Chapter 11
Who is Buddha
Dust and smoke rose from the dirt road in the distance as they slowly approached the Red Cloud River.
The riverside was suddenly in an uproar.
“She’s finally here. It’s said that Miss w.a.n.g is as beautiful as a fairy. Today, I can finally see her.”
“It seems that there are a lot of people here. Could it be that they are here to release the fish? What do you want?” An old man stared at the billowing smoke in the distance and asked in confusion.
“Elder Zhang, you’ve lived for so many decades, and you’ve never seen a release?” the person next to him laughed.
“Huh? Have you ever seen one?” Elder Zhang’s face turned red, and he said in an unconvinced manner.
The others also hurriedly looked over and perked up their ears to listen. To be able to come and watch the show, who had seen the world more than who?
Some old men and women didn’t even know about releasing fish. They only heard that there were big fish in the river today, so they came to catch them with wooden poles.
“Eh, I really do know!” the man enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention and said in a high-spirited manner, “Last year, I was building a house for a wealthy family in the prefecture. I happened to see it by the Drunken Gold River.”
“Hurry up and tell us!” everyone urged.
“To set the fish free, we first had to set up a wooden table and cover it with a red cloth. Then, we have to prepare water and branches. After that, we have to make a Bodhisattva statue and put it on the table.”
“What? You said that’s an incense table!” someone at the side couldn’t help but say.
“Are you going to listen or not?” The person who was talking showed an unhappy expression. When the surroundings quieted down, he continued, “When everything is ready, we’ll ask Baldy to sing the mantras, burn incense and pray to Buddha, spray the fish with branches, and then circle around the fish a few times to ring the bell. In any case, the end result will be to throw the fish into the river.”
“Don’t you keep the fish in the water? Isn’t this way too much work?” Elder Zhang didn’t understand.
“What do you know about the matters of the rich? Don’t ask about stupid things.”
As the group of unkempt men made a ruckus, the carriage in the distance could be clearly seen.
There were three carriages, followed by several carts with large wooden buckets, which were probably carrying the released fish.
“Oh my, there must be hundreds of them. I didn’t come in vain!” A few of the women grinned and rolled up their sleeves.
The other people’s eyes were also green with envy. They didn’t usually eat much meat, so they had to catch a few fish today.
Ah Fei stood beside Jiang Ming and was also excited.
“The w.a.n.g family is quite rich!” Jiang Ming sighed with emotion. An ordinary family would not be able to afford such a thing.
Ah Fei stared at the carts and said enviously, “That’s right. Other than the officials, the only powerful family in Great Cloud City is probably the w.a.n.g family. Their ancestors were all officials from the capital.”
“No wonder.” Jiang Ming raised his eyebrows.
The following process was no different from what the man had said. They set up the incense table, sang mantras, and offered incense to the Buddha.
However, many people alighted from the carriage, including servants and greasy-faced monks, but they did not see Miss w.a.n.g.
It was not until the last step of releasing the fish that a graceful figure got off the carriage. She gently took a fish, threw it into the river, and then turned around to get back into the carriage.
Her short appearance caused the crowd to cheer.
“Ah, her figure, her beauty and temperament, I don’t know how much better she is than Miss Xue’er! “Ah Fei’s eyes lit up.
“Have you seen Miss Xue’er before? You’re lying through your teeth.” Jiang Ming looked at Ah Fei speechlessly.
“I don’t care; the one who gave me the fish is the best person.”
“Let’s not talk about it anymore; quickly go into the river!” Ah Fei raised his fishing net and plunged into the river.
After Miss w.a.n.g set the fish free, the servants also began to push buckets of big fish to the river and pour them down.
One after another, huge fish jumped into the river, causing huge waves.
“There’s really fish! Catch them!”
The eyes of the poor people of Peace Town had long turned green with envy. They immediately ran wildly and jumped into the river.
Jiang Ming had also jumped into the river early, but he didn’t bring a net, only a long rope.
“Little Ming, your preparation is not good. The big fish are slippery. You should at least bring a pole to stab them.”
Jiang Ming turned his head and saw Old Jiang from the bar. He was holding a harpoon in his hand and was ready to attack at any moment.
“Alright,” Jiang Ming chuckled. “Let’s see who can catch more. The loser will give the other their fish.”
“Ah, little brat, I was just giving you advice. Hey, hey, hey, the fish is here!” Old Jiang lost his temper and rushed forward with his harpoon.
“I’ll do it!” Old Jiang waved his harpoon and quickly caught a fish.
“I’m still as powerful as I was in the past,” Old Jiang said proudly. He turned his head and was ready to show off to Jiang Ming.
But when he turned around, he was stunned.
“Hey, hey, are you here to pick herbs or catch fish?”
Not far away, there was a rope wrapped around Jiang Ming’s arm. The other end of the rope was thrown into the water, and three fat fish were still struggling to swim.
“Mr. Jiang, are you going to admit defeat?” Jiang Ming laughed and said, “Huh?” Another one!”
Under Old Jiang’s dumbfounded gaze, Jiang Ming suddenly leaned forward and shot a hand into the water. He was so fast that Old Jiang couldn’t see clearly.
Water splashed everywhere!
The next moment, Jiang Ming got up and caught a big fish in his hands. He untied the rope on his arm, pa.s.sed it through the gills and mouth, and then tied it again.
“As long as you’re fast, no fish can escape.” Jiang Ming winked at Old Jiang.
With his physical fitness, he didn’t need any equipment to catch fish. He could just do it.
“What?” Old Jiang said angrily, “That is such a crude method.”
“If you keep shouting, the fish will escape! Remember to give me one more,” Jiang Ming said with a smile.
Old Jiang was so angry that he was trembling. He quickly turned around and continued to look for more fish.
“Everyone, don’t catch them! Don’t catch them!”
Suddenly, there was a shout from the sh.o.r.e.
The people in the river turned a deaf ear and continued to catch fish.
Jiang Ming took a glance and saw that it was the monks who had accompanied Miss w.a.n.g. They were standing by the river and shouting anxiously.
“Huh? Why should we stop?” Ah Fei wasn’t offended by this and retorted.
“That’s right; why can’t I catch the fish you don’t want?”
“Continue to catch them, ignore him!” the people around him responded.
The monk in the lead stuck out his round belly and said bitterly, “Fish are also living creatures. Miss w.a.n.g is compa.s.sionate and does good deeds to let the fish go and pray for the people’s blessings. But you guys are killing them like this. Don’t you have any good intentions in your hearts?”
“It’s none of your business!” A man immediately shouted.
The flab on the big monk’s face trembled with anger. “You guys are happy, but what about these fish? Do they deserve this?”
“Oh, shut up! The monk who came to beg for alms last time even said that Buddha is the only one who can make people happy,” Ah Fei said unhappily.
“I’m so happy now, but you’re trying to stop me. Do you think you’re friends with the Buddha? Are you a fake monk?”
“Stop this!” The fat monk was so angry that smoke was coming out of his orifices.
“What? You can’t even answer? As expected, you’re a fake monk! “Ah Fei was beaming with joy. He couldn’t care about catching fish anymore and shouted, “Who the h.e.l.l is Buddha? I think these fat fish are Buddha. If they can make Miss w.a.n.g happy, they can also make us happy. We can even eat the fish, so we’re even happier than her!”