nine meals in thirty days -- to live in dire poverty

nine meals in thirty days -- to live in dire poverty

It's a Chinese idiom. Pinyin is s ā nx ú NJI ǔ sh í, which means it's difficult to get food from a poor family. It comes from Shuoyuan · Lijie written by Liu Xiang of Han Dynasty.

The origin of Idioms

In Shuo Yuan Li Jie written by Liu Xiang of Han Dynasty, "Zisi lived in Wei, his robe had no appearance, and he had nine meals in his twenties." Tao Qian of Jin Dynasty wrote a poem of imitating the ancients: "when you meet food at the age of thirty-nine, you will get a crown in ten years."

Idiom usage

Poverty refers to poverty