At the same time, Mei Chao Bing and Yun Bei Fen had also arrived back at the courtyard and had sat down with Elder Baili to talk things through, already summarizing the previous events.
"Originally, I didn't want to say anything. But then I felt that that wouldn't be the right thing to do either. I guess if I want them to trust me, then I also need to put some trust in them."
Baili Chao nodded his head. "You aren't wrong about that. Certainly, your trust won't always be put into the right person but that's also normal. Back then, we also trusted your Master. None of us would ever have expected this would happen. You certainly know how that felt. It must have been the same for you.
"But in the end, if I were in the situation from back then again, I would always do the very same thing. If you always expect the worst, the relationship you have wouldn't be genuine. It's good that you realized this before you embarked on that path. It's harder to change such behavior when you've internalized it already."
Mei Chao Bing gave a nod. "Thank you, Elder."
Baili Chao waved but his expression stayed serious. "Be that as it may, I still think that you've also made the right call in not telling them about what you saw on the mission. They haven't had any chance to get to know you better. If you warned them about your Master and then also told them what you found out, they might have some other thoughts. Well, even if they don't have them, the other disciples might when it would have been announced later on. I will go and tell Elder Xing about what you found. I'm sure he will also understand your reasoning for not making it public on your own."
"Thank you very much, Elder."
Baili Chao waved once again, feeling tired. Even though Mei Chao Bing wasn't doing anything wrong, he still felt that he was a little too polite. "Honestly, I'm not like your Master. Look at my disciples. They've only made trouble all these years and have I ever scolded them? No. You should just make them your example and become less rigid."
Mei Chao Bing didn't know what to say to that. Before he could come up with an answer, Yun Bei Fen already spoke up though.
"That's not true! You scolded second senior martial brother very often! You also scolded me."
Elder Baili's lips twitched and he furrowed his brows at his disciple. "What are you saying again? When did I scold you?"
"Whenever I didn't understand the first time around when you explained something."
"That …" Elder Baili's gaze darted around but he didn't know what to say. That might actually be true. "Well, wasn't that because you always take so long? I'm explaining again and again but you just can't wrap your head around it. What else am I supposed ´to do other than scolding you? It's a pity it never worked."
Yun Bei Fen leaned to the side and clung to Mei Chao Bing's arm. "It's all just because you can't explain well. Senior martial brother Mei showed me and I didn't have any trouble understanding."
Mei Chao Bing couldn't help but laugh at his little bunny tooting his own horn. Who would have thought that Yun Bei Fen could actually be shameless like this? He certainly wouldn't have expected it. Could it be that this was something his senior martial brothers had taught him? He really would've liked to find out more about that.
Hearing Mei Chao Bing laugh, Yun Bei Fen ignored his Master and turned to the side, looking at this senior martial brother with sparkling eyes. "What is it? Did something happen?"
Mei Chao Bing reached over and nudged Yun Bei Fen's forehead. "You, ah! You're making your Master look bad. Don't you think it's a little mean of you?"
Yun Bei Fen pursed his lips and reexamined his previous behavior. He felt that he had been quite normal but if his senior martial brother said that he had made his Master look bad, then that had to be the case. Maybe he just couldn't remember very well.
Yun Bei Fen reached out and tugged at Mei Chao Bing's sleeve. "You can't be angry."
Mei Chao Bing raised his brows and took Yun Bei Fen's hand, gently patting it to calm him down. "Why would I be angry?"
"Because I made my Master look bad."
On the other side of the table, Baili Chao had an unbelieving expression. Excuse him? Since he was the one who had been made to look bad shouldn't he also be the one to be angry? Why was his disciple looking at Mei Chao Bing that way?!
Mei Chao Bing almost laughed again at this pair of Master and disciple. In the end, he managed to hold back at the last moment and just patted Yun Bei Fen's head. "I'm not angry. Don't worry about it." Then he turned back to Elder Baili and gave a smile. "Elder, thank you for that advice as well. Then for tomorrow … Will we just continue to follow Gongsun Chen's group?"
Baili Chao didn't need to think long about it and just nodded. "Yes, that will be for the best."
"And should I go and take a look at the other areas?"
Baili Shao gave a wry smile. "I do understand that you want to help. But I don't think that it would be a wise decision for you to go anywhere alone while we're at the border region. Even if those three you're in a group with slowly started to accept you that doesn't mean that the others do. It will be a long time until then. And before that, it's not a good idea to be on your own. Because whenever you are and something happens, there will be somebody wagging his tongue. And you also know that there are quite a few people that would like to help him."
Yun Bei Fen looked from one person to the other, trying to understand what was going on. "Is that person … Is it Yang Wu Huang?"
Mei Chao Bing looked at him, feeling intrigued. "What made you think so?"
Yun Bei Fen pondered. "Well, it sounded like it was something bad."
Mei Chao Bing laughed and rubbed Yun Bei Fen's head again. So in his little bunny's mind, Yang Wu Huang had really been deemed the worst person in the Teng Yong Sect. He couldn't say that he didn't like that thought. No, that would be a lie. Actually, he was really happy about this.
That way, Yang Wu Huang could do whatever he wanted, he'd have a very hard time convincing Yun Bei Fen to open up to him again. And as long as that was the case, he wouldn't need to worry about Yun Bei Fen's well-being just because he wasn't with him in the camp. This really had worked out even better than he had hoped it would.