The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism
chapter-730

Chapter 730: Professional-grade Braggart

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

With this in mind, the two immediately came to an agreement. They planned on using Fangzheng, who was at the crest of the sensation, to stir up the promotion of One Finger Monastery and Mt. One Finger. That was also one way for Songwu County to seek development. Therefore both of them brought the leadership over, but although the scenery was nice, the villagers were good people, and the carved trinkets were great, the owner of the monastery wasn’t the accomplished monk they imagined him to be. He was apparently a braggart, an undependable mortal! Could such a person live up to the grand plans Songwu County had for him?

With this in mind, their smiles lightened. There was more of a sense of helplessness to them now. Were the Heavens not even leaving them this way out?

At this moment, Wu Changfa said, “Little guy, how about it? You have nothing to say, right? We are now in an era of science. Try not to use such fake stuff to brag. You must have recently dug it up yourself, right?”

“It’s true that it appeared only recently, but this bridge is old!” Just as Red Boy was at a loss as to how to keep up the lie, a voice suddenly sounded, pulling everyone’s attention to it.

Wu Changfa frowned and turned his head to see a young man. He wore gold-rimmed glasses as he squatted above the bridge and carefully analyzed it.

“You are?” Wu Changfa found the person familiar.

Although County Head Qi didn’t know him, it was the old county secretary, Liu Guangyu, who narrowed his eyes. He said with a smile, “Little Song, you came too?”

The person who had come was none other than Song Tianqiao who had come to the mountain twice to cause trouble! After Song Tianqiao came to the mountain to cause trouble with Jing Yulong and company, he didn’t manage to have a good sleep for days, afraid that Jing Yan would bear a grudge against him. He even planned on shutting down his company to flee. But surprisingly, Jing Yan didn’t seem like she had any plans on making life difficult for him. She had only sent someone to warn him to be careful in the future. He naturally nodded his head frantically like a chicken pecking at grain. Meanwhile, he pondered how he could remove this stain on his reputation and if possible, try to close ties with her.

That day, when he suddenly saw Fangzheng appear on CCTV, an idea came to him. Why not take this opportunity to visit Fangzheng? Hence, he was there. He naturally recognized County Head Qi and Liu Guangyu, but both of them seemed to be traveling incognito, so he didn’t go up to them to greet them. All he did was stand by the side.

When Red Boy and Wu Changfa clashed, he immediately knew that his chance had come! Antiques? Ancient buildings? Who else knew them better than him? At the very least, no one present knew better than him! Hence, he immediately squatted down to study the bridge carefully. After confirming some things, he spoke out.

Upon hearing Liu Guangyu, Song Tianqiao hurriedly replied, “So it’s you, Uncle Liu. Long time no see.”

Liu Guangyu narrowed his eyes. Clearly, he wasn’t very happy with the way he was addressed, but since he didn’t want to expose his identity, he diverted the topic and said, “Tell us more about the bridge.”

“This is?” County Head Qi was a new county head, so he didn’t know Song Tianqiao.

Liu Guangyu said, “This is one of our talents. He’s rather accomplished when it comes to ancient architecture. He has an architecture company in Black Mountain City and has partnerships with several real estate companies.”

County Head Qi nodded slightly and gave him an approving look. Song Tianqiao immediately responded with humility before he went straight to the topic at hand. “This bridge is indeed an ancient bridge. From the color of the rock, the carving style is completely different from the way it’s done in modern times. Besides, after studying it, I believe this bridge is a hundred meters long and has nine holes beneath. From the various features, this should be an ancient stone bridge that already existed a thousand years ago during the Song dynasty! However, why would there be a stone bridge here? I’m guessing that the terrain here wasn’t the same in the past. There was probably a river, and One Finger Monastery’s location is situated on top of what was an ancient building. This stone bridge must have been built to facilitate transportation.

“Yesterday’s earthquake caused the surrounding land to collapse, revealing the spring source beneath, causing this pond to appear. Meanwhile, the mud also collapsed, naturally revealing the stone bridge… This is completely a coincidence. Just as this young venerable one said, it’s really a huge coincidence, as if it came from the heavens. I don’t think it’s too much to be described as a blessing from Buddha.”

Song Tianqiao knew very well the reason for his trip there. As long as he didn’t lie, lauding One Finger Monastery with praise would only bring him benefits. He was clever, and he knew the conundrum Songwu County was in. Since the two bigwigs were there, he had a guess as to their reason for coming. Therefore, he praised One Finger Monastery and even made it sound a little mythical. It was something the two would definitely be happy to hear.

Indeed, the duo revealed satisfied smiles when they heard that.

Song Tianqiao secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Indeed, they were bigshots. They wouldn’t bear a grudge against a tiny monastery or a young monk. What they cared about was the big picture, and they were also much more ambitious.

Wu Changfa frowned. He never expected whatever he had said to end up being worth nothing. He had even suffered a figurative slap in the face. He was definitely unhappy, but he also knew that it wasn’t his place to act out of line. All he could do was wait obediently and watch the developments.

“Little Song, is what you said true?” County Head Qi asked very sternly.

“Of course. Although I cannot determine the exact year or which artisan this work belongs to, there is one point I’m certain of; this was definitely the work of a master artisan! This bridge still has a lot of mud on it. If it’s completely washed away, there might be more pleasant surprises awaiting us! Calling it a national treasure might not even be an exaggeration!” When Song Tianqiao said this, he subconsciously shot a glance at the Yongle Bell. He found himself unable to understand One Finger Monastery. How was a small monastery hiding such national treasures? But thinking back to his experience of crawling down the mountain twice, as well as that seemingly harmless monk, he had a general guess. He secretly made the decision to strengthen his ties with Fangzheng!

With this in mind, Song Tianqiao naturally tried to heap praises on One Finger Monastery.

Liu Guangyu and County Head Qi didn’t know anything about antiques and ancient architecture, so they were pleased to have Song Tianqiao be their expositor. Therefore, Song Tianqiao began his performance, going deeper into his explanations and the origins of the area. He talked about the ingenious usage of the nine stone arches or the water. He talked about how sublime the door was and the elegance of the plaque… Basically, whatever he said was grounded by evidence, so no one could pick a bone with what he said. The only problem was that he only mentioned the good points. He ignored anything that was bad.

Liu Guangyu and County Head Qi were no fools either. They naturally understood that Song Tianqiao was talking about the best things only, but they were precisely there to hear about the merits of the place in the first place! That was where its value was! As for the flaws? They could return to study them slowly before mending them…

Seeing the huge group of people being led away by Song Tianqiao, Red Boy touched his head and mumbled. “He’s stealing business…” However, he had to admit that in terms of bragging, he was still inferior to Song Tianqiao. Therefore, the kid followed behind and learned via eavesdropping.

Seeing the little guy following them, Liu Guangyu and County Head Qi chuckled. Liu Guangyu even picked Red Boy up and teased him. “Little Master, how old are you?”

“About three thousand years old, I guess?” Red Boy replied extremely seriously.