Qu Fengshi was a scholar. At the age of twenty, he was admitted as a student and lived in Qianmen, the capital city. One day, as he was strolling around, he happened to pass by Zhenwu Temple. From afar, he saw a fortune - teller making divinations and quite a few people gathered around watching. He walked closer and saw a banner beside the old fortune - teller with the four big characters "Iron Plate Divine Calculation" written on it. He stood there and listened for a while. People all said that what the old man said about others was extremely accurate. Qu Fengshi was secretly amazed and continued to watch by the table. When the old man looked up and saw Qu Fengshi, he stroked his beard, sized him up and said, "Judging from your appearance, sir, in a certain year, you should enter the local school to study. In a certain year, you will enjoy the treatment of receiving food allowances. In a certain year, you will participate in the provincial examinations, but you will narrowly miss passing. According to your fate, you should be recommended as a tribute student. Sir, please remember these years and see if my divination is accurate!" Qu Fengshi smiled and asked, "Sir, can I live to be over a hundred years old?" The old man shook his head and said, "I shouldn't have revealed this, but you just happened to ask! You will die under this red wall at the Shen hour (3 - 5 p.m.) on the Mid - Autumn Festival of your twenty - fourth year." Qu Fengshi was greatly shocked when he heard this. Although he had doubts, he silently remembered it. After all, the old man's divinations for others before were quite mysterious. Unexpectedly, Qu Fengshi's life trajectory was exactly as the old man said. He smoothly received food allowances and was approved as a tribute student, and every time node was precisely matched. This made him deeply believe in the old man's words, and he often sighed about the fate of life in his heart: Are people really led by fate? What is the meaning of my life? Twenty - four years old...

One day, Qu Fengshi saw a blind man playing the erhu in the market. The sound of the erhu was quite desolate, and it seemed that the artist was living in poverty. There were no copper coins in the plate placed in front of his feet. When it was almost lunchtime, Qu Fengshi walked straight up and dumped all the copper coins he had on him into the plate in front of the old artist, saying loudly, "Uncle, your performance is truly like the sounds of nature. I'm lucky to hear it today. These copper coins are the reward for this wonderful music." The old artist was both surprised and delighted and thanked him repeatedly.

Another time, when Qu Fengshi passed by an alley, he heard faint sobbing. He followed the sound and found a little girl huddled in the corner. He quickly squatted down and gently asked, "Little girl, why are you crying here?" The little girl cried and said that she had gotten separated from her family and didn't know what to do. Qu Fengshi gently comforted her, "Don't be afraid. I'll help you find your family." He took the little girl around to ask for information and patiently accompanied her. Until evening, they finally found the little girl's family. The little girl's parents thanked him profusely and wanted to reward him, but Qu Fengshi firmly refused, saying, "It's just a small effort. There's no need to mention it. The important thing is that the child is safe."

On the Mid - Autumn Festival of Qu Fengshi's twenty - fourth year, his wife urged him to go to the street to buy some offerings for the moon - worshiping ceremony in the evening. Unexpectedly, on the way, he met several classmates who insisted on pulling him to Zhenwu Temple to pray for children. No matter how he tried to decline, his classmates wouldn't allow it. Helplessly, he could only go to Zhenwu Temple reluctantly. When he was almost at the gate of Zhenwu Temple, he suddenly saw a woman in mourning clothes with a sad face, accompanied by a young child, walking in a hurry and crying. Qu Fengshi was suspicious and quickly stepped forward to ask the reason. The woman sobbed, "My family is already poor. Now my husband has died of illness, and I can't even afford a coffin. I have no hope in life. I want to follow my husband underground and plan to drown myself and my young son." Qu Fengshi was shocked when he heard this and quickly dissuaded her, "Sister - in - law, don't do this. Even an ant tries to survive, let alone a human! What crime has the young child committed!" After saying that, he immediately took out the money from his pocket and handed it to the woman, saying, "Sister - in - law, this little bit of silver may not be much, but it may help you out of your urgent need. Take it and give your husband a proper burial and take good care of the child." The woman was overjoyed and grateful when she took the money. She knelt down and thanked Qu Fengshi repeatedly...

As Qu Fengshi watched the woman's receding figure, he felt mixed emotions in his heart and couldn't help sighing at the irony of fate. His classmates said he was stupid for giving all his money away. In fact, Qu Fengshi was feeling melancholy and sad at this moment: Today was the Mid - Autumn Festival of his twenty - fourth year, and somehow he had come to Zhenwu Temple again! I'm afraid it was already the Shen hour. He was afraid that what the fortune - teller had said a few years ago would come true again. While he was thinking to himself, he suddenly saw a ball - like object outside the wall of Zhenwu Temple, shining with a strange light, rolling slowly towards him. Qu Fengshi was startled. He felt that this scene was very strange. Without thinking much, he quickly turned around to avoid it. He had just taken a few steps when he heard a loud noise behind him. He turned his head and saw that the red wall had collapsed! And the place where it collapsed was exactly where he had been standing just now. Qu Fengshi was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and patted his chest in fear.

"Wonderful! Wonderful!" At this time, he suddenly found that the old man who had made the divination before was standing beside him at some point, looking at him with a smile and saying, "Sir, you now have lines of kindness on your face, which is a sign of doing good deeds and accumulating virtue. It seems that your lifespan will be extended." Qu Fengshi suddenly understood and said, "Old immortal, it seems that your divination is starting to be inaccurate!" The old man said, "Sir, for you, the inaccuracy of my divination is a good thing." The old man then continued, "Sir, you scholars have read a lot of books. You surely haven't forgotten what is said in 'The Wen of the Lord of Literature's Accumulation of Merits': 'Do no evil, and do all that is good. Then no evil stars will approach, and good gods will always protect you.' Reading is to understand the truth, and understanding the truth means conforming to the way of heaven, following the teachings of the sages, doing good deeds and accumulating virtue. Only in this way can you change your fate and not be bound by magic. Only in this way can you live a clear - headed life. Some scholars only read books to seek fame and fortune and enjoy themselves. Then they are really what people call 'good - for - nothings'. Not only can their fate bind them, but their fate may even get worse, affecting their descendants. This is all due to not cultivating blessings and doing evil. Truly, 'The near - term retribution is on oneself, and the long - term retribution is on one's descendants'!" After hearing this, Qu Fengshi immediately stood up straight and bowed respectfully to the old man. He understood that his inadvertent good deeds had changed his own fate. More importantly, for the first time, he had a personal experience of the teachings of the sages. His several classmates were amazed when they learned the whole story. Later, they also followed Qu Fengshi's example and did good deeds to accumulate virtue.

From this, we can see that heaven rewards the good and punishes the evil without the slightest error. Shouldn't we exhort each other with this and do more good deeds to accumulate virtue?