Honesty Pays Dividends

The Rise of Chong Beng because of his honesty and Integrity.

This is a true story happened in China a few years ago.

A country boy named Chong Beng (fictitious name) came to a city to study economics.

The cost of living in the city of Chengdu in western China is high and Chong Beng was always
short of fund to support his living and education. The money his parents sent him monthly was not enough. To make ends meet, Chong Beng started to do part-time work, collecting old newspaper
and cardboards for recycling whenever h was free. He managed to make a few extra Chinese dollars to help him out.

One day he came to a family to buy old cardboards and old newspaper. He met a charming young housewife name Swee Ling. She is careless with money and always longs for more money. She is married to another small businessman who does not trust her with money. When the husband goes to work, he only leaves a small sum of money for the wife to buy the necessary things for the just married family.

One day he hid a big sum of money ($1000 Chinese dollars) within some old cardboards tied together in their room to deceive the wife. She did not suspect that money was hidden in the old cardboards. She wanted to make some money by selling some old newspaper and the bundle of old cardboards in their room. She wanted more money by tying a few bricks in between the old cupboards to make it heavier and she got more money through dishonesty.

Being a disciplined and honest person, Chong Beng did not suspect such cheating technique and he paid the young housewife the extra weight for the old cardboards. When he came back to his room and he opened the bundle of old cardboard, he was surprised to find the bricks in between and a bundle of notes amount to $1000 Chinese dollars. Being an honest person, he quickly went back to the house of Swee Ling to return the money. When he arrived at Swee Ling house, he saw Swee Ling and the husband quarrelling about the money lost in the bundle of old cardboards.

Seeing the buyer Chong Beng approaching the house, Swee Ling quickly alerted the husband, Teik Soon, that he was the person who bought the old bundle of cardboards. The husband angrily asked him whether he found the $1000 dollars notes in the bundle. Chong Beng quickly returned the money to the husband and asked him not to scold and punish the wife for the misdeed. Chong Beng told the whole story to the husband and the extra weight the wife had added to make extra money from him through dishonesty. The husband was very angry and gave the wife a good slap. A good lesson for the wife for being dishonest.

Times passed very fast and Chong Beng graduated with his degree. He started working for a big company dealing with finance and business. Because of his great discipline and honesty, Chong Beng was promoted very quickly and within 15 years he rose to the position of managing director.

One afternoon, while in his office, a couple came to his office. The couple was Swee Ling and the husband Teik Soon. They are also successful in business and they came to borrow money to expand their business.
The couple could not recognise Chong Beng because he had grown into manhood and now holding a responsible position. Chong Beng has a good memory because of his discipline and honesty, he still remembers the couple's name. The couple was shocked when Chong Beng addresses them by their names and suddenly the couple remembers the young boy who came to buy old newspapers and old cardboards. They offered their apologies and felt very shameful of the incident.

Being an honest man, Chong Beng listened to their request and evaluated their application for loans meticulously. He did not approve the loan immediately but asked them to come back in a few days time to get the result. However Chong Beng approves the loan because the lesson the wife has learned for being dishonest. He hopes that they will be honest this time.

If you are one member of the couple, do you dare to go back to Chong Beng's office for the result?

This story tells us a important message. Live a life of honesty and you will never regret.