The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Eighth Qiu still treated Qiu Baihong as well as he used to. Whenever his hen laid an egg, he couldn’t bring himself to eat it and sent it to Qiu Baihong instead.

During festivals, the chicken and duck meat he had would be packed and given to Qiu Baihong. He didn’t keep any for himself.

…

Typically speaking, Qiu Baihong should have been pleased with the way Eighth Qiu treated her. However, Qiu Baihong would only be happy the moment she received the items before turning her back on him once they were in her hands. Eighth Qiu would then be sent home. Later, as Eighth Qiu became older, he lost his ability to do laborious work, and Qiu Baihong treated Eighth Qiu coldly, never showing any concern to him.

Even so, Eighth Qiu remained frugal. He would immediately send any bit of money he saved up to Qiu Baihong.

Having explained all of this, the crowd sighed. They were unable to understand Eighth Qiu’s actions.

In fact, Fangzheng couldn’t understand why Eighth Qiu treated the ingrate that well either!

Later, Eighth Qiu’s health deteriorated by the day, but Qiu Baihong didn’t show any intent of taking care of him. She still held an attitude of his death not having anything to do with her.

The village council couldn’t stand for this as they came to talk to Qiu Baihong several times. Finally, she reluctantly let Eighth Qiu stay at her place. Back then, Eighth Qiu’s face was beaming when he moved into Qiu Baihong’s place. Whenever he met anyone, he would say, “My daughter has taken me in to provide for me! Haha…”

Who didn’t know of his former predicament? They could only return his optimism with a rueful smile. Although they didn’t say it out loud, they had this on their minds: “It’s still an unknown if she will provide for you!”

However, after Eighth Qiu moved in with Qiu Baihong, she basically forbade anyone from seeing him. No one knew what exactly happened to him, nor did anyone meet up with him. Occasionally, they would be able to see Eighth Qiu who would always smile and say, “My daughter is really filial. She treats me great!”

However, no one believed him simply because of the unhealthy look he had.

With time, gossip about him reduced. They believed that no matter how terrible Qiu Baihong was, she would at least provide for him until he passed away. To everyone’s surprise, however, with the new year approaching on the sixth day of the last month, she chased Eighth Qiu out of the house! He was chattering inside a haystack on an extremely cold winter day. If Old Jin’s dog had not discovered him and kept barking at Old Jin, he would have frozen to death that very night.

With this said, although everyone still showed their anger towards Eighth Qiu on their faces, it was more an exasperated feeling of pity. While they felt sorry for him, they also felt angry, having expected better from him.

After Fangzheng heard this, he shared their sentiments, thinking, “What is this Eighth Qiu thinking? Why must he insist on having his kindness snubbed?”

Shaking his head, Fangzheng asked, “Then what about Eighth Qiu’s second daughter?”

“What second daughter? She was given up for adoption, so she’s not his daughter anymore. However, Qiu Jinyu is quite a nice person. Although her family situation isn’t as good as Qiu Baihong’s, she’s really filial. The way she treats Honest Liu’s parents is enviable. She does the laundry, massages them, washes their feet, and does the cooking. Sigh… Why is Honest Liu so lucky? He actually managed to get such a good woman,” the balding man couldn’t help but say with a sigh.

With that said, it immediately garnered an echo from everyone.

“Indeed, Qiu Jinyu is a really nice person! She’s nice to everyone. She doesn’t even show any resentment towards how Eighth Qiu treated her. Instead, she visits him every festival, bringing him lots of presents. In the recent two years, her family situation turned for the better, so she even started buying some good alcohol for Eighth Qiu and giving him money every now and then,” someone said.

But when this was said, the balding man said angrily, “Now that you mention the alcohol and money, it reminds me of something that pisses me off. Master, you might not know, but every time Qiu Jinyu gives Eighth Qiu wine and money, he gives it to Qiu Baihong! At the very latest, he will make sure to give it the next day! No one can stop him! Furthermore, he doesn’t hide it from Qiu Jinyu, putting them aside and giving it openly to his eldest daughter. He doesn’t even provide any good food to welcome his second daughter, and he even needs Qiu Jinyu to send him food and clean the house! I’ve seen biased people before, but never to this level! If I were Qiu Jinyu, I wouldn’t even bother with him. He deserves to starve or freeze to death!”

Although what he said was a little overboard, everyone nodded in response, clearly in agreement with what he said.

Just as everyone was about to continue, the door suddenly opened. Following that, a woman walked in. She was very tall, being more than 1.7 meters tall. She had a big built, and her eyes were slightly upturned, making her look rather ferocious. There was a fierce look in between her eyes.

Fangzheng didn’t recognize her, but from the silence that happened, this woman was definitely one of the people in the topic of discussion. From her looks, she was definitely not the gentle Qiu Jinyu, so she must be the domineering and unfilial Qiu Baihong.

After Qiu Baihong entered, she bought a box of cigarettes and a pack of salt before shooting a glance at the crowd as though wondering why this bunch of people who babbled all day would suddenly be silent. There wasn’t much of a change when her gaze swept across Fangzheng, as though this most famous monk in the neighboring villages was no different from the village men.

After Qiu Baihong left, everyone clearly heaved a sigh of relief. They weren’t afraid of her, but they had been gossiping behind her back after all. To have her appear made anyone with any shame somewhat embarrassed. Now that she was gone, the balding man said, “Master, that was Qiu Baihong. How’s she? Doesn’t she look fierce?”

Fangzheng subconsciously nodded.

The balding man continued. “They say not to judge a book by its cover, but this Qiu Baihong’s face really reveals her inner self. Sigh, Master, after asking this much, what exactly are you here for? Don’t tell me you are here to deal with their family matters?”

Fangzheng looked oddly at the balding man because he used a strange tone when asking him the question. It was as though Fangzheng was being a busybody if he was really here for this matter.

Hence, Fangzheng asked, “Why? is there something wrong with that?”

“Of course. No one can involve themselves in this. Think about it. Eighth Qiu refuses to accept that he’s being bullied by his daughter. If the victim has this opinion, what can any outsider do? It would probably be useless sending him to the police station or courts,” the balding man said.

Fangzheng subconsciously nodded. Regardless of how unfilial Qiu Baihong was or how she chased Eighth Qiu away, that was their family matter. Such family matters were matters that China traditionally didn’t use the law on. Even if this happened a third time, as long as the victim didn’t admit to it, it was useless no matter who got involved. Instead, the person who came to help might end up in trouble or have a grudge born against them by the victim.