Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 217 Ning Caichen

Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula.

Lin Jinsheng took a deep breath at this moment.

He has made up his mind, and he will not change it no matter what.

It's raining heavily outside right now. The rainy season in Hong Kong is always like this—damp and sticky, making it hard to breathe.

At this moment, Lin Jinsheng was standing on the crowded sidewalk of Nathan Road, surrounded by hurried passersby. He felt that he had been completely abandoned by the world.

At this moment, he was holding a flyer in his hand, which a monk who came to beg for alms a few days ago had given it to him.

"Lanruo Temple, located on the southern slope of Lion Rock in Kowloon Peninsula, is a place of tranquil practice."

The handwriting on the flyer was already a bit blurry, and there were still stains of Lan Fong Yuen milk tea on the corners.

When he received the flyer, he was momentarily dazed.

The ancient temple patterns on it stand in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the surrounding modern city, and have become his last lifeline.

The breakup three weeks ago was like a sharp blade, making him even contemplate suicide.

The words of his girlfriend of five years, Su Wen, as she left still echoed in his ears: "Jinsheng, you're too serious, so serious it's suffocating. Let's break up."

Rainwater mixed with tears slid down my cheeks.

He looked up to the north, where Lion Mountain was already faintly visible in the rain and mist.

An hour later, Lin Jinsheng stood before the mottled stone steps of Lanruo Temple.

Unlike many magnificent temples, Lanruo Temple is more like an ancient architectural complex forgotten by time, and it is clear that its incense is not very popular.

Lin Jinsheng took a deep breath and stepped onto the stone steps.

Reaching the top of the steps, the entire temple came into view—the main hall, bell tower, and scripture pavilion were scattered on the mountainside platform in a well-organized manner, and a few wisps of smoke rose from the incense burner, which made Lin Jinsheng feel a sense of peace in his heart.

"Are you here to offer incense or just to look around?"

The sudden sound startled Lin Jinsheng. He turned around and saw an old man in a gray monk's robe standing by the side door, his face thin but his eyes unusually bright.

"I...I want to become a monk." As soon as the words left his mouth, Lin Jinsheng knew that he had no way out.

The old monk scrutinized him with piercing eyes, and after a long while said, "I am Mingxin, the abbot of this temple. Since you are willing to convert to Buddhism, please follow me."

Master Mingxin turned and walked into the temple, and Lin Jinsheng hurriedly followed.

After passing through several courtyards, they arrived at a simple meditation room.

The room contained only a low table, two cushions, and an oil lamp.

"Sit." Master Mingxin sat down cross-legged, gesturing for Lin Jinsheng to do the same. "Tell this old monk, why do you want to become a monk?"

Lin Jinsheng awkwardly crossed his legs on the futon, and after a long silence, he finally spoke: "I... I've broken up with my boyfriend, and I've lost my job. I feel like there's no point in living."

He had expected the old monk to laugh or offer advice, but to his surprise, Master Mingxin simply nodded calmly: "Suffering is the cause of entering the path. But becoming a monk is not an escape, but a greater responsibility. Do you understand, benefactor?"

"I understand," Lin Jinsheng replied mechanically, though he was actually completely lost.

Master Mingxin got up and took out a set of gray clothes from the cabinet: "Change into these and stay in the temple for seven days. If you are still determined to become a monk after seven days, I will ordain you."

The next seven days were the longest period of Lin Jinsheng's twenty-five years of life.

I get up at four in the morning and go to bed at nine at night, with endless chanting, meditation and labor in between.

On the third night, he broke down in tears while kneeling and praying in the main hall, but the monks on duty ignored him.

On the morning of the seventh day, Lin Jinsheng knelt before Master Mingxin, his forehead touching the ground: "Please, Master, shave my head."

Master Mingxin gazed at him for a long time before finally nodding: "The tonsure ceremony will be held today at Shenshi (3-5 PM) in the Great Buddha Hall."

At the hour of Shen (3-5 PM), Lin Jinsheng bathed and changed clothes before kneeling in the center of the Mahavira Hall.

The hall was brightly lit with candles and filled with the smoke of incense. A dozen monks stood on either side chanting sutras. Master Mingxin, dressed in a golden robe and holding a razor, stood solemnly before the Buddha statue.

"Lin Jinsheng, becoming a monk is a matter for a great man, not something that generals and ministers can do. Are you really willing to renounce the mortal world and take refuge in Buddhism?"

