Furry Ears, His Unknown Brother's Identity

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In the age of our ancestors, there was once a city. A very big, modern dynasty stood on the top of the world. Seemingly the most advanced place for their age and taste as it was the place where world's top scientists and archaeologists seem to inhabit at.

Many seem to venture there to stay there for a sojourn to vacate, away from the reality of this world, but people who once had tasted the luxury there, never returned to their true birth places as it was where it consisted everything a mortal could desire. The neighboring cities, trying day and nights to reach the same height of what the Xu Dynasty has achieved from centuries ago, seething in envy as Xu dynasty never seemed to fail expectations and continued to ceremonially produce magical substances, boosting the city's wealth and fame rapidly, year by year.

As people were basking in the glory of happiness, completely away from vicious thoughts and intentions, without minding about others and just enjoying the moment of being let loosed, there, in the northern part of the city,stood a classy yet very elegant and extravagant structure of a 1*Siheyuan, as it's household members continued to further lead their daily lives on a rhythm as nothing scandalous happened recently.

At the back of the enormous mansion, a beautiful, yet spoiled patches of flowers lay flat as visible signs of footprints are seen in the garden which simply used to be the ethereally breathtaking garden of the mansion as giggles and squeals were heard in the thick vines of the grapevine near the flattened flower beds.

A visible sigh from a spectator, specifically the head of the Siheyuan, sighed with multiple feelings leaving his breath, quietly, but contentedly as warmth engulfed his heart and a smile bloomed on his aging face as he watched his only granddaughter tangled in the grapevine as she was trying to reach a plump, shiny and delicious looking grape dangling deu to it's enormous size, heftily dragging it down.

But even if the stem was slightly lowered, Shao Lin was having trouble reaching the delicacy above her small head.

With all her concentration and attention glued to the large grape, she didn't notice her grandfather who crept slowly behind her and carefully extended his arms to reach the grape for his granddaughter.

Shao Lin's head whipped towards her back stealthily as she did not want to be careless for the second time and fall in the maze of the grapevine below her again like her previous tries.

Grandfather Shao Han was trying to hold back his amusement and laughter inside as he saw his granddaughter's face which had surprise written all over it as she searched for the grape, which seemingly disappeared magically in her grandfather's body when he neared it.

"Ye ye!!!!! Whewe is fwuit????? Give me! Give me! Give me!"

She whined with her head tilting back and forth with annoyance laced in her voice as she tried to seek for the grape by patting her grandfather's chest and shoulders. He quietly laughed to himself as he saw Shao Lin trying to search for the grape as if her life depended on it and didn't stop even if her grandfather was laughing at her loudly as she didn't find any humor in what she was doing.

When she didn't feel anything round poking from her grandfather's clothes, her level of sadness increased as her eyes filled with big droplets of tears as her round eyes shined from the sunlight dipping in through the shades of the leaves directly in her eyes making it look adorable. Once she starts crying, it would take hours for her to calm down and even her favored food wouldn't seem to have any effect on her.

Shao Han soon dropped his act as he realized his precious granddaughter was about to soon let river of tears down her cheeks from losing here dear grape and let go of his tightly curled fingers straight and revealed the hidden grape in his hand.

It was slightly blurry for Shao Lin to see since her eyes were filled with tears but nonetheless knew that it was her grape by looking at its shape right away.

She quickly blinked back the tears in fear of losing the grape again and made grabby hands at her grandfather,indicating how hungry she was for the fruit sitting in Grandfather Shao Han's hands as he let his hands down an gave the grape to Shao Lin.

"Now, Xiao Lin, we should go inside and wash the fruit. It is not good for your health if you eat it right away"

He said as she freed her from the vine trap and brought her inside the mansion and made their way towards the kitchen.

She nodded her head furiously since she was eager to try the delicious looking grape soon.

"Good Morning, Master Shao. Would you like to have anything?" The Cook asked as he bowed down slightly upon noticing them enter the kitchen.

Shao Lin tugged on her grandfather's vest as she silently asked to be put down and Shao Hao put her down without any hesitation as she curtsied the cook with a smile on her face displaying her cute dimples.

Both the elders chuckled from her cuteness as she extended her right hand and showed the cook the grape she found.

"Wash it and cut it to smaller pieces and bring it to the lawn"

Her grandfather exclaimed and the cook nodded as he took the grape from Shao Lin's hand. But soon as she heard what was about to happen to the grape, she became furious as she yelled,

"NO, don't cut it Ye Ye, Shao don't want it to get hurt~! Let it live pleeeeaassseee??"

Both of them looked surprised towards the younger but nonetheless decided to bid by her choice as she carefully watched the cook doing his job without blinking her eyes from below the counter on her tiptoes.

As she confirmed that the grape was not going to be cut into pieces any soon, she went to the back lawn where her mother sat, relaxed. She hurriedly climbed into her lap since she saw it was empty of any yarns at the moment, which her mother had shown interest to recently.

Her mother, Weng Qing, was truly considered a beauty in their town as she had an appearance of a true goddess. Smooth, milky white skin, almond shaped eyes with long lashes. High cheekbones which complimented her complexion, with a faint blush coating them. Lips as red as cherries as it looked soft and luscious in every young man's eyes. Silky waist length brown hair with soft locks.

