Chapter 151: Chapter 121: Heart Zen
No wonder Chu Susu was hesitating, speaking so haltingly.
For a chaste young lady like Chu Susu, the Monk’s antics were beyond imagination.
Simply out of this world.
The Monk was kicked out onto the street. In an instant, a crowd gathered, pointing and staring at him. Some people silently covered their children’s eyes.
"Don’t look! It’ll blind you!"
From inside the brothel came a man’s heart-wrenching cry.
"WAAAAAH—I don’t want to live anymore! AAAAAH—"
The Madame sneered, pointed at the Monk, and cursed, "How dare you try to swindle us at Thirteen Spices! Looks to me like you’ve got a death wish!"
Several hulking men snickered, cracking their knuckles as they surrounded him.
The Monk was in grave danger.
"You’ve misunderstood," the Monk said, sitting cross-legged with his palms pressed together. He argued loudly, "This humble one is not the shameless, despicable person you imagine! I have my own unspoken hardships!"
"Hardship, my ass!"
Hearing this, the hulking men grew even more furious. They charged forward in unison, surrounding the Monk and pummeling him with fists and feet.
Watching the Monk get beaten by the mob.
Zheng Xiu and Feng Bei exchanged a look.
"You decide, Brother Zheng."
Feng Bei nodded calmly, implying that she had no intention of getting involved this time.
"The Monk isn’t a bad person!"
Chu Susu explained timidly. She had spent a month with the Monk and thought she had a decent understanding of him, but his recent return to the Jianghu, which involved him dressing as a woman of the night and mingling in a brothel, made her own words sound uncertain.
"Stop!"
Zheng Xiu stepped forward and shouted.
The THUD THUD THUD of the beating stopped. The hulking men looked up at the sound and saw a Mighty Man, even more built than they were, walking toward them with a fierce grin.
"Why are you stopping? Another one here to cause trouble? Keep beating him! Just don’t kill him! Let’s see if this damn monk dares to come back!"
The Madame leaned against the doorframe with a cold smile, but when she saw the Mighty Man’s face and his resolute gaze, her body suddenly trembled as if struck by lightning, and she collapsed weakly to the ground.
Zheng Xiu gave a cold smile, and in an instant, his electric gaze swept across the entire scene.
An intangible thing called ’presence’ silently radiated outward from Zheng Xiu as its center.
"I said, stop."
After a moment of dead silence.
One of the hulking men dropped to his knees with a THUD.
A second one fell backward, his eyes rolling up as he foamed at the mouth.
The third trembled all over, his pupils dilating as if he had seen a terrifying beast.
The fourth let out a bloodcurdling scream and ran back into the brothel.
"Someone asked me to save your life."
Zheng Xiu crouched down three steps away from the Monk and spoke to his bruised and swollen face.
The Monk looked up blankly. Only then did Zheng Xiu get a clear look at his face. His features were delicate, fair, and well-defined, giving him a fragile, willowy appearance. There was a faint, sidelong glance in his eyes that held a hint of charm unique to a woman.
The brief eye contact left Zheng Xiu completely baffled. The Monk’s gaze was unfocused; he had no idea where the man was looking.
Zheng Xiu stared, stunned. ’Is this monk a man or a woman?’ he wondered.
That deeply hidden trace of charm vanished in an instant. The Monk followed Zheng Xiu’s gesture, and his blank gaze cleared. He exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, it’s Miss Susu!"
"Let’s go, quickly!"
This was the first time Zheng Xiu’s [Intimidation] ability, which he had honed to a ’Masterful’ level on Feng Bei, had taken effect. The result was even more exaggerated than he had imagined. The crowd scrambled back, opening up a large, empty circle. Zheng Xiu quickly said to the Monk, "This is not a place to linger!"
Only after the group had fled the brothel like thieves and the commotion gradually died down did the middle-aged Madame, who had collapsed to the side, seem to come to her senses. She was drenched in sweat, her clothes clinging wetly to her body.
As she went to stand, she noticed a yellowish puddle left behind where she had been. The Madame’s face instantly turned beet red.
She was wet down there.
It was piss.
The great Madame, who had seen countless men in her time, had actually been scared into pissing herself by a single glance from a Mighty Man. She found it unbelievable.
「A moment later.」
Zheng Xiu brought the Monk back to the "Orphanage".
Having washed the rouge and powder from his face, the Monk changed back into his coarse cloth robes.
Without his women’s clothes, the Monk finally looked... like a Human.
Several children ran up cheerfully and began roughhousing with the Monk, asking if he was thinking of going back to his old trade of being a little thief.
Feng Bei and Zheng Xiu stood in the courtyard, quietly listening to the sounds from inside the house.
Just then, the Monk walked out, cupping his hands in a fist-and-palm salute toward Zheng Xiu and Feng Bei. With an apologetic look, he said, "Thank you both for saving my life."
’Finally, they could have a proper conversation.’
Zheng Xiu tried his best to erase the image of the "cross-dressing Monk" from his mind.
But it was difficult.
The scene had been too outrageous. Zheng Xiu felt it would be hard to forget.
’His antics were so wild.’
’And he dares say he’s not a Playful Monk?’
So, with the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, Zheng Xiu asked, "You’re the Playful Monk?"
The Monk frowned. "This humble one is Ruchen, from Yunliu Temple. I heard from Miss Susu that you were looking for me?"
Zheng Xiu first nodded, then shook his head. "We’re looking for an Ascetic Monk called the ’Playful Monk’."
The Monk gave a bitter smile. "Perhaps there has been a great misunderstanding. But before Ruchen began his spiritual cultivation, my adoptive father’s surname was Hua. It’s possible that the person you’re looking for is, in fact, me."
Hearing this, Zheng Xiu and Feng Bei were both stunned.
’Wait a minute.’
’Back in Jiayang, when that blind man mentioned the "Playful Monk," could he have meant a name, not a nickname?’
"What’s your name? Your secular name, I mean."
"My surname was Hua. My given name... was Hua."
Zheng Xiu was dumbfounded. "Huahua?"
The young monk nodded in frustration. He clearly knew his name wasn’t very appealing. He gave a helpless smile and said, "Yes, my name used to be ’Huahua’."
