Chapter 415 - 399 If All Else Fails, Silence Them Permanently
Upon hearing that the weapons were gone, Zhu Bajie immediately jumped out and asked loudly, "Is my rake still there?"
Hearing Zhu Bajie’s accusation, the three princes all became anxious and said, "All three weapons are gone. Have the masters really not taken them?"
"Could it be that the masters are deliberately hiding them on their persons to fool their disciples?"
said the three princes.
Sun Wukong frowned, then said in a serious tone, "We really haven’t taken them. Why would we fool you? Since that is so, let’s all go and look for them!"
With that, a group of people hurried to the workshed and asked the craftsmen about the situation. Zhu Bajie became furious and said, "It must be these craftsmen who, upon seeing our treasures, harbored thievish thoughts, stealing our weapons out of self-guarding larceny. Confess immediately!"
The craftsmen, hearing this, quickly knelt down on the ground and incessantly kowtowed, begging for mercy, "We are truly wronged, masters. We have worked hard for days on end and were asleep last night. By the time we woke up, the masters’ treasures had all disappeared. We, mere mortals, cannot possibly move the treasures of the masters. We implore the masters to see the truth and not to wrong the innocent!"
With a look of annoyance, Sun Wukong said, "It is our negligence too. Since the craftsmen had already seen the designs, we should have taken back the weapons and kept them by our sides."
"Leaving the treasures here, with their radiant lights and colors, would unavoidably attract the covetous. Surely some evildoers were disturbed and stole them under cover of darkness."