Chapter 282 The Return of the Monkey

[Will that big monkey come back? ]

[You are nearly fifty years old, with gray hair on your temples, and you can’t help but sit alone by the sea and reminisce about the past…]

[The sea breeze blows your thoughts. 】

[In my memory, the image of that monkey has become blurry. After all, it has been almost thirty years, and you are not someone who has a photographic memory. As time goes by, as a mortal, you have unconsciously forgotten a lot of things.]

[You only remember its golden monkey hair, and that it was human-like and could talk.]

【And...its promise.】

[A strange monkey, with an illusory dream, embarked on an unrealistic journey to seek immortality... Its equipment was so simple, relying only on a small fishing boat given by you as a gift, it wanted to cross the vast ocean to find the legendary immortal.]

[This confidence really makes you feel ridiculous! ]

[How can it find a deity? Even if it finds one, why can it be accepted as a disciple? ]

[You are no longer the boy with a head full of fantasies. As you become more mature, you have a deeper understanding of the world, and thus you are more aware of the impracticality of the monkey's quest for immortality.]

[No matter how you try to make amends for it, it is almost impossible for it to worship a god as its master... The biggest possibility is that it will be lost in the endless deep sea when it encounters a storm, or be captured by mortals while walking on earth. Even if it is lucky enough to survive, it can only spend the rest of its life in the cage of the powerful.]

[You have always understood this principle, and as you get older, you understand it better than before: you can find more than a hundred reasons for failure, and ensure that each one is a reasonable result derived from reality! ]

[It is inevitable that pure ideals will eventually succumb to the cold and complex reality. ]

【but……】

[The more powerless you feel about reality, the more you realize how illusory it is, and the more you hope to transcend reality.]

[It is precisely because you know that it is illusory that you yearn for it and hope that it can really happen in reality...]

[It is true that people become more realistic as they get older, because they always understand more and more things. The result of turning the unknown into the known is that people become smarter and no longer believe in the products of fantasy. They will feel that they are fake at first glance.]

[It’s true that we become more dreamy as we get older, because the more fake something seems, the more we hope it’s real.]

[And now you are in such a contradictory state of mind: you are caught between the two mountains of ideal and reality. Reality tells you that it is almost impossible for the monkey to come back, but ideal makes you hold infinite expectations for the slight possibility beyond "almost"! ]

【"will you come back?"】

[Sitting from sunrise to sunset, watching the sun rise and set in the sea, you sit there all day long... You play with the sand and shells on the beach, but your eyes are always looking out to the distant sea with an empty gaze.]

[You hope to see a small boat appearing where the sea and sky meet, and you also hope to see the gorgeous scene of the monkey bathing in the golden sunlight. It invisibly carries too many of your expectations.]

[You spend the first half of your life denying fantasies, but spend the second half looking forward to fantasies. ]

[Until now, you can no longer tell whether you are waiting for the monkey or the childhood fantasy that the monkey represents...]

[As night falls, another day's hope is shattered. You silently lower your head, get up from the beach where you have been sitting and fantasizing all day, and slowly walk back to your deserted home, just as you return from fantasy to reality.]

【…】

[Your life is still straight line, practicing visualization at home and waiting for the big monkey at the beach. ]

[It’s a pity that the visualization method has not yet reached the threshold, and the big monkey can’t wait any longer...]

[When you were forty-three, your daughter who married to the county town gave birth to a child, and your grandson was born. From then on, your family returned to the village to see you only during festivals, just like you did in your youth.]

[In this way, you finally understand how your parents felt back then...]

【Since your grandson was born, he has become another source of hope for you. Apart from sitting still to practice martial arts and staring at the sea, your only expectation is to count the days and wait for the festival. This is not for the festival, but for your grandson.】

[Every time your daughter and her family come with their grandson, you seem very energetic, holding him and walking around the beach, repeating the days when you took care of your daughter.]

[As soon as your grandson leaves, you lose interest again and continue to wait for the next holiday.]

[Forty-three, forty-six, forty-nine...]

[This continues until you are fifty-two years old.]

