The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

“Abbot Fangzheng? Yes, yes, yes… We have to thank him. If not for him, you wouldn’t have survived. He saved your life,” Eighth Qiu didn’t know that Qiu Baihong was thankful towards Fangzheng for an entirely different reason.

But once Qiu Baihong heard that, she knew that her debt with Fangzheng had apparently grown even bigger. Both her flesh and soul were indebted to Fangzheng. It would be almost impossible for her to repay it.

Meanwhile, Red Boy asked Fangzheng on the way up the mountain, “Master, why didn’t you block the strike? At that distance, you could definitely have reacted in time. Were you doing it on purpose?”

“This Penniless Monk did it on purpose.”

“Uh. Master, is this a form of punishment for Qiu Baihong’s lack of filial piety?

Fangzheng shot a glance at him. “Am I such a person?”

Red Boy grinned and returned with a question. “Aren’t you?”

Pa!

Fangzheng slapped him and said lightly, “I’ll give you a second to reorganize your sentence. Say it again!”

“No! Master, you are definitely not like that!” Red Boy said with great affirmation.

Only then did Fangzheng smile with satisfaction. As he walked, he said, “Actually, Qiu Baihong and Eighth Qiu are both pitiful people. Compared to describing it as her torturing Eighth Qiu all these years, it’s more correct to say she has been torturing herself. She felt great hatred because of her great love, and her so-called revenge was only a bid to deepen their ties. Yet, the more she did so, the more pain she felt. More than ten years of punishment… However, she should of course not have shifted her pain onto Eighth Qiu and Qiu Jinyu, so she is still guilty of being unfilial.”

Red Boy said after some thought, “Master, is such a punishment not too light?”

“If Qiu Baihong hadn’t taken that stab, she wouldn’t have escaped hell, but since she stood forward to use her life to redeem her sins, she was exempted from the trip to hell. However, punishment is still necessary. Letting her bleed a little and staying in the hospital for a while is still necessary.”

Red Boy was enlightened.

On the way up, Red Boy whispered. “Master, do you think all fathers in the world are this silly?”

“What do you think? They could have been carefree, but they instead produced something that burdens them. They have to take everything into consideration and weather all storms. Any problems have to be handled by them. And then, once the burden grows up and leaves the house, there will be nothing left for them. Do you think such parents are smart?”

“They’re silly!” Red Boy said decisively.

“That’s right. It’s indeed silly. However, the world becomes beautiful thanks to such silly people. Unfortunately, some people will never understand the pains which parents suffer. They believe that whatever their parents did was silly, as though it was only right. When they mature into independence, they leave without returning.”

“I won’t. Once I return, I’ll be filial to my dad. Although he’s not that great of a person…” Once Red Boy realized how he might have been the one who caused the Bull Demon King’s current predicament, he couldn’t help but curse. However, deep in his eyes were deep, profound thoughts.

Fangzheng nodded. “You should.”

With the conversation over, the two sped up. As they walked, Fangzheng took out his cell phone and browsed through it. He saw the pictures he had taken outside Five Rivers Village.

Fangzheng’s brows pricked up, finding his pictures beautiful; hence, he shared them on his WeChat Moments.

“Ma Juan, Abbot Fangzheng has posted on his Moments again! This guy has been silent for so long, but who knew that he would suddenly post again.” Fang Yunjing sat in the back of a classroom as she whispered to Ma Juan.

Ma Juan immediately fished out her cell phone to take a look as her eyes lit up. She couldn’t help but say, “Wow! It’s really beautiful! Where’s this? Gulin City? Or somewhere else? Don’t tell me it’s Mt. One Finger! No, I’ve been there, and there weren’t that many rivers. Nor were there so many willow trees.”

“Isn’t it written there? Five Rivers Village. I just checked it. It appears to be around Songwu County. However, it’s rather remote, even more remote than One Finger Monastery,” Fang Yunjing lowered her voice. “Aren’t we going to talk about the beauty of our home region soon? I think this is worth a mention. I want to talk about this and use the unaltered picture while I do. I’ll ask Master to provide a few of the raw pictures and zoom in to make them into a projection slide.”

“Agreed!” Ma Juan immediately voiced her support.

Fang Yunjing nodded before sending a message to Fangzheng.

After Fangzheng returned to the mountain, he wasn’t in a rush to chant the scriptures. Instead, he began clearing the snow with his disciples. Due to the cold weather over the past few days, the snow would quickly pile up again after being cleared. Although whiteness represented purity and sacredness, one would know how much trouble snow was when they couldn’t even push open the door.

After finishing all of this, Fangzheng returned to the backyard to start a fire. He took out his phone and saw Fang Yunjing’s request for the raws. Fangzheng thought nothing of it and sent them before adding a comment. “It looks better in real life. Go take a look if you have the chance.”

Fangzheng then threw the matter to the back of his mind. Meanwhile, he received two additional Likes on his WeChat Moments—they came from Fang Yunjing and Ma Juan. After all, he didn’t have many friends…

However, Fangzheng soon discovered that many people were sharing pictures of snow on their WeChat Moments, especially the crew of City-Toppling Beauty . All of them shared pictures of the happy faces of their southerner friends before adding captions. “Only after seeing snow will southerners become children!”

When Fangzheng saw this, he stroked his chin and posted a picture of the huge swath of snow outside the monastery. Then he added a tagline. “Sigh. In a desolate mountain’s ancient monastery, This Penniless Monk was planning to eat dirt for lunch, but the snowstorm changed This Penniless Monk’s meal. This Penniless Monk is currently wondering if it should be eaten raw or cooked… This is a problem.”

The moment he sent it on WeChat, it immediately attracted a lot of attention.

“Pfft! Master is being naughty again!”

“Haha… I think it tastes best when cooked!”

“Isn’t that just water?”

The crew members began leaving messages, followed by Fatty, Monkey, and company. As for Fangzheng, he replied each one of them with an emoticon of a wry smile.

As everyone was discussing, the mood was enlivened. Seeing how Fangzheng was being amusing, they subconsciously scrolled to what he had previously posted, only to see the pictures of Five Rivers Village. Immediately, it astounded everyone.

“Master, where did you take this picture?”

“Master, is this One Finger Monastery? That’s not right. We didn’t see this back when we were keyframing!”

“Master, this picture is beautiful! It could win a prize! Tsk, look at those houses and the rime ice. Look at that river. It’s just too beautiful!”

“Master, please provide an address. I want to visit when I have the time!”

“I’ve already prepared the money. Master, tell me the address!”

…