Wukong summoned the local earth god and learned the reason, then knocked down three more fruits, caught them in the skirt of his robe, and went straight back to the kitchen.
He called Sha Wujing over, and the three brothers divided the three fruits, one apiece.
Bajie had a huge appetite and a huge mouth. He took his fruit, opened wide, and swallowed it whole. Then, seeing how Wukong and Sha Wujing were savoring theirs, he asked:
"What are you two eating?"
"Ginseng Fruit," Sha Wujing said.
"What does it taste like?" Bajie asked.
"Wujing, ignore him!" Wukong said. "He ate his first, and now who does he expect to answer that?"
"I gobbled mine down a little too fast," Bajie said. "Before I knew whether it had a pit or seeds, I'd swallowed it. Brother, see your kindness through to the end and fetch a few more."
"You really don't know when to stop!" Wukong said. "This treasure bears only thirty fruits in ten thousand years. We were blessed with a great affinity to get even one each. Do you think it's rice or noodles, something to fill your belly with?"
Wukong ignored Bajie and tossed the Golden Striker back into the Daoists' room.
Bajie kept grumbling and muttering, "That Ginseng Fruit wasn't satisfying. I need another one."
As mentioned earlier, only a single wall separated the kitchen from the two boys' room.
Qingfeng and Mingyue therefore overheard Bajie's words.
The two Daoist boys also saw the Golden Striker lying on the floor. They hurried to the Ginseng Fruit orchard to count the fruits, and sure enough, four were missing.
Leaving the orchard, they went straight to the hall and pointed at Tang Sanzang. "Baldhead" this and "baldhead" that, they hurled filthy abuse at him, calling him a shifty, rat-brained thief who had stolen their fruit.
"Immortal boys," Tang Sanzang asked, "why have you come here making such a commotion?"
"Are you deaf, you bald monk?" Qingfeng said. "You stole the Ginseng Fruit from our temple, and you still won't admit it?"
"What does Ginseng Fruit look like?" Tang Sanzang asked.
"Why pretend?" Mingyue said. "We just brought you some, and you pretended you didn't dare eat it. Now you've stolen it to eat in secret!"
"Amitabha Buddha!" Tang Sanzang said. "The very sight of those things set my heart pounding with terror. How could I dare steal them to eat? Don't falsely accuse an innocent man!"
"Even if you didn't eat them," Qingfeng said, "can you keep your followers from stealing them?"
"That is a fair point," Tang Sanzang said. "Stop shouting for a moment and let me ask them. If they really stole yours, I'll make them repay you."
"Repay us!" Mingyue said. "This is a treasure of our immortal household. Even with money, you couldn't buy it anywhere. What could you repay us with?"
"As the saying goes, 'Kindness and righteousness are worth a thousand pieces of gold,'" Tang Sanzang said. "Let them offer you an apology, and leave it at that-we don't even know yet whether they did it."
"They didn't do it?" Mingyue said. "They're still shouting over there because they didn't divide the spoils fairly!"
"Disciples, all of you, come here," Tang Sanzang called.
The three heard him and knew their deed had been exposed.
Stealing food is too shameful to admit, Wukong thought, so he told Sha Wujing and Bajie not to confess.
The three brothers came to the hall and denied Qingfeng and Mingyue's accusations, refusing to admit that they had stolen the fruit.
"Disciples," Tang Sanzang urged, "we are monks, and we do not speak falsehoods. If you really ate their fruit, offer them an apology. Why deny it so stubbornly?"
Seeing that his master had a point, Wukong told the truth.
He said he had stolen three of their fruits.
He had forgotten the one that had fallen into the earth earlier.
Qingfeng and Mingyue would not accept that, and their abuse grew fiercer still.
When had Wukong ever put up with such treatment?
When the Queen Mother had failed to invite him to the Peach Banquet, he had wrecked the feast. How could he now be willing to stand there and endure their curses?
His steel teeth ground together and his fiery eyes opened wide. He conjured a double to remain where he stood, while his true body went straight to the Ginseng Fruit orchard. Drawing the Golden Cudgel, he unleashed the divine strength that could topple mountains and shift ridges, and pushed the fruit tree over.
Now, Qingfeng and Mingyue were actually good-natured boys.
