A Skittish, Little Bunny

Yun Bei Fen paced up and down in his house. What should he do? His Senior Martial Brother Mei had experienced something as bad as that. As the person who loved him the most shouldn't he go and comfort him? But how would he do this? Say some nice words?

But when he saw him his mind always seemed to go blank. He could hardly speak a whole sentence before he would rush off again in fear of embarrassing himself in front of Mei Chao Bing. There was no way he would be able to clearly explain his thoughts to him and calm him down.

He stopped in front of the window and looked out at the little lake. Even though he had admired Mei Chao Bing for so long and even though he had even fallen in love with him, he actually didn't know much about him. Maybe he didn't even like talking about such things? Maybe he would feel better if he could fight a round or two to let off steam?

Yun Bei Fen rushed over to take his sword but before he could hurry out of the door he stopped again. What was he even doing? This made no sense. Even if his Senior Martial Brother Mei wanted to have a fight, he knew fully well that he wasn't worthy to accompany him in it. He was merely in the peak stage of Qi Refining while his Senior Martial Brother Mei had already formed his core. What kind of fight could they have?

Yun Bei Fen went back to the cupboard and placed the sword down again. Ah, what a pity that he was too young and too stupid. He should have worked harder, then he could have at least established his foundation already. That also wouldn't enable him to become Senior Martial Brother Mei's sparring partner but at least he wouldn't have been that far behind him. Could he actually catch up to him in this life?

Yun Bei Fen wandered back to the window. Sparring wouldn't work, talking wouldn't work … What else was there that he could do? He pondered and pondered but couldn't come up with anything.

"Well, I should go and take a look, shouldn't I? Then I'll at least know if he's alright." He nodded to himself and hurried out of his house, running over to the courtyard where Mei Chao Bing lived.

Nobody could be seen in the vicinity. There was just the courtyard, the trees surrounding it, and him. Yun Bei Fen stepped back and hid behind one of the trees. What if Senior Martial Brother Mei saw him? Wouldn't he think he was nosy? After all, something like that had happened and now someone he actually didn't really know came and looked around. Didn't that seem as if he just wanted to find something to gossip about?

Yun Bei Fen scratched at the tree bark. This couldn't be! He didn't want his Senior Martial Brother to think badly of him. Now, what should he do? He wanted to see him so badly to make sure he was alright but if Mei Chao Bing caught him, then there was no way he'd be able to explain himself!

Yun Bei Fen hugged the tree and leaned to the side, exposing a head of black hair that was bound back with a white ribbon. He peered intently at the courtyard that took up the bigger part of a clearing between the trees. Actually, he could only see a bit of the courtyard through the gate. The rest of it was obscured by a wall and naturally, nothing could be gleaned of Mei Chao Bing.

Yun Bei Fen pursed his lips. Shouldn't his Senior Martial Brother be there and train? Or maybe he wasn't training with the sword but rather meditating? But that couldn't be! Such a terrible thing had happened how could he be calm enough to cultivate?

Ah?! Yun Bei Fen tensed. What if Mei Chao Bing had tried to cultivate but because his thoughts were so chaotic he had suffered a Qi deviation?!

He leaped to his feet and didn't care any longer if he might be misunderstood. He ran over to the gate of the courtyard and barged right in. Nobody could be seen though. Mei Chao Bing obviously wasn't there.

Yun Bei Fen's heart raced. It couldn't be that he had been right, could it?! Had something really happened to Mei Chao Bing? He turned around and tried to find some traces of him but there was nothing.

"Senior Martial Brother Mei?" Yun Bei Fen's heart raced, his hands trembling. Just what had happened?

Inside one of the rooms, Mei Chao Bing's eyes cracked open. He had indeed been meditating just now but contrary to what Yun Bei Fen thought his mind had been especially clear. He might not be happy that things had turned out the way they did but he also knew that he couldn't do anything about it. So why should he torture himself and dwell on the issue?

He had actually been prepared to seclude himself for several weeks to give the Sect Master and Elders some peace of mind but hearing the soft voice outside his eyes instantly opened.

"Yun Bei Fen?" He murmured the name that he had had so much trouble acquiring because a certain someone always ran away after saying only a single sentence. Back then it had been his master who found out for him and even told him that Yun Bei Fen was Elder Baili's disciple. If not for that, he still might not know who this skittish, little bunny was.

Mei Chao Bing stood up and strode to the door. Yun Bei Fen had sounded a bit strange. Could it be that something had happened? Please, somebody tell him that this had nothing to do with his master's betrayal or that one of the other Elders had followed suit!

He opened the door and was met with the shivering figure of Yun Bei Fen who was looking around anxiously. "Junior Martial Brother —"

Yun Bei Fen whirled around, his eyes widening when he saw Mei Chao Bing. And then, he threw himself at his Senior Martial Brother.