Are you here to steal my job?

Lin Wang called out several times, and the window of the room on the south side of the courtyard opened halfway.

Something flew out with a whoosh.

Lin Wang nimbly dodged to the side, and the object flew straight across the courtyard, hitting the door of the opposite room with a thud.

It was a long-handled wooden spoon, which fell to the ground and spun around like a pointer.

A clear, muffled female voice cursed from inside the room: “It’s so noisy, are you even going to let people sleep!”

After cursing, the window slammed shut.

The door of the opposite room quickly opened, and a figure came out, yawning and putting on an outer robe.

They walked to the door, picked up the wooden spoon, and sleepwalked as they called out: “Big Yellow, Big White, Second White, Third White…”

Halfway through calling out, they probably remembered that the person in the opposite room was still sleeping, and immediately lowered their voice, continuing to call out in a breathy voice: “Big Yellow, Big White, Second White, Third White, don’t make trouble, Second White, stop biting, Big Yellow is going bald…”

Lin Wang coughed.

Jiang Beishan looked up, smoothly stood at attention, bowed his head, and saluted: “Good morning, Senior Brother, Senior Brother is back.”

Lin Wang: “…Still sleepwalking?”

Three seconds later, Jiang Beishan truly woke up, awoooing and pouncing on Lin Wang: “Senior Brother, why did you only come back at dawn! Where’s Senior Brother Bai Liye? How many spirit stones did you earn this time…”

“Shh!” Lin Wang quickly covered his mouth.

The two of them stealthily looked towards the window where the spoon had been thrown, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the person inside was still sleeping.

“Keep it down, don’t let Yueci find out,” Lin Wang released Jiang Beishan.

“Quickly put your geese back, Big Yellow looks so miserable I can’t bear to watch.”

“Okay, Senior Brother.” Jiang Beishan quickly put the poultry back in their respective pens, thought for a moment, and decided to correct Lin Wang’s statement: “Senior Sister Yueci isn’t that fierce.”

Lin Wang poked his head: “She threw a spoon and hit your door, and that’s not fierce?”

Only then did Jiang Beishan remember the wooden spoon in his hand.

He quickly wiped it clean with his sleeve and carefully placed it back on Ji Yueci’s windowsill, looking up at Lin Wang with a silly smile: “Not fierce, Senior Brother, Senior Sisters, and Master are all very good to me, I know that.”

Lin Wang pushed his head: “Stop it, your Senior Brother Bai Liye has found someone to come back and steal your work, you’re going to be kicked out.”

Jiang Beishan was shocked: “Impossible!”

Hu Yong had just sat down on the threshold next to Bai Liye when his back suddenly emptied, nearly causing him to fall backwards into the doorway.

He barely managed to steady himself when he saw a mass of something rush out and pounce on Bai Liye, causing Bai Liye to fall forward, nearly kneeling.

Yun Ruo pulled A Heng aside to avoid being affected.

Bai Liye propped himself up with his hands, saying one word at a time: “Jiang, Bei, Shan.”

Jiang Beishan, lying on his back, saw Hu Yong, and his heart finally died.

The newcomer looked stronger and more capable than him, Senior Brother Lin Wang hadn’t lied to him.

Jiang Beishan wailed: “Senior Brother, what did I do wrong? I’ll change it, don’t kick me out.”

Bai Liye: “? Get off me first!”

Three minutes later, everyone was sitting under the grape trellis north of the courtyard.

Bai Liye silently rubbed his injured shoulder, Lin Wang covered his face with one hand, Jiang Beishan looked at Hu Yong and Yun Ruo with a pair of drooping doggy eyes.

Bai Liye introduced Yun Ruo: “My junior brother, Jiang Beishan.”

“Hello,” Yun Ruo nodded to him.

Jiang Beishan politely said: “Hello, you’re the new one?”

Yun Ruo: “Yup.”

Jiang Beishan breathed a sigh of relief.

The other party looked like a pampered young lady, he still had a chance of winning.

So, he continued to ask: “What can you do?”

Yun Ruo felt like she was in a job interview, her corporate soul was activated, and she took out her excellent HR skills: “I can learn anything I don’t know, I’m a very quick learner.”

