Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

……

The West Wing seemed to have been soaked in warm water these days. Even the medicinal fragrance floating in the air was less bitter and more refreshing, like the sprouting of grass and trees.

"It's true that the early morning is the most comfortable!"

When the sky was just getting light and the window paper was still bluish-gray, Mo Yun was already sitting on the bamboo stool beside the bed.

He always said that his meridians in the morning light were like dew-soaked blades of grass, most relaxed and allowing his rhythmic energy to flow more smoothly. The icy blue threads of light condensed from his fingertips were even brighter than they had been a few days before. Upon closer inspection, one could see tiny silver glints floating within them. He had weaved the warming energy from his own dantian into them bit by bit—like wrapping the bridge in a layer of soft velvet, protecting the fragile dark purple veins while allowing the warmth to permeate more evenly.

"This is the day we have been waiting for for so long..."

Mo Zi was half leaning on the pillow. The bedding had been replaced by Mo Lan and had been newly dried, with the scent of soapberries baked in the sun.

She could clearly "see" the bridge of rhythmic power slowly extending within her body:

As I moved from my heart to my shoulders and arms, it felt like a warm, cool hand gently supported my meridians. Those places that used to tighten with the slightest movement now felt as relaxed as willow branches softened by the spring breeze.

When it went to the lower abdomen, the rhythm became extremely light, like drizzle falling on the cracked ridges of a field, and even the internal organs were filled with warm feeling.

"Brother's hands are shaking."

She suddenly spoke softly, her eyes falling on Mo Yun's clasped fingertips.

The hands had distinct joints, but at this moment, due to the concentration and strength, the knuckles were lightly bluish-white, and fine beads of sweat could be seen on the fingertips.

When Mo Yun raised her eyes, there was still a hint of drunkenness in her eyes from practicing Qigong, as if covered with a layer of mist:

"It's okay. It's just the rhythmic force flowing through the blockage in your wrist."

As he spoke, the light at his fingertips suddenly trembled, and then turned into several thinner strands, which wrapped around the stagnant veins like gossamer and seeped in bit by bit.

"Hmm~"

Mo Zi could feel a very slight tingling sensation coming from that place, as if there were small insects crawling along his meridians.

"Don't be afraid~"

She subconsciously wanted to withdraw her hand, but Mo Yun gently pressed the back of her hand - his palm was surprisingly warm, with the heat of Yun's power, which was more soothing than the medicinal soup warming on the stove.

"Bear with it. Once you get through this, you won't need to take a break to turn the pages of the book from now on."

His voice was very low, and the breath brushed past Mo Zi's ears, with a slightly hoarse and tired tone.

The sweat on his forehead slid down his temples. When it was about to fall to his chin, he freed one hand and wiped it roughly with his sleeve, leaving a shallow wet mark.

"..."

Mo Zi looked at his moving hand and suddenly remembered the frayed edges of his cuffs when he tucked in the quilt for her a few days ago - those were caused by him wiping his sweat with his sleeves while staying by the bed these days.

She quietly raised her hand, her fingertips hovering above his temple, wanting to wipe away the drop of sweat that had just seeped out of him, but she stopped when she was about to touch him, and instead gently tugged at his collar.

"Take a break, brother."

There was a subtle tension in her voice.

"I feel much better today. When Mom took my pulse just now, she said my heartbeat is more stable."

"Whoo~"

Mo Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the light at his fingertips seemed to be collected into a silk spool, disappearing back into his palm little by little.

When he lowered his eyes to look at her, the fatigue in his eyes had not yet dissipated, but a smile curved in his eyes:

"It's stable now. When the rhythmic energy flowed through my heart meridian just now, I could feel the pulsation there was a little stronger than usual."

As he spoke, he reached out to tuck a strand of hair that had slipped behind her ear. When his fingertips brushed the tip of her ear, both cats paused - the tip of the dark purple ear had turned red without them knowing, like a cherry dipped in morning dew.

