His bed was empty and it seemed that Jinghua had woken up before him. Bingwen sat up and got dressed, looking out his window. Snow was everywhere once again. He took Baiyu with him. It was well past lunch and it seemed his mother wasn't around, neither Yuming or Hung Meifeng. Jinghua was in the main hall, drinking tea and staring at the slow falling snow. The two looked at eachother, embarrassed about what happened yesterday. It was slightly awkward. But Jinghua spoke up with an idea. " Your sister and lady Hung are down in the village. We could go out in the courtyard and train. We used to do it when we were children. We could use the extra practice." Bingwen nodded and quickly finished his meal the maids had brought for him.
The maids brought the two their coats. Nothing was said at all about the night before. The two had barely spoken to each other at all until they entered the courtyard. Slow falling snow landed on their heads, melting right away. Jinghua drew Jin Si from the sheath and pointed it towards Bingwen. Bingwen, of course, wasn't prepared and was more interested in the falling snow. He stared up at the sky, watching everything fall. "Yusheng Jin?" Jinghua said, Bingwen turned to him and drew Baiyu.
"I apologize. I got distracted. I'm ready now." he replied, making the first move and charging towards Jinghua who quickly dodged the first attack. Bingwen jumped to avoid a low attack from Jinghua. Their swords clinked together many times after more dodging and more attacking. Snow flew everywhere, not only from the sky but up from the ground. Bingwen spun around to avoid more attacks from Jinghua, his coat rotating with him as well as his hair. Jinghua could hear the jingling of the lotus ring on its chain as Bingwen spun. The snow synchronized with Bingwen, making a small tornado around him. A shield of snow was shot at Jinghua as Bingwen stopped spinning. Bingwen went for another attack but suddenly slipped, bringing Jinghua down with him and landing right on top of Jinghua. Snow covered the two, Bingwen on top of Jinghua. "I-I'm sorry! I must have slipped." Bingwen said, trying to reach for Baiyu which he dropped farther away. Jinghua placed his hand on Bingwen's back, his other hand on Bingwen's neck, gently pulling his face closer to Jinghua's. Bingwen looked away, embarrassed and thinking it was going to happen again. 'They were going to kiss again' is what he thought. And that's exactly what happened. Jinghua's lips hit Bingwen's. It was quick and when it ended, the two were red. "Sorry..Yusheng Jin." said Jinghua, waiting for Bingwen to be angry at him. But instead, Bingwen smiled. "I think I like 'Bingwen' better." Jinghua's eyes lit up as he pulled Bingwen against him, hugging him, wanting to cry. For so long now, had he waited for Bingwen to say that. Jinghua pulled Bingwen's face closer again to kiss him. Was this normal? Was it beginning to be normal? Their position was strange but Bingwen was beginning to think that this wasn't as strange. Jinghua stopped, Bingwen got off of Jinghua. The two couldn't stop smiling, but they didn't look at eachother, they looked away, embarrassed. But they laughed the thought off instead as they got back up, wiping away the snow. "You're sister and Lady Hung are down in the village. I thought we could go down since I've never really visited all of Yusheng," said Jinghua, handing Bingwen Baiyu. Bingwen nodded. It had been a while since he had gone down to his village. The villagers of Yusheng probably didn't even know he returned home. So he agreed and the two left the palace, carefully walking down the icy steps and down to the walls that surrounded the village.
As they entered the village, citizens greeted Bingwen with "Welcome home, young master!" and "Master Yusheng has returned!". It was all very welcoming. Although, Jinghua got side eyes from people and mean stares. There had been a rumor going around that apparently he had tried to kill Bingwen. The two heard people around them whisper, "Why is that monster with the young master?"
But Jinghua ignored them as the two approached Lady Hung and Yuming. What surprised Bingwen was that the two were holding hands. He thought not much of it though. Yuming stared at Bingwen's necklace. "Where did you get that?" she asked Bingwen, still holding hands with Hung Meifeng. Bingwen smiled, playing with the chain.
"A gift from somewhere with memory." he replied, then looking at Jinghua with a smile. Hung Meifeng let go of Yuming's hand and grumbled. A figure, not too far away, stared at her as she approached them. "What are you doing here!?" she growled at the figure, almost drawing her sword. The figure ignored her though and walked straight up to Yuming. The figure was Hung Meifeng's brother, Hung Liang.
"So YOU are the one having an affair with my sister?" he said to Yuming, people around them stopped and stared. Yuming looked like she was about to cry. Bingwen was shocked. An affair? Yuming was having an affair with Lady Hung? Hung Meifeng slapped the back of her brother's head. She was fuming with anger. "You…" she was so angry she could barely make a sentence. "RONG!! YOU FUCKING DUNCE!" She then took her brother by his collar and dragged him to the edge of the village where the docks and boats were. She then threw Hung Liang over the edge of the docks into the icy waters of the river, causing a commotion and drawing attention from other people. "You moron! How dare you say that out loud!" Hung Meifeng yelled as her brother rose up from the cold water. He didn't seem to be bothered by the cold since he was a water hybrid. The whole Hung clan was. Hung Meifeng leaves to go back to Yuming and the others. She takes Yuming's hand, dragging her back to the palace, Bingwen and Jinghua follow.