"Wang Wei?" she knocked on the door.
"Mei Xiu?"
She heard some hurried footsteps and heard some sweeping sounds. It was a full minute before the door opened.
He emerged, dishevelled, his clothes covered in faint black dust and dark circles under his eyes. His hair was surprisingly not in a total mess, but it was still covered in soot.
Before he opened the door, he had hurriedly patted the dust off himself. Then, he quickly combed his hair a few times and swept most of the pot shards and soot into a corner.
From how worn out he looked, Mei realised he must have been at this for quite a while, perhaps even days. It almost made her feel bad for lazing around, but she told herself she did just spend 3 days cultivating and working.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
"Uh..." Mei stuttered. "I came here to help sort out the misunderstanding?"
She punched herself mentally. What was she thinking coming here?
"Misunderstanding?"
"Well... You see, Xiuying, Liu Qiang and especially Yingyi have kind of a bad impression of you? I guess I came here to help sort it out?" Mei realised how unsure she sounded, but couldn't help it.
Wang Wei looked surprised for a moment, then shook his head.
"I see. Thanks, but you don't need to. I'll get right back to work."
"Oh..."
Mei stood awkwardly, wondering if she should just walk away, but then, something struck her. In Wang Wei's eyes, she saw something familiar.
That same feeling of being a puppet, doing the same things over and over again. The exhaustion, the stress. She had experienced it just days ago, and she hated it so much that she didn't even want to think of cultivation for a bit.
And yet, considering everything, he must have been in this state ever since he joined. Yingyi's complaints of how fast he progressed was a testimony to that.
All this pressure, faced by such a young boy...
She bit her lip.
"Wang Wei, stop!" she said, just as he was about to close the door.
He turned around confused.
"Let's go outside for a bit," she said.
She wasn't sure what had come over her. She had always been the sort to mind her own business.
A thought came to mind. A few years back, she saw a kid in her town being bullied by other kids. They punched him, kicked him down and stomped on him. It was going too far.
Back then, she could have easily stopped it. They wouldn't have been a match for someone who toiled daily in the fields, only having spent their days in classrooms. But she walked away, not wanting to get caught in it.
A few days later, from listening in on people in the town, she learnt what happened. The beating had broken the boy's right arm. Because of that, he was unable to take part in his exams and failed to get into his school of choice.
She had only felt slightly guilty at first, but days later, when she saw the boy again, it hit her. His arm was in a cast, his once cheerful demeanour once gone.
It was a memory she had pushed aside.
"Why?" asked Wang Wei.
"You've been working too hard. You should take a break," she said firmly.
"What?" Wang Wei sounded shocked. "It's none of your business!"
He reached and tried to shut the door, but Mei grabbed onto his hand and pulled him out.
"HEY! LET ME GO!" he screamed, flailing around, but no match for her strength.
She was worried someone would stop her as she dragged him out, but none of the disciples stopped her.
"You're going to rest, whether you like it or not!"
As they walked, eventually Wang Wei calmed down a bit, though still looking quite upset. She went from dragging him around as he screeched to just holding his hand to make sure he wouldn't run away.
Su Qing bobbed around him and tried to nuzzle him. From her contract, she could sense the spirit was trying to console him.
The spirit conveyed its disapproval to her, making her feel quite wronged. How was she even going to explain it that what she was doing was for his own good?
She brought him into the shade of the massive tree and to Ding Fang's snack shop, buying a few snacks for both of them, then to a secluded area for privacy.
He chewed angrily on a salted bun she bought for him. The whole time he was being dragged, they had exchanged no words. Unless his angry shouts were counted. Mei racked her head trying to think of what to say.
"Why are you working so hard anyway?" she said, finally.
"And why do you care if I work hard?" he glared at her.
"Well..." she started.
Still not too sure what to say, she talked what happened. She talked about how early on, she lazed around. How she was struck by feelings of inadequacy, hearing about how fast her friends progressed. She talked about how bad she felt, and how she ended up spending entire days without rest to catch up.
It was a long talk, but Wang Wei kept silent, listening the whole while.
"It was horrible." she ended. "I don't know why someone would force themself to work so hard unless there's something they really wanted. I guess I didn't want you to keep facing that? Sorry for dragging you all the way here."
She paused.
"Is there something driving you to work so hard?"
There was silence for what felt like an hour. But finally, Wang Wei spoke up.
"I think... I know how you feel," he said. "But I don't think I've spent much time lazing around."
He laughed weakly.
"Well... I suppose it would be rude if I didn't open up after you told me all that."
He talked about his time back in the mortal world.
His family had always drilled him to work hard. Apart from meals and bedtime, most of his time had been spent either studying alone or with tutors. Even so, it didn't feel enough. Often, when he thought he had done well, he would find that one of his brothers had done much better. Worse still, he would be scolded for not doing as well.
It had always made him feel terrible. He worked harder and harder, striving to be the best. Eventually, he was first, for the first time. His brothers were mad at him and started bullying him, but he was proud.
"So that's why you've been working so hard here? Because you don't want to fall behind again?" Mei said.
"Maybe."
"Well, right now, you're one of the best here," she said. "It shouldn't hurt to take a break once in a while."
"You of all people telling me that? Aren't you the best at lazing around?" he smiled faintly.
"Uh..." Mei racked her head for a response. "It's an expert's job to teach beginners?"
She thought it was a dumb joke, but the two of them laughed.
