OMF V2C41 Crying in the Mud

Since the other children had paused on the staircase, Jing Yi stopped in the doorway and put the bucket with water down. He really felt like he couldn’t go on anymore. He took a deep breath and flexed his fingers as a short break before he bent down to pick up the bucket again.

Seeing the bucket with water, the eyes of the boy leading the group of children lit up. Wasn’t this the opportunity they had waited for? He raised his chin and swaggered down the stairs, the other children following behind. He hadn’t said what he was about to do but they trusted that he would have an idea. The group went over to Jing Yi when he barely managed to lift up the bucket again and barred his way into the hall.

Jing Yi curiously looked at them. He had never had to do with other children his age in the wood village and in the capital there had only been Zhong Guanyu who he tended to run away from and Shao Hai who had become his friend upon first sight. Even Xiao Dong had only been there for the last few days and could hardly be called an acquaintance. Thus Jing Yi’s understanding of how other children behaved was quite low. He was unable to see that these children weren’t feeling well-disposed towards him. Otherwise, he might have been able to react differently. But now, he could only look at them curiously and wait until they told him what they wanted.

Jing Yi didn’t have to wait long. The boy in the front harrumphed and gave him a condescending look, not quite unlike the one Jing Yi had gotten from the child that first took the test for the spiritual veins in the Yun Zou Sect. In fact, the gaze from the boy in front of him now was indeed an imitation of that incident.

Once again it failed to fulfill its purpose though. Jing Yi had no reaction and just curiously looked back. The boy gritted his teeth. “What are you doing here? Carrying around dirty water, is that really what you should be doing in a place like this?”

Jing Yi blinked his eyes in confusion. “That big brother …” He shook his head and started anew, remembering the disciple’s words from before. “That senior martial brother that just came by said that I could do it inside.”

The other boy furrowed his brows. He had no idea what the water was for anyway since the basket with the clothes couldn’t be seen. Looking at the bucket of water again, he could only imagine that this had to be for taking a bath. His expression turned even worse. “Do you have no shame? Taking a bath in the middle of the day! Shouldn’t you better try and cultivate?! You don’t deserve to be a disciple of the Yun Zou Sect!” He raised his foot and kicked the bucket, making the water spill onto the floor and onto Jing Yi’s robes.

Jing Yi jumped and tried to push past the children. The ground outside of the building was merely an earthen path. If it got into contact with water, it would surely turn into mud. He couldn’t step in the mud!

Seeing that Jing Yi just wanted to rush past them as if he didn’t take them seriously at all, the boy in the front grew even angrier. He pushed him back, making him stumble out of the door together with the bucket. The rest of the water spilled, drenching Jing Yi from head to toe and soaking into the ground. Seeing the dirt on his hands, Jing Yi teared up. What would happen now? He didn’t want to find out! He hurriedly dropped the bucket and tried to wash the dirt off with the pitiful puddle that was still in there.

When the other boy saw him react in a panic, he smiled happily. “That’s what you get for behaving this shamelessly!” He harrumphed again, kicked the bucket once more and stalked off, the other children right on his heels.

Jing Yi sobbed and finally ran out again with the now-empty bucket to get more water from the well. He didn’t think of the clothes he was supposed to wash at this moment. He just wanted to wash off even the last bit of mud. He definitely couldn’t be muddy.

He drew another bucket of water with his tears still running down his cheeks and made sure to scrub every last bit of it off. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t calm down. Tears still trickled down his cheeks and his breath came in short puffs.

He couldn’t understand why that boy had done this. Just what had he done wrong? As much as he thought about it, he couldn’t find an answer to this question which made him feel even worse.

Not far from him, Qiu Ling’s claws dug into the bark of the tree. That bastard! He had actually dared to bully his beloved and even made him cry. Whether there was a trial not, he definitely wouldn’t let this happen! That guy needed to be taught a lesson!

Qiu Ling rose to his feet halfway but couldn’t bring himself to go. If he went to teach that child a lesson, then what about his beloved? Who would pull him into his arms and gently stroke his back to soothe his agitated emotions? He definitely needed a strong shoulder to cry on now! Wasn’t this the perfect moment for his entrance?

Before Qiu Ling had the time to even try t get close to Jing Yi, another group of people arrived. Qiu Ling cursed but still hid behind the tree. Ah, it was so troublesome to live in the same place as humans. He should make sure that he had Fu Min find out a lot about them so that he wouldn’t need to take them into consideration anymore in the future.

The people that had arrived were none other than the Sect Master Yuchi Bing Xia, his head disciple Wu Min Huan, and the newly acquired Yu Jin who quietly trailed behind them.

Seeing the familiar boy crying by the well, Wu Min Huan straightened up. He furrowed his brows and turned to his Master. “Master, would you mind if I went and took a look?”

Yuchi Bing Xia glanced over at the child that was still crying pitifully and nodded. “Of course, go and see what happened. I’ll bring Yu Jin up to the peak already.”

Wu Min Huan nodded and headed off in the direction of Jing Yi while Yuchi Bing Xia motioned for Yu Jin to continue following him.

The Sect Master turned to his guest and gave him a warm smile. “I hope you didn’t have a bad impression just now. Our Yun Zou Sect normally isn’t like this. I also don’t know what happened.”

Yu Jin merely glanced at the child and Wu Min Huan who had crouched down beside him and his gaze brushed over the surrounding. Finally, his attention returned to the Sect Master. Not a single word got over his lips.

Yuchi Bing Xia smiled wryly. On the whole way back from the forest surrounding the Long mountain range he had tried to humor this child. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy. Yu Jin didn’t talk at all for the most part and even if he answered a question, it would only be a few words. It seemed he’d need a lot of time until he could show his emotions again. Losing his Master’s had obviously hit him very hard. Well, it was to be expected.

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