en the merchant came to
look into the matter, he found to his astonishment that the least order
he had received in the past week had been for a hundred idols. All the
sales had been large, and yet Ti Hung found himself most unaccountably
deficient in taels. He was puzzled and alarmed, and for the next few
days he looked into the business closely. Then it was that the reason
was revealed, both for the falling off in the receipts and for the
increase in the orders. The calculations of the unfortunate Yung Chang
were correct up to a hundred, but at that number he had made a gigantic
error--which, however, he was never able to detect and rectify--with
the result that all transactions above that point worked out at a
considerable loss to the seller. It was in vain that the panic-stricken
Ti Hung goaded his miserable son-in-law to correct the mistake; it
was equally in vain that he tried to stem the current of his enormous
commercial popularity. He had competed for public favour, and he had won
it, and every day his business increased till ruin grasped him by the
pigtail. Then came an order from one firm at Peking for five millions of
the ninety-nine cash idols, and at that Ti Hung put up his shutters, and
sat down in the dust.

"'Behold!' he exclaimed, 'in the course of a lifetime there are many
very disagreeable evils that may overtake a person. He may offend the
Sacred Dragon, and be in consequence reduced to a fine dry powder; or he
may incur the displeasure of the benevolent and pure-minded Emperor, and
be condemned to death by roasting; he may also be troubled by demons or
by the disturbed spirits of his ancestors, or be struck by thunderbolts.
Indeed, there are numerous annoyances, but they become as Heaven-sent
blessings in comparison to a self-opinionated and more than ordinarily
weak-minded son-in-law. Of what avail is it that I have habitually
sold one idol for the value of a hundred? The very objectionable man in
possession sits in my delectable summer-house, and the unavoidable
legal documents settle around me like a flock of pigeons. It is indeed
necessary that I should declare myself to be in voluntary liquidation,
and make an assignment of my book debts for the benefit of my creditors.
Having accomplished this, I will proceed to the well-constructed tomb
of my illustrious ancestors, and having kow-towed at their incomparable
shrines, I will put an end to my distinguished troubles with this
exceedingly well-pol