Chapter 24: The Great Immortal of Mount Longevity Keeps an Old Friend; the Pilgrim Steals the Ginseng Fruit at Wuzhuang Monastery

Master and disciples entered the woods and found the idiot hanging from a tree, crying out again and again in unbearable pain. The Pilgrim came forward and laughed.

"What a fine son-in-law you are! It is already this time of day and you still have not come to thank your in-laws, nor gone to the Master to report the good news. Why are you still here performing tricks? Where is your mother? Where are your wife and daughters? A most splendid hanging-and-beating son-in-law, indeed."

Bajie saw him coming to mock him and, though shame burned him raw, ground his teeth and bore the pain without daring to shout.

Brother Sha could not bear it. He set down the luggage, came forward, and loosened the ropes to bring Bajie down. The idiot only knelt and bowed again and again to them, his shame truly beyond bearing. A quatrain bears witness:

Lust is a sword that wounds the body;
greed will surely bring calamity.
Fair women of sixteen have lovely adornment,
yet they are fiercer than yakshas.
There is only one original capital,
and no tiny profit to fill the sack.
Guard your treasure with care;
hold fast and never run wild.

Bajie scooped up some earth, burned incense, and bowed toward the sky. The Pilgrim said, "Do you recognize those bodhisattvas now?"

Bajie said, "I was so dizzy and so blinded that I could not tell who was who."

The Pilgrim handed him the note slip. Bajie saw that it was a poem, and his shame deepened all the more.

Brother Sha laughed. "Second Brother, you have such fine luck. The four bodhisattvas even came down to arrange a marriage for you."

Bajie said, "Brother, do not mention it again. I am no longer human for shame. From this day on I will never dare act at random again. Even if my bones are worn down to pieces, I will only shoulder the luggage and follow Master westward."

Tripitaka said, "If you can speak like that, that is good enough."

The Pilgrim then led the master onto the road. They had gone a good while when they suddenly saw a high mountain blocking the way. Tripitaka drew rein and stopped his whip.

"Disciples, there is a mountain ahead. We must be careful. There may be demons or monsters doing harm to our party."

The Pilgrim said, "With only the three of us before the horse, what demon should we fear?"

So the elder rode on in peace.

What a mountain it was:

It rose high and steep, mighty and imposing.
Its roots joined the veins of Kunlun, and its summit almost touched the heavens.
White cranes came often to roost among the cypresses; black apes now and then hung from the vines.
The sun shone on the bright woods, and layer upon layer of red mist coiled there.
The wind rose from the shaded gullies, and ten thousand colored clouds drifted by.
Hidden birds called wildly among the green bamboos;
golden pheasants fought in the wild flowers.
There were Thousand-Year Peak, Five Blessings Peak, and Hibiscus Peak, all towering and bright with holy light;
there were Ten-Thousand-Year Stone, Tiger-Tooth Stone, and Three-Heaven Stone, jutting forth with auspicious vapor.
On the cliffs, the grass was lush; on the ridges, the plum blossoms were fragrant.
Thickets of brambles stood dense and dark; herbs and orchids were clear and sweet.
In the deep forest, hawks and phoenixes gathered among a thousand birds;
in the ancient caves, qilin ruled over ten thousand beasts.
The ravines held feeling, bending and winding in endless care;
the peaks rose one beyond another, tier upon tier, circling of themselves.
Green locusts, mottled bamboo, and blue pines flourished together for a thousand years;
white plums, red peaches, and emerald willows blazed through the three spring months.
Dragons cried and tigers roared; cranes danced and apes called.
Deer came out of the flowers; green phoenixes sang to the sun.
It was truly an immortal mountain and a blessed land, no different from the Isles of the Immortals.
Flowers opened and closed on the mountaintop; clouds came and went above the ridges.

Tripitaka rode in delight and said, "Disciples, all the way from the Eastern Land I have passed through many mountains and waters, but never have I seen a place of such beauty. Its hidden charm is truly extraordinary. If we are near Thunderclap Monastery, we should draw ourselves up and present ourselves properly before the Buddha."

The Pilgrim laughed. "Too soon, too soon. We are nowhere near it yet."

Brother Sha said, "Senior Brother, how far is it to Thunderclap Monastery?"