The morning light just climbed up the edge of the bed and fell on the back of Mo Zi's outstretched hand.

Her hands were still thin, and her wrist bones were noticeable, but compared to a few days ago, they were now a thin layer of pink, no longer that pale color with a bluish tint.

Mo Yun looked at the hand and suddenly remembered that she always loved to hold his fingers when she was a child. At that time, her fingertips were fleshy, like freshly shelled lotus seeds, but now only thin joints were left.

"Brother, please help me."

Mo Zi's voice suddenly lowered, his eyes fell on the back of his hand, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the stitches on the quilt.

"If it weren't for me being haunted..."

"No!"

Before he could finish his words, he was gently interrupted by Mo Yun.

He leaned forward, his eyes level with hers. The morning light fell right into his eyes, making the seriousness in his eyes even clearer.

"Sister, you can't say that."

His fingertips gently touched her cheek, with the warmth of a freshly practiced technique, like the first breeze blowing through the branches of a tree in spring:

"You were never a bother."

The dark purple eyelashes trembled even more violently, like frightened butterfly wings.

She wanted to say something, but her throat seemed to be blocked. She could only look into his eyes, which were so close to her - eyes that reflected her shadow, the morning light, and full of concern, but not a trace of impatience.

"You have always been my brother's favorite."

Mo Yun spoke frankly, as naturally as if he was talking about the rising and setting of the sun and the moon.

But when it fell into Mo Zi's ears, it was like a stone thrown into the lake of his heart, and the ripples spread to his limbs and bones, even causing the bridge of rhythmic power to tremble slightly.

She suddenly remembered that a few nights ago, she woke up from a nightmare and vaguely felt the bridge pulsating gently in her body, as if someone was calling her through her blood.

Later I found out that Mo Yun was afraid that she would have pain in her meridians at night, so he stood outside the window in the corridor, and used the moonlight to pass warmth to the bridge bit by bit.

At that time, his shadow was stretched very long by the moonlight and fell on the window paper, like a silent mountain.

"..."

Mo Zi didn't say anything, but just raised her face slightly and smiled at him.

The smile was light, the curve at the corners of the lips was as shallow as the lines on the water, but there was something in his eyes that was brighter than the starlight.

When she raised her hand, her fingertips accidentally brushed against the back of Mo Yun's hand. The temperature of their bodies collided through the thin fabric. Mo Yun felt as if that place was burned by charcoal fire and was actually a little hot.

"Brother's cuffs are torn."

She suddenly said, her eyes fell on the frayed edge of his cuffs,

"Let mother mend it for you. I still have some silver thread left over from embroidery a few days ago."

Mo Yun looked down and smiled indifferently:

"No, wait until you're better, then come with me to town and get some new cloth to make it."

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered something and took out a small cloth bag tied with a straw rope from his pocket.

"I brought some back yesterday. They say they're freshly picked wild berries from the mountain behind us. Try some."

The dried wild berries in the cloth bag were covered with a layer of fine icing sugar. Mo Yun picked up one and handed it to her lips, her fingertips accidentally touching her lower lip.

Mo Zi shrank slightly as if she was scalded, then gently took the dried berry into her mouth. As the sweet and sour taste spread across her tongue, she suddenly felt her eyes getting hot.

From the corridor came the sound of Xiaoqing's skipping footsteps, accompanied by her chattering:

"Brother! Sister! Mom made some steamed honey cakes to give you some strength!"

When Mo Yun turned around, the warmth of her fingertips still lingered where their lips touched.

Mo Zi looked at his profile, watching the sunlight cast a light shadow on his straight nose, and suddenly sighed softly in her heart - this bridge built with the power of rhyme actually connected her thoughts that she could not hide.

But the people on the other side of the bridge just thought it was the most ordinary warmth between siblings.

……

When the wind from the corridor blew past with the bitter smell of medicinal residue, Xiaoqing was standing on tiptoe to add firewood to the stove.

