In the stories passed down through traditional Chinese culture, actions were never seen as isolated. What a person did — good or bad — would eventually return to them, often in ways they did not expect.
One such account appears in The Second Collection of West Lake Tales, a compilation of Qing Dynasty folklore. It is not a gentle story, but it was never meant to be. Its purpose was to warn.
A crossing on the sixth day
During the Qing Dynasty, a fisherman named Gong Zuan made his living on the Yangtze River near Zhenjiang, casting his nets around Jinshan and Jiaoshan.
On the sixth day of the sixth month, strong winds churned the river early in the morning. His boat was anchored at Guazhou Ferry when an elderly man appeared on the shore, carrying a long cloth sack slung over his shoulder. He asked for passage across the river.
Gong Zuan welcomed him aboard and took the heavy sack into the cabin.
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