During the Warring States period, there was a man named Chunyu Kun from the state of Qi. He was widely learned, witty, and eloquent, often engaging in peculiar antics.
When King Xuan of Qi sought to recruit talented individuals, he asked Chunyu Kun to select and recommend the best candidates. Chunyu Kun promptly presented seven worthy men to the king.
King Xuan of Qi grew impatient. He summoned Chunyu Kun and said, "I've heard that if you seek one worthy man within a thousand li, they'd stand shoulder to shoulder; if a sage appears once in a hundred generations, they'd come one after another. Even that seems too many. Yet you've introduced seven men to me in a single day, like a revolving lantern. If that's true, aren't there too many worthies in the world?"
Chunyu Kun countered, "Your reasoning is flawed. Observe the animal kingdom: birds have wings, so they fly together; beasts have legs, so they run together. This pattern is everywhere in nature. If you went to a dark, damp marsh to gather herbs like platycodon and bupleurum, you'd exhaust yourself for nothing—how could you find medicinal plants among the reeds? But head to the northern slopes of Mount Gaoli or Mount Liangfu, and you'll return with a full harvest."
Chunyu Kun continued, "Birds of a feather flock together, and people of like mind form their own circles. By that logic, I belong among the wise and capable, so naturally the friends I've made are full of talent. When you, my king, asked me to seek out worthy men, you truly came to the right person—it's as easy as scooping water from a river or striking fire from flint, an inexhaustible supply. If you were to ask me to recommend more sages, why stop at just seven?"
King Xuan of Qi had to admire Chunyu Kun's eloquence and quickly nodded, saying, "Well said, well said." The idiom "Coming One After Another" means following one after another, later used to describe a continuous stream of people arriving.
Source: *Strategies of the Warring States*, Chapter "Strategies of Qi III"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "随踵而至" came to describe a continuous stream of people arriving.