Don't be too stingy when asking for help

In the spring and Autumn period, Fan Li was not only a talented counselor, but also a great businessman with rich family. He once assisted Gou Jian, king of Yue, in defeating the state of Wu, then retired after success and moved to other places to do business. With his intelligence, he soon became rich. Therefore, he was also regarded as the ancestor of Chinese merchants.

But later, his second son was imprisoned in the state of Chu for murder. Fan Li planned to use money to save his son's life. He had a friend named Chuang Sheng, who had a good relationship with the king of Chu. The whole Chu Kingdom respected him very much. So Fan Li decided to save his son through Chuang Sheng. Although he was a friend, Fan Li asked his eldest son to bring enough money and a letter to see Chuang Sheng. He also told his eldest son to give the letter and money to Zhuangsheng, and obey Zhuangsheng's arrangement.

When Fan Li's eldest son arrived in the state of Chu, he found that Zhuangsheng's family was surrounded by four walls, and the courtyard was overgrown with weeds, which did not look like the home of a dignitary official at all. Although he gave the letter and money to Chuang Sheng as his father asked, he didn't think Chuang Sheng could save his younger brother.

Chuang Sheng took the money and the letter, and told Fan Li's eldest son, "leave as soon as you can. I'll take care of the rest. Even if your brother comes out, don't ask why."

However, Fan Li's eldest son, because of his doubts, did not follow Zhuang Sheng's advice and left immediately. Instead, he went to bribe other dignitaries. Because of Fan Li's advantages, Zhuangsheng persuaded the king of Chu to grant amnesty to the world, and the king of Chu followed Zhuangsheng's advice.

When Fan Li's eldest son heard that the king of Chu granted amnesty to the world, he felt that his younger brother would be released. In this case, it's not the same as giving Chuang Sheng so much money for nothing? So he went to Zhuang Sheng and asked for the money. He was very proud of this. He thought that he had saved money and finished his work. The only thing left was to go back and ask his father for credit and reward.

But he never thought that things would get worse. Chuang Sheng felt very uncomfortable when he didn't get any good. He felt that he had been fooled by Fan Li's eldest son. So he went to see the king of Chu and said, "it's said that Fan Li's son was imprisoned for crimes in our country. Now people say that the amnesty is because Fan Li bribed the ministers with money. It's not good for your reputation."

The king of Chu was very angry when he heard these words, so he killed Fan Li's son first, and then implemented amnesty. As a result, Fan Li's eldest son did not want to benefit others, so he had to take his brother's bones home.

This story tells us that there is no good end to being too stingy when asking for help. Fan Li's eldest son, because he was stingy, not only failed to accomplish the task, but also killed his younger brother.

Being too stingy is a big taboo to ask people to do things. It will make things that are easy to do fall short. If you ask people to do things, you can't do things without giving them benefits. Based on this point, you can give the other party certain benefits before doing things, or let the other party know what benefits they will get after things are done. When things are done, it's nothing to give up some money.