Chapter 4: The Babysitter

“Found you, you little rat, the hell are you doing here?”

There was no response.

“Friend?” - called Bei, waiting for a response, he got none again. He put his hand on Jin’s shoulder.

“JIN!” - shouted Bei, starting to shake him now.

Jin didn’t respond. He was sitting on a bench. Breathing very slowly, and very deeply. Eyes half opened. Posture half hunched. Not at all what Jin usually looked like.

Bei grabbed him by the hand and shoved him to his side.

“Didn’t fall on the ground. Good, this will do for now.” - thought Bei. He didn’t let go of Jin’s hand and just dragged him along to the Southern Alliance’s Pavilion.

The queue there was almost non-existent now, after waiting a couple minutes Bei approached Yuan Ju.

“Sir, we’d also like to join the Nan Liang Mountain sect.”

Yuan Yu nodded and glanced at Jin. Then focused back on Bei

“Alright, what’s your name?”

“Tai Bei''

The man raised his eyebrows.

“Alright Tai Bei, let me take a look at you.” - he said as he placed his hand on Bei’s head.

“Very good” “Very good” “Very good” - he muttered three times total. After which a big smile appeared on his face.

“I’m very pleased to welcome you to our sect.”

“Now, can you tell me what’s the deal with your friend?”

“He has a condition, as you can see. It’s temporary.” - Bei started, not really knowing how to explain.

Yuan Ju frowned.

“What’s his name?”

“Tai Zhen Jin”

“Alright, let me take a look at him.” Yuan Ju approached Jin and put a hand on him.

This time Yuan Ju frowned and didn’t seem as pleased.

“While not unsalvageable, his cultivation talent is rather low. He’s well below our bottom line. His vitality is good. He should have few problems joining the Beast Mountain House.” Yuan said and furrowed his brows further.

”His energies are a little chaotic, surging, expanding and condensing. It seems like his aperture might open quite early if this were to continue. For such a low cultivation talent, this would be quite an advantage especially early on. If guided properly...” - Yuan Ju paused, sinking into his thoughts.

“I hope you can consider him Sir. Me and him are a package. If he can’t come, I’m afraid I can’t either.”

Yuan Ju’s frown deepened yet again.

“I’m not really in charge of the rules here.” - he started messaging his temple - “On the other hand, my master would be less than happy if I rejected good talent lightly...”

Yuan Ju thought for a minute.

“I wouldn’t forget about this favor” - interjected Bei - “nor will the house regret this decision, I’ll make sure of it.”

“I wish it were simpler, but admissions are not to be taken lightly. The house will not cut corners when it comes to developing the disciples, nor will it skimp on resources.”

“If there’s a problem on any returns from his admission, I will do my best to cover for them.”

“That’s not usually how it works… and even if you say that, it’d not be straightforward to accomplish. The house anyway wants the disciples to carry their weight, it’d be a shame to see someone talented slowing down due to the influence of less capable peers.” - Yuan Ju paused again.

“In this situation however, you wouldn’t be coming here anyway, so there’s little risk in that regard.” - Ju paused again.

Finally after a minute more, Yuan Ju’s frown loosened, as he took a more amused expression.

“I’ll agree to this. The worst thing I could get is a good scolding. I’ll try to remember to check on both of you in the future” - then, he smiled - “let’s see what the word of a 12 year old is worth.”

“Everyone accepted, gather around. Here’s our schedule...”

---

The caravan left the Tai clan’s town. There was a total of 14 other Tai clansmen accepted by Yuan Yu, including Jin and Bei. The caravan included passenger wagons, they were quite luxurious compared to the cattle wagons they used to get to the main clan.

They were neither the first nor the last clan that the caravan had stopped at. There were still to stop at the Lu and Gu Nan clans. After that everybody would split off to their own house. They’ve been told that it'll likely take a little over a month more until they reach the Nan Liang Mountain. Bei checked on Jin again. Jin still didn’t interact with the world. He was sitting in a relaxed position on his bed, back to the wagon’s wall. Still half hunched.

Bei narrowed his eyes. Looks like he’s going to need to babysit Jin during this trip. And that doesn’t include just checking whether he’s alright, it’ll need to be full service, including making sure he eats, drinks water, and is clean. The last one is going to be the biggest challenge. Bei smiled. “How annoying.” - he said, quietly.

They had two more recruits in the wagon. A girl and a boy.

“Hey there brother. I’m Kai Yuan and this is Kai Chi.” He pointed his head towards the girl. “We’re siblings. I haven’t seen any of you around in the clan, how come?”

Bei wasn’t in the mood for small talk. He just waved a hand signalling that to the boy.

“Must be branch clan twerps that got lucky.” sneered the girl. Yuan shot her a look and turned apologetically towards Bei.

“Forgive my sister, she has a bad temper, but she’s not a bad person.” After apologizing he turned to the girl “Chi, leave the talking to me.”

“Who cares, it’s just two potato farmers from the branch.” - Chi snorted, and Bei put a smile on his face after hearing that.

“I’m not wasting my energy holding back on them.” - Chi continued, while Yuan shook his head hearing that.

”Apologies brother. I’m sure her attitude will get adjusted before we reach the house, or soon after. The environment there should help her rein this kind of attitude.”

“You should hope it does, otherwise it’s her fellow disciples who’ll teach her a lesson, and I don’t quite think you’ll be enough to deter them.” - Bei finally answered.

The boy was saddened hearing this, but the girl was happy to entertain Bei.

“Empty threats are weakling's sharpest sword. Don’t talk to us anymore.“ The girl raised her hands in a shrug.

”I’ve seen through you and it’s not worth getting acquainted with you at all. Look, your little friend has farmed so many potatoes in his life that he’s become a sack of potatoes himself haha!”

Yuan had a terrible expression. He regretted starting the conversation at all. He did it to make friends, not enemies.

Bei gave the girl a glare, and she was more than happy to challenge it with her own, making him quickly wave a hand as he lost interest.

Chi announced her victory with a loud, pitched “Hmph”.

The duo didn’t engage Bei in conversation anymore. Bai settled underneath Jin’s bed and sat cross legged. The atmosphere wasn’t right for Guqin either, so he just decided to rest.

After a while, the sibling pair also eased into the situation a bit more and started conversing with each other.

After a couple hours, a sudden stink entered the wagon.

“Crap.” - thought Bei, immediately opening the wagon door. He quickly threw his bag outside and grabbed Jin over his shoulder, after which he clumsily ran out of the wagon.

He proceeded to strip the boy outside the wagon.

Fair enough,

Jin has just crapped himself.