It had been a week. Yes, his extremely productive time went along as smoothly as clouds gliding across the sky. And yes, his extremely stressful time with his senior brother was also as smooth as rolling down a cliff.
His master had assigned him a room in Snowy Pavilion next door to his delightful senior brother, Shi Lihua. What a true nightmare for a fluffy dog like him to always keep a defensive watchful eye at the mean snowy cat neighbor. But to speak the truth, the other person hasn't even talked to him at all despite the occasional cold gazes across the training ground.
It was just that this person didn't even want to bother with his actual existence at all. It poked him hard right in the ego.
In the week after becoming a core disciple, he had gotten along really well with the other outer ones. It wasn't only because he was willing to share his techniques but also because of his natural sunshine easygoing personality that attracted so many sweets and smiles. Once the youth settled down well, he was completely opposite of his nervous first impression. Well, maybe a part of the reason he was able to rally all the outer disciples by his side was also because of his senior brother.
Not that he had to intentionally do anything, but his cold and aloof and scary attitudes have had made many people rigid under his scrutiny. The outer disciples couldn't stop expressing to Wu Huan how he was such a big breath of fresh air compared to the frost cold atmosphere they had had to endure.
Even though Wu Huan was treated as a senior disciple by all of them because of his years of previous training in his last Sect, he was still not in charge of training the others alongside Shi Lihua. Master has instructed him to learn everything from his senior brother first so that he could get accustomed to the sword style of Taohua.
Because of this, he often had to look at the disapproving faces of Shi Lihua every day: when he switched the sword to the wrong side or wasn't fast enough in his strike.
The person didn't even yell at him. He just looked, glared then rolled his finger signaling him to start again.
Infuriating! He complained in his heart. This is like teaching a duck of how to swim without showing him how to paddle or how to stay afloat.
He would just show him a bunch of moves then stood aside waiting for him to reenact. Thankfully, some of the disciples secretly sneaked in a few tips and tricks while they chitchatted along their way to the cafeteria. Only then he could get the basic move down by one week.
When Shi Lihua watched him finishing the moves smoothly, he didn't do anything to indicate his approval or disapproval. He just glared a bit harder than walked off to the pavilion to sip his tea and bury himself under his books.
The young master was indeed hard to please.
"Here's your requested pills. And here's your senior brother's. And finally, your master's." Elder Zhao said kindheartedly, dumping three little bags onto the counter one by one. "Make sure not to get confused," he warned with a smile.
After thanking him, Wu Huan decided to visit his master's first. Master lived at the Red Dawn Pavilion just behind their Frost Tear Hall. His residence had a very calm Tao energy. Wu Huan walked slowly across the white sand and carefully stepped away from a random leafy green grasshopper. He knocked softly on the wooden screen seeing the flicking of the candle inside.
His master let him in.
"Here is the master's requested pills. A portion of mind meditation pill, a portion of golden sun grass pill and a portion of Spirit condense pill." He named each with great care reassuring his Shizun that he got them all right.
He received an approving nod. "I see you...you haven't visited your senior brother yet, have you?"
The youth put on an aloof smile, glancing at another small bag in his hand. His tone came out nervous, "Yes. I'm planning to after I leave."
"Master always forgets to ask. How are you two doing? Do you get along well?"
Words were caught in his throat. He instinctively wanted to tell the truth because he had always been a person who felt uncomfortable lying. But, he didn't want to disappoint his Shizun nor did he want to complain either. So, he settled to say 'it is ok' but he never got a chance to before his master cut in calmly.
"There's no need to lie. Master only asked to see your reaction. Hua'er has always been quiet and cold since his younger time. Don't take it personally. It took a while for him to warm up to me as well. As I didn't give up on him either. Maybe if Huan'er gives him a little more time, he is bound to warm up to you later. He is not an unreasonable person after all."
Wu Huan watched his Shizun flipped open the pages on his book. He could only stand frozen in his spot not knowing how to respond. He couldn't even digest such a piece of sudden information much less knew what to say.
He finally left the pavilion with a heavy heart. Trudging further deep into the forest, his fingers loosely held onto the strings of the bag. He watched his own boots planting one step forward at a time until he couldn't anymore because he had reached the door of a certain person's room.
Their pavilion was probably one of the most beautiful pavilions of TaoHua Sect. He didn't know if it was because of Shi Lihua's original status but the pavilion was built with very strong and high-quality white wood. The grey roof curved in an elegant angle, the color contrast with the white wood in such a gentle yet sophisticated way that it suggested a very noble person was living here.
Knock Knock
Wu Huan was even nervous then it may sound too rough and loud. He seemed to not want this person to catch any faults in him.
"..." There was a very deliberate silence. "Come in," the person inside said after a while.
Shi Lihua was sitting on his bed with a book in his hands. His ink-black hair loosely rested on his shoulders, his sharp eyes had a tint of pink like they usually did when he was tired and his soft-looking lips were pressed firmly into a line, disapproving silently. Wu Huan couldn't be brave enough to figure out what the title of the book was.
He softly dropped the bag onto the low jade table. This person's interior space aligned really well with his personality. White jade table, high-quality bed, a huge bookshelf, porcelain jade teapots and cups, and even a jade incense holder. The room screamed 'young master' in bold capital letter.
"What is that?"
"Your pills," Wu Huan replied curtly.
"..."
"..."
"Why aren't you leaving?"
"..." Without looking back, he left quickly with a sour face. His master's words echoed in his ears. "Maybe if you give him a chance..."
Me? Giving him a chance? It's him who should be giving me the chance. Not the other way around.
Wu Huan left as bitter as he came in.