晋代名臣陶侃年轻时曾任浔阳县吏。一次，他派人给母亲送了一罐腌制好的鱼。他母亲湛氏收到后，又原封不动退回给他，并写信给他说：“你身为县吏，用公家的物品送给我，不但对我没任何好处，反而增添了我的担忧。”

Tao Kan, a famous official of the Jin Dynasty, served as the chief executive of Xunyang County when he was young. Once, he sent his subordinate to give his mother a jar of marinated fish. But his mother Zhan returned it and wrote a letter to him: “You are the official of the county, but you gave me the things belonging to the public and the government, which did me no good but added to my worries.”