"This disciple is willing." Lin Jinsheng's voice trembled slightly, but was unusually firm.

"One shave severs afflictions, two shaves end worldly ties, three shaves bring forth Bodhi." Master Mingxin raised his razor and brought down the first strand of black hair, which fell to the ground. "From this day forward, you sever all ties with your parents. Have you thought this through?"

Lin Jinsheng closed his eyes. His parents had both passed away long ago: "I've thought it through."

The razor continued to fall, and black hair fell like autumn leaves.

When the last strand of hair fell to the ground, Master Mingxin wiped his head with a towel, then brought out a brand new set of monk's robes for him to change into.

"I now bestow upon you the Dharma name 'Huikong,' hoping that your wisdom will be as vast as the sea and that you will realize the true nature of emptiness." Master Mingxin placed a string of Buddhist beads around his neck. "From this moment on, there will be no more Lin Jinsheng in the world, only the monk Huikong."

After the ceremony, Huikong—formerly Lin Jinsheng—was taken to a small monk's cell.

The room contained only a wooden bed, a small desk, and a wooden fish.

Before dinner, Master Mingxin summoned Huikong to the abbot's room. The old master took out a piece of paper from a drawer and said, "Huikong, now that you have been ordained, you must memorize these temple rules. Lanruo Temple is different from other temples; there are some rules you must strictly abide by."

Huikong respectfully accepted it, and saw several special rules written on it with a brush:

1. There is no girl named Nie Xiaoqian in this temple. If anyone claims to be Nie Xiaoqian, please immediately recite the first volume of the Diamond Sutra until you hear the sound of a neck breaking and the sound of a wooden fish. If the sound of the wooden fish comes from underground, do not open your eyes.

2. There are no zithers inside the temple. If you hear zither music at night, please slowly walk towards the source of the sound. If you have not arrived when the music stops, turn around and leave immediately, and remember—if anyone asks, you must say that you have never heard zither music.

3. The water in the old well in the backyard is drinkable. However, if the reflection of a full moon is on the water, do not touch the well. If the reflection is a waning moon, you may scoop up a ladleful and drink it.

4. Before going to bed, cover all mirrors with a black cloth. Before covering them, make sure the reflection in the mirror is your own face. Remember, when a person extends their fingers to show a number in front of a mirror, the number shown in the mirror will never be different.

5. All monks in the temple wear gray robes. If you encounter a monk in a white robe, you may ask him for directions, but do not follow him. If you encounter a monk in a black robe, do not make eye contact with him. If he bows to you first, kneel down immediately and declare that you are dead.

6. Do not leave your room at midnight. If someone knocks on the door at this time, ask the person's name. If the person answers "Grandma," do not open the door.

7. All meals in the dining hall are vegetarian. If you find meat in your food, please eat normally and tell yourself that it is just tofu. Even if the tofu starts to bleed, you must continue eating.

8. There are no cats in the temple. If you hear a cat meowing, please imitate its sound in response. If the meowing turns into a woman's laughter, please continue imitating until the laughter stops. Under no circumstances should the laughter turn into crying.

9. The Buddha statues in the shrine will not shed tears. If you see a Buddha statue weeping, please lick the tears with your tongue. If the tears are salty, you are safe; if the tears are bitter, immediately extinguish the three ever-burning lamps.

10. Every evening at 7 PM, you must chant scriptures in the Buddhist hall. There are forty-nine lamps burning before the Buddha. If you find an extra lamp, please remember that your grandmother is watching you at that moment. You must immediately pray to the Buddha statue, saying that you are a devout Buddhist and will never return to secular life.

"Master, these rules..." After reading them in their entirety, Huikong looked up in great confusion: "I don't quite understand... Also, who is Nie Xiaoqian?"

Master Mingxin's gaze suddenly sharpened: "Huikong, becoming a monk means severing all ties with the past. Not only your family and friends, but also your memories, your emotions, and all your attachments. Lanruo Temple can give you peace, but only if you abide by the rules here. If you can't, you can still return to secular life now."

Huikong recalled Su Wen's departing figure and the cold stares in the office. He clasped his hands together and said, "Disciple will follow Master's teachings."

He didn't think too much about it. After all, this was a Buddhist temple, and some of the rules might seem a bit feudal and superstitious to him, which was normal.

The days that followed were routine and monotonous.

