Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

Actually, when various ingredients are mixed together, the flavors of the ingredients blend and complement each other.

That's why gourmet dishes often use a variety of ingredients and seasonings together.

And this hotpot, after throwing in various ingredients, became even more delicious. Although lacking chili, it somehow fell short for Jiang Liu, but Sun Wukong and the other two thoroughly enjoyed it.

Especially Zhu Bajie, who sliced up hundreds of pounds of lamb rolls and beef rolls, grabbed a large chopstick full, swished them in the boiling broth, and then splashed some sauce to eat. This made Zhu Bajie find it extremely interesting.

It wasn't just about the deliciousness; the novelty of the hotpot itself made it very intriguing for Sun Wukong and his friends.

With a variety of ingredients laid out in front, they could throw in whatever they wanted to eat. It felt incredibly comfortable.

"Master, it's delicious, these really are delicious! I think, even without the chili you mentioned, this hotpot is still really good, especially in winter, it feels just right to eat this!"

Zhu Bajie stuffed a huge chopstick full of meat directly into his mouth, devouring it heartily, and then he picked up a cup of chilled rice wine and downed it in one gulp.

On this cold New Year's Eve, eating hotpot but pairing it with chilled rice wine, Zhu Bajie found the mix of heat and cold quite a unique flavor.

"Today is New Year's Eve, everyone just eat your fill!" Jiang Liu also smiled.

Staying here for the New Year, eating hotpot and drinking rice wine indeed felt very nice.

It was fortunate that today someone had set off fireworks, otherwise he might have not realized it was New Year's and just let this New Year's Eve pass unnoticed.

All in all, a meal of hotpot left everyone fully satisfied, even Zhu Bajie, who eventually hugged his own belly.

Fully satiated, lying down for Zhu Bajie, seemed the greatest happiness.

Lying to one side, Zhu Bajie's mind inevitably wandered to Chang'e, wondering how she was doing alone in the Moon Palace now?

Of course, Zhu Bajie inevitably thought of Zhuzhu as well, because his journey to the west was to overthrow the celestial heavens, and to keep the Immortals and Buddhas from knowing that the master had a unique way to resurrect people, Zhu Bajie and Zhuzhu had agreed for her to hide, waiting until his journey west was over, then he would find her.

"I wonder if Zhuzhu is thinking of me now?" Lying on the ground, Zhu Bajie murmured to himself.

Of course, after thinking of Zhuzhu, Zhu Bajie inevitably recalled their child.

The thought of his now gone child, made Zhu Bajie's hatred for the Buddhist Sect rise a few more notches.

"Master, aren't you cultivating today?" Sun Wukong suddenly asked Jiang Liu curiously.

Normally after dinner, Jiang Liu would sit down cross-legged to cultivate the Heavenly Dragon Zen Sound, but tonight after dinner, he hadn't cultivated and instead took out a small knife, apparently to split wood into small, square little pieces.

"Cultivate!? Why should I cultivate on New Year's!?" Hearing the words of Sun Wukong, Jiang Liu gave him a sideways glance and shook his head.

In his past life, wasn't New Year's Eve for resting?

Getting together with everyone to stay up late: in Jiang Liu's view, playing throughout the night of New Year's Eve was the greatest tribute to the holiday.

"Then, Master, what are you doing?" Observing that Jiang Liu had already fashioned about twenty or thirty small square blocks, Sun Wukong, feeling curious, asked.

"Don't ask too much, I am going to teach you guys a fun game, come help me!" Hearing Sun Wukong's inquiry, Jiang Liu spoke and summoned Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie to help.

Jiang Liu's mysterious demeanor made Sun Wutian and the others a bit curious and excited, hastening to help.

Soon, together they chopped out more than a hundred square blocks.

Jiang Liu picked up a block and started to carve patterns on it, according to his memory.

Some were circles, some were characters, and others were long, bar-shaped patterns…

Then, after the carvings were done, he took out calligraphy brushes and stroked a few lines over these carved patterns.

"Hmm, pretty ugly…" After all over a hundred Mahjong tiles were carved and painted, looking at these utterly unattractive Mahjong tiles, Jiang Liu privately grimaced.

"Master, it's finished now, so what next? How do we play this?" Sun Wukong, seeing Jiang Liu finishing the last 'nine bamboo' tile, asked impatiently.

"Come here, I'll explain the rules now. This thing is called Mahjong. For example, this is 'eating' which could only be done from the previous player, not the next, like if someone discards a tile and you have two identical ones you can claim 'pong', and there are several ways to win, the most common being the basic win and the thirteen wonders…"

After explaining the rules of Mahjong thoroughly, since theory is no substitute for practice, Jiang Liu invited everyone to sit down and play.

White Dragon Horse naturally had no objections and voluntarily sat above Jiang Liu.

