What If Yuexi Had a Page of His Own in the Clan Genealogy

The current Clan Leader of the Moonlight Clan was so formidable that, even compared with the Clan Leaders of past generations, he deserved a chapter of his own in the clan genealogy.

What great achievements did he have, you asked?

If you stopped a member of the Moonlight Clan and asked about it, they would surely stare at you in shock, as if to say, "You don't know?"

Then they would tell you with great solemnity:

Yuexi, the current Clan Leader of the Moonlight Clan, had been bedded by the Moon God.

That was right. Bedded.

In the sense you were thinking of.

They were all adults. Those who knew, knew; there was no need to spell it out.

[Moonlight Clan internal group chat: "Except the Clan Chief"]

The message history had piled up into a mountain. Wherever you looked, the screen was full of:

"As expected of the Clan Leader," "Way to go, Clan Leader," "When is the Clan Leader going to win the god over completely?" "The Clan Leader should strike while the iron is hot and make the relationship official"...

And they had evidence to back it all up.

As the saying went, pictures didn't lie.

There were all kinds of pictures, from secretly taken shots of Yuexi getting up in the morning to distant views of the Moon God straightening Yuexi's collar, all taken from ingenious angles.

Mooncake had started a poll in the group on the question, "What should the Clan Leader and the god name their first child?" The options ranged from "Moon the Second" to "Little Moon," and participation was extremely high.

Such a child would require the God of Life to provide a fruit of life, after which it would be nurtured by the divine power of both parties.

And fruits of life were extremely rare, something one could only encounter by chance.

Although Yue Rushui scolded them for their nonsense, he secretly voted for "Little Moon" in private. He was also very cautious and saved a screenshot, in case he needed to bring it up against them in the future.

What they didn't know was that Yuexi's relationship with the Moon God wasn't what they imagined.

At least, Yuexi had not been bedded by the Moon God as things stood.

What they called bedding was actually nothing more than the Moon God holding Yuexi down by the shoulders and making him sleep a while longer.

That had only happened because Yuexi had been working intensely for years and rarely rested. Earlier, while reporting to the Moon God, he had become dazed for a moment.

As a result, the Moon God had ordered him to rest.

Earlier, when Yang Zhi and the others came to visit, Yue Rushui had seen his Clan Leader sleeping in the Moon God's bed and jumped to a conclusion, leading the entire Moonlight Clan astray along with him.

Whenever they watched their Clan Leader interact with the god, they saw everything through tinted lenses.

They were like people picking bones out of an egg with a magnifying glass, or forcing themselves to find a hint of sweetness in bitter melon.

For example, among the evidence the Moonlight Clan had dug up that their Clan Leader had been bedded were a quilt that supposedly proved it, and the glow on their Clan Leader's face lately, as though he had been thoroughly nourished...

These were all little details they had picked up in their daily lives.

Yet the truth was not what they hoped. The quilt that the Moonlight Clan claimed proved their Clan Leader had been bedded was actually just one the Moon God had draped over Yuexi while he was at it.

As for that "thoroughly nourished glow"?

Yuexi had simply been sleeping soundly at last, and his complexion had improved.

The Moonlight Clan could have noticed all of this if they had paid a little closer attention in their daily lives.

But people always wanted to see the things they imagined happening, and the Moonlight Clan was no exception.

Their Clan Leader had been bedded by the god.

That was the conclusion they had reached.

And that conclusion was spreading to every corner of the Divine Realm faster than moonlight.

When the Sun God heard the rumor, he was resting with his eyes closed on the Solar Disc. Golden divine power circulated around him, smoothing the surging flames on its surface into submission.

But the moment the words "the Moon God bedded a member of the Moonlight Clan" reached his ears, three dazzling streams of Flowing Light shot away from him, becoming three meteors that trailed long golden tails as they plunged into the depths of the Sea of Stars.

Stars along their path scattered out of the way as the meteors brushed past, making for a spectacular sight.

The Sun God opened one golden eye, its depths devoid of warmth.

A creation ought to know its place, all right?

A mere member of the Moonlight Clan, a living being without even a Divine Core, dared covet his younger brother?

Was he tired of living?

He wasn't even dead yet, and someone was already setting their sights on his second brother?

The Sun God felt his reason evaporating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Reason -999

Reason -9999

Reason -99999

Reason -999999

It wasn't that the Sun God was prejudiced against creations.

Gods created all things, and all things admired the gods. Nothing could be more natural.

Sun God Birds had even chirped declarations of love to him before.

But the Sun God hadn't taken them to heart.

Right now, his younger brother was what mattered most to him.

How could his aloof and noble younger brother possibly fall for a creation?

How could he make a creation fall for him?

How could he bed a creation?

The more the Sun God thought about it, the more absurd it seemed, so absurd that he began to suspect the Moonlight Clan member had spread the rumor himself. The purpose was naturally to make himself look good and curry favor with a god.

It had better be so.

Otherwise, he truly didn't know what he might do.

