Yan Zi responded to the King of Chu with an analogy. Can you describe this matter in your own words?

Yan Zi used citrus as a metaphor for people, and once again cleverly made fun of the King of Chu by using an analogy. It is because of your incompetence in governing the country and the bad social atmosphere that all the good people in Qi will become like this. The robber, in the end, the King of Chu had to apologize. It is true that the devil is as good as the Dao.

Character profile:

Yan Ying, courtesy name Zhong, posthumous title Ping, is customarily called Pingzhong, also known as Yanzi, a Yiwei native (now Gaomi, Shandong) (Ping, Laizhou City, Yantai Lidian, also said to be from Qihe, Texas, and Heze, Shandong) was a famous politician, thinker, and diplomat in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Yan Ying is the son of Yan Ruo, a senior official in Qi. In the twenty-sixth year of Qi Linggong (556 BC), Yan Ruo died of illness, and Yan Ying succeeded him as the senior official. He served successively as Qi Linggong, Zhuanggong and Jinggong, and served as assistant to the government for more than 40 years. He was famous among the princes for his political foresight, diplomatic ability and simple style.

Yan Ying is smart, witty and eloquent. He assisted the state affairs internally and repeatedly admonished the king of Qi. Externally, he was both flexible and principled. He was not humiliated when traveling as an envoy and safeguarded Qi's national character and prestige. Sima Qian admired Yan Ying very much and compared him to Guan Zhong. Confucius once praised: "He saves the people without boasting about them; he acts as a complement to the three monarchs without losing them; Yan Zi is a gentleman!"