Chapter 8: tough as nails? why would you want to be compared to such a bendable material?
After spending the night in the shed, it took all of Hui's morning to cut up all the fire wood, which was mostly just the unusable parts of the planks she was procuring for her future dwelling, as she cut out more planks overall, before she finally set off cleaning the Master's dwelling, since he was gone due to a go match with the peak Lord Fong Xianyu. She finished it quickly, leaving him some prepared food to try to get in his good books, and then heading over to Gu Feng's courtyard, who was suspiciously not home as soon as she arrived, before finally heading over to her Second brother's place, in the late afternoon.
The second disciple opposite to the first, was an incredibly quiet, young man, who enjoyed the presence of none but himself. (a nice-or-horrible-way to say he's a completely unsociable introvert) His hair was straight and black and incredibly long, and his face was so pretty, that anyone that looked at it might think he were a fairy, or a deity from another plane. However, not once in the 3 hours did Hui hear him utter a word.
After losing her voice, Hui was no longer annoyed by quiet people, but ended up really appreciating this second brother who spoke not a word the entire time she worked, however she could feel his eyes fasten to her often, as he worked on his painting under the eaves on the porch of his house's courtyard, his face still and serene, expressionless, but pristine and beautiful. His gentle eyes never leaving his work except to glance at her every now and then.
As she walked by on her business, she happened to look over, to see one of the most impressive artworks she'd ever laid eyes on, only to see him curse later, and then scrunch it up and throw it to the side. She picked it up, bringing it with her to the kitchen to throw away, only to see one leaf on the landscape was slightly too large.
She smiled, picking up a bit of charcoal from the fireplace, and changing the leaf into a mythical bird, before leaving it on the kitchen counter, as she got to cleaning out the ashes of the stove, carrying them out with her. She returned to see the young man now standing over the table, staring at the painting he'd thrown away, as he munched on an unpeeled carrot, gnawing on it, and crunching through it, with large noises. Seeing her enter, he just glanced up, and then picked up the paper and left. She stared at his back, heading to his main chambers.
What's with the raw carrot?
She opened the pantry: "..."
—
Hui finished cleaning and washing everything from the floors, to the shelves, to the pots, to the clothes and headed to where the second disciple still worked, setting down a plate of washed, peeled carrots, cut to the shape of dragons, on the table, bowing in front of him, waiting for his dismissal. He waved her away, and she left to go back to the Master's residence, which was literally right next door to the second's. You could actually see into the master's courtyard from the second's, with the first standing on the other side of the master's, and the woodshed across from it.
She walked in, and, as she hoped, the master had already returned, so she kneeled in his courtyard, hoping to get done with everything so that she could get working on her house again.
Unfortunately for her, the master decided to make her wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.
And by the time she regretted it, she couldn't very well get up now that she'd waited so long and come back later, since she'd already started the waiting. It would be too embarrassing and completely erase all the time she'd already complacently waited.
So, she continued to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait and wait and, well, you get it. She waited a long time.
Day turned into evening, evening turned into night, but she was still left undisturbed, then, it started raining, then it started thundering, and then, for whatever reason, it also decided to sleet, because, well, main character hardships, and then a couple hailstones hit the ground everywhere, spewing out impolitely from the heavens and giving her a couple bruises, and by then the weather was so bad that the master wouldn't even come out to her anyway, and then it was already dawn, and the master was meditating, and then it was midmorning, and the master was reading. And then noon again, and then the afternoon. Finally, by the time the evening came around for the second time, the master decided to come out and take a walk to watch the sunset, when he noticed her kneeling there.
"What are you doing there?" He asked, confused.
Hui felt like spitting blood. 'Didn't you tell me to accept 50 beatings with the rod for attacking that numbskull!!!'
Suddenly, Lu Biming noticed something. "Have you received your 50 beatings from the head disciple yet???" He accused. Although the weather had done a number on her, she should be recovering somewhere if she'd gotten a beating.
