How To Eat A Bowl Of Noodles Like Xi Jingping

This is a wise story with an equally good lesson, translated to English from Chinese. Whether this story was really written by the most powerful man on the planet, I do not know. It does not matter to me who wrote it. But if you cannot stand not knowing who wrote this meme or whether it is a true story, then go make a hungry person a bowl of noodles to eat first. You will figure it out eventually!

?The story goes like this: President Xi Jinping of China once shared:

"When I was a small child, I was very selfish and I would only have the best for myself. Eventually, everyone left me, even my friends. I’ve never faulted myself and only redirected mistakes to others and criticised them.

But my dad taught me some very important principles.

One day, he cooked 2 bowls of noodles and laid them on the table. One had an egg on top and the other bowl didn't have any, which he then asked me to choose a bowl. Back then, eggs were hard to come by! We only got to eat eggs during festivals or New Year. Of course I chose the bowl with the egg! As we started eating, I was overjoyed and proud of my wise choice/decision and happily consumed the egg. To my surprise, as my father ate his noodles, there were TWO eggs at the bottom of his noodles! I regretted so much! And I scolded myself for being too hasty in my decision. My father smiled and said to me, ”My child. You must remember, what your eyes see may not be true. If you intend on taking advantage of people, you will end up losing!”

The next day, my father again cooked 2 bowls of noodles: one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top. Again, he put the two bowls on the table and said to me, ”My child. You choose. Which bowl do you want?” This time I was smarter. I chose the bowl without any egg on top. To my surprise, as I separated the noodles on top, there was not even a single egg at the bottom of the bowl! Again my father smiled and said to me, ”My child, you must not always rely on experiences because sometimes, life can cheat you or play tricks on you. But you must not be too annoyed or sad. Just treat this as a lesson learnt. You cannot learn this from textbooks.

The third day, my father cooked 2 bowls of noodles again, like previously, one bowl with an egg on top and the other bowl with no egg on top. He put the 2 bowls on the table and again said to me, ”My child. You choose. Which bowl do you want?” This time, I told my father, ”Dad, you choose first. You are the head of the family and contributed the most to the family.” My father did not decline and chose the bowl with one egg on top. As I ate my bowl of noodles, I was certain in my heart that there was no egg inside the bowl. To my surprise, there were TWO eggs at the bottom of the bowl!

My father smiled at me with love in his eyes, ”My child, you must remember! When you think for the good of others, good things will always naturally happen to you!”

From then on, I have been living my life with these 3 principles. In everything I do, regardless of personal matter or business matters, I’ve always placed others ahead of me and think for them.”

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Source: Accountancy future 2018 article. Here is the original text in Chinese.

中国国家主席习近平的父亲送給他的三句話:

小時候，我是一個自私的孩子，

有什麼好的東西，我总是想到自己，

從不顾及別人的感受，

結果同伴一個個离我而去。

為此，我十分苦惱，

常常在背后指責別人的不是。

一天晚上，父亲煮了两碗面，

一碗面上有一顆白生生的鸡蛋，

而另一碗面看上去什麼都沒有。

父亲問我，你吃哪一碗？

那時鸡蛋是十分珍貴的食品，

若非逢年過節或生日，是很难吃到的，

我當然不會放過這樣的機會。

於是，我毫不猶豫地选择了有鸡蛋的那一碗。

事實上，我的选择是错误的，

正當我洋洋得意地吃完那顆鸡蛋時，

我驚訝地发現父亲的碗底竟然藏著两顆鸡蛋，

我後悔不已，恨自己過於心急。

見此，父親微笑著對我說：

「孩子，你务必記住，

眼睛看到的未必是真实的，想占別人便宜的人最終會吃大亏。」

第二天晚上，父亲又煮了兩碗面，

仍然是一碗面上有一顆白生生的鸡蛋，

而另一碗面看上去什麼都沒有。

父亲让我选择，這一次我學乖了，

选择了面上沒有雞蛋的那碗。

父親默默地注視著我，一句話也沒說。

我趕緊拿起筷子，將上面的面條扒開，

我滿以為下面會臥著兩顆白生生的鸡蛋，

但很快我失望地發現，碗底除了清湯，什麼也沒有。

這時，父亲意味深長地對我說：

「孩子，你一定要記住，

不要過分相信以往的經驗，因為生活有時也會欺騙你。

不過，你不用氣惱，也不用悲伤，

全當是一次人生体验吧，

這是你從书本上無法學到的東西。」

第三天晚上，父亲同樣煮了兩碗面，

還是一碗面上有一顆白生生的鸡蛋，

而另一碗面看上去什麼都沒有。

父亲讓我先选，這一次我沒有貿然行事，

而是情真意切地對父亲說：

「爸爸，您是長輩！又為我和這個家庭付出了太多，還是您先選吧！」

父亲沒有推辭，直接选了上面有一顆鸡蛋的那碗。

我猜想，剩下的那碗肯定沒有鸡蛋，

但出乎意料的是，我非常幸運，碗底臥着两顆白生生的鸡蛋。

父亲抬起頭，眼里滿是慈愛，他淡淡地對我說：

「孩子，你千萬要記住，

當你為別人着想时，好運就會降临到你的頭上。」

父亲的話令我慚愧不已。

從那以後，我把這三句話當作了自己的人生準則，无论是為人还是处事，我首先想到的总是別人的利益，果然如父亲所言，好运接踵而至，我的事业也做得風生水起。

～ 习近平