The two friends

Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya were friends before either of them was anybody.

They went into business together. Guan Zhong was poor, so he put in less and took more of the profit. Everyone said he was greedy. Bao Shuya said nothing.

Guan Zhong was dismissed from office three times. People said he was incompetent. Bao Shuya said the times were against him.

Guan Zhong fought in three battles and retreated three times. People said he was a coward. Bao Shuya said he had an old mother at home.

Then Bao Shuya did the thing that made him famous. He was in line for high office, and he stepped aside and recommended Guan Zhong instead. Guan Zhong became prime minister of Qi and made it a power.

Guan Zhong later said: my parents gave me life, but Bao Shuya truly understood it.

Then a note of realism. In the end, Bao Shuya's own descendants didn't prosper as much as Guan Zhong's. Sima Qian points this out and doesn't smooth it over.

The friendship survived because Bao Shuya could hold one interpretation without needing the record corrected. He wasn't being kind. He'd decided what his friend was, and the evidence never moved it.

Anyone can be generous in an hour. This is about which interpretation you install, before the evidence is in.

MOJOWAY's client file accumulates evidence across years, and the interpretation gets to change as the person changes. That's the difference between a file and a verdict.