Chapter 6 · Desperate Stratagems
苦肉計
Kǔ ròu jì
The Self-Injury Ploy
苦肉計
bitter · flesh · scheme
Take a visible, credible loss yourself so the other side trusts you — nobody suspects the one who is clearly hurting.
今 Today
To win a distrustful client, you openly flag a flaw in your own product before they find it, even eating a refund. The self-inflicted wound reads as honesty, and they trust you with the far bigger contract.
反 When it backfires
Self-harm is convincing precisely because it's real damage. Miscalculate the sympathy and you've simply hurt yourself in public — a genuine loss and no trust to show for it.