In Pai-tou District of He-fei County, in the province of Anhui, there was a butcher Xuan-si who had been slaughtering pigs for more than twenty years. He was quite wealthy and owned three houses and a hundred acres of padi fields.
One morning, at about five o'clock, Xuan-si woke up to boil water before going to slaughter the pigs. His wife also woke up at that time to go to the toilet and when she walked past the pigpen, she suddenly saw two women lying on the ground. She walked closer to take a good look, and having confirmed what she had seen, became very frightened. Quickly she told her husband about it and suggested, "This is a bad omen. From this moment onwards, you had better change your job. Please do not slaughter pigs anymore." However, as Xuan-si did not heed her advice she could not do anything but to throw his butcher's knife into the toilet. As Xuan-si could not find the knife, he was not able to slaughter any pigs on that day. Anyhow, he still did not feel any regret for his past actions.
When Xuan's wife realised that her husband refused to listen to her advice, she asked her family members to talk to him about the division of their property so that she and her youngest son could move out of the house. After the separation, Xuan-si continued with his job as a butcher. When he had slaughtered all the pigs in his sty, his youngest son suddenly fell sick and died. Mrs. Xuan was so upset that she quarelled with her husband the whole day. After witnessing the death of his youngest son, Xuan-si felt some remorse and decided to stop slaughtering pigs. Instead he spent his time gambling the whole day, trying to forget the sad event. Within a few years he had gambled away all his land and property.
Xuan-si was poor again and he had to resume his old occupation as a butcher. After doing this for about twenty days, he was struck down by a strange disease. Thick and smelly blood flowed out from his mouth and nose. He was covered in filth and he experienced such severe pain that he shouted out like a pig from morning till night. He suffered like this for more than a year before he finally died.
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