The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Fangzheng ran as fast as he could. Wang Yougui roared, “Fangzheng, stop right there! Take this!”

…

In the end, the two of them sat down and chatted.

Wang Yougui shared his thoughts.

Fangzheng said, “You can deal with the Frost Bamboo at the foot of the mountain yourselves. However, This Penniless Monk does not plan on selling the Frost Bamboo on the mountain.”

Wang Yougui asked, “Not at all?”

Fangzheng shook his head and said, “Patron, in fact, ordinary Frost Bamboo tea isn’t any worse than other good tea. Ours are truly pure, natural, and uncontaminated tea. Furthermore, it’s rare Frost Bamboo tea. As for the ones on the mountain, This Penniless Monk does not plan on selling them. In the future, This Penniless Monk will just keep it for himself.”

Although Wang Yougui felt a little disappointed, he eventually gave up.

Seeing Wang Yougui leave, Fangzheng felt as though he saw a huge stack of cash leave him. His tears were about to fall. His heart ached!

Fangzheng’s heart ached at the thought of money.

Finally, after closing the monastery’s door in the evening, Fangzheng roared, “Let’s go. Let’s open the box to check on the money!”

Therefore, Fangzheng led a group of disciples and came to the front yard in a valiant and spirited manner. First, he checked the money that was thrown at Salted Fish daily. Since he had not collected it for some time, the money had formed a small mountain pile.

However, with Red Boy’s Dharma spells protecting it, the money wasn’t affected by the humidity or destroyed despite being left out here for so long.

Fangzheng took his disciples and carefully searched the area three times. Only after confirming that there was not a single coin left did he take the money to the backyard.

Fangzheng smiled when he counted it. There was a total of 18,000 yuan!

“Haha… System, is the money that isn’t thrown into the Merit Box mine?” Fangzheng smiled smugly.

“Heh heh… If it’s not thrown into the Merit Box, it wouldn’t be your money. Have you forgotten the rules? You can’t accept money from other sources,” said the System lightly.

Fangzheng’s smile froze when he heard that. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, “You are ruthless!”

Then, Fangzheng handed the money to Red Boy. “Put it in the Merit Box!”

“Uh, Master, why is that?” Red Boy was dumbfounded.

However, with Fangzheng looking like he was about to eat him up, he obediently stuffed the money into the Merit Box.

Fangzheng looked at the Merit Box and then looked at the time. There were still twenty days left until the lunar new year. Finally, he resisted the urge to open the box to check on the money.

However, he was extremely disgusted by the System. He closed the door and returned to his room to sleep.

In the next two days, Fangzheng continued squatting in the Frost Bamboo forest to carve his Frost Bamboo. Everything seemed to return to its peaceful days.

However, the world was getting more and more lively.

The Chinese and America’s allies discussed a few times, but nothing came out of it.

America requested for sky-high prices and broke many international rules. In the end, even its allies couldn’t bear to watch any longer. Many used their media to criticize them…

Even so, America refused to let China off unless it obtained something beneficial.

Especially at yesterday’s negotiation, America actually allowed China to export tea leaves to them. Top tea also had to be made available for purchase at a maximum price of three times higher than common tea leaves!

At the start, the Chinese negotiation party was stunned by the sudden request from America. However, they immediately snapped back to their senses. No matter why they raised this request, it was definitely unreasonable. Hence, they stalled for time to better understand the reason why.

Then, after finding out what was going on, they directly said to America, “Dream on!”

Hence, America claimed that China would regret it…

China could not be bothered with them.

The two nations spat at each other, allowing for plenty of discussion at the dinner table. However, there were still some who were worried. Although it wasn’t clear if they were really worried or faking it.

At that moment, Fangzheng continued his carving.

“Master, you have already carved so many armor pieces. How many are you planning to carve?” Monkey asked out of curiosity.

Fangzheng thought for a moment and said, “There are some that are done. There are some that aren’t satisfactory. Therefore, few are actually satisfactory despite the numbers.”

“Uh, Master, don’t you say that the seven to eight pieces on my right are ones you are satisfied with…” Monkey pointed at the few lonely ones on the right. He originally thought that Fangzheng had casually thrown them away.

Fangzheng nodded slightly. “Yes.”

Monkey covered his face and said, “This… The two piles seem similar.”

Fangzheng shook his head. “If I’m making it, I want perfection. Otherwise, I’d rather not do it.”

“Then what should we do with these unwanted ones?” asked Monkey.

Fangzheng said, “Leave them for now. Once I’m done, I’ll take it down and give it to Patron Wang Yougui. It should be able to sell for quite a bit of money.”

Monkey said, “Can’t we sell it ourselves?”

Fangzheng sighed and did not say a word. His heart was bleeding. He wanted to!

After Monkey left, Fangzheng looked at the flawed piece of armor in his hand. He frowned and mumbled. “Indeed, I can’t have people disturbing me. Otherwise, the error rate would be too high.”

Therefore, Fangzheng made a sign with the words: “Do Not Disturb!”

Then, Fangzheng hung the signboard outside. When Monkey returned. Fangzheng directly told him, “Don’t come without me summoning you. I’m preparing to enter seclusion and quietly gain Zen enlightenment!”

“Master, can we not make such lofty claims? Aren’t you just carving armor?” Monkey said disapprovingly.

Fangzheng rolled his eyes at him. “What do you know? Zen is everywhere in life. As long as one puts his mind to it, it’s possible to gain enlightenment. As the ancients say: there’s always something to learn from others. Regardless of who it is, there will always be something you can learn from them, much less something like Zen carvings.”

Monkey nodded as though he understood something. He bade farewell.

With this signboard and warning, Fangzheng’s tiny world became completely silent.

Taking a deep breath, Fangzheng held his breath and focused. He slowly closed his eyes.

For a moment, it was as if the entire world had fallen silent. All that could be heard was the sound of rustling bamboo leaves, the chirping of birds and the wind…

It was the pulse of nature. He listened carefully and carefully tried to take it in. The frustration in Fangzheng’s heart began to vanish before it turned still.

The moment Fangzheng landed the carving knife again, he fell silent. The knife in his hand lacked his usual impetuousness and deliberateness, but had an additional natural charm.

However, he wasn’t fast. As he carved down repeatedly, it was as if he was using the rhythm of nature. It was beautiful and pleasant to the ears.

Fangzheng was at peace, but One Finger Village was about to go crazy.

There was a deafening sound of engines as a convoy of hummers entered One Finger Village!

When Wang Yougui heard this, he immediately rushed out to check on the situation. The moment he came out, he saw the men in suits and sunglasses! They looked like they came from the triads…

Wang Yougui subconsciously took out his cell phone and prepared to call the police. He thought to himself, “Has some triad boss taken a fancy to our profits? He’s really gutsy. He even dares to target us!”