Indeed, she was a Buddhist with a strong faith in Buddhism. At four-thirty in the afternoon everyday, she would lock herself in the room on the roof, recite or chant scripture with a wooden stick tapping a wooden fi sh. The sound of her chanting and tapping could be heard from afar. She was as superstitious as any Buddhist could be, believing in heaven and hell, incarnation and afterlife. She believed what had become of Bing was from the sins she and her husband had committed in their last lives, and that there was nothing wrong with Bing. She supposed their sins were to redeem but not to resent. Everyday, she would ask the Buddha to forgive and bless Bing. Though everyone knew that Bing had become worse and worse.