The Star God narrowed his purple eyes, a faint, inscrutable smile on his lips, and shook his head without saying a word.

He didn't believe it for a moment.

His aloof and noble older brother was like the moon hanging high in the heavens. Apart from the two of them, of course everyone else could only gaze at him from afar, unable to reach him. He had followed his second brother around since childhood and had seen how he treated everyone.

Neither too close nor too distant, neither cold nor warm, polite yet detached, as though separated from them by a thin veil of moonlight.

Visible, but untouchable.

How could someone like that possibly fall for a creation?

In his second brother's eyes, those worldly, mundane things probably didn't even count as dust, scattering at a breath of wind.

When the Night God heard the rumor, his hand stopped in midair, his teacup suspended by his lips for a long time without moving.

Moonlight fell in and spread over him, coating his silhouette in a faint silvery white.

He put down the teacup, lowered his eyes, and stared blankly at the red ribbon around his wrist.

Perhaps his persistence had been wrong from the very beginning.

That place had never been his.

Yuexi had always considered himself someone who knew his limits.

As the current Clan Leader of the Moonlight Clan, he always handled every matter, big or small, with meticulous care.

He remembered every clan member's birthday, the layout of every corner of the Moon God Palace, every matter that required his attention, and...

But all of that had begun to crumble from the day he woke up in the Moon God's bed.

That day, the Star God had shaken him awake. Opening his eyes to see three gods before him, he had bowed respectfully.

He had thought the god would blame him, but to his surprise, the god had told him to go back to sleep if he was tired.

Yuexi hadn't understood at first. Only when Lord Star God asked, "Brother, did you bed him?" did he belatedly realize what his falling asleep in the god's bed must have looked like to the other gods.

He still remembered his reaction.

At that moment, his heart had felt as though it would leap out of his chest.

Afterward, Yuexi spent a long time recalling that moment and pondering the matter.

Yet he still couldn't seem to make sense of it, no matter how hard he tried.

Now, every evening, Yuexi held the notebook he had shown the god. He sat at his desk, opened it, picked up his brush, and wrote with utmost care:

Various clan affairs today...

But as he wrote, he would drift into a daze without realizing it.

Yuexi's gaze passed over the page and settled on a point in the air, his mind both empty and full.

By the time he came back to himself, the page was already covered with the word "god."

Big and small, written in all sorts of ways.

Some were neat and precise, some so messy they were almost illegible, some stopped halfway through, some were written over one another several times, and some had ink spots beside them...

Page after page, the paper was covered with the same word.

Yuexi stared at the words, his fingertips trembling.

Then he reached out and traced them one by one, from the first to the last, from the neat ones to the messy ones, from the complete ones to the unfinished ones, as though touching something hot enough to burn him, yet also something he couldn't bear to put down.

As he touched each word, the ink cool beneath his fingertips, he noticed the strange feeling in his heart.

The feeling was too obvious for him to ignore, no matter how hard he pretended not to see it. It beat in his chest, flowed through his veins, and rose and fell with every breath he took... like a seed planted at some unknown time. By the time he noticed it, it had already taken root, sprouted, and grown into something he could no longer pull out.

Yuexi told himself again and again that this was impossible.

He told himself that the god was merciful and compassionate, that the god was good to all creations. All of it was the god's kindness, all of it was the god's grace, and none of it could be misunderstood.

Yuexi told himself he couldn't lose his sense of propriety just because he had received a little special favor.

He was the Clan Leader of the Moonlight Clan.

He represented the dignity of the entire Moonlight Clan.

He couldn't harbor any improper thoughts about the god, couldn't commit any transgression, couldn't...

Every night, he told himself this over and over.

Tomorrow, he would still be the Clan Leader of the Moonlight Clan, still the Yuexi who knew his limits.

Tomorrow, he would cross out all those instances of "god" in his notebook and write something else.

Tomorrow, he would return to where he belonged and be the god's creation.

Tomorrow...

Thinking this way, Yuexi would unwittingly lie awake until dawn.

He went over what he had told himself in his mind, then went over it again, and again, who knew how many times, until daylight came.

And, to add one more thing, he did not cross out the words "god" in his notebook the next day.

Yuexi excused himself by saying that doing so would be gravely disrespectful to the god.

He began to suffer from insomnia.

Not every night, but more and more often.

Yuexi tried suppressing it with divine power, tried closing his eyes and counting his heartbeats, tried flipping through his little notebook from beginning to end...

But none of it worked. Instead, he became even more alert!

He closed the notebook and buried his face in his arms, unwilling to lift his head for a long time. He could stay by the god's side, serve him tea, cover him with a quilt, and handle miscellaneous affairs. All of that was fine.

He was the Clan Leader of the Moonlight Clan; he ought to serve the god.

But if he wanted more than that...

If he wanted warmth in the god's gaze when the god lowered his head to look at him...

If he wanted to leave his own scent in the god's hall...

If he wanted the god's moonlight to fall on him alone...

Then it was different.

Then it became coveting, a transgression, something that should never be.