As soon as Jiang Beishan heard this, he understood: she was challenging me.

Jiang Beishan was about to say something, full of fighting spirit, when Bai Liye knocked on the table, interrupting him: “Go clean up the room next to Yueci’s.”

“Give it to her?” Jiang Beishan pointed to Yun Ruo.

Bai Liye gave him a “what else” look.

Jiang Beishan instantly resembled a frost-bitten eggplant, drooping his doggy eyes and getting up with a heavy heart, on the verge of tears: “Senior Brother, you’re not really going to let her replace me, are you?”

“…” Bai Liye looked speechlessly at Lin Wang, who was covering his face, trying not to laugh so hard his shoulders were shaking: “Don’t listen to Lin Wang’s nonsense, even if he gets kicked out, you won’t be.”

Lin Wang barely stopped laughing, wiped his face, and said to Jiang Beishan: “Did you hear? Go clean the room.”

Only then did Jiang Beishan nod with satisfaction, wipe his face, and call out to Yun Ruo: “Come with me, keep your voice down, Senior Sister is still sleeping.”

The Idle Cloud Sect’s courtyard wasn’t big, and was full of flowers and plants.

The geese and chickens were kept in separate areas, the Big Yellow dog was sleeping outside the door, and there was a large pond by the courtyard wall, which actually had a lot of fish in it.

When someone passed by, they would flick their tails and leap onto the surface of the water, bouncing in the air before falling back into the water.

No matter how you looked at it, it was more like a vibrant farmhouse than an immortal sect.

Jiang Beishan led Yun Ruo into the room.

It was very clean and didn’t need much cleaning, showing that someone cleaned it regularly.

It was just rather narrow, and there wasn’t room for anything other than a bed and a small table.

When Hu Yong and A Heng squeezed in, the space seemed even more cramped.

“I’ll go find you some bedding,” Jiang Beishan opened the window to air it out.

“See what you’re missing, and go to Senior Brother Bai Liye’s room to find it later.”

“Why go to his room?” Yun Ruo asked.

Jiang Beishan said as a matter of course: “He has a lot of things in his room, he has everything.”

“Oh, I see.” Yun Ruo looked at the room, nodding.

Jiang Beishan walked to the door, turning back worriedly: “By the way, did Senior Brother say what specific work he wants you to do?”

“No.”

Hearing Yun Ruo say this, Jiang Beishan smiled, his tone becoming more enthusiastic: “I knew it, Senior Brother definitely didn’t let you come to steal my work. I can handle it all by myself, you can go out and get familiar with the environment, I’ll make your bed in a while.”

“…Okay, thank you.”

This dedicated junior brother seemed like the type who was easy to deceive.

Yun Ruo suspected that he, like her, had been lured here to work.

Hu Yong had carried A Heng on his back all night, found a cool place under a tree, and went to sleep.

Yun Ruo led A Heng out for a walk.

The Idle Cloud Sect was on the mountainside, surrounded by green hills and clear water, lush green trees, and the sound of rustling trees.

The mountain breeze was refreshing.

A Heng had grown up in North State City, and his knowledge of forests was limited to the terrible Miasma Forest on the border.

It was his first time in a place where he could run wild all over the mountains, and he was so excited that he ran around everywhere, unable to stop.

In the evening, Yun Ruo had to grab the sweaty boy and take him back to the Idle Cloud Sect.

In the distance, she saw a slender figure at the door of the small courtyard.

Yun Ruo walked forward.

Bai Liye was standing at the door, the wind blowing his hair across his forehead, gesturing Yun Ruo with his chin: “Dinner’s ready.”

“Okay,” Yun Ruo walked over.

“Were you waiting for me?”

Bai Liye didn’t deny or confirm: “Let’s go.”

The wind was lighter inside the courtyard.

Yun Ruo hadn’t noticed it when she first arrived, but after going out for a walk and coming back, the contrast was obvious.

She guessed that there was probably a formation set up in the courtyard.

That’s right, it was an immortal sect after all.

The food was already set out, on the table under the grape trellis.