"A hundred and eight thousand li," said the Pilgrim. "We have not yet even walked one tenth of the way."

Bajie said, "Brother, how many years will that take?"

The Pilgrim said, "For the two of you, ten days or so would be enough. For me, I could make it fifty times in a day and still see the sun. But for Master, do not even think about it."

Tripitaka said, "Wukong, when do you think we will arrive?"

The Pilgrim said, "Grow old by walking from youth to age, then grow young again from age to youth, and even then it would still be hard. You need only keep your nature clear and your heart sincere. Whenever your thoughts turn back, that is Thunderclap Mountain."

Brother Sha said, "Senior Brother, though this is not Thunderclap Monastery, from the looks of it there must be some worthy person living here. We may wander a little and go in at a leisurely pace."

"A fair point," said the Pilgrim. "There are certainly no evil spirits here. It must be the home of some holy monk or immortal. Let us enjoy the place and walk slowly."

And so they went on.

This mountain was called Mount Longevity. On it stood a monastery called Wuzhuang Monastery. In that monastery lived an immortal, known as Zhenyuan, the Great Immortal, also called Lord of the World in his own circle.

In that monastery there was a wondrous treasure born from the very beginning of chaos, when heaven and earth had not yet been divided. This spirit root existed only in Wuzhuang Monastery on the Western Continent of Oxen. It was called the Grass-Returning Elixir, also known as the ginseng fruit. It bloomed once every three thousand years, fruited once every three thousand years, and took another three thousand years to ripen. Only after ten thousand years could it be eaten.

Even then, ten thousand years yielded only thirty fruits. Their shape was just like a child not yet three days old, with limbs complete and features all in place. If one were fated to catch even a whiff of it, one could live three hundred and sixty years. If one ate one, one could live forty-seven thousand years.

At that time Zhenyuan the Great Immortal had received a notice from the Primordial Lord of Heaven inviting him to the White Jade Palace in the Upper Pure Heaven to hear the discourse on the perfect fruit of chaos. The Great Immortal had many scattered immortals under him; even now he still had forty-eight disciples, all genuine men of the perfect path. That day he took forty-six of them up to Heaven to hear the lecture, leaving two small ones at home to keep the place. One was named Qingfeng, and the other Mingyue.

Qingfeng was only one thousand three hundred and twenty years old, and Mingyue was just over one thousand two hundred.

Zhenyuan instructed them, "You must not disobey the Great Lord's invitation. I am going to the White Jade Palace to hear the teaching. The two of you must be careful at home. Before long an old friend will pass this way. Do not neglect him.

"Take two of the ginseng fruits and let him eat them, as a token of old friendship."

The two boys said, "Who is the master's old friend? Please tell your disciples so we may receive him properly."

The Great Immortal said, "He is the holy monk from the Eastern Land of Great Tang, known as Tripitaka, now traveling west to worship the Buddha and seek the scriptures."

The boys laughed. "As Confucius said, 'Men of different ways cannot plan together.' We are disciples of the Great Mystery Gate. How should we know such a monk?"

The Great Immortal said, "You do not understand. That monk is the reborn Golden Cicada, the second disciple of the Holy Buddha of the Western Heaven. Five hundred years ago I met him at the Orchid Basin Feast. He once served tea with his own hands, and the Buddha's son treated me with great respect. For that reason he is an old friend."

The two boys heard this and obeyed their master's instructions carefully. As he left, the Great Immortal warned them again, "My fruits are limited. You may give him only two. Do not waste any more."

Qingfeng said, "When the garden opened, everyone together ate two, and there are still twenty-eight on the tree. We would not dare waste any more."

The Great Immortal said, "Though Tripitaka is an old friend, you must still guard against his attendants making a commotion. Do not let them know."

The two boys took the order and saw the Great Immortal rise with the rest of the disciples into the clouds and depart toward the celestial realm.

Meanwhile, Tripitaka and the four disciples were wandering the mountain. Suddenly he lifted his head and saw a clump of pines and bamboo, with several stories of towers and pavilions.

"Wukong," he said, "what place is that?"

The Pilgrim looked and said, "That place is not a temple. It must be a monastery. Let us walk a little farther and we will know for sure."

Before long they reached the gate and looked in. What did they see?

