Chapter 6: Letting the cat out of the bag
"Look at these empty bowls."
All four looked up at the empty bowls in Xiaoyun's hands.
As soon as Xiaoyun thought about the bowl full of rice, the rice appeared.
"What kind of magic is this?" Nami asked in shock, and the other two at the table looked just as shocked.
"I can create things... I guess you can say it's like magic."
Xiaoyun put his bowl back down and filled the other four bowls with rice, then passed the bowl back to each of the girls.
"Wait! Can you teach me this, Onii-Chan? Please! I want a new PS5 and a new iPhone 14!" Nami pleaded as she sat down on Xiaoyun's lap and started hugging his arm.
"Sorry, Nami, I don't think I can do that. I can only create them if I had put my hand on it before." Xiaoyun replied as he put Nami back in her seat.
"Is there any drawback to this?" Leyan asked cautiously.
"I don't think there is any drawback besides overusing it, which can cause headaches."
"How did you get this ability?" Yueyue asked curiously.
"I got it after I was accidentally bitten on it... At least that's what I think my ability came from." Xiaoyun explained.
"What? When were you bitten? Are you sure you are okay?" Leyan's asked in a worried voice.
"Is this some superpower after being bitten?" Nami murmured to herself.
"It was yesterday, and I'm fine now," Xiaoyun replied.
"Wait, Yuqi, didn't you tell me that Xiaoyun was fine yesterday? Why are you lying to me?"
Leyan questioned Yuqi in anger as she realized Yuqi had lied to her on the phone call.
Suddenly, Yuqi snapped and slammed down at the table in anger.
"Why are you angry at me? I am the one working overtime to keep us afloat. Why do you care about Xiaoyun so much?
He is only a stranger to you. I'm your biological daughter, not him.
You didn't even ask me if I was okay a single time. All you do is ask if Xiaoyun is okay or not."
Yuqi looked irritated towards Leyan as if the anger had been building up for a long time.
"So lying to your mother is fine?" Leyan argued back.
As the two continued to argue back and forth, Nami suddenly started crying.
The two immediately stopped as Yueyue calmed them down.
"We are a family. No need to yell at each other." Yueyue proposed.
"Hmph!"
Both let out a sound of anger as they refused to back down. But as Nami continued to cry, Leyan eventually backed down.
"Okay, fine, my bad for not asking you. Are you okay, Qiqi?" Leyan asked.
"I am fine," Yuqi replied as her anger seemed to have dropped.
Nami's expression instantly changed to normal, almost as if the crying was to save face for both of them.
"Well, time to eat then before the food gets cold."
As Yueyue began eating, everyone else started eating as well. But just as Xiaoyun was about to pick up a piece of food, Leyan picked up a piece of pork and put it in his bowl.
Yuqi also joined in and put a piece of scrambled egg into Xiaoyun's bowl. Then Nami put a piece of cabbage in Xiaoyun's bowl. Even Yueyue put a piece of fish into Xiaoyun's bowl.
"Enough is enough. I can get the food myself."
---
After all five people finished eating, they all sat at the dining table in silence.
"Xiaoyun, when will you say it?" Nami asked in a low voice.
"Eh... what if I never say it?" Xiaoyun replied in a low voice.
Nami started to notice Xiaoyun kept avoiding announcing it, so she decided to push him a little.
"Brother, you can't do that. They deserved to know... I will say it for you if you don't say it."
"Fine..."
As Xiaoyun cleared his throat, the other three turned their attention towards Xiaoyun.
"I want to tell you all about something. I'm actually——"
Xiaoyun changed his mind at the last second and tried to walk away, but Nami pulled him back down to his seat.
"Hey, stop it! You are not leaving until you say it." Nami demanded.
The three watched the two struggle with each other until Leyan decided to speak up.
"Just say what you want. Don't be so scared… You are like a family to us."
Leyan's face blushed as she said it out loud.
Xiaoyun hesitated for a second, but then he realized, sooner or later, it was going to be exposed at some point. So he finally made up his mind and confessed.
"Miss Leyan... I shouldn't call you that. I should call you... mom."
The kitchen fell into silence as Xiaoyun continued next.
"And Yuqi, you are my older sister."
Yuqi's face looked a little shocked, but Xiaoyun kept going.
