鱼釜尘甑 — “Refers to a state of extreme poverty, lacking food to cook”

During the Han Dynasty, an upright scholar named Fan Ran was implicated and ostracized by the powerful eunuch faction, preventing him from holding any official position. He had no option but to resign from his post, and he embarked on a nomadic life, traveling with his wife in a simple cart pulled by a deer. Often, when they had no money for accommodation, they would simply rest under the shade of a tree.

After more than ten years of wandering, he finally managed to build a small thatched hut. However, their life remained one of extreme hardship; they frequently ran out of food and survived by eating wild vegetables.

His fellow villagers, observing their destitution, would often ridicule him by saying: 'Dust grows in the steamer for Fan Shiyun, and fish grow in the pot for Fan Laiwu.' This expression vividly depicted their extreme poverty, where the cooking steamer was so long unused it gathered dust, and the cooking pot was left idle for so long that moss or algae, resembling fish, grew inside, signifying no food was ever cooked.