Another afternoon, as I entered the park gate, a voice entered my ears: “You seem to get along well with that ‘strange’ old man, what are you talking about?” I looked over: it was a middle-aged man. I said, “Just nonsense, talking about trivial matters.” Then I asked him, “Have you talked to him? How much do you know about him?” He said, “No, he doesn’t talk to ordinary people. I heard that he was once a labor camp inmate, without a pension, relying on his son to support his life with a little money every month.” I said, “Oh, is that so?”
I walked towards the bench where the “strange” old man was sitting, and saw that he had already been sitting there. I walked quickly to him, and he saw me, welcoming me with his eyes and a smile. I sat down next to him, still on his right side. After sitting down, I couldn’t wait to ask: “Just now, a middle-aged man told me at the park entrance that you were a labor camp inmate, without a pension, relying on your son for retirement. Is it true?” He smiled and said, “I deceived them. Before retirement, I worked at a local construction company as the logistics director, then led a construction team in various counties in the region. The wages were pitifully low at that time, after retirement, I received a retirement pension of over 2,000 yuan a month. It’s like begging for food, completely disproportionate to my contribution to the country. There is not much difference between Chinese laborers and labor camp inmates. So I told them I was a labor camp inmate.” After hearing his words, I thought, this person is really clear-headed! Most people have been brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party, believing that their job and pension are gifts from the Communist Party, and feeling grateful towards the Party. But this man knows his contribution is significant, and the rewards are too little, he is truly a rare clear-minded individual. I asked him why he was so clear-headed. He said, “It’s all there for everyone to see, as long as you can think for yourself, you can see clearly.”
He then told me about the truth about the Nationalist government’s “Conscription” policy during the Anti-Japanese War period: Japan was a powerful country, with advanced weapons and strong soldiers. The Nationalist army needed several times the enemy’s forces to withstand them. The Nationalist government knew this very well and understood that if the country fell, the biggest losses would be among the property owners, who were the least willing to see the country perish. Therefore, they first mobilized the children of property owners to join the military. The children of landlords and capitalists were mostly of military age and almost all enlisted, but it was still not enough. Later, even middle school students from big cities were conscripted, and when there still weren’t enough, they drafted the sons of poor families. How did they recruit? One household with only one male (of military age) was not conscripted, but if there were two or more males, one would be sent. The mobilization started by advocating the principle that it was everyone’s duty to protect the country and the family. After the mobilization, families who understood the righteousness voluntarily sent their sons to the army to protect the country. But there were also unreasonable evaders who resisted the conscription policy. For those who refused to comply even after repeated persuasion, forced measures were taken to make them obey orders. This led to the phenomenon of “Conscription.” The actual implementation was humane, as some people considered that the national policy required them to defend the country by joining the army, so they complied. However, there were a few who resisted fiercely and tried to escape. In such cases, warning shots were fired, commanding them to stop and return to obey the order to join the army. The cowards obeyed, while the brave ones still tried to run. Even for those who insisted on running away, they were not shot, and if they managed to escape, it was left alone. There were no incidents of killing or injuring people, and there was no relentless pursuit to capture the deserters. This was the real situation of “Conscription.”
This detailed and truthful statement about “Conscription” not only made me understand the Nationalist government, the Kuomintang, and Chiang Kai-shek’s “Conscription” policy, thinking that they acted reasonably and humanely, but also found it overly lenient towards those who dared to resist military service in the face of a great enemy… Those who fled without consequences. Furthermore, it made me think that the reason why the Kuomintang lost to the Communists, losing power and fleeing to Taiwan, was due to their leniency. At the same time, it made me realize that individuals or political parties, governments, must have a heart of compassion. With a compassionate heart, even if they lose power, they do not lose the trust of the people, ultimately people will understand, gods and Buddhas will protect, and there will be good rewards in the end. This has been proven by today’s reality: Taiwan has embarked on the righteous path of freedom, democracy, and rule of law, with a prosperous economy, social stability, and happy people. It is highly respected by people around the world, thriving with a bright future. Compared to the cruel and ruthless methods of slaughtering good people to seize power, which have led to the hate, curse, and siege of all mankind, resulting in the infamous downfall of the Communist Party today, one can only wonder how many times better off they would be.
