A gentleman's thoughts are blue and white, and cannot be ignored; a gentleman's talent is hidden in jade and pearls, and cannot be easily understood.
Hiding and not knowing, is not an open-minded person. Those who care about talent but do not miss it must be a talented and brilliant person. Having a proper hiding can avoid disasters, increase your wisdom and cultivate your mind and nature, nourish your emotions, and help others understand yourself and have a clear conscience.
A gentleman acts openly and has no need to hide his pretentiousness and bluff. Talent is hidden, but it does not mean hiding without using it. Instead, it does its best to display where it can be displayed, and it is not too much to show off or boast about it.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Yang Xiu was the main figure of Cao Cao . He was outstanding in talent, but was eventually killed by Cao Cao. The main reason was that he was too proud of himself and showed that he was talented and unparalleled.
When Yang Xiu was building the gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Cao Cao came to inspect. After seeing the construction of the gate, he said nothing, and left the word "living" on the gate and left. After Yang Xiu finished reading it, he immediately figured out Cao Cao's intention that the gate was too broad, so he immediately ordered people to demolish and rebuild it.
Once Cao Cao invited Yang Xiu to watch Cao E Stele , and saw the words on the stele: "The young woman in yellow silk, her grandson is white." Yang Xiu did not distinguish between the king and the ministers, and couldn't wait to say loudly to Cao Cao and his ministers that it was a "wonderful and wonderful words" meaning. The colored silk fabric of "yellow silk" is the word "jue"; "young woman" is a girl, which is the word "mi-word"; "grandson" is the daughter's children, which is the word "good"; and "闭" is a vessel used to dress up spicy condiments, which is the word "ci". After repeated recurring, Cao Cao, who was originally suspicious, felt that Yang Xiu was more talented than him. When he became jealous, he had the idea of getting rid of Yang Xiu.
Finally, in a battle, Cao's army fell into trouble and inadvertently used the word "small rib" as the military command. Yang Xiu was smart and over-speculative, and ordered the troops to return to the court. After Cao Cao learned about this, he thought that Yang Xiu's move was disrupting the morale of the army, so he ordered people to behead him.
truly patriots with both moral integrity and ability are all high-profile and low-key. They are like ordinary people, embracing nature, but raising their talents in silence, neither allowing their open mind to be obscured by desires nor allowing their humble mind to be filled with vanity.
