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“Gentle,” Yin Yu instructed, in a soft voice, while placing a tiny chick on Quan Yizhen’s equally small hands. “Don’t squish it. You have to be gentle.”
They were together at the chicken coop, because Yin Yu was teaching Quan Yizhen how to retrieve the eggs, so that he could help with that in the future.
Yin Yu had realized that Quan Yizhen had a lot of interest in the different animals that were kept at the sect, and had decided to exploit that in favor of keeping his small shidi on his best behavior while still learning useful things.
Quan Yizhen was simply fascinated by the chicks, so Yin Yu allowed him to touch them, as long as he promised to be gentle. His shidi’s reaction had been pure delight, giggling as he caressed the tiny creature in his hands, and even placed a little kiss on its head before letting it go back with the rest of the chicks.
“Shixiong, they are so soft!” Quan Yizhen said, excited. “Can this shidi come here every day?!” They were surrounded by the chirps of the little birds.
“That depends,” Yin Yu replied, carefully considering the idea. “If you’re doing alright with your classes, you can come play with them.” Then, he added, “that’s different from coming here to help with getting eggs or feeding the chickens, though. If you’re asked to do that, you can’t get distracted, shidi.”
“This shidi will behave, shixiong,” Quan Yizhen replied, absolutely determined. He really wanted to be allowed to come back there!
It was the start of Quan Yizhen’s relationship with animals, that got to be a really close one. He got along much better with animals than with other people, and taking care of the different ones that were kept at the sect helped him keep a stable routine on his own, and also were great helpers when he needed to calm down if he was having a bad day.
Animals did not judge, and more importantly: animals did not lie. They communicated in ways that were clear and easy for Quan Yizhen to learn and understand. If they “said” something, they meant it. And Quan Yizhen observed them and took note of their behaviors, trying his best to be respectful.
Maybe the animals could sense that he meant no harm to them, and that he wanted to be their friend, because they were quite patient with him too, and he never ended up hurt.
Well, the cats that lived in the sect —guarding their reserves of food, both for the disciples and for their animals, keeping it all free of any pests— resisted him a bit more. He did end up scratched more than once. It was just that cats were a bit harder to understand! He still managed to gain their trust, though. The Mama cats even took their kittens to meet him!
He was persistent to a fault, but he also learned how to be more patient too, as he tried to get closer to the animals around him. Of course he did, since he had Yin Yu’s example. Yin Yu-shixiong was always kind and respectful to all the animals, even if he wasn’t particularly loving to them.
Quan Yizhen, though, loved them all. He was still a small kid that could get away with such things, and took advantage of that fact whenever he could, even if he kept getting in trouble for it.
A particularly memorable occasion was related to the sect’s absolutely massive guard dogs. [1] Quan Yizhen loved to pet them, hug them and cuddle with them, ignoring the fact that they were big dogs that could eat him in less than three bites if they so wanted. They were aloof and patient, though, and instead of antagonizing Quan Yizhen, they tolerated him and wagged their tails whenever he was close.
Maybe the dogs simply could see that he was just a kid that desperately needed some cuddles and patient understanding. It was a frequent sight to find Quan Yizhen asleep between them, all warm and cozy.
The dogs always kept him safe, and had retrieved him on several occasions after he got too absorbed playing outside and forgot he was supposed to return to the sect instead of trying to catch frogs forever.
The first time it happened, Yin Yu had been extremely anxious when he couldn’t find his shidi, and then remembered that the dogs adored Yizhen, so he took one and asked him to go find Yizhen. He knew the dogs were intelligent and could be trusted, and it worked like a charm: soon, the dog was trotting back while holding Quan Yizhen by the scruff.
It was such a ridiculous sight that Yin Yu started laughing while shaking his head and wiping his face with a hand, and his scolding lost a lot of bite because of it.
Quan Yizhen got tasked with taking care of the dogs in the future, which wasn’t really a punishment, but also was something the other disciples didn’t want to do. They were above such things, apparently, but Quan Yizhen had no issue with taking care of any and all of the animals in the sect whenever he could, even if no one asked him to do it.
Taking care of their fluffy manes was very soothing for Quan Yizhen. He was meticulous and careful when grooming them, and brushing them was a very relaxing activity. Plus the dogs relaxed a lot too, and got belly up to beg for some rubs, which Quan Yizhen didn’t mind at all. They were very good dogs that deserved all the pets and belly rubs and treats!
It also made Quan Yizhen feel a bit better about his own wild mane of hair.
“They let you brush their hair without protesting,” Yin Yu said, while combing his shidi’s hair, as carefully as he could, trying to not tug too much, “so you have to be a good boy too, right?”
“I will be as brave as they are and fight all the bears and wolves and beasts!” Quan Yizhen replied, squirming in his seat while doing fighting movements with his arms in the air. “I will be a powerful martial god and take them with me so they guard my house!”
Yin Yu laughed softly. “You will live in a palace if you ascend, Yizhen.”
“Oh! They will guard my palace, then. And shixiong’s palace too! Shixiong should take a dog with him too when he ascends!”
“Alright, there you go,” Yin Yu said, as he finished braiding the sides of Quan Yizhen’s mane and tying it up in a ponytail. “Careful not to lose the ribbon again, shidi.”
But Quan Yizhen was already running away, ready to go play some more.
Seeing that Quan Yizhen seemed to take the dogs as a positive example, Yin Yu considered it would be a good idea to do the same.
“They behave so well, shidi,” Yin Yu said, while he, Jian Shi and Quan Yizhen worked together to bathe them, in preparation for an important event that was to be held in their sect. The dogs were supposed to look impeccable, shiny and magnificent guarding the sect’s doors. “They don’t try to escape when it’s bathing time, see?”
Quan Yizhen pretended to not hear.
“Maybe we should just throw this little mutt in the water with them whenever he’s dirty and call it a day,” Jian Shi suggested, half–joking. while vigorously rubbing the dog he had closest to him.
And then, without any hesitation, Quan Yizhen jumped inside the tub, full of dirty dog water, ready to have a bath with them.
“Fuck, no! That was a joke, you dumbass, get ou–”
But before Jian Shi could finish that phrase, their dogs leapt out of the tub and started running.
Yin Yu sighed very, very deeply, watching helplessly as those mastiffs, all wet and still covered in suds, zoomed in the direction of the kitchens, which was the closest sect’s building. They looked more like giant, wet and fast rats on a collision course against everyone they found in their way instead of their usual selves!
It took Jian Shi and Yin Yu a long, long time to catch them, secure them, and clean the water and mud and suds they scattered everywhere. After that, they had to wash the dogs again and also catch Quan Yizhen and get him into a bath too. A proper one, without any added furry friends, and with plenty of scoldings too.
Jian Shi had to do most of the cleaning after the dogs, since it was his comment that caused it all. He grunted a lot, but still complied. Yin Yu helped him, of course, but he also had to worry about the dogs, so he went to wash them with Quan Yizhen’s help.
Quan Yizhen was not allowed to help bathe the dogs for a while after that, though.
The three of them still had to kneel in the disciple hall, but at least they were together. None of them would admit it, but in some way, it had been worth it: it was the sort of memory that made them laugh many years after.