Today's story is about a distant relative of mine. According to seniority, I should call him my cousin uncle.
This great cousin should be over 60 years old this year. I have heard a little about his "great achievements" since I was a child. A few days ago, his eldest brother came to visit our home, and I finally had the opportunity to hear the whole story.
My cousin's uncle has three brothers, and he was the slowest learner when he was young. He was absent-minded in class and dumbfounded when it came to exams. It was almost normal for him to hand in blank papers. The teacher repeatedly talked to my cousin's uncle's parents and said tactfully that the child probably had an IQ problem and should consider dropping out of school and going home to find a job.
My cousin's parents were really anxious and angry. In those days, it was not popular to enroll in extracurricular classes or find tutors. The prevailing iron rule was "a good son is born under the stick". So when my cousin was a child, he was beaten a lot every three days and a little every five days. He was able to survive to adulthood intact, which was really a blessing from his ancestors.
It is said that during the summer vacation when my great-uncle was in junior high school, his family went on a trip to Mount Wutai. After the tour, my great-uncle's parents took him to Shuxiang Temple to worship Manjusri Bodhisattva, praying that the Bodhisattva would bless my great-uncle to gain wisdom and success in his studies.
After the family finished worshipping, they were walking out of the mountain gate when they saw a monk in monk's robes setting up a fortune-telling stall on the roadside, telling fortunes for tourists. My cousin's parents thought that since they had come all the way here, it would be okay to ask the monk to tell fortunes for my cousin.
The monk first read the horoscope and then the palm. After a long while, he finally said, "This young man has the destiny to be a good doctor. Unfortunately, he lacks one stroke in the word 'virtue'. He will end up with many children and many disasters!" After saying this, he sighed three times in succession. No matter how hard my cousin's uncle's parents tried to get to the bottom of the matter, the old monk did not say another word.
The two confused elders thought, "More children, more blessings", why did it become more troubles for their son? However, since he was destined to be a good doctor, I think this kid will be good in the future. People are always willing to believe and accept what they expect. Since returning from Mount Wutai, they have been much more lenient in dealing with their cousin's grandfather.
As soon as my great uncle entered high school, the moment of witnessing a miracle arrived. I don’t know what stimulated him, but he became a different person and worked hard. His academic performance improved by leaps and bounds, and he was admitted to a nationally renowned medical university.
After seeing the admission letter, my cousin’s uncle’s parents went to Mount Wutai to fulfill their wish. They kowtowed three times and nine times to the golden statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva, expressing their gratitude profusely.
After graduating from university, my great uncle went to work at the Medical Research Institute, specializing in reproductive medicine.
Their medical college has a designated subordinate medical institution that specializes in assisted reproduction projects, that is, helping infertile families to do test-tube babies. My uncle happened to be the leader of this business. In the first few years, due to the immature technology, there were only a few successful test-tube embryos, which was far from the high expectations of the medical college leaders for my uncle.
For this reason, my uncle worked hard to study the technology, but the success rate still did not improve. One day, when it was late at night and everyone was asleep, my uncle was alone in the laboratory. Suddenly, he had an idea and quietly replaced the seeds sent for IVF with his own seeds. Wouldn't it be possible without anyone noticing?
Once this evil and absurd idea came up, it was hard to suppress it. My uncle tried to conceal it for the first time. The embryo developed normally and implanted successfully. After the birth of a test-tube baby like this, the medical institute would routinely conduct a paternity test. My uncle easily covered it up with a little trickery.
So my uncle did the same thing again and again, producing a large number of high-quality and healthy test-tube babies. He also gained fame and fortune, got a promotion and a raise, and won a number of awards, becoming a well-known expert both at home and abroad.
Just when infertile patients from all over the country flocked to the hospital, seeking to have children, my cousin's uncle's crime was exposed.
The reason is that as the first batch of test-tube babies grew up, their parents found that their children had nothing in common with themselves, from appearance to personality. So these parents unanimously conducted paternity tests again, and the results left them dumbfounded and unbelievable. The seemingly happy and fulfilling "happy fatherhood" turned out to be just an absurd dream.
One after another, patients brought paternity test results to the Medical College to report and seek justice. Their arguments were well-founded and the evidence was solid. Once the hospital investigated, it easily discovered the shameless behavior of my cousin's uncle who "stole the medical results" by cheating.
My cousin's uncle was disgraced and imprisoned for six years for academic misconduct and fraud. He was dismissed from all academic positions and expelled from the Academy of Medical Sciences. The Academy of Medical Sciences also suffered a huge loss of reputation and had to pay a huge amount of compensation to all the families who were defrauded.
In fact, things that can be solved with money are not a big deal. How will those families who have been kept in the dark face their beloved children who were once as precious as treasures? Just thinking about it makes me feel upset, worried, and sad for them.
It is no surprise that the Taoist magic in Mount Wutai is so effective. The monk saw at a glance that my cousin's grandfather lacked moral support. No matter how talented he was, he would not be able to escape the calamity of prison. The ancients said: "Virtue is the master of talent, and talent is the slave of virtue. Talent without virtue is like a house without a master and the slaves are in charge. How many times will the evil spirits not run rampant?"
Throughout the ages, there are countless people who have fallen because of their talent but no moral integrity. Unfortunately, some people, once they have enough talent, become the one pretending to be asleep, relying on their talent to bully others. When they fall, they shed a handful of bitter tears, but there is no regret medicine anywhere.