The three seconds before you speak

The three seconds when the blood goes up decide where you're sitting for the next six months.

Somebody kills your idea in front of the room. The sentence is already in your mouth. Saying it feels like relief for about four minutes, and then you have a relationship to repair for a year.

Lin Xiangru had just been given a rank above Lian Po, one of Zhao's most decorated generals. Lian Po was furious and said out loud that if he ever ran into that man he'd humiliate him in public.

Lin Xiangru started avoiding him. He claimed illness to miss court. When he saw Lian Po's carriage in the street, he turned his own around and took the long way.

His retainers were humiliated and asked to be released from service. Lin Xiangru asked them a question. Compared with the king of Qin, how frightening is General Lian? They said, not at all. Right, he said. I wasn't afraid of Qin. I avoided General Lian because the state of Zhao is held up by him and me. Two tigers fight, and one of them doesn't walk away.

The retainers stayed. Word got to Lian Po. He took off his shirt, strapped thorns to his back and came to apologise at the gate.

What Lin Xiangru walked away from was a collision that would have ruined both of them. The anger was real. He just did the sum first.

MOJOWAY is somewhere to say the hot thing out loud before you spend it on a person. Growth is often just finding a cheaper place to put the heat.