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velvett

Elite Mentor
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A story for you....

Wei Gu lived in Dulin. His parents had died when he was young. He wanted to marry at a young age. However, all of his marriage proposals were rejected. In the second year of Zhenguan during Tang Taizong’s reign, on a sightseeing tour to Qinghe, he stayed at a hotel in the southern region of Song City. A traveler told him of a young maiden, the daughter of a Qinghe government official, Pan Fang. He was invited to meet the Pan family in front of Longxing Temple, west of the hotel, the next morning.

Very early the next morning Wei Gu eagerly rushed to the temple. The moon was still in the sky when he arrived. There was an old man sitting on the steps, leaning on a bag and reading a book under the moonlight. Wei Gu glanced at the book, but could not read its words. So, he asked the old man, “What kind of book are you reading? Ever since youth I’ve studied many different languages, even Indian Sanskrit. Yet, I must admit I’ve never come across the language written in this book. What can you tell me about it?” The old man smiled and said, “This isn’t a book written by humans. How could you read it?” Therefore, Wei Gu asked, “Please tell me, where does the book originate from?” The old man said, “It comes from the ‘invisible world’.” Then Wei Gu asked, “Why is someone from the ‘invisible world’ here?” The old man replied, “You arrived too early. It’s not that I should not be here. All administrators of the Yin World (underworld) administer everything in the Yang world, which is also called the human world. Why should we not come here?”

Wei Gu asked, “Tell me, what are you responsible for?” The old man responded, “Humans’ marriages.” Wei Gu was elated and said, “My parents had died when I was young. So I would like to marry at a young age because I don’t want my family lineage to die out. However, all the marriage proposals I’ve made during the last ten plus years were rejected. Somebody told me of Official Pan’s daughter. Do you think she’ll marry me?” The old man responded, “No, she won’t become your wife. The woman you’ll marry is now only three years old. She’ll marry you at the age of 17.” Wei Gu asked, “What’s in your bag?” The old man said, “Red thread used to tie together the feet of couples. Once they are destined to marry, I tie their feet together with this red thread. Whether these two are foes, wealthy, or separated by a long distance, as long as the red thread is tied, they will get married. When your feet are tied to hers, it’s of no use for you to search for another.”

Wei Gu asked, “Who is my wife? Where does she live?” the old man answered, “The girl was born into a family that sells vegetables, north of the hotel.” Wei Gu asked, “May I see her?” The old man said, “She is always with the old woman who sells vegetables, come with me and I’ll point her out to you.” The people Wei Gu was supposed to meet at the temple didn’t show up that morning.

The old man closed the book and picked up the bag. Wei Gu followed the old man to the market. They saw an old woman with one blind eye who held a 3-year old girl. Both were very dirty and ugly. The old man pointed to the girl and said to Wei Gu, “That’s your wife.” Wei Gu angrily asked, “Can I kill her?” The old man responded, “This girl is destined to be wealthy and live an honorable life. She will find happiness with you. Therefore, how could she be killed?” Then the old man disappeared.

Wei Gu sharpened a knife after he went back home. He gave the knife to his servant and told him, “You’ve always handled matters well. If you can kill this girl for me, I’ll reward you with 10,000 coins.” The servant agreed. He went to the market, hiding the knife in his sleeve, stabbed the girl in a rush, and hurried away. The servant was then able to escape from the scene due to there being a big crowd at the market.

After the servant returned Wei Gu asked, “Did you stab her?” The servant replied, “I tried to stab her heart but failed so I stabbed her between the eyebrows.”

Wei Gu continued proposing marriage with no success. Another 14 years had passed when, due to his late father’s contacts, he was offered a job working for Wang Tai, a defense officer at Xiangzhou. Wei Gu was put in charge of interrogating prisoners. Wang Tai gave him his daughter’s hand in marriage because he found Wei Gu to be quite capable. Wei Gu’s wife was between 16 and 17 years old and beautiful. Wei Gu was very pleased. However, he found that his wife always put a little artificial flower between her eyebrows and would never remove it, even when taking a bath.

