Jinghua woke up in a bed of purple and indigo. The room smelled of flowers. He sat up realizing he was in a guest room at the Yusheng palace. He felt healed, refreshed. His robes had been undone and he noticed a bandage around his wound. It must have been Hung Meifeng. Next to his bed was a folded stack of clean clothes and on a small nightstand was Jin Si, and a winter coat, one with fleece. He got out of bed and prepared himself. He wanted to find Bingwen. Whilst leaving, he almost ran into maids. He tried asking where he could find Bingwen but none of them answered him. He then found Hung Meifeng who stood at the door of the courtyard. He saw that it was snowing, small flakes falling from the sky onto the heads of Bingwen and his sister who played around in the snow. It seemed Bingwen had been feeling better too. Bingwen glanced at Jinghua, the two shared a long stare. Bingwen then smiled at him. They were adults but no one told them they could act like children.
Yuming collected herself and bowed to Jinghua. She then walked back inside and walked away with Hung Meifeng. Jinghua put his coat over his robes and walked out with Bingwen into the snow covered courtyard.
Bingwen wiped the snow off of a bench and sat down, putting his hands in his sleeves. "I confirmed with my mother and convinced her to let you stay with us. Just for safety, of course. And…thank you for everything." he said. Jinghua couldn't help but feel pity for him. He had only just found out his youngest sister had passed away but yet he still hides his feelings with a smile. He has to be hurting.
"The maids are preparing breakfast. My mother might seem annoyed that you're here but trust me, she'll warm up to you eventually. My father won't be home anytime soon and lady Hung is staying with us too." Bingwen said, but Jinghua wasn't exactly listening. He was remembering the ceremony, held at the Yusheng palace. He remembered he had caught Bingwen before he fell into the pond. He wanted to bring it up but chose not to. "I'm sorry you had to be dragged into this." Jinghua said out of nowhere. "But I promise, I will avenge you and make them all pay." Bingwen smiled and shook his head, standing up and walking towards Jinghua.
"You don't have to avenge me. I'm not that important. And it isn't your fault. I'm just glad we're safe." Bingwen said, Jinghua looked away, red in the face once again. "Is everything alright? You're a little pinkish. We should head inside and eat." Jinghua followed Bingwen inside. He was confused. He didn't want to feel this way. It was painful. It was as if everything Bingwen said to him made his heart ache.
They walked to the main hall, and food was laid out on tables. Yusheng Min sat alone at her own small table, Yuming and Hung Meifeng sat together, which left Jinghua and Bingwen. They sat down as the maids brought over their food. Jinghua could tell that Bingwen's family never drank wine. It was never served at meetings or meals. It was only tea or a cup of water. Bingwen poured the steaming pot of tea into his cup, then into Jinghua's cup. Their meals were hot dishes of soups and rice. Jinghua couldn't help but smile. He hadn't sat down and eaten with people in a while. It felt nice to finally be with people again. Like a family.
After the meal, everyone went to do their own thing. Yuming and Hung Meifeng went down to the Yusheng village below the palace, and Bingwen went to the library that the palace had. He was going to get his mind off of something bothering him, obviously the death of his sister. Jinghua followed him. "Something is bothering you. You were smiling one minute ago but it disappeared." Jinghua said as the two entered the library filled with scrolls and books.
"Nothing is wrong." Bingwen answered firmly. Jinghua grabbed Bingwen's wrist, he tried pulling away. "Get off!" he exclaimed.
"No! Tell me what's wrong. You can't just hide things, so tell me! I'm your friend, aren't I?" said Jinghua, still holding Bingwen's wrist. This surprised Bingwen and remembered he was the one who told Jinghua they were friends. Good friends. Bingwen felt he had to blame Jinghua even though the death of his sister wasn't his fault. "I want to be mad at you, at someone, but I can't," Bingwen began to say, "I don't know how to cope with Lanying's death. I didn't even know about it. And I'm having all these weird dreams and you.." he paused, looking away as his face became red. Jinghua knew he was talking about their dream, their kiss. Bingwen didn't want to talk about the dream. "I almost feel like all these awful things that are happening are because of me. Maybe I shouldn't have woken up, maybe Lady Hung should've left me dead. I would've been better off dead!"
Jinghua was getting annoyed as Bingwen ranted on. So annoyed that Jinghua slammed Bingwen against one of the bookshelves. He held both of Bingwen's wrists in a lock so he couldn't move, which scared Bingwen. "SHUT THE HELL UP, BINGWEN! YOU'RE WRONG!" Jinghua realized what he had done as tears rushed down Bingwen's face like tiny streams. He didn't struggle in Jinghua's grasp, he just stood there, scared, crying, helpless. Jinghua sighed and rested his head on Bingwen's shoulder, Bingwen flinched. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. You're allowed to be mad at me as much as you want. But you're wrong. There's a reason you're alive." Jinghua let go of Bingwen's wrists and wrapped his arms around Bingwen. Bingwen continued to cry. He mumbled while he cried into Jinghua. He kept saying the words of 'Why did it have to be done?' and 'I want her back'. They stayed there for a good minute.