Of course, that was the real reason Yuexi had been losing sleep lately.

Today, he felt somewhat dazed.

From the moment he woke that morning, Yuexi had felt as though a thin mist covered his mind.

He stood up, his legs a little weak, took several deep breaths, and then raised his hand and slapped his cheeks twice, jolting himself a little more awake before going to the Moon God Palace.

The instant he saw the Moon God, Yuexi's head swam, and he fainted on the spot.

After he lost consciousness, the Moon God's silvery-white divine power enveloped him and brought him to the god's side.

A brief examination showed that he had only fainted temporarily.

The cause seemed to be... exhaustion?

When Yuexi woke, he found himself lying in the god's bed once again, covered with a quilt that gave off a delicate fragrance, soothing him with its scent.

His senses returned little by little.

The first thing Yuexi noticed was his body beneath the quilt, warm and comfortable.

Then he became aware of what was supporting his head.

It felt a little strange, smaller and harder than a pillow, but with a gentle curve that made it unexpectedly comfortable to rest on. In his daze, he wondered what kind of pillow it was, and why he had never seen it in the Moon God Palace before.

As Yuexi was wondering, he heard the god's cool, clear voice from above him.

"Awake? Don't tire yourself out so much next time. Get some proper rest."

Yuexi froze.

The voice was very close. Very, very slowly, he raised his eyes, his gaze traveling up along the edge of the quilt, past his silvery-white hair and a stretch of moon-white fabric, until it finally came to rest on a face.

His head was resting squarely on the god's thigh.

The thing he had thought was a "pillow" was the god's leg.

Yuexi's body jolted.

He practically sprang up, moving as fast as lightning. He scrambled off the bed without even having time to throw aside the quilt, and fell to his knees on the floor with a thud.

He bowed his head so low that his forehead nearly touched the ground, his long silvery-white hair spreading across the floor.

"God, please forgive me. Yuexi deserves ten thousand deaths."

His voice was trembling.

A creation had fainted before the god, slept on the god's leg, and even had his head stroked by the god.

Each and every one of those things was enough for him to die several times over.

He knelt on the floor, his mind completely blank, with only the words "deserves ten thousand deaths" circling through it again and again.

The Moon God reclined against the bed, his legs stretched out and his feet hanging in midair.

His attention shifted from the book in his hand to Yuexi, who was kneeling on the floor.

His other hand was still suspended in the air.

He had been stroking Yuexi's hair with it just now. It had felt so nice that he hadn't put his hand down.

Unfortunately, Yuexi was awake now, so he couldn't stroke it anymore.

The Moon God lowered his hand and said coolly, "Get up."

Yuexi slowly straightened, his eyes lowered.

He didn't dare look at the god's expression. He shuffled forward two steps on his knees, then stood, walked to the bedside, and crouched down.

The Moon God frowned slightly at the sight of him.

He reached out, pressed his fingertips against Yuexi's chin, and gently lifted his lowered face.

Forced to raise his head, Yuexi met those eyes, serene as the moon. His face was burning, his eyes were red-rimmed, and he had bitten a faint mark into his own lip.

He looked like a cat that had done something wrong and been hauled before its owner, obedient and flustered, not daring to move even its tail.

The Moon God looked at him like that for a long time.

"How long has it been since you slept?"

Yuexi opened his mouth, intending to say, "I slept," but when he met those eyes, he couldn't get the words out. He lowered his lashes, and only after a long while did he squeeze a few words from his throat.

"...I can't remember."

The Moon God released his chin, raised his hand, and placed it back on Yuexi's head, giving it a gentle stroke.

Yuexi shuddered again. He felt the faint coolness of the hand on his head, the pressure of the fingers passing through his hair, the light chill of Moonlight in the god's palm...

"Creations are different from gods. If you don't sleep, your fatigue will only keep piling up. If you wear yourself down, who will manage the Moonlight Clan for me?"

Yuexi's eyes stung fiercely again, and tears fell just like that. He made no sound.

The Moon God's hand moved down from the top of his head, his fingertips settling against Yuexi's cheek. They traced the trail of tears and gently wiped away a drop before it could fall. His fingertips were faintly cool against Yuexi's burning skin as they wiped slowly across it.

Yuexi went completely still, his cheek cradled in that hand, but the more his tears were wiped away, the more spilled from his eyes, one after another.

The Moon God looked at Yuexi's tear-stained face.

He looked at those eyes, usually cold and proud, now impossibly red, and at those lips, usually held tightly in check.

Now Yuexi couldn't control them at all.

"Why are you crying?"

The Moon God closed his book and set it aside.

Silver-white divine power flowed from his fingertips, wrapping around Yuexi in fine strands.

After a flash of white light, Yuexi was gone.

The silver-haired figure on the bed had disappeared, replaced by a little white cat.

Tiny and soft, snow-white all over, like a cloud freshly plucked from the moon, it had a fluffy head and two little ears. The tips of its ears trembled, as if it hadn't yet grasped what had happened.

