📖 Meaning
It refers to secretly offering bribes in advance—typically under the cover of night—to secure leniency, favorable judgment, or protection from someone in authority. The idiom highlights the covert, pre-emptive nature of such corruption.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase draws on the longstanding tradition in imperial China of offering bribes at night to avoid public scrutiny. It is commonly associated with the Eastern Han story of Yang Zhen (杨震), who famously rejected a nighttime bribe from Wang Mi with the rebuke that Heaven, the gods, he himself, and the briber all knew of the act. Over time, '暮夜' became a shorthand for clandestine bribery, and '暮夜先容' came to denote bribing officials in advance to curry favor or leniency.
💡 Example Usage
他早在案发之前便暮夜先容，向主审官员暗送重金，企图逃脱罪责。
Long before the case came to trial, he had secretly bribed the presiding official under cover of night, hoping to escape punishment.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 暮夜先容
- Pinyin: mù yè xiān róng
- Literal Translation: evening, night, beforehand, tolerate
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4