The section opens with
曹操 receiving an envoy of the Xiongnu. Thinking himself too plain to impress a foreign state, he had a handsomer man sit in his place and stood by the couch holding a sword himself. Asked afterwards, the envoy said the man with the sword was the real hero. That story gave
捉刀 its modern sense 'to write for someone else'. The section also holds the line behind
鹤立鸡群 'a crane among chickens'.
