After the meal, Junjie watched as Xingjuan disappeared into the door that led into what he assumed to be the bedrooms. Or bedroom; however, he couldn't be too certain.
He had noticed before that the cabin was a bit longer than what was shown on the inside, so he assumed there had to be some other entrance. It was just covered by the fireplace, which stuck out of the wall and hid it perfectly from his brief glance.
---
"You know, Lihua, I think this would be a good opportunity for you to try and purge your trauma, but also just make your first real friend." Xingjuan was busy convincing Lihua to accept Junjie to be her new training partner. If Junjie could read thoughts, he would probably say something along the lines of "She was totally thinking of saying 'dummy,' wasn't she!? I may have agreed to it, but that doesn't mean I'm excited to be beaten senseless by that monster of a woman!"
"Mother, I just really don't think I can... just not now at least. It just seems like some distant goal that I can't-." The words caught in her throat and her overbearing façade was nowhere to be seen. She was just a lonely, angry child. And she felt indignant that her mother was siding with this stranger over her.
"But I can at least promise you one thing. While we may never be friends, I can at least train with him until he leaves. But the sooner the better!" It seems that she had come to a decision about training and, thereby, living with the enigma known as Jia Junjie. Not that she was too happy, which she made known.
Regardless, Xu Xingjuan smiled.
---
Junjie was sitting silently, still at the dinner table, while allowing his mind to wander. There was so much he was curious about, with his origin being his main concern, but there was truly nothing he could do.
Deciding to kill the silence, Junjie gathered up the plates and walked them over to the sink while trying not to drop them. One by one he began meticulously scrubbing each dish, and before he knew it, each dish had been thoroughly cleaned and placed on a drying rack, yet Ms. Xu still had yet to return.
He decided to then move to scrubbing the table of anything that was accidentally, and unfortunately, spilt onto its previously pristine surface.
Just as he finished scrubbing the table, Ms. Xu finally re-emerged from the bedroom with a bright smile on her face. But she looked at the table and then the kitchen in surprise.
"Ah!— There was really no need for you to do all this; it's my job as the mother to do such things, but thank you so much." It seemed his mindless cleaning had at least given Ms. Xu a favourable impression, something he had been aiming for. Not even just to continue living here, but he hated animosity, especially between people he was going to live with for the foreseeable future.
"No truly, it's just a small token of my appreciation for you training and housing me." Junjie reciprocated the smile she came out with before.
"Speaking of, you should probably rest up; you're in for a long day tomorrow. I'll show you to your room now." Xingjuan said before once again turning back to the door she had just exited and, without pause, entering.
Junjie quickly followed, also intrigued by what awaited him on the other side. He was greeted by a long hallway with two doors to his left and one to his right.
Xingjuan stood in the middle of the hallway and pointed to the door, which lay on his right side.
"This is my bedroom; if you ever need anything, you can just knock and ask. But most of the time you can find me around the house." Then she pointed to the door closest to the entrance in which he was standing. "This is Lihua's room." Finally she pointed to the door furthest from the entrance.
"And this one is now your room; no need to thank me, though it would be nice if you did." She said that last part with a cheeky grin, to which Junjie smoothly replied,
"Of course, Ms. Xu, I humbly accept your gift of a living quarter and cannot begin to thank you enough." He said this while in a full 45-degree bow. What followed was a hearty chuckle and then silence. After a few moments Xingjuan finally said,
"Alright, well, it's getting dark, so I best be off to bed. Try not to stay up too late; you've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow. Goodnight, young man." She then walked into her room, retiring for the night.
Junjie walked to his room and opened the door, and what awaited him was a small room, no bigger than 4 metres in both width and length. It was rather small but still nice for just a single person.
On the left side of the room was a simple bed with white sheets and a feather pillow. On the left side of the room was a desk pushed against the end wall with a window above it and a wardrobe pushed against the far right wall. He swiftly sat on the soft bed.
Finally alone for the first time again and in a safe environment, Junjie finally had time to think to himself. He was still so confused about how he ended up in that amazing area with the pond and vast mountain range and how that all seemingly disappeared through his journey within the bamboo forest. Now that he really had time to think about it, it was nothing short of baffling.
'All this thinking is going to get me absolutely nowhere; maybe if I sleep on it, it could make some more sense in the morning.' Deciding now that he was too tired to even think, he laid his head on the pillow and began drifting off to sleep.
Tomorrow promised to be an interesting day.