During the reign of Emperor Daoguang, there was a village called Longxingji in Tianchang County, Anhui Province. To the north of Longxingji was a large lake called Gandang Lake, which was about 20 miles long, with a wide and clear surface. Birds and dead flies were flying on the lake, and it was surrounded by green mountains. The scenery was very beautiful. In the lake there was a not very high mound, about ten acres in size. The river water flowing down from the hill on the east side had to pass through the mound before it could flow to other places. The mound was overgrown with weeds and no one lived there. It was just a place for nearby villagers to graze.
There lived a family by the lake. The head of the family was surnamed Tao, about 40 years old. His wife died early, and he had two sons who were both scholars. He made a living by farming and lived a relatively comfortable life. At the end of summer that year, a thin guest from another place suddenly came to the Tao family and asked to rent a house.
The man was in his early thirties, with a sad face. He said his surname was Mao, his given name was Ji, his courtesy name was Fanghu, he was from Jiangxi, and he made a living by fortune-telling. The Tao family had an empty room, and the old man was a warm-hearted and kind person. Seeing that there was a customer looking to rent it, he didn't care about the money, as long as it was convenient for him, so he nodded and agreed.
Mao Ji was a man of few words and few smiles. He liked to meditate when he had nothing to do and occasionally chatted with Old Man Tao about family matters. Once, Old Man Tao's cow was lost and he mentioned it to Mao Ji during a casual chat. Mao Ji immediately made a divination and told the old man to look for it along the slope to the east according to the divination. Sure enough, he found it on the east side of the slope.
Old Man Tao knew that he was not an ordinary person and respected him even more. Every day after lunch, he would wear straw sandals and a bamboo hat, take a small boat to the lake to look around, go out at noon, and not come back until the sunset in the afternoon. The Tao family was accustomed to this.
After a month, the lake surface suddenly became colder. Mao Ji caught a cold when he went to the lake to swim. He was bedridden for several days. During his illness, Old Man Tao personally boiled medicine for him and brought it to him. He served him tea and water for three meals a day without any complaints. Seeing that his clothes were worn and thin and could not keep him warm, he asked someone to make him a thick coat, but Mao Ji refused to take it.
Tao had no choice but to sneak into Mr. Mao's room while he was asleep at night and take away his old clothes. When Mao Ji woke up the next day, he found that his old clothes were gone and looked for them everywhere. The old man smiled and said that his clothes were too old and had been thrown away. Mao Ji had no choice but to put on new clothes. Mao Ji also instructed everyone in the family: "From now on, no matter who is in the family, you must be respectful to Mr. Mao. If anyone dares to be rude to him, I will punish him severely."
When Mao Ji found out, he couldn't help but feel extremely grateful to the old man.
One day after dinner, Mao Ji suddenly invited Old Man Tao to his room for tea. When Mr. Tao entered the room, he closed the door, took his hand and said to him: "I am a wandering man who has received your kindness. I am ashamed to repay you. I am not a heartless person. May I ask you if you want to be rich or noble?" Old Man Tao was very surprised when he heard this. Mr. Mao did not look like a rich man, so what wealth and nobility could he have? So he shook his head and refused.
Mao Ji knew what he meant by looking at his expression, and said to him with a smile: "I have a little trick that can make you rich and noble. Please don't be polite, just tell me what you want." Old man Tao was skeptical, so he half-jokingly said: "If you are rich, won't you naturally be noble?" Mao Ji smiled and said: "If that's the case, it's not difficult.
To be honest, I check the lake every day and have found a lucky place in the lake. Three rivers merge into one, there are double bridges and rainbows in front, and four winding screens in the back. If you build a house and settle here, your descendants will be rich for hundreds of years. "When Old Man Tao heard this, he was overjoyed and bowed to Mao Ji.
Mao Ji said, "Please come with me tomorrow at noon, and I will show you the land."
