Ji Xiaolan Tells Story of Cause and Effect 2 - Filial piety touches God and get Blessed 孝感神佑

(English subtitles) Ji Xiaolan (紀曉嵐1724-1805) was an influential philosopher, politician, and writer in the Qing Dynasty of China.
Subtitles:
In 1784, fires often occurred in Jinan, Shandong Province.
At the end of April, a fire broke out in the street near the south gate.
Narrow alley make fire spread out easily in the wind and the whole residential area was quickly engulfed in flames.
Mr. Zhang, who is a owner of three huts, should have fled with his family to a safer place before his huts caught on fire.
Since his mother's coffin was still sitting inside, at the critical moment, they were still trying hard to move the coffin out of the scene.
In the blink of an eye, the fire spread in, and they had no way to escape the flames. Then the Zhang couple and their 4 children were holding the coffin and crying together, preparing to sacrifice for their old mother.
At that time, the commander of Shandong, General Fang, was directing the fire fighting at the scene.
He heard the indistinct crying from the northern street, then he commanded soldiers to follow the sound and rescue people.
When the soldiers ascended the back alley roof and located the six members of Zhang's family, they lowered the ropes from rooftop to let the trapped people tie themselves and pulled them up.
But the Zhang couple shouted "Our mom's coffin is sitting here. How can we leave it unattended?"
The four kids also refused to tie the ropes, and cried: Both dad and mom are going to die for grandma, and we will die with them too.
In the midst of persuasion, the fire spread here, and the soldiers had no choice but to leave to take shelter.
At that time, people generally thought that the Zhang family along with the three huts definitely would not survive the fire.
People looked at the fierce fire and felt nothing but sorrow.
After putting out the fire, people checked the site thoroughly. To their surprise, they found Zhang's three huts were left intact.
It turned out that when the fire was about to come towards Zhang's house, a whirlwind suddenly blew the fire northward.
The fire just bypassed Zhang's huts but burned out neighbor's warehouse, and then burned westward again without any reason.
How could this phenomenon occur without the protection of ghosts and gods?
In July 1793, the leader of Dezhou academy, Mr. Zhang Qingyuan, wrote to me about this.
This story is similar to a widow's story I documented.
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However, it is even difficult for a couple with their four children to vow to sacrifice their lives for the sake of filial piety.
As the saying goes, two people with the same heart, it's like a sharp knife that can cut through metal. What's more, they are parents and children of the same mind.
An article by Huainanzi in 139 BC ever noted a story that a widow in Qi state suffered injustice and could not defend herself. She then cried out to Heaven to testify. All of a sudden, thunder rumbled in the sky, and a lightning striking the pavilion of King of Qi.
Finally, the Heaven cleared her of the injustice.
Not to mention the fact that all six members of the Zhang family are extremely filial.
Their utmost sincerity would surely move the gods and spirits amidst heaven and earth.
Therefore, even though they had the definite fate, gods and spirits couldn't help retrieving the situation.
This is an example of how people can defeat fate. The story sounded unexpected but made perfect sense.