Waking up at 3:30 a.m. to attend morning classes, followed by a full day of chanting, labor, and study. Huikong was assigned to copy scriptures, spending eight hours a day at a small table in the scripture library, meticulously copying the Diamond Sutra word by word with a brush.

One month later, late one night, Huikong was on night duty in the Sutra Repository. Moonlight streamed through the carved wooden window, casting a silvery glow on the ancient texts.

He rubbed his aching wrists and suddenly heard faint music coming from the back mountain!
Huikong remembered the second rule and involuntarily stood up, walking towards the small gate leading to the back mountain. Just as his hand was about to touch the latch, the music stopped.

So Huikong sat back down at the table, but that night, the sound of the zither lingered in his ears, intertwined with Su Wen's smiling face in his memory, and he couldn't shake it off.

The next day.

The morning bell rang three times, but Huikong was still sitting on the meditation cushion in the Sutra Repository, lost in thought.

After the piano music last night, he barely slept a wink. Every time he closed his eyes, he could hear that faint melody.

"Junior Brother Huikong, it's time for breakfast." His senior brother Huiming's voice from outside the door pulled him back to reality.

Inside the dining hall, the monks ate quietly.

Huikong held the bowl of porridge, his gaze sweeping over the calm faces.

He hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and asked Huiming beside him, "Senior brother, I have a question that I've been wanting to ask for a while. It's about... who exactly is Nie Xiaoqian, mentioned in the first rule of the temple?" Huiming's hand visibly trembled, and his porcelain spoon fell into the bowl, the sound particularly jarring in the quiet dining hall.

The monks around them stopped what they were doing at the same time, and the air seemed to freeze.

“Junior brother, there has never been a woman named Nie Xiaoqian in Lanruo Temple.” Huiming’s voice was unnaturally flat, and he stared at the bowl of porridge without daring to look up.

The other monks around also began to raise their hands and chant the Buddha's name: "Amitabha Buddha—"

Huikong clearly sensed something was wrong: "But the first rule of the temple given by Master mentions—"

"Junior Brother Huikong!" Huiming suddenly raised his voice, drawing the attention of several older monks. "One should not speak while eating or sleeping."

The morning meal ended in an eerie silence.

As Huikong walked out of the dining hall, he noticed a certain wariness, even... fear, in the eyes of the monks.
He recalled the first rule of the temple: if anyone claims to be Nie Xiaoqian, they must recite the Diamond Sutra until they hear the sound of a neck breaking and the sound of a wooden fish.

The sound of a neck breaking? Huikong involuntarily touched his own neck.

Over the next few days, driven by intense curiosity, Huikong tried to inquire about Nie Xiaoqian from different fellow disciples, but the answers he received were all the same: "There has never been a woman named Nie Xiaoqian in Lanruo Temple."

Everyone gave the same answer, which was very strange. He only asked who Nie Xiaoqian was; they didn't say they didn't know who she was, or that there was no such person in the temple?
That morning, Master Mingxin summoned Huikong and Huiming to the abbot's room.

"Today you will go down the mountain to beg for alms." The old monk took out two alms bowls from the drawer. "Remember, you must return to the temple before Shenshi (3-5 PM)."

"Yes, Abbot!"

The road down the mountain was winding and tortuous. Huikong followed behind Huiming, and every now and then he would think of the woman named Nie Xiaoqian.

He was now almost certain that the monks all knew who the woman was.

Could it be that a secret love affair is hidden within Lanruo Temple?

The Kowloon city area is much more lively than the hillside.

In the late 1980s, double-decker buses and bicycles rode side by side on the streets of Hong Kong Island, and young people wearing bell-bottoms could often be seen swaggering around with tape recorders.

Huikong and Huiming stood at the street corner, holding alms bowls.

Most pedestrians hurry past, and occasionally someone puts a few coins or small bills into the bowl.

At noon, a young man in a white shirt stopped in front of Huikong.

He carried an old schoolbag, wore glasses, and had a rather handsome face.

"Master, may I have a bowl of water?" the young man asked in a hoarse voice.

Huikong took a water bottle out of the cloth bag and handed it to him.

The young man took the kettle, tilted his head back, and drank.

“Thank you, Master,” he wiped his mouth. “My name is Ning Caichen, and I am preparing for my secondary school diploma exam.”

"Secondary Diploma Examination?" Huikong repeated subconsciously.

"This is the third time already," Ning Caichen said with a wry smile. "My family isn't well-off, so I have to work while studying. My lease is about to expire, and I'm worried about where to stay..."

