The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

All the reporters smiled ruefully. “They have all fled, and we can’t find them. Otherwise, why would we come to you?”

“It’s also useless to come to me! I still have work to do. If you have nothing to do, find him yourself.” CO Qi began chasing them away.

Once the reporters dispersed, CO Qi wore a look of exasperation. “That was the eighth batch. When will this end?” However, CO Qi also knew that news regarding soldiers in the search and rescue mission had been fully exploited by the reporters over the past few days. Even he himself had been featured on the headlines multiple times. He guessed that the bonus his troops were to receive would soon come too.

Now that the troops and volunteers were old news, the reporters were naturally trying to probe deeper. The miraculous rumor they didn’t believe in the past once again fell into their line of sight. Regardless if it was true or not, something fascinating or just a story, it was still news!

To be honest, CO Qi also felt that it was rather unfair to Fangzheng. In terms of the overall contribution, the army, police, doctors, and firefighters were definitely the number one contributors! But in terms of individual contribution, Fangzheng was absolutely number one! He had saved and protected the most number of people by himself. Furthermore, the way Fangzheng left and avoided fame left CO Qi impressed.

If it were the average person, they would wish to receive a little of that glory. Not to mention that he deserved it.

However, it was such a person who had been neglected by the media. They only came for him after the main bulk of the news was fully exploited. This left CO Qi a little sad. He kept feeling that he had let down Fangzheng.

However, CO Qi also knew that because Fangzheng had left so quickly and the reporters hadn’t seen him in person, they naturally first wrote about people they could see right in front of them. Only with nothing else would they write about intangible things and rumors.

Although they didn’t gain much information from CO Qi, these reporters still drafted manuscripts and sent them out.

Instantly, there were many news articles regarding Fangzheng on the Internet. Although they were not frontpage material or worthy of big headlines, they were still placed in quite eye-catching spots. After all, the headlines were filled with earthquake-related matters that were more important, such as lists of missing people, miracles, and people looking for their loved ones.

“Nameless Monk saves more than twenty people during earthquake.”

“Handsome white-robed monk saves more than twenty people in earthquake.”

“Shocking! A monk follows an army battalion during an earthquake, and…”

…

However, none of these news articles had a picture or name, only text. This left many people with a question after reading it.

“How does this Venerable One look like? What’s his name?”

Unfortunately, no one could answer them. However, people were still full of praise towards this monk who had joined soldiers in charging to the front lines during an earthquake. The comments were all very positive, and although there were comments expressing doubt, they were quickly drowned by the praises.

Instantly, ‘white-robed monk’ and ‘Guardian Buddha’ began spreading on the Internet. Although everyone paid attention to the earthquake and the heroes of the disaster, the discussion had been going on for days already. Whatever needed to be said and praised was pretty much done. To have such a miraculous person and story suddenly appear, it naturally became a topic for idle chatter during mealtimes.

However, the divine monk everyone was talking about was still sleeping soundly…

Meanwhile, the reporters stayed by their computers and watched excitedly as the views of their articles about the monk increased. To hype things up, everyone agreed not to report Fangzheng’s Dharma name yet; instead, they were waiting for a ripe opportunity.

Indeed, without a name, everyone had more to discuss.

Some people said that it was a disciple of an accomplished monk nearby, some said that it was a traveling monk, while others said that he was a fake monk…

Regardless of the precise content of the discussions, Fangzheng’s story went viral before his name was even spread!

Meanwhile, in a particular villa in the northeastern part of China, Spring City.

“F**k, I got fooled.” Lin Tai angrily smashed his cell phone to the wall! The phone call was from Song Tianqiao. Song Tianqiao had immediately investigated who it was that had donated the bell to Mt. One Finger. With his social connections, he quickly figured out everything. Monkey’s and Fatty’s names surfaced, but they were not especially rich bosses. Therefore, Song Tianqiao thought nothing of them. Furthermore, based on his investigations, the bell had not been donated by anyone. It was a bell that already existed in One Finger Monastery!

However, the few artisans kept mum on the finer details.

He also couldn’t be bothered to delve further. It was fine as long as he knew whom the bell belonged to and that the person behind this matter wasn’t someone he couldn’t provoke.

Thinking back to how he had had to bow and apologize to a young monk, Song Tianqiao felt his face burn. Therefore, he instantly gave Lin Tai a call and informed him of his findings. He knew that Lin Tai’s intelligence wasn’t as good as his father’s and that he was prompt to raging. After he informed Lin Tai, Lin Tai would naturally cause trouble for Fangzheng; therefore, all he needed to do was watch by the side.

And as expected, after Lin Tai smashed the phone, he angrily and noisily rushed out the door.

“What’s the rush? Can’t you see that we have guests?” A stern voice sounded just as Lin Tai reached the ground floor. He instantly trembled and looked over to see a stern-looking man. Sitting across the man was a young man who looked only slightly older than him.

“Dad, I… have something on…” Lin Tai feared his father from his very core. All his anger instantly extinguished, and he acted like a little lamb.

“I don’t care where you were planning on going. Come over and sit down. Entertain the guests!” Lin Tai immediately sat obediently to the side upon receiving the order from his father, Lin Tiancheng. Lin Xi, who was massaging Lin Yongcheng’s shoulders, immediately sniggered…

“Brother Jing, pardon me. This is my son, Lin Tai. Both of you are about the same age. You should hang out together more in the future.” Lin Yongcheng beamed when he looked at Mr. Jing.

Then, he glared at Lin Tai and said, “This is Jing Yuhang. At his young age, he is already Chairman of the Succeeding Skies Company. Look at you. Apart from gallivanting, what else can you do? If there’s nothing to do, stop hanging out with those rabble friends of yours. Learn how to do business from Mr. Jing.”

What else could Lin Tai do but respond with a nod?

At that moment, Jing Yuhang looked at Lin Tai and smiled. “Young Master Lin, you seem to be angry about something. Might I know what it is that’s leaving you so angry?”

“This prodigal son of mine is likely jealous because of some woman… Brother Jing, you don’t have to care about him,” said Lin Yongcheng.

Lin Tai was pissed seeing Lin Tiancheng calling Jing Yuhang “brother,” while he was called “prodigal son.” His age was likely about the same as Jing Yuhang’s, so why was there such a difference in their treatment? In which way was this person better than him? However, thinking of how he had crawled down Mt. One Finger, his face turned red. He would rather die than mention this, especially in front of Jing Yuhang. It would only embarrass him further.