Flicking his sleeve and frowning, Bai Xiaochun angrily said, “Elder Sister Zhou herself asked me to be the captain of the chicken thief task force, so of course I’ll do everything in my power to catch the chicken thief. I’ve even given up my nightly cultivation routine to come here and lay in wait. However, considering how much of a racket you people are making, I’m sure the chicken thief has long since fled.” He really did look like the picture of someone trying to catch a thief.
The chicken farm disciples exchanged dismayed glances, and some of them even looked a bit embarrassed. As for the most suspicious of the disciples, his expression softened a bit, although he still didn’t seem totally convinced.
Seeing that their suspicions hadn’t been completely dispelled, Bai Xiaochun gave a cold harrumph and, before anyone could ask any more questions, he decided to seize the initiative and put the onus on them.
“No wonder you people have lost so many Spirit Tail Chickens! You’re completely negligent. Look over there, your fence is even broken!” He pointed over to a spot where there really was a hole in the fence, although it wasn’t very obvious. It had actually been punched into the fence by a struggling Spirit Tail Chicken that he had been in the process of stealing a while back.
The chicken farm disciples looked in the direction that Bai Xiaochun was pointing, and when they saw the hole, expressions of shock appeared on their faces. It was true that they really hadn’t paid much attention to tiny details like this in the past.
“And look at that Spirit Tail Chicken. How did you plan to protect it after it walked all the way over here!?” Bai Xiaochun seemed to be getting more and more angry, and was even raising his voice, causing the chicken farm disciples’ faces to flush with shame.
“According to my investigation, this spot right here is the most remote location on the chicken farm. You should be guarding this place especially closely. But look, I was here for ages before any of you people showed up.” The more Bai Xiaochun talked, the angrier he got. In the end, he let out a long sigh.
“How do you people expect to catch a thief like this, huh? Based on my experience catching thieves, if my speculations are correct, then this is the location in which the most chickens were taken.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the chicken farm disciples began to tremble inwardly. Exchanging glances, they saw the shock in each others’ eyes. Based on the information they had, this was indeed the location where they had lost the most chickens.
In fact, that was the reason why they had decided to stand guard here. Bai Xiaochun had hit the nail square on the head, causing the entire group to look at him with increasing admiration.
Even the disciple who had been the most suspicious of him now felt that he had been in the wrong. First he thought about how Bai Xiaochun had sacrificed his cultivation time to come catch the thief, and then he remembered how enthusiastic and duty-bound he had seemed earlier in the day. Finally, the disciple took a deep breath, clasped hands and bowed deeply.
“Junior Brother Bai, please do not be too deeply offended at what I said earlier. Many thanks for your sacrifice. We will repair this spot immediately, and will definitely increase the guard in this area!”
Everyone else clasped hands as well, thinking about how rare it was to find someone as zealous as Bai Xiaochun. He was obviously trying to help them, and that made them even more sorry for their impulsiveness earlier.
Bai Xiaochun sighed, then earnestly offered them a few more pieces of advice before turning to leave. As he walked off, the eight disciples once again clasped hands and bowed, completely moved by what he had just done.
“Junior Brother Bai is such a good guy.”
As soon as Bai Xiaochun was out of sight, a cold wind brushed against his back, and he realized that he was sweating profusely from how close of a call it had been. However, his stomach was still grumbling, so he decided to go to the other two chicken farms to see if there was still a chance to make a move.
He strolled down the mountain path, looking around cautiously as he went along to make sure he wasn’t being followed. His expression was grave as he pondered how to go about stealing a chicken from the next chicken farm. As the wind blew, it fluttered the silk band tied around his arm.
Meanwhile, up in dark night air, a woman stood on a blue flying silk, completely undetectable to everyone down below as she examined the situation on this part of Fragrant Cloud Peak. Suddenly, her expression flickered as she caught sight of Bai Xiaochun walking along, looking around vigilantly. Her eyes gradually began to glow with praise.
“This little Junior Brother really takes his responsibilities seriously.” Naturally, that woman was Zhou Xinqi, who had been inspecting the area. Earlier, there had been lots of disciples on patrol, but as the night wore on, most of them had gone back to practice cultivation. Bai Xiaochun was the only one out and about actually trying to catch the thief.
“With him around, the chicken thief will definitely have to reign things in.” Zhou Xinqi looked away and then headed back to her Immortal’s cave, feeling much better about the situation.
Two hours later, Bai Xiaochun had circled back around to his courtyard residence. Once inside, he slapped his bag of holding to produce two Spirit Tail Chickens. Chuckling to himself, he plucked them and tossed them into the wok, soon after which, a fragrant aroma filled the air, causing him to salivate. Then, he didn’t even wait for them to cool before wolfing them down ravenously.
Finally, he burped, patted his belly, and then laid back, looking so content he almost seemed drunk.
Another month passed, during which time Bai Xiaochun conscientiously went out at night, looking very solemn as he appeared randomly to inspect the various chicken farms.
Despite that, the chickens still continued to go missing. They seemingly disappeared without a trace, which was a deep mystery. The chicken farm disciples were increasingly feeling as if they had lost all face. Filled with passion, they continuously swore oaths to not give up until the chicken thief was incarcerated.
Bai Xiaochun seemed to be taking things even more seriously than them. He was completely devoted to defending the chicken farms, as if he wasn’t even willing to rest until the thief was apprehended. There was even one occasion in which he stood guard at one chicken farm for four days and four nights.
The hard work being put in seemed to put a lot of pressure on the chicken thief, and the rate of thievery seemed to have been reduced. However, the thief didn’t disappear altogether. Eventually, nearly half of the Spirit Tail Chickens on Fragrant Cloud Peak were now gone, and the ones left behind were mostly juveniles.
In the end, even the chicken farm disciples began berating themselves, and couldn’t help but sigh emotionally. They were of the opinion that if the rest of the chicken thief task force was as conscientious as Junior Brother Bai, then the chicken thief would definitely have been caught already.
Zhou Xinqi was getting particularly anxious. One afternoon when Bai Xiaochun was sitting cross-legged at one of the chicken farms, looking around vigilantly, a blue flying silk descended from above, upon which was Zhou Xinqi.
After seeing who it was, Bai Xiaochun charmingly called out, “Elder Sister Zhou.”
When Zhou Xinqi’s beautiful eyes fell upon Bai Xiaochun, she smiled and said, “Hard at work, I see, Junior Brother Bai.”
Soon, other disciples in the area were rushing up, clustering around Zhou Xinqi and also Bai Xiaochun.