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The soft sound of morning birds filled the small room as Tang Sanzang began to stir.
Blinking a couple of times for his eyes to adjust to the fresh light that flooded his bedroom, the immortal being decided to stay tucked under his blankets for a few minutes longer and simply listen to the sounds of the beginning of a new day.
That was, until he heard a crash from outside his bedroom and the telltale squeal of terror from a certain ex-demon pig.
And so the Buddha’s day began.
—
“Stop trying to touch my food!”
“I’m not trying to touch your food you fat pig, I’m trying to grab some fruit!”
“Master, big brothers are fighting again…”
Tang Sanzang sighed and took another sip of his tea.
Deciding to stay in the human realm down in China and live in a decent sized apartment once he attained enlightenment sounded like the perfect plan at first, until his four loyal disciples and their puppy dog eyes made the plan a little… less perfect.
And now, centuries later, the group of pilgrims who once took a grueling fourteen year journey West, lived together under one way too small roof.
“Master, if you don’t stop them they’re gonna start hitting each other again.” The unenthusiastic voice of his second disciple, Bai Long Ma, snapped the holy man out of his thoughts.
Placing his cup of tea down, Sanzang stood up and marched over to the bickering pair of demons. Zhu Bajie leaned protectively over his bowl of rice pudding while Sun Wukong beat at the pig’s shoulders, yelling terribly profane things to his brother.
Tang Sanzang gave Wukong a firm smack on the head and a tug on Bajie’ ear, earning a squeak of alarm from both of them.
“You two can’t go one day without fighting! We’re at the table, mind your manners!” The holy man cried.
Bajie snorted and pointed his finger accusingly at Wukong. “He started it!”
“You’re hogging all the fruit!!”
“That’s what you get for sleeping in again!!!”
Another smack.
“If you had simply asked, I would have gotten you some fruit Wukong. There’s still some peaches left.” Sanzang said, giving Wukong’s head a gentle rub in apology.
Wukong grumbled in response.
After retrieving a couple of peaches to give to his eldest disciple, the elder took his seat again to finish his rice and tea.
—
“Master.”
Sanzang kept his eyes shut as he feigned concentration.
“Master.”
Clutching his mala beads, the holy man attempted to recite the Heart Sūtra again from the beginning.
“Master…”
A finger poked his cheek once, twice, and again before Sanzang gave up and opened his eyes.
“Wukong, I’m trying to meditate. Please don’t interrupt me.” He turned to his eldest disciple, expecting a complaint about Bajie or a confession of disaster, but instead he was met with a toothy grin and very little space between himself and the monkey.
“Wukong…”
“Yes Master?”
“Wukong, what did you do?”
An overexaggerated gasp was heard from the Great Sage as he scooted closer, invading all of Sanzang’s personal space and basically bouncing with energy.
“What makes you think I’ve done anything? I just wanted to know what you were doing!”
“I was meditating, but that’s been interrupted by a certain mischievous monkey. What do you want?”
Wukong finally got himself seated, nuzzling himself into the monk’s side with his arms tucked into his chest and his legs brought to his stomach. He let his head fall on the other's shoulder and a string of chitters came from the primate’s throat.
“You really need a hobby, Wukong.”
“I already have a hobby.”
“Harassing me is not a hobby.”
Wukong giggled at that, finding it way more funny than it actually was.
Sanzang sighed.
“Would you like to go to the market with me, Wukong?”
The monkey shot up immediately with a bright, toothy grin on his face. “Come on Master! Let’s go now!!”
Well, the Buddha thought, they did need some fresh vegetables for dinner.
Tang Sanzang got up and allowed his companion to take him by the hand and drag him to the door.
—
Around midday, the elder found himself sitting on the couch with a book in hand and a warm blanket across his lap. His eldest and third disciple had decided to go out and walk around the city, and much to the protest of the youngest, Wujing was dragged along also. The three of them were close as brothers could be, and they frequently disappeared from their master and toured the city themselves, causing havoc wherever they went.
Soft footsteps approached the couch and a weight was added next to Sanzang. He glanced over and saw his second disciple, Bai Long Ma, slouching lazily into the sofa with a book in hand.