Pine slopes were cool and quiet; bamboo paths were secluded and clear.
White cranes came and went carrying drifting clouds; apes up high sometimes offered fruit.
The pool before the gate was broad and the tree shadows long; moss and flowers split the stone.
Palace halls rose in dark ranks, lofty toward the purple sky;
towers and terraces floated and faded into red cloud.
Truly it was a blessed land and a spirit realm, a cave among the clouds of Penglai.
Worldly affairs were few in the clear void; the heart of the Way was born in stillness.
Green birds often carried the Queen Mother of the West her messages;
purple phoenixes often bore the Old Lord's writings.
One could not take in that great wind of virtue and law;
indeed it was a home of immortals, dim and boundless.

Tripitaka dismounted. On the left side of the gate there was a stone tablet with ten characters carved on it:

"Blessed land of Mount Longevity, cave heaven of Wuzhuang Monastery."

The elder said, "Disciples, it really is a monastery."

Brother Sha said, "Master, looking at this bright and clean place, there must be fine people living here. We should go in and see. If we make the round trip back east after our work is done, this will count as a fine sight along the way."

The Pilgrim said, "Well said."

So they all went in together. On the second gate there was a pair of spring couplets:

"An immortal's palace of everlasting life and no old age;
a Taoist household whose years are equal to Heaven."

The Pilgrim laughed. "This Daoist is bragging to frighten people. When Old Sun raised trouble in Heaven five hundred years ago, I stood before Laozi's gate, and I never saw such words there."

Bajie said, "Never mind him. Go in, go in. Maybe this Daoist really has some merit."

Once they entered the second gate, two little attendants came hurrying out. How were they dressed?

Their bones were clean, their spirit lively, and their faces handsome. Their Dao robes were wrapped in mist; their feather garments sent their sleeves floating in the wind. Their belts were tied tight with dragon-head knots; their straw sandals were light, wrapped in silk at the toe. They were far more refined than ordinary folk. These were Qingfeng and Mingyue.

The boys bent low and welcomed them. "Masters, forgive our poor reception. Please sit down."

Tripitaka was pleased and went with the two boys onto the main hall to look around. It was five rooms across facing south, with carved latticework bright above and shadow below. The boy attendants pushed open the lattice panels and invited Tripitaka in. On the wall hung the two large characters "Heaven and Earth," painted in five colors. There was a vermilion lacquer incense table, and on it stood a pair of golden incense vessels. Beside the censer lay a stick of incense already prepared.

Tripitaka stepped forward, took incense in his left hand, set it in the burner, and bowed three times. After he had finished, he turned and asked, "Little immortals, your Wuzhuang Monastery is truly a fairy place in the Western Heavens. Why do you not honor the Three Pure Ones, the Four Emperors, and the lords of the heavens, but only serve the two characters 'Heaven and Earth' with incense?"

The boys laughed. "To tell the truth, elder, those two characters are not the same. The one above them deserves the rites. The one below them does not even deserve our incense. It is only because our master talks this way to flatter the world."

Tripitaka asked, "What do you mean by 'flatter the world'?"

The boys said, "The Three Pure Ones are our master's friends; the Four Emperors are his old companions; the Nine Luminaries are his juniors; the Origin Stars are his guests below the threshold."

Hearing this, the Pilgrim laughed until he nearly fell over.

Bajie said, "Brother, what are you laughing at?"

The Pilgrim said, "People say I am the one who likes to play tricks, but it turns out these Dao boys are even better at talking nonsense."

Tripitaka asked, "Where is your master?"

The boys said, "Our master received an imperial invitation from the Primordial Lord of Heaven and has gone to the White Jade Palace in the Upper Pure Heaven to hear the discourse on the perfect fruit of chaos. He is not at home."

Hearing this, the Pilgrim could not help himself and shouted, "You little shameless Dao boys! You do not even know what sort of people you are talking to. To whom are you playing these empty tricks? Who among the immortals of the Great Mystery Gate would be in the White Jade Palace? And who invited you rough cow-hooves to speak there?"

Tripitaka saw that he was angry and feared the attendant boys might answer back and stir up trouble. So he said, "Wukong, do not quarrel. Since we are already here, let us not leave in a huff. As the saying goes, herons do not eat heron flesh. Since the master is away, why make a fuss? You go and lead the horse by the gate, Brother Sha watch the luggage, and Bajie unpack the bundle and take some rice and provisions. Borrow their stove and pots and cook us a meal. When we leave, give them a few cash pieces for firewood and that will be that. Let each of you do your own duty, and let me rest here a little. After the meal we will go."

