Chapter 484: Master and disciple sharing a drink

The setting sun hung on the peak of Fangcun Mountain, dyeing the whole mountain a golden-red.

It was as if someone had poured a basin of molten gold down, and even the leaves of the old locust tree in the courtyard were coated with a layer of warm light.

Several plates of vegetarian dishes were set on the stone table.

One dish of peanuts, one dish of cold-mixed wild vegetables, and half a plate of askew-cut pickled radish.

At a glance, the knife work was clearly done by Sun Wukong.

Beside it sat a jug of wine, with a few peach blossom petals still stuck to its body.

Yao's flower-fruit wine, made from the fruit of the oldest peach tree on Mount Huaguo, had been buried in the cellar for a full three months.

Bodhi sat on the stone stool, looking at the full table of dishes, and furrowed his brow.

"Just this?"

Sun Wukong plopped down opposite, and before his buttocks were even settled, he snatched up the wine jug.

"Master, you've been imprisoned for tens of thousands of years; your digestion is weak, so eat something light first."

"You're quite good at making excuses."

Bodhi complained with his mouth, but still picked up his chopsticks, pinched a peanut, and tossed it into his mouth.

He chewed twice.

No comment.

Sun Wukong filled Bodhi's bowl before him with wine, then poured himself a bowl as well.

The liquor was a pale gold, carrying a faint fruit fragrance.

"Master!"

He raised his bowl and grinned at Bodhi.

"Cheers!"

Before he finished speaking, he tipped his head back and gulped it down in one go.

The wine flowed down his throat, spicy with a hint of sweet, warming from his chest to his limbs.

He wiped his mouth and set the empty bowl down on the table with a thud.

"Refreshing!"

Bodhi held his bowl, unmoving, and glanced at him.

"Gulping."

Only after saying that did he slowly bring the bowl to his lips and take a small sip.

Yao sat nearby, resting her chin in her hands, watching the two of them.

She never dared to dream of such a scene before.

The old geezer who once nearly overturned the entire Universe, and the monkey who nearly gambled his own life away, now sat quietly at a stone table, drinking wine and eating peanuts.

Sun Wukong poured himself another bowl, and a flush rose on his face.

The monkey's alcohol tolerance was actually fine, but today he drank hastily, as if pouring all the pent-up energy of these years into the wine.

"Master, do you still remember when I first came up the mountain?"

Bodhi's motion of picking up a peanut paused.

"Which time."

"That time!"

Sun Wukong slapped his thigh, his voice rising a bit: "You told me to chop firewood; I thought the axe was too slow, so I just used my head to smash that tree."

Yao burst out laughing.

"Using your head?"

"Exactly!"

Sun Wukong grinned, showing his teeth: "The tree didn't break, but I got a bump on my head that hurt for three days."

He pointed to the spot above his forehead, as if the bump were still there.

"Back then, Master flew into a rage, chasing me all over the mountain, saying he'd never seen such a stupid monkey in his life."

Bodhi snorted, but the curve at the corner of his mouth couldn't be hidden.

"Not just that time. On your first day practicing somersaults, you flipped right into the outhouse."

Sun Wukong's face flushed red instantly, like a cooked shrimp.

"Master! How do you still remember that!"

"It stank for three days."

Bodhi deadpanned, adding, "My nose almost got ruined."

Yao laughed so hard she doubled over on the table, tears nearly spilling.

Sun Wukong, anxious, scratched his ears and cheeks, wishing he could find a crack to crawl into.

"Well then, tell us about your own affairs! When you were the Chaotic Demon God, did you never lose face?"

Bodhi set down his chopsticks and leaned back against the stone stool.

The sunset's light fell on his face, those deep grooves of wrinkles holding countless years.

"Back in my day, I punched and shattered three thousand worlds in the Chaos."

He said this in an extremely light tone, as if he were merely commenting that the weather today is fine.

Sun Wukong and Yao both froze.

"Three thousand?"

Yao widened her eyes.

"Too noisy."

Bodhi lifted his wine bowl and took another sip, "Those worlds thunder every day, so noisy I can't sleep; I threw a punch and it became quiet."

Sun Wukong's mouth opened wide.

"Just because it's noisy?"

"There was another time."

Bodhi's tone carried a hint of nostalgia, "A clueless Chaotic Demon God ran onto my turf and went wild, claiming he was the master of Chaos."