Her figure was totally what every man could desire for their wife to have on their wedding night.

Her mother was considered as the most beautiful woman in town but was humble and kind as she declined the offer of having the official title of being called The Most Beautiful.

Shao Lin admired her mother's beauty silently but was known deu to her heavy weight plus the baby fat since she was still a toddler on her mother's lap as her feathery lashes opened slowly and gazed lovingly at her own daughter but soon replaced with a hint of sadness since she resembled her now, late husband quite a lot.

"Xiao Lin, what happened to your clothes?" Her mother inquired as she saw some newly made holes and pricks sticking to her clothes with faintly visible dust.

"Shao went to get some fwuit for me!"

Since she did not have all her teeth yet, it was a bit difficult to pronounce certain letters as she blabbered mindlessly about her adventures of the morning without minding that her mom was trying to understand her daughter talking in such a cute manner without getting distracted.

As they were in their own moment, the cook came with the large grape in a bowl as he quietly put it down on the table and left to do kitchen work.

"Dats it mommy! Dis is the tasty fwuit!" She excitedly showed her mom the giant grape she got to find this morning. Even if she was two, she spoke better than most of her aged kids as Weng Qing decided to teach her normal ways to communicate but started before even she was one year old.

Shao Lin truly did seem to have something special in her genes from her great father, as she was also very intelligent and was considered a genius at least for her age.

When Weng Qing saw the ginormous looking grape she was quite astonished but nothing seemed impossible in their city as it can produce miracles so she simply did not mind her daughter eating it.

"Xiao Xiao, eat it now so we can change you into a new set of clothes and bathe you from all the dirt you got from playing outside, alright?"

Her mother asked with sweetness and care in her voice as Shao Lin agreed and watched her mother stand up and go prepare her bathe.

As Shao Lin stared at her mother's retreating back, she heard someone hiss,

"HEYY, Who are you? How dare you touch me?! Do you know who I am?"

She head looked left in right from surprise as she didn't know someone else was there also. The yard was completely bare from any living being except for plants as she didn't know who intruded in their mansion without the guards knowing.

She was quite but then the bowl she was holding in her hands vibrated as she looked down and saw the grave was now moving and no longer looked like a fruit.

There was a small purplish figure, with tiny arms and legs with a pointy looking nose on its face as it's belly has turned as round as a mini peach.

"Are you from Shao Commander's family?" It asked with a high pitch voice but familiar as the voice it was the one she heard before. Shao Lin knowing that most people used to call her grandfather Commander outside their mansion nodded with a peculiar gaze in her eyes which was also filled with curiosity.

"Alright, alright. So I was sent from Lu city, with the message that a very disastrous incident is about to take place in the Shao family as an very uneventful circumstance is about to occur soon, your neighboring city had sent thousands and thousands of skilled mercenaries to assassinate Commander Shao of your city"

The grape said with worry and cautiousness in every word, Shao Lin did understood vital parts that her grandfather is in danger so she was very sad and her smile earlier fell down with the thoughts of her grandfather getting injured.

"Don't feel bad, I, mighty Red Ruby fruit, has come to your family's rescue as any mortal human would get powers as much as any immortal god living, I would like to sacrifice myself in order to stop this from happening"

Conflict was shown in small Shao Lin's eyes as the small mere thing said something so intimidating and yet truthful as she knew all the things people were plotting against her family as she kind of did think it was something which could happen so she asked quietly,

"How do we save Ye Ye fom this?"

"What you just simply have to do is to cut me open, and there will be a Red Ruby in me which consists of multiple elements, which will help you fight against anyone who you dread as it's the most powerful Ruby and there's only three like me in the entire universe. You just have to eat the Ruby, don't worry because it's chewable enough even for a kid like you, do it fast!"

She was fumbling with her small fingers as she wondered if the grape will be alright if she ate it, but then it told her to not to be worried since the seeds inside the grape will soon grow into normal grapes if planted in soil.

Shao Lin did not have any second thoughts and ripped open the grape with assurances from it as she saw a beautiful, shining Ruby in it, which was apparently so pretty her breathe was stuck in her lungs as she wondered how she could eat something so magnificent.

"Shao, what's taking so long? Come take a bathe!" Her mother's voice echoed through the hallways as she hurriedly swallowed it with her eyes closed and gulped it down but did not choke as it was so soft she hardly felt it going down her throat. It barely tasted of anything as she just knew what it felt like.

Everything happened was unbelievable so she just forgot about it as she ran and found her mother in a large bathroom with sweet scent of flowers, filling the atmosphere and tried to forget about what just happened and took her bathe obediently.

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*Somewhere in the neighboring city of the Xu Dynasty*

"What!? How can the Red Ruby fruit be missing right before our mercenary command! You stupid good for nothing guards! I spent years for this fighting with scientist Bao and this is how you repay me for the long care I've put you beneath!?"

The head commander of Si city was so enraged from this news that even the guards were sweating profusely as their heads were lowered in fear.

"How can it disappear magically? Someone might have betrayed us. How can someone be this viciously? IF all the useless guards don't fine it soon, all of you shall die a horrible death!" The commander was speaking nothing but the truth this time.

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*1 A Siheyuan is a historical type of residence that was commonly found throughout China.