His gaze drifted towards Lion Mountain, which was faintly visible in the distance: "I heard there's a quiet temple on the mountain? Are you two monks from the temple?"

Huiming suddenly interjected: "Temples do not receive outsiders."

"I can help with the chores!" Ning Caichen said eagerly. "Whether it's cleaning, cooking, or copying scriptures, I'll do it all. I just need a quiet place to study!"

He pulled a crumpled stack of test papers from his bag: "If I don't pass this time, I really don't know what I'll do."

Looking at the dense red annotations on the exam paper, Huikong recalled that she had also stayed up all night for exams during her university years.

A long-lost sense of empathy rose in my heart.

“Senior brother, why don’t we take this benefactor back first and ask Master?” Huikong tentatively suggested.

Huiming frowned: "Master said we must return to the temple before Shenshi (3-5 PM)."

“I can go up the mountain with you!” Ning Caichen said hurriedly. “If the abbot doesn’t agree, I’ll leave immediately.”

On the way back, Huiming remained silent, his pace quickening.

Huikong noticed that his senior brother kept stroking the Buddhist beads hanging around his neck, his lips moving slightly, as if he was silently reciting some scriptures.

"Senior brother, are you alright?" Huikong asked softly.

Huiming did not answer.

Upon arriving at the temple, Huiming and Huikong took Ning Caichen to see Master Mingkong.

"Abbot, this benefactor Ning wishes to stay at our temple for a while to review his studies."

"Abbot, greetings," Ning Caichen bowed respectfully, "I'm looking for a place to study recently..."

Huikong felt that the abbot would most likely not agree.

But I didn't expect...

“Buddha guides those with affinity. In that case, let’s arrange for Benefactor Ning to stay. However, during his stay, he must abide by the temple rules.” Unexpectedly, Master Mingxin agreed to Ning Caichen’s request to stay and arranged for him to stay temporarily in a small house next to the kitchen in the temple.

"Thank you, Abbot! Thank you, Abbot!"

At the same time, Huikong also handed over the strange temple rules to the examinee named Ning Caichen.

After receiving the temple rules, Ning Caichen also showed a strange expression.

"This... Master Huikong, these temple rules are so strange?"

"Well, Benefactor Ning, just remember to follow the rules and stay in the temple. I've only recently been ordained and don't quite understand what these temple rules mean... I've asked several senior brothers, but none of them have answered me."

"Okay... okay."

It seems that Ning Caichen also realized that this might be some kind of superstition in the temple, so he didn't think about it too much anymore.

Then, Ning Caichen moved in that very night, and Huikong helped him carry his suitcase into the room.

His luggage was pitifully small. When he opened his suitcase, he found only a change of clothes, a stack of reference books, an old-fashioned alarm clock, and a fountain pen.

Huikong speculated that he probably couldn't afford to rent a house, which is why he stayed at the temple.

After dinner, Huikong went to the Sutra Repository for his usual night watch.

As he passed by the kitchen, he heard Ning Caichen loudly reciting English words in the small house. His voice was full of energy, completely different from his voice during the day.

The oil lamp in the library burned low as Huikong bent over his desk, copying the Heart Sutra.

Just after 7 PM, the sound of a zither suddenly drifted in from outside the window, clearer than the previous nights.

Huikong's hand trembled, and the brush smeared a large patch of ink on the rice paper.

The music seemed to come from the direction of the ancient pagoda on the back mountain, sometimes plaintive and sometimes passionate and surging, each note striking precisely the softest part of his memory.

Huikong put down his brush and quietly pushed open the back door of the Sutra Repository. The moonlight, like water, illuminated the stone path. The sound of the zither guided him through the vegetable garden to the entrance of the path leading to the back mountain.

The music stopped again at that moment.

Huikong stood frozen in place. According to the temple rules, he should turn around and leave now.

But an inexplicable impulse drove him to keep going—maybe he could see the person playing the piano just a few more steps away?
"Junior Brother Huikong!"

A sharp shout came from behind. Huikong turned around and saw Huiming standing behind him with a lantern, his face ashen.

"What are you doing?" Huiming strode over and grabbed his wrist. "What are you doing in the back mountain?"

Huikong opened his mouth to explain, but Huiming's hand tightened suddenly: "Go!"

Before going to bed, Huikong followed the fourth rule of the temple and covered the only small mirror in the monks' quarters with a black cloth.

(End of this chapter)