Why is Kou Zhun called "Master Candle"?

Kou Zhun was a famous politician and poet in the Northern Song Dynasty. Together with Bai Juyi and Zhang Renyuan, he is known as the "Three Sages of Weinan". Kou Zhun's outstanding contribution was to support Song Zhenzong's personal expedition and sign the "Chanyuan Alliance" with the Liao Kingdom, which maintained peace for hundreds of years. Logically speaking, Kou Zhun should be a serious and upright person. Why does he have such an interesting title as "Master Candle"? There seems to be quite a conflict between the two, a bit inconsistent.

For Kou Zhun, "Master Candle" is the full expression of his eagerness to learn and seek knowledge. It is very similar to the scholars from poor families in ancient times. In order to be able to read at night, they obtained light by cutting through walls to steal light and trapping fireflies in the snow. However, Kou Zhun was born into a noble family and was not from a poor family. He used candles to read, which was influenced by his family environment. His father and grandfather were both very talented. Therefore, under their influence, Kou Zhun also loved reading very much and would light candles to read at night.

However, his mother was extremely distressed when she saw Kou Zhun staying up late to study, so she restricted Kou Zhun's candles and prepared only one candle for him to keep him asleep. This forced Kou Zhun to ask the servant for candles in private. Over time, the servants felt strange, until they knew that Kou Zhun wanted candles to read, so the servants were very happy to give him candles. In this way, the title "Master Candle" was born among the servants and spread widely.

It was the spirit of the "Master Candle" who loved reading that made him be selected as an official because of his outstanding talent, and thus became famous in history. Of course, in this society, everyone should not imitate Kou Zhun's behavior of lighting candles and reading, but we must learn this admirable spirit.