The Echo of the Moon (whispers in my ear)

Chapter Four

Didi - younger brother, literally or affectionately
Gege - older brother, literally or affectionately
Xiansheng - mister or sir
Xiaojie - miss
Meimei - little sister
Jiejie - big sister
'A-' - friendly address, used as a prefix
'-er' - friendly address for someone younger than you, used as a suffix

~~~

When Jianyu's eyes fluttered awake, he nearly had a heart attack.

Chenguang just smiled and giggled, her hands holding some kind of medicine, that she quietly offered to him, and he swallowed it down without a complaint.

"Are you feeling better today after your run-in with a tree?" Chenguang asked, and Jianyu simply nodded his head, before she helped him up to his feet. He winced, of course, but at least he could stand up straight.

"I am afraid to ask, but where are my clothes- and my sword?" Jianyu inquired, and she quickly gestured to the wardrobe at the end of the bed. "I put them in there for now. They were kinda gross, too, so now they're washed." She shrugged, and he just quietly thanked her.

Jianyu felt so much better compared to the day before, and it almost made him concerned with what was in the medicine she had given him. Healing Liang or himself when they were traveling took days or weeks, not a good night's sleep and two bites of a medicine tablet.

She gently helped him pull on his tunic and robes, as well as his boots, latching his belt to rest at his hip once again. Her hands barely ever touched his bare skin. He couldn't help but notice how short she really was. He probably towered over her- and he wasn't even considered tall in the first place. Regardless, she let him lean some of his weight on her to shuffle over to the door, then with a swift swing, it bumped into the wall on the opposite side.

At least six different children were running around on the wooden floor, and someone else was busy attempting to wrangle them together. All of them had little amulets around their necks like Chenguang did.

"Jiejie! Can you help me?!" The person trying to handle the children yelled at her, the children giggling as they ran around them. Chenguang let go of Jianyu for a moment, then swiftly picked up one of the kids off the floor and into her at arms- then repeated the action to have two.

"Meimei- you really can't handle them all without me, huh?" Chenguang asked the other person with a smug smile.

"Jiejie!" One of the children was talking now, "Who's the guy??"

Chenguang quickly turned herself to the side and gestured to Jianyu with her head, "This is A-Jianyu. He got hurt so I helped him out. Try to not overwhelm him though, please?" She asked, and all the children just nodded their heads.

"Good," Chenguang started. "Nuwa-er, can you open the door?" She asked, and the other person quickly nodded their head, stood up and swiftly rushed past Jianyu and opened the door, a quick wave of children following suit outdoors.

Chenguang clapped her now empty hands together, watching Nuwa exit as well before turning to Jianyu.
"Sorry about that, I know my family can be a bit overwhelming at times." She sighed, looking through a few of the baskets on a rather long table pushed against the wall, tossing an apple to him after a moment of searching.

The apple was slightly squishy in some areas, but it was crisp- and very good when he bit into it. He hadn't eaten anything substantial in a long time- mostly bread or cheese if they could afford it. Even then, it was typically Liang who got more of the share.

"You look like I just tossed you a chunk of gold." Chenguang let out a short, breathy chuckle, leaning her back against the wood of the table.

"You're from the palace, aren't you?"