The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Fangzheng caught the whiteness, and it was actually a bunch of snowflakes the size of goose feathers!

Fangzheng looked up and sighed. “It’s winter.”

As though responding to Fangzheng’s sigh, the snow grew heavier. In a few minutes, the snowflakes summoned by the north wind inundated the entire area!

After Lidong’s cold, the ground had already frozen. The warmth of the ground was almost gone. As the snow fell, it melted the moment it landed, absorbing away the last of the ground’s heat. In the blink of an eye, snow began to pile up on the ground. More than ten minutes later, one could see black footprints all over the ground.

“Snow indicates a year of bountiful harvest.” Fangzheng smiled.

At that moment, Fangzheng received a phone call from Wang Yougui.

“Patron Wang, good morning,” Fangzheng greeted in a good mood.

“Man, don’t say ‘good.’ There’s nothing good about this morning,” Wang Yougui grumbled.

Fangzheng was puzzled as he asked, “What’s not good then?”

“Did you post something online yesterday? Two absolutely beautiful pictures?” Wang Yougui asked.

Fangzheng nodded. “That’s right. Why?”

“Nothing, it just caused a huge stir! Li Xueying reposted your pictures, and that on its own wouldn’t have been much, but she just had to add a tagline, saying that it was a place she wished to visit in her dreams. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but it was roughly that. Then her fans went into a frenzy, reposting it everywhere… Later, someone found out that it’s your mountain that the pictures were taken on,” Wang Yougui said.

Fangzheng thought nothing of it when he heard that. With One Finger Monastery becoming famous and with more people coming, One Finger Village would definitely benefit as well. So why did Wang Yougui sound unhappy?

Wang Yougui continued. “This should be a good thing, and County Head Qi even sent someone over to say that they will fully help with promoting us. The county even squeezed out a sum of money to advertise Mt. One Finger. The advertisements have already been finalized.”

“Then?” asked Fangzheng.

Wang Yougui said, “Early this morning, before the sky lit up, I received a phone call saying that many people woke up early to see the sea of clouds, the clouds on your mountain!”

“Then?” asked Fangzheng.

“Then? Then it snowed! It’s not like you are unaware, the mountain trail isn’t easily traversed. The first snow is especially troublesome as it melts the moment it makes contact with the ground, and it will freeze once it melts, turning into ice. With ice on the ground, anyone would fall! Who would dare let visitors go up the mountain at such a time! If something really happens, putting aside the problem of compensation, our reputation will be damaged. Tell me, why would it snow for no good reason?” Wang Yougui grumbled.

Fangzheng looked up into the sky, speechless, when he heard that. Thinking back to how he claimed that it would be a year with bountiful harvest, he could not help but smile wryly. This was the first time he was being smacked in the face by the heavens. He had to admit that it burned and stung!

Following that, Wang Yougui poured out his plight before they began discussing solutions. Wang Yougui had the intention to seal off the mountain. He would not be able to afford it if any mishap were to happen.

However, Fangzheng’s eyes were bright. He looked up at the sky and secretly smiled. “Want to smack This Penniless Monk’s face? Watch This Penniless Monk smack you back!”

Therefore, Fangzheng said, “Patron, don’t worry. How many visitors will be coming?”

“Not many. After all, it’s not a holiday or a weekend. The people nearby returned when they saw it was snowing, but there are still a little over twenty people who came from Spring City. They journeyed from afar, so they are quite unwilling to leave. As for going up… I don’t dare let them come up,” Wang Yougui said with a sigh.

Fangzheng smiled. “It’s fine. This Penniless Monk will go down to bring them up and guarantee that they will reach the mountaintop safely. But they came a bit late. The sun has risen already, and the clouds probably won’t last much longer. Even if they come up, they probably won’t see much. Tell them the situation. If they insist on coming up, This Penniless Monk will go down to bring them up.”

Wang Yougui thought about it. “Are you sure?”

Fangzheng said, “Having come all the way here, they can be considered our guests.” He thought to himself that although the mountain trail wasn’t easily traversable, the path was slippery, and they might have accidents, could this problem escape his Heavenly Eye? When the time came, it would instead bring him merit!

“Alright, I’ll inform them,” Wang Yougui said and hung up.

Fangzheng was feeling rather smug about his intelligence when…

“Ding! Fool, it’s best you wipe that thought off your head. If something happens, not only will you not receive merit, you will even have merit deducted,” the System warned.

Fangzheng was taken aback as he asked, “Why?”

The System sneered. “Think about it. Are your actions any different from how unscrupulous merchants try to profit at the cost of lives? It’s just that you do not actually put their lives in danger.”

Fangzheng was stunned and, on careful thought, he broke out into a cold sweat. He pressed his palms together and silently chanted. “Amitabha. I’ve been fooled by the devil.”

Just as the System said, Fangzheng should have dissuaded them from coming up the mountain knowing that it was dangerous. Yet, for the sake of merit, he even pulled a fast one on them. If anything happened, he would save them to earn merit? Although he would be rescuing others in theory, the basis of all of it was different. This wasn’t a good act, but an evil one! How could doing evil earn him merit? It would already be not bad if he wasn’t given any negative karma!

Just as Fangzheng was about to call Wang Yougui, Wang Yougui called back and said some of the visitors planned to spend some time in the village and temporarily didn’t plan on heading up the mountain. Therefore, Fangzheng didn’t need to come down.

Fangzheng was naturally happy to have free time for himself and agreed.

After returning to the backyard, Red Boy had already boiled a huge pot of water, and it was already bubbling.

Squirrel and Lone Wolf had gotten some timber to put in the kitchen. Then, the few disciples looked at Fangzheng with a longing look. Squirrel subconsciously rubbed his belly, indicating that he was famished.

Fangzheng rapped him on the head and took out the flash-frozen dumplings he had placed in the rice bucket before throwing them into the pot for cooking. Once the dumplings entered the pot, heat was exchanged, and hot steam billowed up. Meanwhile, the clear water had a layer of faint golden oil appear on its surface. It left the disciples drooling.

Even Fangzheng was secretly gulping his saliva…

As the saying went, one found anything delicious when one was hungry; what’s more, it was something delicious to begin with.

Once the dumplings were taken out, Fangzheng placed them on a plate. Squirrel impatiently snatched one, but ended up scalding himself. He jumped on the spot but was unwilling to throw the dumpling away. As a result, he kept throwing the dumpling from left paw to right paw, again and again. While doing so, he didn’t forget to use his mouth to blow at the dumpling. With his rotund figure, he looked as amusing as could be.

Although Lone Wolf, Monkey, and Red Boy had thoughts of trying one, they were ultimately not as adorable as Squirrel who acted cute to survive any trouble. Therefore, they gritted their teeth and just watched.

Fangzheng fished out two big plates of dumplings and placed them on the table. Finally, he placed some soy sauce and vinegar on the table.