Xiao Qingchen cannot sleep. He needs...

—Before... Yewan was always by my side and now... Now that he is not with me when I sleep, I feel a bit restless and unable to achieve it.

His adorable rose lips are pursed and he snorts. He accidentally interrupts the question that the master was going to ask him.

—This is a custom that I thought I had stopped long ago, shifu. It's shameful that, again, I need someone by my side to can sleep. It's like I'm eight years old again- No, even before wasn't so.

Feeling more comfortable, Xiao Qingchen is more confident and unreserved when speaking to her, and begins to wander around and around; letting go of his thoughts barely reach his mind. Meanwhile, the elder braids the hair of her disciple and listens to him carefully.

—Most nights here I slept alone in my room, especially in the summer and spring, and during that time I had no trouble falling asleep. But... I can't today. Is it because it's winter? No, it can not be. Because in the last five winters I didn't need it, this is strange.

Sighs. He tries to work harder to make sense of the return of this habit that in his opinion is so childish. An overlooked detail appears in his thoughts to remind him of its existence.

—Ah, actually, it's not just today… And this winter I haven't slept alone. Only since I was separated from Song Zhen, I have not been able to sleep well. —He paused for a moment to think it over—. Is it because he… has he allowed me too much?

—...

—Not long after we met, we were already sharing the same bed, and we maintained that throughout the trip. I guess... thanks to him, I got used to having someone by my side when I rest. Hahahaha! As soon as I can, I'll complain about it to him to see what he does about it!

—Wicked. —She says with a hint of amusement as she hits his forehead with her fingers for the said idea.

—Hahahaha, I'm not! Ah, but! I don't understand... If it's just being accompanied, it must have worked when I went to da shixiong's bed and then to the others.

—That is why you are here now.

—Yep.

—And do you feel sleepy here?

Xiao Qingchen yawns and responds.

—A little. When I am with shifu I feel safe and happy.

Xiao Baishan watches him carefully. He understands that this happiness and tranquility is different from what he is currently seeking, which he apparently only felt when he was with his friend from outside. She has been like a mother to Xiao Chen because she adopted him when he was just an infant and lovingly raised him as her own son. So she knows that the comfort that her youngest disciple feels with her is that a chick feels when wrapping itself between the feathers of its mother hen.

However… what is it that makes this boy who just met, different from the brothers whom he grew up with?

—You say you cannot get to sleep when you are with your shixiongs; maybe it is because you are looking for a 'something' in particular. Have you ever wondered what it is that you do not find in others?

—Oh, no. I didn't.

—Think about it a bit.

He obeys.

—Hmm… I guess it's the nice and exact warmth? Non-annoying habits? Ah… I'm not sure.

—It can also be the place where you have got used to sleeping. —When shifu indicates that, Xiao Qingchen cannot help but think happily in the arms of his friend—. Where did you spend the night?

—Huh... Generally inns, decent inns. We both don't like dirt, although Yewan more, hahaha. So we went to good accommodation when there was no one to welcome us at his house. Sometimes we also slept in the open air. We made a fire for warmth and slept together on our coats.

They both fell silent trying to think more. They did not find much similarity between those places to give them an idea of ​​what Xiao Qingchen is looking for.

—It is probably just because you find it strange to go back to where you used to sleep. And that is why your old habits come back to help you get used to doing it faster.

—That sounds very strange, shifu.

Little Xiao leans his head towards the shoulder of his shifu and leaves it there. The master smiles and responds sweetly:

—It is not if you think well about it, little fool.

Or if you already lived it. Thus one is sure that it is possible.

Xiao BaiShan begins to remember those years when she lived on the run and struggling until faint to get some food or money. She who once lived without such worries, playing and enjoying the days to the fullest with three meals a day and a soft bed; she had only one bread to eat after fifteen days of hungry and she rested hidden in stables next to the shit of the animals or in the high branches of the trees. Always alert for fear of being found.

She spent so much time in these conditions that even when the situation in the mortal world calmed down and the demons were eradicated, she continued to sleep high in the trees, as it was impossible for her to do so quietly again in a bed. She felt too exposed and could not close her eyes for more than five seconds. Later, when her martial brother found her, she felt safe and something inside her beg to sleep with him on the grass and the coats they were wearing. Exactly as she used to do when she went hunting at night with her martial brothers and sisters.

They both sigh.

While the elder is taken to distant and blurred memories, the young student follows a train of thoughts that leaves him in a strange conclusion. And then that is diverted to something else and it connects to a doubt never said out loud. And so, and so, and so...

Until a certain thought bothers him.

—Shifu, shifu. —He calls her until knows that she is paying attention to him again—. I have a question: How long until I stop being a child?

Xiao BaiShan just watches him waiting for a continuation.

—I think... this is all because I still am. I thought I was finally growing up well, but this kind of childish behavior comes back to me so suddenly. Adding it to the fact that I still have this childish face and I'm not as tall as my shixiongs, then-

—Qingchen, the youngest of your martial brothers is four years older than you. You are still in development; soon you will grow and be as great as the others.

—But, shifu, it's not only the age! Song Zhen is taller, being youngest than me! And his face is not as childish as mine, ... maybe just a little bit and that is why he is so adorable when he becomes shy...

The complaining tone suddenly changed to a happy one. When the bewildered elder seeks the clear gaze of Xiao Qingchen, she finds it lost and bright in memories that dance in front of stars for him.

The suspicion that appeared in her mind during dinner does it again.

