During the Warring States period, a talented man named Fan Ju served as a retainer to Xu Jia, a senior official in the state of Wei. When Xu Jia was sent as an envoy to the state of Qi, Fan Ju accompanied him. The King of Qi was impressed by Fan Ju and offered him a high-ranking position, but Fan Ju declined. The king then presented Fan Ju with ten jin of gold as a token of admiration.
Upon learning of this, Xu Jia suspected that Fan Sui had betrayed state secrets to receive the Qi king's gifts. After returning home, he reported the matter to Prime Minister Wei Qi, who had Fan Sui arrested and interrogated, demanding a confession. Fan Sui repeatedly protested his innocence, but Wei Qi ignored him and ordered torture, beating Fan Sui until his body was covered in wounds and he fell unconscious.
Believing Fan Ju was dead, Wei Qi ordered the guards to dump the body in the latrine, ensuring even in death he would not be clean. At midnight, Fan Ju revived and bribed a guard with gold. The guard then reported to Wei Qi, "The corpse is already stinking—should we discard it?" Wei Qi agreed, and Fan Ju escaped death, hiding at a friend's home to recover.
After recovering from his injuries, Fan Ju changed his name to Zhang Lu and traveled to the State of Qin, where King Zhao of Qin, impressed by his talents, appointed him as prime minister. Fan Ju immediately advised the king, "We should send troops to attack Wei."
When Wei Qi learned that Qin was about to attack Wei and that the new Qin prime minister was a Wei native named Zhang Lu, he sent Xu Jia as an envoy to Qin to sue for peace. After several days of travel, Xu Jia arrived in Qin, weary from the journey.
When Fan Ju learned that Xu Jia had arrived in Qin, he remembered how he had been falsely accused and nearly beaten to death, and decided to take revenge. After some thought, he devised a plan: he changed into coarse clothes, made himself look destitute, and went to the inn to seek an audience with Xu Jia. Xu Jia was shocked to see him and asked, "Aren't you dead? How did you end up in Qin?"
Fan Sui claimed he had died in the wilderness and been revived by a merchant, and because he dared not return home, he had wandered to the state of Qin. Seeing Fan Sui in such a sorry state, Xu Jia felt pity for him, prepared a lavish feast, and kept him for a meal. During the meal, Xu Jia noticed Fan Sui's thin, tattered clothes and saw him shivering from the cold. Xu Jia said, "Old friend, how have you become so poor that you don't even have a warm robe to wear?"
After speaking, Xu Jia took out a brand-new silk robe and offered it to Fan Sui. Fan Sui, surprised that Xu Jia still showed him old friendship, accepted it and put it on, expressing his thanks. Then, Fan Sui knowingly asked what business brought Xu Jia to the state of Qin. Xu Jia explained, and Fan Sui falsely claimed he could arrange an audience with Prime Minister Zhang. So Fan Sui personally drove the carriage, bringing Xu Jia to the entrance of the prime minister's residence, and said, "Wait here for a moment, sir. I will go in first to announce you. Once the prime minister grants permission, you may enter to see him!"
After speaking, Fan Ju entered the mansion first. Xu Jia waited a long time but Fan Ju never came out. Upon inquiry, he learned that Fan Ju was actually Prime Minister Zhang Lu. He sighed, "Alas! I wronged him back then and harmed him. Today, my death has come!"
Thereupon, Xu Jia removed his robe and belt, bared his back, knelt before the prime minister's mansion, and begged Fan Ju for forgiveness, asking the gatekeeper to report inside.
When Fan Ju ascended the hall, he summoned Xu Jia to appear before him. Knowing the depth of his guilt, Xu Jia kept his head low, crawled on his knees to the center of the prime minister's grand hall, and repeatedly kowtowed while confessing his crimes: "I never imagined you would rise so high, straight into the clouds. From now on, I dare not speak of world affairs, nor meddle in politics again. My crimes deserve boiling or burning; I willingly request exile to a desolate, distant land, to live or die at your disposal."
Fan Ju looked at Xu Jia, trembling with fear below the hall, and said, "You fabricated lies out of thin air and nearly caused my death. It would not be excessive for me to kill you today. But since you hosted me for a meal and gave me a silk robe, showing some old friendship, I will spare your life today!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Jia kowtowed and thanked Fan Ju for sparing his life.
The next day, Fan Ju brought Xu Jia to meet King Zhao of Qin, who agreed to Wei's request for peace, and Xu Jia returned to his own country.
Later, the idiom "Riding the Azure Clouds" came to describe a person's rapid rise in status.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Biographies of Fan Ju and Cai Ze"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "青云直上" came to describe a person's rapid rise in status.