(Minghui.org) I am 59 years old. I used to have poor health, and while in my thirties I was frequently absent from work. After starting Falun Dafa cultivation practice twenty years ago, I have not been sick. My skin is smooth and delicate with a rosy glow, and I have no wrinkles. People who meet me for the first time think I am in my forties.
I own and run a restaurant that occupies a three-story building. In the course of operating the restaurant, I strictly follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance as outlined in the book Zhuan Falun. Customers have said they are happy with the quality of our food, the cleanliness of the restaurant, and the service and wait staff. I have a successful business. People often need to make a reservation in advance to be sure there is a table available for them.
All my employees understand the facts about Falun Dafa. I treat all the employees like family and they call me “mother.”
Tiger is the nickname of one of our waiters. He is a 16-year-old from a rural region who dropped out of school because his grades weren't good. He came to the city to be an apprentice and learn a trade so he could have a career. Because he was so young I let him do an easy job such as picking and sorting the vegetables.
One afternoon, when he finished work, while joking with another waiter, he jumped up and twirled in the air. When he landed, he was squatting on the ground. He grabbed one of his legs and started sweating a lot. When asked what was wrong he said that his leg hurt and he couldn't stand up.
Some employees came to me, “Mother, Tiger can't move his legs!” I ran to the kitchen and saw him covered in sweat. I asked a waiter to carry him out to a taxi, which took him to the hospital emergency room. X-rays showed that a calf bone had been shattered. The doctor wrapped his leg with plaster, prescribed some painkillers, and sent him home.
I called a taxi to take him home. His parents were very grateful to me. They said that he had injured himself and that they wanted to pay me back for the cost of his medical expenses. I didn't accept any money from them. I paid all his expenses, and frequently delivered special meals, prepared in my restaurant, to him. Tiger needed to recuperate for a month and I paid him his usual salary during that time.
Tiger insisted on returning to work a month later. I arranged a light job for him and let him clean vegetables while sitting down. Not long after that, his mother passed away. I gave him two thousand yuan to cover the funeral cost.
While writing about these events, my eyes were moist. I thank Master for changing me from a selfish person to a person who considers others first.
One day, a young man approximately 18 years old named Liang Zhi applied for a waiter position at my restaurant. I hired him and gave him a three-day probation. He left after three days, without giving notice. I wanted to pay him for the days he had worked but had no way to contact him.
A few days later, a police officer brought him to my restaurant and asked, “Has this guy ever worked here?” I replied, “Yes, for three days, and he left without being paid. I wanted to pay him and couldn't get in touch with him.” The officer said, “Is there anything missing from your restaurant?” I said, “No, nothing.” The police officer asked Liang Zhi, “Why didn't you steal anything from this place?” Liang Zhi replied, “This boss was very kind to me, I couldn't bear to steal anything from her!”
I was told by the officer that Liang Zhi was a thief who had worked for and stolen from various restaurants in the area. He had recently been caught stealing by a customer at a restaurant. The officer was taking him to every restaurant he had worked at to verify whether or not he had stolen anything from them. My restaurant was the only one he hadn't stolen from.
Master said:
“When people who have bad thoughts think about wrong things, under the strong effect of your field they might change their thinking, they might stop having bad thoughts for the time being. Maybe someone wants to badmouth somebody, but out of the blue he changes his mind and doesn’t want to talk badly about him anymore. Only the energy field from cultivating a true teaching can have this effect. That’s why there used to be a saying in Buddhism, ‘Buddha’s light shines everywhere, propriety and righteousness harmonize everything.’ That is what it means.” (The Third Talk in Zhuan Falun)
I decided to re-paint the interior of the restaurant one Spring. I asked several waiters to look for professional painters to do the job. They added up the cost of painting three floors, over 600 square meters, including a labor cost of at least 3,000 yuan, and the cost of the paint. After a discussion, they said to me, “Old mother, let's do the job ourselves!” They went out and bought the necessary paint and supplies.
After the business closed that evening, they started painting, room by room. Everyone was very happy. It was like a Chinese New Year festival. It took only three days to complete the painting and didn't interfere with the business. They made the restaurant look like new.