(Minghui.org) My husband and I each have a story about 10,000 yuan (approximately $1,523). My story started on July 20, 1999.

Practitioners Share Hardships

We went to the park to practice the Falun Dafa exercises as usual on the morning of July 20, 1999. Practitioners who arrived there earlier told us that many volunteer assistants had been arrested. We decided to go to the city government to ask what happened.

The sky was very cloudy that day. We went home, got our raincoats, and then headed to the city government. Many people were already standing in long lines on both sides of the entrance when we arrived. The storm soon came. We stood in the rain waiting for news.

Two hours passed. I heard that it was a unified nationwide action to arrest the assistant practitioners across the country, and the city had no say on this matter. So practitioners quietly dispersed. Some went to Beijing to petition.

I also wanted to go to Beijing to seek justice for Dafa. I went home, got my teenage child, went to the bank to withdraw 10,000 yuan, and then I went to Beijing. Why did I withdraw so much money? Because I remembered the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests where many students gathered on the square in protest. I thought that many practitioners might go to petition and stay for several days. If some practitioners ran out of money, I could help them.

We found the Petition Office when we got to Beijing. Many people were already gathered there. They lined up on the sidewalk and the line stretched into the distance. While we waited we recited “On Dafa” and poems from Hong Yin. The scene was impressive. 

Military vehicles came in the afternoon bringing armed soldiers who surrounded us. Many large sedan cars came as well. The soldiers tried to push practitioners into the cars, but the practitioners did not cooperate. They linked arms together.

I carried clothes, money and food in my bag. It felt heavy on my shoulder and got in the way while I resisted the soldiers who tried to pull me away. I had to protect my child at the same time, so I decided to get rid of the bag. I threw it into a basket of a practitioner’s bicycle on the side of the road. Later we were driven to Fengtai Stadium.

A few months later, someone in my workplace came to me and asked, “Have you lost money? A person who picked up money in Beijing called our workplace and left his phone number for you.” I thought that person must be a practitioner because only practitioners would return money they’d found. I immediately phoned the number, and it belonged to a practitioner from Tong County, Beijing. We set a time when I could go and get the money.

When we met I learned that most of the practitioners had been forced into the cars. The other practitioners saw many bags left on bicycles. They took them all, got into a car, and brought them to Fengtai Stadium. They put all the bags together. Some bags were collected by their owners. Practitioners took the unclaimed bags to their homes.

This practitioner found a lot of money in my bag. He hesitated to take it—but took it home anyway. Because he couldn’t find the owner of the bag he had a dilemma. One day he found my pay slip inside the bag, which had my name and my workplace written on it. So he contacted my workplace and asked if such a person worked there. The staff said yes, and so my bag was returned to me.

Because of this my husband learned that I'd lost 10,000 yuan. Although I described the situation at the time and I apologized to him, he still felt unhappy about this for a long time. I admitted that I didn’t handle the money well and I shouldn’t have thrown away my bag, but the situation at the time was very scary and I really didn’t know what would happen next.

My Husband’s Eating and Drinking Friend

About ten years after this incident, one of my husband friend’s wanted to borrow some money from him. He said his company was in trouble and he wanted to borrow 10,000 yuan. My husband did not want to lend him the money. The man repeatedly asked my husband and promised to return it soon. So, my husband grudgingly lent him the money. The man never returned the 10,000 yuan. My husband made many phone calls but could not find his friend.

The man is the owner of a company. His company supplies my husband’s company. They often ate and drank together. I asked my husband, “Have you taken kickbacks from him? Otherwise, why would someone borrow money and not repay it?” My husband did not say anything.

Concluding Remarks

It can be seen from these two incidents that a Falun Dafa practitioner who never met me before picked up 10,000 yuan and tried every means to find me to return the money—but my husband’s seemingly close friend who often ate and drank with him did not repay him.

Master warned us: 

“...anything comes at a cost,...” (The Second Talk, Zhuan Falun) 

“...we won’t be deprived of what is rightfully ours, and shouldn’t labor to get what is not.” (The Seventh Talk, Zhuan Falun)

I see from these two incidents that not all people are trustworthy, but those who cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance can be trusted.