Sitting nervously on the small wooden stool, Xiao Yunmu lowered his eyes, glancing left and right in search of Wei Yi,
But he couldn’t see even a single shadow of anyone.
Just now, after running into the “trespassing” little Fox Demon in the private study and being knocked down to the floor by her with the window,
Before he could figure out what was happening, she had brought him directly to this little wooden stool, which he usually pretended to play on, but in truth, was used to listen in on lessons.
After that, neither of them spoke another word, one human and one demon sitting in silence all the way until now.
Of course, it wasn’t because Xiao Yunmu was afraid of her that he behaved so anxiously.
On the contrary, he even felt a strange urge to get closer to her; it always seemed to him that this wasn’t their first meeting.
But compared to this, he was more worried about whether the girl was a Student of Master Wei.
After all, he’d often heard Wei Yi talk about “teaching without discrimination,” and knew that, in his eyes, there was no distinction between high and low among those he taught.
So, according to this philosophy, even if this girl was a Fox Demon, as long as she offered enough grain, it was entirely possible that she’d be accepted as a Student.
As for why he’d never seen her before, Xiao Yunmu could only attribute it to the fact that the rites and morals—let alone the book content—learned by humans and demons differed greatly, and because of these differences, Master kept her separated from the other children to avoid frightening them.
After all, not everyone was as bold as Xiao Yunmu, able to remain so calm even after seeing a Fox Demon.
But then, didn’t this approach go against the idea of “teaching without discrimination”?
Xiao Yunmu didn’t know, and he didn’t have time to ponder it.
He had bigger headaches to worry about now.
If she really was Master Wei’s Student, and went off to expose his sneaking into lessons, that would be a huge problem.
Though he admitted it was his own fault in the first place, still…
In his heart, missing out on knowledge—he could endure that pain.
But if his parents were to be spoken of poorly because of something wrong he’d done, that was absolutely unacceptable.
In Li Xun, many mistakes could be made, but when it came to matters of the Eight Virtues—loyalty, righteousness, filial piety, brotherhood, propriety, honesty, integrity, and shame—one had to be especially careful.
He knew that sneaking into lessons was also a violation of conscience, but he simply couldn’t restrain his thirst for learning.
So, before doing these things, he’d already made up his mind: once he was able to plant grain and work the fields, he would repay all the years of attending lessons.
But he never wanted to let his actions harm his parents’ reputation.
Living in such a small village, issues of personal reputation could easily snowball into major trouble.
After all, here, if you didn’t hide your words well, news would spread everywhere.
If you didn’t cover up your deeds, everyone would notice.
News that started off good might turn bad in the retelling, and bad news could somehow become good as well.
In short, it was kind of terrifying.
“Forget it, whether or not she’s Master Wei’s Student, I’d better admit my mistake first. Then I’ll beg Master face-to-face, offer to work for him and keep learning…”
Thinking back to the chores he did at home, a look of determined resolve appeared on his small face, showing the spirit of taking responsibility for one’s own actions.
Although he couldn’t handle heavy work, he could still do tasks like laundry.
Master was so busy; he probably wouldn’t mind having another helping hand…
He dropped his gaze to the ground, fingers entwining, palms sweating from nervous rubbing.
Even though Master Wei wasn’t even here, his wild thoughts made his heart pound with anxiety.
At last, after much internal struggle, he parted his tightly pressed lips.
“That, um… Fox Demon Senior…”
“Hey, you little human…”
Human and demon spoke at the same time, their eyes meeting in mutual astonishment.
Clearly, neither expected that they’d both be so on edge.
“Well, since that’s the case, you go first…”
“You can say what you wanted to first…”
After a moment of daze, they both hurriedly spoke up again, nearly at the same time.
“Mm, then I’ll…”
“Alright, then I’ll go first…”
This time, there was no pause; the words tumbled out at once, only to overlap once again, their mouths hanging open in unison as if of one mind.
Three attempts, three failed starts—anyone would lose patience at this point.
So, before Xiao Yunmu could try again, the little Fox Demon took two quick steps forward, stood in front of him, and without another word, pressed her hand over his mouth.
“Alright, just listen to me this time, okay? Don’t make a sound, got it?”
“Don’t make a sound!”
He didn’t speak, only nodded.
“Good, then let me introduce myself first. Nice to meet you—I’m Tu Shan Huaizhi. Tushan is the Tushan you humans speak of. Huai is from the Huai River, and Zhi is from Bai Zhi. Got it?”
He nodded again.
“Great, since you know now, it’s your turn to introduce yourself.”
She let go of her hand and put both hands on her hips, giving off a big sister vibe.