The Moon God reached out, picked up the kitten, and placed it on his lap. Then he picked up the book again and continued reading.

"Be good today and rest."

He attributed Yuexi's unusual behavior to the excessive pressure he had been under lately.

The Moon God settled the kitten on his lap like a little hand warmer, then leisurely opened his book.

Transformed into a kitten by the Moon God, Yuexi huddled on his lap, not daring to move.

He looked down at his paws, small white tufts with pink pads and claws tucked safely away, not a sharp tip showing. He tried moving them, extending and retracting his claws several times before feeling a little reassured.

Although he knew his claws couldn't hurt the god, he was always afraid of hurting him.

Because in his heart, the god was someone who needed protecting.

The thought sounded utterly absurd.

But every time Yuexi saw him, he thought the god looked terribly delicate. In his eyes, the god was like an exquisite piece of porcelain, beautiful as the Goddess of Beauty, so breathtaking that it took his breath away, yet so fragile he didn't dare use any force.

He always felt that the slightest bit of force would shatter him.

Now he had become a cat, lying on the lap of this "fragile porcelain," and he didn't even dare swish his tail carelessly.

He tucked all four paws neatly beneath him, curled into a small white ball, and rested his head on his front paws. His body was tense as he lay there without moving.

All the while, the Moon God's fingers occasionally left the pages and fell on Yuexi's back, stroking gently along his fur. His fingertips slid down the cat's spine, following its soft curve with just enough pressure to smooth a tuft of rumpled fur.

The tips of Yuexi's ears twitched with each movement of that hand, once, then again. The tip of his tail curled and uncurled uncontrollably, over and over.

A cat's body was far more honest than he had imagined.

Wherever the Moon God's hand passed, the muscles beneath Yuexi's skin relaxed of their own accord, and his back arched to meet the curve of the hand. Something deep in his throat stirred, eager to come out.

His feline instincts made him want to nuzzle and purr, to push his head against that hand, to roll over and expose his belly, to touch the god's fingertips with his moist nose.

But... this was the god!

He couldn't profane the god!

Yuexi resisted with all his might, pressing his head firmly against his front paws, holding his body rigid as a little white stone, and forcing the tip of his tail down through sheer willpower.

But his body wouldn't obey. The tips of his ears were trembling, his whiskers were trembling, and his whole little body was quivering slightly, tense all over.

The Moon God hadn't expected him to keep his body so tense.

He had meant to help him relax.

Turn him into a cat, put him on his lap, stroke his fur, and let him sleep off the fatigue that had accumulated for who knew how long.

That had been his intention.

But as things stood, not only had Yuexi failed to relax, the strain on his body had grown even heavier.

The kitten was tenser on his lap than it had been lying down earlier, its breathing a little shorter, looking as though it was ready to leap off his lap and flee at any moment.

The Moon God put down his book and looked at the trembling ball of white fur on his lap. His hand settled on it again.

This time he laid his entire palm over the cat's back. Starting at the shoulder blades, he slowly stroked down along the fur, sliding from the center of the spine to the sides, then back to the center, then to the sides again...

"Good, relax a little."

Hearing that voice, Yuexi's body began to relax of its own accord. He didn't know why.

He had been resisting with all his might just a moment ago, telling himself he couldn't profane the god, stretching every nerve to its limit.

But as that hand stroked his back again and again, the string in his mind that had been drawn taut for so long suddenly went slack. The dam he had painstakingly built seemed to have been given a gentle poke by something, and it collapsed without a sound.

Yuexi's back softened, the tips of his ears drooped, and his tightly curled tail unfurled, hanging limply over the side of the Moon God's knee.

Kitten Yuexi's head slipped off his paws and came to rest sideways on the Moon God's lap.

His beautiful cat eyes narrowed to two half-closed slits.

Then he began to make an intermittent rumbling sound.

It was a cat's purr, a sound a cat made only when utterly relaxed and completely at ease.

Had Yuexi himself been awake, he probably would have been so ashamed he would have crawled into a crack in the ground, but right now he couldn't be bothered.

The Moon God listened to the purring from his lap and looked down at the little white cat, which had finally gone limp.

Its belly rose and fell with its breathing, pink pads peeking out from beneath its paws. The corner of its mouth rested loosely against his leg, and its tail hung lazily, twitching now and then.

The Moon God watched it for a while.

Then he went back to turning the pages, keeping his fingers on the cat's back and stroking its fur now and again, from back to waist, from waist to the base of its tail, then back to its back.

After quite a while, kitten Yuexi rolled over.

His white belly faced up, his four paws curled against his chest and sides, exposing a little tummy covered in fur even softer than that on his back. His cat eyes were half open, bright and moist, and he looked at Wuma Xiu with an almost coquettish gaze.

That gaze clearly said:

God, hurry and rub my belly. It's even softer.

The Moon God caught sight of this out of the corner of his eye, and his page-turning hand stopped.

He looked down at the little white cat sprawled belly-up on his lap, its four pink paw pads displayed before him, its tail tip hanging softly beside his leg and swaying gently.

