Honesty Is Golden

Long ago in China, there were two stores in a town selling rice: the Hong Chang rice store and the Yong Yu rice store. 

The owner of the Yong Yu store was very sly. He knew that it was not easy to make a living selling rice, so he tried to come up with clever ways to make additional profits. 

One day, he invited a scale master to the store and told him: “Please readjust the scale to 15.5 ounces a jin (normally it should be 16 ounces). I’ll pay you double for your work.”

The scale master was interested in the extra money, thus he forgot his professional ethics. After giving the instruction, the owner went back to work.

The owner had four sons and they all helped in the store. The youngest son recently got married and his new bride was a lawyer’s daughter who overheard the owner of the store from the next room. After pondering the situation for a while, she decided to have a talk with the scale master. 

“My father-in-law was a little confused, and what he said wasn’t what he meant,” she said. “Please readjust the scale to 16.5 ounces a jin. I’ll pay you twice as much as you normally charge. However, you cannot let my father-in-law know about this.”

The scale master was overjoyed and he immediately agreed to adjust the scale according to the young woman’s request, which did not take him long to do. Since the scale master had worked so many years for the owner, no one questioned his work.

After a while, business started to pick up and even customers from the other rice store came to the Yong Yu store to buy rice.

A few more months later, people from all over town came to this store to buy rice. The other rice store finally went out of business and sold out to the owner of Yong Yu.

On Chinese New Year’s eve, the entire family got together and ate dumplings. The owner was very pleased and asked the entire family a question: “What is the secret of the store’s success?” Everyone guessed and the conversation became very lively. Answers ranged from “God’s blessings,” their “father’s ability,” “good fengshui,” “good cooperation,” etc.

The father laughed and said, “None of the above. It is the scale in the store. Our scale sells 15.5 ounces as a jin and as such, we gain a half an ounce more profit for every jin we sell.”

Many family members praised the old man for his wisdom. The old man was very happy and caressed his beard again and again.

At this time, the youngest son’s wife stood up slowly and said to the old man, “I have something very important to tell you, but I want to ask for your forgiveness before I say it.”

The old man nodded his head to show his consent. The young woman said, “Yes, our scale did make us a fortune, but that’s because it gives 16.5 ounces as a jin, not 15.5.” She proceeded to tell everyone how she paid the scale master extra money to readjust the scale. Then she said, “We did it in total honesty. Yes, we made less per jin in profit, but we made up for it by selling more rice.”

Everyone was in shock, and the old man even checked the scale to make sure what his daughter-in-law said was true. Sure enough, the scale measured 16.5 ounces as a jin. The old man quietly walked into his bedroom. 

The next day, on the Chinese New Year, the old man gathered the entire family after breakfast. He took the store keys from his waistband and said, “I am getting old and useless. I pondered last night and decided to let my daughter-in-law manage the store. From now on, everyone listens to her.”