“Don’t abandon a wife who is poor, and don’t abandon a friend who is poor and humble.”

It means: Don’t abandon a married couple in times of trouble, and don’t forget the friends who were poor and humble.

Source: "Book of the Later Han Dynasty·Song Hong Biography": "(Emperor Guangwu) said to Hong: 'As the saying goes, wealth is easy to make friends with, and wealth is easy to get wives. How about human feelings?' Hong said: 'I heard that the poor and the lowly are not allowed to know each other. Forget, a wife of wretched chaff will not go to court. '"

It means: As the saying goes, when you become noble, you forget about friendship, and when you become rich, you want to marry another wife. Is this human nature? When Song Hong heard this, he knew that there was something interesting in this sentence, and he replied: "I heard that the poor and humble should not be forgotten, and the wife of chaff will not go to court."

Extended information:

About " The historical story of "A wife who is a chaff must not be abandoned, and a friend who is a poor and humble friend must not be abandoned":

In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu appointed Song Hong, a servant in the Western Han Dynasty, and promoted him to "Taizhong Dafu". Liu Xiu's sister was widowed and fell in love with Song Hong. Liu Xiu wanted to marry her sister to Song Hong, and asked Song Hong what he thought of "the rich are easy to make friends with, and the rich are easy to get wives." Forget, the wife of chaff will not go to court." Liu Xiu had to give up.