But the Ginseng Fruit was truly precious, bearing only thirty fruits in ten thousand years, while they themselves were only a little over a thousand years old. Afraid their master would blame them, they had grown frantic and heaped abuse on Tang Sanzang and his disciples.
After cursing them for a good long while, the two left, and Qingfeng said:
"That monk is rather honest. We cursed them for so long, yet they never talked back. Perhaps the tree was so tall and its leaves so thick that we counted wrong, and they really only ate three. Let's go check again."
"You're right, senior brother," Mingyue said.
They returned to the orchard, only to find the tree toppled, its branches splayed, its fruit gone and its leaves fallen.
Qingfeng's legs went weak with fright, and he fell headlong; Mingyue's back went limp, and he shook all over.
Scared out of their wits, they babbled incoherently, crying only, "What are we to do? What are we to do? They've destroyed the source of our temple's elixir and cut off the seedlings of our immortal household! When Master returns, what can we possibly tell him?"
Suddenly, Mingyue remembered something. "Oh! Senior brother, there really is such a divine man in this mortal world! A man who truly understands the workings of heaven and earth!"
"What divine man?" Qingfeng asked.
"Senior brother, have you forgotten Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable, who came here a few days ago?" Mingyue said.
Qingfeng slapped his thigh and said:
"Yes! It's true, it's true! He said our immortal tree was in danger of falling, and now it really has! How I regret not listening to him. Let's hurry and ask him to come!"
"Don't rush, senior brother," Mingyue said. "First, keep those monks here. We mustn't let them escape. Secure the bald thieves, and I'll go out to fetch the Heavenly Venerable."
"Quite right, quite right!" Qingfeng said.
The two split up at once. Mingyue hurried out of the temple, and whenever he reached a mountain, he shouted, "Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable! Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable! Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable!"
Ao Tu was on the mountain. Hearing Mingyue call, he knew Wukong had already toppled the Ginseng Fruit Tree. He came down and asked, "Why are you calling me?"
At the sight of Ao Tu, Mingyue immediately dropped to his knees and pleaded:
"This humble boy failed to recognize your divine foresight, Heavenly Venerable. After you left, four bald thieves really did come to our temple. Their audacity knew no bounds! Not only did they steal our fruit, they even pushed over our immortal tree. Please, Heavenly Venerable, save our immortal tree!"
He kowtowed again and again.
"Since you seem reasonably sincere, boy, I will pardon your ignorance," Ao Tu said. "Take me to have a look."
Mingyue then escorted Ao Tu to Wuzhuang Temple.
Meanwhile, after Tang Sanzang and his disciples had eaten, Qingfeng prepared a few vegetarian dishes and brought them over to keep them there. While they were eating, he slammed the door shut and fastened it with a Brass Lock. He closed both the front and rear doors as well.
"What sort of custom do you have here?" Bajie asked with a laugh. "Why shut the doors while people are eating?"
"You bald donkeys, sick with gluttony!" Qingfeng cursed. "Stealing our immortal fruit wasn't enough-you even toppled our immortal tree and ruined the immortal root of Wuzhuang Temple! How can the likes of you have the nerve to undertake the Journey to the West?"
Hearing this, Tang Sanzang set down his rice bowl, his heart burdened as though by a great stone. He reproached Wukong:
"You monkey! You land us in trouble every time! After stealing their fruit, you should have swallowed a little anger and let them curse you a few times. Why did you go and topple their tree too? If they brought a lawsuit over this, even if your own father were an official,
"he couldn't justify it."
"Don't worry, Master," Wukong said. "Once that boy falls asleep, we'll set off in the night, and I'll get you all out."
"How will we get out?" Sha Wujing asked.
"Never mind! Never mind!" Wukong said with a laugh. "I have my ways."
"Of course you have a way out," Bajie said. "You can turn into some little insect and fly away. But how will Master leave? He can't transform. He'll only be left here to take the blame and suffer!"
"If he pulls a trick like that and doesn't take me out," Tang Sanzang said, "I'll recite that old scripture of mine and see how he bears it!"
"Master, what do you mean by your old scripture?" Bajie asked.
"The Tight-Fillet Spell, Bajie," Wukong said. "That's the trick he relies on to torment me."
Tang Sanzang said nothing.
By then, a little discord had already arisen between master and disciples, though it had yet to show itself.
Before you continue