Xu Xiake
Jingwen and the Fire
The thing you did for everyone becomes the reason they suspect you
The Travel Diaries of Xu Xiake, Chu diary
You took a risk for everyone and then found yourself suspected. What the monk Jingwen did on the night of the robbery, and what he was called for it.
What actually happened?
On the night of the robbery Xu and the others jumped into the river. Jingwen stayed aboard and begged the robbers for his sutras, and they put them down. When they set the boat alight and left, he fought the fire, dived for water, and was stabbed twice by a robber who turned back. Using a fallen awning as a raft he made three trips, carrying everyone's clothes, books and rice to another boat. Then a fellow passenger claiming his things turned on him: everyone suspects you went ashore to bring the robbers.
Whoever steps up for everyone is suspected first
Jingwen was the one who went ashore to the crying boy, and the one who fought the fire. Everyone saw the first, so it became the reason to suspect him; the second happened in the dark.
You volunteered to deal with the supplier that went wrong, and afterwards the first question is whether you caused it.
Those who saw must say it
Xu wrote it down for him, item by item: he braved blades, cold, fire and water to guard the trunk for its owner, and was cursed instead of thanked. The wronged can rarely defend themselves; the witnesses have to speak.
A colleague is blamed and you saw what happened. Say it in the meeting, not just in private sympathy.
Feed everyone first
Next morning, with every pot burned, Jingwen dived for an iron pot and some wet rice, cooked porridge for everyone who had suffered, and ate last himself. Do the most urgent thing first; who was right can wait.
The night the project blows up, order everyone dinner. Save the post-mortem for tomorrow.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: you took a risk for everyone, and now you are suspected of causing the trouble.
Ask first: did anyone actually see what happened? Who can say it for me?
Where it goes wrong: never stepping up again so as not to be suspected. Being wronged does not make the doer wrong; Xu wrote down everything Jingwen did, which is what a witness should do.
Lines to keep
Even the robbers pitied the monk. This man was worse.
Same situation, other people are asking
I did too well and now it makes me nervous.People have begun asking questions about me. Do I close the door?I hold too much of this now and I can feel them getting uneasy.Once they suspect me, everything I do reads as proof.They've started watching me · all 8 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.