Moments like these were scarce to come by. Bai Long Ma usually kept to himself, he would hide out in the room he shared with his brothers or he would stay in one spot in the living room. He didn’t like going out and fooling around with his brothers so he almost always stayed behind when they went on their adventures.
And on days when the trio of terror ran off to cause trouble in the city, Bai Long Ma would pick up the book he was currently reading and silently take seat next to his master.
It was nice to sit in the company of his quiet disciple.
The elder quietly lifted the blanket to invite Long Ma under, and the dragon obliged. He scooted closer to his master, allowing the man to drape the soft fabric over his legs, before slouching back into the couch and indulging in his book.
Moments like these were some of Sanzang’s favorites.
—
“Can you pass me the spring onions?”
“Yes master!”
“Thank you, did you put the rice in the cooker like I asked?”
“Of course master.”
Tang Sanzang smiled.
When it came to making supper, the only beings capable of cooking something decent were Sanzang and Wujing. Wukong ended up wrecking the kitchen and ruining half the appliances while Bajie ate all the food before it was even cooked. As for Bai Long Ma, he simply ordered noodles to be delivered to the apartment as a meal.
So, Sanzang and Wujing decided to take it upon themselves to make supper for the rest of the family.
As the holy Buddha cut up the onions and mushrooms to finish making the vegetarian filling, his youngest disciple began kneading and cutting the dough to form the dumplings.
The two of them stuffed and folded the dumplings and put them in the steamer to steam, and Wujing checked the rice.
“Wujing?”
“Yes master?”
“You did very good today with supper. I’m so proud of you!” Sanzang wiped his hands on his apron and gave the fish a soft smile.
Wujing turned a charming shade of scarlet and began fumbling out ‘thank yous’ and ‘oh stops’.
Not much longer after that, the dumplings and rice were done. Wujing happily took the food to the table as Sanzang called for the others to come eat.
The holy man watched with blossoming pride as his youngest disciple set the table and sat his brothers.
He’s grown the most out of all of them , the Buddha thought to himself before taking his seat at the head of the table.
—
A bang startled Sanzang out of his empty dream and he sat up with haste. Anxiety coursed through his body as he stared wide eyed at the bedroom door. It was open just a crack and moonlight from the main room trickled through, illuminating the holy man’s bedroom just slightly.
With shaky movements, Sanzang swung his legs out from under the covers and quietly got out of bed. He crept to the door and opened it, each step causing more anxiety to rattle his skull.
He peeked out into the living room, expecting to see a robber or a demon to kidnap him. Instead he saw the empty room, untouched by foreign hands and softly lit with a wash of moonlight.
Sanzang exhaled, and crept into the living area.
He turned to the kitchen to continue his search for intrusion when—
Another bang caused Sanzang to squeal and stumble back, landing roughly on his bottom.
Panic stricken, the man attempted to scramble to his feet and escape the intruder in the kitchen.
“Master? What are you doing on the floor?”
Sanzang slowly looked up, terror still plastered on his face, and was met with the confused look of Zhu Bajie.
“Bajie!!! What are you doing crashing around in the kitchen at this hour??????” Sanzang yelled.
“Master hush! You’ll wake the others! Here, let me help you up.”
Bajie hurried over to help his old master up, and Sanzang graciously accepted the aid.
Once dusted off, the Buddha gave his third disciple a scowl.
“Bajie, why are you up so early? It’s not even 5:00 yet, you need to go back to sleep!”
The pig grinned sheepishly and gave the back of his head a scratch.
“M’ sorry master, I was just hungry so I had to get something to eat. You don’t want me to stave, do you?” He ended with a chuckle.
Sanzang continued to scowl.
“You’re not going to starve, now go back to bed. You can eat breakfast in the morning.”
“Yes master.” The pig replied.
He led his disciple to the bedroom he shared with his brothers and Bajie gave him a grin and a ‘goodnight’ before disappearing into the room.
Sanzang sighed softly and with a light smile dancing his lips, he went back to his own bed.