A Troublesome Sleeping Posture

When the moon had passed the treetops and climbed straight into the middle of the sky, the energy at the ruins of the central hall finally gathered together slowly and vanished. Then a small, round little figure came clambering out, bumping and stumbling along the way.

"Brat! How are you?" Tian Buyi hurried over at the sight and dragged him out, half supporting him.

"Big fatty!" Luo Yunji rubbed his eyes, looking as if he had just woken up. Seeing this, Tian Buyi could only shake his head in speechless silence.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Tian Buyi crouched down and patted the dust from his young disciple's clothes, carefully checking whether he had been injured. Only after seeing that he was completely fine did he relax.

"What happened to the house?" Luo Yunji turned his head, saw the ruins behind him, and asked curiously.

"Nothing. Tomorrow I'll have your senior brothers clean it up. How do you feel? Is there anywhere your body feels uncomfortable?" Tian Buyi asked with concern.

"I'm hungry!" Luo Yunji rubbed his plump little belly and said, rather aggrieved.

"Go eat something first. Your senior brothers saved dinner for you. Your seventh senior brother specially made your favorite braised pork for you." It was just too sweet!

Hearing the commotion, everyone who had been worried about their little junior brother ran out one after another.

"Is little junior brother all right?" Sixth Brother was the first to ask.

"He's fine. Old Six! Go heat up the food." Looking at Zhang Xiaofan, whose injuries had improved somewhat, Tian Buyi turned his head and instructed Old Six beside him.

Tian Buyi waved his hand, signaling for everyone to disperse, but not a single one was willing to leave. Seeing how concerned they all were, Tian Buyi said nothing more. That his disciples had such a good relationship was also something that made him, as their master, feel proud.

Luo Yunji paid no mind at all to everyone's watching eyes. After eating his fill in a daze, he closed his already half-lidded eyes and fell asleep again.

Seeing this, everyone found it both funny and enviable, but most of all, they were helpless.

Luo Yunji's room had already collapsed, so they arranged for him to share a room with Zhang Xiaofan. After all, both of them were still young; with the same bed, two little ones sleeping together would not seem too cramped.

"Master! Isn't little junior brother's condition somewhat wrong?" After everyone had dispersed, Fourth Brother He Dazhi stayed behind alone and looked worriedly at Tian Buyi.

"No need to worry. Your master will not let anything happen to your little junior brother!" After a moment of silence, Tian Buyi said in a deep voice.

"Master, please rest early. This disciple takes his leave." Seeing that Tian Buyi had made up his mind, He Dazhi also set the matter down in his heart.

The next day, before the sky had even brightened, Su Ru rushed back with the chill of the night still clinging to her.

"How was it?" Tian Buyi waited until Su Ru had tidied herself up, then asked somewhat anxiously.

"Senior Sister couldn't be certain either. According to the disciple who brought Little Ji up the mountain, when he found Little Ji back then, he was also worried that the child's parents had simply been careless, so he followed the river upstream to search. The nearby villages all said that no family had lost a child. That was why he carried Little Ji up the mountain." Su Ru was rather helpless. This trip had yielded nothing at all.

"None of us can see anything special about the child himself, but the things happening to him are far too strange." Tian Buyi sighed, very helpless and worried.

"How about we invite a few senior brothers to take a look? Senior Brother Zeng of Wind Return Peak has read the most books and must be widely knowledgeable. The sect leader senior brother's experience is not something we can compare to either, and the other senior brothers have all gone down the mountain to roam before. Perhaps they can see something." Su Ru suggested softly.

"That's all we can do. If there really is something... if there truly is something! Several senior brothers would not go so far as to make things difficult for a child." Tian Buyi considered it for a long while before nodding in agreement. "Rest for a while first! We'll talk about it after daybreak."

On Big Bamboo Peak, aside from that patch of ruins, which looked different from usual, nothing else had changed at all. If one really had to say something was different, then it was Zhang Xiaofan!... He had lost sleep!

This little fatty Luo Yunji would be very quiet after falling asleep, and he could maintain a single posture all the way until he woke naturally.

He had a habit when sleeping: he liked to ball the quilt up and hug it to his chest, with one foot resting on top of the quilt.

But today, Zhang Xiaofan, who shared the same bed with him, was...

Until dawn, when it was time to get up and make breakfast, Zhang Xiaofan still had not been able to escape from this little fatty Luo Yunji's embrace. Calling him got no response, and pushing him would not budge him. It was only with great difficulty that he saw someone's figure flicker past outside his window, and he hurriedly called for help in a small voice, "Senior brother! Hurry and help me!"

He had been curious to begin with. Ever since taking over the kitchen work, this seventh junior brother had been the first to get up and make breakfast every day. Their fellow disciples had still been wondering why no one was in the kitchen today, so Old Six was holding things down there now, while he had come over to take a look.

He had only just approached the room when he heard Zhang Xiaofan's rather pitiful cry for help.

"What's going on?" Fourth Brother hurriedly pushed the door open and walked in, and then he saw the absurd, amusing scene on the bed.

Luo Yunji had all four limbs firmly clinging to Zhang Xiaofan, sleeping soundly. No matter how Zhang Xiaofan struggled, he could not break free. He was so anxious that his face had turned much redder, and a little sweat had appeared on his forehead. When he saw him now, it was as if he had seen his savior.

"Fourth senior brother, hurry and help me! I can't move!" Zhang Xiaofan looked at He Dazhi and pleaded pitifully.

He Dazhi shook his head and laughed speechlessly as he walked to the bedside. It took him enormous effort before he finally pried Zhang Xiaofan out of Luo Yunji's arms.

"Little junior brother sleeps like this!" He Dazhi looked at Zhang Xiaofan, who had gotten out of bed but whose body was still a little stiff and numb, and said with a smile.

"He crushed me to death! Little junior brother is really heavy!" Zhang Xiaofan had been tangled in the little fatty's arms for the whole night, and now his entire body had hardly any strength, while the numbness had left him with little sensation. He leaned against the bed for a long while before his numb hands and feet gradually improved.

"Oh no! Breakfast hasn't been made yet!" As soon as Zhang Xiaofan thought that he would be scolded by his master—and more importantly, that he would make everyone go hungry—he panicked, and sweat broke out anxiously across his forehead.

"It's fine! Your sixth senior brother has already made it. Rest a while longer!" He Dazhi comforted Zhang Xiaofan, whose face had gone somewhat pale with worry. His hands did not stop either as he lifted the little fatty from the bed and skillfully dressed him.

"How is it? Still numb?" After tidying up Luo Yunji and carrying him, he looked at Zhang Xiaofan, who had already washed up, and asked.

"It's not numb anymore, fourth senior brother! Much better." Zhang Xiaofan shook his head and replied.

When the three of them arrived at the dining hall, under everyone's curious gazes, He Dazhi recounted the matter from beginning to end. Everyone who listened laughed until they could not stop, and Old Six exaggeratedly slapped the table again and again.

"The room will still need a few days before it's repaired. If Seventh Junior Brother isn't willing, we can have little junior brother stay in my room first!" Song Daren looked at Zhang Xiaofan, unable to suppress his laughter.

"N-no need! I, I can do it!" Zhang Xiaofan hurriedly replied, embarrassed. "I, I'll try to get up on time tomorrow to make breakfast."

"Hahaha! Then we'll be troubling Seventh Junior Brother!" Song Daren could no longer hide his laughter as he patted Zhang Xiaofan's shoulder and said, "However! I think, for this period of time, we should still have Sixth Junior Brother take more responsibility for the meals."

"Senior brother! I, I'll do my best to get up!" Zhang Xiaofan said softly, his face red.