Do you know who the famous person in China is? When it comes to this person, everyone knows and he is famous everywhere. His surname is Cha (meaning "difference"), his name is Not-Many, and he is from all provinces, counties, and villages. You must have seen him, and surely heard others talk about him. Mr. Almost's name is on everyone's lips every day, because he represents all the people of China.
The appearance of Mr. Almost is similar to yours and mine. He has a pair of eyes, but they don't see very clearly; he has two ears, but they don't hear very distinctly; he has a nose and a mouth, but he doesn't care much for smells or tastes; his brain isn't small, but his memory isn't very sharp, and his thoughts aren't very precise.
He often says: "As long as things are almost right, that's good enough. Why be too precise?"
When he was a child, his mother asked him to buy brown sugar, but he brought back white sugar instead. His mother scolded him, but he shook his head and said: "Isn't brown sugar almost the same as white sugar?"
When he was in school, the teacher asked him: "Which province is west of Zhili Province?" He answered Shaanxi. The teacher said: "Wrong. It's Shanxi, not Shaanxi." He replied: "Aren't Shaanxi and Shanxi almost the same?"
Later, he worked in a shop where he could write and calculate, but he was never very meticulous. He often mistook the character 'shi' (ten) for 'qian' (thousand), and vice versa. This made the boss angry, and he was often scolded, but he would just smile apologetically and say: "The character 'qian' is only one small stroke more than 'shi'. Aren't they almost the same?"
One day, he had an important matter and needed to take the train to Shanghai. He walked leisurely to the train station, but was two minutes late, and the train had already left. He stared blankly at the fading smoke of the departing train and shook his head saying: "I'll just go tomorrow. Today and tomorrow are almost the same. But the train company is really too particular. Leaving at 8:30 and leaving at 8:32 are almost the same, aren't they?" As he spoke, he slowly walked home, never quite understanding why the train wouldn't wait for him for two minutes.
One day, he suddenly fell ill with an acute disease, and quickly sent for Doctor Wang from East Street. The servant hurriedly ran there, but couldn't find Doctor Wang from East Street, and instead brought back Doctor Niu, the veterinarian from West Street. Mr. Almost, lying in bed, knew the wrong doctor had been fetched, but being in great pain and unable to wait any longer, thought: "Well, Doctor Wang and Doctor Niu are almost the same. Let him try." So this veterinarian, Doctor Niu, approached the bedside and treated Mr. Almost with methods used for treating cattle. Within an hour, Mr. Almost passed away.
Just before Mr. Almost died, he gasped out: "Living and dying are...almost...the...same...As long as...everything is...almost...good...enough...that's...fine...Why...be...too...serious?" After uttering this maxim, he finally breathed his last.
After his death, everyone praised Mr. Almost for seeing through everything and thinking thoroughly. Everyone said he was a man of virtue for never being serious, never calculating, and never counting. Thus, they gave him a posthumous title, calling him Master Yuantong.
His reputation spread further and wider, growing greater with time. Countless people learned from his example. Thus, everyone became a Mr. Almost - and China thereby turned into a Land of the Lazy.