At the end of the year, he asked his wife why she always wore an artificial flower between her eyebrows. She told him, “I’m actually Wang Tai’s niece, not his daughter. My father was the head of a county and died in office. I was a baby at the time. My mother and brother died later. The only property my parents left me was a house south of the city of Song. I lived there with my nanny Chen. We survived by selling vegetables. Chen felt sorry for me and always took care of me. When I was three, Chen took me to the market where some crazy guy stabbed me between my eyebrows leaving a scar, which I cover with an artificial flower. About 7 or 8 years later, my uncle came to Lulong to take a position. He adopted me as his daughter and I moved in with him and married you.”

Wei Gu asked, “Did nanny Chen have one blind eye?” His wife replied, “Yes, how did you know?” Wei Gu confessed, “That crazy man was actually sent by me. This is so weird.” Then he told his wife the whole story.

The couple henceforth became even more respectful of each other. Later they had a son, named Wei Kun, who became the governor of Yanmen, which is a very prestigious post. His mother also received high honors from the throne because of him.

Destiny can not be changed by man. The mayor of Song City heard about this destined marriage and therefore named that hotel “Engagement Hotel”.

Ever since, the person who makes sure couples get married (the old man with the bag of red thread) has been referred to as the “Elderly Man Under the Moon” or the “Moon Man” for short
 
...and one more.



I.
In the twenty-fifth year of Kai Yuan (713-742 AD) of the Tang Dynasty (618 -906 AD), Zheng Qian was the court academician for rituals and formalities. There was a man by the name of Zheng Xiangru. He was over fifty years of age. Zheng Xiangru traveled from Long Nan to take the government’s official qualification examination. He went to pay his respects as a nephew to Zheng Qian. Zheng Qian treated him just like anyone else. Zheng Xiangru made another visit but was treated in the same indifferent manner.

Zheng Xiangru thereupon asked Zheng Qian, “Uncle, don’t you know that I will succeed in my examinations? Confucius said, ‘He who is capable of inheriting the Zhou Dynasty can be foreseen even a hundred generations in advance.’ I am only an ordinary person, but if Confucius were still alive, I would be at the same level as his second best students, such as Yan and Zi Xia, if not at the level as his best student Yan Hui.” Zheng Qian was quite astonished by his audacious comment on being able to foresee the future, so he tested Zheng Xiangru with several questions, which Zheng Xiangru answered with ease.

Thereafter Zheng Qian stopped receiving guests in order to focus on talking to Zheng Xiangru. Zheng Qian also took the opportunity to ask Xiangru a question, which he’d had on his mind for some time. “If you knew you would succeed in the exam, why did you wait until so late to take the examination?” Zheng Xiangru replied, “It is destined that I will not succeed in the examination until next year. That is why I decided not to come before the time had arrived.” Zheng Qian asked, “Which government position will you get?” Xiangru replied, “In another seven years, I will be appointed to be an officer in the Qu Prefecture of Xin An County. In ten years I will die in my post.” Zheng Qian asked, “What can you tell me about my future?” Xiangru replied, “Five years from now, the nation will enter a new era. In another fifteen years, there will be a large scale rebellion in the region of You Ji that will tarnish your reputation. If you can truly pledge your allegiance to your country, you may just get a slap on the wrist as a demotion. Otherwise, there will be more severe consequence than I can predict.”

In the spring of the next year, Zheng Xiangru passed the examination. In seven years, he was appointed as an officer in the Qu Prefecture of Xin An County. Before he left for the post, he went to bid farewell with Zheng Qian in tears, telling him that this would be their last meeting. Three years later, an inspector visited Zheng Qian. Zheng Qian took the opportunity to ask if Zheng Xiangru was still in Qu Prefecture. The man said, “A few months after he assumed his post, he was stricken with an acute disease and passed away at a Buddhist temple.”

In the twenty-ninth year of the Kai Yuan Era, the Emperor started a new era called the Tian Bao Era (742-756 AD).

In the 15th year of the Tian Bao Era, An Lushan rebelled in the Eastern Capital. He sent one of his officials, Zhang Tongru, the mayor of Xijing, to Chang’an. An Lushan asked Zhang Tongru to move all government officials of the Tang Dynasty to the Eastern Capital, Luoyang. After moving to the Eastern Capital, Zheng Qian became an official and was in charge of maritime security. Then Zheng remembered Xiangru’s words, so he pretended to be insane, and asked to be dragged to the streets so that he could wipe himself with dirt. Meanwhile, he secretly wrote reports to the emperor. The same year when the Emperor Su succeeded to the throne at Lingwu, the Tang Dynasty successfully put a stop to the rebellion in the Eastern Capital. The Emperor Su asked to try all traitors during the rebellion by law. Although Zheng Qian worked for the enemy, he didn’t display allegiance to An Lushan. Therefore, he only received a small demotion and was placed in charge of the Civil Affairs in the city of Wenzhou.

