The work did not change but Livestock arrived, and then thinned.
The drainage channel darkened, then was rinsed by rain, then darkened again.
Time did not stop.
Today, Ren came in the evening and his sleeves smelled faintly of ink. “I thought cultivation was easy" he said once. “Damn, it's harder than I thought.”
"I started before anyone who arrived with us, but I was left behind, the High-Crag girl, she is already ahead of me" Ren said.
Yan looked over.
"Well, Yan, if you can cultivate tomorrow, don't be disappointed if you don't see the progress or someone leaves you behind" Ren patted.
"It's perfectly normal" Ren patted again.
"What.." Before Yan could speak.
"Well, that's it, I have some other things to do, you continue with your work" Ren said and left.
Yan still looked at the place where he left, towards the door of the storehouse.
The old man arrived not too long after Ren left along with Ma and Lin, he was circling lower pens, calculating the goats, and gripped the ink brush tightly as it touched the ledger in his hand.
“Resources are tight, it's all because of livestock purchase,” he snapped one afternoon. “Disciples”
Ma and Lin kept their heads down.
“They complain,” the old man continued. “I try to explain, but they don't stop complaining about monthly allowances getting less"
He struck the ledger in his hand shut.
“If animals are bought, disciples must also eat full, they say.”
And then he left, Ma and Lin followed.
Time passed, Yan continued to sharpen the knife.
Muchen appeared less often, and today he did.
He selected the goats and as usual, Yan brought them out at night.
Then the next morning, Muchen arrived again and stopped beside Yan.
“You’ve watched long enough.” He said while looking at Yan.
“Listen Servant"
" Selecting right goat is of utmost importance, This is not about weakness alone,” he said.
"Follow me"
Yan followed behind Muchen.
He stopped at the weak looking goat, and he pressed a goat’s ribs.
“Listen to the ribs, they should be hard”
He lifted its jaw.
“Listen to it's breath, it should not be clear”
He placed two fingers on its throat
“Listen to the pulse, it should not be strong”
Then he stood aside and looked at Yan, and said "Give it a try".
Yan took a deep breath and started examining the goats just like Muchen did.
“This one is too early.”
Another.
“Too resilient.”
He corrected Yan until Yan was able to select five goats.
“Servant, Learn the threshold.” Muchen said.
"From today onwards, I am busy with other works, You will take over the selection., Understood?" Mu Chen glared at Yan.
"Yes" Yan replied.
"Good, come let's practice more" Muchen said.
Then Muchen examined many goats Yan selected until Yan was able to select fifteen goats consecutively without any error.
"Servant, I am leaving, Don't forget to select the goats daily" Muchen then bid farewell to Yan.
That night, Yan made the selections himself.
He moved through the pens slowly.
He examined the ribs, jaw and pulse and chose four correctly.
On the fifth, he paused.
The animal was thin but not thin enough.It would have lasted longer.
Curiosity took over preservation, He untied it anyway.
The rope slipped loose without resistance, and then he led the five into the courtyard and left them at the cracked training platform.
And left but stood behind the closed door of the storehouse.
The ridge was quiet and then
A heavy impact, sounded like something dense striking soil again and again.
Yan turned to touch the door of storehouse but paused.
“That one is wrong.”
A voice overshadowed the sound.
“That brat Muchen favors is clumsy.”
Yan immediately returned to his resting place in the storehouse.
The next morning came without ceremony.
The courtyard was clean.
The drainage channel is darker than before.
When Yan entered the storehouse, someone stood beside the ledger table that was newly built.
A red-haired girl stood beside the ledger table.
She looked younger than Ma and Lin.
“Hurry, bring new goats inside”
Outside, another herd was being unloaded