The brown medicine in the medicine pot gurgled and splashed onto the edge of the pot, forming dark brown stains. However, she was oblivious to this and only stared at the rolling foam and counted it. The doctor said that the medicine would be most effective when the fire was turned off after the 300th foam rolled.

"Hi~"

The wound on my right shoulder was aching again, as if a small snake was drilling into my flesh.

That day, when I was protecting my sister from the impact of Chaos, my shoulder blade was cracked. Although it has now scabbed over, a little force will still make half of my body numb.

She bit her lip and poured the medicine into the coarse porcelain bowl. The burns on her fingertips were caused by boiling the medicine a few days ago. When she touched the edge of the bowl, she let out a soft hiss of pain.

"Xiao Qing?"

Molan was walking down the corridor when she saw her swaying on the stove. She hurried forward to take the medicine bowl:

"I told you to rest, why are you making medicine yourself?"

"Mom, I'm fine."

Xiaoqing hid the medicine bowl behind her and greeted her with a smile.

"Sister looks good today. I want her to take the medicine as soon as possible."

As she said this, she turned to leave, but her feet suddenly went weak. Fortunately, she grabbed the door frame in time and did not fall.

The moment her vision went dark, she seemed to see Mo Yun sitting beside her sister's bed, tidying up her loose hair. The two of them were so close that even the sunlight seemed to revolve around them.

"..."

A sense of inexplicable grievance suddenly came over me.

These days she endured the pain to decoct medicine and change the dressings. At night, when she couldn't sleep due to the pain, she would go to her sister's window to watch over her brother. But when her brother woke up, it seemed that her sister was the only one in his eyes.

When she moved to the west wing door with the medicine bowl in her hand, she heard Mo Yun laughing softly:

"Azi, try this. It's some dried wild berries. They're sweet."

The door was not closed tightly, and through the gap she saw her brother feeding his sister dried berries, his fingertips touching the corner of his sister's lips, so lightly and gently.

Xiaoqing clenched the medicine bowl tightly, her knuckles turning white, and the pain in her right shoulder suddenly became sharp, like being cut by a blunt knife.

"Sister, the medicine is here."

She pushed open the door, and there was a hardness in her voice that she didn't even notice.

Mo Yun looked back at her, frowning slightly:

"Why are you so pale? Is your wound hurting again?"

"It doesn't hurt!"

Xiaoqing put the medicine bowl on the table, and the bowl made a crisp sound when it hit the wooden table.

"Brother only has his eyes on me, how can he remember whether I'm in pain or not?"

Just as Mo Zi was about to speak, he saw Xiao Qing's body shake violently, her eyes rolled back, and she fell straight down.

"Xiao Qing!"

When Mo Yun reached out to grab her, he found that the back of her clothes was already soaked in blood. The scalding medicine juice spilled on the back of his hand, but he was completely unaware. He only stared at his sister's pale face, his voice trembling:

"What's going on? Didn't you say the wound was almost healed?"

When Molan rushed in, she saw the bandage on her daughter's shoulder oozing with blood, and her eyes immediately turned red:

"This kid... must have secretly removed the splint and made medicine again!"

Mo Yun gathered the power at his fingertips and probed into Xiao Qing's pulse. He felt that her internal energy was as disordered as a tangled mess. The external injuries affected her internal injuries, and she was already at the end of her strength.

When he carried Xiaoqing to the bed, he realized that he had been so focused on consolidating the bridge of rhyme power with Mo Zi these past few days that he had actually neglected his sister who always said "I'm fine".

"elder brother……"

Xiaoqing opened her eyes dazedly, clutched his sleeve and hummed,

"You don't even look at me..."

"Sorry……"

Mo Yun's throat tightened as he wiped the medicine stains from the corners of her mouth. His voice was hoarse.

"It's my fault. I'll heal you first from now on, okay?"

"..."

Xiaoqing then pouted in grievance and shrank into his arms. After a while, she fell asleep in pain, but her brows were still tightly furrowed, as if she was still in a bad mood in her dream.