Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 765 - 764: Unacknowledged

"Pah! Your birds and beasts, do you have any idea how these Ginseng Fruits grew? And then to claim that some bird or animal ate them—it’s laughable. Let me tell you, it’s simply impossible for any creature to have eaten these fruits. It took thousands of years for these thirty fruits to grow, and in a blink, you’ve eaten two. After eating them, you still won’t admit it. I think you might as well take off your Kasaya and return to secular life to make a fortune as a roving doctor."

Mingyue was so angry that her words tumbled out non-stop, and Xuanzang just couldn’t argue with her. Indeed, he was unaware of the matter and had no choice but to call for his disciple.

"Wukong, Wukong, are you there?"

The Six-Eared Macaque was in the room, having heard the noise outside. Although he was indeed responsible for the trouble, pretending to send an ignorant person out to take the blame felt somewhat dishonorable. Yet, he felt compelled to do it, and now he was feeling guilty. He wouldn’t dare to show himself until he had shed that guilt.

However, with his master calling for him from outside, he couldn’t stay hidden any longer. So he feigned having just woken up, yawning as he walked outside, "Master, I was just sleeping. What’s all this noise? What exactly happened?"

The Six-Eared Macaque’s acting was superb, especially with that yawn and the glint in his eyes as if he had really just woken up. If it hadn’t been for the fact that it was Chen Nuo behind the theft of the Ginseng Fruits, and not the Six-Eared Macaque, one might actually have believed he had just woken up.

In reality, although the Six-Eared Macaque had been quite curious about the Ginseng Fruits, he had not been so drawn to them that he felt compelled to eat them.

In the original work, it was Zhu Bajie who yearned most for the Ginseng Fruits, and Sun Wukong had been egged on by him. Now, it was not Sun Wukong who was present, and there was no Zhu Bajie to incite him, so the Six-Eared Macaque really might not have been tempted to eat the fruits.

But if the Six-Eared Macaque didn’t eat them, Chen Nuo’s hope for the Ginseng Fruits would be dashed. So Chen Nuo used a little spell to intensify the Six-Eared Macaque’s desire for the fruit, which finally led him to steal the Ginseng Fruits.

What Chen Nuo hadn’t expected was that there were only thirty fruits on the tree, and the Six-Eared Macaque had eaten two, leaving just twenty-eight. How would he deal with what the system had said about collecting thirty Ginseng Fruits?

Chen Nuo quickly knocked on the system, "Didn’t you just tell me to collect thirty Ginseng Fruits? Now there are only twenty-eight. Can I still complete this task or not?"

The system had not anticipated this problem. After a long pause, it replied, "Host, it was an error on our part. Originally, you were supposed to collect thirty Ginseng Fruits, and the data we gathered was based on the previous number of fruits. Indeed, now there are only twenty-eight. As long as you, the host, can obtain all the twenty-eight remaining Ginseng Fruits for a legitimate reason, the task will be considered complete."

Chen Nuo didn’t respond. If that was the case, obtaining all twenty-eight Ginseng Fruits would certainly be more difficult than before.

People say that these Ginseng Fruits bloom once every three thousand years, bear fruit once every three thousand years, and mature once every three thousand years. It was no mean feat to grow thirty fruits, each one a temptation. Indeed, getting all of them would not be easy.

But difficult as the task was, he still had to do it. Without a long journey, simply by moving his fingers and lips he could complete this task, so taking a little extra time seemed to be the easiest thing to do.

The Six-Eared Macaque rubbed his eyes. He looked at the crowd standing in the middle of the courtyard and smiled, "What’s going on here? Why are there so many people in the courtyard all of a sudden? Is something the matter?"

"You monk, there’s no point in pretending any longer. Just confess, did you and your master eat the Ginseng Fruit or not? It’s better to admit it now—don’t force us to find out ourselves, or you’ll certainly regret it!" Mingyue pointed at the Six-Eared Macaque and said loudly.

The Six-Eared Macaque thought to himself, even if they found out that a fruit was missing, so what? As long as he denied it staunchly, they couldn’t do anything to him.

"I really don’t know what you’re talking about. You all saw that I was here sleeping the whole time earlier. I didn’t eat any Ginseng Fruit at all. Do you have any evidence? Accusing me of stealing the Ginseng Fruit without presenting anything—where’s the sense in that?"

Truth be told, Mingyue didn’t have any evidence either; it was just his intuition that made him believe that the thief of the Ginseng Fruit was among this master-disciple pair.

"Of course I have evidence!" He was convinced that it was Tang Monk and his disciple who ate it, and so he began to accuse them.

"I told you, earlier, you asked me for that Ginseng Fruit to eat, didn’t you? And after I refused, you went and stole it, right?"

The Six-Eared Macaque shrugged. "It’s true that I asked you about eating the Ginseng Fruit, but after you said I wasn’t allowed to, I didn’t. Look, I admit that Ginseng Fruit did catch my eye, but just because I found it appealing, doesn’t mean you can say I stole it when your fruit goes missing. Isn’t that a bit unreasonable?"

Mingyue was momentarily at a loss for words, unexpectedly stumped by the monkey’s retort. What the monkey said seemed correct, but that was all there was to it. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"That fruit was obviously stolen by you, you monkey, and you still won’t admit it? It would be in your best interest to come clean now!" Mingyue spoke, "It was definitely you who stole the fruit!"

Xuanzang looked at the Six-Eared Macaque, not understanding what had happened, nor aware that Six-Ears had even asked the Little Immortal Boy for a Ginseng Fruit.

If Six-Ears had really requested the Ginseng Fruit from the Little Immortal Boy, then stealing the fruit now did seem somewhat feasible, so he asked, "Wukong, tell me the truth, did you really not steal the Ginseng Fruit?"

Under normal circumstances, had Six-Ears heard Xuanzang talk to him like this, he would have exploded in anger, as such questioning implied doubt, proving the person was suspicious of him.

However, Six-Ears had indeed committed the deed, so hearing Xuanzang ask him this, he was not at all angry but simply shook his head and said, "Master, I’m telling the truth—I really didn’t steal it."

Chen Nuo smiled without saying a word, while Master Zhenyuan noticed his demeanor.

In truth, even if the fruit was lost, Zhenyuan himself didn’t think it was such a big deal. If two were gone, then two were gone, and besides, there were still twenty-eight fruits left.

Moreover, even if he didn’t give the fruit to Tang Monk and his disciples, he would have just let it grow on the tree; it was no big deal.