The middle was empty, obviously waiting for the last dish to be served.

Yun Ruo took A Heng to wash their hands and came back.

The dishes on the table were complete, and the people were all present: Hu Yong, Bai Liye, Jiang Beishan, Lin Wang, and a cold-looking woman in white.

Lin Wang smiled and called Yun Ruo over to sit down, skillfully introducing her: “This is our fellow disciple, Ji Yueci.”

The woman in white glanced at Yun Ruo indifferently, considering it a greeting.

After the meal was served, Ji Yueci didn’t eat with them.

She took a bowl and put some of each dish in it, then returned to her room.

Hu Yong was a little embarrassed: “Does the young lady not want to eat with outsiders? A Heng and I can eat separately.”

“No,” Lin Wang explained, “She’s always like this, she doesn’t usually eat with us either, we’re used to it.”

Jiang Beishan also nodded: “Senior Sister Yueci always eats by herself.”

After dinner, the sky was getting dark.

Hu Yong said goodbye, taking A Heng with him.

Although the Idle Cloud Sect didn’t seem like an immortal sect at all, and there were only a few disciples, and the master wasn’t home, Lin Wang was a con man, Bai Liye was in cahoots with him, Ji Yueci had a weird temper, and there was also a silly junior brother Jiang Beishan… but he felt that there was no danger here, and these people weren’t bad.

He called Yun Ruo outside the courtyard and gave her a few instructions, telling her not to forget next year’s registration, and not to forget to ask the Idle Cloud Sect for a recommendation letter.

Finally, he cupped his hands at Yun Ruo: “The green hills will not change, we will meet again someday. If you don’t want to stay at the Academy in the future, and have nowhere to go, remember to come back to North State City, I haven’t finished repaying your life-saving grace yet.”

Yun Ruo felt a lump in her throat, forcing a smile: “Okay.”

A Heng had been crying since they left the door, crying so hard he was out of breath, grabbing Yun Ruo’s arm wanting her to go back with him.

Hu Yong finally tore him away from Yun Ruo and walked away with him on his back.

Yun Ruo stood at the door of the courtyard and watched them leave, standing in the wind for a long time.

“How long have you known them?” Bai Liye’s voice came from behind.

“Not long, I just met them on the night when North State City was besieged by miasma,” Yun Ruo didn’t turn around.

“Is that so?” Bai Liye said faintly.

“He’s good to you.”

“Yeah,” Yun Ruo nodded.

After who knows how long, Yun Ruo turned around, preparing to go back, and found that Bai Liye was still there, standing not far behind her with his head bowed, inexplicably saying: “I thought you wouldn’t want to leave, but you don’t seem very sad.”

“What’s there to be sad about?” Yun Ruo smiled.

“Separation is the norm, reunion is occasional. As long as people are okay, there will always be a day when we meet again.”

Bai Liye paused: “You’re very open-minded.”

He approached Yun Ruo, seeing the shallow smile in her clear eyes, and couldn’t help but frown: “Are you ever afraid?”

When they first met in North State City, she was an ordinary person, didn’t know that she had awakened her spiritual meridians, but she dared to rush into the miasma alone to save people, killing the Spirit-Devouring Beast and being splashed with blood, but she didn’t cry or scream.

The second time they met in the Academy’s plaza, she almost fell into the water but didn’t seem nervous or flustered.

When he offered to let her come to the sect to work in exchange for a recommendation letter, she really came.

Recklessly bold, not knowing what fear was, as if her whole body was filled with reckless resilience and decisiveness.

He thought Yun Ruo would say no, but he saw her lower her eyes, hiding her expression.

“Yes, I am,” Yun Ruo’s voice was a little soft, but he heard it.

“If only good things keep happening, I’ll be afraid.”

Bai Liye’s eyes flickered.

Yun Ruo lifted her face, smiling: “Room and board, not taking my money and giving me a recommendation letter, I was worried at first, but I’m relieved now that I’ve come to the Idle Cloud Sect. Things are only normal when there’s a mix of good and bad, right?”

Bai Liye: “?”

Did she just say that our sect is broken and bad, and is on the bad side?