Fortunately, Zheng Qian followed Xiangru’s advice, and continued to be loyal to the country. A correct decision at that critical moment saved his life. Otherwise, he would have surely received capital punishment after the rebellion subsided.

Note: Zheng Qian (692 – 764 A.D.) was a famous painter and writer in the Tang Dynasty. He was also known as Zheng Yuqi. He was from Yingyang of Zhengzhou Prefecture, Henan province. At the beginning of Tian Bao Era, he was in charge of music for rites. Later on, he went on to other jobs, including being a professor in the Imperial College of Guangwen and an official in charge of maritime security. He was good at poetry, penmanship, and painting. He was especially good at landscape painting. He was equally talented in writing poetry, writing calligraphy and painting. Therefore, he won praise from the Emperor Xuan citing “Zheng Qian’s three incredible talents.” Zheng Qian was also an expert of geography. He wrote the Record of Armed Forces for Defense during the Tian Bao Era, which recorded mountains, rivers and important geographic locations for the armed forces. He won the respect of the strata of scholars with the name and nickname “Zheng Guangwen” [Note: Guangwen in Chinese means knowledgeable.]




II.
Yang Shou was a Prime Minister in the Tang Dynasty. When he was young, he studied at Mt. Lushan. One day, while he was admiring the landscape, he accidentally wandered into a place that no tourist had been to. Yang Shou ran into a Taoist there who said to him, “If you cultivate the Tao, you will have a chance to become an immortal. If you insist on pursuing a career in politics, you will attain the highest position in the country below the Emperor, but in the end, you will face a major catastrophe. Will you follow me to cultivate the Tao?” Yang Shou hesitated for a moment, but finally made up his mind to pursue a career in politics.

Thus Yang Shou declined the Taoist’s offer. Later Yang Shou did become the Prime Minister, but he finally died a tragic end in a wasteland in southern China.

It was such a precious opportunity for Yang Shou to meet an immortal who offered him salvation, but instead of cultivating the Tao, Yang Shou chose a conventional path to politics in the human world. In the end, like the Taoist immortal had predicted, Yang Shou met with a tragic end. Such a pity!

 
Ulcasterdropout said:
...but why did he try to kill his future wife?


Because he wanted to marry Pan Fang the official's daughter not the 3 year old than did grow up to be his wife. He thought that if he killed her he could marry the girl he thought he wanted.
 
MasterBates said:

Jersey had brought up divine influence in another thread and religiously speaking GOD, etc we don't always see eye to eye but that's cool so I thought I'd share some stories I like on a topic he likes.

For the first story:

The ancients believed that one’s life has already been prearranged. They understood that everything that happens to human beings is pre-arranged in a world unseen by the human eye. Therefore they were rarely competitive, as they did not wish to accumulate karma. In Chinese, the “Elderly Man Under the Moon” means “matchmaker” and the proverb “The Red Thread Brings Together Lovers although Thousands of Miles Apart” means that a couple’s relationship is predestined.

For the second story:

Besides the Gods’ arrangements, Man’s own choices also affects One’s life.

Each person’s life has long been meticulously arranged by gods; otherwise a fortune-telling master wouldn’t be able to accurately predict the future of a person. However, one’s fate isn’t completely cast in stone, and our choices are also important variables to our lives. Perhaps when the gods arrange the destiny of each human, they also arrange opportunities for one to make one’s own choices in the pivotal moments that would lead to a different life.




People need to believe what makes them feel safe so YMMV.
 
I like and agree with Chef's outlook on things like this:


We create our own destinies and worlds.
 
Great stuff V.

Thank you sweetie.

On an unrelated note I was reading the other day that pisces want to know the truth so that they can forgive, cancers so they can prepare, and scorpios so they can hit back

Remind me not to get on your bad side;)
 
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