【…】

[It was during the Chinese New Year. As you carefully calculated, your grandson returned to the village again, laughing and playing with you at the beach every day.]

[You happily take him fishing and casting nets... these means of livelihood for your ancestors have now become things you use to entertain your grandson. ]

[You rowed the fishing boat you bought specially for him, and took him fishing with the nets. The grandfather and grandson had a lot of fun...]

[Suddenly, a tattered boat slowly approached on the sea in the distance.]

[You took a quick look and thought it was a villager returning from fishing, so you didn't pay much attention until... it started calling you!]

[“My benefactor! I’m back again!”]

[You looked up in astonishment, your heart trembled, and you thought of a possibility. You looked carefully, trying to see the golden figure...]

【"Grandpa, what are you looking at?"】【The grandson asks you curiously. 】

[You look ecstatic and point in the direction of the ship: "Monkey! It's a monkey!"]

【"monkey?"】

[Your grandson, who just turned ten, looks in the direction you pointed in surprise: "Where are the monkeys?"]

[“There! Do you see it? It’s waving at me!”]

[You point at it with emotion: I haven't seen it for so many years, but I didn't expect it to still be so handsome. Its golden fur is gorgeous in the sun, which is really amazing.]

[“It still remembers me! It wants to take me to become an immortal!”]

[You were filled with emotion...but you didn't notice your grandson's increasingly worried look...]

[So after reaching the shore, the clever grandson immediately ran back: "Oh no! Grandpa is crazy! Grandpa is crazy!"]

【I'm mad?】

[You frowned and looked at his back: What nonsense is this kid talking about? ]

[Forget about him! Seeing the monkey is more important! ]

[You wait for it to dock at the beach with great anticipation...]

[After waiting for a while, the familiar broken fishing boat approached the shore, and a figure that had appeared in your dreams countless times jumped out of it.]

[Its golden fur is particularly gorgeous in the sun, and it seems to be more beautiful than it was more than 30 years ago. ]

【“Benefactor! I’m back!”】

【The big golden monkey cheers to you! 】

[You can’t help but cry with joy: “It’s good to be back! It’s good to be back…”]

[“Have you found the immortal?”]

【You can’t wait to ask. 】

[“Of course I found it!”]

[The monkey raised his head proudly: "I found a Lingtai Fangcun Mountain in Xiniu Hezhou. There is a cave in the mountain, named Xieyue Sanxing Cave. In the cave is a Bodhi Patriarch. He has boundless magical powers and countless supernatural powers!"]

[“After going through countless hardships, I finally became your disciple. You taught me the art of immortality!”]

【The art of immortality! 】

[You are extremely excited after hearing this: Sure enough, there really is a secret to immortality in this world, your wait was not in vain! ]

【“Can you teach me?”】

[You are extremely excited, but ask cautiously.]

【"this……"】

[The monkey hesitated for a while, and finally shook his head: "No, I haven't got the master's permission yet... Unless you come with me to see the master and let the master teach you personally."]

【Go to see the master? 】

[A ray of light appeared in your eyes again: If you can pray to see the Bodhi Patriarch, you will surely have a chance to become an immortal...]

[The visualization method I learned from the King of the West is still too difficult to practice. I haven’t made any progress in all these years... Instead of trying to master the visualization method, it’s better to follow the monkey and see the ancestor. With the personal guidance of the immortal, you will definitely have a bright future! ]

[Thinking of all the wonderful things in the future, you secretly made up your mind...]

[So you nodded to the monkey: "Okay! After I say goodbye to my family, I will go with you to Xiniu Hezhou to see Patriarch Bodhi!"]

[As you were talking, you turned around and found your wife, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson all running towards you. Each of them had a look of worry on their faces...]

[“Boss! What’s wrong with you?”]

[The wife hugged you anxiously and said, "Did you see anything unclean?"]

[The daughter was also extremely worried: "Dad! Ah Heng said you are crazy, saying that you pointed at the empty sea and saw a monkey..."]

[You shake your head: "What's wrong with me? Isn't the monkey standing right here?"]

[You pointed to the deserted sand and said seriously.]

……

(End of this chapter)