Ouyang Xiu said that "Lilliputians have no friends" because Lilliputians and Lilliputians are friends because they have the same interests, while Lilliputians love and covet money. When they have the same interests, they temporarily collude with each other and become friends. This is a fake friend. When they see the interests, they compete with each other, or the interests disappear and they become estranged, or even hurt each other in turn. Even people who are so close to their brothers and relatives cannot protect each other.
 The villain has no friends: it means that the villain has no friends. According to Ouyang Xiu's "Friends Theory", one of the "Eight Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties": "A minister says that the villain has no friends, but a gentleman has them." The author believes that true friendship is based on "morality", while the villain "takes common interests as friends".
 This article was written in the third year of Qingli. Song Renzong appointed Fan Zhongyan and others to propose a new policy. The conservatives slandered Fan Zhongyan and others as friends and tried to frame them up. So Ouyang Xiu wrote a book, "On Friends", which was refuted by Renzong, and proposed that the king should "retreat from the false friends of villains and use the true friends of gentlemen".