"You did not cook this," Batbayer accused.

"Hey!" Li Xiang protested, "I cook great food!"

"Yes," Batbayer conceded, "But you do not cook food with pretty patterns. You do not use flowers to decorate your food. And you definitely do not put on a table cloth. Tom akh, he's lying!"

"Batbayer's right," Guiying agreed.

"Lying about table cloths constitutes a fine of 10,000 coins," Jiaming offered.

"What kind of stupid law is that?" Ngai demanded.

"Who knows." Aroon shrugged. "Anyways, Toto says that Li Xiang should tell the truth."

Li Xiang rolled his eyes, sitting down. "Like, seriously? The elephant can't talk."

Aroon developed an uncharacteristically angry look. "Now, listen here-"

"No, you two!" Guiying snapped, "Who cares if Toto can talk? We need to focus on the nub of the matter here- that Li Xiang is lying!"

Li Xiang crossed his legs, lounging comfortably on his chair. He was surrounded by his older brothers, all eleven of them standing, but Li Xiang didn't seem fazed.

"Who cooked the meal, Li Xiang?" Hyung Soo demanded.

"Not telling." Li Xiang had a smug look.

"I'm your older brother!"

"Na-na."

"You stupid little-" Hyung Soo surged forwards, but was stopped by Yong Soo.

Li Xiang sighed. "Like, I'll tell you if you grant me one request."

Jiaming huffed. "Name it."

"I want us to not kill the next girl we see."

"Uh...okay…" Guiying muttered, looking at Li Xiang suspiciously. "Now spill."

"The person who cooked this meal is none other than… our little sister!" Li Xiang gestured dramatically at the table.

Silence.

Yong Soo looked confused. "Uh, are you saying that the table did it?"

"No!" Li Xiang snapped, "Argh, annoying rugrat ruined my surprise."

The eleven other brothers watched with shock and bewilderment as Li Xiang stuck his head under the table and began yelling.

"Oi, kid! You were supposed to come out when I did the big reveal! It was, like, going to be dramatic and all!"

"Mmmrf…"

It was a girl's sound.

"I can't believe you fell asleep. I wasn't even gone that long! Plus, for half of the time, you could have listened to my awesome voice-"

"You would tell good bedtime stories, 哥哥." Definitely a girl's voice. Delicate and sweet too.

"Like, seriously?" Li Xiang reached his arm under the table.

A second later, he pulled out a tired-looking girl with long hair and a pink traditional dress.

"And here," LI Xiang proclaimed, "Is our little sister!"

"I'm Mei!" The girl announced proudly.

There was a moment of shocked silence. Then the room exploded with noise.

"Aiya," Yao cooed, smushing his little sister to his chest. "She is so perfect!"

Kiku smiled and gently petted her hair.

"If any man ever tries to lay a hand on her," Ngai vowed, "I will beat them with my paddle!"

"And I shall tear them apart!" Batbayer hissed in agreement.

The twins were grinning and dancing around clapping their hands like little children on their birthday, all dignity forgotten. Choden and Aroon also joined the hug, and Cheng gave her a gentle peck on the cheek. Guiying and Jiaming looked stunned, but quickly joined the celebration.

Mei rested her head against Yao's chest, smiling contently. Today had been a great day, and she was sure that there would be even better to come, now that she had her brothers.