Before he knew it, he had actually become absorbed.

Kitten Yuexi waited a while, and when the god didn't move, he tipped his head farther to the side, curled the tip of his tail, and purred a little louder.

He didn't know what he looked like right now.

If he had known, he probably would have been so ashamed he would have jumped out a window of the Moon God Palace.

The Moon God put down his book and reached out, placing his hand palm-down on the cat's belly. The instant his fingers touched the fluff, it was far softer than the fur on his back.

So soft it hardly seemed real.

The Moon God pressed it gently. The cat's belly sank beneath his palm, then sprang back, warm and soft.

All four of kitten Yuexi's paws came to rest on his fingers at once, their pads pressed against his knuckles.

The Moon God left his hand there, his palm covering the cat's belly.

The cat's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, until they finally closed altogether.

The purring gradually faded into long, steady breaths.

Early the next morning, Yuexi woke to find that he had changed back.

He lay on the bed in the main hall, covered by that delicately scented quilt, his long silver-white hair spread over the pillow. His limbs were still curled up, as though he were ready to roll over and bare his belly at any moment.

He stared blankly at the rafters overhead as the memories of last night slowly surfaced in his mind.

He had turned into a cat, lain on the god's lap, had his fur stroked, rolled over to show his belly, and even let the god rub it.

His face burned from the roots of his ears down to his neck, until he felt as though his whole body might start smoking.

Yuexi shot upright and looked around. He was alone in the hall.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but felt a little disappointed too.

Yuexi was staring blankly at his own palm when an exuberant voice suddenly rang out from the entrance to the hall.

"My dear little brother, your favorite big brother is here."

Golden light poured into the hall ahead of the figure, illuminating the entire main hall.

The Sun God stepped over the threshold, his golden hair shining brilliantly in the morning light. His golden eyes swept over every corner of the hall, a cheerful smile on his lips.

Today, he had once again taken advantage of the Star God's absence to visit his younger brother, the Moon God, alone.

Today was a world for just him and Moon, the two gods.

Unfortunately, only after entering did he discover that Moon wasn't there.

The Sun God paused, his golden eyes sweeping over the empty main hall. He looked left and right, and his gaze finally landed on a silver-haired figure standing beside the bed.

The Sun God narrowed his golden eyes.

That face looked somewhat familiar.

He took another look and finally remembered.

Wasn't he that restless, insubordinate Creation from before, the one who had lain resting on Moon's bed, slept soundly wrapped in Moon's quilt, and, after Star shook him awake, prompted Moon to personally tell him to "sleep a little longer"?

The Sun God's smile slowly faded.

Only he and this Creation were in the hall.

Perfect. He had to take this opportunity to give him a proper warning and make this member of the Moonlight Clan understand his place.

The Sun God folded his arms and raised his chin, his golden eyes looking down at Yuexi, his lips curving into a less than friendly smile.

He didn't deliberately release his divine power,

but that innate, scorching pressure naturally spread out, raising the temperature throughout the main hall by several degrees.

"Yuexi, Clan Leader of the Moonlight Clan, greets Your Holiness the Sun God."

The Sun God circled Yuexi once, his golden eyes sizing him up from head to toe. After completing the circuit, he stopped in front of Yuexi and spoke down to him:

"Your name is Yuexi?"

"Yes."

The Sun God suddenly sneered. "Was my little brother's bed comfortable?"

Yuexi's fingers tightened, and he lowered his head even farther.

Seeing him like this, the Sun God took a step forward, his scorching pressure growing heavier. He was about to say something more when a cool, clear voice suddenly came from the entrance to the hall.

"Brother."

The Sun God turned and saw his precious little brother standing in the doorway, holding a pot of freshly brewed tea.

His expression was no different from usual, cool as the moon, showing neither joy nor anger. Only his serene eyes swept over the Sun God and Yuexi, who was kneeling on the floor.

Then they settled on the Sun God.

"You're here. Good timing. Have some tea with us."

The Sun God's face, so imposing a moment ago, changed in an instant.

He withdrew his pressure, lowered his chin, and dropped his "I'm going to give you a proper lesson today" expression. Replacing it with an excessively radiant smile, he moved closer to the Moon God.

"Moon! I knew you were the best! That little bastard Star isn't here today, so it's just the two of us..."

"Brother, sit down first."

The Moon God interrupted him, carried the tea to the table, and set the pot down. He looked at Yuexi kneeling on the floor and frowned slightly.

"Yuexi, come have some tea."

The Sun God watched Yuexi stand, walk to the table and sit beside Wuma Xiu, and watched his own younger brother pour Yuexi a cup of tea himself.

Steam curled from the cup set before Yuexi, and when Yuexi picked it up, the tips of his ears were red.

The Sun God's gaze traveled back and forth between the two of them a couple of times, the light in his golden eyes flickering.

Yuexi sat beside his precious younger brother, holding the teacup, the redness not yet gone from the tips of his ears. His eyes were lowered, and he looked perfectly obedient and respectful.

