Around midnight, the old man knocked on my door. As soon as I opened it, I saw that the old man was covered in sweat. His face was twisted in pain, and he was trying to cover his ears with both hands.
From the looks of it, the chanting of Buddhist scriptures was echoing in his ears again.
I made him sit down, then I took a deep breath, smiled and asked, "Mister, do you have a headache?"
"Nonsense!"
"If you could use 100,000 renminbi to stay healthy, would you accept?" I asked.
"Are you blackmailing me?" The old man looked at me as if he was going to eat me alive.
I waved my hand. "That"s not it. It was just an example."
The old man clenched his teeth and said after a while, "I would!"
"Very well. How much money did you collect at today"s dinner party? Return it all," I said. "Consider it the price to buy back your health."
The old man got angry. "Did you put a bug on me? How did you know that I collected money?"
I smiled. "The prayer beads told me. A senior monk that follows the correct path resides in the beads, and he keeps an eye on you all the time."
The old man was dumbfounded. He looked all around, scared. "W-Where is he? Why can"t I see him? You are trying to deceive me, right?"
I shrugged. "There is no need for me to deceive you. I"m just doing this for your sake. If I really wanted to fool you, I would just make up a story that would be easy for you to believe. I wouldn"t go as far as making you angry."
Finally, the old man dispiritedly said, "Take 200,000 renminbi from my bank card and send it to this address, alright?"
He reluctantly took out a bank card and wrote down an address. "Remember, you must act in secret. No one can know about this!"
I smiled and said, "Be at ease."
Then I went to look for the place written on the paper.
I arrived at a luxurious villa and saw a fat labor contractor. It seemed that he just had a romp in bed with a girl and sweat was streaming down his face.
When I placed the money on the table, he panicked. "I-Is something the matter? Did the mayor feel that the money wasn"t enough?"
"It"s not that the money wasn"t enough, but the mayor has finally seen the light. You guys should also wake up and stop doing these things."
Saying that, I turned around and left under the dumbfounded gaze of the labor contractor.
When I got back, I discovered that the old man didn"t have a headache anymore and was happily watching TV. When he saw that I was back, his happy face immediately turned ice-cold. "Did you finish the job?"
"I did as you instructed."
"Hmph. Actually, even if you hadn"t said anything, I would have returned the money. It"s just that it wasn"t appropriate to refuse him right there. Otherwise, I wouldn"t be giving him face..." the old man explained.
I hurried to say, "Of course, of course. Mister, I already understand. There is no need for you to explain."
He snorted and said, "It"s good that you understand."
Then, he went back to sleep.
Over the next few days, the old man was much more honest and refused to go to several dinner parties. I wasn"t sure if he had sincerely repented or if he was just putting on a show in front of me.
For the next half a month, the old man behaved himself and worked hard. The "treatment" also went well, and he didn"t have any problems sleeping nor had he heard the chanting of Buddhist scriptures again.
One day, after getting off work, the old man looked for me. "I"ve already repented for my actions and turned a new leaf. I"m also deeply ashamed of what I"ve done in the past. Such being the case, that matter related to the prayer beads should also be resolved, right?"
I smiled and said, "As long as you keep walking on this path, there should be no problems."
The old man heaved a sigh of relief and patted my shoulder. "I"ve felt truly free from worries for these few days I"ve been with you. I"ll consider this as an important lesson and work hard to become a good official!"
I laughed. "That"s the right mindset. Moreover, Mister, I was also getting tired of following you around and wish to head back to do business. As long as you remain incorruptible, you won"t have to worry about the chanting of Buddhist scriptures ever again."
I thought that the matter would end there, but I was wrong.
A few days later, in the evening, the middle-aged man barged into my shop again. This time, there were also two police officers with him.
I was startled and hurried to ask, "What"s the matter now?"
The middle-aged man dragged me to a room and glared at me. "Didn"t you say that the mayor wouldn"t have to worry about the chanting of Buddhist scriptures ever again? Last night, he heard those voices again! Moreover, a blood clot formed in his head, and he is now in intensive care. Now tell me, who is at fault here?"
I couldn"t help but sneer. It seemed that the old man was unable to resist and fell into temptation again.
Still, this middle-aged man was angry. If I talked back, things would just get more difficult for me...
Therefore I suppressed my anger and said, "How about this... bring me to meet your boss first. I need to get a clear understanding of what happened before acting."
The middle-aged man and I got into a car and headed to the hospital.
