The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Zhao Yumin smiled bitterly. “Stop questioning me already. Do you think I can’t recognize a child from a combined harvester? I’ve sent you the picture. Take a look yourself…”

Ruan Xianghe sneered and opened the attached picture. Lines to berate Zhao Yumin had already gone through her mind swiftly in preparation to be unleashed once she opened the picture. Of course, she didn’t mean ill. From her angle, she only wished for Zhao Yumin to think rationally. It was just talk anyway. After all, they were classmates from way back and had grown up together. They eventually got married and had children. Having lived together for decades, they knew each other well and were accustomed to it. If she really wanted to reprimand him, she would have done so already.

But Ruan Xianghe was left dumbfounded the next instant. Although the ultrasound picture was a little blurry, the image had zero similarities with a fetus. It looked like a huge machine no matter how she looked at it! If she worked hard to identify it, it did look a little bit like a combined harvester…

“How’s it? Is it a child or a combined harvester?” quipped Zhao Yumin.

“Are you sure you didn’t take this ultrasound of the stomach of a combined harvester?” Ruan Xianghe made a rare, humorous comment for once.

Zhao Yumin said, “It was taken by the doctor at our hospital. I don’t know exactly which part of the belly it was taken of though. So, do you want to investigate this?”

Ruan Xianghe sneered. “Could it be Photoshopped?”

Finally, the duo ended up coming. However, Ruan Xianghe ultimately didn’t treat Zhao Yumin’s suspicions seriously. She wrote it off, thinking that this manchild had gone through great efforts to Photoshop a picture to find a reason to go on a date with her. After all, both of them worked in different hospitals, so their chances to meet were rare.

But on the way, be it Zhao Yumin or the nurse, Jiang Ting, all of them mentioned how miraculous the mountaintop was. Their praise also included the case of how a young girl who was already at death’s doorstep had recovered after visiting One Finger Monastery!

The more she heard, the more Ruan Xianghe felt that this wasn’t Zhao Yumin’s farce. However, years of experience told her that although there were accomplished monks in the world, there were no divine powers! This was because she had been the doctor of far too many accomplished monks… Even accomplished monks from large monasteries needed a doctor, so how could a young monk from a tiny monastery be that capable?

Ruan Xianghe walked towards the mountain with questions filling her mind. As she walked and took in what was around her, she felt even stronger that it was a farce because of how remote the area was.

But once she stepped into One Finger Village, her heart was filled with shock.

One Finger Village didn’t appear special from the outside, but the overall spirit of the villagers astounded her. All of them were brimming with blissful smiles. As they fed their livestock, they looked energetic and lively. They weren’t like other villages’ inhabitants who would gather together whenever they were free to play cards or chat.

Every time they passed a villager, they would hear them discuss how to become rich, or what kind of chicken they would rear and how they would rear it, or they talked about pest management. However, most of them were seated somewhere with a carving knife in one hand and a piece of bamboo in the other. They were focused on engraving.

Furthermore, there would be vehicles coming in from time to time, and tourists would disembark from them…

Ruan Xianghe felt dazed. Was this really a remote tiny village? Why was this village so lively?

Ruan Xianghe started a conversation with a few villagers and asked them a few questions. The more she asked, the more puzzled she became. There was bamboo in the northeast? There was a bodhi tree on a northeastern mountain too? Not only was there a monk in the monastery, there was also a wolf, a monkey, a squirrel, and a child? Why did this sound like some fantasy story?

Although Ruan Xianghe often kept abreast with the news, she never paid attention to the entertainment section. All she cared about were foreign affairs, major national matters, and matters pertaining to the medical world.

Although One Finger Monastery was rather famous and had been on the news, she had never really paid attention to it. Perhaps she had scanned through it and thought nothing of it back then and had long forgotten about it.

But now…

She looked at the foot of the mountain which was filled with a lush bamboo forest. Even though the autumn wind was cold, bringing with it a hint of winter, all it did was drop the leaves of the Frost Bamboo. There was no sea of dead bamboo.

Ruan Xianghe was perplexed. Was she really in the northeast?

As the trio spoke and chatted, they arrived at the mountaintop. When she arrived, Ruan Xianghe saw the tiny monastery on the mountaintop as well as the Frost Bamboo forest behind it. Inside the monastery was a huge and luxuriant bodhi tree which once again astounded her. The things before her were just too fantastic, so much so that she even felt as though she were in a dream. This monastery seemed to be challenging her understanding of the natural world.

In fact, it wasn’t only Ruan Xianghe. Even Zhao Yumin was stunned by the bamboo forest and bodhi tree. Although he had long since heard about them, he was still shocked when he saw them with his own eyes.

When the trio arrived at the entrance of One Finger Monastery, other than the bell tower and drum tower, they also saw two Luohan Trees by the sides of the door! Although it hadn’t been long since they were planted, with the nourishment of Buddhistic aura, these two Luohan Trees were already two meters tall. Their branches were thick and more importantly, the gingko rustled with a golden sheen when the autumn wind blew.

In the northeast, gingko trees were not something rare. Some cities had them growing all over. But the two trees in front of them were different. Their leaves were shimmering with a golden and red color. They looked like golden flames that were burning on the tree’s crown. It was impossible to ignore!

Ruan Xianghe went close to scrutinize the trees, but she only became more astonished the more she looked. She could not help but marvel. “These trees are really well-grown. They can be considered royalty among gingko trees. They are truly beautiful. I wonder how this monastery takes care of them…”

Zhao Yumin added. “Indeed. I’ve seen quite a lot of gingko, but in terms of looks, these are absolutely the best. If these trees were taken out, I can’t imagine how many gingko enthusiasts would be willing to fork out big money for them.”

Jiang Ting didn’t know much about this. With the two directors present, she didn’t shoot off her mouth easily. Instead, her eyes darted around and looked at the gingko trees in front of her. She thought to herself, “Abbot Fangzheng sure is a man of god. This One Finger Monastery and this Mt. One Finger are becoming more and more godly.” Her curiosity towards Fangzheng only grew. What kind of person was this young monk? Why did things always appear different in his hands?

With this in mind, Jiang Ting swept her gaze to the bell tower and drum tower. They had been donated by Monkey and Fatty. She naturally knew a lot about them, but the more she looked at them, the more incredulous she felt. Despite them being recently built, for some reason, they emitted a feeling as though they had been in existence for a thousand years. Also, back when she visited, One Finger Monastery felt very new and calmed her mind when she neared it. But now, she felt a sense of solemnity and respect towards it. It felt like it would not tolerate any form of sacrilege, and this feeling was something she only felt from thousand-year-old ruins…

The few of them walked into One Finger Monastery with questions on their mind.

The moment they stepped through One Finger Monastery’s door, Ruan Xianghe felt as if she had entered heaven. She had been vexed outside, but the moment she stepped in, she felt a lot more serene. It felt like her thoughts had gone through a filter, just like muddied water going through a filtering process. She felt greatly purified. Although the chaotic thoughts on her mind remained, she also felt a sense of liberation.