During the Wei and Jin dynasties, Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Shan Tao, Xiang Xiu, and seven others were close friends. They revered Laozi and Zhuangzi, often composing poetry and engaging in refined conversation in the bamboo grove, earning the name "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove." Ruan Ji's nephew Ruan Xian was also one of the "Seven Sages," and people referred to the pair as "the Elder and Younger Ruan."
Ruan Xian was a man of unrestrained nature, unbound by social conventions. Once, his aunt visited with a maidservant, and Ruan Xian took a liking to her. When he heard his aunt had left with the girl, he immediately borrowed a horse in front of many guests and chased after them, returning with the maidservant riding pillion. The guests pointed and gossiped, but Ruan Xian remained utterly indifferent.
Ruan Xian was a master of music, especially skilled at playing the pipa, and was also a heavy drinker, often drinking from a large basin. Once, he even drank alongside a group of pigs. Shan Tao, one of the "Seven Worthies" and Minister of Personnel, recommended him to Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, but the emperor did not promote him due to his indulgence in alcohol and frivolous character.
Ruan Xian once lived south of the road with his uncle Ruan Ji, while other members of the Ruan clan lived north of the road. The northern families were wealthy, flaunting silks and brocades during the traditional sun-drying festival on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. But Ruan Xian, poor and lacking fine clothes, hung only a few coarse linen shorts on a bamboo pole. A curious neighbor asked, "Why are you airing such humble things?" Ruan Xian replied, "Everyone is participating in the custom today. I cannot break tradition, so I must make do for now!"
Later, the idiom "Southern Ruan, Northern Ruan" came to refer to families of the same clan living in the same area but with vast wealth disparity.
Source: *Book of Jin*, "Biography of Ruan Xian"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "南阮北阮" came to describe families of the same clan living in the same area but with vast wealth disparity.