I began to wait anxiously for the dusk and I felt that time passed very slow. From noon to the darkness, a century seemed had passed.
Night finally fell and then I started looking forward to the early morning again. As night got deeper, the temple became quieter.
As I had no watch, I didn’t know what time it was. If I went out too early, I would be caught. But if I went out too late, I would miss the garbage truck.
It seemed that another century had passed. I stood up and came to the door and pulled it gently. The door was unlocked, but the lock was hung on the door. It was a very simple lock.
I closed the door and pressed the lock lightly to lock it.
The temple was very quiet, but there was still a faint light. There were street lights in the temple and maybe there were security cameras.
Following the route given by Song Zhang, I bypassed the Tibetan scripture pavilion. Then I saw I small door. I didn’t know what it was for.
There was a lock on the door, which was also a very simple padlock. I opened the door with the key given by Song Zhang and went out.
There were street lights outside. I was afraid there were cameras, so I bowed down and walked along the roof of the wall.
As what Song had said, the garbage pond was not far away. I hid behind the garbage pond and looked through the branches of the pine trees, where I saw the faint starlight.
I took a long breath with the joy of rebirth.
Mosquitoes came to me soon. It seemed that there were fewer mosquitoes in the temple. I didn’t know whether it was because there was a lot of smoke in the temple or mosquitoes dared not to such a holy place. I just squatted outside for a while and my face and legs were bitten by mosquitoes. But the pain caused by mosquitoes was diluted by the joy of freedom.
I started to be anxious because I had to wait for the garbage truck. And I didn’t know whether the driver would let me to get on his car.
I hid in the dark place of the garbage pond. After a long time, I finally heard the sound of the vehicle and then I heard the chanting of the morning class in the temple.
Because I was afraid that I would scare the driver if I appeared suddenly, I dressed my hair and stood by the road.
The garbage truck arrived and the worker began to load garbage on the truck.
Both the worker and the driver looked at me in a strange way. It was strange that a woman appeared outside the temple alone at such an early time. They might think I was a ghost.
I walked over and said, “Hello. I came to burn the incense in the temple. It was too late yesterday and I didn’t go home. I was waiting for my husband to pick me up today, but I have something urgent to do, so I want to rush back as early as possible. The monks in temple said that you can give me ride.”
I didn’t ask whether he could give me a ride. I said straightly that I want to get on his car because I must do so.
“But where is the seat for you in such a garbage truck?” The driver looked at me and asked.
“That’s doesn’t matter. As long as I can go downhill and ride a car, that’s OK.” I said.
“Then you can only sit with us. Only two people can sit in front of the car. One more is overloaded, but there is no traffic police on the mountain to check the car. You can sit with us to the downhill.” The driver said.
After hearing what he said I was happy and said, “Thank you.”
“How much money can you give me?” He asked out of my expectation.
I had no money of course. My wallet was taken away by those guys but I had a necklace. I wanted to give it to him but worried that he would doubt why a woman who went to a temple didn’t have a wallet.
“How much do you want?” I asked. As long as they could give me a ride, I would meet their demand.
.
“How about 200 dollars? We are not blackmailing you. You know it is risky to give you a ride. So you need to give some money to us.” The driver said.
“No problem, I will give you 200 dollars.” I said with a smile. I was afraid that if I continued to speak, the monks would find me out and I couldn’t leave.
After the garbage was loaded on the car, I squeezed into the front driver’s seat. The space was really small and I was forced to stay close with them. In fact, I was a little scared. If they bullied me together, I could not resist at all.
Fortunately, they didn’t show any disrespect to me. They chatted with me, saying that they work very hard and get up early every morning. They also said they can make it in the summer, but in the cold winter, it is difficult.
The distance to the downhill was long. It took about half an hour and the road was not good for driving.
After inquiring them, I knew they were to a town to collect garbage next. I wanted to go to the town with them, but they disagree, saying that there would be traffic police to check the car at any time. For the fear of being fined, they insisted that I must get off the car.
I had to lie and said, “My bag was left in the temple and my cell phone was in my bag. Can I use your phone to call others to send money to you?”
They were irritated and said, “Are you a liar? Are you not doing to pay for us? Though it is a small sum of money, but as you have promised, you should do what your said. It is not reasonable to make excuses.”
If I had money, I would give them more than they required. After all, he had do me a favor. But I had no money at that time.
I didn’t know what to do and took off my necklace and said, “You can sell it for some money.”
They put the necklace in their hands and asked, “How much it worth?”
In fact, the necklace is nearly ten thousand yuan, but o dared not to tell the truth. “It is worth a few hundred dollars. You can keep all the money.” I said.
Unexpectedly, they didn’t believe me. “Now there are many fake goods. We don’t want it. We only need cash. It’s unacceptable that you are not willing to give even 20 dollars.” He said.
I had no idea of what to do and said, “It is still early anyway. It is of little likelihood to meet the traffic police. You take me to the town and I will sell my necklace to give the money to you.”
They could do nothing but accept what I had said.
I asked them to borrow their phones again, but they didn’t do that. They didn’t trust me and said they were afraid of being fooled by me.
But that was not their fault. It was suspicious for a woman to appear on the mountain at that time. If I were the driver, I would not give a ride to a woman who are on the mountain in the early morning.
Fortunately, I arrived in the town. But the problem was that no stores were open in such an earning morning, except for some breakfast bars. I couldn’t find a place to sell my necklace.
Even though all the shops were open, there were no such shops can collect my necklace. So I still couldn’t pay the fare.
“I’m afraid you really need to lend me your phone. I will ask my friend to bring me here. Otherwise you can’t get the money. As you have driven me to the town, I will give another 500 dollars to you. How about that?” I asked.
The two discussed for a while. Without knowing a better solution, one of them handed the phone to me.
“You’d better not lie to us. We will give you half an hour, if we can’t get the money, we will send you back to the temple.” One of them said viciously.
I was worried when I heard about what they said. I took over his phone quickly. I called Leon first, but his phone was turned off. Then I called the landline of the Maple Villa but there was no response.
I wanted to call Ying Hua, but I can’t remember the last three digits of her number. I was always sensitive to numbers, but I forgot the number at that crucial moment.
After thinking for a while, the numbers of Mu Chen and Wenbei Su came to my mind clearly. I called Mu Chen first.
It would be better to call Wenbei Su first, but he was in Yang City, which was to far away. So I called Mu Chen instead.