A True Story -- A Woman Traveling in the Rain

By a Practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net)

[Note from the author: This is a true story but the names are all pseudonyms.]

The road was still muddy and it looked like it was not going to be sunny any time soon. She thought that she must deliver the materials to her fellow practitioners before dark and get back home quickly, since her two daughters were still waiting there. She then wiped the raindrops off her face and starting riding her bike faster as she headed towards the next village.

At that moment, she understood better the hardships her husband had suffered delivering materials to fellow practitioners no matter how terrible the weather. She also blamed herself because she had not understood him well before. Currently, her husband and a few other practitioners she knew were spending 3 years in a labor camp after being illegally sentenced. Alas! She greatly regretted not having understood him better before.

After a bright flash of lightning illuminated the sky, a fit of thunder followed. "I must arrive at Mrs. Wang's house before it begins raining too hard. I must." Though she did not notice, she was riding much faster now.

When Mrs. Wang saw that she was soaking wet with rainwater and sweat, she did not know what to say. She prepared a cup of hot water and asked caringly, "What's happened to your husband?"

She did not answer directly and just said, "My husband is not home, but you need people to delivery these materials from Minghui.net, right? There are still so many people who are waiting to read them. I could not stop thinking about this, so I came." Mrs. Wang looked at this small woman in her late 40s and she saw more strength and determination in her eyes then ever before. Was this the same woman she knew before?

Mrs. Wang smiled warmly and praised her, "Before, when your husband was detained for more than 2 months for going to Beijing to appeal to the government, didn't you want a divorce? Now, he is arrested again, but you are doing the same thing your husband had been doing, and you are doing even more!"

The woman smiled a little shyly and said, "Before I really did not understand him. He was arrested and fined again and again. I really wanted a divorce to end all this, but after I calmed down later, I asked myself, 'Whose fault is all this? Being good a good person according to principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance is not wrong!' I was not reading Teacher's book seriously before. Now, I read Teacher's book early in the morning right after I get up. The more I read, the more I understand. No wonder my husband has been talking about safeguarding the Fa and clarifying the truth for so many years. It turns out that he was not doing it for his own consummation of cultivation!"

It seemed she had a lot to say and continued, "How can a person who is against the universal principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance have a wonderful future? One day one of the police agents in our area came and I told him, 'Before my husband practiced Falun Gong he had many diseases. He had to spend thousands of *Yuan on treatments, and was usually in a bad temper. But after he started practicing Falun Gong in 1997, my husband never needed to take any medication. Even our two kids and I became healthier because of it and our family did not need to spend a cent for medication. We have benefited from Falun Dafa so much but you want us to stay away from Falun Dafa? So you want us to be persons of no conscience? As human beings, our conscience and morality should direct us no matter what, right? I know all this is not your fault or intention. It is Jiang who forced you to do these things. But, do you know that Jiang Zemin and Li Nanqing were being sued overseas and an international organization has been formed to investigate the persecution of Falun Gong? Whatever you do, you need to prepare a way out!' The young police agent was listening quietly and after a long while he said, 'Ma'am, you take care!' Then he left and he never came back again."

Mrs. Wang was listening quietly and then asked with concern, "Your life is not easy with two children. Your little girl goes to middle school. Can your elder daughter give you a helping hand?"

The woman smiled and said, "I do not have that much difficulty really. Some people say that cultivators do not live normal lives. I will show them! My children and I, we have a good life. You see, a few days ago my elder daughter and I re-painted our house and we got our backyard well organized. When we had time, my elder daughter and I would make matchboxes. We could make more than 4000 of them a day. We could earn a dozen Yuan and it was enough for three of us. Sometimes, I also felt it was hard. But then I thought of **Aunt Wang's situation; her three family members (two sons and a daughter-in-law) were sentenced to from 5 to 10 years in jail only because they clarified the truth about Falun Gong. What's more, the elder daughter-in-law refused to accept her and she herself was also forced to become homeless. Compared with her, what I endure is nothing. The other day when she learned that my husband was arrested, she came over to visit me and insisted on giving me 100 Yuan. I tried very hard not to let her give me the money. I said at that moment that if I had money, I should give it to her. It was the same with Mrs. Zhang; even when Mr. Zhang went on a hunger strike in prison, she still offered to give me 500 Yuan. Now Mr. Zhang has died due to the severe abuse in prison. Tomorrow I will visit Mrs. Zhang." With that, both of them brushed away their tears.

The two of them both felt so clear in their hearts that they were like mirrors: If one practitioner is abducted, many more practitioners will step forward to clarify the truth. If one practitioner is persecuted to death, many more practitioners will awaken and become more diligent on the path of validation of the Fa. What's more, there are solemn statements published daily on Minghui.net from those who deviated from the righteous way due to forced brainwashing in the labor camps, stating that this effort was in vain and they are already practicing Falun Gong again.

They did not notice when it stopped raining outside. The woman glanced at her watch and said she had to go so that her two daughters would not worry. She was already heading towards the door as she spoke. Mrs. Wang said in a hurry, "A few days ago my son brought me so many green beans and I could not eat them all. Please take some." She was about to decline when she saw tears in Mrs. Wang's eyes, so she took them.

By this time, the sky had already cleared up with a beautiful sunset foretelling a great sunny day to come! After she said goodbye, she rode back again and disappeared shortly thereafter into the golden glow of the sunset.

* Chinese currency; 500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China

**In Chinese, the term 'aunt' is a term of endearment used to refer to a woman of an earlier generation than the speaker.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/8/25/56184.html

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