The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

At the same time, he saw words on the signboard! The words were: “Temporarily not receiving guests!”

Chen Qiang looked at the salted fish on the ground as he suddenly had an odd feeling run through his heart. The way the salted fish lay there looked rather enchanting… But just the thought of the words “receiving guests ¹ ” immediately made him feel disgusted.

At that moment, the salted fish’s eyes suddenly moved!

Chen Qiang cried out as he yelled. “Uncle, Aunt! That salted fish’s eyes moved!”

“Shut up! Say any more rubbish and I’ll find you at night!” Salted Fish suddenly raised his head and growled at him.

Chen Qiang immediately felt a cold air gush up his spine to his head. He cried out as he ran up the mountain, shouting. “Uncle, Aunt, wait for me! Wait!” A young lad in his twenties was crying from the shock he was given by Salted Fish.

Upon seeing this, Salted Fish curled his lips. “You have quite a sharp tongue, but you lack guts. What a useless person.”

“What are you talking about?” At that moment, a voice sounded behind Salted Fish.

Salted Fish cried out as he flipped into the air. Only when he turned his head did he realize that Red Boy was there!

Red Boy stretched out his hand and grabbed Salted Fish by the tail and carried him vertically. “Master knew that you couldn’t be counted on, so he got me to take a look. Indeed, you erected the signboard when they had already gone up…”

Salted Fish rolled his eyes. “Is it my fault? They were already on the way up the mountain when I headed down. How could I know that they would come up the mountain so early?”

“Enough, cut the crap. I’ll bring you up the mountain and set up the signboard at the mountaintop,” Red Boy said.

Salted Fish smacked his lips. “Will that do?”

“What else can we do?” Red Boy asked in return.

Salted Fish was speechless.

After saying that, Red Boy flew into the air with Salted Fish and returned to the mountaintop in the blink of an eye. After he erected the signboard, he brought Salted Fish back to report to Fangzheng.

Indeed, Fangzheng frowned when he heard it. However, he had no intention of blaming Salted Fish. After all, he had underestimated the enthusiasm of the villagers on this matter. “Sigh, this is indeed troublesome. I was afraid that they would come up ahead of time just for some food, or even spend the night on the mountain. This year is different from previous years. It’s especially cold, and it’s possible for them to fall sick as a result. If that happens, the Laba Festival’s Dharma Assembly won’t be meritorious but a sin.”

“Master, what do we do? Why don’t we chase them away?” Red Boy asked.

Fangzheng thought before saying, “They came with enthusiasm, so it wouldn’t be nice to chase them away. Jingxin, I’ll have to trouble you tonight. Use your divine powers to help them withstand some of the cold wind. Make sure that they don’t discover you as you do that. Also, no one is to fall sick because of this!”

Red Boy’s face turned bitter when he heard that as he said bitterly, “Master, this is a little difficult…”

“If you do well, you’ll get additional servings of Laba Congee tomorrow! And you’ll have your fill tonight too! If you think it’s not enough, you can leave it to Salted Fish,” Fangzheng said.

“Reverend, that’d be excellent!” Salted Fish immediately jumped up as he cried.

Seeing that Salted Fish was vying for his job, he hurriedly said, “Master, don’t worry. I know what to do! I’ve done it before during the rescue mission back in the mountains. I guarantee the completion of this mission!”

Salted Fish smacked his lips as he asked with a look of doubt, “Are you sure you can do it?”

Red Boy looked up and said in all seriousness, “Since Master has already given the instructions, I’ll have to do it even if I can’t!”

Salted Fish rolled his eyes as he raised a fin. “Alright! I’m impressed with your sucking up skills!”

Red Boy blushed, but he didn’t show any embarrassment. Instead, he felt a little gleeful.

Fangzheng also felt comfort from this sucking up, but he later smiled ruefully inwardly. Am I leading them astray? All of them are becoming indecent monks…

As the conversation happened, Chen Qiang caught up with his family. He told Chen Jin about Salted Fish coming to life and was met with rolling eyes. Chen Jin even said mockingly, “If you continue speaking ill of Abbot Fangzheng, even a specter will come for you, much less a salted fish coming to life.”

If Chen Qiang had not seen Salted Fish’s reanimation, he probably wouldn’t have thought much of it. But having seen Salted Fish raise his head to speak to him with his own eyes, he was already spooked by the paranormal activity. Hence, he immediately nodded like an obedient baby once Chen Jin said that. “Uncle, don’t worry. I definitely won’t speak nonsense again. Amitabha. Bless me, Buddha.”

Upon seeing Chen Qiang’s sudden change, a look of puzzlement flashed in Chen Jin’s eyes. However, he was soon distracted by a shout from behind. Dog Song had brought his family over, and he was carrying a huge luggage bag on his shoulder. Clearly, he was also planning to set up tents on the mountain!

Upon seeing Dog Song arrive, Chen Jin didn’t delay any further as he urged everyone to speed up.

Chen Qiang’s courage gradually grew amidst the crowd. After he arrived at the mountaintop and saw the picturesque scene of the monastery, he was shocked. However, it was mostly curiosity he felt. He was curious over the possessions of the monastery seeing how it could make the villagers so obsessed with it. Meanwhile, he also began considering the problem of Salted Fish coming to life again. Had he just been seeing things or had it really happened?

Questions filled his mind as Chen Qiang jogged to a point outside One Finger Monastery with Chen Jin.

At that moment, nine huge black pots were framed up outside One Finger Monastery. The pots were boiling with water, and their contents were unknown. Chen Qiang tried hard to catch a whiff of their smell, but he didn’t sense anything. He thought, “Could it be that there’s only water inside?”

He wasn’t the only one with such questions. Even Chen Jin couldn’t help but look at the nine pots a few times.

Red Boy was outside, constantly adding timber to prevent the fire from extinguishing.

By then, Dog Song and company arrived. However, he didn’t have as many relatives as Chen Jin. He didn’t have that much sway either to summon so many relatives. Therefore, Dog Song only brought old customers of his who lived at his place. These people had been tricked up the mountain with Dog Song’s glib tongue. Dog Song wasn’t really having their interests at heart, but he felt that there was no reason for a magical place like One Finger Monastery to not become popular!

Therefore, Dog Song yearned to trick everyone in the world up there for a taste of the Laba Congee so that they could return to advertise for One Finger Monastery.

Dog Song believed that anyone who drank the Laba Congee would become a walking advertisement!

In fact, it wasn’t only Dog Song, but Chen Jin had also gotten everyone over for the same reason. Otherwise, with the Laba Congee being so nice to the point of there not being enough, why would he share it with others?

This was a way for them to return the karmic debt. They naturally remembered how nice Fangzheng had been to them. Hence, they would keep Fangzheng’s interests in mind for every matter.