The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

When night fell, everyone had nothing to do. Fangzheng looked at the energetic fellows who weren’t sleeping and immediately called them over. He prepared all sorts of tools and went to harvest the Crystal Rice.

Crystal Rice was indeed different from ordinary rice. Although it had an outer shell after it matured, it would burst open and spit out a Crystal Rice grain that looked like crystal with a mere shake. With the harvest, the rice bucket in One Finger Monastery was finally filled with rice without extra left.

Looking at the Crystal Rice, Fangzheng suddenly felt moved and relieved that he didn’t have to worry about starvation. He didn’t know why either; perhaps, it was because he had been starving for too long in the past or perhaps there was another reason, but he had an instinctive desire to stock up on food. It was as if no amount of stockpile could be enough.

He stroked the Crystal Rice in satisfaction and followed Red Boy. He pinched one grain and placed it into his mouth. With a light bite, the Crystal Rice cracked and a sweet taste exploded in his mouth. That feeling was inexplicably wonderful. He could not describe it, but he was certain that from today onwards, besides the Frost Bamboo and the White Jade Cabbage, the monastery had another type of natural snack that hadn’t suffered from pollution.

Looking at his covetous disciples, Fangzheng grabbed a bunch of grains and smiled at them.

Everyone was a little excited. Was he going to give out some snacks?

Then, Fangzheng put the handful of Crystal Rice into his pocket and said sternly, “Children, don’t snack too much, especially at night. Eating snacks makes it difficult to sleep. So, go to bed early…”

With that, Fangzheng put a grain of Crystal Rice into his mouth and chewed on it as he left.

Once Lone Wolf, Squirrel, Monkey, Red Boy, and Salted Fish heard that and saw Fangzheng’s actions, they instantly felt aggrieved. Salted Fish and Red Boy cursed inwardly. “This darn baldy doesn’t want us to eat, but he’s eating. What a f**king scam!”

Squirrel was indignant, so he chased after him and asked, “Master, if excessive snacking makes it difficult to sleep, why are you still eating?”

Fangzheng looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh. He said in a bleak voice, “This Penniless Monk is getting old. When you grow old, you don’t sleep much. Something needs to be eaten to kill the time, doesn’t it? Alright, don’t worry about me. Sleep early.”

Then, Fangzheng flicked his sleeve and left. Under the silver moonlight, his white clothes looked somewhat bleak.

If not for the munching sounds, Squirrel might have really believed this darn baldy!

Lone Wolf, Squirrel, and the other disciples, as well as Salted Fish, looked at each other and saw a word in a large font in each other’s eyes: “Damnit!”

It was especially so a few minutes later. The sound of snoring could be heard from Fangzheng’s room. The few disciples cried in their hearts. This is what he means when he says old people suffer from insomnia?

This was the first time they had the impulse to grind knives and blitz the baldy.

The rest of the night passed by uneventfully. The next day, Fangzheng walked out of One Finger Monastery feeling refreshed. It was a sunny day, and the stars that remained in the sky were blinking. Then, with the sound of the drum and bell reverberating at dawn, a golden sun rose up into the sky.

On this day, Fangzheng received a call from Wang Yougui who said that quite a number of foreigners from Southeast Asia had come to the village. All of them spoke in languages they didn’t know, putting them at a loss. In the end, they had to resort to body language and gesturing to resolve everything.

Wang Yougui said that he planned to hire a few foreign language teachers in the village. Otherwise, it would be too much of a hassle.

Another matter Wang Yougui raised was the overly narrow mountain path up Mt. One Finger. The amount of tourists that came was increasing by the day, and there was no way they could satisfy the tourists’ desires to scale the mountain if this kept up. He asked Fangzheng if he had any intention of broadening the mountain path.

Fangzheng immediately rejected the idea. Broaden the mountain path? Wouldn’t that mean that a mountain road would be built?

Mt. One Finger wasn’t a big mountain to begin with. If they developed it any more, there might only be paths left. Furthermore, Fangzheng had special feelings for Mt. One Finger—it was his childhood home filled with memories and hope. More importantly, Mt. One Finger was cherished by Zen Master One Finger, so if he were to do any nonsense with it, Zen Master One Finger would probably be waiting with a truckload of feather dusters for him when he joined him in the afterlife.

In order not to get beaten up, Fangzheng rejected him resolutely.

With regards to this, Wang Yougui could only smile helplessly. However, why did Fangzheng find the laughter sound so conniving?

“Benefactor Wang, did you have no plans on fixing the road to begin with?” Fangzheng asked.

Wang Yougui chuckled and said, “If we improve the road, everyone will go up there and then go straight back home. Who’s going to stay at our rural tourism guest rooms? If they can’t go up, they have to wait. And where can they wait? Isn’t it in our village? I’m telling you that our One Finger Village is richer than some city dwellers, not to mention the other villages. We have a good life now! Many families are preparing to renovate and expand. However, I didn’t allow them to build bungalows. They may look nice, but it would cause the village to lose its northeastern village vibe. However, they also have their worries. Their land is only that big. So, no matter what they do, they can’t grow much. Sigh, my heart aches to see so much money flowing from us to the other villages.”

When Fangzheng heard this, he was rendered speechless. Then, he smiled and said, “Patron Wang, when did you become so calculative? Since we are from the northeast, we should show our manly prowess as northeasterners. What’s the point in earning so much money? We can’t bring it with us when we are dead. Since we no longer have to worry about money, we should think of ways to repay society. In addition, it’s also a good thing that money is flowing out. It can be said to bring prosperity for all and accumulate merit.”

When Wang Yougui heard that, he laughed and said, “Punk, not bad. You’re even starting to reprimand me. I know what you’re getting at, but I just can’t accept it yet. Don’t worry. I’m very political, so I’m preparing to work with all the villages to build a tour bus. Then, I’ll gather money to build roads. With visitors here, we can’t possibly let them travel across bumpy roads in the village, right? What’s that saying? Oh right, ‘If you want to get rich, first build a road.’”

Upon hearing Wang Yougui’s words, Fangzheng felt relieved.

In fact, Fangzheng had always been a little worried. He was worried that the villagers would pick up vices after becoming rich, losing their humility and simplicity, and end up becoming scheming like others. Since the villagers were still the same villagers, and Uncle Wang was still his Uncle Wang, Fangzheng was relieved.

After hanging up the phone, Fangzheng immediately ran to the kitchen. He took a ladder and climbed up the Buddha Vat that no one had been paying any attention to. He looked inside and was instantly stunned, and he exclaimed. “Amitabha! Are these the pickled vegetables This Penniless Monk made?”

In the huge Buddha Vat, glistening objects were faintly visible in the salt water. Fangzheng hurriedly jumped down and called for Red Boy. The two of them carried the Buddha Vat to the yard and allowed the sunlight to shine into the Buddha Vat, allowing Fangzheng to see it even clearer.

Under the water, there was a swath of objects that resembled golden seaweed and coral. They looked extremely splendid under the sun!

Fangzheng had taken a look at the Buddha Vat earlier, but the White Jade Cabbage hadn’t changed completely. Furthermore, he only wanted to replace the water back then, so he didn’t take a careful look or think much of it.

But looking at it now, Fangzheng felt like the things in the Buddha Vat were not pickled cabbage, but soft gold!