For a moment, he suddenly felt that he had come at the wrong time today.

Then he felt he had come at exactly the right time.

If he hadn't arrived early today, he had no idea how much longer he would have been kept in the dark.

That little fool of a Star God was still confidently insisting at every turn that "Second Brother could never like a Creation."

But the longer the Sun God sat there, the more he felt something was wrong.

Could there really be... something going on?

The Sun God narrowed his golden eyes slightly, lost in thought.

He knew his younger brother's temperament. Cold on the outside and warm on the inside, he seemed neither distant nor close to anyone, but once he made up his mind, not even nine star beasts could pull him back.

And judging by what had just happened, he really was indulgent toward this Creation.

If Moon really had developed feelings for this Creation, then even if he and the Star God tried to talk him out of it, they absolutely wouldn't succeed.

But he still had to ask and find out.

He had to know what Moon was thinking. He couldn't just stand by and watch the younger brother he cherished so dearly, whom he couldn't bear to let so much as a breeze blow on, end up with a creation without knowing what was going on...

The Sun God sprang to his feet.

His expression was deadly serious.

"Little brother, I'd like to talk to you alone."

The Moon God nodded and glanced at Yuexi. Yuexi rose, bowed, and withdrew.

The palace door closed behind him with a soft sound.

The Sun God folded his arms and stared at his younger brother for a long time, his golden eyes fixed on him.

The Moon God sat at the table, his moon-white robes falling to the floor. He met his gaze with his usual calm expression, giving nothing away.

But seeing him so unruffled only made the Sun God feel more uncertain.

The calmer Moon was, the less simple the matter must be.

"Moon, tell me the truth. What's going on with that creation?"

The Moon God didn't answer immediately.

The Sun God waited a while. When he still didn't speak, the frustration in his chest grew.

He took a step forward, the light in his golden eyes flickering.

He had meant to say, "Stay away from that creation," but when the words reached his lips, he looked into his brother's eyes.

He swallowed them and asked something else instead.

"Have you taken a fancy to him?"

"If you have, I can understand. I won't stand in your way."

The Moon God sat there, looking up at his brother, who had leaned in close.

He explained it to the Sun God.

As the Sun God listened, his expression grew increasingly relaxed.

"So that's what happened. You should've said so earlier."

The Sun God laughed. It had all been a misunderstanding. He had thought his younger brother really had fallen for him.

That was good.

If his brother had really fallen for him, he wouldn't have supported it, but he could only have silently wished them well. He couldn't even have given him a beating, since the other party was only a creation and couldn't withstand his attacks.

The Sun God thought about it and sighed. Just imagining that prospect made him feel stifled.

Yuexi was sitting by the palace entrance, lost in thought, when a new message suddenly appeared in the group chat in his head.

[Mooncake]:

[Everyone, good news! The Clan Leader didn't come back last night. He must have spent the night with the god. Anyone want to team up and check him for hickeys?]

Yuexi's back went rigid. He stared at the words in his head, his eyes widening. The heat that hadn't yet faded from the tips of his ears flared up again, burning all the way down his neck.

Hickeys?

What hickeys?

What did these people spend all day thinking about?

He was about to use his authority as Clan Leader to remove the message when it suddenly disappeared—it had been recalled.

[Mooncake]: [Sorry, wrong group.]

A second later, that message vanished too.

Yuexi sat motionless on the threshold, hugging his knees.

Wrong group?

Then it seemed the message must have been meant for that group.

Meanwhile, in another group, Mooncake was wailing frantically.

[Mooncake]: [I'm doomed! I accidentally sent it to the wrong group. I don't know if the Clan Leader saw it. I hope he's busy right now and doesn't have time to look.]

[Yue Tu]: [??? Which group did you send it to?]

[Moon Melon]: [You scared the melons right out of me. You sent it to the group with the Clan Leader in it?]

[Moon Bay]: [Mooncake, you're done for. Completely done for. I saw it just now. You'd better pray the Clan Leader didn't see it.]

[Yue Rushui]: [...I told you long ago that you weren't reliable.]

[Yue Li]: [Quick, think of a way to fix this! If the Clan Leader saw it, he'll know this group exists!]

[Mooncloth]: [Recalling it won't help. The Clan Leader has the authority to see recalled messages. Let's just hope he won't pay those two recalled messages any attention.]

[Mooncake]: [Aaaaaah, help!!!]

[Yue Tu]: [Mooncake, you're on your own. I'll go burn a stick of incense for you.]

[Moon Melon]: [I'll burn two sticks for you: one for you and one for this group.]

Mooncake's wailing continued.

What they didn't notice was that their Clan Leader, Yuexi, had already entered the group invisibly. As Clan Leader, he naturally had the authority to enter any group chat in the clan.

Including the one called "Except the Clan Chief."

He had never gone in to look before, though. He felt his clanspeople ought to have some space of their own, and as long as they didn't cause any major trouble, he could turn a blind eye.

