Not long ago in China, a young man was honest and good at math and writing. He knew how to do business well and had saved up some money. Unfortunately, bad luck followed, which made him lose all the coins he had earned. He ended up wandering the streets and destitute.
One night, he was sleeping on the floor of a temple of wealth. In a daze, he suddenly heard a voice saying in his ear: “Young man, the tribulation in your life is over. Take the money that belongs to you under the third stone slab in the main hall.”
A single coin and a small bag
The young man woke up startled and could not sleep anymore. As soon as the day broke, he went to the main hall to search, but all he could find was a single coin.
Frustrated, he sat on the floor and thought: “Maybe I was dreaming? How could I believe it? I am so out of luck. How can I suddenly have good luck? I had better not get carried away! It is not bad to have a coin. At least I can buy some food to fill up my stomach.”
He used the coin to buy a small bowl of noodle soup. When he was almost finished, he saw a small bag in the corner of the noodle stall. He thought that one of the customers might have left it behind. The noodle stall owner hadn’t noticed it, so he secretly took the bag to see what was inside.
Walking a short distance away, he opened it and found it full of critical business documents. He was a businessman and knew these documents were essential. He decided to wait for the owner to return so that he could hand them back to him.
As expected, not long after, a panicked man who looked like a merchant came to the noodle stall and asked about his lost bag. The owner of the stall insisted that he had not seen it. The merchant was at a loss for what to do next.
The young man approached the merchant and asked him: “What have you left behind?” The merchant told him the truth. When the young man saw he was right, he returned the bag to the merchant.
The merchant’s gratitude
The merchant thanked him profusely and took a banknote for 1,000 taels of silver out of the bag as a token of his appreciation, but the young man refused to accept it. The merchant was touched by the honesty of the young man who looked so down and out. He asked the young man about his situation. The young man told the merchant all about himself. When the merchant learned he was good at math and writing, he decided to help him.
The merchant took the young man to buy some suitable clothes and to a bathhouse to have a bath. He then put him in new clothes and led him to meet the owner of a foreign company. The merchant, a good friend of the owner of the foreign company, told him what had just happened and recommended the young man to the company owner as a bookkeeper. The owner listened with wide-eyed amazement. He was surprised by the young man’s honesty and immediately decided to hire him.
The foreign company was in the business of importing foreign fabrics. It was a fast-growing business, and many fellow fabric merchants came here to purchase goods. However, for a long time afterward, the whole market was in bad shape, and business was prolonged, resulting in the company accumulating a lot of goods. Seeing that the situation would last for a while, the owner left everything to the young man to take care of and returned to his country.
Soon after the owner left, the demand for Western-style fabrics increased dramatically, and the market price increased rapidly. The young man took this opportunity to sell the hoarded stock and made a handsome profit.
Refusal of the profits
After a few years, the company owner returned to China. The young man gave the owner all the profits from his business, including the capital. Seeing that the young man was so honest, the owner decided to provide him with all the profits and only take back the capital, but the young man refused to take it.
Finally, the owner came up with a solution. He gave the young man an engraved seal and stipulated that from then on, every time fabrics were sold, they had to go through the bookkeeper to get the seal stamped, and for every seal stamped, one cent would be deducted from the profit, and all the deducted money would go to the young man.
In this way, the young man’s income was very considerable. Within a few years, he became a rich millionaire.
Later, the young man recalled his experience of becoming rich and realized it was all because of the coin he got from the temple.
Only honesty and integrity can be long-lasting
Nowadays, people believe the saying that “all businessmen are profiteers” and “all lay loads on the willing horse.” It seems that all businessmen are dishonest, as if they must sacrifice the interests of others to get rich.
This is not the case. Only honesty and integrity can be long-lasting, and goodness will be rewarded equally. Just like the young man in the story, it was honesty that brought him a turnaround, and it was kindness that brought him permanent wealth.
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