Qingshan

Chapter 41 : Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Buddha’s Son

The handsome little monk, draped in a white monk’s robe, stood under the moonlight, serene and composed, exuding a Buddhist aura.

Looking at me, the little monk said: “My name is Luo Zhuisajia, but everyone likes to call me Little Monk. You can call me that too.”

Princess Baili, perched on the wall, introduced me: “The Little Monk is a reincarnated Buddha’s Son, very impressive! If he says you’re impressive, you must be!”

I hesitated for a moment: “A reincarnated Buddha’s Son struggles this much to climb a wall?”

The Little Monk looked a bit embarrassed: “I haven’t completed my training yet. My master instructed me to recite the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s Original Vow Sutra ten thousand times. I’ve only reached over seven thousand, and my grand vow isn’t fulfilled yet…”

I pondered. The Little Monk’s words revealed much: his cultivation path involved reciting sutras and fulfilling a grand vow. Reaching ten thousand recitations was a milestone, likely making him stronger afterward.

He was quite candid, openly sharing his cultivation path like that.

At that moment, the Heir studied me curiously: “Little Monk, you say he’s impressive? Doesn’t look like it.”

The Heir had swapped his daytime marten-fur cloak for a black cross-collar robe embroidered with silver lotuses, looking somewhat refined but not quite matching his flamboyant demeanor.

The Little Monk brushed dust off his robe, his fourteen- or fifteen-year-old face clear and pure. Pointing to his heart, he said: “When I say impressive, I don’t mean strength, but the heart. Everyone has three thieves in their heart: greed, anger, and obsession. This young brother has already rid himself of greed and anger, leaving only obsession. That’s impressive.”

“Greed is base desire. So many calamities in this world stem from greed. To be free of greed isn’t to shun wealth, but to know restraint.”

“Anger is unwise rage. If a person still has anger, they can’t be called wise, for anger clouds the mind.”

I thought for a moment: “And obsession?”

The Little Monk smiled: “Obsession is fixation. With fixation, one cannot find liberation.”

Princess Baili sat astride the wall, dressed sharply like a man in a white robe, white pants, white boots, and a white jade hairpin, with only a red jade pendant at her collar, like the red mark on a white carp’s forehead.

Propping her chin, she asked curiously: “Little Monk, you speak so mysteriously. How many thieves have you slain?”

The Little Monk thought for a moment: “Like him, I’m left with only obsession.”

Princess Baili pressed: “Why not slay that last obsession?”

“It’s not that I won’t, but I don’t have it,” the Little Monk explained: “I haven’t found my ‘obsession,’ so I can’t slay it. My master sent me to the Central Plains to find it and then overcome it. I haven’t found it yet and don’t know what it is, but my master said I’ll know when the day comes.”

“Huh, you never mentioned that before… Isn’t it better to lack obsession? Why seek it? Isn’t that unnecessary?” Princess Baili asked, puzzled.

The Little Monk shook his head: “It’s a tribulation. Without passing through tribulation, one cannot become a Buddha.”

The Heir, leaning against the wall, looked bored: “You monks talk of compassion but always go on about slaying and killing—not good!”

The Little Monk shook his head: “Our Gening Sect doesn’t speak of compassion.”

“Oh? What do you speak of?”

“Great fearlessness.”

Princess Baili, sitting cross-legged atop the wall, said: “Brother, stop chatting. Help me down.”

“Here,” the Heir went to the wall, letting his sister step on his shoulder to jump down.

I watched silently. The Heir and Princess Baili weren’t born of the same mother, yet their bond was remarkably close.

And this Heir, already twenty, still acted so carefree…

Wait, Dark Cloud mentioned another princess born to Consort Jing, Princess Lingyun. Why wasn’t she with them?

At that moment, the Heir looked at me: “This…”

“Chen Ji.”

The Heir grinned: “Chen Ji, you’re a fine-looking fellow. We’ll surely be great friends in the future. But no time to chat now—friends are waiting outside. We’ll go first. We’re rivers-and-lakes folk; we’ll meet again if fate allows!”

Zhu Baili hurriedly added: “Right, right! I’ll bring you Ma Family’s donkey-meat pancakes in the morning!”

With that, the Heir led the Little Monk and Princess Baili to leave.

I raised my arm to block their path: “Hold on.”

“Huh?” The Heir stepped back: “What?”

I said: “Hush money. Ten taels of silver each, or I’ll call the mansion guards.”

The Heir yelped: “Whoa, think we don’t know market prices? Ten taels could buy a house in the suburbs! Why not rob us… Little Monk, didn’t you say he’d slain greed?!”

The Little Monk hesitated: “This shows he’s already very restrained.”

The Heir: “?”

Princess Baili looked at me: “One tael each time. We’ll need to pass through here many times—think long-term, or we won’t come through again!”

I said: “Deal!”

Princess Baili looked helplessly at the Heir: “Brother, did I lowball it? He agreed too fast.”

“Seems like it.”

I said: “One tael per person, per time. Three of you this time—three taels.”

At that moment, someone called through the door crack: “Heir, Princess, are you out yet?”

The Heir looked at Princess Baili: “Pay up; they’re getting impatient outside.”

Zhu Baili reluctantly pulled a plain sachet from her sleeve, took out three ‘silver peanuts,’ and slapped them into my palm: “Here! Can we go now?”

I stepped aside, smiling: “Thanks for your patronage. Have a fun night!”

The Heir hurried to open the main hall door, revealing over a dozen people outside, some with swords and sabers at their waists, looking like rivers-and-lakes folk.

I spotted Liang Gou’er and Liang Mao’er among them.

The Heir asked at the door: “Where’re we going?”

Liang Gou’er grinned: “Luocheng’s nights are lively only in one place—East Market. And the liveliest spot there is Red Cloth Lane! Come, Heir, lead us to drink in Red Cloth Lane!”

I was stunned.

The Princess and a monk, going to Red Cloth Lane?!

At that moment, Princess Baili carefully closed the clinic’s main door, leaving a small gap. Seeing me watching from afar, she wrinkled her nose, huffed, and quickly shut the door.

I weighed the silver peanuts in my hand. Dark Cloud climbed the apricot tree, tucking its paws and lying on a branch.

Dark Cloud meowed: “They seem like nice people.”

I smiled: “As Heir and Princess, they didn’t get mad when I blocked their way and never used their status to pressure me. They’re indeed very good people.”