During the early Warring States period, Lord Wen of Wei appointed Li Kui as his chancellor to implement sweeping economic and political reforms.
Li Kui implemented "Exhausting the Land's Potential" by encouraging farming to boost production, and politically abolished the hereditary privilege system for nobles, rewarding those who served the state. He also introduced the "Stabilizing Grain Prices" policy, buying grain at fair prices in good harvests and selling it at fair prices in lean years, stabilizing the market and greatly advancing agriculture.
At that time, a wealthy merchant named Bai Gui was skilled at observing market trends. Inspired by Li Kui's reforms, he proposed a trade theory for wealth: "Take what others discard, give what others seek."
During bountiful harvests when grain prices were dirt cheap, the merchant Bai Gui would buy up massive stores of grain. At the same time, silk and lacquer goods were scarce and expensive, so he would sell off his stock of those at peak prices. By buying low and selling high, Bai Gui mastered the art of timing the market.
When the silkworms spun their cocoons and the market flooded with silk, prices naturally dropped while grain prices rose. Bai Gui then bought up the cheap silk and sold his grain at a profit.
In this way, both silk and grain were sold at prices much higher than when they were bought. Using this method of "taking what others discard and giving what others seek," Bai Gui quickly became a nationally renowned wealthy man.
Bai Gui believed that doing business was like waging war—one must use strategy and cunning, for only through clever tactics could success be achieved.
Later, people used the idiom "What Others Discard, I Take" to describe having interests and opinions different from others.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Biographies of the Merchants"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "人弃我取" came to describe having interests and opinions different from others.