Chapter 10 - Master and Student

Once inside the house, to welcome Hei, Xing, Ye, and Lei Lei was the sight of many dishes filling the table. Although they were relatively common and not made with expensive products, this sight was enough to amaze all four of them.

It was the first time Hei and his sisters saw so many dishes put together. Even Lei Lei, who expected more or less such a thing, was amazed by her father’s commitment.

"Dad, how much stuff did you prepare? I imagined you would cook a lot but not so much. It would be a shame if we didn't finish it."

"Don't worry; we have Hei with us, and even those little pets of his seem to have a certain appetite."

"Yes, Ye and Xing are rather gluttonous with eating, but you didn't have to prepare so much... you have already done so much for us..."

Hei, who had learned from his mother that things had to be earned, felt a certain feeling of unease.

After all, it wasn't just him; Xing and Ye had also been included for both breakfast and lunch. And the two of them, despite their appearance, were quite the eaters. Consequently, he didn’t want to take advantage of the father and daughter couple's generosity.

But Lei Bai was stubborn by nature, so he ignored what Hei had said and answered. "Don’t worry. I did it because I wanted to. So you don't have to feel uncomfortable or anything. It was purely my decision, so let's forget about it and just let’s eat together."

After thinking it over for a moment, Hei replied with something that surprised both Lei Lei and Lei Bai. "Then, in that case, let us repay this generosity by working for you. I, Ye, and Xing have experience in hunting, and we know how to skin an animal."

On their way back, Lei Lei, in addition to explaining the village’s structure, had mentioned her father's work as a butcher and his hunting trips with the various hunters. This had astonished Hei, who wondered if he could watch Lei Bai at work. After all, until now, they had observed and used the techniques taught by their mother, so Hei and his two sisters were somewhat interested in other methods of hunting and skinning.

Therefore, this event allowed him to advance his request and be able at the same time to satisfy his curiosity while repaying the generosity received. Furthermore, his mother had said that it would be better to find something to do during his stay in the village; otherwise, the sight of a child who was constantly wandering around for no reason would attract unwanted attention.

After all, the Leaf Village was still a village, and there weren’t so many things to see. Thus, he couldn’t wander continuously with the excuse of wanting to explore the village, not to mention that his primary mission was to learn how to interact with humans.

Hearing Hei's answer, Lei Bai was stunned for a moment before answering, "Do you know how to skin and cut an animal? Do you also say your two spirit beasts can do it?"

Lei Bai's bewilderment was very natural. Who could have imagined that a child of Hei's age could be able to do such a thing? Besides, his two spirit beasts were also capable of it? Being a snake and a spider, he expected them to be better at digesting the prey instead of cutting it and processing it.

"Yes, mother taught us from an early age about this process. So, although we cannot say we are experts, we aren’t beginners neither. We can also help you with hunting when you go outside."

Seeing Hei's confident look, Lei Bai had no more doubts. He had lived for many years and saw various things. Although Lei Bai wasn’t an expert, he knew more or less when someone was lying: he could see the sincerity in his eyes. But not only that, but he could also see confidence and pride typical of those who were proud of their abilities and had full confidence in them.

Hei, this child who appeared out of nowhere. He had known him only today, but he had given him a continuous surprise. He had already been very impressed when he learned about Hei’s real age at breakfast since the kid looked a little bit older on the outside. Lei Bai, therefore, guessed that this was due to a particular diet or regime that had contributed to the child's accelerated growth. But he didn’t expect him to be capable of such skills.

Suddenly, a strange emotion formed inside him. Initially, he wanted to be hospitable to leave a good impression on his mother and let Lei Lei have a free day to cheer her up in Hei’s company. Besides, the child was quite interesting, so Lei Bai was more than happy to welcome him for this day.

However, he was no longer interested in the mother, but his attention had shifted towards Hei. He had never seen a child like him, and if he was capable of what he had said, this meant he possessed great talent. Therefore, he wanted to see what this child was able to do and what his limitations were.

