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“You have not touched your food,” Shi Wudu says.
Qingxuan does not move from where he lies, utterly listless, sprawled across his bed. “Not hungry,” he mumbles.
Shi Wudu frowns. “Don’t be foolish. Without your spiritual power for the time being, you will need to eat to keep up your strength.”
This makes Qingxuan’s head jerk up. “For the time being?” he asks, confused. “What do you mean? That power was never meant to be mine; how could it possibly return?”
“Who it was meant for means nothing,” Shi Wudu scoffs. “You know now that I changed your fate before; once my heavenly calamity is dealt with, it will be trivial to change it again.”
Qingxuan’s eyes widen, and he shakes his head furiously. “Ge, no!” he cries. “Was destroying the life of one innocent not enough? Think of the damage done to Scholar He, the lives lost! How could you think to do such a thing a second time?”
Shi Wudu sneers. “What does the life of some nobody matter to me?” He sits down on the bed beside Qingxuan and reaches out to grasp his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. “You are my little brother,” he says, his voice gentler now but no less resolute. “One life, a hundred lives, ten thousand lives: whatever the price it is to keep you safe, how could I ever not pay it?”
Qingxuan jerks away from him. He doesn’t look comforted at all; he looks terrified.
“You’re mad,” he says, his voice shaking.
Shi Wudu’s face hardens, and his hands clench into fists. “How is it madness to want to protect my family?” he seethes.
“I have never asked for you to protect me!” Qingxuan cries. “Not like this!”
“You would never have survived otherwise!” Shi Wudu roars.
“Then you should have let me die!”
Shi Wudu leaps to his feet, thunderous with rage. His teeth grit as he sees the way that Qingxuan instantly shrinks in response. He does not relish in making his brother afraid.
It is worth it, though, as is anything else, so long as it keeps him safe.
“You are clearly tired,” he says, his voice carefully measured. “I will send for some medicine to help you sleep. In the meantime, be sure to finish your food.” He turns away and makes to leave.
Behind him, Qingxuan mutters, “I told you, I’m not hungry.”
Shi Wudu whirls back around and fixes him with an icy glare. “Eat your food, or I will tie you to your bed and force it down your throat.”
And with that, he strides out the door and bars it shut behind him.