"And Yueyue, you are my twin sister, and Nami is my younger sister..."
As soon as Xiaoyun finished speaking, the three of them couldn't believe what they had just heard.
"Are you kidding me? When did I have a younger brother? Nami, you two are joking together, right?" Yuqi immediately dismissed it as a prank by the two to lighten up the mood.
"Yeah, the joke between you two is not funny. I don't have a twin brother. Right, mom?" Yueyue asked as she agreed with Yuqi's sentiment.
But Leyan didn't remain silent the whole time. Instead, she covered her face with her hand as if she were ashamed of something.
"Mom?"
Yueyue and Yuqi both turned toward Leyan as she hadn't responded to their question at all.
"I should have realized... Xiaoyun and my husband look so similar. Why didn't I realize that earlier? I can't, I can't do this."
Tears began falling through to the table as sobbing sounds started appearing.
"Mom, are you okay?" Nami asked, a little confused by Leyan's reaction.
Suddenly, Leyan got up and hugged Xiaoyun.
"Xiaoyun, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me... No, don't forgive me, I don't deserve it! Just kill me! I don't deserve to be your mother!"
As Leyan cried louder and louder, Yuqi and Yueyue finally realized Xiaoyun's announcement wasn't a joke or a prank.
"Mom, it's okay, it's not your fault... We didn't know at the time. I only found out about it yesterday morning...
Mom, You should go back to your room to calm down." Xiaoyun gently patted Leyan's back as she slowly stopped sobbing.
After Leyan got up from Xiaoyun and left, Yuqi suddenly got up and slapped Xiaoyun.
"You perverted, degenerate piece of garbage! Why didn't you tell me earlier if you knew I was your sister!"
Yuqi collapsed on Xiaoyun's chest and couldn't hold back her tears, her face full of anger and disappointment.
"I'm sorry... I thought I was going to die at the time, so I was just joking... I didn't know you were taking it seriously."
As Xiaoyun apologized, Yuqi pushed Xiaoyun aside and ran out of the kitchen before the sound of steps traveled into the kitchen.
Only Yueyue, Nami, and Xiaoyun were now left in the kitchen as the atmosphere became a little awkward.
Yueyue didn't make a sound and just left the kitchen with a disappointed face toward Xiaoyun.
"It seems that everyone is upset... I thought this was going to be a happy reunion. Did you do something wrong, brother?" Nami asked in contempt before leaving the kitchen herself.
"Fuck! I didn't want this to happen either... what am I doing with my life?" Xiaoyun thought to himself as he looked defeated.
---
At night.
Xiaoyun was lying on the bed, unable to sleep, turning over several times but becoming more energetic every second.
"Everything that can go wrong went wrong? Why?"
Xiaoyun thought for a minute but couldn't find an answer or an excuse.
"Why am I still trying to find a reason to excuse myself? I should have been honest with them from the start... Perhaps I should never have been here in the first place."
Xiaoyun got up from the bed and lifted the childhood photo at the desk one last time.
"I don't deserve them... All I had done is brought pain to them now."
Xiaoyun put the photo back down and began packing everything back into the suitcase, then carried it downstairs with him.
As Xiaoyun walked around the house for one last time, he noticed the dishes hadn't been washed yet. So he loaded all the dishes in the dishwasher.
Next, he went over to the fridge and checked inside.
The fridge was only half full, nowhere near enough for them to survive longer than a year.
"If I leave, they won't have enough food."
Realizing this, Xiaoyun went to the fridge, cloned a bunch of vegetables, and put them in. Then he went to the rice tank and filled it up to full.
As a backup, he also created several bags of rice and placed them next to the rice tank.
"Shit, my head hurts... did I use too much?"
Xiaoyun murmured as he pressed onto his temple, trying to relieve the pain.
With rice and vegetables out of the way, Xiaoyun conjured dozens of canned meats and placed them beside the rice.
"This should be enough..."
Xiaoyun walked out of the kitchen and back to the living room, barely able to keep walking as the headache was becoming worse.
"They still need some sort of weapons."
Xiaoyun sat on the sofa, thinking about holding the pistol from the previous day.
As he tried to create it in his hand, the headache was so severe that it felt as if a knife was cutting inside his head.
