Long ago, there was a man named Wáng(王) Lìn (吝).
On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, he wanted to visit his old friend Lǐ(李) Sè(啬), but he was reluctant to buy Li Se mooncakes as a gift.
So he drew a moon cake and carried the drawing to Li’s house.
But Lǐ Sè wasn’t at home.
His son thought, “uncle Wang brought mooncakes to our house. I want to give him a gift.” So he drew a big pumpkin and gave it to Wang Lin.
Later, Li Se came back home and asked if Wang Lin give any gifts to him.
His son replied, “a box of mooncakes.”
“Did you return any gifts?”
His son replied, “a big pumpkin!”
Later, the story was used to describe stingy people by these names (吝lìn 啬 sè).
tā zhēn shì gè lìn sè guǐ
他真是个吝啬鬼!
What a stingy person he is!