The three disciples all went off as instructed.

Privately Qingfeng and Mingyue could not stop praising them. "Good monks, truly they are the incarnation of Western holiness, and their true nature is not clouded. Our master told us to receive Tripitaka and give him the ginseng fruit, as a token of old friendship, and also to guard against his attendants making trouble. Those three faces really are fierce and rough. It is lucky we have separated them. If they were here in front of us, would we be able to show the fruit to anyone?"

Qingfeng said, "Brother, we still do not know whether this monk is truly our master's old friend. Let us ask him once more, so we do not make a mistake."

The two boys came forward again and said, "May we ask whether you are the Tripitaka monk from Great Tang traveling west to seek the scriptures?"

Tripitaka returned their salute. "This poor monk is he. Why do the little immortals know my lowly name?"

The boys said, "Before leaving, our master told us to go far out to meet you. Unfortunately the carriage arrived in a rush and we failed to meet you properly. Please sit down, elder, while we prepare tea."

Tripitaka said, "I dare not."

Mingyue hurried back to his own room, took a cup of fragrant tea, and offered it to the elder. After the tea, Qingfeng said, "Brother, we must not disobey master's orders. Let us go and fetch the fruit."

The two boys took leave of Tripitaka and went together into the room. One took a golden pick, and the other took a vermilion dish, lining it with a green silk cloth before they went straight into the ginseng orchard. Qingfeng climbed the tree and used the golden pick to strike the fruit. Mingyue stood below with the vermilion dish ready to catch it.

In a moment two fruits were knocked down and caught in the dish. They went straight to the front hall and offered them, saying, "Tripitaka, our monastery is poor and remote, with nothing else to present. These two local fruits are only a small refreshment to quench your thirst."

Tripitaka saw them and was so startled that he drew back three feet.

"Bless us, bless us! This year the harvest is good, but why does this monastery eat children? These look like infants not yet three days old. How could I possibly use them to quench my thirst?"

Qingfeng thought to himself, "This monk, in the ocean of worldly speech and the sea of quarrels, has so clouded his mortal eyes that he cannot recognize our immortal treasure."

Mingyue stepped forward. "Elder, this thing is called a ginseng fruit. Eating one does no harm."

Tripitaka said, "Nonsense, nonsense. Their parents carried them for who knows how much suffering before they were born. How can you call them fruit after only three days? Take them away. I am not that sort of man."

Qingfeng said, "It really does grow on a tree."

Tripitaka said, "Rubbish, rubbish. Trees do not bear human beings. Take it away. I am no child."

The two boys pushed and begged, but since he would not eat, they had no choice but to take the dish back to their room. The fruit was a strange thing: it could not be left out for long. If it sat too long, it would stiffen and become inedible. The two returned to their room, each took one, and sat on the edge of the bed eating them with full enjoyment.

As for Bajie, his nose could smell wealth and his stomach could smell food. Even before he saw the fruit, he had heard the boys speak of the golden pick and vermilion dish, and his heart was already burning. Then he heard them say that Tripitaka did not recognize the ginseng fruit and that they had carried it back to eat in their own room. His mouth could not hold back the saliva.

"How can I get one to taste?"

His own body was too clumsy to move. He could only wait for the Pilgrim and think it over. He stood by the stove door with no heart for cooking, peeking his head out again and again to look.

Soon he saw the Pilgrim lead the horse in and tie it beneath a locust tree before going straight to the back.

Bajie waved wildly. "Here, here!"

The Pilgrim turned and came to the kitchen door. "Idiot, what are you shouting about? Is it that there is not enough food? Then let the old monk eat first, and later we can go ask the rich household up front for more."

Bajie said, "Come in. It is not that the meal is too small. There is a treasure in this monastery. Do you know it?"

The Pilgrim said, "What treasure?"

Bajie laughed. "If I tell you, you have not seen it. If I show it to you, you will not recognize it."

The Pilgrim said, "This idiot is making fun of old Sun. Five hundred years ago, when I went searching for the Way of the immortals, I wandered everywhere under heaven and across the sea. What have I not seen?"