The next day after lunch, Mao Ji and Old Man Tao got on a small boat and rowed to the lake. When they reached the center of the lake, Mao Ji pointed to a mound in the lake and said to Old Man Tao, "This is the lucky spot." Old Man Tao was surprised when he saw it and said, "I have lived by the lake for so long, but I didn't know there was such a good place in the lake."
As soon as the two came back, Old Man Tao ordered his son to buy wood and tiles. It took several days to transport these building materials to the island. They only waited for Mao Ji to calculate an auspicious day and point out the direction before starting construction.
One day, Old Man Tao invited Mao Ji into his room and asked him to calculate an auspicious day and direction. Unexpectedly, Mao Ji frowned this time, as if he had something to hide. He lowered his head and thought for a while before saying to Old Man Tao: "Do you know why I told you about this place?" Old Man Tao was also puzzled when he heard his words, and his face was blank. Mao Ji continued: "The reason I did this is, firstly, to thank you for your kindness, and secondly, I am proficient in numerology and have already calculated that I will have 36 years of bad luck from this year. I can't escape the bad luck, so I wander around.
Now I have chosen an auspicious place for you. If you succeed, you will be rich. If you become rich, the earth immortal will be angry, and my eyes will certainly be lost and I will be blind, and I will be immersed in darkness for the rest of my life. If that happens, who will provide me with food and clothing? "When Old Man Tao heard this, he didn't quite believe it, but in order to reassure Mao Ji, he said to him: "What are you talking about? Even if it is true, how could I forget your kindness? Even if I die, I will make a will to let my descendants provide for you. If you don't believe it, I can swear that if I break this promise in the future, I will fall into the hell of mud." Mao Ji was delighted after hearing this, and he was relieved. He calculated an auspicious day for the new house and started construction.
On the day of raising the beams, he pointed to the land in front of the house and said to Old Man Tao, "We should build a lotus pavilion here, so that it will look more poetic." Before he finished speaking, there was a long howl from the sky, and a black falcon flew down in an instant and swooped down towards his face.
Mao Ji screamed and fell to the ground. Old man Tao was shocked and quickly helped him up. He saw that his eyes were closed and there was a trace of blood in his eyes. Old man Tao and his family quickly helped him back to the room. They called doctors and took medicines to no avail. From then on, he became blind. Old man Tao asked someone to accompany him in his daily life and diet, and the food supply was even more meticulous.
When the new house was completed, Tao's family moved in and turned the nearby land into paddy fields for grazing and farming. One night, Tao and Mao Ji were sitting at the door chatting when they suddenly saw a faint fire on the shore in front of them, like a dance of phosphorus.
Old man Tao was very surprised and told Mao Ji. Unexpectedly, Mao Ji was delighted after hearing it, and hurriedly said to him: "Hurry up and call your sons. Dig under the firelight, and you will definitely get something." So old man Tao called his two sons to take hoes and shovels to dig at the shore. As a result, they dug out a jar after digging two or three feet deep. When they opened it, they found it was full of white silver. Several people continued to dig deeper and actually dug out a total of twelve such jars. They earned countless silver. From then on, the Tao family became a wealthy family in the local area, owning hundreds of acres of fertile land, several mansions, many servants, and many treasures in the house, and silks and satins were countless.
That year, both of his sons passed the imperial examinations, and Old Man Tao respected Mao Ji even more. He listened to everything he said and never disobeyed him.
Three years later, his two sons wanted to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination. Mao Ji predicted that it was unlucky and tried to stop them many times, but they didn't listen. So they took the bus to Beijing to take the exam. As a result, both of them passed the exam and were sent to serve as officials. Old man Tao still believed in Mao Ji, but his two sons began to doubt him. After another six years, Old man Tao suddenly fell seriously ill and was bedridden. Seeing that his condition was getting worse, he quickly wrote a letter to his two sons to come home.
