Do you believe what goes around comes around? This is a true story of karma that happened in rural China as told by an elder.
The elder’s mother was from Gaomi County in Shandong Province, and lived in the countryside. There was a couple in her village with three sons and two daughters, five children in total. The couple bought a small boat to make a living by ferrying people across the river that was just outside the village and the income was not bad. The couple’s oldest and second-oldest sons were both in their 20s and had many suitors.
As the family’s income grew and their conditions improved, the oldest son started working at a supply and marketing cooperative, which was very enviable in the countryside at that time. Both sons were also handsome and talented. The couple was extremely happy and couldn’t stop talking about it. They thought that with their good family conditions, their handsome and talented sons, and their good jobs, they could choose good and well-off daughters-in-law for their sons.
Karma strikes
However, unexpectedly, the oldest son fell seriously ill and eventually died, despite treatment. The couple was devastated. Just as they were starting to come to terms with his loss, the second son also became seriously ill and died the following year. It was as if disaster was raining down on them. Even more bizarrely, the third son also fell ill and died at the same age as the oldest son. All three of their sons died at such a young age, leaving only two daughters behind.
As the two younger daughters grew up, the couple was both happy and worried. They were happy that their daughters were getting older and would soon be of marriageable age, but they were also worried because their three sons had all died and they didn’t want anything to happen to their two daughters. The couple lived in fear every day. Unfortunately, their worries were realized when the second daughter was in a car accident and became disabled. Only the oldest daughter was still healthy.
But the couple’s misfortunes didn’t end there. A year later, the husband went out to help a neighbor build a wall and was hit by a rock, breaking his leg. He couldn’t work and was bedridden for 40 days. One day, the husband couldn’t take it anymore and broke down in tears, saying: “My family has encountered so many disasters; it is God who is punishing me! It was my sin that caused my sons and daughters to suffer. God is punishing me!”
People were shocked and thought that the man might have had a mental breakdown due to the stress of everything that had happened to his family. However, unexpectedly, the man finally revealed a shocking and morally reprehensible secret that only he knew, which was causing his karma to be repaid.
It was around noon one day in the summer of 1976. The man was returning home after piloting the boat. When he arrived at the bank, he found a child struggling in the water. He knew that the child had been playing by the river and had fallen in. When he saw that it was the child of a family with whom he had a grudge, not only did he fail to rescue him, but he also had evil intentions.
He looked around to make sure no one was watching and used the oar in his hand to push the child’s head under the water. When the child’s head came back up, he pushed it down again, until the child stopped coming back up. He looked around again to make sure no one was watching before going home.
In the following years, nothing happened to his family. He thought that since no one had witnessed what he had done, the past was behind him. However, there is an old Chinese saying: “There are deities three feet above a person’s head watching everything, and karma will catch up with you, either sooner or later.”
He realized it only when he was at the end of his rope, but it was too late.
Translated by Patty Zhang