Hui: "????"
She somehow made it to her feet, her legs felt so stiff from having been frozen the night before, then baked in the noon sun without moving. She stretched for a couple moments, massaging her knees and took off running to Gu Feng's residence which was on the other side of second brother's, making sure to grab a club along the way. She found him in the middle of dinner. She took the opportunity to knock the whole meal onto the ground with a well-placed kick and then stood on the table looking over the man who was already cowering before her.
"Wait wait! Please don't hurt me! I can explain!"
This little twirp!!!! Disappearing all day yesterday, when he should have been giving me my punishment!!! I'll teach this guy a lesson!
She threw the club at him. He barely caught it, somehow fumbling his hold with his high cultivation.
She walked over to the middle of the courtyard and kneeled, glaring at him. He carefully approached her, and then, before she had a chance to regret, swung down as hard as he could. However, unlike what Hui was expecting, the blow never fell, instead, there was now a small thin cane blocking the large club.
Following the teacher's cane up, Hui saw a young man, hair tied back in a half-updo, his eyes as beautiful as a phoenixes, his bearing as royal as a dragons. He stood straight and tall despite his thin frame and below average height, his arm was outstretched, like it weren't carrying the brunt of Gu Feng's blow but were instead pointing at something on the ground.
For the first time, Hui heard him speak. "Brother, please don't do this."
The second brother, name, Li Yueming, stared at Gu Feng, his face unwavering.
Gu Feng took the club back, glaring at him. "The master told me to do it, I can't go against the master. And neither." He poked Li Yueming's chest with his club. "Can." he poked it again. "You." He tried to poke it a third time, but obviously predicting his intentions, Li Yueming stepped to the side, causing Gu Feng to miss.
Li Yueming was currently at the 7th level of qi condensing. He wasn't Gu Feng's match, but he couldn't bear it any longer. After watching his little junior sister have to sit outside all yesterday, and all night through the rain and ice, and then all the next day without reprieve, only to have to go search for her senior brother for a beating, was a bit too much to keep quiet anymore. She was such a kind little girl, who even cut his carrots for him. And he knew how merciless his senior brother would be.
So, a person who hated speaking the most, ended up speaking. But now that he'd already said a full sentence, he couldn't be bothered to say anymore, and instead, just stood there awkwardly, between Gu Feng and Hui.
Gu Feng glared at him, before Li Yueming felt a small hand pull on his robe. He looked down to see Hui, the only one that respected his silence, staring up at him, shaking her head.
However, as someone who didn't do anything, unless he were to go to the end, Li Yueming wasn't moving and instead stayed still there, unmoved. Hui was getting extremely frustrated at this point, she just wanted to get it over with so she could go work on her house, but everyone was making it so difficult!!!! She finally got to her feet and walked away, surprising both of them.
"Where are you going?!!" Shouted Gu Feng after her. Li Yueming just smirked, curiosity causing him to follow. Gu Feng also followed.
She walked all the way over to the master's dwelling, walking into his kitchen and taking out all the oil in it, began to circle around the dwelling pouring the oil over the sides, scattering dry hay as she went, and with a small bit of lint and one flint spark, lit it aflame.
"What are you doing!!!!" Gu Feng screamed, holding the sides of his face in shock, after watching her movements in confusion, he suddenly realized what she was doing as she snapped the flint and steel together, lunging to stop her. It was too late.
Li Yueming, standing by the side just took a long carrot out of his robe, and began munching on it, snapping it off loudly with each bite, as he watching the flames quickly tear their way up the walls in mesmerized fascination.
Hui herself was already done being ignored by this master of hers, it's not like he could kill her, not with the sect leader knowing she was here, and she already has a lot of qualms with him. Now that she couldn't finish building her house, she decided Lu Biming might as well not have one either.
Thus was the sight Lu Biming walked into, after finishing his calm, reclusive, scenic evening stroll.