When Xiaotian saw Mingwu in the village, he was already missing an arm, emaciated and unrecognizable. He was lying in bed, and his family were feeding him medicine.
"Mingwu, do you know what's going on with our Xiaozhong and Xiaohui?" The urgency in his uncle's voice was palpable as he momentarily set aside etiquette to inquire about his ill cousin Mingwu's knowledge of his kin.
Mingwu's downcast eyes and forcibly sealed lips revealed his desperate struggle with how to respond.
Xiaotian felt a chill as his heart sank into a pit of ice. Mingwu's demeanor stirred an uncomfortable unease within him while his uncle's pallor grew rapidly worse, causing him to falter. Xiaotian reached out to steady him.
"He didn't want me to tell. If he wanted to come back, he would have already returned with me."