“Yin’er just lost her mother. I really want to protect her so I am willing to do anything she wants me to.”
Sheng Chumu was the first to step out of his daze as he gripped onto Du Ning’s collar. Du Ning’s blank face made him even angrier.
“That’s enough!” Sheng Chumu had sensed something fishy between Du Ning and Fu Yin long ago but was too lazy to bring it up. However, he did not come today to listen to his friend complain. “I am the one who asked you out and I am the one paying. You keep going on and on about Fu Yin, what is the meaning of this!”
“Let go.” Du Ning’s expression did not change.
“I won’t let go!” Sheng Chumu bellowed, “Hurry and help me think of a plan!”
“How can I think if you are holding on to my collar like this? You still dare to say that you understand military tactics. You can’t even deal with your mother.” Du Ning shook his head.
“Precisely because she is my mother so I am restricted. With my mother blocking me, as her son, I can’t push her aside.” No matter how frustrated Sheng Chumu was, he could not be unfilial.
“Have you heard of having pity on a parent’s heart?” Du Ning had wanted to make him think. But as he saw how angry Sheng Chumu looked and thought about his own neck, he decided to forget it. “There is another phrase. To move back onto the correct path after being led astray is extremely precious.”
Sheng Chumu repeated these two sentences to himself as he suddenly hit his own head. “Du Ning, you are amazing!” Sheng Chumu fished out a silver ingot and threw it on the table before turning to leave. “Hurry go and inform my family that I will be shaving my head and leaving human society.”
As Madam Sheng received the news from Du Ning, she panicked as she rushed to the temple. She caught sight of her son kneeling down as an abbot held onto a shaving blade and extended it towards her son’s head. Madam Sheng shrieked, “Stop right there!” She rushed forward and grabbed the shaving blade before flinging it into the distance. She hugged Sheng Chumu tightly.
“My son, what are you trying to do?” Since this year, her oldest son was her main focus while her other two sons were simply the side characters. She had pinned all her hopes on Sheng Chumu.
“This Madam…” Sheng Chumu held back his laughter.
Madam Sheng stuttered in shock. “You, you, you...what did you call me?”
“Human society is too difficult. I have decided to let go of everything and separate myself from society. I will cut myself off from the six roots and no longer have parents or siblings. Sheng Chumu lowered his eyelids to prevent her from seeing through him. “Madam, please return.”
“Okay, let’s return. Men, come and tie up the Young Lord. Bring him back to the residence. Without my permission, he will not be allowed to take a single step out of his room.”
Did he think she was a pushover? Don’t get it wrong! The real person who made the calls in the Duke Lu Residence was her, the madam of the house. Even the world-renowned Sheng Xiaojing had to help her wear her shoes!
The servants tied Sheng Chumu up and brought him back with them.
In the following few days, Sheng Chumu was locked in his own residence. The front door of his yard was locked. His room door was locked. There were guards on the inside and outside of his garden, keeping watch over him.
Madam Sheng thought that if she separated Sheng Chumu from the temple, her son would calm down eventually. However, Sheng Chumu kept threatening to either castrate himself or starve himself to protest. She felt like she had grown a whole bunch of white hair just because of him.
On this day, Madam Sheng gritted her teeth as she personally brought ten beauties to him. She asked the ten beauties to form a line in front of Sheng Chumu. She went against her own beliefs that women should be strong and seek self-improvement, they should not simply rely on their appearance.
Sheng Chumu did not even spare them a glance. “Their faces are covered in powder. Appearances are nothing and emptiness is an appearance.”
“But didn’t you used to love beauties in the past?” Madam Sheng‘s first reaction was that her son had truly changed for the better. However, she thought about it and realised something was wrong. If even this tactic did not work, this meant that she could not change her son’s mind.
Sheng Chumu looked down in embarrassment. “Madam Sheng, you are right. In the past, I don’t know how many misdeeds I have done and how many ill-fated relationships I formed. If I don’t repent in front of the Buddha, how will I resolve this karma?”
“Okay, okay. Let’s not bring up the past. Since you have repented, why will there still be karma?” Madam Sheng blamed herself for bringing up the past.
“Only if I repent, can I reach enlightenment. If Madam Sheng does not allow me to join the monastery, I shall starve myself and not drink any water. I’d rather return to heaven as a ghost. Even a speck of dust can reside next to Buddha’s foot.” Sheng Chumu held his hands in a prayer.
As Madam Sheng was listening to him, something resembling a tornado dashed out of the room. In a blink of an eye, Madam Sheng appeared once again like a tornado blowing in.
“If you won’t accept any of these ten beauties, will you accept that Fu Rou girl?” She refused to believe this!
Sheng Chumu was bursting with happiness. However, as he lifted his head, he maintained an apathetic look. “Who is Fu Rou?”
Madam Sheng froze. “The one that you were adamant on marrying the past few days.”
Sheng Chumu made an Oh sound. “I have already forgotten all about that female benefactor.”
Madam Sheng had thought that the reason her son was torturing himself was because of Fu Rou. Who knew that her guess would be wrong.
“Love is a temptation. Buddhism is the only way for me now. Even if I die, I will persist on.” It was as if there was light emitting from the top of Sheng Chumu’s head. He got more enthusiastic as he spoke.
“You…” Madam Sheng was stunned. “You don’t even want Fu Rou anymore?”
“Nope.” Sheng Chumu was afraid that his mother was just trying to test him.
“You don’t care about Fu Rou anymore?” Madam Sheng was really panicking now.
“I have already made up my mind.” Sheng Chumu closed his eyes as he prayed Amitabha. He cracked opened his eyes slightly to steal a look at Madam Sheng. Madam Sheng’s eyes were red from crying as she stumbled out of the room. He thought that he should not go overboard. “Wait a minute! I am indebted to the Duke for raising me up. A person has emotions and I will not be heartless. How can I leave without offering an incense to the Duke? If I just leave, this will just add to my debt.” Sheng Chumu could not just let her leave like this.
Madam Sheng was delighted as she rushed back. “That’s right, it’s not good to accumulate favours.”
“In that case, before I leave, I shall find a woman and leave behind a descendent. It shall count as my repayment to the Duke for raising me.” Sheng Chumu racked his brains to find a way to bring up his original motive.
“I will look for some beautiful ladies for you right now. You can give birth to many children. I want a lot of grandchildren!” When that time comes, maybe you will stop having ridiculous thoughts of becoming a monk.
“You definitely cannot do that! If you find another person, aren’t you forcing me to create yet another ill-fated relationship?”
“You mean --” Madam Sheng was trying to guess what he meant but was afraid that she would agitate her son if she did not get it right.
“Clothes should be new while people should be from the past. Since I already have an ill-fated relationship with the girl named Fu Rou, then there is no harm trying to revive our past.” Sheng Chumu carefully assessed his mother’s reaction as he said this.
“Fu Rou, ah…” Madam Sheng hesitated.