Meaning: Describes a situation which has already come about and cannot be reversed.
Source: He Jin Zhuan (Biography of He Jin) in Hou Han Shu (History of the Latter Han).
1.In the Western Han dynasty, in the province of Guiji, there lived a man by the name of Zhu Maichen. He and his wife, who was surnamed Cui, were poor, and they lived by gathering firewood. Because Maichen loved reading, whenever they went out collecting wood he would take a book to read along the way.
2.Maichen was not ashamed of being poor, and when he read something he enjoyed he would often start to chant the words aloud, quite unconcerned what anyone might think. His wife found this mortifying, but when she asked Maichen to stop he only recited more loudly. Her embarrassment turned to rage, and reflecting that she hadn't had a day's ease since she married Maichen, she asked him for a divorce.
3.Maichen said: "I'm 40 now; by the time I'm 50 I'm sure I'll be rich and successful. You've suffered hardship all these years with me, but I'll repay you some day." His wife cursed him as a daydreamer, and insisted on a divorce. Maichen had no choice but to let her remarry.
4.A few years later, at someone's recommendation Zhu Maichen was appointed an official. Because the policies he suggested to the court were often successful, not long afterwards Emperor Wu made him governor of Guiji.
5.On the day of Zhu Maichen's inauguration, a great procession of people, horses and carriages brought him from afar. His former wife too stood among the crowd of onlookers, never dreaming that this new governor was none other than her divorced husband. When she saw it was him, she ran out and blocked his way, begging him to take her back.
6.With a cold laugh, Maichen said: "Back then, nothing I could say would make you stay, and you mocked me as a daydreamer. Well now..." He ordered one of his guards to fetch water and spill it on the ground. Then he told his ex-wife that if she could collect up the water and put it back in the bowl, they could be reunited. His wife was so ashamed that she didn't even dare raise her head, and Zhu Maichen gave his horse a lash of the whip and rode on.