Background: Moonlit Night and Night Moon (1)

Moonlit Night and Night Moon were born into a wealthy family. Their father was a famous craftsman who owned the largest jewelry store in the city. The concubines in the palace all wore hairpins designed by him.

My mother was the daughter of a county magistrate of the seventh rank. She wasn't a high-ranking official, but she was still the daughter of an official Family Clan. She had a peaceful and smooth life and never suffered much hardship.

The two naturally got married and lived a happy life. Not long after their marriage, they had Twins, Moonlit Night and Night Moon.

The two brothers did not have a good relationship when they were young.

Moonlit Night enjoys quiet moments, sword dancing, and sitting alone at the desk his mother prepared for him, reading and making tea.

Petals drifted down from the tree onto the pages of his book, leaving a faint fragrance. On the desk, a string of White Jade pendants hung from the elegant long sword, their surfaces warm and lustrous.

At this time, the inopportune, annoying clattering of the abacus by the Night Moon would always ring out beside him.

He was much more lively than Moonlit Night. He didn't like reading or practicing calligraphy, but preferred studying accounts and practicing martial arts. He was always laughing and joking, as if he had no worries at all.

Moonlit Night liked to tease him, saying that the way he held the abacus made him look like an old scholar in the courtyard. So, Night Moon deliberately knocked over his tea, spilling tea all over Moonlit Night, which made him angry and chase after him.

The mother would then stand to the side, smiling and watching them with the servants beside her.

"If he's so naughty, what will become of him when he grows up?"

"Madam, the two young masters are so good; when they grow up, you and Master will surely be blessed," the servant said with a smile.

"Indeed! One of the young masters loves books as much as the madam, and he's sure to achieve academic success in the future. The other has inherited the master's business acumen, and he's sure to carry on the family business to great heights!"

The well-dressed woman chuckled, "I don't ask them to rise above others and achieve academic success; I just wish for them to live a peaceful and harmonious life."

This wonderful life ended when they were ten years old.

The war caught everyone off guard. In just one night, countless soldiers were killed or wounded while defending the city. The city gates were breached, the enemy army massacred the city, and the border fell.

Everyone in the city lived in fear as enemy troops entered and massacred, leaving every family broken and dead.

Their father and mother were killed by enemy troops, and all their money and valuables were taken away by the fleeing servants.

The two brothers, escorted by their family's loyal servants, traveled south and settled in an unfamiliar village.

The servant left them a dilapidated little courtyard and never returned after leaving.

The moonlight was hazy and cold. Two little children huddled in a corner of the yard, their bodies and faces still stained with the blood of their loved ones. Their large eyes still held lingering fear. The darkness outside and the slightest sound could make the two children tremble with terror.

"Brother, are we going to die too?" Night Moon huddled in Moonlit Night's arms, her voice trembling with tears, which streamed down the wound on her cheek.

"We won't die, we won't die." Moonlit Night was also afraid, but he was the older brother, and he couldn't show weakness in front of his younger brother at this time. Their father and mother were dead, and he had to pull himself together.

He forced a gentle smile, mimicking his mother's gesture of patting his back lightly, trying to sound calm as he reassured him, "We've escaped, everything's alright now."

Everything happened so suddenly that Moonlit Night was still in a daze and hadn't truly grasped the reality of losing her parents.

"Brother, Xiaoda, Ayue, Uncle Steward, Father, Mother..." Night Moon's voice gradually lowered, and in the corner of her eye, she seemed to see again the firelight of the night, the whole city filled with corpses and bloodstains.

Swords and blades were no longer mere decorative ornaments in their hands; they had taken the lives of their closest and dearest loved ones.

"Are they all never coming back?"

His former home was ransacked by bandits; the heads of his former servants were hung on the door, and their corpses were stuffed into various corners. His parents were even hung high above the plaque in the mansion, their faces twisted in terror.

The army entered the city, burning, killing, and looting. The cries and pleas for mercy, like the lamentations of wronged souls, echoed in the night sky for a long time, deeply etched into the minds of the two young children.

Moonlit Night took a deep breath, took out the only dagger she had brought from home for self-defense, and placed it in Night Moon's hand.

"It's alright, look, we still have this. Your martial arts are good, you can protect me. I know more characters than you, I can earn money by copying books for others, even if we leave Dad and Dad, we can still survive."

Night Moon gripped the dagger tightly, sniffed, and gave a wide, bitter smile, "Alright, we will definitely survive!"

The war forced the two children to grow up overnight.

There was no time for grief; they had been hiding here for a day and a night, starving.

They still hadn't seen the servant return. Moonlit Night didn't dwell on whether he had escaped or died. They tidied up the house briefly, and before dawn, they took off their own and their brother's clothes and sold them for two thousand coins at a pawnshop.

He knew he was definitely losing out, but he couldn't refuse the two taels of silver.

After receiving the money, Moonlit Night secretly hid some of it and smeared her face with mud and ash before taking the five hundred coins and buying a set of tattered clothes.

After changing into simple clothes, he thought he would buy some food, but as soon as he stepped out of the store with the rice in his hand, a group of vagrants robbed it all.

"You little brat, let go! Let go!" The refugee's fists rained down on Moonlit Night, who grimaced Moonlit Night pain but refused to let go.

"This is my money! I need it to buy medicine for my brother, don't take it from me!"

He fought back desperately, getting beaten and injured all over, barely managing to keep the thirty coins in his arms; everything else was stolen.

The robbers left arrogantly. Moonlit Night lay on the ground for a long time before she could barely get up. Enduring the pain, she wiped away her tears and went to buy her younger brother some clothes before going home.

"Brother, what happened to your face?" Night Moon immediately noticed the injuries on Moonlit Night's face, which were bluish-purple, and his clothes were covered in mud and dust, with several holes in them even though he had just bought them.

Moonlit Night forced herself not to cry in front of her younger brother, but when he took out the last ten coins and the new clothes, she couldn't help but shed tears.

Life is so hard. Is this what the world is like without a father and mother?

The two little kids didn't dare to run away until the next night to dig out the remaining money and secretly take it home. They used some of it to buy medicine, and divided the rest into many portions to hide it again.

Although there wasn't much left, it was all the money they had.

In the year they lost everything, they lost their childlike innocence and naivety, and the baby fat on their cheeks. Like most people, they lived on a few coins every day.

Moonlit Night was young, so he was hired to copy books. Although he wrote well and quickly, he was paid much less than others because of his young age, only ten coins a day.

Night Moon had some martial arts skills and was very strong, so she did manual labor and could only earn ten coins a day.

Life was tough, but once you got used to it, it seemed manageable.

On the night they received their full month's wages, Moonlit Night secretly took out his savings and bought some meat, which the two brothers shared under the moonlight.

The moonlight shone on them, making their eyes, which were both laughing and crying, exceptionally clear.

She ate the meager meal in a daze, Night Moon lay on the stone in the courtyard that served as a table, gazing at the moonlight. She seemed to smell the fragrance of the Peach Blossom Tree in her yard.

"Brother, I miss Mother and Father."

Moonlit Night teased him, "Maybe the spirits of Father and Mother have always been with us and have never left."

Ye Night Moon froze, muttering, "... Why do I feel both happy and scared?"

Moonlit Night smiled and stuffed the last piece of meat in her bowl into his hand, "Eat it, or we'll be in trouble if someone smells it."