凿壁偷光 — “To study diligently despite poverty and difficult circumstances”

During the Western Han Dynasty, there was a farmer's son named Kuang Heng. When he was young, he really wanted to study, but because his family was poor, they couldn't afford school. Later, he learned to read from a relative and gained the ability to read books.

Kuang Heng couldn't afford to buy books, so he had to borrow them. At that time, books were very precious, and those who owned them were reluctant to lend them out easily. So, during the busy farming season, Kuang Heng worked odd jobs for wealthy families, not asking for wages, but only asking to borrow books to read.

A few years later, Kuang Heng grew up and became the main laborer in his family. He worked in the fields all day, only having time to read a little during his lunch break. Thus, it often took him ten days to half a month to finish a single volume. Kuang Heng was very anxious, thinking: I have no time to read during the day because of farming, so I can use more time at night. But Kuang Heng's family was very poor and couldn't afford lamp oil. What could he do?

One evening, Kuang Heng was lying in bed, reciting the books he had read during the day. As he recited, he suddenly saw a sliver of light coming through the wall to the east. He jumped up and walked to the wall. Ah! It turned out to be light from the neighbor's lamp seeping through a crack in the wall. So, Kuang Heng came up with an idea: he took a small knife and enlarged the crack in the wall. This made the light coming through brighter, and he then leaned close to the incoming light and began to read.

Kuang Heng studied so diligently, and later became a very learned person.