During the late Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a renowned Confucian scholar named Mi Heng. As a young man, Mi Heng was exceptionally talented, eloquent in debate, and could dash off essays in one go. However, he was extremely arrogant and conceited, relying on his talents to look down on others and often treating people with disdain in his interactions.
In the early years of Emperor Xian of Han's Jian'an era, the scholar Mi Heng traveled to Xuchang. While still in Yingchuan, he secretly tucked a name card into his sleeve, ready to present it to anyone he deemed worthy of his respect. Yet, by the time the characters on the card had worn away to illegibility, he had never once handed it over.
When the capital was relocated to Xuchang, countless talented individuals flocked there from all directions, each seeking patronage from the influential for their own purposes. Someone asked Mi Heng, "Why don't you follow Xun Wenruo or Zhao Zhichang?" Xun Wenruo, also known as Xun Yu, was Cao Cao's strategist, renowned for his handsome appearance. Zhao Zhichang, titled General Who Pacifies Bandits, was famously potbellied and a lover of meat. Mi Heng replied, "Wenruo is only fit to use his face for mourning, and Zhichang can supervise the kitchen at banquets. These two are hardly worth my allegiance!"
In the end, Mi Heng's arrogance led to his execution at just twenty-six years old.
The idiom "Huai Ci Man Mie" means carrying a name card intended for someone you respect, but due to arrogance and disdain for others, you never present it. The card, worn from long storage, becomes illegible.
Source: *Book of the Later Han*, Chapter "Biography of Mi Heng"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "怀刺漫灭" came to describe carrying a name card intended for someone you respect, but due to arrogance and disdain for others, you never present it. The card, worn from long storage, becomes illegible.