Bajie said, "Brother, have you ever seen a ginseng fruit?"

The Pilgrim was startled. "That, I truly have not. But I have often heard people say that a ginseng fruit is a kind of Grass-Returning Elixir, and if a person eats one, it can greatly prolong life. Where could we find such a thing?"

Bajie said, "They have it here. Those little boys just brought two to Master, but the old monk did not recognize them and said they were children not yet three days old, so he did not dare eat them. Those little monsters are more than lazy enough. Since Master would not eat them, they ought to have given them to us, but instead they secretly ate them in the room next door, each of them one. I am nearly dying of thirst for it. How can I get one to taste? I think you are slippery enough to go steal a few from the orchard. What do you think?"

The Pilgrim said, "Easy enough. Old Sun can get them in hand."

He was about to leave when Bajie grabbed him at once.

"Brother, I heard them in this room talking about some golden pick they use to strike them down. You must do this properly and not let the wind carry the news away."

The Pilgrim said, "I know, I know."

The Great Sage used an invisibility spell and slipped into the boys' room to look. It turned out that the two boys had eaten the fruit and gone onto the hall to speak with Tripitaka, so they were not in the room. The Pilgrim looked in every corner for the golden pick, and at last found a thing hanging on the window lattice. It was two feet long, made of red gold, and as thick as a finger. The lower end had a knobby garlic-shaped head, and there was a hole at the top through which a green silk cord was tied.

He thought, "This must be the thing they call the golden pick."

He took it down, left the room, and went straight to the back. He pushed open the two doors and looked up.

Ah! It was a flower garden! What did he see?

Red rails and jeweled balustrades, with winding paths and peaked rockwork.
Strange flowers vied with bright sunlight; green bamboo contended with the blue of heaven.
Outside the Flowing Cup Pavilion, a bend of green willows trailed like smoke;
before the Moon-Viewing Terrace, several clumps of tall pines stood like splashed indigo.
Crimson and red were the jeweled nests of pomegranate blossoms;
green and full were the embroidered mounds of grass;
blue and lush were the river orchids;
lively and bright were the waters by the stream.
Cinnabar osmanthus reflected the golden well and parasol trees;
magnolias stood beside the red rails and jade paving.
Some peach blossoms were red, some white, in ten thousand overlapping layers;
some chrysanthemums of the ninth autumn were fragrant, some gold.
Wisteria framed the peony pavilion;
hibiscus terraces joined the peony grove.
One could not take in enough of the bamboo that mocked frost and the pines that mocked snow.
There were cranes' estates and deer' houses, square pools and round ponds;
spring water ran like shattered jade, and ground flowers piled like gold.
In the north wind, plum blossoms split open white;
in spring, red crabapples were pricked alive.
It was truly the first fairy scene under heaven, the finest flower thicket in the Western world.

The Pilgrim could not look enough. Then he saw another gate and pushed it open to look inside. Ah! It was a vegetable garden:

Four seasons' vegetables were planted there: spinach and celery, beet greens and ginger leaves;
bamboo shoots and gourds, water caltrops and wild rice shoots;
scallions and garlic, coriander and chives, shallots and the rest;
lotus-root, mugwort, bitter greens, and rhubarb;
gourds and eggplants all needed planting;
turnips and radishes, with sheep's-head cabbage buried beneath;
red amaranth, green cabbages, and purple mustard.

The Pilgrim laughed. "This Daoist is a man who grows and eats for himself."

He walked through the vegetable garden and saw yet another gate. Pushing it open, he looked up. There in the middle stood a great tree, truly thick with lush branches and dark green leaves. The leaves were shaped rather like plantain leaves. The tree rose more than a thousand feet, and around its roots was a girth of seven or eight zhang. The Pilgrim leaned at the foot of the tree and looked up. On a branch to the south he saw a ginseng fruit. Truly it looked like a little child.

Its stem was at the bottom like a little navel, and as it hung from the branch it kicked its hands and feet, nodding and swaying its head. When the wind passed, it seemed almost to make a sound.

The Pilgrim was overjoyed and praised it to himself. "Good stuff! Truly rare, truly rare!"

