The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

The day passed by slowly.

Before Lame Ma left, he asked Fangzheng, “Abbot Fangzheng, tomorrow is the Double Ninth Festival. How do you plan on spending the day?”

Fangzheng was taken aback. There is a festival tomorrow? He shook his head and said, “Haven’t thought about it. We’ll see.”

After sending off Lame Ma, Fangzheng began thinking over the matter. Since it was the Double Ninth Festival and they had nothing better to do, he might as well bring his disciples out on an autumn outing.

With this in mind, Fangzheng made his decision.

He returned to One Finger Monastery and before he entered, he heard Red Boy’s voice. “Senior Brothers, tomorrow is a festival!”

“Which one? Will there be delicious food to eat?” Squirrel, who had returned to the monastery first was the first to cry out.

“Tomorrow is the ninth day of the ninth month according to the Chinese calendar. Two visitors said that just now,” replied Red Boy.

“Ninth day of the ninth month? What sort of festival is that? What a strange name,” commented Lone Wolf.

Red Boy said, “We can always check it on the Internet. Let’s see… Ninth day of the ninth month. Hehe, someone is asking as well. Let’s see how people replied to the question. This thread has the most number of replies and likes. I’ll use this…”

“Junior Brother, can you be faster? Quickly tell us what the ninth day of the ninth month is,” Monkey demanded, finally being unable to hold back his curiosity.

“I’m reading so that I can summarize. It says the ninth day of the ninth month is the Double Yang Festival!” Red Boy said.

“Double Yang Festival? Where does that name come from?” Lone Wolf asked out of curiosity.

Fangzheng was instantly amused when he heard that. It was a good thing that his disciples were eager to learn new things. He didn’t enter and stood outside listening. If Red Boy gave a good explanation, he would reward him later.

Just as Fangzheng was wondering how he could reward Red Boy, Red Boy said in all seriousness, “The ancients prescribe six as Yin and nine as Yang. With two nines, it becomes Double Yang. And there are special activities on this day.”

Fangzheng secretly nodded. That was indeed the way to explain it.

“What activities?” Squirrel asked.

Red Boy coughed dryly, looked up, and said, “Three things—scaling heights, chrysanthemum ¹ appreciation, and inserting Cornelian!”

Fangzheng frowned immediately. Wearing cornelian on one’s head, scaling heights, appreciating chrysanthemums, drinking chrysanthemum flower wine, and enjoying the autumn were indeed all activities of the Double Yang Festival. However, why did Red Boy’s answer and the order of his words as well as the tone he used sound so weird?

Just as Fangzheng was thinking that he was overthinking things, Red Boy scratched his head and asked, “Do you know who Cornelian is? I’m guessing he’s a man. Otherwise, why would it be Double Yang ² ?”

Fangzheng was instantly enraged.

“Jingxin!” Fangzheng stepped through the door and looked at Red Boy with a wide smile.

When Red Boy saw that smile, with his understanding of Fangzheng, he knew that Fangzheng was about to unleash pandemonium!

“Master, I just recalled that I still have some things I need to do. I’ll be making a move first!” With that said, Red Boy tried to run off.

Fangzheng shouted, “Stop! Where’s the broom? I’m going to punish you on behalf of the heavens! Don’t you dare run!”

…

After all the hustle and bustle, Fangzheng was tired by the end of the day. He slept very soundly that night. In his sleep, he dreamed that he had returned to his childhood. He was following a huge amount of people as he scaled a tall mountain and took in the scenery of red leaves and the clouds while he listened to the adults chat. At that moment, a person patted Fangzheng and asked, “Where’s the cornelian?”

Fangzheng felt his a**hole tighten as he sat up in a start, subconsciously looking around. It was a false alarm…

“This prodigal sure messes up your head.” Fangzheng wiped the sweat off his forehead as he mumbled inwardly.

He pushed open the door and saw the moon setting in the west. Dawn was still some time away. On the serene Mt. One Finger, there wasn’t even the sound of wind. Fangzheng could even hear the snores coming from the kitchen. Tip-toeing, Fangzheng secretly went to the kitchen’s entrance and, with the help of the moonlight, peeked in. He saw Monkey sleeping soundly.

The person snoring wasn’t Monkey, though, but Red Boy who was sleeping in the huge crib. Every swing of the crib resulted in a snore.

As Fangzheng watched, a voice suddenly sounded from beside him. “What are you looking at?”

“Looking… Holy sh*t!” Fangzheng was just about to reply when he snapped to his senses. He turned his head and saw a dog’s head covered in fur looking at him. Its eyes were even glowing! Fangzheng really suffered a fright, but on careful look, it was Jingfa. As a wolf that grew up in the wilderness, he was able to sleep the moment his head hit the ground whenever he wanted, but at the same time, he would wake up even if ants walked by. His alertness was definitely the highest in One Finger Monastery.

As for Squirrel? He had been rather alert at first, but ever since he grew fatter from all his eating, he had trouble waking up.

Monkey was relatively inferior in comparison.

Fangzheng patted Lone Wolf on the head and said, “Do you know that it can be fatal when man frightens his fellow? Be softer next time.”

Lone Wolf rolled his eyes and said, “Master, I’m a wolf, not a human.”

“It can be fatal when wolves frighten humans.” Fangzheng changed the phrase confidently.

Lone Wolf was left speechless against such a thick-skinned monk.

“Master, what are you looking at?” asked Lone Wolf.

Fangzheng scoffed. “To see if your Junior Brothers are sleeping soundly or not.”

“From the looks of it, probably. There’s even snoring,” Lone Wolf said.

“Yes.” Fangzheng nodded and entered the kitchen.

Monkey woke up and Fangzheng gestured for him to keep silent. As Monkey looked at the snoring Red Boy, he nodded and sat there, waiting for the spectacle to begin.

“Go!” Fangzheng cast an encouraging look at Lone Wolf.

Lone Wolf pricked up his brows. Causing trouble? He loved that! He happily went forward and ignored Monkey’s facepalm and the shake of his head. Lone Wolf stood up, put his claws on the crib, and barked at Red Boy!

“Hey, why did I do a dog’s bark? I really cannot play with dogs anymore. It changes me…” Lone Wolf had such a thought.

But the next moment, he felt a gust of wind blow at him. When he focused, he saw a tiny fist smashing towards his head!

Almost at the same time, Fangzheng opened the kitchen door and watched Lone Wolf fly past him in a silvery trajectory… With a bang, he slammed to the ground and tumbled a few times before stopping. His limbs sprawled across the ground as he looked at Fangzheng in a daze. He said pitifully, “Master… Why did you open the door?”

“We’ll have to repair it if you damaged the door. And by flying further, you can reduce some of the strength in midair and reduce your injuries,” said Fangzheng in all seriousness.

Lone Wolf thought deeply about it and mumbled. “Why do I feel as though you’re speaking nonsense?”

When Monkey heard that, he sighed in relief. Thankfully, Lone Wolf still had his intelligence. He wasn’t a lost cause.

Fangzheng blushed. “You are overthinking things.”

“Master, what are you doing? Why this random roar early in the morning?” Red Boy crawled up, his eyes still closed.

Fangzheng said, “Nothing. I couldn’t sleep, so I woke all of you up to go for a walk. It’s the Double Yang Festival, so let’s scale heights…”

“And admire chrysanthemums?” Red Boy asked subconsciously.