Chapter 631: Squirrel? Stew It
Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
At this moment in time Fangzheng, Monkey, Lone Wolf, and Red Boy surrounded Squirrel and glared at him angrily.
“Master, actually, only we wanted to see what all the fuss outside was about. It was Jingkuan who said that he had to guard the mooncakes with his life so that he could have the first bite. He refused to leave, so we handed the mission of guarding the mooncakes to him and left. That’s why Jingkuan’s responsibility is the greatest for us being out of mooncakes now. I think we should have roasted squirrel for dinner tonight,” said Red Boy.
Lone Wolf prodded Squirrel’s bulging belly and said, “Look at how fat this guy is. We don’t even need to add oil when throwing him into a pot. It’s all fat.”
Squirrel looked pitifully at everyone when he heard that. “About that… I-I only went out to take a look… Who knew it would char so quickly? Master…”
“Master, we are monks, so we can’t kill, right?” Monkey said.
Squirrel immediately looked at Monkey in grat.i.tude.
Monkey smiled at him warmly before continuing. “Since Junior Brother has made a mistake, he should give up his life to atone for his mistake. Why don’t we let him jump into the pot and stew himself?”
The moment Squirrel heard that, he immediately glared angrily as he loudly ground his molars! He knew that the darn monk was just like Master, evil!
Squirrel looked pitifully at Fangzheng. After all, Fangzheng’s decision held the highest weight.
Fangzheng said, “What all of you said has reason.”
Squirrel’s heart instantly chilled. He always had a nagging feeling that his fellow disciples looked at him with covetous looks! Wasn’t it just because he had a little more meat? Did they need to do that? How stifling!
Fangzheng continued. “However, everyone makes mistakes. We can’t stew him just because of a mistake. That’s just too inhumane. Besides, we are lacking in manpower. If we were to stew a squirrel today, stew a monkey tomorrow, and a wolf the day after tomorrow, would we be stewing a child on the last day?”
Red Boy, Monkey, and Lone Wolf immediately trembled when they heard that.
Squirrel immediately raised both his paws and shouted in delight. “Agreed!”
Red Boy asked, “Master, then what should we do?”
Fangzheng did not say a word as though he was considering his subsequent actions.
Red Boy chuckled. “Master, I think he can be pardoned from death, but punishment is necessary. Since Jingkuan caused the loss of the mooncakes under his guard, he should pay for it with food.”
“I agree!” Squirrel shouted immediately. He was afraid of being stewed. Even if he wasn’t stewed, his wicked senior and junior brothers might offer some other punishment. Therefore, he immediately raised his paws.
“Master, I think it’s a good idea,” said Red Boy.
Fangzheng nodded. “Jingkuan, how much do you plan on compensating?”
“It has to be his entire stash. There were so many mooncakes…” Lone Wolf stretched out his paws and stretched on the ground as he shook his a.s.s.
Squirrel’s face turned gloomy. Just as he was about to shake his head, he saw Monkey scrubbing the pot as though he was about to stew something. Therefore, Squirrel immediately said wryly, “Alright. Everything.”
And in the next instant, everyone rushed to the backyard. Squirrel chased after them and saw Red Boy climb his tree. He was wriggling his a.s.s as he pulled out the pine nuts and everything else inside Squirrel’s house. His adorable eyes reflected his dazed state as something didn’t feel right.
The stash was pillaged in moments. The ignominious master and disciples walked away with pine nuts in hand, eating as they went. As they pa.s.sed Squirrel, they said,
“Thanks, Jingkuan.”
“Jingkuan, you sure are capable. You managed to stash so much.”
“Master, didn’t I tell you? This little fellow has been stuffing things into his home for the past two days.”
“Yeah, Amitabha.”
As he looked at the backs of the others, Jingkuan suddenly realized what was happening. Apparently, he had been tricked!
“Return me my pine nuts!” Squirrel roared as he chased.
Following that, the ignominious monk and Lone Wolf, Monkey, and Red Boy ran out the back door amid laughter. Squirrel chased after them as the quartet circled around to the front door. They went in circles as Squirrel cried out in anger…
The others were laughing loudly and finally, Squirrel realized that he had no way of chasing up to them. Peeved, he flicked his tail, entered his nest, and slammed the door. He wouldn’t play with baddies who bullied squirrels!
Red Boy shouted for Squirrel for quite a while, but Squirrel did not make a sound and did not come out.
“Master, this little guy seems to be mad.” Lone Wolf looked up at Squirrel’s villa.
Fangzheng nodded and said, “Yeah, seems like he’s really angry.”
“What do we do? Should we give him some back?” Red Boy asked.
Fangzheng shook his head. “There’s no need. I naturally have my means to get the little guy to come out.”
“What means?” Lone Wolf, Monkey, and Red Boy asked out of curiosity.
Fangzheng smiled. “Let This Penniless Monk think about it.”
“Uh…” His disciples were left speechless.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps and even some panting could suddenly be heard. Who could be in such a rush?
When Fangzheng came out the door, he saw Chen Jin’s son, Chen Long, running all the way. When he saw Fangzheng, he gave a rapturous roar of laughter. It gave Fangzheng a fright, thinking that this man had gone nuts. He nearly closed the door and let Jingfa out.
Chen Long said amid laughter, “Haha, I’m first to reach the monastery! Abbot Fangzheng, it’s the festive season. Our family is here to bring you some mooncakes. We wish that your monastery will receive more incense and more people will visit it. Hahaha!”
Fangzheng was taken aback. He was there to deliver gifts?
Red Boy, Lone Wolf, and Monkey stared at the box of mooncakes as their eyes lit up. The mooncakes they had failed to make looked especially ugly and were now charred and inedible. Looking at the box of mooncakes in Chen Long’s hands, one that was so huge, they felt full just from looking at the box without even eating any mooncakes yet. All of them gulped their saliva in silence. Red Boy looked at Fangzheng and asked pitifully, “Master, can we accept it?”
“Please accept it. It’s just a box of mooncakes. It’s not something very valuable.” Chen Long hurriedly handed the box over.
The mooncakes were obviously not cheap, but they were a token of Chen Long’s appreciation. Therefore, Fangzheng accepted them. After all, Fangzheng had saved his family once. It was fine to accept his mooncakes, so he nodded. “Then, thank you.”
Red Boy immediately took the box of mooncakes. He opened the box with delight only to see another big box within. After opening it, there was a huge piece of packaging, inside of which there was even more tiny golden packaging. There was also a golden felted box with golden cloth bags inside. Within the golden cloth bags were layers of paper wrapping, and finally, Red Boy was surprised to discover that there were only four mooncakes! He said with a dumbfounded look, “Master, such a huge box only has four mooncakes. What a scam! It’s not even enough to split among us.”
Fangzheng was taken aback as well. He originally believed that such a huge box would have about twelve to twenty mooncakes. That way, the dearth of mooncakes in the monastery would be rectified. But from the looks of it, there wasn’t even enough for everyone. Was this implying that they had to go to war to vie for the mooncakes and whoever emerged victorious would obtain them?
Chen Long was stunned as well. Back when he was buying the mooncakes, he had deliberately chosen the most expensive one box. He never considered the problem with numbers. After all, it was the thought that counted. Who would actually consider that there wouldn’t even be one mooncake per person? Now, it did seem like each person could only have one or even less. How embarra.s.sing…
“Patron, it’s not enough to split among us,” Red Boy grumbled.
Fangzheng was instantly embarra.s.sed as he struck Red Boy.
It’s great that they are gifting us mooncakes, so why are you saying this!?
This prodigal disciple of his was just too embarra.s.sing!