The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

The elderly woman’s hands were occupied, with one she was holding the lollipop, with the other the umbrella. She still needed to stop her grandson from struggling and getting drenched by the sleet. She was unable to receive the money that was already placed right in front of her eyes.

If the average person were in her shoes, they would definitely throw the lollipop away and collect the money first, but the elderly woman couldn’t bring herself to do that. Although the lollipop wasn’t worth much, it was the only weapon she could use to coax her grandson and stop him from struggling. Hence, without a word, she did something that left Fangzheng, Lone Wolf, Old Chang, and Three Seconds instantly dumbfounded.

She directly placed the dirtied lollipop in her mouth, licking away the dirt on its surface and spitting it out. Then, she put it back into her mouth and took Old Chang’s one hundred yuan.

She was very prudent. Instead of hurriedly putting away the money, she carefully checked its authenticity first… But with her eyesight, it wasn’t very effective.

Old Chang and Three Seconds exchanged looks and saw the hesitation in each other’s eyes, as well as some excitement.

Finally, Old Chang said, “Don’t bother. It’s real, definitely real.”

The elderly woman gave One Finger an embarrassed smile and said, “Sorry, I run a small business here. I count on this for a living. A fake note would mean several days of hard work wasted.”

Having said that, she took out a stack of notes from her pocket. It was arranged neatly with the biggest denomination being a fifty yuan note, followed by tens, fivers, and ones. Although it looked rather thick at first, the elderly woman only had a few one-yuan notes left after producing the change.

Upon seeing this, Three Seconds clearly felt hesitant.

At this moment, Old Chang secretly patted Three Seconds on his thigh, snapping him out of his dilemma. Three Seconds said, “Wait. I have change here. There’s no need for you to give us change. It will save you the trouble.”

As he spoke, Three Seconds took out ten yuan and handed it over.

The elderly woman heaved a sigh of relief when she heard that she didn’t need to provide change. She said with a smile, “That’s good. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to give anyone else any change if they bought something with large notes.”

Three Seconds hesitated for a second before continuing. “That’s right.” He then handed the money over.

The elderly woman received the money and returned the hundred-yuan note. As she did that, she said, “That’s good, that’s good.”

While Three Seconds received the money, the grandson began pulling a tantrum again. He was trying to snatch the lollipop in the elderly woman’s mouth, but she dodged him. Clearly, she was willing to eat a dirty lollipop herself, but she couldn’t bring herself to let her grandson eat something dirty.

The grandson protested as he wailed. “Candy! Candy!”

She hurriedly coaxed him. “Yuyu, be obedient. Wait for Granny to close this deal, and I’ll buy you something new. There’s still other good things to eat. Calm down, be obedient.”

In this moment of distraction, Fangzheng saw Three Seconds perform a quick sleight of hand as the note in his hand was switched.

Almost at the same time, Old Chang cried out. “How can you be like that? Why are you being polite with me over something worth ten yuan? Since I said I’m buying, that means I’m buying. Do you look down on me?” With that said, he said to the elderly woman, “Boss, seriously? I already said it’s a gift from me to him. How can you accept his money?”

With that said, Old Chang snatched the hundred yuan and stuffed it back into the elderly woman’s hand and said, “I already said I’m paying.”

The elderly woman was left somewhat taken aback by the duo. She subconsciously looked at Three Seconds who said in exasperation, “Fine, fine, fine. Let him pay for it.”

The elderly woman shook her head helplessly and could only take out the change again. She returned the ten yuan to Three Seconds before giving Old Chang ninety yuan. As she had verified the authenticity previously, she didn’t think too much about it or check again. She carefully stuffed the hundred yuan note together with the few one-yuan notes she had into her pocket.

When Old Chang and Three Seconds saw this, their eyes showed a sense of relief. Following that, Old Chang handed the gloves to Three Seconds and got up. “Alright, let’s go.”

With that said, Old Chang got up to leave. Three Seconds glanced at the elderly woman before glancing at Old Chang and then followed him while shaking his head.

“Master?” Lone Wolf asked Fangzheng as he looked furiously at the two.

Fangzheng caressed his head and said, “Let’s go. Time to get money.”

“Master, are you turning a blind eye to this? You are still thinking about money? Where’s your conscience?” Lone Wolf cried out angrily.

Fangzheng was instantly amused as he asked, “Oh? What are you going to eat if we don’t get money? Aren’t you hungry?”

“I am, but… Didn’t you once say that things have different priority levels? I won’t starve to death if I don’t eat for a few days, but if those two manage to flee, the elderly woman and the child will be in for a bad time.” Lone Wolf was truly reeling with anxiety. Although he looked rather silly usually, people who knew him well knew that he was actually very intelligent. Lone Wolf was a wolf after all, and an alpha wolf at that. He knew deep down already how survival of the fittest worked, but to make him truly understand what was good and what was bad was usually still quite difficult.

So far, Fangzheng had been taking a shortcut, using the allure of good food and force to make him obedient. As the saying goes, a satiated animal doesn’t hunt. Hence, Lone Wolf didn’t go beyond his bounds. However, to truly make him lean towards good was no less difficult than curing Red Boy of his brattish behavior.

But this time, Lone Wolf’s performance was different. He was very hungry, so according to the law of the survival of the fittest, he should have first considered his stomach before anything else. However, for him to have the elderly woman and child in mind first… This was definitely a considerable improvement.

Fangzheng smiled when he saw Lone Wolf’s serious expression. “Let’s get the money first.”

With that said, Fangzheng walked off. Lone Wolf looked at Fangzheng, stumped, mumbling. “Did I end up following a fake master somewhere? This doesn’t seem like him.”

Although he said that, Lone Wolf still followed.

He followed as he took huge strides and appeared before Old Chang and Three Seconds. He blocked their path, pressed his palms together, and said, “Amitabha. Patrons, This Penniless Monk came from the northeast. The journey here was fraught with twists and turns, so This Penniless Monk is here to solicit donations from you.”

“Soliciting donations?” Old Chang and Three Seconds were stunned by Fangzheng’s actions. They imagined that this monk had appeared to fight for justice, but it ended up with him only soliciting for donations.

Fangzheng nodded.

Old Chang shook his head immediately. “We don’t have money ourselves, so how can we give money to you? Bye.”

With that said, Old Chang walked off with Three Seconds.

Fangzheng didn’t stop them as he looked at them and chuckled. “What Man does, Heaven watches. Patrons, good day.”

“F**k, he’s sick.” Old Chang cursed under his breath and left with Three Seconds.

“Master, what are you doing? Weren’t you trying to get money?” Lone Wolf came over and asked.

Fangzheng flipped his hand and revealed a stack of money. Apart from a few red hundred-yuan bills, the rest was change. He said, “See, isn’t this money?”

Lone Wolf was stunned before he snapped to his senses. He smiled and said, “Master, brilliant! Hahaha, I like it! I want to have a feast! I can eat two basins!”