During the Northern Song Dynasty, General Chen Pingyong's mansion wanted to recruit a slave. In those years, there were disasters in several provinces, and there was no food in the crops, so it was very difficult to beg for food, so when they encountered such an opportunity, the poor people tried their best to squeeze in. Finally, a man named Luo Gang hit great luck and won out of hundreds of people and became a servant of the Chen mansion.

On the first day Luo Gang entered the mansion, the butler told him that General Chen had a strange temper and told him to be careful and not to be reckless. Luo Gang was cautious, talked less, did more, was open-minded and eager to learn, and was diligent.

General Chen had made great contributions to the imperial court, and the Holy Emperor was very dependent today, and there was an endless stream of people visiting the mansion. Luo Gang soon discovered a strange thing: there were two living rooms in the east and west of the Chen mansion, and the one in the east was slightly larger. There were only a few chairs and a table inside, and what was even more strange was that all these chairs had a broken leg and only three legs left. The living room in the west was slightly smaller, but the furnishings inside were grand, giving people a magnificent feeling. The tables and chairs were complete, and the chairs were all four-legged and not broken.

Luo Gang muttered to himself: The eastern living room is full of three-legged chairs, how can I sit here?

According to the rules of the Chen mansion, every time a guest visited, the tables and chairs in the living room had to be wiped again. On this day, the housekeeper said that a guest was coming, so Luo Gang ran to the east and west living rooms and wiped all the tables and chairs.

After a while, the guests arrived, and General Chen glanced at the tables and chairs, his face sank: "Why didn't you wipe the tables and chairs?" The housekeeper quickly said: "I just wiped them." General Chen stared: "Why don't I always clean them, wipe them again!" The housekeeper gave Luo Gang a wink, and Luo Gang didn't dare to say anything, so he quickly walked over and carefully wiped the tables and chairs again.

After the guests left, the butler called Luo Gang aside and said, "The old general has a strange temper, so we have to be extra careful. If you wipe the tables and chairs early, the old general will not be able to see them, and your heart will feel dirty. If you wipe them late, it will delay things..." Luo Gang asked helplessly, "Then how do you wipe them?"

The butler said, "It's best if you just finish wiping and the old general just comes in, so that the old general can see it without delaying things."

Luo Gang thought to himself, this is not difficult, as long as he comes to the living room in advance, finishes wiping the tables and chairs, and when the old general comes in, he pretends to wipe it again, that's fine.

Unexpectedly, Luo Gang was scolded by the housekeeper for a few days, because there were many guests in the mansion recently, and there were no rules for the old general to meet guests. For a moment, the east and west living rooms were constantly changing. Sometimes Luo Gang wiped the eastern living room, but the old general would go to the western living room to meet guests.

Luo Gang couldn't help but complain in his heart: This Chen Mansion is real, the tables and chairs are so clean, but the chairs themselves are not particular at all, and the three-legged ones are not repaired, how can people sit? Also, since the eastern living room is full of three-legged chairs, why not lead all the guests to the western living room? In this way, there is no need to clean the eastern living room, and I will not be busy on both sides!

That day, a chubby official came to the mansion. Luo Gang thought that this uncle had at least 100 kilograms, so he should go to the west living room. The chair in the east living room has three legs, so I 'm afraid it will not be able to withstand this uncle sitting.

With this in mind, Luo Gang hurriedly ran to the west living room for a while, polished the tables and chairs brightly, and waited for the old general to come in, and then wiped them one last time, but he couldn't wait, and he couldn't wait. After a while, he heard the old general shouting outside: "Why don't you wipe the tables and chairs?" Luo Gang heard that it was broken, and this time it was the eastern living room – a three-legged one!

There was always a time when people were enlightened, and slowly, Luo Gang realized the essentials: those who entered the Chen Mansion, all civil servants, generals, dignitaries, in short, those with status, the old generals would generally meet in the "three-legged" east living room; all ordinary people in general attire would be led to the west living room to enjoy the "four-legged" treatment.

