Wealth falling from the sky
During the Qing Dynasty, a villager named Wei Qisheng lived in a village in Qiantang. He was kind-hearted and hardworking, making a living by farming, growing mulberries, and raising silkworms. Although he relied solely on his own labor to farm his small plot of land, the family often suffered poor harvests, leaving them in poverty. This eventually provided him with little choice but to work as a laborer for others.
One night, his wife had a dream in which her husband fell into a cesspit and struggled desperately to escape, but failed. She woke up deeply worried and later mentioned the dream to her neighbor’s wife. Just then, a blind fortune-teller passed by, tapping his “report-to-you” instrument — a bamboo or metal piece used by blind diviners. The neighbor encouraged her to ask the fortune-teller to predict Wei’s fate and see if it was good or bad. So she asked him to read her husband’s fortune.
The blind man said: “Wei’s luck in his early years was average, and he struggled to make ends meet. But this year, his fortune has turned. From now on, things will gradually improve. Next year, in a certain month, wealth will fall from the sky. Though he won’t become extremely rich, his later years will be peaceful and secure. There’s no need to worry.”
After the blind man left, Wei returned home, and his wife told him what the fortune-teller had said. Wei laughed and replied: “If Heaven were going to give me wealth, I wouldn’t be so poor right now. The blind man’s words aren’t reliable.” Although the couple didn’t believe the prediction, the neighbor spread the story, and soon it became a joke among the villagers.
That year, Wei’s household had a good harvest of silkworm cocoons and a bountiful autumn crop, slightly improving their financial situation. The following year, in the predicted month, Wei was working outside and returned home one evening carrying his hoe. On his way back, he passed an old tomb and noticed a glowing light. Curious, he approached and saw the light coming from within the tomb’s enclosure. He raised his hoe and began digging. Beneath a stone slab, he uncovered a small jar. Opening it, he found it filled with silver.
Wei thought to himself: “The blind man said wealth would fall from the sky, but this came from the ground. Clearly, it’s not meant for me. If I take it, something bad will surely happen.” So he quickly covered the hole and returned home to tell his wife. She scolded him endlessly for not taking the silver, but he remained steadfast in his decision.
His wife urged him to go back and retrieve the jar, but Wei firmly refused. As the couple continued to quarrel over it, their unfriendly neighbor, Hu Baisi, overheard the argument and eavesdropped to learn the truth. That night, he quietly slipped out to the tomb Wei had described. He indeed found the jar, and as he opened it, he was confronted with coiled and writhing venomous snakes inside.
After his initial scare, Hu thought: “Wei saw silver — why wouldn’t he take it? He must have seen the snakes and deliberately made a fuss so I’d overhear and come take it, hoping the snakes would bite me.”
Angered by this thought, Hu devised a cruel plan. He took the jar home, fetched a ladder, and climbed onto Wei’s roof. Positioning himself above Wei’s bed, he removed the tiles and dumped the contents of the jar down into the room.
Wei and his wife woke up in shock. When they reached out to feel what had fallen, they discovered large pieces of silver. Whispering to each other, they said: “This really is wealth falling from the sky.” Fearing the neighbors might find out, they quietly gathered the silver and put it away in a safe place. Hu, still on the roof, had emptied the jar, but heard no commotion below. He climbed down, tossed the jar by Wei’s back door, carried his ladder home, and went to sleep.
That night, Hu dreamed of a golden-armored deity who said: “I am the guardian of hidden treasures. Wei is destined to receive Heaven’s gift of wealth, so I had you deliver it to him. There is still one piece of silver left in the jar as your reward. But if you ever harbor evil thoughts against Wei again, I will not forgive you.” Hu woke up and rushed to retrieve the jar; inside was indeed a single silver ingot weighing approximately five taels.
At dawn, he knocked on Wei’s door and asked about the incident. Wei acknowledged he also had the same dream that night, and as they shared their experiences, they were both amazed. Wei, knowing Hu was also poor, gave him two more silver ingots. From then on, the two neighbors got along very well. Later, Wei bought land, built a house, and lived a modest but comfortable life for the rest of his days.
Wealth is destined by fate
In the year Dingchou of the Qianlong reign, Xu Chenglie, author of Notes from the Listening Rain Pavilion, was living temporarily in Wuzhou. There were five study rooms there, and Xu stayed in the two rooms on the eastern side. The ground was flat and paved with small bricks. Over time, sand particles between the bricks became loose, and some bricks occasionally fell out, so Xu asked his servant to fix it. Later, Xu returned to Zhejiang to live. Afterward, the person who moved into those rooms was Wang Tingshu from Shanyin, and his bed was placed exactly where Xu had once slept.
One morning, Wang Tingshu was still in bed when his servant began sweeping the floor in front of him. The servant accidentally kicked a broken brick and fell to the ground. When he got up, more than 10 bricks had come loose. Wang asked him to dig out the loose sand and re-lay the bricks. While repairing the area, the ground suddenly collapsed, revealing a hole. Wang stepped forward and saw what appeared to be two decayed wooden boxes.
Inside were 10 gold ingots, over 20 large pearls, and the rest was silver, altogether weighing more than 2,000 taels. The gold had turned a bluish-black color, and the pearls had lost their luster due to exposure to soil. Wang, a skilled businessman, changed his profession and began trading with his newfound wealth as capital. His household grew richer by the day. Wang confided in his lifelong friend Xu Chenglie when he returned to Lingnan; he heard this story directly from Wang.
Wei, who firmly believed the blind man’s words, saw treasure underground, but refused to take it — not because he was foolish, but because he had self-restraint. In the end, wealth truly did fall from the sky, and he became prosperous. The treasure Wang found had been beneath Xu’s bed for over two years. Xu had even repaired those broken bricks, but never discovered the hole. Just two months after Xu left Wuzhou, the treasure was claimed by Wang. Clearly, each owner has a predestined claim to wealth.
This shows that everything has its own fate. From a higher perspective, those who forcefully pursue things are often discontent with their destiny. Wei was just a villager, without scholarly knowledge, yet his moral character and integrity surpassed that of many learned men. He was able to live a life of modest comfort that was well deserved.
Translated by Cecilia and edited by Maria
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