"Why're you sooooo late!"
The first sound that Hua Yan heard after opening his rattly doors was not the doors themselves, but the voice of a girl, Hua Yin.
His sister was not pleased with his tardiness. In fact, she'd trained a pair of glaring eyes on his figure the second he stepped into the small house. It was then that the barrage of questions began.
'Hey, hey, why are you so wet? Hmm? It isn't even raining outside!"
"I was bored, so I went for a little dip in th-"
Not letting him finish, she approached him and shrieked out.
"Ewww, you smell weird! Why did you apply all these wild herbs? Are you dumb?"
Her asking him that in such a manner made him feel unwell. He felt like he'd failed as an elder sibling and didn't raise his sister up the right way.
Anyway, he was tired, so he swore to himself that he'd discipline her later. For now, he just wanted some peace and quiet. So, he gave her a simple answer.
"I stepped on some animal droppings."
Hua Yin, who was standing close, immediately drew some distance between them within a matter of seconds, and even started launching random things at him from across the room.
"Filthy! Get out! Out! Get loooost! Go away!"
When one of the objects hit Hua Yan square in the nose, the atmosphere turned colder by a few degrees. All went silent. Even the screaming Hua Yin, who was throwing stuff around without concern for anything else, was frozen in place.
She knew her brother's temper well… and this time, she had messed things up big! She knew that he absolutely hated it when he was hit in the face.
Before he could do anything to her, she ran away to her little room and locked the door.
"I-I'm tired today. Ummm, I left some food for you over there. Eat and go to bed! Good night!'
Hua Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Should he be happy that she was so lively, everything that had happened to them considered, or should he be concerned that she was such a wild spirit despite having already aged to become half a woman.
"Ah, later! I'll think about it later!"
Hua Yan collapsed onto the floor and pulled out his knife.
He spent a while staring at it before looking over to the food that his sister had left over for him.
She was… a terrible cook. But food was food and he wouldn't complain. Besides, he also had some meat on him which he'd taken from the bandit. With this and that, the meal wouldn't be so bad.
Soon, the fragrance of the meat spread through the tiny house, and the "sleeping" Hua Yin rushed out of her room, looking left and right for the source of the food.
Before she could locate it, she was dragged to the floor by Hua Yan. As she put on a struggle, he shoved the rice she had prepared into her hands.
"You eat it. I got this meat. That's enough for me."
Hearing his words, Hua Yin's eyes went round. At first there was confusion, then it slowly transformed to shock, and finally it became anger.
"How could youu?! I made that for you, so you eat it! Meanwhile, I didn't even make anything for myself b-because I was concentrating on making something for you, so how cou-"
Hua Yan raised an eyebrow and shut her up in a single sentence.
"Where are the dumplings I left in that cabinet then?"
Hua Yin started looking around the room, unable to meet his eyes.
"You wouldn't have… eaten them right?"
She stood up abruptly, almost knocking the food in her hands onto the floor.
"N-No way! I… It was the rats! Yeah, this place is so old and nasty and grimy and mucky and… yeah the perfect place for rats to come and steal dumplings from!"
Seeing Hua Yan appearing to be convinced by her words, she started speaking louder, with more and more conviction in her voice.
"Yeah, right, the rats did it! It was really them!"
"I see. So it was the rats that did it, eh? Hmm, I'm guessing they must've been some really big rats then," Hua Yan said, looking right at Hua Yin, as if implying that she was the rat herself.
"Then I guess the rats can eat this rice too. I'll be eating the meat."
Hearing this, Hua Yin knew that he didn't buy her story and probably also knew that it was her who had eaten the dumplings. Changing tactics, she began to cry.
"Uwaaa, I didn't mean too! Big Bro, I was hungry! Starving! My tummy was making all these funny noises that I thought just a tiny bite would be enough. B-But… These delivilish things! They tasted sooooo gooddd! Hua Yin isn't at fault!"
Pinching her cheeks, he grabbed the rice out of her hands.
"You better make me something better next time. Or I won't forgive you even if it isn't your fault."
Immediately, Hua Yin nodeed, staring hungrily at the meat that was still cooking.
Hua Yan also noted her expression and let her go.
"You can take both pieces. I'll be fine with just this."
It was only after she took a few hasty bites into one of the pieces of meat did she register his words.
He was giving her both pieces?
Was this a trick? Was she being scammed? She was unsure, and she was deeply unsettled.
"But, Big Bro, how can you eat that trash… er, plain rice? Don't you want some meat too?"
Seeing her only care for him after filling her own belly, Hua Yan had no words to say.
"It's fine, you're still growing and this is the best I can do for you. So eat."
Suddenly, Hua Yin was overwhelmed with guilt.
"Eh… But, but, I don't need both pieces! If I eat that much I'll grow too much and become like those old aunties across the street! You want me to become like them?! Stop plotting against me and take some!"
Laughing, Hua Yan shook his head and stared outside the window. The moon was hidden tonight, so it was especially dark outside.
But here in his own home, under the bright fire coming from the stove and the light radiating from his sister's eyes, he felt that it didn't matter even if the rest of the world was completely dark. As long as he had this place to return to, what did all else matter.
Thoughts of leaving and his ambitions of becoming someone that could inspire fear slowly started to fade. He just wanted to enjoy the night, and perhaps let it live on in his memories forever.
It was unknown when, but somewhere along this train of thought, he had fallen asleep with a smile on his face.