On a crisp, clear-sky afternoon, I went to the park again. After taking a stroll in the park, I naturally made my way to the place where the “strange” old man was sitting. I saw him still sitting on the bench like a sturdy tower. When he saw me approaching, he warmly invited me to sit down, and I sat down on his right side as before. This time, I wanted to know if he believed in gods and reincarnation. So I asked him, “You are well-informed, have you heard stories about soul reincarnation?” He proudly said, “My neighbor, Mr. Wu, hasn’t drunk any soul-reincarnation potion, and is still a good friend of the King of Hell!” He was truly a skilled conversationalist, as his words piqued my interest. He continued:
Eighteen miles northwest of here, there is a Zhou estate, owned by a man surnamed Zhou, with a few acres of land. He was kind-hearted, upright, detested evil, and sympathized with the weak. As a result, he offended some scoundrels. However, he suddenly died of a serious illness in his fifties. After his death, his soul went to meet the King of Hell in a leisurely manner. The King of Hell warmly welcomed his good friend, serving tea while chatting. He said to the King of Hell, “Please give me a job to do, I don’t want to be reincarnated as a human again, the human world is too complex, too ugly, too troublesome.” After looking at the Book of Life and Death, which read: “It is time for this person to be reincarnated, and he should be reborn in the Wu family near the twin stone steles.” The King of Hell understood, and ordered a servant to bring a cup of slightly yellowed tea. He said to him, “This is a cup of Forget-Worries Tea, drink it, and forget all your sorrows and troubles. After drinking, rest for a while, and I will arrange something for you. I have important matters to attend to.” The King of Hell left. Knowing that it was a mind-clouding tea, he said, “Alright, you can go about your business.” After the King of Hell left, he quickly poured out the intoxicating tea. In a moment, he found himself at the Wu family near the twin stone steles to be reborn, in a kind family with a few acres of land.
Because Zhou’s estate didn’t drink the intoxicating tea, in his mind, he was still “Zhou the landlord” – in his fifties, cultured, knowledgeable. His parents, who raised him, were young adults in their twenties, and he found it impossible to address them as father and mother. So, he pretended to be dumb and didn’t speak. But his feigned dumbness would eventually reveal some flaws, and as time passed, more and more flaws emerged, and people, especially his parents, could sense his dumbness was a pretense. Initially, they pretended not to know he was pretending until he was twelve years old. His father felt he should find a way to make him speak, or else it would be difficult for him to marry and continue the family line. All logical methods failed, so he resorted to threats. He had a few strong men carry him to the well and said if he didn’t speak, they would throw him in to drown him! The fear of death defeated his willpower of not speaking, and he finally spoke and gave up his identity as a landlord to call his father and mother.
In the same year that he turned twelve and began speaking normally again, a major incident occurred in his previous life’s family – several hundred acres of land were unlawfully taken by hoodlums. The hoodlums knew that the landlord had died suddenly, and the land deed was not passed down to his wife and children. So, they meticulously concocted a reason, claiming the landlord had secretly gambled with them before he died, lost a large sum of money, matching the value of their land, they said they used the land deed as collateral. There was a big business deal that needed to be done at that time, so he went out of town to do business, planning on giving up the land once the business succeeded, but he failed in his business and had to claim the land. His family didn’t believe the story and took the case to the county office. The county official ordered both parties to produce the land deed, but they said it was lost and couldn’t be produced. The official said for them to go home and find the land deed, whoever found it would keep the land. The hoodlum was cunning and forged a land deed. He knew that if the county official verified the deed properly and found discrepancies, he could bribe the official to get his way, which is exactly what happened, and the land was awarded to the hoodlum. The Zhou family felt wronged but had no recourse.
When twelve-year-old “Zhou the landlord” heard about this, he thought long and hard and decided to help his previous life’s wife and children reclaim the land. He returned to the Zhou estate, found his former wife, and told her where the land deed was. The wife didn’t believe him, asking, “How can a teenager like you know where the land deed is?” Not wanting to reveal the truth, he lied, saying, “I’m a thief who often sneaks around your house, saw the land deed lying there.” Following the location he mentioned, she found the deed. She took the genuine land deed and went to the county office to present it to the official. The official already knew that the hoodlum’s land deed was a forgery, and now that the Zhou family had produced the real one, he restored the land to the Zhou family according to the law.
“Zhou the landlord” became the actual head of the Wu family in this life, with good land cultivation and profitable business. Over the years, he accumulated enough to become a landlord with hundreds of acres of land. He bought a house in the city for business, becoming a neighbor to the ‘strange’ old man’s father, even though he was older than the old man’s father. As a result, the ‘strange’ old man called him Mr. Wu. As the years passed, Mr. Wu grew older and no longer avoided discussing rebirth and reincarnation, and he even enthusiastically shared his legendary experiences of past lives with others.
Just as he finished telling this story, his phone rang, and he had to leave. We bid farewell to each other.
(To be continued)