營一家賣酒的店。
其中一個人提供創始資金，另外一個人專責經營。
這家店的業績很好，因此賺了很多錢。
幾年後，這個提供創始資金的人要求要對帳並且分回自己應得的利潤，但專責經營的人起了貪念，
這個專責經營的人做假帳並對這個提供創始資金的人說。
我們的生意沒有賺錢，你當初投資的錢都賠光了。
這個提供創始資金的人很生氣，就到當地的地方政府去提告。
沒想到這個專責經營的人知道這個消息後就賄絡負責審理這個案件的縣長。
縣長因為收了賄絡，所以他就沒有調查這件事情，他不理會這件事情的是非與原因。
他直接判定這個提供創始資金的人敗訴。
而且縣長還要求這個提供創始資金的人要賠償給這個專責經營的人很多錢。
這個提供創始資金的人很氣憤，他的心情變得很低落，他變得很不開心又很憂鬱，不久後，這個人就死了。
這個故事的結局是後來這個專責經營的人得到了報應。
作者用這個故事來提醒讀者們，我們應該要做一個正直與誠實的人，如果我們做出欺騙的詭詐的事，我們可能短期會得到好處，但終究會得到報應。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是綠色紅色黑色與白色。
這句成語被引申用來形容一個人不追查一件事情的是非與原因，就如同這個人故意不識別各種不同的顏色一樣。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你曾經與你的朋友合夥一起做生意嗎?你是否相信這世界上會有報應呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為明-凌濛初-二刻拍案驚奇-卷16
https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%BA%8C%E5%88%BB%E6%8B%8D%E6%A1%88%E9%A9%9A%E5%A5%87/16