This idiom comes from a old folk song. The last two stanzas¹ go like this:

 

One family has five brothers, all serving to a minister as attendants. Every five days, they go back home for a reunion, decorating their horses and garments with shining gold. They vie（竞争） with each other for ostentation²（卖弄） and extravagance（奢侈） , attracting crowds of onlookers³ along the road.

 

Now there is a peach tree by a well, and a plum tree next to it. When worms come to gnaw⁴（啃，咬） at the root of the peach tree, the plum tree invites them to gnaw at its own root. Finally, the plum dies, ossified⁵.

 

Even trees know how to sacrifice for other trees, why can't brothers do the same?

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