"A meal is worth a lot"! Needless to say, this is a satire on the extravagance and corruption of some people. Spending thousands of dollars on a meal is not a luxury and what is it?
But this was a misunderstanding. The origin of "a meal and a thousand gold" and the literal meaning are very different.
"A meal and a thousand gold" is a famous story, which tells a past story of Han Xin, the founding general of the Han Dynasty:
Before his debut, Han Xin's family was poor, "the family eats porridge and wine often on credit", and he is in a state of hunger and cold all day. Therefore, he often went fishing in the river, hoping to try his luck and catch a big fish to fight the tooth sacrifice.
However, this is not a long-term solution after all, so hunger is inevitable. Fortunately, however, in the place where he often fished, there were many old women who washed clothes (at that time, the common name of these old ladies called drifting mothers) working by the river, and one of the drifting mothers was very sympathetic to Han Xin and often made some food for him to eat. Han Xin, who was in distress, was extremely grateful for the favor of the drifting mother who could only barely make ends meet with his hands, so he told the old lady that if he had a day to emerge in the future, he would definitely repay her heavily. However, the old lady was not too happy after listening to Han Xin's words, but said lightly that the reason why she helped Han Xin was only out of sympathy, and never thought of letting Han Xin repay herself. Later, Han Xin assisted Liu Bang in gaining the world, and was crowned king of Chu for his meritorious service, he remembered that he had received the favor of his drifting mother in the past, and after finding her, he ordered him to be sent to her with wine and vegetables to eat, and at the same time asked his subordinates to send two gold as a thank you. It is for "a meal and a thousand gold",
Even if you once ate a meal from someone else, you later repaid it with a thousand taels of gold. Therefore, "a meal and a thousand gold" is not only not a luxury, but a reward for gratitude. "A meal of gold" also shows from another angle that sending charcoal in the snow is far more warm than icing on the cake.