But today, the message sent to the "wrong group" had left Yuexi thinking it over for a long time.

In the end, he couldn't resist and quietly slipped into the group.

Yuexi scrolled up through the chat history.

The further he scrolled, the redder his cheeks became.

He had never imagined that, in his absence, his clanspeople would privately chat about such, such, such...

Indecent things.

And what did they mean by giving him his own page in the clan genealogy?

Yuexi fell into a daze.

If he really did receive the god's favor, then he could indeed have a page of the clan genealogy to himself.

Yuexi came back to his senses and shook his head, putting the matter aside, though the blush had yet to leave his face.

He dutifully scrolled up through the chat history.

He told himself he would read just one page and then leave, but after one page he read another, and after that another...

Seven hours later, he had read the entire chat history.

By then his eyes had begun to swim, his breathing had quickened, and his brain wasn't getting enough oxygen.

It all churned together in his head, making his face turn red, then pale, then pink.

He, he, he, he... He left the group.

Yuexi sat on the threshold of the side hall with his face in his hands, his silver hair falling down to completely conceal it.

"Yuexi, what's wrong? Why is your face so red? Are you ill?"

The Moon God, having seen the Sun God off, walked over and placed a hand on Yuexi's head. It was far hotter than usual, and even his hair gave off heat.

He frowned and was about to examine him more closely when Yuexi raised his head.

His face was indeed terribly red, burning from the roots of his ears down to his neck. His eyes shimmered with moisture. Whether something had frightened or scalded him, it was hard to tell, but he even avoided the Moon God's gaze.

Yuexi looked at the hand in front of him, his mind in chaos. The images and words he had seen over the past seven hours flashed through his mind one after another. He hurriedly pulled away from the hand and shifted half a step to the side.

"My god, I... I'm fine. You don't need to worry."

How could he be fine like that?

But the Moon God withdrew his hand. Yuexi didn't seem to want his help, so he let it be.

The Moon God turned and left.

Yuexi watched him go and breathed a sigh of relief.

After seeing all those things, his thoughts ran wild whenever he saw his god now, and he couldn't stay calm at all.

After that, Mooncake discovered that his Clan Leader had sent him far away, to a place he couldn't easily return from.

Ah, the Clan Leader had seen it after all.

Mooncake left in tears.

The Moon God had originally felt nothing improper toward Yuexi, only guilt and a desire to make it up to him.

But...

Perhaps the kitten was just too cute.

The Moon God couldn't resist holding Yuexi in his cat form in his arms.

Yuexi was his creation. Surely there was nothing wrong with having him turn into a cat so he could pet him?

So the Moon God thought.

He even found a professional cat-petting manual and read it with great interest, putting it into practice as he went.

Yuexi felt wonderfully comfortable being stroked.

His whole body went limp in the Moon God's arms. He rolled over to reveal his white belly, all four paws raised in the air and the tip of his tail curling and uncurling.

He really was utterly adorable like this.

Perhaps it was from that moment that his feelings for Yuexi changed, and he began to care about him.

But if one had to say when it truly began, it was probably when the Moon God accidentally saw what Yuexi had written in his notebook.

The feelings were so passionate that, when he saw them, he felt as though he had been burned.

Love begins without knowing where, and grows ever deeper.

Perhaps, without realizing it, the two of them had broken through that thin barrier between them.

But if one had to say who made the first move,

it was probably the Moon God.

After all, no matter how much Yuexi loved him, because of his own circumstances, he had always held himself back, never daring to overstep.

It wasn't that he didn't love him. He cared too much, and it made him feel unworthy.

He could serve tea, tuck in blankets, and fill page after page of his notebook with the word "god."

But ask him to take that step forward—

No.

Yuexi couldn't take it. He was afraid that if he did, he wouldn't even be able to keep the place he had now. So he held the line, however hard it was, suffering day and night, but he simply didn't dare move.

"R-really?"

Yuexi asked, stammering.

He didn't even dare look up and meet his god's eyes.

The Moon God reached out, placed his fingertips beneath Yuexi's chin, and gently lifted his lowered face.

Yuexi tilted his head up, his eyes rimmed red. He had bitten a faint mark into his lip, and his lashes trembled violently.

The Moon God looked at Yuexi, at his disbelieving face, at his lowered lashes, at the lip he had bitten... Then he lowered his head and kissed Yuexi on the forehead.

"Really," he said.

That day,

the moonlight outside the hall filtered through the window lattice and fell upon the two overlapping figures, making it impossible to tell which was which.

The silver lily-of-the-valley bells beneath the eaves rang once, then again.

But the news that they were together dealt the other gods a tremendous blow.

The Sun God, for instance... And the Star God...

Especially the Sun God.

He learned the news on a sunny afternoon. He had been lying on the Solar Disc, basking in the sun, golden divine radiance spreading across the sky. It was so warm and comfortable that he didn't even want to open his eyes.

He remembered asking Moon not long ago what was going on with that creation. What had Moon said then?

The Sun God knew Moon would never lie to him.

