Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 387 Awkward Encounter in Buddhism

Despite having eaten all of the dish, the serving size was indeed small, which left him very unsatisfied. This time, he came following Sun Wukong to guess the names of the dishes.

He thought that if he was lucky enough to guess the dish names, he could take the freshly made dishes back with him. If he was unlucky, he would just shamelessly ask Sun Wukong for the leftovers. After all, they were leftovers, and Sun Wukong probably wouldn’t refuse to give them away.

To his surprise, the sneaky plans they had carefully made came to nothing. The dishes they had long been dreaming about were all devoured by that little thief, leaving him utterly unable to swallow his pride.

"I’ve said before, these things are leftovers anyway; they need dealing with one way or another. It’s better they eat it, saves me, old Sun, the heartache when disposing of them," Sun Wukong said with a nonchalant smile.

Several Immortal Officials in attendance glared at the group of servants hanging their heads in shame. It was their fault, for had it not been for them, the officials might have had a chance to enjoy two portions of the dishes. They had not expected to be outmaneuvered in such a manner.

"We thank Chef Wukong for his kindness. We will take our leave now and not disturb Chef Wukong and the other Immortal Officials any longer."

As soon as the matter was resolved, the Buddhist disciples wanted to make a quick escape. If not now, then when? Unexpectedly, at that very moment, a fellow disciple who was about to enter from outside ran into them.

"Elder brother, is this the place? Why is the Imperial Kitchen so quiet?"

"I had planned ahead when I came here. This Imperial Kitchen has been spellbound by Sun Monkey, so neither the aroma nor the sounds from it can escape, which is why it is so quiet..."

While he was explaining, the person beside him stood stunned, nudging him with his elbow.

"Hey, I’m kindly explaining this to you; why do you keep nudging me with your elbow..."

These two Buddhist disciples arrived later than the others. Both were timid, and they spent a long time just considering their options inside the room.

In the end, they decided to go and investigate, but before they could achieve their aim, they were caught red-handed while still atop the wall.

The few Buddhist disciples who had been punished were just about to leave, relieved that they had finally escaped one disaster, only, to their dismay, to run straight into their fellow disciples right outside the door.

The Immortal Officials inside had no idea what was happening, but they found the behavior of the few servants who were about to leave quite odd. Seeing them standing still at the doorway, one official approached them and asked, "What are you doing? Why aren’t you moving? Has someone cast a Freezing Spell on you?"

"Ah, who is this?"

Sun Wukong also followed the Immortal Officials over and, upon seeing the Buddhist disciples on the wall, broke out into laughter, "Yo, what’s all this commotion? Who are you guys, and why not use the main entrance? Why are you coming over the wall?"

The disciples on the wall hesitated and weren’t sure how to answer, "We, us, we are..."

"Speak up, old Sun doesn’t have the time to listen to your hemming and hawing. If you don’t answer, I have some fine Truth Pills here," Sun Wukong said as he genuinely pulled out two silken pouches from his pocket and shook them in front of everyone.

The disciples on the wall panicked and quickly said, "Well, my Buddha Beads went missing. I can’t find them anywhere, no matter how much I look. I thought maybe they had fallen into the utensils while eating at the banquet. But now, with it being so late, I didn’t want to bother Chef Wukong, so I decided to look for them myself."

After the disciple finished speaking, Sun Wukong burst out laughing, "Haha, isn’t this fortunate."

The disciples on the wall couldn’t fathom why Sun Wukong was laughing, finding it all very perplexing, "What is Chef Wukong laughing at? It’s common for Buddhist disciples to carry Buddha Beads, and it is not unusual to lose them occasionally."

"No, I’m not laughing at you for losing your Buddha Beads. I’m laughing about something else," Sun Wukong pointed at the Buddhist disciples standing in front of him and asked, "Do you recognize them?"

Of course, they recognized them, but given the situation, they weren’t sure whether to say they did or didn’t.

"Why aren’t you answering? Do you recognize them, or not?" Sun Wukong pressed.

"Of course, we recognize them!" As soon as the disciple on the wall replied, they suddenly noticed their fellow disciples across from them shaking their heads frantically.

However, he wasn’t quite sure whether the shaking of his head meant that he shouldn’t answer or that he should deny recognition, so he abruptly changed his reply,

"I don’t recognize it, forgive Chef Wukong for any offense, it’s too far away, I can’t see clearly. Let us descend and we’ll have a closer look."

"Alright then, you can take your time coming down," Sun Wukong answered with a smile.

The Buddhist disciple found Sun Wukong’s words quite odd, feeling them to be somewhat sarcastic.

But Sun Wukong had always been one to do as he pleased; sarcasm was nothing out of ordinary to him, so he slowly climbed down from the wall, ready to play it by ear.

The two Buddhist disciples had just come down when the elder brother immediately said, "Sir, didn’t you tell us that you had lost your Buddha Beads, prompting us to search for them?"

"Ah?" The disciple who had just descended from the wall was stunned. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Then he swiftly realized, "Ah, yes, that’s right. I couldn’t find my Buddha Beads earlier and asked them to help with the search. When they didn’t return, I decided to come and look for myself."

It seemed to fit with what had been discussed before, and the Immortal Officials didn’t notice anything amiss, though they complained,

"How could you lose the precious Buddha Beads while holding them in your hand? It’s all your fault. Otherwise, would they have made such a big mistake?"

A big mistake? The two disciples shuddered inwardly, vaguely feeling it might be as they feared, yet also thinking it might not be.

If it were as they imagined, it certainly wouldn’t end so lightly; something more must have happened.

"What big mistake?" The two Buddhist disciples asked cautiously, emphasizing the words "big mistake".

Sun Wukong took over the conversation, "The Immortal Officials are being too serious. Don’t mind it. It’s not such a big mistake. They merely succumbed to temptation and stole some food. It’s a minor issue. I merely punished them by having them gather all the ingredients and then run a few laps around the Imperial Kitchen, that’s all."

Though Sun Wukong spoke lightly, for the two Buddhist disciples in front of him, it was no small matter.

"What?! They stole food?"

"I told you it’s no big deal. Don’t blame them for it; they just ate some leftovers that were due to be disposed of," he reassured them.

The two Buddhist disciples looked at their brethren, but their brothers could not meet their gaze out of guilt.

"May I ask Chef Wukong, what exactly was the dish?"

The two disciples exchanged glances, swallowing hard, hoping it was not that dish which had prompted their visit.

Sun Wukong’s mouth opened, and to the two disciples, every minute movement seemed to be untold times slower than usual.

He spoke slowly, and though the words were trifling, for these two disciples, they were like a mountain weighing on their hearts.

"It was the meat dish," Sun Wukong said slowly.

Although Sun Wukong did not specify which meat dish, they knew all too well; it couldn’t be any dish other than the one placed before them, which they were allowed to look at but not touch, not to mention unnamed.

"Why are you two silent?" Sun Wukong inquired, "You shouldn’t feel too guilty. After all, searching for the Buddha Beads is their duty. Whether they would steal food is up to them. They volunteered to search for your Buddha Beads, presumably with the idea of stealing food in mind."