Even Thieves Have Principles
 
During the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711 – 1799 AD, ruling from 1735 – 1795 AD) in the Qing Dynasty, the county magistrate of Chongde County (called Shimen County in ancient times) in Zhejiang Province was named Zhang Qing. He had a scholarly background and was very knowledgeable. Being a just and upright official, his reputation was excellent among the people. He put the county in good order in only a few years after he arrived, and people in the county possessed a high moral standard where lost items were always returned and no family had the need to lock their doors at night.
 
At the time, burglaries occurred frequently in the adjacent county, and people lives in fear. Zhang Qing was transferred to the adjacent county as the new magistrate to handle the dire situation. Zhang Qing went by himself. There is a saying, "A new broom sweeps clean." Strangely enough, as soon as Zhang Qing assumed office and applied new laws, the burglars disappeared. No burglaries ever happened again and the entire county became peaceful and harmonious.
 
A few months later, Zhang Qing had his family moved to live with him. After the three-year term concluded, Zhang Qing chartered a boatto return to his hometown with his family. The people gathered at the wharf to see him off. After saying goodbye to the crowd, suddenly, Zhang Qing felt someone passing in front of him and his glasses immediately disappeared. Zhang Qing was startled and almost fell into the river, but was saved by the boatman who was fast enough to grab him in time. Zhang Qing was very puzzled by the disappearance of his glasses. They were worth nothing if they were stolen, but if they had fallen into the river, how could he not feel anything? He shook his head and pondered. Luckily he had another spare pair of glasses in his luggage, so he waved goodbye and told the boatman to take off.
 
That night, his boat docked in a township that bordered the adjacent county. The next morning, Zhang Qing found that his ten large wooden cases in the boat had all disappeared. These were Zhang Qing's entire assets. He was astonished and thought, "What bold thieves would come while I haven’t even left the county and steal from me. How abominable! They must have stolen my pair of glasses yesterday as well."
 
What to do? Zhang Qing pondered for a while. "The thieves must have run away. Where can I ever find them? Alas, let me admit bad luck." He sighed with deep regret, and ordered the boatman to take off.
 
Three days later, the boat had taken Zhang Qing to his hometown safely. Looking afar, Zhang Qing saw ten familiar large wooden boxes lined up neatly on the wharf. He felt very strange and jumped onto the shore quickly. He went over to check it out. They were his cases indeed, what good luck! A letter was placed on top of one of the cases, and the weight on the letter was the lost pair of glasses.
 
Zhang Qing was pleasantly surprised. He opened the letter immediately and read,
 
Honorable Mr. Zhang:
 
"We are a group of thieves. During your term in office, we admired your reputation of being just and upright so we have never committed burglary in your county. However, after seeing you take ten large,  heavy wooden cases with you when you left your post, we couldn't help being suspicious about your uprightness. Therefore we decided to steal your glasses first before stealing your wooden cases so as to give you a warning. However, we have gone through all your wooden cases but all we could find were books, which were worth less than 30 silver coins. There is a saying, 'After a term of magistrate, even an upright official will amass 10,000 silver.' But you're still poor after being a county magistrate for many years. This shows you are indeed an upright official and people have not misjudged you. We apologize for our affronts. Hereby we return all the stolen goods to you and beg your forgiveness."
 
Zhang Qing sighed emotionally and couldn't help mutter to himself, "Alas! Indeed, even thieves have principles!"
 
Ancient people had high moral standards. The universal values of believing in heaven and god as well as distinguishing good from evil existed in people's hearts. Bad people even had standards and a conscience while doing wrong deeds. For a great benevolent person or an upright official, even burglars dared not offend them.
 
盗亦有道
 
清朝乾隆年间，浙江崇德县（旧称石门县）有个县令叫章清，读书人出身，满腹经纶，为官清正廉洁，在百姓中名声极佳。章清到崇德县没几年功夫，便将县城治理得井井有条，百姓路不拾遗，夜不闭户。
 
这时，恰逢邻县盗案不断，闹得人心惶惶，上峰一纸文书，将章清调往邻县当县令，整治那副烂摊子。章清只身前往邻县，烧起了新官上任的三把火，说来也怪，自章清上任后，那些盗贼便销声匿迹了，再无盗案发生，很快整个县城便呈现出一派安宁祥和的局面。
 
数月后，章清将家人接来一起居住，三年任期满后，章清雇了条船，率家人离任返乡。百姓自愿聚集在码头，为章清送行。章清辞别众人，忽然眼前人影一闪，章清架在鼻梁上的那副近视眼镜竟不翼而飞。章清大吃一惊，险些跌入河中，幸亏船夫机警，一把将他拉住。眼镜不翼而飞，使章清百思不得其解，说被盗吧，这眼镜又不值几个钱，盗它干啥？说丢了吧，怎么会没有丝毫感觉，他不由得连连摇头，深感奇怪，好在行李中还带有备用眼镜，尚不至于两眼一抹黑。于是，他挥挥手，吩咐船夫开船。
 
当天晚上，船停泊在与邻县交界的小镇上过夜。第二天一早，章清忽然发现放在船舱中的十只大木箱全都无影无踪了。这可是章清的全部家产呀，他不由惊得目瞪口呆，好大胆的窃贼，我人尚未出县境，窃贼便立马出现了，还偷到我的头上，真是可恶！如此看来，昨天那副眼镜肯定也是被偷走的。
 
怎么办？章清考虑半晌儿：那些窃贼得手后肯定已远走高飞，上哪儿去找他们呀，唉，自认晦气算了，想到这里，他长叹一口气，吩咐船家开船。
 
船行三天，终于平安抵达章清的家乡。章清远远望去，只见码头上整整齐齐摆放著十只大木箱，看上去十分熟悉，仿佛就是自己被盗走的木箱。章清十分奇怪，连忙跳上岸，匆匆赶过去一看，天哪，果然是自己的箱子，好运！箱子上还放著一封信，压信之物正是那不翼而飞的眼镜。
 
章清又惊又喜，当即拆开信，只见信上写道：
 
章大人：
 
「我们是一伙盗贼，你在任时，我们慕你清正廉洁的名声，从未在你管辖的县境内行窃，但是，你离任时竟带走十只沉重的大木箱，不由得使我们对你这位清官表示怀疑。于是，我们先窃眼镜再盗木箱，给你点颜色看看，可翻遍所有木箱，你的财产除了书还是书，所有尚不足三十两纹银，人们常说：‘一任清知府，十万雪花银。’可你当了多年的县令，仍一贫如洗。看来你的确是个清官，老百姓没有看错你。我们先前多有冒犯，实在抱歉，特将窃走之物完璧归赵，还望大人海涵。」
 
原来如此！章清感叹万千，不由得自言自语的说：「嘿！真是盗亦有道呀！」
 
古代人道德标准很高，信天信神、善恶标准的普世价值自在人心，坏人做坏事还是有个尺度、良心问题，面对大善人或清官，盗贼亦有良知不敢侵犯。