But eventually, it was all worth it as a replica of the gun was now in his hand.
Enduring the headache, Xiaoyun opened the magazine of the police pistol, only to find it empty.
"Of course, it's empty... why wouldn't it," Xiaoyun murmured.
Xiaoyun put the gun back on the coffee table and thought about the bullet he had.
And sure enough, the same bullet appeared in his hand.
Next, Xiaoyun tried to create more bullets to load into the magazine, but the headache was so bad that he suddenly collapsed onto the table and lost consciousness.
---
After an unknown amount of time had passed, Xiaoyun finally woke up.
His head still hurt slightly, but it was much better than earlier.
"Well, now I know my limits." Xiaoyun thought to himself as he sat back up on the sofa.
After Relaxing for a bit, the headache finally went away.
"I should at least say goodbye... No, I hurt them enough already. I should just write a goodbye letter."
Xiaoyun picked up the pen on the coffee table, then created a few pieces of paper and began to write a farewell letter.
---
"Dear Mom:
Mom, I'm sorry I have to leave like this. I think this is better for both of us. I want to tell you so many things I experienced as a kid, but it seems like they'll need to be cut short.
Please don't blame yourself. You don't need to be sorry. It's my fault. I should have resisted harder, but I didn't. I fell into temptation.
I couldn't hold myself together and said no when I had the chance. But every night, I kept having those dreams about that night.
I never resisted a single time in any of them. I know I'm a piece of trash for thinking like that, and I am sincerely sorry.
I just want to say we both didn't know we were related, but that doesn't excuse the fact I don't regret something immoral.
You have the full right to view your son as disgusting and disown me. Hell, I would even disown myself.
One last thing, Mom, you are not old. You are still young. In all honesty, I am happy that I gave my virginity to someone that beautiful and sexy.
Don't blame yourself, Mom. It's both of our mistakes. Like you said, it's all just a dream. Goodbye, Mom, and I hope I can call you Leyan one last time.
Your son, Xiaoyun."
After finishing the letter, Xiaoyun felt he should write another one for Yuqi.
---
"Dear Yuqi:
When I saw you for the first time, your cold face scared me. But as I got to know you, I realized all this was just a cover.
You have another side: you are passionate and gentle. I think you should show this more often.
That evening, when I joked about not having a girlfriend, I already knew you were my sister. But I didn't expect you to treat me like a real boyfriend.
I'm sorry for hurting you. But I think I have fallen in love with you. Sometimes, I wish we could meet again and get the chance to know you better.
But don't worry. You will never see me again. I'm sorry. You are right that I am a pervert and a piece of trash. Goodbye, sister.
Your younger brother, Xiaoyun."
Xiaoyun realized he had already written for two of them, so he might as well write one more and combine the last one for Yueyue and Nami.
---
"To my dear Yueyue and Nami:
First, I want to say thank you, Yueyue.
I would never know I have a family if it weren't for you.
I want to tell you something: When I first saw you, I thought I was looking in a mirror. I was just as shocked as sister Ningjing when I noticed how similar we are.
What an unbelievable world we live in, or maybe we are destined to meet each other.
Although I'm leaving, I want to tell you that, funnily enough, that night when we were at the BBQ place, I originally wanted to ask you out to the amusement park on the weekend.
I thought maybe Brother Ming was right. I need a break in life, and Pinli's suggestion that we should be together was no coincidence.
But I didn't dare to ask you out. It looks like I won't have the chance to say it anymore now.
Since you are the strongest in the family, the gun on the table is for you to hold on to. Please protect Mom and sister for me. Goodbye, my twin sister Yueyue.
And to my lovely sister Nami. I want to start by thanking you. I would never have realized we are related if it weren't for you.
Although the confession is not as happy as you planned, it's not your fault. It's mine. I fucked up everything possible.
I hope everyone in the family can be happy together and forget about me.
Goodbye, my dear sister Nami."
---
After writing the three letters and loading the gun, Xiaoyun got up and walked to the door with his suitcase.
Suddenly, before Xiaoyun could walk out the door, someone's footsteps appeared from the stairs.
It was Nami standing on the stairway, looking at Xiaoyun.
"Hey brother, where are you going? What are you up so late?"
Nami still looked half asleep as she wiped her eyes to see more clearly.
