The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

In the yard, a bald monk sat on a stool. He carried a broken metallic basin and held a spoon in his hand. As for what he was doing with it, he was striking it! And every knock was accompanied by a chant of ‘Amitabha’.

At that instant, Sun Pu felt like charging at the bastard to bite him to death.Amitabha, you motherf*cker! Couldn’t he let them sleep in peace?

Before Sun Pu could shout at Fangzheng, someone else already started cursing. “What the f*ck! Snoring in the middle of the night, and striking metal basins in the morning. What kind of demon are you!? Can’t you let us sleep? Where are your basic morals?”

“Darn Bald Donkey, stop striking! I’ve put up with you long enough!”

“F**k. My ears are about to explode!”

“F**k! I want to kill someone!”

…

These people were terrifying when they shouted. However Fangzheng remained unperturbed. He continued striking the metallic basin and seriously and piously chanted the scriptures.

The clangorous sound jolted Xu Yin, Song Keling, and company awake. Both of them ran over and immediately felt a black cloud hang over their heads. Xu Yin subconsciously cursed. “What is this f**king darn monk doing? Does he want to die?”

At that moment, a person came behind Xu Yin and said, “Is he deliberately doing this? Maybe he’s trying to irritate us to the point of letting him go?”

Xu Yin turned his head and immediately greeted softly. “Leader, you were woken up too?”

“How could I not when it’s so noisy? Go ask him what he’s doing. If he’s deliberately trying to cause trouble, this method cannot be used anymore.” The female leader said coldly, “I’ve seen many examples of such people. The soft approach won’t work, you have to be hard on them. One of those methods will work!”

Xu Yin said, “Leader, don’t worry. I’ll definitely settle him!”

After Xu Yin said that, he went behind Fangzheng and patted him on the back.

Fangzheng turned around, raised his hand, and landed it back down!

Clang!

“Aiyah, f**k!” Xu Yin squatted down while covering his ears.

When Fangzheng saw Xu Yin, he put the metal basin away and stood up with the help of one hand. “Amitabha. Patron, is there something?”

“Aiyah…” Xu Yin rubbed his ears, trying his best not to curse. He repressed the pangs of anger in him and asked, “Venerable One, what are you doing?”

“Striking the bell! This Penniless Monk strikes the bell every morning in the monastery. It’s quite a helpless situation. This Penniless Monk’s monastery is too poor and only has one bell. If struck, bell and drum need to be struck together. However, there’s no bell or drum here. This Penniless Monk could only strike the metal basin and chant out of habit as a morning lesson,” Fangzheng explained in all seriousness.

“Please stop striking. Come down. I have something to say to you.” When Xu Yin saw how righteous Fangzheng looked, seemingly without any intention of lying or deliberately causing trouble, he believed him. After all, he knew that monasteries had such rules.

Fangzheng put down the metal basin and spoon and followed Xu Yin to the side. Xu Yin said, “Venerable One, look, you still aren’t aware what our company does despite being here for so long. Later on, a teacher will be lecturing. Please attend the lecture and if you understand, we can talk more about it afterwards. How does that sound?”

Fangzheng immediately nodded. “Sure. This Penniless Monk is also curious. What do so many of you do without working at the factories?”

“Of course it’s big business! Alright, I won’t spoil it for you. You will know when it happens. Today, do as the Romans do. Eat with everyone for all of us are a family. We eat, play, and work together, earning big money together!”

Fangzheng nodded his head like a chicken pecking at grain, as though he was in full agreement.

When Xu Yin saw this, he immediately added more. “Venerable One, as you have seen, we live as a collective. It’s fine if you strike the bell in your own monastery, but here, we don’t have a bell. Striking a metallic basin is quite jarring and noisy. Most importantly, by striking in such a way, you affect the wellbeing of others. You will also prevent our neighbors from sleeping. They might call the cops, accusing you of making a public disturbance. That wouldn’t be nice, right? So you will have to change this habit of yours.”

Fangzheng accepted it. “Patron Xu, you make sense. This Penniless Monk will remember that.”

Noticing that Fangzheng was so tenable to persuasion, Xu Yin had no use to use the threats and violent means he had mentally prepared. He patted Fangzheng on the shoulder in satisfaction. “One final thing. Since we are so familiar with each other, let’s not address each other as Venerable One and Patrons. Call me Xu Yin. You can also call me Family Carrier Xu. We can call you Fangzheng or Handsome. How about that?”

Fangzheng smiled. “Alright, Handsome would do.”

“Hehe.” Xu Yin realized that the monk in front of him was really f*cking thick-skinned! At the very least, he was more thick-skinned than him! However with Fangzheng being so compliant and obedient, he felt comfortable as well. The only thing was that his ears weren’t very comfortable.

At that moment, there was a clang. Xu Yin’s face instantly darkened! Who was it this time?

Xu Yin turned his head and saw Sun Pu striking the metallic basin like Fangzheng. After he struck it, he shook his head in puzzlement. “Odd, why can’t I produce the same loud noise? It doesn’t reverberate in the ears…”

Xu Yin hurriedly walked over and grabbed the basin over, cursing. “What are you doing? Do you want to eat or not?”

Then Xu Yin brought the basin into the kitchen. Not long later, there was a clang as a grumble sounded. “It’s true. It’s not that loud… Did I strike it wrongly?”

Fangzheng smiled. Him being able to strike it loudly did not mean others could do the same. Without his divine power and hallucination skills, how could they make it sound loud?

Fangzheng’s din had awoken everyone. Sun Pu and company finally found people to whom they could complain about the glorious experience they had with Fangzheng. They grumbled incessantly and were met with pitiful gazes. Then a discussion started.

“No, Sun Pu. Family Carrier Xu handed him to you, so how can you push him to us? Besides, we are full. We have no space for him.”

“Old Sun, I think you should get some cotton balls or something. Persist on.”

“Persist on? I’ll go mad if this continues!” Sun Pu was on the brink of crying. They had no idea of the pain that was involved due to not experiencing the ordeals themselves.

“To succeed, you need to first go crazy! All the best!” everyone encouraged.

Sun Pu immediately felt speechless as he cursed inwardly. “Motherf*cker!”

Elsewhere, Xu Yin had already prepared a meal for Fangzheng. Everyone carried the tables over and formed a long table in the yard. Stools were placed around it, but there were people without seats. Of course someone was an exception, and that someone was none other than Fangzheng!

Fangzheng ignored that. He sat on the left of the long table and immediately attracted countless odd and fierce gazes. However Fangzheng ignored them as if he did not see them.

At that moment, a woman walked out from the room which had its door always closed.

Upon seeing the woman, everyone shouted in unison, “Good morning, Leader!”

“Good morning.” The woman nodded in satisfaction. However when her eyes landed on Fangzheng, her expression immediately turned nasty as she looked sternly at Xu Yin.