For those who had devoted their whole life to a specific art, their most significant concern was finding a worthy successor once they had reached a certain age. Although people had dreamed of reaching the pinnacle of their art during their youth, not everyone was capable of it. Consequently, to prevent their efforts from becoming smoke dissolved in the air, they took with them disciples to whom they entrusted their dreams.

Lei Bai also was like that. At first, he thought his children would become his successors, but Lei Lei wasn’t interested in his job. With the death of his wife, then, his desire to teach his children what he knew had vanished, and he decided he wouldn’t teach anyone else. Yet, before him, there was a child with a possible great talent. So his desire to pass his knowledge was awakened.

After a while, he replied, "All right, but first, I want to see the things you can do. If I think you are telling the truth, then I'll let you work with me if that's what you want. But now, let's concentrate on eating while it's still warm."

Leaving the question in abeyance for the moment, Lei Bai sat up and started pouring the food into his bowl. Shortly after that, he was followed by Lei Lei, who had listened to their discussion in silence, and finally by Hei with Xing and Ye.

Despite the massive amount of food present, lunch was consumed quickly. Whether it was because they were hungry due to the various experiences of today or because they wanted to see Hei’s abilities, the father and daughter couple ate faster as possible. They quickly finished their share of food.

Once lunch was over, they immediately moved to Lei Bai's laboratory, where a couple of small rabbit carcasses were hung. All around, you could see various ceramic containers with bottles of vinegar, oil, and other substances. At one corner, there was an extinguished brazier that was used to smoke the meat. The only source of light was a window above the brazier that could be closed with small curtains.

Although it was very crowded with meat and other objects, it was still large enough to let a couple of people work inside. Lei Bai had explicitly taken a house on the outermost side of the village to have as much space as possible for his workshop.

At this point, he took one of the hanging carcasses and placed it onto the only table present inside. Then he made a sign to Hei while saying, "Okay, it's time to show me what you can do. My knives are there; you can use them as you like. "

Hei nodded that he understood and took one of the knives. It was the first time he saw a metal knife, but he was familiar with the type of weapon. During the past years, Bao Bei had built him a stone knife with a wooden handle. Although the blade wasn't perfect, it was enough to practice how to dissect captured prey. Then, after a first adjustment with the weight and the feel of the knife, Hei proceeded to perform the required task.

His speed couldn’t be called fast, but, without a doubt, it was constant. Finally, after various efforts, he separated the skin from the meat and removed the entrails and the organs inside. Then he proceeded to divide the meat. Once finished, he sighed and wiped his forehead from the sweat with his arm.

Lei Bai, therefore, proceeded to evaluate the quality of the cut. He was verifying if the meat had been wasted during flaying. And the result he saw surprised him.

It couldn’t indeed be said that it was perfect, but it was good, extremely good considering the young age of the one who had made the cut. He didn't know what kind of experience Hei had in the past, but it was certainly not a novice's job.

At that point, Lei Bai trembled. His desire awakened earlier exploded again before this performance. Where could Hei arrive if he had managed to reach such a level at such a young age? Would he be able to process the flesh of the legendary beasts of which he had heard in legends that possessed meat with an otherworldly flavor?

Struggling to calm down, Lei Bai looked straight at Hei and said thoughtfully, "Hei, listen to me. Would you like to become my disciple? I will teach you everything I know, and you can stay here with us as much as you want.

But you have to think about it very carefully: when you choose a master, you choose him forever, and you can reveal the techniques learned only when you are judged worthy of being a master. So what do you say?"

Hearing this, Hei thought for a moment. From Lei Bai's tone of voice, his request was important, but he didn't know much about it. However, he could feel the sincerity of the man. Although he didn’t know entirely what a student-teacher relationship entailed, he wanted to give the man a possibility.

"Okay, but I would like to ask if Xing and Ye can learn these techniques too. It's possible?"

"You mean your spider and your snake? Of course, of course. They can learn everything they want. Don’t worry. I am more than glad to teach them too."

