One person found that the chimney¹ in his friend's house was too straight and too close to the firewood. Then he reminded his friend, "Those two things are dangerous when they are too close together, you had better bend the chimney and move the firewood otherwise a fire may break out." The host did not accept the advice.

 

A few days later, a fire did break out due to this. And thanks for the neighbors' help there wasn't much loss. In order to thank them, the host feted all those who had helped, and rewarded each of them according to contributions. But the one that had advised him to change the structure of his kitchen was not among the people who had been thanked. Someone reminded the host of this, "Had you listened to your friend, you would not have to reward us and would not have suffered losses." The host awaked to this and went to invite his friend immediately.

 

一个人见朋友家烟囱砌得太直，又过于靠近柴火堆，便提醒主人说：“这两样东西在一起很危险，最好是把烟囱改成弯曲的，再将干柴挪远些，否则，容易发生火灾。”主人听了，没有接受这个建议。

 

不几天，主人家果然因此失了火，亏得邻居纷纷帮忙，才没有造成更大损失。感激之下，主人杀牛备酒款待邻居们，按功劳大小一一酬谢，但这些人中却没有建议他改变厨房结构的朋友。旁人提醒主人：“如果你听了你的朋友的建议，不但用不着酬劳大家，还不会遭受损失。”主人醒悟过来，连忙去请自己的朋友。

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