As the New Year approached, the master instructed his servant to find two peach wood boards of equal length, thickness, and smoothness.
A wooden board was placed on the desk; the host picked up a brush and inscribed two lines: "New Year brings lingering blessings" and "The festive season heralds eternal spring." He then instructed a servant:
"Tomorrow is the first day of the new year. Just as the zi hour begins, hang these two immortal wood plaques on either side of the door. Peach blossoms capture the essence of spring's yang, and peach fruits are the food of immortals. Hung before the door, all ghosts will fear them. Add the auspicious phrases inscribed on them, and next year good fortune will come to your door, also bringing blessings to you servants. Do not neglect the task of hanging the peach talismans!"
Both visiting well-wishers and passing travelers would stop to admire the peachwood charms hanging by the door.
The peach charm, being illiterate, thought everyone was drawn to it and said joyfully, "I am pure white all over, without knots or blemishes; people admire me, each stopping to appreciate me. How fortunate I am!"
Time passed swiftly. After two auspicious snowfalls, early spring arrived; flower buds bloomed under the bright sun, birds chirped and flew, and late spring was nearly over.
Before the Dragon Boat Festival, the master said to the servant, "Spring sprouts and summer thrives; early summer has arrived. Snakes, scorpions, insects, ghosts, and demons will enter homes to cause trouble. Mugwort is a fine herb for warding off evil. Go to the back garden and pick a bundle of long-stemmed, lush mugwort leaves. Hang them under the lintel to dispel disasters and drive away demons. Do not be careless!"
The servant, having received generous New Year's tips thanks to the peach charms, now hoped to gain health and longevity from the mugwort. Clever and resourceful, he gathered mugwort and, not content with that, fashioned it into a straw figure. As he stood on a stool, respectfully hanging it under the door lintel, he found the two dusty, faded peach charms in the way. With a couple of hammer taps, he knocked them down, and they fell into the dirt.
"The scarecrow made of straw, you bumpkin covered in dirt, how dare you insult a scholar and sit above my head!" The peach charm, half-buried in mud, rolled its eyes and scolded the mugwort figure swaying lightly in the wind. "Two broken planks stuck in the mud, what right do you have to judge others? And you still have the nerve to talk nonsense—shameless!"
A Peachwood Charm and a Mugwort Doll were locked in a heated argument, each refusing to yield as they bickered endlessly.
After years of wind, rain, and sun, they had faded a bit, but the two door-god paintings—Shenshu and Yulei—still stuck firmly to the door panels as they stepped in to mediate:
"Alright, alright, you two, stop arguing. We all exist by relying on others' doors—we should have some self-awareness. What's there to boast about!" The phrase "Relying on Others' Doors" is now used to describe depending on someone else.
Source: *Dongpo's Forest of Anecdotes*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "傍人门户" came to describe depending on someone else.