How eating bitter greens led to blessings
In Jiangxi, Mr. Shu taught at a private school in Huguang for two years. Later, he traveled by boat with fellow townsmen to return to his hometown. During a break, Mr. Shu went ashore for a walk and heard a woman crying very sadly. He approached her to inquire about the reason. The woman replied: “My husband owes the government thirteen taels of silver and plans to sell me to pay off the debt. If I leave, my young child will have no one to care for him and will surely die, which is why I am so heartbroken.”
Mr. Shu said: “The people traveling with me on the boat are all private school teachers from Jiangxi. If each of us contributes one tael of silver, we can help you solve this problem.” Mr. Shu returned to the boat and shared the situation with his companions, who ignored him. So Mr. Shu gave all his savings from two years of teaching to the woman, guaranteeing him future blessings.
When they were still ninety miles from home, Mr. Shu’s money and food were utterly exhausted, and his companions criticized him. Some pitied him and invited him to share their meals, but Mr. Shu dared not eat his fill. Upon returning home, Mr. Shu told his wife: “I haven’t eaten for two days! Please cook something quickly.”
His wife said: “Where’s the rice?” Mr. Shu replied: “Borrow some from the neighbors!” His wife said: “We’ve already borrowed many times, just waiting for you to return and repay them.” Mr. Shu then told his wife about giving the money to the woman on the road. His wife said: “Since that’s the case, let’s gather some wild vegetables I usually eat to stave off hunger.” She took a basket to the mountains, picked some bitter greens, and cooked them with vegetable roots. The two filled their stomachs.
That night, as they slept, they heard someone outside the window say: “Tonight, you eat bitter greens; next year, you will have a top scholar.” They quickly got up, dressed, and thanked the heavens. The following year, they had a son named Shu Fen, who became a top scholar as a result of Mr. Shu’s blessings.
A kind heart cures a chronic illness
Long ago, there was a peculiar custom in some areas of southern China. When a young girl contracted leprosy, her parents would pay to bring in a son-in-law (usually a destitute and lonely man) in the hope that through marriage, the leprosy would be passed to the unfortunate son-in-law, thereby saving their daughter’s life. This practice was known as “selling the wind” or “selling leprosy.” Of course, this had no medical basis, as contact could indeed infect the man, but it did not guarantee the girl’s recovery.
What ended this custom was a touching story. The daughter of a hotel owner contracted leprosy. The owner paid for a poor, starving bachelor to marry her, intending to “sell” her leprosy to him. However, the daughter was a kind-hearted girl and did not wish to pass her painful and life-threatening disease to someone else. On their wedding night, she gave her fiancé the money her father had prepared for them and let him escape through the back door.
When her father found out, he was furious and locked her in the wine storage room without food or water, intending to starve her to death. Starving and dizzy, she used a spoon to scoop wine from a large jar beside her to drink. As the saying goes: “There is food in wine,” meaning drinking more can reduce the need for food. She survived by drinking wine whenever she was thirsty or hungry.
After some time, the owner, assuming she had starved to death, ordered a coffin to be brought in to collect her body. To his surprise, she was not only alive, but also cured of leprosy. The owner had the remaining wine in the large jar poured out and found a white flower snake at the bottom. From then on, people used white flower snake wine to treat leprosy, with remarkable results.
The hotel owner’s daughter, whose name was never recorded, saved her own life through her kind heart and discovered a miraculous remedy for future generations suffering from similar diseases, bringing blessings to those who followed.
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