He leaned against the tree and with a whoosh sprang upward. That monkey had always been the first to climb a tree and steal fruit. He struck once with the golden pick, and the fruit fell with a thud. He jumped down to look for it, but there was nothing there. He searched among the grass on all sides, and there was still no trace.

The Pilgrim said, "Strange, strange. Maybe it has feet and can walk. Even if it walks, it cannot jump over the wall. I know what it is. Perhaps the earth spirit in the garden does not allow old Sun to steal his fruit, and has taken it away."

He pinched a seal with his fingers and recited an Om spell, summoning the earth spirit of the flower garden to come before him and bow.

The spirit said, "Great Sage, you summoned this little god for what orders?"

The Pilgrim said, "You should know that old Sun is famous all under heaven as the great thief. In former days I stole peaches, stole imperial wine, and stole spiritual elixirs, and no one ever dared interfere. Why is it that today I steal just one fruit and you take it away before I can use it? The fruit grows on a tree. Even birds flying through the air should get a share. If I eat just one, what great harm is there? How is it that the moment I knock it down, you snatch it away?"

The earth spirit said, "Great Sage, you have blamed me wrongly. This treasure belongs to the immortal earthlings. I am only a ghost-spirit. How would I dare take it? I would not even be worthy to smell it."

The Pilgrim said, "If you did not take it, how is it gone the moment I knocked it down?"

The earth spirit said, "Great Sage only knows that this treasure prolongs life, but not where it comes from.

"It blooms once every three thousand years, fruits once every three thousand years, and takes another three thousand years to ripen. In ten thousand years it only bears thirty fruits. If a fated man merely smells it, he can live three hundred and sixty years. If he eats one, he can live forty-seven thousand years. But it is only compatible with the Five Agents in their proper order.

"How is it compatible? When the fruit meets metal, it falls. When it meets wood, it withers. When it meets water, it melts. When it meets fire, it burns. When it meets earth, it enters into the ground. You must use a metal tool to strike it, and only then will it come down. Once it has fallen, you must line the dish with silk cloth before you can catch it. If it touches a wooden object, it will wither, and even if eaten it will no longer prolong life. To eat it, one must use a porcelain vessel and dissolve it in clear water. If it meets fire, it will burn and become useless. If it meets earth, it enters the ground. Just now, Great Sage, when you knocked it down, it slipped into the earth.

"This earth has been here forty-seven thousand years. Even if you tried to bore through it with a steel drill, you would not make the slightest mark. It is three or four parts harder than raw iron. That is why people who eat this fruit live long. If Great Sage does not believe me, strike the ground yourself and see."

The Pilgrim at once took the Golden-Hooped Rod and struck the ground once. It rang with a sharp sound, but the rod sprang back, and there was not even the faintest mark in the soil.

The Pilgrim said, "So it is, so it is. My staff can smash stone to powder and leave marks even on raw iron. How can this blow not even damage it a little? In that case, I have wrongly accused you. You may go back."

The earth spirit returned to his temple.

The Great Sage then made his own plan. He climbed the tree, held the pick in one hand and used the hem of his brocade robe in the other as a sling. He moved from branch to branch and struck down three fruits, catching them in the fold of his robe. He leaped down from the tree and went straight back to the kitchen.

Bajie said, "Brother, do you have any?"

The Pilgrim said, "These are they. Old Sun got them in hand with one move. But do not leave Brother Sha out of it. Call him too."

Bajie waved and called, "Brother Sha, come here."

Brother Sha set down the luggage and hurried into the kitchen. "Brother, what are you calling me for?"

The Pilgrim opened the fold of his robe and said, "Brother, what do you call this?"

Brother Sha saw it and said, "It is a ginseng fruit."

The Pilgrim said, "Good. So you recognize it. Where did you eat it before?"

Brother Sha said, "Though your younger brother has never eaten one, in my old days as the Curtain-Lifting General, I attended the dragon carriage to the Peach Banquet and once saw the immortals from beyond the sea present these fruits to the Queen Mother for her birthday. I have seen them, though never eaten them. Brother, will you spare me a little to taste?"

The Pilgrim said, "No need to ask. Brothers, one each."

The three of them each enjoyed one fruit. Bajie had a great appetite and a large mouth as well. Besides, he had heard the boys eating them and felt his greedy worm start to stir. The moment he saw the fruit, he took it and swallowed it whole in one gulp. Then he rolled his eyes and said to the Pilgrim and Brother Sha, "What did you two eat?"

