Fei Chuan practically sprinted to the lodgings. Giving himself a single second to catch his breath and look composed, Fei Chuan stealthily slipped through the sliding door and loomed over the child holding a struggling butterfly by the wings.
"Young Monk."
Gu Song did a full body jump, fingers loosening enough that the butterfly ripped itself free and shot away, its flight haggard and jerky. Gu Song watched it go before hastily standing up and bowing in respect. "Overseer!"
"Your fellow initiates have informed me of your ailment. At a time like this, do not carelessly put things in your mouth."
"I-I wasn't going to eat the butterfly!"
Fei Chuan walked over to the cots and casually reached under a pillow. The crinkle of plastic and the brief burst of sweet sugar. He wrinkled his nose. "I was referring to the sweets." As he said so, Fei Chuan walked over to investigate the rest of the furniture. Boy, the kids are going to hate him for this.
The child watched him do so hesitantly, as if wondering whether he should be putting up a protest. Then Fei Chuan walked over to a cot in the corner and Gu Song practically bristled with territorial panic when Fei Chuan lifted up a pack of sour hard candies.
Oh, thank Buddha. Fei Chuan struggled to keep his eyes from watering. No more bland congee in the morning! At least, not for him! Have to protect this item carefully, Fei Chuan thought, slipping it between his monk robes.
Fei Chuan turned back to the smuggler of the sour candy. Ah, what an obedient and cute child!
With a straight face, Fei Chuan intoned, "We cannot disturb the peaceful lives of others for our own gain, nor can we intentionally harm others. Give the butterflies their freedom, Initiate Gu Song. Live your life, and they'll live theirs. This is the way of the Buddha. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Overseer." Gu Song lowered his head and didn't meet Fei Chuan's eyes. He was probably cursing out Fei Chuan as the latter lectured, but who cares about that? Fei Chuan found this young boy very pleasing to the eye. Young man, how about smuggling in some pickled radishes next time?
[Task 01b complete. Task 01c available in two months.]
Fei Chuan nodded in satisfaction and left the premises.
But just a week later...
[Task 01b: Save the ants from Gu Song (Weekly).]
[Task 01a: Confiscate the Gu Song's magnifying glass (refer to 01b).]
"The ant is small, but he works hard. Learn from him, rather than destroy him."
"Yes, Overseer."
And another week after that...
[Task 01b: Save the hatched birds from Gu Song (Weekly).]
"Budding life must be cradled and nurtured. Allow them to find their way, young monk. Please come down from the tree."
And yet another week after that!
[Task 01c available in a month.]
Well, there wasn't a task, but Fei Chuan was a human, and humans were particularly gifted in pattern recognition. Sure enough, Fei Chuan found Gu Song about to gouge out the eye of a cat!
This serial-killer in training! Fei Chuan was running out of proverbs to bullshit!
Looking at the frustrated slump that was Gu Song, Fei Chuan felt just a little bit bad. The life of a monk was truly too repressive, and Fei Chuan shouldered a bit of the blame for going around confiscating everything. But forget that, one day all the pent up frustration was just going to explode out of Gu Song's little body, and then what would happen?
YOU ARE READING
A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son
General FictionFei Chuan was bound to a system upon death and tasked with raising a [Villain] from small to big in one world, then the next, then the next. Over the hundreds of years, the brutal experiences he was forced to make the [Villain] go through gradually...
