She was staring with the expression of someone who has just watched her most competent family member completely lose an argument with their own body, and was recalibrating everything she had assumed about both her sister and the nature of the situation.
Zhen Ying, from her position at a slight remove, made a low sound that was not quite amusement and not quite commentary.
It was the sound of a woman who had been through this particular experience herself and was watching the pattern repeat with the recognition of someone reading a book they've already finished.
Meiling was watching too. She had pressed her back against her tree again.
Her arms had folded over her own chest in the unconscious protective gesture of a woman who felt something happening in her own body that she did not want to examine closely.
He released Song Mei.