Given Moon's nature, he either said nothing or told the truth. Since Moon had said "that's all" at the time, that really had been all.

Which meant that afterward, in such a short time, that creation had somehow made his second brother change his mind.

"That creation really is scheming, with some impressive tricks."

The Star God, who had come to the Sun God to find out what had happened, narrowed his purple eyes slightly.

How could this be? His brother really had fallen for him.

Unfortunately, that creation was too weak, so weak that he couldn't withstand the wrath of any one of them.

They couldn't beat him up.

Because he would die, and if he died, their brother would be upset.

The Star God hugged his knees a little tighter and muttered,

"Then he'd better treat Second Brother well. Otherwise, I'll make him wish he were dead."

The Sun God watched him for a while, then ruffled his younger brother's purple hair.

The Star God leaned his head on his eldest brother's shoulder.

If only his brother had fallen for that guy, the Night God. Then he could have given him a proper beating.

The two gods were feeling emo.

The mood on the two sides seemed to be on entirely different levels.

Yuexi and the Moon God were leaning against each other, smiling as their eyes met.

A warm atmosphere surrounded them, one no one else could intrude upon.

Perhaps the only ones unsurprised by this were the Moonlight Clan. After all, they had "known" about it for a long time and were already past the shock.

As a result, those who should have been the most shocked were now the least surprised.

Recently, Yuexi had noticed something that rather troubled him.

His god seemed to like his cat form more than he liked Yuexi himself.

At first, it was only a small suspicion.

For example, when his god looked at him in cat form rather than human form, his eyes were noticeably brighter.

He didn't want to admit it, but he really was jealous.

Jealous of his own cat form.

The night the thought occurred to him, Yuexi held his little notebook for a long time without writing a single word.

His eyes stayed fixed on the pages spread open before him.

Yuexi's mind kept returning to the contrast between the expression the god wore when stroking the cat and the one he wore when looking at Yuexi himself.

He wanted to write something, but his pen hovered above the paper, unable to come down.

What should I write?

That I, the dignified Clan Leader of the Moonlight Clan, am jealous of a cat?

That I'm jealous because the cat I turned into is more to the god's liking than I am? If word got out, he would disgrace the entire Moonlight Clan.

But he wrote anyway.

He drew a kitten in the notebook.

It lay in the very center of the page, with a round head and a short tail sticking up. One ear was bigger than the other, and no matter how he looked at it, it didn't look like something the god would like.

He stared at the ugly cat for a while, hating it more the longer he looked. Then he drew a tiny version of himself beside it, a little Stickman with a mess of lines for silver hair, two horizontal strokes for eyes and a downturned mouth. He drew a speech bubble beside it.

Inside the speech bubble was a sentence.

—I hate the kitty.

When he finished, he looked at the words and felt they still weren't enough to vent his frustration. He jabbed the ugly cat's ears twice with his pen, leaving two ink dots, as though he had marked each one with a cross.

He was already competing with himself in kitty form for the god's attention, so Yuexi hated himself in kitty form.

He hated how it lay in places he couldn't, hated how it was petted in places he wasn't, hated the look in the god's eyes when he lowered his head to look at it as it rolled over and showed its belly, hated the moment the god's fingers stopped when it purred...

Yuexi put down his pen and buried his face in the crook of his arm, lying there sullenly with his silver hair covering his entire face.

The door was pushed open, then closed again.

The Moon God had come in.

But Yuexi, secretly jealous of his own cat form, didn't hear the noise.

The Moon God took two steps closer, his gaze falling on the little notebook spread open on the table. He saw the kitten, ugly in a way that made it instantly recognizable, the Stickman beside it with its mouth turned down, and the words in the speech bubble.

A soft chuckle sounded.

Yuexi jerked his head up and met the Moon God's eyes, calm as the moon. He burned from the roots of his ears to his neck in an instant. He looked down at the drawing spread open on the table, at the ugly cat and the words "I hate the kitty." His head buzzed, and he scrambled to close the notebook, but the Moon God pressed a hand on the page first.

"God, when did you come in?"

Yuexi's voice was flustered and hoarse.

"Not long ago. Just now."

Yuexi's face grew redder. He tugged hard at the notebook, but it wouldn't budge.

The Moon God's hand was holding it down.

He let go, turned his face away and stared at the corner of the room, lips pressed together. He said nothing more.

The Moon God watched him like that for a while, then released the notebook and raised a hand to rest it on Yuexi's head.

"Why do you hate the cat?"

"God, you pet it more than you pet me. And when you pet its belly, you lower your head to look at it. When you stroke my hair, you never look at my face. The way you look at it is different from the way you look at me. The way you touch it is different from the way you touch me, too..."

"So I hate it."

The Moon God sat down beside him and embraced him. White light shone from his finger as he touched the little notebook, and everything in the drawing changed in an instant.

A chibi version of the Moon God carefully rubbed the Stickman, then picked up the pen beside them and added a few words beneath the sentence.

—I like you more.

END.