What is yours will find its way back to you, no matter how far away it goes.
In Teng County, there lived an old man named Jiang. He had worked diligently and thriftily his whole life, accumulating a sizable family fortune. However, his only son, due to a lack of proper upbringing, grew up idle and spent his days wandering aimlessly. Old Mr. Jiang watched with a heavy heart, yet felt powerless to do anything.
In the town's Guandi Temple lived a Taoist priest named Chen, who had a good relationship with old Mr. Jiang. Seeing his son's shiftlessness and his own advancing age, old Mr. Jiang secretly invited Priest Chen, offering him five hundred taels of silver and entrusting him with a request: "Priest Chen, my son is a disappointment, and it seems he won't be able to hold onto the family fortune. After I die, he's bound to end up starving and freezing. I'm entrusting these silver taels to your care. If one day he genuinely repents and learns how to live responsibly, please give him this money to help him through difficult times and get back on his feet. But if he remains incorrigible his whole life, then please use this money to repair the temple. Consider it my last act of merit."
Priest Chen, mindful of their friendship, solemnly agreed to the request.
After returning, Priest Chen put the silver into an earthenware jar, sealed the opening with an old, unused bronze chime, and, in the dead of night, buried it in a secluded corner behind the main hall of the Guandi Temple. No one else knew about this.
Not long after, old Mr. Jiang passed away. His son became even more reckless, free from any supervision, and his outrageous behavior escalated. Before long, all the family's land and houses were sold off, and his wife, disheartened, returned to her family home. He himself was left with nothing, no roof over his head, no place to stand. His former drinking buddies, seeing him poor, all kept their distance. It was only when he reached this desperate, helpless state that he suddenly realized his father's past hard work and teachings, and remorse began to fill his heart.
Priest Chen observed him, often providing him with food and encouraging him to find honest work. By then, Mr. Jiang's son was willing to listen to advice, slowly learning to work, and becoming diligent. Priest Chen watched him for a period, felt that he had truly repented, and decided it was time to fulfill his old friend's dying wish. So, he told him the entire story of old Mr. Jiang entrusting him with the silver and said he would take him to dig it up.
The two, carrying shovels, arrived at the burial spot behind the main hall. But when they dug into the earth, both were stunned: the earthenware jar and the broken chime were gone! There was only an empty pit in the ground. They were shocked, searched the surrounding area thoroughly, but found nothing. Mr. Jiang's son's joy turned to disappointment, and he returned home dejected. The more he thought about it, the more troubled he became, so he told the story to a rogue he often hung out with. Upon hearing it, the rogue immediately instigated, claiming that the Taoist priest must have been tempted by the money, embezzling the silver, and fabricating this lie to deceive people. He encouraged Mr. Jiang's son to report it to the authorities.
The case reached the county yamen, and the magistrate opened court for questioning. Priest Chen was summoned and honestly recounted how Mr. Jiang had entrusted the money, how he had buried it, and how it had now disappeared, without any concealment.
After listening, the magistrate ruled that the Taoist priest must compensate the five hundred taels of silver. The reasoning was: since the silver was entrusted to you for safekeeping, and it is now lost, you are responsible for negligent custody and should compensate the full amount. The Taoist priest found himself in an indefensible position. He had no choice but to sell off his accumulated offerings and all his valuable possessions, but even then, he couldn't gather even a hundred taels. The villagers, unaware of the full story, all gossiped, thinking that the priest, despite his honest appearance, had actually embezzled someone else's money, and most pointed fingers at him. Filled with injustice and unable to defend himself, Priest Chen simply left the Guandi Temple and wandered the land.
Several years passed in his travels. One day, Priest Chen reached the Zhili region, where he happened upon people in a temple performing a ritual for a senior official (a respectful term for a circuit intendant during the Qing Dynasty), chanting the "Sutra of Longevity." A senior servant from the official's residence was playing with his young master in front of the temple gate. As soon as the little boy saw Priest Chen, he ran straight to him, clinging tightly to the priest's robe, burying himself in his arms, and refusing to let go.
No matter how much the family tried to coax or pull him away, the child wouldn't let go of the priest, crying loudly. The official's family found it strange, and seeing how much the child liked the priest, they had no choice but to ask the priest to carry the child back to the residence. The official also handsomely rewarded the priest and prepared to send him off. Who knew that as soon as the little master saw the priest about to leave, he started crying again, chasing after him and refusing to let go? The official and his wife, seeing their son's strong affinity with the priest, felt there might be some predestined connection. They no longer forced the priest to leave but kept him, settling him in a quiet small hermitage in the back garden of the mansion, providing him with vegetarian meals daily.
One day, the Taoist priest wanted to chant scriptures and pray for blessings for the official's young master, requiring a wooden fish and a chime. A family member remembered an old ritual instrument in the warehouse and found a worn-out bronze chime, which they gave to the priest. As soon as Priest Chen saw the chime, he immediately stood up in shock, exclaiming, "This... this is my lost chime!"
The family member quickly went to report to the official, who then called the priest to inquire. Priest Chen excitedly said, "I recognize this chime! It was originally used to cover an earthenware jar, and inside that jar were five hundred taels of silver!"
The official hastily asked, "Where did you get the silver? Tell me in detail."
The Taoist priest then recounted in full detail how old Mr. Jiang had entrusted him with the hidden silver, how it was later lost, how he was unjustly accused and forced to compensate, and how he was compelled to leave his hometown.
After listening, the official sighed deeply, saying, "So that's how it is! I understand now. Priest, you don't know that after my child was born, I instructed my servants to bury his afterbirth in the back garden. Who knew that one swing of the hoe would unearth an earthenware jar containing exactly five hundred taels of silver. I didn't know the origin of this money and felt it was useless to keep at home, so I gave it all to a familiar cloth merchant, asking him to invest it and generate interest. Five years have passed since then. Now, hearing your story, it seems my child might be the reincarnation of old Mr. Jiang! This silver, by some mysterious force, has returned to its original owner. It's just regrettable that you, Priest, were innocently wronged, forced to pay a huge sum, and wandered for years. It's truly pitiful. Furthermore, my son is so fond of you; it must be a karmic connection from a previous life."
The official, being a reasonable and magnanimous man, immediately decided to give the five hundred taels of silver, along with the interest accrued from the cloth shop's operations over the past five years, to Priest Chen as compensation for the injustice and losses he had suffered all those years. Not only that, he also dispatched reliable servants to escort Priest Chen back to Teng County and personally wrote a letter to the Teng County magistrate, explaining the full story of the incident and suggesting that it be inscribed on a stone tablet erected in front of the Guandi Temple to record this strange karma and to clear Priest Chen's name.
Later, the Teng County magistrate acted accordingly, awarding the money to Priest Chen, and the incident was engraved on stone. Priest Chen, following his old friend's wishes, used the money to rebuild the Guandi Temple, thus accumulating unseen merit for the Jiang family, and continued his spiritual cultivation there.