Chinese Traditional Story: Helping Others is Helping Yourself

Hello, everyone. The story I'm going to share today is Helping Others is Helping Yourself. As we mentioned earlier, the climates that befell humanity are directly related to the decline of human morality. Throughout history, we have also seen some morally upright individuals who in critical moments truly think of others rather than themselves. God sees these selfless lives and will naturally help them. Because selflessness aligns with God's standards. How can we achieve selflessness? Here are two short stories on this topic. In the tenth year of Yongle reign of Ming dynasty, a family of three lived in a local village. A scholar named Wang Yaozu, his wife and their seven-year-old son. Wang Yaozu's family had been wealthy in his childhood, so he always had an opportunity to study. However, his family later fell into poverty, and his parents passed away one after another. By the time he got married, his family was struggling financially, often going hungry. His wife secretly saved some money by washing clothes for wealthy families, hoping her husband could fulfill his dream of passing the imperial examination. That year, Wang Yaozu went to the capital again to take the imperial examination, but unfortunately, he failed again. He was extremely depressed and walked dejectedly on his feet back home. That day, he came to the riverbank and was about to a boat when he suddenly heard a shout. It turned out that a boat had run into trouble, and many people had fallen into the water, calling for help. People on the shore quickly called for small boats to come and rescue them, but boatmen were haggling over the price. While they were arguing about the money, Wang Yaozu thought, saving lives is the priority. I happened to have 10 taels of silver left, so I gave the silver to them and told them to hurry up to rescue the people. So I shouted to the boatmen, go and rescue them. Whoever can pull them out will get all 10 taels of silver as a reward. Upon hearing this, the boatmen all rushed to rescue the people, and in less than half an hour, everyone on the boat was rescued. So Wang Yaozu distributed the silver to the boatmen. The rescued people all came to express their gratitude. Just then, a boy cried out, Papa, Papa, and stumbled toward them. Wang Yaozu looked and saw it was none other than his son. He quickly hugged his son. The son immediately burst into tears, crying, Mommy is gone, Mommy is gone. Just then, Wang Yaozu looked up and saw a boatman carrying a soaking wet person onto the bank. He rushed over, and upon closer inspection, realized it was his wife. After a while, his wife woke up. The family was reunited on the river bank. Wang Yaozu thought about it and felt an indescribable fear. If he couldn't bear to harvest the money, what would he lose? Where would he be able to return home? The second story also took place in the Ming Dynasty. In the early years of the Qing Hua reign, there was a military officer named Zhang Baihu in Gaoyou garrison, a title that was then used for official business. One day, he was traveling on a small boat to conduct official duties. While on the lake, a sudden gale-force wind arose, and his boat capsized. Zhang Baihu, however, was a strong swimmer and managed to escape. He walked along the lake embankment. Suddenly, he spotted another small boat bobbing up and down in the waves. He saw someone clinging to the back of the boat, calling for help, but he couldn't make out who it was in the thick fog. Zhang Baihu was immediately filled with pity and called for help from the small shipping boats on the shore, asking the fishermen for assistance, but they refused because it was too dangerous. Zhang Baihu gave the fishermen the only 10 taels of silver he had, and the fishermen risked his life to rescue the man. After the rescue, Zhang Baihu discovered that the man was his own son. He had been waiting for his father when a strong wind blew through the water, and when pulled from the water, he was already on the verge of death. A few more moments, and he might not have survived. Zhang Baihu rescued the man in danger, but in doing so, he inadvertently saved his own son. These two stories teach us that helping others is helping ourselves. As we mentioned before, heaven is watching what we do. When we help others without expecting anything in return, God will help us because our heart is sincere and genuine. If we can truly always think of others first, God will be with us, our lives will be better, and we will keep away from disaster. Thank you very much for listening to the story. More touching stories will be ready for you if you just subscribe it. Thank you again.