—... and even then he's very handsome. Can shifu believe it? Definitely, when Song Zhen is an adult, he will be a very charming and haunted one, hahaha. Oh, but he doesn't like clutter or being around a lot of people, so… I guess I'll have to keep helping him get rid of all the maidens who want to talk to him. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Xiao BaiShan cannot believe it. Does her little boy plan to return to the mortal world? Does he think that the main rule of this mountain can be ignored again? She was about to clarify that subject when she noticed that the spirits of her disciple fell again.

Curious about the new expressions that he displayed as he lost himself in thought, she was attentive to try to understand the why behind them.

—However… what about me? Will I be able to change? I would like to grow faster… Why… why can't I, shifu?

The immortal is speechless. What to say to a teenager like that? How to explain? How do you know what answer he is expecting and what is the answer that you should give him? Despite having raised so many teenagers before, she still does not have a clear answer. Each of her students went through this stage in different ways, leaving her with only a fuzzy pattern to follow.

—Qingchen... —She caresses his back, trying to calm his anguish—. Why are you in such a rush to become an adult?

He laughs softly behind his hand. Slowly list:

—Why not want it? I will be taller, stronger, and wiser, as well as shifu. At last, I will know the techniques that only da shijie and da shixiong know; they told me that when I grow up they will teach them to me. I will be so capable that shifu will no longer worry so much about me when I return to the mortal world and so I will also be calm.

Master was petrified and touched at the same time.

—It will be very easy to exorcise and I will not delay in doing it; this way, yaaaawn. —His long lashes rise and fall heavily over and over again in time with his slow, relaxed breaths. The yawn that interrupted him was a clear sign that he finally managed to feel ready for sleep—. This way... I will have... more time...

—More time for?

—To… to play with A-Zhen.

Smile lazily. He looks so adorable that his shifu does not have the heart to tell him she will not allow a second outing. Maybe tomorrow morning she will tell him. However, now...

Seeing him, she begins to feel lethargic as well. Her thoughts wander in the conversation with her young disciple, falling into certain details to which she must have paid more attention at the time.

—A-Qing… You want to grow up just to leave right?

—Mhm…

Despite balancing between the unconsciousness of dreams and reality, his tone and even his expression showed some guilt when answering; just as if he understood the question.

—And you will go to meet the young Song, right?

Qingchen smiles unconsciously.

—Yes…

And thus ended the first day of Xiao Qingchen being home again, leading to more days.

At first, shijies and shixiongs were very confused by the special permission that only the minor has been granted, and waited restlessly, but silently, for an explanation from their teacher. It came after three days and only left them more intrigued.

Now they want and need an explanation of the explanation.

Everything continues as usual, but...

A week later, Xiao Qingchen stopped coming out of his room to find someone to sleep with.

The reason? He could already do it alone... If we see it in a certain way. In reality, it is all due to an unexpected encounter between his belongings.

Since arriving on the mountain, he has not opened any of his qiankun bags unless he needed something important from them; so it was not until he decided to renovate his room with the decorations he brought from the outside world that he just unpacked everything. Digging and rummaging, he found an oddly familiar little bag filled with dark ebony cloaks and capes with beautiful silver embroidery that he would recognize anywhere.

It was the winter layer of Yewan.

After giggling a bit when imagining the expression of serious and silent despair that his friend surely had when he noticed the absence of his clothes, he proceeded to put them back in their place and prepare to sleep before any of his shijies appear in his room to scold him why he was still awake. However, not feeling sleepy yet, he simply blew out the candles and lay back on his bed wondering who of his brothers he would be going with that night. In the meantime, he amused himself by turning the qiankun pouch on one of his fingers.

His train of thoughts strayed from the main topic as it usually did, and suddenly Xiao Qingchen began to feel a bit numb.

His eyelids drooped over and over again and his hand stopped playing with the bag without his noticing. It finally fell on his chest and was not picked up again because the friend of the owner had already fallen asleep.

Only an icy breeze sent by some mischievous goddess woke him up again. He trembled from its coldness but did not want to get up to tuck himself properly into his blankets.

He thought for a while about what to do and, when a solution occurred to him, he thought for a while more about the excuse he would give himself so that he could make it happen.

So, being too lazy from drowsiness, he found no better idea than to simply wear something nearby that does not require him to get out of bed to use it. And what was that? It was the first coat he could find in the qiankun pouch of Song Yewan. After all, he had the container in his hands and he would just have to take what he wanted out and wrap himself with it.

Xiao Qingchen did so and slept more comfortably than ever, remembering the happy days he spent abroad with the one who became his best friend. So comfortable was his sleep that night that he also wore the thick, dark cloak on the next, and the one after that.

And on all the subsequent nights.

He thought about the words his shifu said to him that twilight and thus found the answer to those:

«What I can't find here is A-Zhen».

He did not pay much attention to it and fell unconscious back into the cloud made of dreams, enveloped in the familiar scent of the winter the owner of the layer that sheltered him.

Time went on. Two weeks turned out nicely.

Since the youngest of the students returned home, they all stood by strict order at the side of shifu, restricted from even going to the nearby and safe forests at the foot of the mountain that they used to visit to play, collect fruit, or fish in the crystal clear east river. They were only limited to be in the area of ​​the peak that the Master took them to.

Fortunately, their routine keep did not change so drastically and they continued with their training, duties, and entertainment on a regular basis. Only something else was added: moments where their xiao didi told them about the adventures he lived in the mortal world with his best friend.

The elders were curious to learn about the present time of that world that they left long ago, and they listened with delight to the experiences of their xiao didi.

Until something caught their attention.