Buddha's Child

The handsome young monk stood in the moonlight, clad in white robes, neither joyful nor sorrowful, bearing the countenance of a Buddha.

The young monk looked at Chen Ji and said, "My name is Luo Zhui Sajia, but everyone likes to call me Little Monk. You can call me Little Monk too."

Commandery Princess Bai Li clung to the top of the wall and introduced him to Chen Ji. "Little Monk is a reincarnated Buddha's child. He's amazing! He says you're amazing, so you must be amazing too!"

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment. "Does a reincarnated Buddha's child have that much trouble climbing a wall?"

Little Monk looked a little embarrassed. "I haven't completed my cultivation yet. My master told me to recite the Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva a hundred thousand times. I've only just passed seventy thousand, and I haven't fulfilled the great vow I made, either..."

Chen Ji considered this. Little Monk's words revealed a great deal: his path of cultivation involved reciting sutras and fulfilling a great vow. A hundred thousand recitations was a threshold, and he would probably become more formidable once he reached it.

He had revealed his path of cultivation just like that. He was quite candid.

At that moment, the heir looked Chen Ji over curiously. "Little Monk, you say he's amazing? He doesn't look it."

The heir had changed out of the sable coat he had worn during the day and into a long black cross-collared robe embroidered with silver lotus flowers. It looked understated and elegant, though it didn't quite suit the rather flamboyant heir.

Little Monk brushed the dust from his robes. He looked fourteen or fifteen, with a clear, innocent face. Pointing to his heart, he said, "By amazing, I don't mean his strength. I mean his heart. Everyone has three thieves in their heart: greed, anger, and delusion. This young man has already rid his heart of greed and anger, leaving only delusion. That's already quite amazing."

"Greed is unwholesome desire. How many disasters in this world arise from greed? To be free of greed doesn't mean you don't love wealth. It means knowing how to exercise restraint."

"Anger is unwise fury. If a person still feels anger, they cannot be called wise, because anger clouds the mind."

Chen Ji looked thoughtful. "What about delusion?"

Little Monk smiled. "Delusion is attachment. With attachment, one cannot attain liberation."

Commandery Princess Bai Li straddled the wall, dressed in a man's neat, practical attire: a white long robe, white trousers, white boots, and a white jade hairpin. Only her collar pendant was made of red jade, like the splash of red atop a white koi's head.

Resting her chin in her hand, she asked curiously, "Little Monk, you make it sound so mystical. How many thieves have you slain yourself?"

Little Monk thought for a moment. "I'm the same. Only delusion remains."

Commandery Princess Bai Li pressed him. "Why haven't you slain that last one?"

"It's not that I haven't slain it. It's that I don't have it," Little Monk explained. "I don't have 'delusion' yet, so I can't slay it. My master sent me to the Central Plains this time because he also wanted me to find 'delusion' and then slay it. I still haven't found it, and I don't know what 'delusion' is, but Master said that when the day comes, I'll know."

"Oh, I've never heard you mention that before... But isn't it better not to have 'delusion'? Why look for it? Wouldn't that be an unnecessary extra step?" Bai Li asked, puzzled.

Little Monk shook his head. "It is a tribulation. Without passing through it, one cannot become a Buddha."

Beside them, the heir leaned against the wall, bored out of his mind. "You monks are supposed to be compassionate, so why are you always talking about slaying this and slaying that? All this fighting and killing isn't good!"

Little Monk shook his head. "Our Gening School never speaks of compassion."

"Oh? Then what do you speak of?"

"Great fearlessness."

Commandery Princess Bai Li swung one leg across the top of the wall and sat sideways. "Brother, stop chatting for a moment and help me down."

"Right, coming." The heir went to the wall and let his younger sister step on his shoulders to jump down.

Chen Ji watched silently. The heir and Commandery Princess Bai Li had different birth mothers, yet they got along absurdly well.

And this heir was already twenty years old, yet he still couldn't act proper...

Wait. Dark Cloud had said there should also be a Commandery Princess Lingyun in the prince's residence, born to Consort Jing. Why wasn't she with them?

The heir looked at Chen Ji. "And you are..."

"Chen Ji."

The heir broke into a smile. "Chen Ji, I can see you're a fine-looking fellow. We'll surely become good friends in the future. But there's no time to chat today. We have quite a few friends waiting at the gate. We'll be off first. We're all people of the jianghu; if fate allows, we'll meet again!"

Zhu Baili hastily added, "Right, right! We'll bring you some of the Ma family's donkey meat flatbread when we come back in the morning!"

With that, the heir led Little Monk and Commandery Princess Bai Li away.

Chen Ji raised an arm to block their path. "Wait a moment."

"Huh?" The heir took a step back. "What is it?"

Chen Ji said, "Hush money. Ten taels of silver each, or I'll call the residence guards."

The heir let out a strange cry. "Whoa, do you think we don't know what things cost outside? Ten taels of silver could buy a house on the outskirts of the city! Why don't you just rob us... Little Monk, didn't you say he'd already slain his greed?!"

Little Monk hesitated for a moment. "That shows he's already being very restrained."

The heir: "?"

Commandery Princess Bai Li looked at Chen Ji. "One tael of silver per person each time. We'll be coming through many more times in the future, so you ought to think about keeping the stream flowing. Otherwise, we won't come through here anymore!"

Chen Ji said, "Deal!"

Bai Li looked helplessly at the heir. "Brother, he agreed so quickly. Did I not bargain him down enough?"

"Seems so."

Chen Ji said, "One tael per person, per trip. There are three of you this time, so that's three taels."

Just then, someone outside called through the crack in the door, "Heir, Commandery Princess, are you out yet?"

The heir looked at Commandery Princess Bai Li. "Pay him. The people outside can't wait any longer."

Zhu Baili reluctantly pulled a plain little scent pouch from her sleeve, took out three "silver peanuts," and slapped them into Chen Ji's palm. "Here! Can we go now?"

Chen Ji stepped aside and said with a smile, "Thank you for your patronage. I hope you all have a good time tonight."

The heir hurried over and pulled open the main hall's doors. More than a dozen people were waiting outside, with sabers and swords at their waists, looking like people of the jianghu.

Chen Ji also spotted Liang Gou'er and Liang Mao'er in the crowd.

At the door, the heir asked, "Where are we going for fun?"

Liang Gou'er replied with a beaming smile, "There's only one lively place in Luo City at night, and that's the East Market. And the most entertaining place in the East Market has to be Red Clothes Alley! Come on, Heir, lead us to Red Clothes Alley for a drink!"

Chen Ji was stunned.

The commandery princess and the monk were going to Red Clothes Alley?!

Commandery Princess Bai Li was carefully closing the doors to the clinic. When only a narrow crack remained, she saw Chen Ji looking over from a distance. She wrinkled her nose, gave a cold snort, and quickly shut the doors.

Chen Ji weighed the silver peanuts in his hand. Dark Cloud climbed the apricot tree and lay on a branch with both paws tucked beneath him.

Dark Cloud meowed. "They're pretty decent people."

Chen Ji smiled. "As the heir and a commandery princess, they didn't get angry when I blocked their way, and they never once used their status to pressure me. They really are very good people."