Lao Tzu said: The whole world knows that beauty is beautiful, and evil is evil. It means that everyone in the world knows that beauty is beautiful, and the concept of ugliness comes out. Anything can only be seen through comparison, and the story of Dong Shi Xiaoyi and Zuo Si imitating Pan An can illustrate this truth very well.
Xi Shi, whose real name is Yiguang, was born in Zhuji Ramie Village, Shaoxing in the late Spring and Autumn Period. Her natural beauty is synonymous with the embodiment of beauty. The "sunken fish" in the saying "the appearance of the closed moon and the shy flowers, the appearance of the sinking fish and the falling geese" refers to Xi Shi. Although Xi Shi has the appearance of falling into the city, it is a pity that her health is not good and she has heartache.
Once, she was washing her clothes by the river and getting ready to go home, and she was on her way home when she suddenly had a pain in her chest, so she put her hand on her chest and frowned. Although she felt uncomfortable and uncomfortable, the villagers she saw praised her, saying that she was more beautiful than usual. There was a girl named Dong Shi in the same village, because her appearance was not good-looking, she saw that the people in the village praised Xi Shi for holding her chest with her hands, so she also learned xi Shi's way of holding her chest, frowning, and walking slowly in front of people, thinking that someone would praise her. She is already ugly, coupled with the deliberate imitation of Xi Shi's movements, and her strange appearance of pretense, which makes people feel even more disgusted. After someone saw it, they quickly closed the door, and they felt that Dong shi was uglier than before.
Coincidentally, the story of Zuo Si following Pan An's example but humiliating himself during the Western Jin Dynasty is also ironic.
Pan An, also known as Pan Yue, was a literary scholar of the Western Jin Dynasty. Pan An was handsome in appearance and very outstanding in literary style, so he was favored by women at that time. According to the "New Language of the World", "Pan Yuemiao has a good appearance and a good look. When he was young, he popped out of Luoyang Dao, and when the woman met, he could not help but join hands and haunt him. This means that Pan An is outstanding in appearance, radiant, elegant in manners, and famous far and wide. When he was young, he often walked gracefully on the Luoyang Road with a cowhide slingshot, and when the women saw him, they all held hands and watched around him, not letting him go. From this, you can imagine how charming Pan An's style is! Modern people praise the beauty of men, just say "Pan An", which shows that Pan An is indeed a rare beautiful man in the world.
Pan An's contemporaries there was a person named Zuo Si, Zuo Si is also a famous literary artist, the famous "Three Capital Fu" is from his handwriting, it is said that Zuo Si's ten years of Carrying Ding's work was born, it caused a sensation in the whole luoyang city, everyone competed to read the "Three Capital Fu", because there were too many people who copied it, so that the paper in Luoyang City was not enough, which temporarily caused the scene of "Luoyang paper expensive", which showed that Zuo Si was also a very rich and talented person. However, in the era of Wei and Jin, which attached great importance to appearance, literati with literary style and no appearance were still relatively snubbed.
Zuo Si looked strangely ugly, and the women avoided him when they saw him. Zuo Si saw the sight of beautiful women surrounding Pan An, very envious, and when he had a sudden whim, he decided to emulate Pan An and walked gracefully on the Luoyang Road with a cowhide slingshot. The "New Language of the World" records his story: "Left) is ugly and does not hold ornaments. He also revived (Pan) Yue Youxiao, so the group of concubines spit together and returned. This means that Zuo Si, who looks strange and ugly, did not make any makeup and dressed up, and also learned to walk on the Luoyang Road like Pan An, carrying a cowhide slingshot and pretending to be dashing and deep. As a result, a group of women surrounded him, spitting and spitting at him. Zuo Si hung his head in frustration and had to go back in a daze.