An Opportunity to Repent

"Namo Amitabhaya, Tathagataya, Tadyatha..."

In a room at the Charity House, Ben Zhi was holding an old man's hand, chanting the Rebirth Mantra in a low voice. Even with the window open for ventilation, the room was still thick with the smell of medicine, the smoke of cheap white candles, the dampness from the bedding, and the decaying odor emanating from the old man's organs.

If death had a smell, it would be the scent of this room.

However, Ben Zhi showed no disgust. He slowly and compassionately finished reciting the Rebirth Mantra, closed the old man's eyes, and two Charity House workers came in to wrap the old man in a mat.

"Take him to the ox cart in the back, and send him to the Pauper's Graveyard in the county tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Little Master."

As a handyman monk on duty at the Charity House these past few days, he had to patrol the wards three times every night. This was his first patrol, and he could sleep for an hour afterward to rest. Ben Zhi opened the door to the ward, as if opening the gate to an infernal prison. Faint but clear moans, sighs, and breaths filled the air. A few candles could not illuminate the large ward, only the faces tormented by illness and despair.

Ben Zhi was not a Medicine Dispensing Courtyard monk, so he naturally didn't treat illnesses. He was just there to see if the patients needed any help, such as feeding them water, helping them turn over, wiping away sweat, or cleaning up filth. This was undoubtedly tedious and thankless work. Ben Zhi would also look embarrassed when he encountered incontinent patients, but he still diligently completed his patrol duties.

"Amitabha."

After reciting a Buddhist prayer, Ben Zhi closed the ward door. When he passed the entrance hall, he saw someone standing at the front door, and his face turned pale. He subconsciously took two steps back and bumped into the beam.

"You, you, you..."

The person standing at the front door was thin and frail, but his hair was soft, and his skin was fair. Even though he was only wearing cloth clothes and no shoes, he couldn't hide his natural beauty. Anyone who saw him would secretly call him a handsome young man. However, Ben Zhi was terrified—he had clearly lured this person into a trap half an hour ago!

None of the young men and women who fell into the trap ever appeared in front of Ben Zhi again, not a single one.

"Hello, Little Master, is it free to stay here overnight? I heard from others that it's free, so I came. If it's really free, I'll go tell my brother to come with me."

Ben Zhi's mind raced, and he asked, "What... what's your name?"

"My name is An Liu."

An Wu, An Liu, so they are brothers, but the two brothers look too much alike... Are they twins?

Ben Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that An Liu was still waiting for his reply, he nodded, "It's free."

"That's good, take me in then."

"Aren't you going to find your brother?"

"I left a mark, he'll see it and come."

Ben Zhi didn't say much, and led An Liu towards the depths of the Charity House. Ben Zhi had walked this road countless times, and the Charity House was a place he was extremely familiar with, but for some reason, he felt more and more uneasy as he walked, as if he was walking into the gaping maw of a beast.

When he reached the door of the utility room, Ben Zhi paused for a moment, but then he lifted his foot and took An Liu to a single room inside.

"I thought it would be a communal sleeping area?"

"The Charity House keeps a relatively clean single room until night, in case a benefactor comes to see how the Charity House is run, we will invite him to stay in this room." Ben Zhi said, "It's so late today, no benefactor will come to the Charity House, you can stay here tonight. The bedding is old, but it's clean."

"If you want to wash up, there is a well in the courtyard outside."

"The outhouse is in the corner of the courtyard."

After explaining the precautions, Ben Zhi planned to leave. He just wanted to quickly return to his room, recite the Diamond Sutra once, and then go to sleep, not wanting to think about anything or do anything. However, as soon as he turned around, he heard An Liu stand up and say, "My brother should be here soon, I'll go outside and look for him."

After a brief hesitation, Ben Zhi turned to look at An Liu, "This little monk needs to move a bucket to the courtyard, can benefactor help?"

Soon, the same utility room, the same location.

An Liu didn't notice anything and stood obediently on the other side of the bucket.

Ben Zhi felt relieved seeing this. He almost thought it was An Wu returning to claim a life—Pui, pui, pui, there's no such thing as claiming a life. They were just sent to be offered to Buddha, to enter the Great Bliss, the Great Compassion. I am not doing evil, but delivering them.

The moment Ben Zhi reached for the hemp rope, An Liu conjured a rope from nowhere, lassoing Ben Zhi like a noose. Such restraints would naturally trigger Buddha's protection. Ben Zhi could break free with force, but the mechanism had already been triggered, and An Liu, holding the rope, had already fallen!

Everything happened quickly. Ben Zhi, caught by the rope, was dragged into the cave as well. Even after breaking free from the rope in the chute, he had no choice but to slide with An Liu into the unknown depths of Chang'an, into the forbidden area of Anguo Temple that he had never entered!

"Ahhh!"

Even after falling into the straw, the multiple abrasions from the chute still caused Ben Zhi to scream in agony. He opened his eyes and immediately saw the martial monks outside the iron bars. He shouted, "Senior Brother, save me!"

"You are... Ben Zhi from the Miscellaneous Affairs Courtyard? How could you fall down here?"

"He lassoed me with a rope, and I slid down with him!"

Ben Zhi looked at An Liu in shock and fear, but he couldn't tell who was who—An Wu and An Liu looked too much alike, even their eyebrows were identical. Apart from the wrinkles in their clothes, there was nothing different.

The martial monk frowned, "Who are you? Did that kid know about the Charity House's mechanism from the start? Impossible... Could it be that the stinky brat who came in earlier leaked the information? Oh well, they're locked up anyway, it doesn't matter."

"Should we open the door?" another martial monk asked.

"Open my ass. Look, those two brats are squatting by the prison door. If we open it, won't they run out?"

"Use fire oil then."

"Alright," An Liu laughed, "Come on, burn me. I promise not to dodge, and then I'll go and hug this harmful little monk to see if he's hiding Sarira or a viper's heart inside."

"No, no!" Ben Zhi trembled and knelt on the ground, begging for mercy, "Benefactor, I really didn't want to harm anyone, please let me go. Senior Brother, Senior Brother, don't burn me!"

"Didn't want to harm anyone?"

The speaker wasn't An Liu, but a pale-faced girl lying on the ground not far away. Her voice was weak, but you could still hear the hatred in her gritted teeth, "You little monk, I, I trusted you so much, I specially delivered vegetarian meals for you to eat. Whatever you said the Charity House lacked, I bought. You actually, you actually deceived me, deceived me... Wuwuwu..." As she cursed, she began to sob softly, but soon there was no sound—she was too hungry to even cry.

Ben Zhi trembled all over, lowered his head to the ground, and didn't dare to meet anyone's eyes. He stammered, "I, I don't know, it was all the master's orders, the senior brothers and junior brothers all did it this way, I don't know, I really don't know... I never thought of harming anyone..."

An Liu suddenly said, "I gave you a chance."

Ben Zhi trembled all over and said nothing more.