In chapter 42 of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Yun fights his way through Cao Cao’s army at Changban and brings back Liu Bei’s infant son, A Dou. He hands the child to Liu Bei. Liu Bei throws him to the ground. “For this little brat, I nearly lost one of my great generals!” Zhao Yun picks the child up, weeps and bows. “Even if my brains were spilled on the ground, I could not repay this.”
A common two-part saying, a xiehouyu, gives the scene its usual reading. Liu Bei shuai haizi, Liu Bei throws the child, is completed by shoumai renxin, to buy people’s hearts.