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The first gift Shi Wudu ever gave his brother was a small and simple stone amulet he bought from a traveling merchant on the street corner. It was meant to ward off evil and given the warnings his family received, he felt this new baby brother needed all the help he could get.
His parents were furious when they saw it and threw it out a window, reprimanding Shi Wudu for buying something from such a shady figure. Besides, there was nothing to worry about, they reassured him.
He spent that night digging through the dirt to find the amulet which he then carefully sneaked into his brother's crib. The servants were horrified when they saw how dirty he was but they were quick to believe his lie, that he had slipped and fell. Even at a young age, the whole household knew how much Shi Wudu valued cleanliness and would have never guessed he would willingly crawl around the garden.
Shi Wudu cried hard when he discovered his little charm did nothing in the end. The Reverend of Empty Words still came and his brother nearly died. He didn't care that all his efforts had been for naught; he was too guilt-stricken that he hadn't done enough to protect his little brother.
It was within that very moment that Shi Wudu vowed to do whatever it took to save him.
–
Shi Qingxuan was five when their family deemed it finally safe enough for him to attend a local festival. There hadn't been any incidents since they had started pretending the second child of the Shi household was a young mistress.
He rarely got to venture outside the Shi Estate and thus Shi Qingxuan was a happy little bundle of energy, bouncing from stall to stall. His big brother could barely keep up with him, latching desperately onto the other's hand in fear of losing him otherwise.
Shi Wudu finally got him to calm down after the promise of buying him a gift which led them to a craftsman's stall full of many shiny trinkets.
“I want that one!” little Shi Qingxuan declared loudly, pointing to a very cute, very feminine, butterfly hairpin.
Shi Wudu frowned at his brother's choice. “Are you sure? Don't you want something a little more useful?” He waved his hand over the jade tokens he had been studying, trying to determine which had the best luck. Even if his original amulet had not worked, Shi Wudu had never stopped spending his small amount of money on protective items, believing his original choice had just been a fake.
Shi Qingxuan pouted, “No, you always get me those things! I want the butterfly! It's prettier.”
“Really?” Shi Wudu sighed. “Are you sure you don't want something more...you know.” He knew better than to say the word “manly” while they were out in public. Too risky.
His brother looked up at him with big, wide eyes for a moment, sniffling a few times before he started letting out the loudest, most pathetic wails.
A few minutes later, Shi Qingxuan was back to happily bouncing by his brother's side, a big smile plastered on his face and a lovely little hairpin in his hair.
Shi Wudu sighed at his empty coin purse. He could have bought at least two tokens with that money.
“You're such a little demon, you know.”
Shi Qingxuan gave him a big toothy grin in response.
–
The following year, Shi Wudu presented his brother with a book full of the classics, explaining that he could study in secret in hopes that maybe he could become a scholar later on life.
Shi Qingxuan threw the book directly at his head.
Defeated once again, Shi Wudu went back to the market to trade the book in for another hairpin. Luckily for him there was a humble couple that took pity on him when the bookseller explained he didn't give refunds. The couple was more than willing to buy the book from him though. By total chance, it turned out their son was actually hoping to be a scholar some day and today just happened to also be his birthday. This would make the perfect gift for him.
Shi Wudu couldn't help but be in awe. Their son was so young and had such high aspirations already while his own brother didn't take anything serious.
But he forgot all about this encounter once he was greeted with the dazzling smile on his little brother's face upon receiving his real present.
“Gege is the best!”
–
Shi Wudu was only a teenager when disaster struck. They had lost their parents and the money that should have been theirs went to their greedy relatives instead. They now had to fend for themselves in a world that wasn't kind to orphans like them.
But Shi Wudu had always had good luck, unlike his unfortunate baby brother. It was this luck and pure determination that kept them alive as he found a master to train under, keeping them both fed.
Sadly, he only had enough earnings for food and shelter. There was no extra coin for gifts.
But not wanting to come home empty-handed, Shi Wudu searched the mountain for the best flower he could find, using his meager cultivation skills to reach the perfect one dangling off the edge of a slippery slope.
It wasn't much but Shi Qingxuan treated that flower like it was the best gift in the world, his eyes still as bright and radiant as ever. Even in hardship, he still kept shining brightly. And it was this shine that kept Shi Wudu going; gave him the strength to never give up.
–
Shi Wudu would never forget about those hard times as a mortal and once he became a god, he vowed they would never fall to such poverty ever again. As the god of wealth, it was now easy to obtain whatever they wanted and he made a point of lavishing Shi Qingxuan in only the best gifts possible. Every time he overheard a god gossiping about some rare treasure, Shi Wudu would immediately send someone to retrieve it.
It was truly amazing what one could do with just a wave of merits.
And while he would critique Shi Qingxuan—it was his duty as the older brother, after all—on his behavior as he showed off his clothes and jewels, Shi Wudu actually loved watching his brother twirl in full radiance. He would patronize Shi Qingxuan for drinking too much and yet also be the one who presented him with all the finest wines.