“I-I’m called Yunmu. Yun as in clouds, Mu as in shepherd. I’m four years old this year, and I live…”
“How old!?”
Just as Xiao Yunmu was about to spill all his family details, Tu Shan Huaizhi suddenly shouted, staring in astonishment at the cute little boy, unable to believe her ears.
“How old did you say you were?”
“F-four years old. Why?”
“Four years old? Really… Four years old… I thought you were older than I am…”
She looked at him, her startled expression slowly settling, but the word “little” at the end still never made it out.
“What about me?”
“It’s nothing, nothing at all. Anyway, just call me big sister.”
She decided to gloss over it.
“Right, what was it you wanted to say just now? You can say it now.”
She deftly shifted the topic.
“Ah, you mean that? I just wanted to ask, Huaizhi-jie, are you Master Wei’s Student?”
“Master Wei’s Student? Why do you ask?”
“Because, just now when I was reciting the content, you woke me up, didn’t you? That’s what Master taught us yesterday…”
“Oh, that? So it’s called San Zi Jing? It’s a very philosophical book, but the opening lines don’t really apply to demons. After all, some demons are just born with a bad nature.”
Tu Shan Huaizhi joked, then addressed his earlier question.
“As for your reminder earlier, it’s because I saw that book in the house and recognized it. That one.”
As she spoke, she raised her hand to indicate the size of the book.
Out of the corner of her eye, she seemed to spot something, and her expression changed.
“Wait… come with me!”
Before he could react, she dragged him behind a nearby haystack.
“Huaizhi-jie, w-what’s going on?”
Xiao Yunmu kept his voice low, instinctively wanting to peek out and see.
“Shh, someone’s coming.”
She pulled him back.
“Someone? Do you mean…”
Through a rare crack in the haystack, he sneaked a peek and immediately recognized who it was: the owner of this study, the very Master he’d been thinking about—Wei Yi.
If you do nothing wrong, you need not fear ghosts knocking at your door.
Now, Xiao Yunmu was completely nervous.
To avoid his own breathing being too loud, he even clamped his hand over his own mouth.
However, one thing did make him feel a bit more at ease, and that was Tu Shan Huaizhi’s relationship with Wei Yi.
Actually, before they hid, he’d always thought this little Fox Demon was a Student of Wei Yi.
But right now, hearing her say “someone’s coming” rather than “Master’s coming,” and seeing how nervously she hid, he was forced to abandon that idea.
So, aside from his habit of hiding due to his sneaky lessons, at this moment he was even more determined not to let the little Fox Demon be discovered by anyone else, not even Wei Yi.
In his memory and from what he’d heard, whether or not demons really existed, and whether or not they were evil, their appearance always carried negative connotations, and none ever had good endings.
He didn’t want to harm anyone—not even this little Fox Demon he’d just met.
He glanced up at the tense little Fox Demon, then, without thinking, patted her back, the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifting into a gentle smile far beyond his age.
For some reason, Xiao Yunmu felt this gesture came naturally.
And for some reason, Tu Shan Huaizhi also felt a strange sense of familiarity from him.
***
In the training ground, Eleven lowered her gaze, watching the boy and girl hugging each other, eyes filled with puzzlement…
“Weren’t they still in fox form a moment ago? How did they turn back into humans now?”
“It must be that Huaizhi’s control was thrown off by Little Mu’s memories and power, so much so that she couldn’t keep her own abilities in check and got caught up herself.”
Tu Shan Yunxi stood beside her, using her demonic power to sense the states of the two before them, quickly understanding the situation.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, right now, not only is Little Mu receiving training inside the Memory Illusion Realm, but Huaizhi has been forced from the role of providing the training ground to that of one needing training herself. Both of them are trapped in the whirlpool of the Memory Illusion Realm… I wonder what age they’re experiencing right now. If it’s too young, it could get troublesome.”
“Troublesome? In that case, can outsiders intervene directly?”
“Normally, no. But Huaizhi’s power and mine are from the same origin, so I’m skilled in Memory Illusion techniques too. If you want, I can force my way in and end this illusion, but once it’s ended, it won’t be possible to open another one again for a while. As you know, reading memories doesn’t take too long, but if you stop the illusion, you’ll have to wait quite some time to start it again. So, Master, what do you think?”
“Me?”
Eleven glanced at the pair, shook her head, “Let’s not interfere for now. It’s best if they break through on their own. Otherwise, if something like this happens for real in the future, do we have to help them every time? Besides… If we act rashly and leave them with inner demons, that would be trouble. That’s not something you can heal away easily.”
“In that case, let’s just wait and see. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll step in. How about that?”
“If it comes to that, do as you like. Though, I don’t think it will be necessary. I have faith in my disciple.”
“So do I.”