残杯冷炙 — “Leftover food”

Yan Zhitui, a learned literary figure of the Northern Qi Dynasty, left behind the renowned work 'Family Instructions of the Yan Clan,' which advocates for living and managing a household based on traditional Confucian thought. This treatise significantly influenced how many scholars of later generations conducted themselves and their families.

In 'Family Instructions of the Yan Clan,' there is a warning against being driven by the powerful due to a little praise, and enduring the humiliation of receiving alms from the influential while occupying a lowly position. The great Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu, for a period, found himself living in the very bitter circumstances that Yan Zhitui had described.

Du Fu was intelligent and diligent from a young age, with high aspirations and a practical spirit, yet he never encountered an opportunity to display his talents. It wasn't until he was thirty-five that he, already famous for his poetry, embarked on the road to Chang'an, the capital.

After completing the imperial examination, Du Fu felt confident in his writing. However, little did he know that Li Linfu, the minister presiding over the exam, had no intention of selecting worthy talents. Instead, he systematically suppressed all capable and courageous individuals. Du Fu had not anticipated his failure in the examination, which caused him immense pain and led to pessimism and despair about his future.

From then on, he drifted in Chang'an, living as a 'guest' in the homes of high-ranking officials, dependent on others. He often accompanied princes and ministers at banquets, composing poems and verses to entertain them. He did this partly to sustain his livelihood and partly in hopes of receiving recommendations from the powerful to secure an official position.