Chapter 154: Exhausting All Efforts

Fang Jifan still did not think much of it, looking at Li Chaowen’s face which was even more pitiful than a bitter gourd.

He quietly thought to himself: Fool, this was my plan all along.

But on the surface, he showed no expression and said, “You and he are fellow disciples, both disciples of the Eldest Martial Brother and of the same generation. Why is he allowed to preside over Longquan Taoist Temple while you can’t even manage one Vegetarian Hall? What are you afraid of? Don’t worry, now that I, your Martial Uncle, am backing you, just confidently take charge of the Vegetarian Hall. Gather more fellow disciples—would Zhang Chaoxian dare to lay a finger on you?”

Li Chaowen shivered, still haunted by the terror of Zhang Chaoxian’s overbearing control over the temple for more than a decade.

Fang Jifan had given him a bold suggestion, and he was genuinely frightened inside. At the same time, he realized he had no other way out.

If he didn’t resist, what else could he do? The Eldest Martial Brother had always strictly forbidden any fellow disciples from defying him. This time, Fang Jifan had made him replace one of the Eldest Martial Brother’s trusted disciples. In the Eldest Martial Brother’s eyes, he was already on Fang Jifan’s side.

And who couldn’t see the conflict between Martial Uncle and the Eldest Martial Brother today?

This suddenly appearing Martial Uncle had both pushed him into a pit of fire and become his last lifeline.

He hesitated, filled with fear and at a loss.

Fang Jifan continued to coax him, “Why does he get to enjoy a life of luxury while you live in hardship? Just rest assured, take good care of your Vegetarian Hall. If anyone dares to bully you, I, your Martial Uncle, will stand up for you.”

The words “life of luxury” seemed to stir some desire in Li Chaowen, while “hardship” made him feel somewhat unwilling.

Of course, after years under the Eldest Martial Brother’s dictatorial rule, Li Chaowen would never have dared to entertain such bold ideas before.

But now… the knife was already at his throat—what else could he do?

Li Chaowen looked deeply at Fang Jifan. It seemed that his only support now was this Martial Uncle, but…

This Martial Uncle who had appeared out of nowhere—his background was unknown. Was he reliable?

Whether he was reliable or not, it seemed he had no choice but to board this pirate ship. Li Chaowen had no option but to say to Fang Jifan, “This humble disciple understands, Martial Uncle. Please take care of me from now on.”

Fang Jifan smiled and said, “That’s more like it. I like people with ambition. Go back up the mountain. In a few days, I’ll come to see you.”

Li Chaowen instinctively replied, “You… You must come.”

“…”

In truth, Fang Jifan understood Li Chaowen’s feelings very well. Sending Li Chaowen back up the mountain now was like sending him to the execution ground. Only by relying on him did Li Chaowen feel even a tiny bit of security. So… Li Chaowen wished he would stay on the mountain forever.

Reluctantly seeing his Martial Uncle off, Li Chaowen took a deep breath, looked at the temple gate, sighed, and finally went up the mountain.

This series of actions had already amazed the followers.

However, Ouyang Zhi, Liu Wenshan, and Jiang Chen remained calm and unruffled. After all, they had been with Fang Jifan for a long time and were used to it! Nothing their Mentor did seemed strange to them anymore!

In fact, when Ouyang Zhi first came down the mountain, he had wondered to himself why the visit to Longquan Taoist Temple had been so uneventful—it wasn’t his Mentor’s style at all.

When his Mentor eagerly went up the mountain for the second time, he breathed a sigh of relief. Good, it was still the same Mentor. He had known something would happen, so he felt surprisingly relaxed. This familiar feeling truly put him at ease. Even rushing to smash the Vegetarian Hall, and later learning that his Mentor was actually Puji Zhenren’s junior brother, nothing felt out of place.

Tang Yin seemed quite excited, as if he felt his Mentor had avenged him. At that moment, his literary inspiration surged—yes, he wanted to compose a poem.

Xu Jing was pondering all sorts of things about his Mentor when suddenly his eyes lit up. He gave a mental thumbs-up: Mentor… how brilliant!

Wang Shouren couldn’t hold back any longer. He felt he was going crazy. What was this Young Lord Fang doing? He couldn’t figure it out. More and more questions filled his mind, so he swallowed his pride and said, “Young Lord Fang, this student has a matter I’d like to ask about.”

Fang Jifan was in a good mood. Seeing Wang Shouren’s eager expression, he patiently said, “Go ahead.”

“Could we speak somewhere privately?” Wang Shouren glanced at Ouyang Zhi and the others.

Ah, an eccentric is still an eccentric—a person with no emotional intelligence. Asking to speak in private right in front of his disciples—didn’t that mean he didn’t trust Ouyang Zhi and the rest?

But Fang Jifan still nodded and walked a bit farther with Wang Shouren. Wang Shouren looked intently at Fang Jifan and said, “This was Young Lord Fang’s intentional plan, wasn’t it? It seems Young Lord Fang wants to gain something from Longquan Taoist Temple?”

Even a fool could see that, and Wang Shouren was no fool.

But… Wang Shouren still didn’t quite understand.

Fang Jifan said, “You’re right. I want to get something from Longquan Taoist Temple.”

He hadn’t expected Young Lord Fang to be so frank today.

“So what is it that Young Lord Fang wants?” Wang Shouren immediately had even more questions.

“The ten thousand acres of fertile land belonging to Longquan Taoist Temple.” Fang Jifan answered honestly.