"Oh, I am just going to get something. You should go back to bed... It's getting late."
Xiaoyun tried to dismiss Nami to go away, but Nami finally realized what he was doing after walking down the stairs.
"Wait, don't go!" Nami screamed and ran toward the door.
"You really should go back to sleep... I'm just going to my dormitory to get some clothes."
Xiaoyun patted Nami's head as he tried to make up a lie.
"Brother, why are you holding the suitcase then? And why in the middle of the night?"
Nami grabbed Xiaoyun's hand and refused to let him go.
"Um, the suitcase is to store the clothes... No more questions, okay? Go back to your bed. It's cold outside."
Xiaoyun tried to shove Nami's hand away, but she held on tight.
"No! You are lying! You are just going to be like Dad, leaving us behind. He doesn't want us anymore, and now you do too!"
Nami finally let go of Xiaoyun's hand, but she burst into tears and fell onto the floor helplessly.
Xiaoyun resisted the thought of turning back and took another step, and Nami started to cry even louder.
As Xiaoyun took another step, he couldn't take it any longer and turned back.
"Okay, okay, don't cry, Nami. I won't leave."
Xiaoyun bent down and gently hugged Nami around his arms.
"Really?" Nami asked as her crying stopped a little.
"Yeah, I promise... Here, let's make a pinky promise."
Nami finally calmed down as they pinky-promised each other.
"Okay, my dear little sister, you can return to your room and sleep now."
As Xiaoyun closed the door and went to sit on the sofa, Nami looked back at Xiaoyun as she stood at the stairway.
"Brother, you better not lie to me."
"Yes, yes, I won't break the promise. I won't do what Dad did to us."
After hearing Xiaoyun's promise again, Nami went up the stairs.
"Well, there goes my plan to leave... These letters, what am I going to do with it?"
After thinking for a while, Xiaoyun threw the letter into the trash can.
"This gun... I guess I kept it for now. Yuqi still has my gun on her."
Xiaoyun went back upstairs with the suitcase and the gun in his pocket.
---
After Xiaoyun returned to his room and closed the door, another door opened next to his room.
It was Nami peeking out the door to see if anyone was outside.
Seeing no one was outside, she ran back downstairs to the living room.
"The gun on the coffee table is missing. Brother probably took it back... Huh, wasn't there some paper on the coffee table?"
After looking for a bit, Nami found the paper crumbled in the trash can. She quickly picked it up and ran back up the stairs into her room.
Sitting on the bed, Nami unraveled the paper and decided to read the one directed to Yueyue and herself.
After a few minutes...
"Oh my... This is some juicy info. Is a boy falling in love with his twin sister? It's just like in the manga. Hmm, I wonder what he said about me?
After Nami finished reading her part, she couldn't help but get a little jealous.
"What! I barely got any part... This is rigged. Am I not cute enough?"
Nami looked down at her chest, only to see a flat plain that could be an airstrip for a plane.
"Hmph! Idiot brother..." Nami thought to herself as she moved on to the next letter to be directed to Leyan.
"It's too lewd. No wonder Mom was acting so weird. They really did it together that night. Mom x son, it's like a hentai plot, and it's not even stepson.
But neither of them knew it at the time. Is it okay? Either way, brother is such a perverted for still thinking about it."
Nami moved on to the last letter directed at Yuqi.
"This... GOTTA BE THE MOST JUICY ONE! There is no way Yuqi is gentle? That is such a sharp contrast! She didn't even have a boyfriend in high school and college, and NOW she is having a boyfriend?
AND out of all people, it's her brother?! Ha, what an idiot."
Nami suddenly realized something as she put the letter back down.
"Xiaoyun fell in love with all three of them... WHY THE HELL AM I EXCLUDED?!? Is my figure that bad!"
An angry Nami looked down again, only to let out a sigh of disappointment.
"Is it a crime to be flat? I'm just a little bit behind Yueyue... Okay, maybe there is more than just a little." Nami thought to herself.
"Xiaoyun is just an idiot who can't appreciate nice things. It's not my fault I didn't inherit any of mom's size—— Wait, why am I jealous of them? He is my brother... I need to calm down."
Nami carefully put the letter into the cabinet, then laid back down on the bed and fell asleep.