Minister of War, Mr. Wang1 in Xincheng2 had a head butler who was quite well-off.
One night, in the butler’s dream, a man ran to him and said, “You owe me 40,000 qian3 and now it’s the time to pay me back.” The butler tried to ask for more information, but the man said nothing more and disappeared.
After he woke up, he learned that his wife had just given birth to a baby boy. He couldn’t help but wonder if the baby was the same man from his dream. If so, the man might have come to collect his money.
The butler set aside 40,000 qian in a designated room and ordered that from then on, everything the family needed for the boy had to be purchased with money from the specific stash.
When the boy was about 3 or 4 years old, there were only 700 qian left.
One day, the nanny took the boy over to the butler so he could play with the kid. The butler said to his son, “That 40,000 is almost gone. I guess this is about as far as it goes.”
The boy all of the sudden put on a totally different face and jerked his head back, eyes wide open. The nanny and the butler checked on him immediately, only to find him dead.
What’s left of the money turned out to be the exact amount needed for the boy’s funeral.
Long time ago, some heirless old man asked a highly respected monk how he ended up childless. The monk said to him: “You don’t owe anyone, and no one owes you anything. How can you have kids then?” According to the monk, if you have good children, they are here to pay you back for something nice you have done for them; if you have one that brings you tons of headaches, it’s because you owed them in the past life, and you need to pay them back. In summary, don’t get too excited about having children in your life. On the other hand, if you lose them, don’t get overly sad, either.
–From Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (The Qing Dynasty)
_______________________________________________
1. Wang Xiangqian, a real minister in the Ming Dynasty.
2. Old name for a town in Shandong province.
3. An ancient Chinese currency unit in the form of a copper coin with a square hole. 1000 is one Guan.
____________________________________________
For more ancient Chinese strange tales, feel free to check out Head Flyer and 100 More Ancient Chinese Strange Stories
Nine Tailed Cat Studio 