Scumbag Chapter 186 The Real Young Master Doesn’t Care For The Crematorium Trope (8)

The Supporting Male Lead’s second wish was to let the people in the entire country know that his cooking was delicious.

This wish didn’t conflict with becoming a monk at all. After all, Mingting could simply learn to make vegetarian meals!

So, every time his senior brothers cooked, Mingting would watch closely, learning as he observed, and even asking them to teach him.

Because of this, he earned himself a new nickname, ‘Little Glutton’.

Mingting really wanted to explain that he wasn’t actually a glutton, and he really just wanted to learn how to cook vegetarian meals.

However, he secretly added diluted spiritual spring water to the temple’s communal soup and slipped vegetables from his own spatial storage into the dishes his senior brothers prepared.

Abbot Hongde is almost seventy years old, and Mingting hoped the old abbot would stay healthy and live a long life.

When visiting his grandparents, Grandma Xiang would prepare all kinds of delicious dishes for Mingting, and he took the opportunity to nourish their bodies with Spiritual Spring water and medicinal herbs.

Good people deserved to live a hundred years, after all!

Abbot Hongde wasn’t strict with the little novice monks, and didn’t enforce a vegetarian diet on them.

First, because children needed proper nutrition to grow, and second, because these young novice monks were just orphans taken in by the temple, not ordained monks.

After Mingting gained his grandparents, the elderly couple often invited the other little novice monks over for meals.

They like children very much, and they pity these orphans, so they always prepare plenty of delicious food and snacks for them. Several little monks also like Grandpa Xiang and Grandma Xiang very much.

And so, Mingting spent his springs gathering bamboo shoots and mulberries with his senior brothers in the mountains, summers picking mushrooms, lichen, and wood ears, autumns collecting wild chestnuts and walnuts, and winters quietly admiring the red plum blossoms in the snow at the temple.

By the time he turned six, Mingting insisted on going to school with his senior brothers.

Although Grandpa Xiang had hoped Mingting would attend school in the county town, Mingting preferred to go with his senior brothers, so the elderly couple simply moved to the foot of the mountain.

After over a year of Mingting’s careful nurturing, their bodies were in excellent shape. Now, they don’t feel sore in the waist and legs when climbing the mountain.

Moreover, when they went for a physical examination, all their indicators were healthy, and the doctor even said they could easily live another twenty years, which delighted them.

Like volunteers, the two often went up the mountain to help with whatever they could.

Grandma Xiang assisted with cooking vegetarian meals, while Grandpa Xiang would bring fresh fruit.

Once school started, Mingting and the little novices went together in the mornings, had lunch and a nap at his grandparents’ house, then returned to school in the afternoon.

Since all the temple’s young novice monks studied there, Mingting’s presence didn’t attract much attention. Many classmates just found his shaved head adorable.

Just one month after going to school, Mingting's homeroom teacher realized he was a genius, as he had already mastered the textbook material.

The teacher was astonished and specially gave Mingting a third-grade exam to test him. As a result, he handed in a perfect score.

In the end, the teacher consulted the principal, and Mingting skipped straight to fourth grade.

After that, he continued skipping grades multiple times, and each time, he would be the youngest student in the class.

Since the elementary and middle schools were adjacent, all the teachers knew about the little monk who kept skipping grades and was exceptionally brilliant.

By the time Mingting turned fifteen, he had completed high school, becoming the youngest senior at County No. 1 High School, and even took the college entrance examination.

Grandpa Xiang and Grandma Xiang did not have any requirements for him. They simply hoped their little grandson would stay happy, healthy, and free to pursue whatever he desired.

Abbot Hongde had long since realized that Mingting was different from other children.

He had a photographic memory. By the time he was in elementary school, he could recite Buddhist scriptures flawlessly.

During morning prayers and meditation, children his age would usually doze off, fidget, or struggle to calm their minds. But Mingting alone could sit with perfect patience.

Abbot Hongde told Grandpa and Grandma Xiang that Mingting had a deep connection to Buddhism, but his worldly ties were not yet severed, and the right time had not yet come.

Before the college entrance examination, Grandpa Xiang asked Mingting what school he wanted to apply for and what major he wanted to study. Mingting said he wanted to study computer science.

Truthfully, all these years, Mingting had quietly held a small wish in his heart, that is, there will be no more abducted children in this world… And studying computer science could help him fulfill that wish.

When the news arrived that he had become the city’s top science student, Mingting was at Guiyi Temple, preparing vegetarian meals.

Guiyi Temple is relatively remote, so it didn’t attract many worshippers.

The temple has not been renovated for many years, and some parts were shabby, even dilapidated.

The temple offered vegetarian meals to visitors at a very low price.

In the 1990s, it cost 50 cents, and now, it was 3 yuan per serving, which included a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, a plate of cold dishes, and two vegetarian dishes… all you could eat.

Over the years, Mingting had spent his summer and winter vacations helping out at Guiyi Temple.

His culinary skills had improved dramatically, and many worshippers knew that there was a young monk named Mingting at Guiyi Temple who could turn plain tofu into something extraordinarily delicious.

Since Mingting was still a student and only available during holidays, there are many more people coming to Guiyi Temple during holidays than usual.

Some came for religious reasons, others were vegetarian food enthusiasts, and some were even tourists passing through.

Word of mouth spread little by little.

"Senior brother, if we keep working hard, we’ll eventually save enough for renovations!"

Mingting remained optimistic.

Ever since he came to Guiyi Temple, Guiyi Temple’s donations had increased significantly.

People who came to make wishes to the Buddha found that their prayers were answered. In addition, the temple’s vegetarian food here is delicious, so the situation was much better than in the original timeline.

The leaders of the Education Bureau were surprised that the top science student was so young and had grown up as an orphan in a temple, so they awarded him a 100,000-yuan scholarship, and with additional bonuses from the county and his school, Mingting ended up with 140,000 yuan.

He divided the money into two parts, one for Grandpa and Grandma Xiang as a token of filial piety, and the other donated to Guiyi Temple for renovations.

As for university, instead of choosing a prestigious school in the capital, Mingting opted for a provincial 985 university, which is something no one had expected. (T/N: Project 985 was a higher education development and sponsorship scheme of the Chinese central government for creating world-class higher education institutions, initiated in May 1998.)

"I want to stay close to home."

On camera, the handsome, shaven-headed teenager smiled shyly.

At this time, everyone finally remembered that this young monk was only 15 years old, and a normal person at this age would still be a junior high school student.