Giovanni emerged from his room a moment later, though instead of taking a seat the scholarly man waved me over from his door with a bit of a conspiratorial gleam to his eye that intrigued me quite a bit.
Getting up and slinking over to his room, I entered and asked "What's goin' on, Gio?" as I brushed past him and stood in the center of his room, which was a little more barren than it had been just a year ago.
He closed the door behind him and tossed something at me, making me blink in confusion before I noticed that it was the blue pouch that Father had gotten him; before I could ask he said "Take the Spirit Jade, Izzy. You need it more than I do. I work with numbers and talk to people; Cultivation is merely a hobby for me. And with what Father said..."
I nodded and bit my lip to hold back the tears, opening up the pouch and retrieving the chunk of pale green Spirit Jade before tossing the pouch back to him, not able to speak for fear of it coming out rather choked and unstable, something that I didn't want to do in front of my brother.
Clapping his hand against my shoulder, Giovanni gave me a small smile before walking me from his room, watching as I slid back into my own to store the Spirit Jade away before returning to the table as well.
Seeing Leo going to and fro from the kitchen back to the table while we lounged around made me somewhat guilty, yet I didn't bother trying to get up since Mother always immediately shot that down without even looking.
She knew how tough working that Spirit Jade mine was, and she always made sure we understood that the household chores were mostly going to be done by her and Leo, who remained here practically all day long.
"How much did we end up making today, love?"
Her somewhat raspy voice filled the area and had our Father humming softly as he leaned back in his sturdy chair, his dark eyes fixed on the ceiling for a few moments before he turned towards his wife and answered "Two months of good food, one and a half if we get ourselves some new clothes and boots."
We could hear her own hum from the table as she nodded and continued to tend to the meat, making sure everything was going well while Leo whipped up some of the side dishes, namely Rubble Potatoes with a small amount of freshly whipped butter, chopped herbs and a bit of salt.
There was also the small plates of teal Rainvine Beans that were given a sprinkling of salt as well, but I just gave Giovanni a look when they got placed down in front of us; my older brother rolled his eyes but nodded after a moment, causing me to grin even as Mother said "You need to eat your beans too, Izzy."
"Yes Mother..."
Even still I scooped some of mine and piled them onto his plate, before giving a wink to Leo as he began to divvy up the potatoes; he smiled wryly but still pushed some more onto my plate instead of Giovanni's, something that Mother certainly didn't miss yet also something she never once tried to correct us on.
And right now all of our attention was on that thick slab of meat that was finally pulled from the oven, the herbs crusting nicely on both sides whilst a herb butter was lathered on top with some more salt for flavor... as well as some pepper flakes.
"Was there any trouble down at the town? Or in the mine?"
Carrying over a few more things, Mother eventually took her seat beside Father and handed the large man a knife, which he carefully took so that he could start cutting the meat; she watched on from the side, her pale eyes unable to hide just how 'hungry' she was for real food just like the rest of us.
She tried to remain as composed and stern as ever, yet as she watched the knife slice into that nice steak and reveal the perfectly cooked inside, my usually stoic Mother took a breath and swallowed down some saliva before glancing over at her husband.
"No, not a problem whatsoever. Everything went smoothly today."
Both Giovanni and I felt like we should mention that smarmy Mister Shen, yet a quick look from Father silenced us both, and when he added "I also have some good news tonight, for you, Leo." the opportunity was long gone.
The quiet and shy youngest child blinked a few times and stared at Father curiously, while Mother cocked her head to the side slightly as she looked at her youngest as well; when Father finished cutting the first piece we all watched as he slid it neatly onto Leo's plate, taking that moment to just appreciate the food once more...
I was almost drooling, but when I remembered what Father told us earlier I held back a grin and looked at my younger brother, wanting to see his reaction for this big day that he was going to have tomorrow.
"An Alchemist from the Moon Resplendent Sect visited the town yesterday, askin' 'round for a skilled helper with herbs and gardenin'. Told 'er about you, Leo, and she agreed to let ya take a test or two. Pass, and she'll take ya back up to the Sect as a Disciple. Give ya some Cultivation Resources and whatnot, plus a salary."
Seeing the confusion on my brother's face slowly give way to a mixture of panic and surprised happiness made me snicker, and when he heard that he blushed hard and 'glared' at me, though he really just looked like a little puppy trying to bare its teeth to appear 'tough'.
"So adorable~!"
He pouted even more when I pinched his cheek, and after a moment of that Mother gave me a look that had me letting him go, though I was still laughing quietly to myself as I kept an eye on him, seeing all sorts of thoughts go through his honest and open face.
"W-Wait, but Father, if-!"
"If ya do well then yer gonna be away from home, yeah. You'd head on up with Giovanni when the week was out, leavin' just yer Mother, Izzy and I down here. Then when Izzy gets into the Sect herself-"
With that the older man fixed a pointed stare at me, and my smile faltered briefly before I nodded, my eyes locked to his as he made sure I understood that there was not a future where I would fail to get in.
"-yer Mother and I are gonna sell the rights to the mine and this house, take that money and head on up to the city. We'll get a small, cozy place up there and let the three of ya take care of us instead."
Mother tapped her finger on the table and gave Father a look as she said "We're going to find some small jobs for ourselves to keep busy and not burden you children too much. But... it'll be better than this.", which made Father nod in agreement.