The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

As Fangzheng looked at the messages that suddenly appeared, he was instantly stunned. No one had left a message when he first posted the picture, so he just assumed that it must have been less impressive than he thought, that it was commonplace for everyone, and that only a fool like him who had stunted horizons would make a big fuss about it. But in the end, it was just that no one had noticed it!

Fangzheng didn’t know that others weren’t like him with only a few friends on social media. The others had hundreds of friends at the very least. With so many friends, just the occasional post from each of their friends was enough to flood their stream. Then there were also some professional micro-merchants trying their best to flood people with ads for their goods. So whether or not people saw one particular friend’s WeChat Moment was really just a matter of luck!

Fangzheng posted twice, but his first post was not seen by anyone. To have some people see his second post, he could already be considered quite lucky. However, Fangzheng didn’t know such things. In any case, since everyone’s response was so enthusiastic now, he naturally replied with enthusiasm. At the same time, he recalled something he had pondered about only recently.

He had thought of helping Five Rivers Village. After all, the village was too poor. It was just that he hadn’t had a clue as to how to help them, but now he knew. The village’s rime ice was truly beautiful, so he might as well use it to help them!

The moment this thought rose in him, Fangzheng became active. As his eyes darted about, he stopped replying to people individually and replied in general. “There are too many people asking, so I’ll just answer in general. The address is Gulin Province’s Black River City’s Songwu County’s Five Rivers Village! As for the exact address, please navigate on your own via GPS… If you can’t find it via GPS, you can just stop someone in the area and ask for directions.”

After everyone saw this, they were rendered speechless. As expected of Master Indecent. He ‘showed the way’ with just a few sentences!

However, everyone quickly took note of the address.

“Master, thanks for the address. As for the picture, I’m going to use it and share with others. Posturing is important!” someone exclaimed.

Fangzheng was amused when he saw that. This was precisely what he wanted! Hence, he replied, “Go ahead. Remember to mention who owns the copyright.”

The person laughed and said, “Don’t worry!”

Hence, these pictures began being shared among the WeChat Moments of these friends.

When Fangzheng saw how this picture received quite a warm reception, he hurriedly opened Weibo and posted it there as well before adding. “Looking at rime ice at Five Rivers Village. Amitabha.”

Fangzheng’s WeChat didn’t have many friends, but having made the headlines several times, his Weibo already had more than five million fans! Furthermore, there were many reporters among them. They paid close attention to this monk who easily got into news-worthy situations. Hence, Fangzheng’s message quickly garnered the attention of many.

“Beautiful!”

“Wow. That’s awesome. He goes everywhere. He was still in the south some time ago, yet now, he’s back in the northeast.”

“Even I want to become a monk after seeing how he lives.”

“Master, is this really good? This is an undisguised flaunting of your wealth!”

…

Fangzheng rolled his eyes when he saw that. Indeed, the way things developed was different between Weibo and WeChat Moments! On one side was a swarm of Likes, while the other was a swarm of teasing…

Seeing how the topic was being led astray, Fangzheng hurriedly posted another message. This time, he included two pictures of food.

The pictures showcased snowy lands without a tent or heater in the background. A huge table was placed in the yard with a bowl of rice, a plate of vegetables, and a plate of pickled vegetables. By the side sat Monkey and Red Boy, while Squirrel sat on the table. On the ground was Lone Wolf with his ass up. Finally, there was the tagline: “One Finger Monastery’s leisurely life.”

After everyone saw this, the tone of the comments changed again.

“Heh heh, this isn’t a leisurely life, but a leisurely death from freezing!”

“Heavens. Master, don’t you set up a tent?”

“Alright, Master can enjoy such an immortal life himself…”

After the topic was corrected by Fangzheng, the comments below the pictures had less teasing and more amazement.

“Hehe, rime ice isn’t rare. Our Gulin City has plenty of it. You’ll see it everywhere along the river. We even have a rime ice island… But I have to say that the scenery in this picture is really not bad! It’s very unique, far better than ours!”

“Nice! It’s really beautiful. Master, the address is correct, right? I’ll go tomorrow!”

“Let’s go together!”

“Coming from Songwu County!”

“Coming from Black Mountain City!”

“Can’t come from Hainan. It’s too freaking far… Woe be me, I have never even seen snow!”

…

Seeing the passion, inquiries, and messages from everyone, Fangzheng decisively closed Weibo.

As for the people online, they had their curiosity piqued by Five Rivers Village. All of them kept asking where Five Rivers Village was, but the darn baldy had already fled. All they could do was ask among themselves or ask their friends. Some even forwarded the picture to make inquiry…

Fangzheng never expected that his act of skiving would end up promoting the proliferation of the news! Although the post didn’t trend, it was still forwarded at an extremely fast rate.

This was especially so when someone intervened.

“Sis Xueying, Master Fangzheng posted a few pictures. They were really beautiful.” An actress came to Li Xueying in joy. She knew that Li Xueying would pause whenever the monk was mentioned even when she was very busy.

And as expected, once she said that, Li Xueying, who was memorizing her lines, paused and asked curiously, “What pictures?”

Upon seeing the picture, Li Xueying exclaimed. “This is rime ice? It’s near Mt. One Finger?”

“That’s right. Rime ice near Mt. One Finger. It’s really beautiful! I’ve seen rime ice plenty of times, but I’ve never seen such a beautiful example! This is like a white version of Jiangnan’s Water Village. Its beauty is suffocating.”

Li Xueying nodded slightly. “It’s indeed beautiful. I’ll add a Like, but I don’t have time for this. I have to memorize my lines.”

Seeing the busy yet serious Li Xueying, the actress asked out of curiosity, “Sis Xueying, you have already been busy for so long. You haven’t had a rest all these days. Why don’t you have a break from memorizing? At worst, you can get the dubbers to fix it later.”

The moment that was said, Li Xueying frowned and looked angrily at the actress who tensed up with regret. Li Xueying was known to be a very serious actress! She always gave her all regardless when it was. Besides, Li Xueying seemed to dislike people who weren’t serious about acting…

Indeed, Li Xueying, whose eyes normally looked docile, turned sharp. She said coldly, “You have to understand something. We are actresses, people in the line of acting. Trying to hoodwink the show is like trying to hoodwink the audience. Hoodwinking the audience is equivalent to smashing your own rice bowl! Never count on the few braindead fans who will like you regardless of what you do for your livelihood. They might support you without reason out of novelty. They can indulge you and allow you to make mistakes, but they will not support you for life! The only way to continue acting your entire life is to have fans who are loyal to the art, and not fans who are loyal to you!”