Shi Wudu felt he had failed his little brother when they were young and the guilt still ate at him but he would do everything in his power to make up for all the time spent in misery.
There would never be a year without gifts again.
–
After Shi Qingxuan's ascension, Shi Wudu had the honor of presenting him with one of the biggest gifts yet; the Wind Master fan, the twin of Shi Wudu's own spiritual device.
Shi Wudu had never gotten tired of seeing Shi Qingxuan's face light up whenever he was given something but this time seemed even brighter than before.
“Is this really mine?” Shi Qingxuan asked, cradling the intricate box containing the fan in his hands, partially afraid to touch and taint the item within. He had admired the way his brother commanded the waters with his fan—the perfect image of a true and powerful god—but he never thought he'd qualify for a similar position. He was cursed from the day he was born and not suited to be a god, especially not one as graceful as his brother.
And yet they had proven fate wrong.
“Of course it's yours,” Shi Wudu said, his voice full of conviction as he gestured for his brother to take the fan out of the box.
Shi Qingxuan lifted the fan carefully, still so fearful that it would break once in his hands. “But I don't even know how to use it?” Sure, his brother had gifted him some fancy fans already but they were just for play and Shi Qingxuan had never bothered to actively study the art of fan wielding.
“Then let me teach you.”
–
“Ge, did you find it yet?”
“No,” Shi Wudu said with a scowl as he pulled yet another robe off the floor. “And honestly I'm not surprised considering how messy your room is. Do you ever clean?”
“Oh, maybe it's over here!” Shi Qingxuan said, running to a different part of the room, very clearly ignoring his brother's question on purpose.
They were looking for a particular embroidered belt of Shi Qingxuan's, one that was meant to match Shi Wudu's for the banquet that night. Shi Wudu insisted they wear them to show off their wealth and status together but Shi Qingxuan had haphazardly thrown it into his room while drunk one day and had completely forgotten where it ended up.
Shi Wudu sighed as he dug through discarded jewelry, making a mental note to instruct Shi Qingxuan's attendants to do a better job at keeping his brother organized.
“Hmm, what's this?” he asked as he noticed a small box partially sticking out from under Shi Qingxuan's bed. Curiously, Shi Wudu couldn't help but pick the box up, studying it. The thing was tattered and old, looking very out of place among all the beautiful things in his brother's room. “Looks like trash.”
“Ah, no! Please don't throw that out!” Shi Qingxuan quickly ran over, arm outstretched to snatch the box away.
Shi Wudu lifted an eyebrow and immediately lifted the box just out of Shi Qingxuan's reach. “Oh? What's so important about an old box?” His curiosity was even more piqued. After all, why would his brother care about something so ugly among so many treasures?
“Oh, um,” Shi Qingxuan rubbed the back of his head nervously. “It's...it's just a box I've kept since we were young. For all my favorite things. It's, uh, kind of special to me.”
Shi Wudu frowned. “If they're so important, why keep them in such a shoddy box? I can get you a much better one to put things in.”
Shi Qingxuan shook his head rapidly. “No, no, it wouldn't be the same. It's uh, well, just open it and see for yourself.”
The Water Master did exactly that and his eyes widened in surprise at the contents. He had expected the box to perhaps contain some of the more glamorous items Shi Qingxuan had obtained recently but instead the box contained only three items: the butterfly hairpin from that day at the festival, a small book of poetry, and...was that the stone amulet he gave baby Shi Qingxuan? How did he even get a hold of that one? He thought it had been long ago discarded after he deemed it useless.
And what was with the book? He had never gifted anything like this to Shi Qingxuan nor did he ever recall his brother ever spending much time reading. He pulled the book out and flipped through its few pages, many of which were yellowed, the characters barely visible from age. About halfway through, he discovered a small flower, pressed tightly between the pages, somehow still intact after all these years. It was the very same flower which Shi Wudu had picked from the mountain back when he couldn't afford anything better.
“You...you've kept these?” he asked in amazement, placing the fragile flower back in the book. “After all this time?”
Shi Qingxuan nodded, digging his toe into the floor in embarrassment. “I know it's silly but even with all this wealth, these are still the things I treasure the most. Because Ge gave them to me.”
Shi Wudu silently re-arranged the items how they were back in the box and handed it back over to his brother. Shi Qingxuan seemed concerned and confused by his silence but in actuality, Shi Wudu was resisting the strange urge to cry. He had never thought his brother would think so fondly over such simple things.
But it had been a very, very long time since he cried and he had vowed to never show such weakness again.
So, instead, once Shi Qingxuan had returned the box to its proper place, Shi Wudu pulled his brother into a tight embrace.
“G-ge?” Shi Qingxuan asked, completely bewildered by this sudden outburst of affection.
“Shh,” Shi Wudu whispered, trying his best to hide how hoarse his voice sounded at this moment. “Just let me hold you for a moment.”
There were many beautiful treasures in the world but having Shi Qingxuan as a younger brother was the only gift Shi Wudu needed.