Ji Xiaolan Tells the Story of Cause and Effect 4 - The Righteous Elder Avoids Disaster 義叟免難

(English subtitles) Ji Xiaolan (紀曉嵐1724-1805) was an influential philosopher, politician, and writer in the Qing Dynasty of China.
Subtitles:
My family once had a manor on the riverside, south of Cangzhou. In that manor, there is a Water Bright Tower. From the tower, I can overlook the Wei River. Under the guardrail, are the sails of boats traveling in the river. My grandmother, Mrs. Zhang, would come to live in this manor every summer to enjoy the cool air.
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Several of our grandchildren will take turns to serve her and keep her company.
One day, I opened the window of Water Bright Tower and looked southward, and I saw dozens of men and women boarding a ferry one after another. By this time, the ship had already untied the ropes and was ready to set sail. Suddenly, one of the men on the boat threw a punch and knocked an old man into the shallow water. The elder struggled to sit up and angrily pointed and cursed at the people in the boat, but by then the boat had already rowed away from shore. At that time, after a heavy rain, the water in the river suddenly swelled. The waves raged and plummeted hundreds of miles. At this very moment, a grain ship, with both sails open, came down the river like an arrow out of a string, and rammed straight into the ferry. The ferry was smashed to pieces instantly,
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and dozens of people on board fell into the water. No one survived, except the elder who was not on the boat. Then he turned from anger to joy and joined his palms together and recited the Buddha's name.
At this time, someone came up and asked the elder where he was going. The elder said: "I heard yesterday that one of my clan brothers was going to trade his child bride to be another's little wife for 20 ounces of silver. It is said that they will sign today. I couldn't bear it, so I quickly mortgaged the few acres of my farmland in exchange for 20 ounces of silver, hoping to redeem the girl. I didn't expect it to be so close. Alas. After hearing this, everyone praised him and said, "God must have secretly ordered that guy to punch you."
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So the people hurriedly arranged for another ferry to take the elder across the river. Back then, I was just 10 years old, I only heard people say that this elder was from Zhao's Village. But unfortunately, I did not ask his name at that time. This event happened in 1733.
In addition, my grandma told me another story, which occurred around 1724. There was a man in Cangzhou who not only forced his widowed sister-in-law to remarry, but also sold his two nieces to a brothel. Folks were furious about this. One day, he bought a large quantity of green beans with his ill-gotten gains and sailed a large ship to Tianjin to sell them. In the evening, the boat was docked at the river while he was sitting at the side of the boat washing his feet.
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Suddenly, the cable of a salt transport ship on the west coast was cut off, and it swept straight across toward him. Its sides rubbed against the side of his boat. His legs below the knees were like being cut by a knife, and the bones of his legs were crushed, and he cried out miserably for several days before he died.
When the servant of my grandfather family heard about this incident, he hurriedly came to report to his master. And he said, What a strange thing happened to someone. However, the master said leisurely, This is not strange at all. In my opinion, it would be strange if he did not end up like this.