Two of its stories are known to every Chinese pupil. On a mission to Chu, Yanzi answers the king's mockery of Qi with
橘生淮南则为橘 'an orange grown south of the Huai is an orange': grown north of the river it turns bitter, so people too are shaped by where they live. In
二桃杀三士 'two peaches kill three warriors' he rids his duke of three dangerous warriors by having two peaches offered to the three of them: they quarrel over who deserves one, and all three end up dead.
