Once upon a time, in ancient China, there was a state named Qi. King Xuan of Qi was extremely fond of listening to the yu (a wind instrument in ancient China), and he liked to listen to a large group of people playing it together. He gathered three hundred musicians who were good at playing the yu and formed a huge band. These musicians would play in the palace for King Xuan every day, and the scene was very spectacular.
There was a man named Mr. Nan Guo. Actually, he didn't know how to play the yu at all. However, he noticed that these musicians in the palace were treated very well. They could have delicious food every day and live in comfortable houses. So, he came up with an idea and decided to sneak into this band. When the band was recruiting people, he mingled among those real musicians who could play the yu and pretended that he was also very good at it. Since there were so many people in the band, King Xuan didn't check them one by one to see if they could really play the yu. In this way, Mr. Nan Guo successfully got into the band.
Every time the band played, Mr. Nan Guo would imitate the other musicians. He held the yu in his hands and swayed his head, pretending to be playing. His movements looked similar to those of the other musicians, so he hadn't been discovered all along. In this way, he managed to stay in the band for a long time and enjoyed the excellent treatment along with everyone else.
But the good times didn't last long. King Xuan passed away, and his son, King Min of Qi, inherited the throne. King Min also liked to listen to the yu, but he was different from his father. He didn't like to listen to the ensemble but preferred to listen to the musicians play solo one by one. When this news came, Mr. Nan Guo was very frightened because he knew that he couldn't play the yu at all. If he played alone, he would surely be found out.
So, before it was his turn to play solo, Mr. Nan Guo slipped away secretly while no one was noticing. He knew that he couldn't keep on bluffing any more. If he was discovered, he would surely be punished. Since then, people have used the idiom "Be there just to make up the number" to describe those who have no real skills but still mingle among the experts to make up the number.