When we got there, the old man was already out of danger and had been moved to a VIP room. When he saw me, he panicked and it took him a long time to catch his breath.
I secretly sneered and thought to myself, "Why didn"t this corrupt official simply die? It would have saved me a lot of trouble!"
The old man asked, "I... I followed your instructions to the letter! Why didn"t it work?"
I took a deep breath and glanced at the middle-aged man. "Can you go out? I need to talk to this Mister alone."
The middle-aged man looked at me in puzzlement but still left the room after the old man nodded.
I took a chair and sat in front of the old man. "You didn"t do anything that could possibly weigh on your conscience?"
"I... I swear. I didn"t do anything." The old man took an oath.
I looked into his eyes and took the prayer beads out of my pocket.
After seeing the prayer beads, the old man was excited. "Didn"t you say that you couldn"t find the beads? How did you find them?"
I smiled. Actually, I had retrieved the prayer beads the very first night I stayed in the house of the old man thanks to the instructions of the monk. However, I didn"t return them because I knew that the old man would simply destroy them if he discovered that he didn"t have a way out.
Since I strayed from the right path before, I had to make up for it now. I kept the prayer beads with me and wished for the old man to truly repent for his sins.
However, it seemed that he hadn"t suffered enough.
"Give me the prayer beads," the old man said, clearly excited. "I know how to deal with them."
"Hmm?" I deliberately placed the beads close to my ear, as if I was listening to a voice inside. After a short while, I handed the beads to the old man. "They told me that you want to destroy them."
The hand of the old man stiffened, and the prayer beads fell to the ground.
I picked them up again and pointed at the blood I had applied on it beforehand. "They told me that you"ll face a deadly calamity soon. Moreover, justice resides in people"s hearts, destroying them is pointless."
The old man fell into despair and closed his eyes. "What does he want?"
"The problem doesn"t lie with the prayer beads but with you," I said. "You have to realize your mistakes and repent if you want to save yourself."
"I know." The old man looked at the ceiling in low spirits. "You can go. I know what I have to do..."
I nodded and left, carrying the prayer beads away with me.
Hopefully, he would be able to realize his mistakes this time!
A few days later, Li Mazi told me that the secretary of the old man was arrested due to accepting bribes behind the old man"s back. Someone had secretly reported him to the authorities.
I fell silent. No wonder the old man dared to vow that he hadn"t accepted any money. He had used his secretary instead of doing it in person. He felt that this trick would fool the prayer beads, but he was wrong.
Some time later, the bald old man also turned himself in. He told the police about all the crimes he had committed, implicating several members of the local government and causing a ruckus.
Later, I went to visit him and discovered that he looked much better than before.
He was completely different from his previous self, who talked like a bureaucrat all the time.
The first thing that I asked him, "Why did you turn yourself in?"
The old man faintly smiled. "I dreamt of that senior monk you mentioned."
I was surprised. "What did he tell you?"
The old man sighed. "He asked me what kind of life I wanted to live. I told him that I wanted a simple life; drinking tea, playing chess, and so on. I wanted to leave politics behind and take a break. After that, maybe do some gardening and find a bunch of friends."
"He told me that those were things that money couldn"t buy, and that my heart had been corrupted by wealth."
"When I woke up, my heart was filled with guilt and the words the monk had said kept echoing in my mind. A few days ago, I finally saw the light and decided to give a call to the Disciplinary Committee."
"When I let go of the burden in my heart and exposed all my crimes, I felt much better. Although I"m now in jail, each day seems to have meaning. I"ve never felt so satisfied in my life."
The old man looked at me and smiled.
Then, by chance, I learned of the origin of the Buddhist prayer beads.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a strange monk named Daoji. Daoji had no constraint, and he ate meat and drank wine whenever he wished, saying that meat and wine would eventually flow out of his body but the Buddha in his heart would not. As a result, he got himself kicked out of the temple.
It was at that time that he realized the hards.h.i.+ps of the mortal world. He traveled from place to place and helped the local population deal with their troubles. Moreover, he wasn"t someone who would shy from helping victims of injustice.
When commoners saw Daoji, they would feel as though they had seen a living Buddha. But when corrupt officials saw him, they would feel as though they had seen the devil. As a sign of respect, people eventually started calling him "Daoji the Living Buddha".
The Buddhist prayer beads he always carried with him were known as "Justice".
In the hearts of each and every one of us, there is a Daoji, and only by doing good and charitable deeds will we have a clear conscience.