In the Chen Mansion, the nobler the status, the more unpopular it was. Why did the old general make such an arrangement? Luo Gang couldn't make sense, but it was just such a rule anyway. After Luo Gang opened his aperture, the number of times he was scolded by the old general decreased significantly, and he also learned to be good. Every time he heard that a guest was coming, he would run to the housekeeper to inquire about the identity and origin of the guest, so as to determine which living room to clean.

That day, the butler told Luo Gang that a guest was coming to the mansion. Luo Gang narrowed his eyes and asked who the person was, but the butler shook his head and said he didn't know. Luo Gang's head was clever, and he squatted at the door and waited. Not long after, a big man in coarse cloth clothes came from a distance, with a black face and dirty clothes.

Luo Gang knew it in his heart, turned around and ran to the west living room, and mumbled while cleaning the tables and chairs: "The people the general meets are mostly high-ranking officials and rich people, who have no wealth. What kind of fun do you come here to make fun of? I have to run around and wait."

After wiping the table and chairs, Luo Gang straightened his ears, wanting to hear the footsteps of the old general, but there was no movement for a while. He went to the door and took a look outside.

Luo Gang didn't have time to think about it, so he ran to the east living room with three feet and two steps, and quickly wiped the three-legged table and chairs. Although the general's face was a little displeased, he did not attack on the spot.

Luo Gang finished wiping the table and chairs and hurried away, but he didn't go far, but hid in the corner of the courtyard and craned his neck to look into the living room. At the beginning, the living room was calm, and he didn't hear any sound. After about half a stick of incense, the old general suddenly shouted loudly, and then, "Ping Ping Ping Ping Pong" was noisy, needless to say, the old general lost his temper and smashed things!

Luo Gang hurriedly ran into the east living room, only to see the old general's face angry, and the rough man was scolded with blood, and he was gloomy, but he was still muttering: "I don't recognize my six relatives, hum, my brain is broken!" These words made the old general furious, he didn't say a word, grabbed a chair and smashed it on the rough man... Luo Gang saw that something was going to happen, and hurriedly stretched out his hand to block it, and the chair hit him. "Pa Pa Pa," one of his three legs was broken, and it broke into two, and it hurt Luo Gang. Luo Gang grinned, and he couldn't say what he was suffering, but the rough man saw that something was wrong and ran away.

When the old general saw that the chair hurt Luo Gang, he couldn't bear it, and his face calmed down a lot. When Luo Gang saw the old general put down the shelf, he was no longer so afraid, and took the opportunity to express the long-standing doubts in his heart: Why did the old general meet the guests in the eastern living room and the western living room? Why does the chair have three legs and four legs?

When the old general heard this, he pondered for a while and said, "The four-legged chair is naturally stable, and there is no need to pay attention when sitting. And most of the people who come to my mansion are here to discuss national affairs. How can they not pay attention when discussing major matters? If I let them sit on the three-legged chair, they will naturally sit upright and dare not neglect.

Hearing this, Luo Gang finally understood that the dignitaries who usually come to the mansion come to talk about big things. Big things need to be taken care of and cannot be sloppy, so they have to sit on a three-legged chair; while those ordinary people, or to play chess, or to chat, there is no need to sit upright.

Luo Gang nodded again and again, admiring the wisdom of the old general in dealing with the world. Suddenly he thought of something and asked, "The man who came just now is dressed in ordinary clothes and doesn't look like someone who came to talk about big things. Why did the general invite him to the east living room and sit on that three-legged chair?"

When the old general heard this, his face became serious and he said, "That's a distant relative of mine who wants to go my way and ask me to come forward and find him a job in the official office. I would never do such a shameful thing. This is also a big matter, and it needs to be talked about with heart. There is no room for sloppiness."

Luo Gang listened and admired the old general to the extreme. From then on, every time he went to the eastern living room to wipe the three-legged tables and chairs, he always paid special attention...