Wang Shouren sharply drew in a cold breath, feeling utterly shocked.

Seeing Wang Shouren’s stunned expression, Fang Jifan smiled and said, “You’ve seen it yourself. Under Zhang Chaoxian’s management, Longquan Taoist Temple seems to be thriving. But… his methods of operation probably aren’t very honorable. So I thought, since such a scoundrel is allowed to amass wealth, why not let me do it instead? In any case, the outcome couldn’t be any worse.”

“…” Wang Shouren was speechless…

Could it really be understood that way?

Fang Jifan sighed inwardly, thinking: Ten thousand acres of fertile land means sweet potatoes can be promoted on a large scale. And large-scale promotion of sweet potatoes means alleviating the impending famine. By then, who knows how many people could be saved, how many who would have become starved corpses in history could survive!

Although the current era could be called a time of peace and prosperity, the standards for what the ancients considered peace and prosperity were extremely low. When a disaster struck, countless people would still go hungry, and countless would become bleached bones by the roadside.

Although he had come to this world, experienced many things, and many things had happened—no matter how others saw him—Fang Jifan firmly held one principle: he must be a good person. Even if not entirely pure, if he had the capacity, he must help others.

This was something Fang Jifan secretly reminded himself to stick to in everything he did. Fang Jifan preferred to call it sentiment. A person’s outward appearance could be lowly, their behavior could be vulgar, their actions could be despicable, but they absolutely must not lose their sentiment.

Fang Jifan said with a slight smile, “You must be very surprised, aren’t you? I knew you’d start overthinking. Since you want to know so badly, I’ll tell you. The prices at Longquan Taoist Temple’s Vegetarian Hall are so high, and even in times of famine, they refuse to reduce the land rent. What does that tell you? Based on my judgment, if the person in charge were Puji Zhenren—judging from my conversation with him—I’m convinced he would never do such a thing. If that’s the case, then the only explanation is that Puji Zhenren no longer handles mundane matters, and the management of Longquan Taoist Temple has been handed over to his disciples.”

Wang Shouren listened intently, almost afraid to miss a single word.

Fang Jifan continued, “But look at the Taoists in the temple—it’s strange. Many older Taoists dress plainly and look destitute. Yet some younger Taoists appear sleek and even have Taoist robes made of silk. Don’t you think that’s odd? What does that mean? It means Puji Zhenren handed over mundane matters to his disciples long ago, but… the authority isn’t shared among the third-generation ‘Chao’ disciples. Instead, the power is concentrated in one person’s hands. Only in this way would other ‘Chao’ disciples seem so poor. Since one Eldest Martial Brother holds all the power, the ones he guards against the most are his own fellow disciples, because they are his peers—how could he not be wary of them?

Therefore, his trusted followers are mostly disciples of lower seniority, because only then can he use these people to control the entire Longquan Taoist Temple without worrying that they might gain power and threaten his position. That’s why the older disciples are plain, while some fourth-generation ‘Tian’ disciples have become the backbone of Longquan Taoist Temple.”

Fang Jifan looked at Wang Shouren’s serious expression and said, “So when I heard Tang Yin had been beaten, I didn’t care at first. But later, when I learned that Longquan Taoist Temple had ten thousand acres of fertile land, I didn’t hesitate to go up the mountain and become Puji Zhenren’s junior brother. Then I said I was hungry and went to the Vegetarian Hall. The purpose of going to the Vegetarian Hall was actually to pick a fight. If I didn’t start a fight, how could I lure out that Zhang Chaoxian?”

“Once Zhang Chaoxian was lured out, everything became easy. To make him feel trapped and strip him of his authority—this was to unsettle him. Once he was unsettled and caught off guard by my sudden attack, he would definitely want to quickly resolve the matter. The more he wanted to end it, the more I refused to let him have his way. Then I forced him to dismiss Wang Tianbao, and afterward, forced him to accept Li Chaowen as the manager of the Vegetarian Hall.”

Fang Jifan was clearly in a very good mood, patiently explaining the entire matter to Wang Shouren.

“Do you know why it was Li Chaowen? Because I saw that he was poor and not young anymore—probably a ‘Chao’ generation disciple and Zhang Chaoxian’s fellow disciple. The reason I chose him wasn’t because I had high hopes for him, but to leave him with no way out. He knew perfectly well that by taking charge of the Vegetarian Hall—and being recommended by me, the Martial Uncle who had humiliated Zhang Chaoxian—he would inevitably become a thorn in Zhang Chaoxian’s side. Zhang Chaoxian would absolutely not let him off. Li Chaowen was like a drowning man whose retreat I cut off. The only thing he could do was burn his bridges, cling tightly to me, his Martial Uncle, and fight Zhang Chaoxian with all his might.”

“You see, Li Chaowen is just a pawn in my game! What use is it for me to become the Martial Uncle of Longquan Taoist Temple? I’m just a mascot. Oh, do you know what a mascot is? It’s like the clay statues in the Taoist temple—they look dignified but are actually useless to the temple. But now, through Li Chaowen, I have truly entered the chess game of Longquan Taoist Temple. As long as Zhang Chaoxian is removed, then the entire ten thousand acres of fertile land of Longquan Taoist Temple will be under my control. Li Chaowen is just a controllable puppet.”

“This is what we call the Unity of Knowledge and Action. Have your own view of all things, then go ahead and put it into practice. Use your actions to realize your wishes, and through your understanding of all things, practice what you intend to do. These two elements are indispensable.”