Although it might seem strange that some spirit beasts wanted to learn specific techniques, in Hei's eyes, it was nothing weird given that he didn’t have such a clear conception of division that humans had with other species. Thus, Hei and Lei Bai formally became student and master.

Despite knowing that it wouldn’t last long, Lei Bai still wanted to teach that child his every technique while still having the occasion. Who knows, maybe his techniques would reach the pinnacle he had never been able to achieve. Just that thought was enough to fill him with energy.

"Did you finished? How long do you want to stay there?” From outside, Lei Lei was calling them. In the beginning, she also had entered, but immediately after the meat processing had begun, she left because she couldn’t stand the sight. However, she remained outside, curiously awaiting the result.

"Yes, we're done. Now let's go out, Hei, great job today. "

Once they went out of the workshop, Lei Lei started bombarding her father with questions, so he gave her a brief description of what had happened, avoiding adding too many details, knowing that her daughter didn't like such things.

"And hence, from now on, Hei will be my disciple, and he will work with me."

"Ah, great. What a beautiful thing, hahaha. But you can't have Hei all for yourself; you'll have to give him some free time. I promised him I would teach him how to grow plants. "

"Growing plants? Uhmm, it's not like I totally agree, but that's okay. Since you promised him, you better teach him properly. "

"Of course. Just watch. I'll be a better teacher than you, dad. "

While the father and daughter couple squabbled happily together, Hei looked out the window, and seeing that the sun was showing signs of starting to set, he stood up.

"Big Sister Lei, Master, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I have to go. I promised my mother that I would be home by sunset."

The two stopped at this. They were sad that Hei had to leave, especially Lei Lei. However, her father knew that it wasn’t possible to make Hei stay for the night if his mother asked him to come back for a certain time.

"Okay, go ahead. If your mother permits you, you can come tomorrow. I'd like to talk to her. But if she is busy, it doesn’t matter. Give her my regards and my thanks."

"Hei, I'll wait for you tomorrow, okay? So we can start our studies on plants. The same goes for Ye and Xing. "

"All right, I'll try to come tomorrow if I can. Thanks for everything for today.” Greeting them quickly, Hei set off with Ye and Xing to the Multicolored Leaf Forest at full speed. He didn't want to break his promise to his mother and to make her worry.

Fortunately, the distance wasn’t so big and, unlike when he came in the morning, he started to run for the return. So he managed to reach the destination before the sun completely went down.

Waiting for him was Bao Bei, who had observed him from afar all the time. Without saying a word, Hei rushed towards his mother hugging her. Xing and Ye did the same.

Although not a day had passed, it was still the first time they hadn’t seen their mother during the day. Usually, during the night, they slept. So they didn’t notice so much her absence and, in any case, she would be near them when they woke up the next morning.

Bao Bei, without saying anything, took them and placed them on her back, and then she headed for their home.

On the way back, she had her three little cubs tell her about their experiences and thoughts. Hei, Ye, and Xing were very excited about today and the many new things they discovered. As they were still very young, new things had an irresistible appeal for them.

Coming to know that they would learn how to cultivate plants and how to use the dissection techniques used by humans, Bao Bei was pleased.

‘Good little ones, you did a good job. Do your best to learn all of it, okay? If you want to go tomorrow, it's fine, but you have to stay here the day after tomorrow. Remember that you can't ignore your classic workouts, so you'll have to alternate. But you will still go there often, so be assured.

Hei, if they ask you questions, continue with the story of the spirit beasts tamer. Tell them that I haven't started training you yet if they insist, and they'll stop. As for what these terms mean, I will teach you when you awaken your spirit power. It's a lot to learn, and now it's better if you focus on what you can do.’

"All right, mother, I'll do as you say. I'm not in a hurry. Today I had a lot of fun. They are good people, and they have also accepted Ye and Xing. But being with mother is still the best."

Happy with the answer, Bao Bei jumped slightly, entertaining her children, who began to bounce on her back happily. Thus the strange family formed by three spirit beasts and a human child returned home after a long day to rest in view of the next day.