新城王大司馬有主計僕，家稱素封。忽夢一人奔入，曰：“汝欠四十千，今宜還矣。”問之不答，徑入内去。既醒，妻產男。知爲夙孽，遂以四十千捆置一室，凡兒衣食病藥皆取給焉。過三四歲，視室中錢僅存七百。適乳姥抱兒至，調笑於側，僕呼之曰：“四十千將盡，汝宜行矣！”言已，兒忽顏色蹙變，項摺目張；再撫之，氣已絕矣。乃以餘資置葬具而瘞之。此可爲負欠者戒也。
昔有老而無子者問諸高僧。僧曰：“汝不欠人者，人又不欠汝者。烏得子？”蓋生佳兒所以報我之緣，生頑兒所以取我之債。生者勿喜，死者勿悲也。
四十千
第一卷 · 第 32 篇 · 蒲松龄
新城王大司马有位管账的仆人，家称素封。忽然梦见一人奔进来，说：“你欠我四十千，如今该还了。”问他他不答，径直进内室去了。醒来后，妻子生了个男孩。知道是前世的孽债，就把四十千钱捆成一室，凡孩子的衣食病药都从这里取给。过了三四岁，看室中钱仅存七百。正好乳母抱儿来，在旁边逗笑，仆人喊他说：“四十千将尽，你该走了！”说完，孩子忽然面色改变，颈折眼张；再抚他，气已绝了。就用余资置办葬具把他葬了。这可以给负债的人作警戒。 从前有个年老无子的人问高僧。僧说：“你不欠人的，人又不欠你的，哪里能有儿子？”盖生佳儿是用来报答我的缘分，生顽儿是用来讨还我的债务。生的不要喜，死的不要悲。
The Grand Minister of War of Xincheng had a steward who was a man of comfortable wealth. One night he dreamed a man rushed in and said, "You owe me forty thousand cash; now you should repay it." Asked who he was, the man made no answer but went straight into the inner room. When he woke, his wife gave birth to a son. Knowing it was a debt from a former life, he bundled up forty thousand cash and stored them in a room, and from them were drawn the child's food, clothing, medicine, and all his needs. When the child was three or four years old, the money in the room had dwindled to seven hundred. It chanced that a wet-nurse brought the boy in and was playing and laughing with him, when the steward called out, "The forty thousand is nearly spent—you should be going now!" At the words the child's face changed, his neck bent, and his eyes started wide; when they felt him again, he had stopped breathing. So with the remaining money they bought a coffin and buried him. This may serve as a warning to debtors. Once an old man, childless, asked a great monk about it. The monk said, "You owe no man, and no man owes you. How can you have a son?" For the birth of a good son is to repay the kindness of the parents, and the birth of a bad son is to collect a debt owed to the parents. Let not the living rejoice nor the dead grieve.
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