The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

“Uh, Master, doesn’t what you said make that female patron appear very materialistic?” Monkey asked as he scratched his head.

Fangzheng returned with a question. “Is it materialistic? A man who hasn’t entered her life suddenly wishes to court her. Then, what should she use to judge the reliability of this man?”

Monkey fell silent.

Fangzheng continued. “Women look at the accomplishments of men, while men look at women’s looks and figure. There’s nothing wrong with that since those are the only things one can use as a first reason to get to know the other party when they are still a stranger. That’s just a premise. After gaining a deeper level of understanding of each other, whether the two people can be together can be considered the afterword. Of course, if a woman doesn’t mind the flaws in a man’s personality or his inadequacies when it comes to feelings and is willing to be with the man solely because of his money, then that is materialistic. It is the same for men.”

Monkey scratched his head. “How profound. Then, according to what you say, if a man is without achievements and a woman without looks, won’t that make it impossible for them to even have a chance to get to know each other? Isn’t that tragic?”

Fangzheng laughed out loud. “I’m talking about two strangers here; at least, what I said counts in a situation where both parties do not know each other at all. But in fact, any person in this world has a circle of their own. They come in contact with all kinds of people. Some people in your circle will ultimately get to know you through prolonged contact and might end up liking you for what’s inside. At this point, both of you won’t be looking at material matters but at feelings. Without the material needs met, both of you can still work hard for them. However, if you are looking for someone outside your circle, you will need to have something worthy of mention to attract the other party. For a man, that would be his accomplishments and mannerisms while for a woman, her looks and figure are two of the most direct criteria.

“In fact, this is the law of nature. Among animals, when choosing a mate, male birds like to flaunt their beautiful feathers, and some male animals like to flaunt their muscular bodies to attract members of the opposite sex.”

Monkey thought about it and asked, “Master, then why is it the male birds in the animal world who use their beautiful feathers to attract females, but for humans, it’s the women who use their beautiful appearances to attract men? It’s completely different.”

Fangzheng laughed. “Who says that men don’t use their looks to attract women?”

At that moment, they heard Red Boy from outside. The moment the child entered, he cried. “Master is right! Monkey, by asking this question, it just goes to show that you don’t watch the news enough. Whenever you are free, I suggest you use the phone to search for ‘bottoms,”male escorts’, ‘gigolos’, ‘gays’…”

“Jingxin!” Fangzheng’s face instantly darkened when he heard that. They had been talking about philosophical ideas, so why did the topic change so drastically the moment this brat came?

“Master, what’s wrong?” Red Boy asked.

“Help Salted Fish sweep the snow.”

“Uh… Master, I just came back,” Red Boy cried.

“Then go again!” Fangzheng scoffed.

Red Boy looked at Monkey, then Fangzheng before smacking his lips, but he ultimately caved. The moment he walked out the door, he saw Salted Fish sitting on the Bridge of Helplessness with the broom in hand. His tail was in the Heavenly Dragon Pond, and he looked like he was enjoying himself.

“Hey, you’re back? That means I don’t have to sweep the snow. Haha!” Red Boy said in joy.

The moment Salted Fish heard that, he tried to blink as he said with a smile, “Jingxin, shall I give you a pleasant surprise?”

“What is it?” Red Boy asked.

Suddenly, Salted Fish jumped up and rushed to the path he had swept clean. Then, with a wave of the broom, he swept the piles of snow on both sides back to the ground!

Red Boy’s expression turned livid as he cursed. “You fool! Master asked me to help you sweep. That means you will need to sweep as well. By doing that, we now both have more work to do!”

Salted Fish held the broom vertically to the ground and leaned against it, saying languidly, “The problem is that even without you, I would have swept this much snow. But if it stayed that way, that would mean only I would have suffered. Now that you are accompanying me, that makes two of us. Having two people suffer together is better than one person enjoying himself alone, right? By doing the math, I still think I’m the one benefiting.”

Red Boy was appalled. This was the first time he was facing such a shameless fellow.

Just as Red Boy was rendered speechless, Monkey walked out. “Fourth Junior Brother, Master has just changed your punishment. You are to make lunch.”

The moment Red Boy heard that, he looked wickedly at Salted Fish, chuckling. “Brother Salted Fish, isn’t that a pleasant surprised? Aren’t you shocked? Does it feel good? Haha! Continue sweeping by yourself! All the best!”

With that said, Red Boy turned and left.

Salted Fish looked at the snow on the ground before looking at his tail. Instantly, he had the urge to slam his head into the snow pile. F**k, what a trap!

However, Salted Fish only cursed for a moment. After catching a whiff of the rice fragrance, he instantly became driven. After sweeping away the snow, he rushed into the monastery. However, Salted Fish only saw a small blob of Crystal Rice in his huge bowl. Then, looking at the others wolfing the food, he instantly felt his heart wince.

When Squirrel noticed that Salted Fish wasn’t eating, he rubbed his belly and leaned on Salted Fish’s bowl and tiptoed to look in. He then looked adorably at Salted Fish.

When Salted Fish saw this, an idea came to him. He believed that the little guy was pure and innocent, so if he feigned being tragic, would Squirrel share some food with him? With this in mind, Salted Fish’s expression instantly collapsed as he hung his head low while sighing. It was as though his wife had abandoned him.

Indeed, Squirrel instantly noticed it and asked out of concern, “Salted Fish, what’s wrong? You don’t seem too happy. Why aren’t you eating?”

Salted Fish sighed. “Sigh. I just thought of something sad and am in no mood to eat. Besides, there’s just this bit of rice. Sigh…”

Upon saying that, Salted Fish cackled nefariously in his mind. “Little guy, you should be pitying me now, right? Shouldn’t you share some of your food with me?”

The moment Squirrel heard that, he indeed looked at Salted Fish with pity. “Poor Salted Fish, to be so sad that you don’t have an appetite.” With that said, he looked at the tiny clump of Crystal Rice in the bowl and crawled in. Then, right in front of Salted Fish, he picked up the Crystal Rice and asked with concern, “Master says that we shouldn’t waste food. If you don’t have the appetite, I’ll force myself to help you eat this.”

Puah! Puah! Puah!

The rest who had already seen through Salted Fish’s ploy originally imagined Squirrel would fall for it and were feeling a little worried…

And in the end, Squirrel had fallen for it. However, this little guy’s train of thought was quite different from anyone else’s. Even if he fell for the trick, the way he did was different than imagined!

Everyone looked at Salted Fish who had shot himself in the foot. Upon seeing his dazed expression as well as his inability to understand Squirrel’s train of thought, everyone instantly burst out laughing.

This round of laughter snapped him out of his daze. Immediately snatching the clump of rice from Squirrel which was just short of being swallowed, he stuffed all of it into his mouth! After finishing it, he jumped off the stool and left. He finally realized that no one in the monastery was normal!