Brother Sha said, "A ginseng fruit."

Bajie said, "What did it taste like?"

The Pilgrim said, "Brother Sha, never mind him. You were the first to eat, and now you come asking who else?"

Bajie said, "Brother, I ate too quickly. I did not chew slowly the way you two did, to taste a bit of the flavor. I do not even know whether it had a pit. Say, brother, if we are going to do this properly, go get me another one so old Pig can taste it carefully."

The Pilgrim said, "Brother, you really do not know how to stop. This thing is not like rice or noodles, where once you run into them you are full. These thirty fruits took ten thousand years to bear. For us to eat even one was an extraordinary fate, not a small thing. Enough, enough. We have had enough."

He lifted his hand and, through the window crack, tossed the golden pick back into the boys' room. Then he paid Bajie no more mind.

That idiot kept grumbling and muttering.

Before long the two boys came back into the room to fetch tea for their master. Hearing Bajie's complaints that "the ginseng fruit is not satisfying to eat and it would be best to have another one," Qingfeng grew suspicious.

"Mingyue, do you hear that long-mouthed monk say, 'The ginseng fruit is still not enough to eat; it would be best to have another one'? Before he left, our master warned us to watch his attendants and prevent any disturbance. Could it be that they stole our treasure?"

Mingyue turned and said, "Brother, this is bad, this is bad! How did the golden pick fall to the ground? Let us go see the garden."

The two of them hurried off. When they reached the flower garden, Qingfeng said, "I closed this gate myself. How did it open?"

He hurried through the flower garden and saw that the vegetable garden gate was also open. He rushed into the ginseng orchard, leaned under the tree, looked up, and counted again and again. There were only twenty-two fruits left.

Mingyue said, "Can you do arithmetic?"

Qingfeng said, "I can. You tell me."

Mingyue said, "There were originally thirty fruits. When the master opened the garden, two were eaten, leaving twenty-eight on the tree. Just now we knocked down two for Tripitaka to eat, leaving twenty-six. Now there are only twenty-two left. Are four not missing? There is no need to argue. It must be those wicked people who stole them. Let us go and scold Tripitaka."

The two boys came out of the garden and went straight to the hall, pointing at Tripitaka and hurling abuse before and behind him, their filthy words and foul tongues never stopping. They shouted and raged like thieves with mouse hearts and dog mouths.

Tripitaka could not bear it and said, "Little immortals, what is all this noise about? Calm yourselves and speak slowly. Do not spout wild nonsense."

Qingfeng said, "Are you deaf? I am speaking plain language and you do not understand? You ate our ginseng fruit and will not even let me say so?"

Tripitaka said, "What does a ginseng fruit look like?"

Mingyue said, "Did we not just bring it to you, and did you not say it looked like a child?"

Tripitaka said, "Amitabha! The moment I saw that thing, my heart shook with alarm. How could I dare steal and eat it? Even if I were dying of greed, I would never do such a thief's deed. Do not wrongly blame a man."

Qingfeng said, "Even if you did not eat it, your attendants must have wanted to steal it."

Tripitaka said, "That is more like it. Do not shout yet. Let me ask them. If they truly stole it, I will have them compensate you."

Mingyue said, "Compensate? Even if you had money, where would you go to buy it?"

Tripitaka said, "Even if money cannot buy it, as the saying goes, 'Human righteousness is worth a thousand taels of gold.' Let him compensate you with an apology and that will do. It is not even certain yet that it was he."

Mingyue said, "How could it not be him? He was the one making all that noise because he did not get his share."

Tripitaka called out, "Disciples, all of you come here."

Brother Sha heard this and said, "Bad news. We are exposed. The master is calling us, and those little Dao boys are cursing us wildly. If this is not the old saying gone out of the wind, what is it?"

The Pilgrim said, "How shamefully embarrassing. It is only a matter of food and drink. If we say what it is, then it will be plain that we snuck extra bites. We had better not admit it."

Bajie said, "Right, right. Let us keep silent."

The three of them had no choice but to come out of the kitchen and go up onto the hall. As for how they will wriggle out of it, that must wait for the next chapter.