Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 388: Discovered, Starting to Quibble
This remark was not only for the eight Buddhist disciples who had just come but also for the two who had climbed the wall in front of everyone.
If there were no distracting thoughts in their minds, naturally they wouldn’t think of other things, but if they had harbored such thoughts from the beginning, then no one could stop them from doing what they had already intended to do.
If these two Buddhist disciples had followed their senior brother here, they would probably be standing in the same place as him.
Not only were they caught red-handed, but they also felt like they were weighed down by a mountain because they had broken their religious precepts by stealthily eating meat.
Sun Wukong watched the reaction of these two Buddhist disciples with satisfaction, then slowly, as though he had just noticed and with a slight touch of surprise, said, "Ah, your clothes really do look quite similar."
When Sun Wukong didn’t mention it, it was fine, but his words immediately drew the attention of all the Immortal Officials to their clothing.
"Hey, that’s really strange, I hadn’t noticed the similarity until Chef Wukong pointed it out, but now that he mentions it, they do indeed look alike--no, they’re exactly the same."
The Buddhist disciples were all stunned; when they had first come to the Immortal Sect, they had planned to ensure that no one could tell they were from Buddhism.
That’s why they had worn the clothing of those who travel for study in the human realm, which had some resemblance to the clothing of the Heavenly Court’s Immortal Attendants; once back, this clothing was usually put away never to be worn again.
If not for an occasion like today’s, they truly would not have worn these clothes again.
Unfortunately, as these clothes were issued uniformly, it ended up that all the Buddhist disciples standing here were dressed in the same outfit.
"We, we, these are just the clothes we wore for our descent to the mortal world, to travel and study. The resemblance to your Immortal Sect’s clothing must be a coincidence," the two Buddhist disciples explained.
"Oh, I see," Sun Wukong nodded, looking towards the Buddhist individuals disguised as servants, "I, Old Sun, am not very accurate in judging people, seeing everyone the same, but no matter how you look at it, these clothes are more than just similar."
"Ah? Haha, that really is a coincidence then. Since we chose poor areas for our travels in the mortal realm, naturally we couldn’t dress too extravagantly. It must be just a coincidence," the disciple glanced at his senior brother and then explained.
"No, no, this isn’t right," an Immortal Official walked up to the group of Buddhist disciples pretending to be servants and carefully examined their clothing.
"I felt something was off before; your clothes are similar in color to the servants, but upon a closer look, if you were to wear a Kasaya on top, wouldn’t you look just like a monk?"
"My lord must be mistaken; I am but a servant, how could I be a monk?" the Buddhist disciple whose clothing was being tugged at was sweating profusely, desperately trying to pull his garment back from the Immortal Official’s grasp.
"How could I be mistaken? Although I had a bit of wine during the previous Buddhist banquet, that wine has long since faded, and I’m now incredibly sober," the Immortal Official was holding onto the corner of the Buddhist disciple’s clothing, "And another thing, why doesn’t your clothing have the cloud pattern?"
"Cloud pattern? What cloud pattern?" The Buddhist disciple was taken aback.
"The clothing does look similar, but to differentiate, each palace servant’s clothes have a different cloud pattern. That’s how we can tell from the clothing which noble person they serve. I’ve been feeling something strange right from the start. Where did the cloud pattern on your clothes go?"
"I..." What cloud pattern! This senior brother is so unreliable. He didn’t mention anything about a cloud pattern before coming here!
The Buddhist disciple looked at his senior brother for help, but his senior brother didn’t dare to meet his eyes due to guilt.
In fact, he knew about the cloud pattern, but it could only be discerned upon close inspection, and they never expected to be caught on the spot by Sun Wukong.
Naturally, they wouldn’t explain every single detail, they just felt that a rough idea was enough; nobody would scrutinize it that closely. However, the reality was that someone indeed scrutinized it that closely.
"I’ve figured it out!" the Immortal Official said with piercing eyes, confronting the Buddhism disciple, "Speak for yourself, don’t make me expose you on the spot."
"This, this is actually..."
The Buddhism disciples looked at each other, hesitating, uncertain whether to speak or not.
"Fine, if you won’t talk, I’ll share my own speculation," the Immortal Official said with a cold laugh, slowly beginning to speak his mind.
"You say that over just a single dish, you’ve gone to these lengths; although I found it strange initially, I always operate on the belief that one shouldn’t suspect the innocent without evidence, and therefore I kept quiet. All this for just one dish, you really went to great lengths!"
The Immortal Official pointed at the two Buddhism disciples and the one disguised as a servant, "In order not to reveal which palace you belong to, you deliberately dressed up like this. And you even had a Plan B, finding two more people to dress up as Buddhism disciples. Did you think you could fool everyone that way?"
The people present felt that the Immortal Official’s words seemed a bit off; it was as if he had guessed right, but in the wrong direction.
"There is only one truth," the Immortal Official said with a wise look, "I don’t know which palace’s Immortal Attendant you are, but you saw the dish at the Buddhism feast and wanted to sneak a taste while nobody was around, right? Unfortunately, you didn’t anticipate one thing—that we would return to the Imperial Kitchen."
No sooner had the Immortal Official finished speaking than Sun Wukong and the other officials present facepalmed; the line of reasoning was rather bizarre—the answer lay right before his eyes, yet he thought it was a multiple-choice question.
"Just shut up," Sun Wukong called out to the Immortal Official, his train of thought was nearly derailed by this person.
The Immortal Official didn’t sense anything wrong, turning to Sun Wukong, "What’s the matter, Chef Wukong? Am I wrong?"
Even the Buddhists were stunned. They had been prepared to confess on the spot, but the conversation had taken quite the detour.
"You only think there is a problem with their clothes but did not notice the towels on everyone’s head?" An Immortal Official who’d already figured out the answer pointed out the key issue with a sigh.
"I noticed that," the Immortal Official still didn’t see anything amiss, "But what’s wrong with that? Don’t all the Immortal Attendants working in the Imperial Kitchen wear those?"
"Alright, you win," the Immortal Official didn’t want to bother explaining further to him. Indeed, ascending to immortality too early isn’t always a good thing.
This Immortal Official indeed had a unique talent, having achieved immortality at an early age. He was decisive in important matters but perhaps too naive concerning the trivial ones.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Sun Wukong said, "Now that things have come to this, there’s no need for me to say anything else, right? Take off what you’re wearing on your heads and let them have a good look."
"This, Chef Wukong, let’s explain this in private," the lead Buddhism disciple spoke, "Whatever conditions you want to set, we’ll accept, just not here."
Sun Wukong chuckled, "You think you still have the position to negotiate with me? Did you think I brought so many Immortal Officials to the Imperial Kitchen just to cook?"
The Buddhism disciple was stunned and then seemed to realize something, glaring at Sun Wukong resentfully, "Is this a trap you’ve set?"
With an innocent face, Sun Wukong replied, "What trap?"