However, when Sun Wukong heard about the rules of Mahjong, he appeared disappointed and said, "Master, I, Old Sun, have always hated playing chess in my life, and I feel like this is somewhat similar to chess!"

"Just a bunch of little wooden blocks, they look like something a three-year-old child would play with, doesn't seem interesting at all!" Not only did Sun Wukong feel this way, but Zhu Bajie beside him also nodded in agreement, always feeling that playing with a pair of small wooden blocks was utterly uninteresting.

"Playthings make one lose ambition..." Sha Wujing, who was originally a bit curious about what the Scripture Seeker had come up with, did not expect it to be merely some trinkets, and similarly found it dull, shaking his head.

...

Three Chinese Hours later!

"Zhong!" White Dragon Horse raised his hand and played a tile.

"Chow!" Jiang Liu's eyes lit up as he spoke.

"Hey, hey, hey, Xiaobai, how come you manage to feed tiles to Master every hand? Have you guys conspired and come up with some secret signals or something!?" Seeing this, Sun Wukong frantically said, scratching his head.

While speaking, Sun Wukong watched as Jiang Liu played a card, and unable to take it himself, he shook his head helplessly and drew a nine bamboo, tossing it out immediately.

"I win! Hahaha! Thirteen orphans! Pay up, pay up!" Seeing the nine bamboo played by Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie pushed his tiles down and laughed loudly.

"Hey, hey, hey, you blockhead, what's going on? You've won thirteen rounds in a row now!" As Zhu Bajie won again, Sun Wukong became even more agitated.

"Right! Bajie, are you cheating!?" Not only did Sun Wukong feel this way, but Jiang Liu also nodded in agreement.

Having won thirteen rounds in a row, Zhu Bajie was notoriously lazy, but his gambling luck seemed unbelievably good.

"Second brother's luck is truly good, every time he draws a tile, there's a good eight or nine chance that it's exactly the tile he needs!"

Who knew when Sha Wujing, who initially thought that Jiang Liu and others were losing ambition by playing with toys, had appeared behind Zhu Bajie, having watched for who knows how long, and he couldn't help but speak up to vouch for Zhu Bajie.

"This, this is like a human cheat code!" Hearing Sha Wujing's words, Jiang Liu's lips twitched slightly as he silently criticized Zhu Bajie's unbelievable gambling luck.

"This is completely no fun at all!"

Vaguely, Jiang Liu could feel the White Dragon Horse sitting above him, seemingly intentionally feeding him tiles, but even so, he could not withstand Zhu Bajie's gambling luck, leaving Jiang Liu somewhat helpless.

"It's quite late now, it's already the middle of the night, let's call it a day and rest?" Having not won a single hand after playing for so long, Jiang Liu found it pointless and suggested shaking his head.

"Master, didn't you say that on New Year's Eve, one should stay up all night? Why rest!? Keep going, let's play all night!" Hearing Jiang Liu's words, Zhu Bajie was excitedly suggesting.

"Right, right! Master, I, Old Sun, refuse to believe that playing Mahjong I would lose to a pig!" Sun Wukong also nodded, showing a more determined demeanor.

Losing to a pig at Mahjong? That seems like a rather embarrassing thing, doesn't it?

"Cough cough, well, Master, if you're tired, you can go rest, I, I can take your place and play a few rounds!" It was then Sha Wujing, who perked up upon hearing Jiang Liu's words, openy volunteered.

Jiang Liu had always been somewhat biased against Sha Wujing, perhaps sensing this, Sha Wujing had always maintained a distance from him and others, not quite like a team member.

Yet unexpectedly, today he actively offered to join the game, which indeed surprised Jiang Liu.

After all? Could the allure of Mahjong, a national treasure, be irresistible to anyone?

Ordinarily, Jiang Liu might have ignored him, but today was New Year's Eve, and after a moment's hesitation, Jiang Liu nodded and stood up, giving his place to Sha Wujing.

Walking to the side to catch a cool breeze, Jiang Liu turned to look back, watching Sun Wukong and the others gathered and playing Mahjong. Would people from his past life be stunned if they saw this scene?

Smiling, Jiang Liu walked aside and observed the sky still ablaze with festive fireworks, and his mind unavoidably wandered to Gaoyang, wondering how she was. Do Bodhisattvas and Immortals also celebrate the New Year?

Probably not? After all, a year on earth is but a day in heaven.

Thinking of Gaoyang, Jiang Liu's mind inevitably drifted to Jinshan Temple, wondering how the people there were doing now?

Tap tap tap...

As Jiang Liu's mind was filled with myriad thoughts, suddenly, a figure approached him through the dark night.

He couldn't clearly see who it was yet, but the health bar above the head was distinctly visible.