Hearing Liu Yi's confusion, Xiao Hua smiled. "There are far too many injustices in this world. Wherever there are people, there will surely be unfairness. Yet not every injustice needs to be addressed, nor does every injustice have to be turned into fairness! Under the Heavenly Dao, fairness and unfairness are both commonplace; absolute fairness does not exist. Take that scholar, for instance. He originally had the ability to resolve his own predicament, and there were people willing to help him. Why should this old man interfere? More particularly, from beginning to end, that scholar never mentioned his own name. Granted, that was a means of protecting himself, but deep down, he simply did not trust this old man. Then why should this old man help him?"
"Moreover, judging solely from that scholar's conduct, he may not have been any more upright and aboveboard than Captain Situ guarding the gate. In this old man's view, Captain Situ carried sympathy in his heart and fulfilled his official duties a hundred times better than that scholar. Though this old man is an enemy of Tongzhu Kingdom, there is no reason for me to help that scholar. Doing so would only make me go against my own heart!" As Xiao Hua spoke, he also recounted how Captain Situ had given copper coins to the vegetable farmer.
Liu Yi and Wang Zhengfei both fell into thoughtful silence after hearing this.
"By the way, Master, what did the story in Volume Twenty-Seven of Yu Shi Ming Yan mean? The moment you mentioned it, that scholar's face changed at once!" Wang Zhengfei asked curiously afterward.
"It was a story about repaying kindness with ingratitude!" Xiao Hua said with a smile. "That scholar must have read it. But those final words of his—'Exhaust the principles of Heaven,