Later that day, the young monk came and brought two white pills for me.
After thanking him, I said I would take it later and put them away.
Of course, I dared not to eat the pills. The reason why I asked him to send the pills to me was to contact more with him and shorten the distance between us.
While he was about to leave I stopped him and said, “Young monk, I know you are kind-hearted from your appearance. I want to ask you one more thing.”
“What’s it it?” He said, turning around and looking at me.
He spoke with a strong accent and I instantly knew where he came from. I have searched my origin for a while and been to almost all the places within a thousand kilometer around the Hai City.
According to his accent, I knew he came from a place called Lotus, whose accent was characterized by retroflex. Therefore, I came to realize his identity quickly.
There was a big earthquake a few years ago. I was still at school at that time and I went there to donate blood.
“My child and I were kidnapped and I don’t know what happened to my child. I am very worried about him. I want you to pray for my poor child to keep him safe in front of the Bodhisattva. Is that OK?” I said quietly.
I didn’t want to act, but as soon as I talked about my child, I couldn’t help bursting out crying.
He folded his hands together and said Amitabha lightly, with a trace of pity on his face.
“You look very young. Are you already having had a child?” He asked me in a low voice.
It was a good thing that he was willing to talk to me. Communication could make distance closer.
“I’m not afraid of being laughed at by you. I have no relatives and when I was pregnant I couldn’t bear to abandon him. Therefore, I dropped out of school. As he is my only blood relative, I gave up completely when they threatened me with him.” I said with tears in my eyes.
He said Amitabha lightly again. “I have no relatives too.” He continued.
“Did you lose your relatives in the earthquake? You are absolutely not a bad person. I hope you can pray for my child and I will be grateful for the rest of my life.”
Without saying anything, he folded his hands together. He then lowered his head and said, “You are right. My parents and sister all died in that earthquake. That is why I came here to look for an answer. I want to know why I was left alone in the world.”
He said with a low tone filled with grief.
“Have you found the answer? I also want to find such an answer.”
He shook his head and said, “No. Everyone lives in misery. My master said I was not endowed with the ability to comprehend and what I saw was bitterness. So he refused to tonsure me. I was just staying here as a fake monk. I don’t know where I can go in such a big world.”
I intended to make a closer relationship with him by chatting, but in the end I was moved by what he had said.
I understood his confusion and helplessness, because I used to be like a duckweed, without knowing where to go.
I sighed and said, “The place that makes you comfort is your home. There are some things that cannot be solved, and you can only think in that way.”
“The place that makes you comfort is your home” he repeated the words twice.
“When the temple was built, the money is far less than being adequate. I heard that it was due to the donation of a boss that the temple could be built up. Later, the boss also donated money for many times, so the abbot has a very good relationship with the boss. The boss sent someone to imprison here several times, saying that they had made mistakes and they were sent here to repent their errors. The abbot didn’t doubt whether the boss was right or not for their relationship.”
He told me voluntarily why I was locked in this temple.
“A temple should not interfere with worldly affairs. But we should repay the help of the boss. Senior monks are unwilling to butt in such a thing so they send me to deliver meals to you. Don’t blame them, in fact they are not bad guys.” He continued to explain voluntarily.
I nodded and said, “I understand. I will not blame them. Thank you for telling me this,”
“What mistakes have you made that they locked you here?” He asked.
“I haven’t done anything wrong. It is just because of the conflicts of interests. There is no standard to judge whether the worldly things are right or wrong. The weak in the conflicts of interests are wrong, while the strong are right.” I said.
He nodded and said, “That’s true.” After thinking for a while, he asked, “Why you not ask me to let you go?”
“Of course I will not put forward such an unreasonable request. I know this will embarrass you. I only want you to pray for my kid.” I said.
He nodded his head and said, “I will do that.”
“Thank you.” I said.
Folding his hands together, he left without saying anything.
From that day on, Song Zhang talked with me for a while when he delivered meals to you. It has been the fifth day since I have been locked here.
The weather was hot and there was no place for me to take a shower. My body was very greasy and I was getting more and more uncomfortable. Fortunately, I rarely moved, so I don’t sweat and I was not smelly yet.
I knew something from the talk with Song Zhang.
When the earthquake occurred, he was still at senior high school. All of a sudden, he lost his house and family. The beautiful hometown has been a purgatory. After the disaster, he suffered from severe depression and was unable to get rid of the pain, so he came here.
My experience was somewhat similar to his. We are all poor men without parents.
The only thing that differed us was that he knew that his parents would never comeback but I didn’t know who are my parents and who I am.
The lunch was delivered by him also. I haven’t taken a shower for a long time and I worried about the odor on my body. So when I talked to him, I tried to stay as far away as possible.
“I have prayed for you and your child and the Buddha said that both of you will fine.” Song Zhang said.
“OK, thank you.”
He walked a few steps to me and then suddenly threw something over. I came to know it was a key when I looked it carefully.
“I will not lock the door here tonight. In the early morning, you go out and turn left. There is a small door next to the Tibetan scripture pavilion. Then you open the door and go out. There is a garbage pond outside. Every two days, there will be garbage trucks coming to take the garbage away. The trucks will come tomorrow at 5, 30 a. m.. At that time, monks will all be in the morning class. You should do anything you can to persuade the driver to take you down the mountain.
“Will this does harm to you?” I said excitedly but worriedly.
“They will not harm me. Remember, do not run by yourself. It is a long way to get to the foot of the mountain. It’s fate to bring us together. I hope you will be safe and go to find your kid.” He said with hands folded and said Amitabha lightly again.
My tears rolled down. In fact, I wanted to take advantage of him at first, but later I have run out of this kind of thought. Because I thought we are both unlucky and I didn’t want to do harm to him. But I have to do so for the safety of Alex.
I bowed to him and said
“My name is Nala Yao. I live in Hai City and my husband is Leon Hua, who is influential in the city. If you come to Hai City one day, you can find me by Leon’s name. Thank you a thousand times and take care,”
He left without saying anything.