During the final years of the Shang Dynasty, a brilliant strategist named Jiang Shang, widely known as Jiang Ziya, served as a key advisor to King Wen and King Wu of Zhou. He masterminded the campaign that overthrew the Shang, earning great merit in founding the Western Zhou dynasty, and was enfeoffed in the state of Qi, becoming its founding ancestor.
Before Jiang Ziya met King Wen of Zhou, he lived in poverty, struggling even to put food on the table. His wife, Ma, grew tired of their hardship and left him, unwilling to endure another day of want.
Later, Jiang Ziya was appointed by King Wen of Zhou and helped King Wu overthrow the Shang dynasty, receiving a fief in the state of Qi. His estranged wife Ma, seeing his newfound wealth and status, sought him out, hoping to reconcile. Jiang Ziya casually poured a jug of water onto the ground and told her, "If you can gather this water back into the jug, we can be husband and wife again."
Ma scrambled to the ground to collect the water, but only gathered some mud. Jiang Ziya said coldly, "You have left me, and we cannot live together again. It is like this water spilled on the ground—hard to retrieve."
This is the story of "Spilled Water Cannot Be Gathered" from the Western Zhou Dynasty in ancient texts. There is also a similar legend from the Western Han Dynasty.
In the Western Han Dynasty, near present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu, lived a poor scholar named Zhu Maichen. To make ends meet, he and his wife Cui often gathered firewood in the mountains. Despite his poverty, Zhu never lost his ambition—he always carried a bundle of bamboo slips with him. While carrying his firewood home, he would read aloud, and whenever he found a passage brilliant, he would burst into song, ignoring passersby who thought he had lost his mind.
Cui Shi felt her husband was poor and foolish, and that she couldn't have a good life with him, so she demanded a divorce to remarry another man. Zhu Maichen comforted her, saying, "I'm now over forty, and by fifty I will surely achieve wealth and honor. Then you can enjoy a life of comfort."
Cui Shi didn't believe her husband would succeed and cried, "How could you possibly achieve fame and fortune? Even if that day came, I would have starved to death long ago!"
Zhu Maichen tried repeatedly to persuade his wife, but she would not listen, so he had no choice but to write a letter of divorce, allowing her to leave and remarry.
From that day on, Zhu Maichen lived alone, still gathering firewood and reading, often breaking into loud song when the mood struck him.
A few years later, a fellow villager who had become a high-ranking official recommended Zhu Maichen to Emperor Wu of Han. The emperor summoned him, listened as he expounded on the classics and history, and posed several questions. Impressed by his genuine talent and learning, Emperor Wu appointed him as a palace advisor.
Soon after, a tribal leader in the southeast raised a rebellion, and Zhu Maichen presented Emperor Wu with a strategy to quell the uprising. Impressed, the emperor appointed him Grand Administrator of Kuaiji Commandery.
When the officials of Kuaiji Commandery learned that their new governor was about to arrive, they immediately conscripted a large workforce to build an official road. Among those forced into labor were Cui, who had divorced Zhu Maichen, and her new husband.
One day, Zhu Maichen arrived at his new post in a grand procession. When Cui saw that the high official in the carriage was her former husband, she was shocked and filled with regret. Boldly, she rushed forward, stopped the horse, knelt down, and begged Zhu Maichen to forgive her past mistakes and take her back as his wife.
Zhu Maichen looked at her coldly for a moment, then said calmly, "Back then I told you repeatedly that my fortune was near and begged you not to leave, but you said even if that day came, you would have starved long before. Now you want me to take you back as my wife. Fine, do one thing for me, and if you can, I will agree."
After saying this, he ordered his men to bring a basin of water and poured it on the ground. Then, pointing at the water, he said:
“If you can collect the spilled water back into the basin, I will take you as my wife.”
Water spilled on the ground can never be gathered back. Cui, too ashamed to lift her head, could only hang it low. Zhu Maichen let out a cold laugh and walked away from her without another word.
This is the story of "Spilled Water Cannot Be Recovered" or "Splashing Water Before the Horse." Like the earlier "Spilled Water Cannot Be Retrieved," both are used to indicate that matters are settled and cannot be undone.
Source: *Ye Ke Cong Shu*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "覆水难收" came to describe how matters are settled and cannot be undone.