During the Warring States period, there was a man who was heading to the Chu State.
战国时期，有个人要去楚国。
He was driving a horse-drawn cart on the main road.
他驾着马车在大路上急驰。
On the way, he met a fellow traveler, and they started chatting.
路上，他遇到一个同路人，二人攀谈起来。
When the fellow traveler learned that he was heading to Chu, he was shocked and asked, "Chu is to the south, why are you heading north? At this rate, when will you ever reach Chu?"
当同路人得知他要去楚国时大吃一惊，问他：“楚国在南方，你怎么朝北走啊？这样走，什么时候能到楚国呢？”
The man calmly replied, "It’s alright, my horse is very fast, so I’m not worried about not reaching Chu."
这人不慌不忙地说：“没关系，我的马跑得快，不愁到不了楚国。”
The fellow traveler reminded him, "If you go this way, you will get further and further from Chu."
同路人提醒他：“这样走会离楚国越来越远的。”
The man pointed to his luggage and said, "I have plenty of travel money and provisions that can last many days, so the distance doesn’t matter."
这人指指自己的行李说：“我带的路费、干粮很多，能用好多天，路远不要紧。”
The fellow traveler, anxious, said, "You’re going the wrong way; you won’t reach Chu like this."
同路人着急地说：“你走错了，这样走你到不了楚国的。”
The man confidently replied, "My driver’s skills are excellent, so there’s no need to worry."
那人很自信地说：“我的车夫驾车技术非常好，不用担心。”
Seeing how clueless the man was, the fellow traveler helplessly shook his head and sighed.
同路人见这人如此糊涂，无可奈何地摇摇头，叹了口气。
This story evolved into the idiom "Northward Driving for Chu," which later, through popular usage, came to be expressed as "Southward Driving with Northward Wheels." (yuán) refers to the two straight wooden shafts at the front of a cart used to harness draft animals, while (zhé) refers to the ruts left by the cart wheels. This fable originates from Liu Xiang's Strategies of the Warring States (Volume Four: Strategies of Wei) from the Western Han Dynasty.
这个故事，演化出成语“北辕适楚”，其后在流传的过程中，人们通常把它表述为“南辕北辙”。“辕”指的是处在车前用于驾驭牲畜的两根直木，“辙”指的是车轮碾压所产生的痕迹，即车辙。这则寓言故事来源于西汉时期刘向所著的《战国策·魏策四》。