When they came back, the old man was already dying. The two men knelt in front of the bed and couldn't help crying. The old man said to them with difficulty: "Do you know why my Tao family is in this situation today?" The two brothers replied: "This is all due to the kindness of our father."
The old man shook his head and said, "You are wrong. This is not my fault, but Mr. Mao's credit. After I die, you two must accumulate merits and repay Mr. Mao. You must serve him as you would serve me. Otherwise, it would be extremely unfilial!" The two men knelt on the ground and cried and agreed.
Old man Tao then sent someone to invite Mao Ji to be entrusted with the care of his son, and the host and the guest sighed to each other.
Two days later, Old Man Tao died of illness. His two sons followed the customary mourning at home, but they not only did not restrain themselves from sex, but instead indulged in luxury and abused their power. Mao Ji could not stand this and repeatedly advised them, but they both turned a deaf ear to him. Over time, he stopped saying anything.
The brothers gradually became rude to him. Mao Ji sat in his room every day eating dead flies , listening to the singing and dancing in the hall and the sounds of servants being beaten and scolded. He felt very impatient. After two or three days, he suddenly heard a few three or four-year-old children singing in front of him: "Blind man, blind and lonely, how many dead flies have you eaten."
After hearing this, he felt even more disgusted.
One day a chicken fell into a manure pit and drowned. The younger son ordered the servant to throw it away. The older son said it was a pity, so he ordered the servant to pluck the chicken feathers and simmer it in a clay pot and bring it to Mao Ji. Mao Ji didn't know about this and ate the chicken and the soup.
After the meal, a young maid came to clean up the dishes. Seeing her master being so mean, she couldn't bear it, so she asked Mao Ji, "Sir, what do you think the chicken tastes like?" Mao Ji said, "It's okay." The maid asked again, "There shouldn't be any other taste, right?" Mao Ji knew something was wrong as soon as he heard it, so he asked in detail. The maid told him the truth and told him not to tell anyone else. Then she put away the dishes and left.
After hearing this, Mao Ji felt a chill in his heart, but his face remained expressionless.
After a few days, he asked someone to invite the two young men and said to them: "Most geomancers only know that this is the main vein entering the lake, but they don't know that it is called the Turtle Base Point. If we can plant mulberry trees around the house, their green shade will cover the sky when they grow up, just like a turtle shell growing green hair. That will be truly invaluable." The two sons were very surprised when they heard this, and immediately ordered people to plant mulberry trees around the house according to what Mr. Mao said.
More than a year later, one night when the Tao family was having dinner, there was a sudden earthquake from underground, which shook the house from side to side and even knocked over the cups and plates on the table. The Tao family was panicked and in chaos.
After waiting for a long time for the shaking to stop, the two sons' faces turned pale. After thinking for a while, they came to Mao Qiao's room and asked him for advice with a look of panic on their faces.
When Mao Ji saw the two men, he slapped the bed and said, "This is all my mistake!" The two men were puzzled, so they asked him. Mao Ji said, "You two may not believe me. Dig two feet below the central hall and you will find a broken stone tablet." The two sons looked at each other, and then ordered the servants to bring tools. They dug in the hall as Mr. Mao said. When they dug two feet deep, they found a hard object. The servants lifted it up and wiped off the dirt. It turned out to be half a stone tablet. There were four sentences engraved in official script on the tablet. The text read: The walking is like a turtle, the body is like a gourd, the buried person is a general of the Han Dynasty, and the broken one is Mao from Jiangxi. "
The two men did not know what it meant, so the eldest son read the four sentences on the stele to Mao Ji. Mao Ji said to him, "Don't be afraid, my son. I will protect your family." Then he ordered his men to help him out of the house, measure the house with steps, and mark four places in front, behind, left and right. He said to his two sons, "Dig four deep wells in these four places quickly."