"Then what?"

"I rolled him into a marble."

Bodhi said lightly, "Later that marble rolled away and got lost; I don't know where it went."

Sun Wukong stared for two seconds, then burst into wild laughter.

"Hahaha! Rolled into a marble! Master, you're amazing!"

Yao also laughed uncontrollably, but after laughing she suddenly thought of a question.

"Could that marble have turned into something powerful?"

Bodhi shook his head and waved his hand indifferently.

"What trouble could a marble possibly cause?"

The wine jug was emptied; Yao went to the inner room and fetched another jug.

At some point the moon climbed to the treetops, its silvery light intertwining with the last glow of sunset.

Sun Wukong's face flushed, and he became more talkative.

He talked about stealing peaches of immortality back then, about how he upturned Taishang Laojun's alchemy furnace with a staff when he caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace, and about being pressed under Five Elements Mountain for five hundred years, able only to count ants for amusement.

Bodhi listened all along, occasionally interjecting, calling him twice a "reckless monkey."

Yao quietly accompanied them, refilling their wine and serving dishes.

After three rounds of wine.

Sun Wukong's laughter gradually faded.

He stared at the half-sip of wine left in his bowl for a while, then pushed the bowl aside.

He picked up the white porcelain tea cup from the corner of the stone table.

The cup still held half a cup of tea, which he had just brewed before leaving, and it was still steaming.

He cupped the cup in both hands and raised it steadily before Bodhi.

Bodhi looked at that cup of tea.

Then he looked into his eyes.

In the moonlight, the monkey's pair of crimson-gold pupils were pure as two pieces of amber.

"Master."

Sun Wukong's voice lost its usual playful grin, carrying a solemnity he had never shown before.

"This old monkey of mine has done quite a few big things in my life. I smashed Ling Shan, kicked over the Heavenly Court, and killed that old bastard Hongjun."

"Maybe later I'll have to venture into another universe and beat up a few discontents."

He paused, his Adam's apple moving.

"No matter where I go in the future, no matter how strong I become,"

"I will always be your foolish monkey who pours tea at Fangcun Mountain."

The courtyard fell silent.

The wind stopped.

The insects ceased their chirping.

Even that old locust tree behaved itself.

Bodhi stared at that cup of tea.

His eye sockets reddened.

This ancient monster who has lived for unknown hundreds of thousands of years, this Chaotic Demon God who can flick away a Saint with a single sleeve, this being who even treads the Heavenly Dao underfoot.

His eye sockets reddened.

He said nothing.

Not a single word.

He simply reached out and took the cup of tea.

The cup was warm.

He brought the tea cup to his lips and drained it in one gulp.

As the tea slid down his throat, it was a hundred times stronger than that jug of fruit wine.

He set the empty cup back on the table, its base tapping the stone surface with a soft click.

A gentle breeze blew again.

It lifted a few leaves that had fallen from the old locust tree, swirling them between the three of them.

Yao quietly wiped her eyes.

Sun Wukong grinned again, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

Bodhi gave a light cough, turned his face away, pretending to look at the moon.

Nobody said any more sentimental words.

No need to say it.

It's all in this cup of tea.

The three of them laughed again, the sound drifting over the courtyard wall, past the bamboo grove, echoing through the valleys of Fangcun Mountain.

Legend says that long ago, passing cultivators who went through Fangcun Mountain could sometimes still hear that night's laughter in the mountain wind.

They said it was the warmest sound in the Universe.

More eternal than any divine ability or technique.

The night was deep.

Yao slept leaning against the peach tree, a smile still playing at the corners of their mouth.

Sun Wukong yawned, tilted his head and leaned against the stone table, dozing off, a blade of grass still between his lips.

Bodhi did not sleep.

They looked at these two juniors, a faint smile playing at the corner of their mouth.

Then they raised their head to look at the night sky.

The moon was round, the stars bright.

But in the depths of the void where moonlight could not reach, something moved slightly.

That aura was three tenths closer than before.

Bodhi withdrew their gaze.

They lowered their head and looked at their own right hand, which was like a withered bone.

The five fingers slowly clenched, then relaxed.

Come on.

Their voice was audible only to themselves, soft as a sigh.

My tea is finished.

It's time to work.