The honorable Yao’an said, someone named Sun Tianqiu…

The honorable Yao’an said, someone named Sun Tianqiu regarded money as his life. From empty hands he had accumulated a thousand gold pieces. Even though his wife and children were cold and hungry he treated them like strangers. He himself also endured cold and hunger and did not ease them with one bit of money. When he got seriously ill, he laid out his money before his pillow. He caressed the coins one by one and said: “You don’t belong to me after all, do you?” He sobbed and then died. Before Sun died, he had been teased by a fox. Each time the fox took away his money, Sun was so distressed he wanted to die. It went on like this several times. There was also someone named Liu, for whom money was also his life. He was also being teased by a fox. One year on New Year’s Eve, all of Liu’s family and friends who were poor received several pieces of gold. Everyone was baffled because this was not like his usual behavior. Soon after hearing that over two hundred pieces of gold had been stolen by a fox out of his personal chest in front of his bed, Liu received dozens of thank you cards. The reason was that Sun’s money was all hard-earned. The fox was bewildered by his stinginess and just played with him. Liu had come to money by playing tricks and through exploitation, so the fox dispensed it all. This handling was quite appropriate.