Then he drew a human shape with his walking stick behind the house and said to them, "Two canals should be built in this place to bring in lake water. This will ensure our wealth and prosperity for thousands of years." The two sons were overjoyed when they heard it. They immediately asked someone to help Mao Ji go back to the house to rest, and he quickly sent someone to find craftsmen to start work overnight.
Three days later, when all the works were completed, Mao Qiao suddenly regained his sight, which amazed the whole family. Mao Ji found his two sons and said goodbye to them, "I have been taken care of by your family for more than ten years, and I am very worried.
Fortunately, God has blessed Blind Tong and restored his sight. I don't want to bother him anymore. From now on, we will go our separate ways. If we are destined to meet again, we will meet again. "The two gentlemen were about to try to stop him, but they saw him drift away.
Mao Ji had been alone since he left the Tao family. He had little money, which was running out. One day, he came to Lai'an Mountain and saw a shabby temple in the mountain, close to the nearby market town. A group of beggars lived in the temple, all of them in rags and with unkempt hair.
Mao Ji entered the temple and said to the beggars, "If you can provide me with food, I can change your fate." These beggars were stupid to begin with, and when they heard that they could change their fate, they were immediately overjoyed and nodded in agreement.
So everyone made a place for him to live, went to the market town to beg during the day, and brought some clean food to Mao Ji at night, serving him diligently.
After more than a year, a yellow-eared puppy raised by the beggars suddenly fell ill and died. Mao Ji ordered the beggars to collect money and go to the market to buy a small coffin. They also bought small clothes to put on the dog and put it in the coffin. Then they chose a lucky grave behind the temple and buried the dog in mourning. Strangely enough, after the dog was buried, the beggars, who were originally confused and ignorant, suddenly became clear-headed and gradually realized shame. One day, they burst into tears and said, "It is too shameful to beg here."
So they changed their habits, either doing hard labor or using the money they begged to become small vendors. Within two years they made a lot of profit, and after another year they became wealthy. They settled down in the market town and gradually became well-off families.
After becoming rich, the people did not forget Maoji's kindness and competed to support him. Maoji said to them: "You used to live in the temple as beggars and blasphemed the gods, causing the temple to fall into disrepair. If you can collect money to repair the temple, I can make this place prosperous again."
The people believed him without a doubt, so they raised money to repair the temple, making it even bigger than before. Mao Ji re-selected the direction of the gate for the temple, first to receive the beauty of the South Mountain, then dug an earthen cellar behind the temple to release the evil of the North Mountain, bought a fortune stick tube, wrote a fortune-telling poem, and all those who came to him to ask for fortune would get it right.
Soon, there was a constant stream of people coming and going in front of the temple, and there were countless people selling incense, candles and tea, so that gradually a village was formed nearby. In addition, they invited high-ranking monks from other places to be the abbot, and they rang bells, chanted scriptures and performed rituals every day. In a short time, it became a famous temple in the local area.
On this day, the temple was gathering good people and believers to hold a ceremony. Mao Ji was sitting on a cushion and clasping his hands together, chanting the Buddha's name. Suddenly, a pilgrim looked at him for a long time, walked up to him and asked, "Are you Mr. Mao who used to live in Tao's house?" Mao Ji was very surprised to hear this, so he said to the visitor, "It's me." The pilgrim said, "I came here from Longxingji specifically to burn incense. I have seen you several times before at Tao's house by the lake."
Mao Ji felt relieved after hearing this, so he asked about the Tao family. The pilgrim said, "Since Mr. Mao left, less than two years have passed since the Tao family was robbed and then suffered a fire. Both of his sons were demoted for criminal offenses and have now died of illness. The family is now penniless, and even the house has become a ruin." Mao Ji burst into tears and said, "I was angry at the time, which led to the current bad consequences. I have failed my dead friend."
When the people around heard about it, they admired his magical skills even more and vied with each other to invite him. However, Mao Ji refused to go. The next day, when everyone went to the temple again to invite him, they found that his room was empty and he had disappeared.