The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Panda Novel

Red Boy shook his head and said, “No way!”

“Then isn’t it clear? Throw it away!” Fangzheng waved his hand before he leisurely went to look at his spirit ginseng that stood erect.

Red Boy looked at the invitation in his hand. Throw it away? Where ? Hence, he looked at the fireplace beside him and approached it…

Meanwhile, Fangzheng found a spot to sit down, and his cell phone rang.

“Hello, Patron Wang,” Fangzheng greeted with a chuckle when he saw that it was Wang Yougui’s phone call.

“Fangzheng, did you receive the letter just now?” Wang Yougui went straight to the point. With everyone so familiar, there was no need for him to beat about the bush.

Fangzheng was surprised as he asked, “Letter?” He suddenly had an ominous feeling.

At this moment, Wang Yougui said, “That’s right. Don’t tell me you haven’t received it. Yang Ping said that he handed it personally to Jingzhen.”

Fangzheng immediately broke out into a sweat.

“It was delivered from the county. It was supposed to be from them. I heard that someone recommended you to some international summit or whatever. I don’t know either. In short, this is a great opportunity. I heard from County Head Qi that although the summit’s influence can’t affect the whole world, it has quite a bit of influence in Southeast Asia. You are going to become an international master. Hahaha! Will our One Finger Village be receiving foreigners in the future?” Wang Yougui roared out loudly, sounding exhilarated.

However, Wang Yougui had no idea that the person on the other end of the line no longer had the mood to listen to what he had left to say. He had long run out, roaring. “Jingxin, leave that paper behind!”

Red Boy peeked his head out of the kitchen and asked curiously, “Master, what paper? Don’t you not need to use the bathroom already? Did you secretly eat some mortal food?”

Crystal Rice and Frost Bamboo were specialties from Mount Numinous. They were digested cleanly, leaving no waste behind. Therefore, Fangzheng, who frequently ate such food, almost never used the toilet. If he did, it meant that he had eaten mortal food.

“What toilet paper? I’m talking about that letter from before, that invitation!” Fangzheng said anxiously.

Red Boy pointed at the fireplace. “Didn’t you tell me to throw it away? I was thinking about how it would just lay around as trash if thrown on the ground, so it was better to burn it…”

“Burn?” Fangzheng’s eyes nearly popped out.

“Yes, it has been burned,” Red Boy said.

Fangzheng immediately had the urge to kill himself. He had messed up by thinking he knew better! No matter who recommended him, that was a favor. Besides, the summit was real. To attend it was a chance to broaden his horizons! How could he not wish to go?

But without the invitation letter, what was he to do?

“Master, don’t tell me that the invitation letter was genuine?” Red Boy asked.

Fangzheng nodded bitterly. “Yes.”

Red Boy grinned. “Now that it has been burned, what do we do? Are you still going?”

Fangzheng looked up at the sky. With his present brain, he had an eidetic memory. Although he had only performed a cursory scan, the contents remained stark and clear in his mind.

At this moment, Salted Fish walked out of the kitchen. He had his fins held behind his back as he said in a tone of seniority, “If I were you, I’d go if I wished to! After all, the invitation is real. I’d just go in person and say that I forgot the invitation letter. Would they not let me in? At most, they would have to verify my identity. It’s nothing too difficult.”

Fangzheng’s eyes lit up as he laughed. “That’s right! The invitation is real, and This Penniless Monk still remembers the address. Why should This Penniless Monk be so wishy-washy on this? This Penniless Monk can just go there directly!”

“Master, well said! Do you think…” Red Boy jumped up and clapped. Then, he looked at Fangzheng with watery eyes as though he was saying: “You know what I mean!”

But at this moment, Salted Fish also cried out. “Reverend, you are truly a genius! If this were Mount Numinous, you would have become a Buddha long ago! Great Buddha, if you do head down the mountain, why don’t you consider bringing me with you?”

Lone Wolf immediately hid away when he heard that they were to leave the mountain. To him, leaving the mountain was equivalent to starving. It was almost a fixed formula, so he had no wish to suffer by going down the mountain.

Squirrel wasn’t that interested either. He was quite nonchalant about it.

Monkey was a little interested, but he shook his head and said, “I think I’ll stay behind. I can’t feel at ease letting others sweep the monastery.”

Fangzheng looked at Monkey in satisfaction. Finally, he looked at Salted Fish and Red Boy. “Both of you wish to go, but I can only bring one. So what do you think we should do?”

Red Boy and Salted Fish immediately exchanged looks. Anyone could sense the sparks in their eyes as though they would be at each other’s throats the next instant.

At this moment, Red Boy’s eyes darted as he smiled. “Salted Fish, if we choose fighting, it will be me bullying you. You came later than me, so I can’t just openly bully you. Let’s do this. We’ll play rock-paper-scissors. Whoever wins, goes, and whoever loses, stays. How about it?”

Salted Fish secretly heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that they wouldn’t be fighting. He nodded and said, “No problem. But what’s rock-paper-scissors?”

Red Boy immediately said, “So you are in agreement?”

“Reverend, is rock-paper-scissors fair? As long as it’s fair, I’ll agree to it,” Salted Fish asked Fangzheng.

What else could he say? Fangzheng nodded and said, “It’s absolutely fair!”

“Alright then! Let’s do it! Tell me how it’s played,” Salted Fish exclaimed.

Red Boy chuckled as he reached out to show the gestures of rock, paper, and scissors while explaining the rules.

When Salted Fish saw this, his face darkened. Red Boy was using a hand while he was using a fin! It wasn’t problematic for a fin to make stone and paper, but how was he to gesture scissors? Wasn’t this racist? When he looked at Red Boy’s smug look, it was obvious that this fellow had planned it!

Salted Fish looked at Fangzheng who shrugged with a look of helplessness as though he was saying, “You should have gotten an exact answer before agreeing! You can’t blame This Penniless Monk.”

Salted Fish wasn’t mad either. He said in a puff, “Although I can only produce rock and paper, who says that I have no chance of winning? Come on, let’s do it!”

Red Boy was delighted because he was afraid that Salted Fish would go back on his word. After all, this wasn’t a fair competition, making it reasonable for him to do so. With Salted

Fish willing to continue, Red Boy rubbed his hands and chuckled. “Alright! As expected of a salted fish beneath Buddha’s seat. How domineering! Come! If I lose, I’ll give you half my food for the month!”

Salted Fish grunted. “Come on, let’s begin!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

As Squirrel shouted, the boy and fish quickly threw out their choices.

Red Boy figured that Salted Fish could only produce rock and paper, which also meant that all he needed to do was use paper, making it either a draw or his victory! Was there a need to continue?

Hence, the first round was quickly over!

“Paper!” Squirrel shouted. “Both sides have thrown paper!”