During the Spring and Autumn period, after Duke Xiang of Jin passed away, his seven-year-old son ascended the throne as Duke Ling of Jin. As Duke Ling grew up, he turned out to be quite useless, spending his days indulging in feasting and entertainment, never once attending to state affairs.
He had a minister named Tu Anjia. To indulge his own pleasures, Duke Ling of Jin spared no expense in resources, ordering Tu Anjia to build a nine-story jade terrace. Fearing remonstrance, he decreed, "Anyone who dares to offer advice will be beheaded!"
When Minister Xun Xi came to advise him, Duke Ling of Jin had archers ready with drawn bows, prepared to shoot the moment Xun Xi spoke. Xun Xi entered and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not advise you. I merely wish to teach you a game: I can place twelve chess pieces on a high pillar, then balance nine eggs on top of them." The duke, intrigued, replied, "That is quite dangerous." Xun Xi responded, "This is nothing compared to the danger of building a high terrace, exhausting the people's labor, and hoarding treasures while the state faces foreign threats." The duke, realizing the folly, ordered the terrace's construction halted.
A moment later, Xun Xi entered the palace and said to Duke Ling of Jin with feigned ease, "I have come to see you today, not to offer any admonition, but merely to perform a small trick. I can stack twelve chess pieces and then add nine eggs one by one without them toppling over!"
Duke Ling of Jin, hearing that he was there to demonstrate a special skill, found it amusing and set aside his caution, saying, "Very well, show me your performance!"
Xun Xi steadied himself, then seriously and carefully stacked twelve chess pieces first, before adding eggs one by one on top. The onlookers nearby, fearing the eggs might fall, held their breath, anxious and sweating for him. Duke Ling of Jin was also so tense that he repeatedly shouted, "Dangerous! Dangerous!"
At this point, Xun Xi said slowly and unhurriedly, "What's so great about this? There are things even more dangerous than this!"
Duke Ling asked what was more dangerous, and Xun Xi said, "Your Majesty, in building the nine-story terrace, you've left no men to till the fields, emptied the treasury, and driven the people to misery. If a neighboring state invades, the kingdom will be in peril. What will you do then?"
Upon hearing this, Duke Ling of Jin finally realized his mistake and said, "This is my fault!"
He immediately ordered the construction of the nine-story tower halted.
"The idiom 'as precarious as a pile of eggs' originally meant as dangerous as stacking eggs. Later, it describes extreme danger."
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Biographies of Fan Ju and Cai Ze"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "危如累卵" came to describe extreme danger.