Ji Xiaolan tells stories about cause and effect 14 - Repay grievance with grievance 以怨報怨

(English subtitles) Ji Xiaolan (紀曉嵐1724-1805) was an influential philosopher, politician, and writer in the Qing Dynasty of China.
Subtitles:
My grandfather's uncle Guangji served in the military garrison in his early years from 1661 to 1680. He said, “There was an imperial official Li, his main wife often abused a concubine. She often ordered people to strip off her concubine's pants and spank her butt for trifles. This kind of whipping almost never stopped for a day.”
1:00
There was an old woman in this village. It's said that she was able to enter the underworld and know cause and effect. Generally speaking, it is what people call "go impermanence". This old woman once advised Li's wife that she and the little concubine did have some grudges in their previous lives.
“However, all she owes you is just two hundred lashes. Now because your jealousy is burning like fire and you whip her so hard every day. The number of lashes has already exceeded the amount she owes you by more than ten times. In this way, Instead, you owe her a debt of resentment.
2:00
Moreover, there is no provision in the criminal law of the country which lists the punishment of a good woman by stripping off her pants and whipping her. But you do this every time, letting her bare her naked body and endure the humiliation. You seem delighted with how you do such things, but you have violated the taboos of ghosts and gods. Madam, you are always kind to me, so I tell you the truth. I have been to the underworld and peeked into the book of life and death. These deeds of yours have been recorded as crimes. I think the situation is very serious, so I especially inform you beforehand.”
This madam heard this but didn't take it seriously. Instead, she sneered at the old woman and said,
3:00
"You damn old woman, you want to scare me with these nonsense, let me pray to the gods to avoid disasters, and then you can defraud me of my money, right?”
Soon after, a rebellion broke out, and the entire northern region was in chaos. Rebellious parties rose up in all directions. Imperial official Li died in the battle, but his concubine passed through many hands and fell into the hands of General Han. General Han saw this concubine as intelligent and very fond of her. In addition, General Han never had a formal wife, so all the affairs of the Han family were taken care of by her.
4:00
The Official's main wife eventually fell into the hands of the rebels. Later, the imperial court sent army to quell the rebellion.
According to traditional customs, the captured wealth and women were distributed as rewards to the meritorious officers and soldiers of the armed forces. The captured former Official's wife happened to be awarded to General Han, who handed her over to his concubine.
So the concubine planned to take her as a slave, and asked her to kneel in front of the hall and scold her:
“If you are willing to obey my orders, take off your pants every morning without waiting for my words, prostrate yourself in front of my dressing table, and let me give you five lashes before you go to work.
5:00
If you can do it, I will spare your life. Otherwise, you're guilty of being the wife of a traitor, and you will be chopped into pieces to feed pigs and dogs.”
The former official's wife was greedy for life and afraid of death, and had long lost her ambition. She bowed repeatedly to apologize and express her obedience.
The concubine didn't want to put her to death to vent anger, so every time she whipped her but wasn't brutal, just made her feel a little pain and humiliated.
This situation lasted for more than a year, the official's wife died of illness. A rough estimate shows that the number of whippings she received was about the same as the number of whippings she had given her concubines back then.
6:00
This official's wife was really stubborn and spineless, so even ghosts and gods were annoyed by such people, so they secretly deprived her of her life span.
General Han made no secret of these private family matters and often used this matter as an example of karma for education, so people could know the details.