Now, it is told that Tang Seng and his disciples arrived at Wuzhuang Abbey.
The two young attendants, Qingfeng and Mingyue, remembered their master Great Immortal Zhenyuan’s instructions, and so they received them warmly and invited Tang Seng into the abbey.
Then, waiting until Wukong and the other two were not around, they went to the rear garden, knocked down two fruits, and brought them for Tang Seng to eat.
Those ginseng fruits were treasures produced by an innate spiritual root. They truly resembled little children, their hands and feet able to move, nodding and shaking their heads. How could Tang Seng dare to eat them?
Though they urged him again and again, Tang Seng refused to eat.
Qingfeng and Mingyue then took the fruits back to their room and ate the two ginseng fruits themselves.
As it happened, the room of the two Daoist lads, Qingfeng and Mingyue, was right next to the kitchen, separated by only a single wall.
Bajie was cooking in the kitchen and overheard their conversation. In his heart, he could not help wanting to taste a ginseng fruit as well.
So he called Wukong over and begged him to go steal some fruit.
Wukong went to steal the ginseng fruits, but because he did not know that the ginseng fruits were incompatible with the Five Phases, he accidentally let one fall to the ground, where it burrowed into the soil and vanished.
He knocked down three more, and shared them with Bajie and Sha Seng.
Afterward, Qingfeng and Mingyue discovered that the number of fruits was wrong and came to settle accounts with Tang Seng. Tang Seng then called Wukong over.
Wukong said he had stolen three of their fruits.
But he had forgotten that, beforehand, one had fallen into the earth.
How could Qingfeng and Mingyue accept that? They cursed all the more fiercely, hurling filthy abuse—bald thieves, greedy thieves—without end.
How could Wukong have ever endured such humiliation?
Back then, when the Queen Mother had not invited him to the Peach Banquet, he had thrown the entire gathering into chaos. How could he now be willing to stand here and be cursed?
Thus he transformed a duplicate to remain where he was, while his true body went straight to the ginseng garden, drew out the golden-banded staff, and with divine strength that could shove mountains and move ridges, pushed the fruit tree over.
In truth, the dispositions of Qingfeng and Mingyue were not bad.
It was only that the ginseng fruits were indeed precious, bearing just thirty fruits once every ten thousand years. They themselves were only a little over a thousand years old, and so, fearing their master’s blame, they had grown anxious and hurled much abuse at Tang Seng and his disciples.
After they had cursed for a long while, the two left. Qingfeng then said:
“That monk is rather honest, after all. The two of us cursed them for so long, yet they did not talk back. Perhaps the tree is tall and its leaves dense, and we counted wrong. Maybe they really did eat only three. Let us go check again.”
Mingyue said, “Senior Brother speaks sense.”
The two of them went back into the garden, only to see the tree fallen, its branches splayed open, with no fruit and no leaves left upon it.
Qingfeng was so frightened his legs went weak and he tumbled headlong; Mingyue’s waist went limp and he trembled all over.
Their souls scattered in terror, their words came out in disorder, and they could only cry, “What are we to do! What are we to do! When Master comes home, how are the two of us to answer him?”
Suddenly, Mingyue thought of something and said, “Ah! Senior Brother, there truly is such a divine man in the mortal world! He truly is one who comprehends the principles of heaven and earth!”
Qingfeng said, “What divine man?”
Mingyue said, “Senior Brother, have you forgotten that Celestial Venerable Fuzhu Zhenshi who came by a few days ago?”
Qingfeng slapped his thigh and said:
“Ah, indeed! Indeed! He said our family’s immortal tree was in danger of being overturned, and now it has truly come to pass! We regret not listening to his words. Quickly, let us go invite him!”
Mingyue said, “Senior Brother, don’t panic. You go first and keep those monks steady. You must not let them escape. Hold those bald thieves here, and I will go outside to invite the Celestial Venerable over.”
Qingfeng said, “That is right, that is right!”
At once the two split up. Mingyue hurried out of the abbey and rushed outside. Whenever he came upon a mountain, he shouted, “Celestial Venerable Fuzhu Zhenshi! Celestial Venerable Fuzhu Zhenshi! Celestial Venerable Fuzhu Zhenshi!”
Ao Tu was on the mountain, and when he heard Mingyue calling out, he knew that the ginseng fruit tree had already been pushed over by Wukong. He then descended the mountain and said, “Why do you call me?”
When Mingyue saw Ao Tu, he hurriedly knelt on the ground and pleaded:
“This young child failed to recognize the Celestial Venerable’s divine foresight. After the Celestial Venerable left, four bald thieves indeed came to the abbey. They were so audacious as to steal the fruits in our abbey, and not only that, they even pushed over the immortal tree. I beg the Celestial Venerable to save our family’s immortal tree!”
He kowtowed again and again.
Ao Tu said, “Seeing that you, young lad, are at least sincere, I shall excuse your ignorance. Take me to have a look.”
Mingyue then invited Ao Tu to Wuzhuang Abbey.
On the other side, after Tang Seng and his disciples had eaten, Qingfeng prepared several vegetarian dishes and sent them in to keep them there. Taking advantage of the moment while they were eating, he slammed the door shut with a bang and fastened it with a brass lock. The two doors at the front and back were also shut.
Bajie laughed and said, “What kind of custom is this here? You even shut the doors when people eat?”
Qingfeng cursed, “You gluttonous bald donkeys! It was not enough for you to steal and eat our family’s immortal fruit—you even pushed over our family’s immortal tree and ruined the immortal root of our Wuzhuang Abbey. With conduct like yours, how do you have the face to go to the Western Heaven to fetch scriptures!”
When Tang Seng heard this, he set down his rice bowl, his heart as if weighed down by a great stone. He complained to Wukong:
“You monkey, again and again you cause disasters! If you stole and ate his fruit, then just endure a little anger from him and let him curse you a few times, and that would be the end of it. Why did you also push over his tree? If this matter were judged by its rights and wrongs, and a complaint were filed, even if your own father were an official, he could not justify it.”
Wukong said, “Master, don’t be anxious. We need only wait until those lads have fallen asleep, then set out overnight and take you all away.”
Sha Seng said, “How do we get out?”
Wukong laughed and said, “Never mind! Never mind! Old Sun has his own methods.”
Bajie said, “Of course you have a way to get out. You can transform into some bug and fly away, but how is Master supposed to leave? He can’t transform. He can only stay here and take the blame and suffer!”
Tang Seng said, “If he dares to do such a thing and does not take me out with him, I will recite that old scripture again and see how he endures it!”
Bajie said, “Master, what is that old scripture?”
Wukong said, “Bajie, it is that Tight-Fillet Spell. He is relying on that method to make things difficult for me.”
Tang Seng said nothing.
At that moment, there was already some discord among master and disciples, though it had not yet been shown.