The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

“Why?” the elderly man asked subconsciously.

The young monk smiled. “This water is Holy Water from the Heavens. It’s not for public consumption. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Holy Water from the Heavens? Jingxin, what’s the meaning of this?” Guan Xiangfeng snapped to his senses and went over to ask.

At that moment, a few people came over. One of them whispered with a frown, clearly unhappy. “Holy Water from the Heavens? What kind of farce is this One Finger Monastery up to? Don’t tell me that they are trying to promote superstition?”

“Little Wu, you have no right to speak without doing any investigations. Don’t make hasty conclusions. Listen to what the young master has to say,” a man with a look of authority said sternly. He was the county head who Wang Yougui had met at the foot of the mountain, Qi Dongsheng! There was a man with grizzled hair who was none other than Songwu County’s county secretary, Liu Guangyu. And the person who had just spoken was the county head’s driver, Wu Changfa.

Wu Changfa immediately lowered his head and acknowledged his mistake when he heard that. However, deep in his eyes, there was a look of displeasure. He didn’t believe that he was wrong. Holy Water from the Heavens? It sounded like complete hogwash meant to foster superstition. Obviously, he didn’t dare to express his displeasure, much less vent his anger on the county head or secretary. As for seeking revenge on a young monk who spoke out casually? He naturally wouldn’t do so. It would only make the county head think lowly of him and make him lose his job. Therefore, all he could do was bury his displeasure.

“That’s right. There was a huge earthquake yesterday. This pit cracked open, a pit nine meters deep. There were nine spring sources at the bottom, and they produced water and created this pond. My master said that this pond was produced out of thin air because of the earthquake, and it is something Buddha bestowed unto our One Finger Monastery. Therefore, it’s name is the Heavenly Dragon Pond, meaning that it’s the territory of our Heavenly Dragon Guardian Protector,” Red Boy said proudly with his head up. He discovered that ever since he lived with Fangzheng, his ability to lie was improving by the day despite everything else remaining stagnant! His darn baldy master didn’t lie, and his senior brothers were all animals. Even if they could speak, they couldn’t speak to outsiders. Therefore, all the lies for the monastery were on his shoulders. What huge pressure.

“What? This Heavenly Dragon Pond was produced by the earthquake?” Everyone gasped in unison.

Wu Changfa snorted coldly when he heard that. “This young monk is talking sheer nonsense. Although yesterday’s earthquake was quite a major one, it didn’t even drop a single tile. How would it cause such a huge pit on your Mt. One Finger? Besides, how can there be such a coincidence? Why didn’t the land beneath the bell tower and drum tower cave in? It instead even paved a path for you?” Wu Changfa wasn’t actually trying to engage in a war of words with Red Boy. He was just a person who spoke his mind. In the past, he would be fired after three days of chauffeuring. Instead, the new county head was someone who appreciated him. Since the mayor liked him to be blunt, he naturally didn’t keep his thoughts to himself.

Many people nodded in response to Wu Changfa’s question.

“That’s right. Little Monk, isn’t this too much of a coincidence?” someone echoed.

County Head Qi Dongsheng and County Secretary Liu Guangyu didn’t say a word. Instead, they looked curiously at Red Boy.

Red Boy began to spout nonsense without feeling embarrassed at all. “It’s precisely because it is so impossible to be a coincidence that it appears to be Holy Water from the Heavens.”

“Uh…” Upon hearing that, Wu Changfa suddenly felt at a loss for words. That did seem to make sense…

Wu Changfa looked at the passageway and the more he looked at it, the more he found something amiss with it. After a careful look, he exclaimed. “This isn’t a passageway made of mud. It’s a bridge!” When he said that, he was more convinced that the young monk was lying. He pointed at the bridge and said, “Don’t tell me that the earthquake quaked out a bridge! Don’t tell me that your Buddha is so considerate!”

Red Boy was taken aback. Bridge? How was this a bridge? From his impression, wasn’t it just a stony area which had remained within the crater? With this in mind, Red Boy quickly turned his head to look over. After a night of soaking, the mud road’s mud had been washed away, revealing the stone body beneath it. It did seem like a stone bridge that had been constructed! Red Boy instantly had an odd expression. With this turn of events, he couldn’t bullsh*t any further. What was he to do?

Seeing Red Boy at a loss for an answer, Wu Changfa smiled smugly. “Little guy, plan well before talking nonsense. You got caught red-handed now, didn’t you?”

Qi Dongsheng and Liu Guangyu also shook their heads slightly, but they didn’t say a word. Red Boy’s actions could only be considered bragging at most, a form of advertisement or promotion. It wasn’t something too out of line. Therefore, the duo did not really make things difficult for Red Boy or Fangzheng because of this. However, their impression of Fangzheng was greatly reduced. They had heard experts like Elder Wang and Sun Caifeng talk about how godly Fangzheng was, about how he was like radiating sunshine, about his sense of righteousness and how handsome he looked when he smiled…

It was only after hearing the scientific team’s praise that the two turned curious and came to take a look. Otherwise, there was no way they would come all the way there to see Fangzheng just because of a mere mention by CCTV News.

Back at the foot of the mountain, the honest performance of One Finger Village’s villagers left them very satisfied. As the saying goes, the unique features of the local environment always give special characteristics to its inhabitants. If the villagers were this way, it was unlikely that Fangzheng was any worse. However, they immediately changed their viewpoint when they heard Red Boy’s bragging.

“County Head Qi, from the looks of it, it doesn’t live up to its reputation. How much can this child know at his age? Yet, he can lavish praise in such a manner. He was probably taught to do so by someone,” Liu Guangyu said meaningfully.

County Head Qi nodded. “That’s likely the case. Otherwise, a child this young wouldn’t be able to say such words. Forget it. Since we are here, let’s go in and take a look. I originally thought that a true Buddha had been produced in our Songwu County, but from the looks of it… Sigh.”

County Head Qi shook his head slightly as Liu Guangyu nodded. He too had a look of disappointment in his eyes. They had come with great hope. A county city’s development could be built on traits such as culture, tourism, and industry. However, there just wasn’t much for Songwu County to develop. Due to the current political framework and the need to conserve the forests, Songwu County, which originally relied on timber and mining as its main economic source of income, had suffered a setback. As for tourism? Songwu County wasn’t too far from the Changbai Mountains, and people who came here would go to the Changbai Mountains instead. As for culture? In Songwu County’s recent history, it was most famous for its bandits… In history further back, there was the Manchu rule. But the problem stemmed from the fact that the Manchu’s original land wasn’t that far from theirs. So why would anyone come to Songwu County instead?

Without anything special and with it not being easily accessible, Songwu County’s lacking GDP was an irresolvable conundrum!

Both of them had planned on using Ganfanpen to boost the local economy, but it was a place fraught with danger. Ignoring the unknown eruption of carbon dioxide, even the strange magnetism and extremely similar terrain made it a trip with no return for ordinary people. There was no way they could develop such a dangerous place!

Since Ganfanpen couldn’t be developed, there was no way they could just leave it at that, right? They then finally got something that became a sensation when they found the Frost Bamboo. When they did the research, they realized that Mt. One Finger had beautiful scenery, and One Finger Monastery had a good reputation. One Finger Village was also a model village and produced Frost Bamboo natively. There was also the bodhi tree which didn’t die in winter and the extremely sweet fountain water.

Any of these alone might just be seen as a bit fresh and interesting, but they couldn’t garner much attention on their own. Yet together, even if they weren’t some grand attractions, they were worthy of being promoted!