Accumulating Good Deeds

"So how are you planning to drum up business? Going door to door?"

Shi Chan shook his head and took a large banner from his identity jade token. The front listed all sorts of services, from driving out ghosts to helping people conceive to treating illnesses. It covered quite a lot.

The back of the banner read, "Prices negotiable."

Shi Chan led the two of them to the busiest part of the city, paid the fee for a spot, found a small patch of empty ground, set up his stall, unfurled the banner, and sat down calmly behind the table.

His movements were practiced. It didn't look like his first time doing this.

Out of kindness, Shi Chan brought out two more chairs for Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

To the left of Shi Chan's stall was a noodle shop; to the right, a shop selling baked flatbreads. His banner, much like those used by fortune-tellers, stood out strikingly.

Passersby kept turning to look at the unusual monk. But he was so unusual that, for the moment, no one dared approach him for help.

Shi Chan felt rather regretful. Every time he first set up a stall, business was slow. Later, when people realized he really was a capable, high-ranking monk and lined up to ask for help, he would see the crowd and the pile of work, realize he couldn't handle it all, and leave early.

"People lack the spirit of innovation. They're afraid to accept new things. If I had your master's gift for speaking, I'd tell stories in teahouses and spread Buddhist teachings to the world."

Lu Yang had never heard anyone praise his master before, and felt almost flattered. If his master knew this from beyond the grave, he would surely be comforted.

"By the way,