The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

“Who are you?” Jie Hui did not know the man.

“I’m a fisherman from around here. We have boats. If you need to fish someone out, we can help. You can call me Daguang,” said the short man.

“Help? Is it free?” Jie Hui’s younger brother, Jie Yu,asked.

Once Daguang heard that, he gave a fake smile. “Dude, are you kidding me? We are fishermen. If we have to help you fish up people instead of fishing, you want us to do it for free? We are poor too and make a living fishing. A day’s delay means one day’s worth of money less.”

“We will pay for it! How much?” Jie Hui’s mind was all on Lin Zhixian as she asked immediately.

“Not much, ten thousand!” Daguang said immediately.

“What!?” Jie Yu and Jie Hui exclaimed in unison.

The surrounding crowd was shocked as well. Someone could not help but shout. “Wasn’t it just 8,000 previously? Why has it increased to 10,000!?”

“How much did pork cost in the past? There’s inflation, so we naturally need to raise our prices! Madam, don’t blame me for not warning you. The earlier the fishing happens, the better the results. If it’s too late, it might be hard to fish him out. If he is swept away and we can’t fish him out, it will be quite miserable if he is lost in the water. If he gets eaten by fish, sigh… Tragic.” Daguang wore a look of pity, and his words sent a chill into the hearts of others.

Jie Hui’s expression turned nasty as she said, “Can’t it be cheaper? I don’t have that much money.”

“Then I can’t help it. Look there, those are our boats. There are four people on them and on the shore, there’s four of us as well. A total of eight. Eight people to help you fish him out without any certainty of how long it will take. After being paid by you, we will have to keep trying even after the first or second day. We might be taking a lot, but we are bearing all the risk here. Per person we will only get a bit over a thousand. If we don’t fish for him, we can earn that much in two to three days time,” said Daguang.

Jie Yu and Jie Hui lived nearby. Although they acted dumb, how could they not know? They knew very well what kind of people Daguang and Bai Wenshui were. In the past, they had watched the predicament of others and felt that the ones being scammed were idiots. But put in the same shoes, they realized the misery involved. Without any choice, what else could they do?

“Hey, quickly make a decision. If you want to fish him out, quickly pay up, and we will take action immediately. If not, we are leaving,” said Daguang.

“Fish him out!” Jie Hui hurriedly shouted when she saw Daguang about to leave.

“Alright, if you’ve made your decision, we will begin fishing for him,” Daguang said.

“Sis, it’s so expensive. If we pay them, how are we to live our days?” whispered Jie Yu.

“If there’s a will, there’s a way. I can’t let Zhixian sink to the bottom of the river,” said Jie Hui amid sobs.

Jie Yu sighed. What else could he say?

After Daguang confirmed the hiring of his services, he waved his hand at Bai Wenshui. Bai Wenshui nodded and steered the boat to the shore.

Daguang said, “Our luck is pretty good. We happened to catch someone just now. Let’s go. Let’s see if it’s your family member.”

“What? You caught something?” Jie Yu immediately turned anxious when he heard that. He said furiously, “If you caught him, why didn’t you bring him up to shore to save him!? He might still be alive!”

“Calm down, he was already dead, so what was the point in pulling him up to shore?” Daguang yelled unhappily.

“But, if you were to…” Jie Yu was just about to argue when Daguang waved his hand and said, “Final question, do you want the corpse or not? If not, I’ll throw it back into the river. You can fish it out yourself. If you want it, pay up! What’s the point in saying so much? He fell into the river himself, and we helped you fish him out. This is a good deed. Why are you making it sound like we are capitalist murderers? Pui! I’m telling you, provide the evidence if you have any. If not, don’t speak nonsense!”

Upon hearing that, Jie Yu was infuriated. But just as Daguang said, it was pointless no matter how obvious things were to him. Everything depended on evidence! Besides, he was only guessing. He did not know if things were as he guessed.

“Let me see him.” Jie Hui was mentally and physically exhausted. Her husband had drowned, and she felt like she had lost her soul. Her face was pale, and she walked frailly. People who saw this could only shake their heads slightly and feel their hearts hurt for her.

“F**k, a bunch of bloodsuckers!” At that moment, a square-faced man beside Fangzheng cursed softly. He was one of the good Samaritans who had jumped into the water previously. He had endured to the end before he finally retreated in exasperation.

Fangzheng went forward and said, “Amitabha. Patron, why so?”

“Why so? Is there a need to explain? These bastards rely on the fact that they have boats and instead of fishing, they just scour the river every day. Once someone falls into the water, not only would they not save the victim, they would even stop others from attempting to rescue them. Not long ago, someone tried very hard despite their obstacles. He eventually lost all his strength and drowned. When that man’s family came, they sold the corpse as well! Such people are a cancer to society. Pui!” The man cursed strongly.

Fangzheng felt palpitations through his heart when he heard that. His hand even trembled. He originally believed that the people were already vile enough, but he never expected that they were worse than he imagined!

After the man said that, he looked at Jie Hui and shook his head. “I tried my best… Sigh.”

Fangzheng said, “Since there have been precedents, why did you enter the water?”

The man threw his head up and said, “Because I hail from the twin rivers of China!”

With that said, he turned and left.

They were very simple words, but the pride with which those words were delivered made Fangzheng’s heart pump the blood in his body like mad! Despite knowing the dangers involved, the man had still taken the risk. It was not for money or fame, but simply because he was a local. As someone from this area, he was chivalrous! That was all. This was the pride of a community and area supporting his deeds. Without any hesitation, he risked his life. Fangzheng only had one word to describe such a person—hero!

Fangzheng pressed his palms together and bowed slightly at the departing man’s back. While activating his Wisdom Eye, he said, “Amitabha!”

Fangzheng was given a shock the next instant. It was not just that the man in front of him had immense merit, but many more of the people around him were filled with merit too! Although it was not enough to condense into lotuses, their merit clearly outstripped their negative karma. Such a high average was shocking. Fangzheng nearly saw a sea of gold when he scanned the area!

However, Fangzheng eventually cast his gaze back on the square-faced man. He saw an arrow on his head which pointed north.

After some thought, he took out a pencil and paper from the bag he carried. He quickly wrote a few huge words and handed them to Squirrel.

Squirrel acknowledged and zoomed after the man.

The man was feeling terrible. To him, saving a person was only right. As a local of the two rivers, it was an unshirkable responsibility to him. If he could not save the victim after putting in the effort, he would only feel depressed. Moreover, seeing Bai Wenshui and company drag out corpses from the water to earn money all this time, his heart felt heavy and disgusted.