- Chapter Start –

The Styx Flower.

Here right before Li LianHua's very eyes. It's a sight so shocking and so unexpected that everything slows down – the seconds that should be ticking away, the breeze that should be rustling the leaves in the trees, even his heartbeat.

In his mind, the Styx Flower was lost to him the moment he decided to offer it to the Emperor. Seeing it again and within reach – a mere two feet away - fills him with disbelief and an inexplicable dread as icy fingers curl around his heart.

He glances around, taking in Princess ZhaoLing's excited smile, Di FeiSheng and Fang DuoBing's dumbstruck expressions, and Yang YunChun's perplexed frown.

"Isn't this the same flower that Li-xiong presented to the Emperor just last week?" The latter asks.

Li LianHua recalls that Yang YunChun and Xiao YuanXuan, the Palace Commander and Yang YunChun's shifu, were present at that time.

"I don't believe it." Fang DuoBing continues to stare at the Styx flower as if it might vanish the instant he takes his eyes off it.

"It's still whole. So are the Yin Yang leaves," Di FeiSheng says, also staring.

Princess ZhaoLing looks between them, still with that bright smile on her face.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Here, Fang DuoBing, take it!"

She thrusts the box at Fang DuoBing who takes an instinctive step step forward, hands reaching out.

"Don't touch it!" Li LianHua all but shouts, fear sharpening his voice.

Fang DuoBing freezes on the spot while Princess ZhaoLing flinches, almost dropping the box.

"W-why not?" She looks more surprised than affronted.

"Gongzhu, do you have the Emperor's permission for taking this flower out of the palace?" Li LianHua asks, holding her startled gaze.

She shakes her head.

"Do you have his permission for giving it to me?"

She hesitates before shaking her head again.

"I see. In that case, you need to return the flower. Now." Li LianHua takes care to speak calmly past the fear beating at his mind.

"But he doesn't need it. You do," she protests.

"Li LianHua, she brought this for you." Fang DuoBing's voice is unsteady.

Li LianHua rounds on him at once, his control slipping.

"Fang DuoBing, after all this time, you still haven't learned to use your head. Think! You know why I can't accept it!"

Fang DuoBing opens his mouth and closes it again, frustration replacing the bright hope in his eyes.

"I am not going to take it back," Princess ZhaoLing insists, looking like she's about to stamp her foot. "Do you know the trouble I went to-"

Li LianHua swings back to her.

"You must," he interrupts her. "Do you want to bring the wrath of the imperial Palace down upon Tianji Hall and everyone in it?"

Her eyes widen in shock.

"Li LianHua!" Fang DuoBing protests.

"Do you want to do that to Fang DuoBing?" Li LianHua ignores him.

Princess ZhaoLing shakes her head hard, gold accessories tinkling at the movement.

"No, of course I don't!"

"The Styx Flower belongs to the Emperor now." The words spill out of Li LianHua's mouth - fast, abrupt, unstoppable. "I gave it to him, not you. For you to take it without permission - even if he is your father - for you to give it to someone else, especially me – he could order every man, woman and child in Tianji Hall to be excecuted on the spot. He could have Tianji Hall and every single property He-tangzhu owns razed to the ground. No one would stop him or even question him! Not even you!"

Li LianHua has to pause after that mini rant. His breathing is ragged and he can't seem to get enough air in his lungs.

Princess ZhaoLing takes a step back, face turning white at his outburst.

Good, Li LianHua tells himself. She can be furious at him, but she has to understand the repercussions of her actions.

"Do you want that to happen to Fang DuoBing?" He forces himself to continue. "Do you really hate him that much?"

Princess ZhaoLing's eyes widen even more.

"No, of course not! I love – ahh! I mean... that is…" She trails off and goes a bright pink. "The Emperor would never do all that!"

"He would and you know it."

"But I brought it for you." Her eyes grow shiny.

"It's not yours to give!" Li LianHua is very close to shouting again, driven by fear for Fang DuoBing and his family, and Di FeiSheng. "You must return it. Now!"

A hand clamps onto his shoulder and makes him jump.

"Li LianHua, you're shouting."

Li LianHua turns to Di FeiSheng whose face is pale under his tan, jaw tightly clenched. He sucks in a breath, pulling up all his fear and all his panic, and shoving them deep inside him. The effort leaves him lightheaded, but he straightens his spine, locking his knees to stay upright.

With another calming breath, he turns back to Princess ZhaoLing.

"Forgive me, gongzhu. I was unbelievably rude." He forces a grimace of a smile. "Please return the flower at once. Make sure no one knows it's gone. This box and its contents are the property of the Emperor. Only he can decide what to do with it."

"Surely I have a say. I'm his daughter, his only child." Princess ZhaoLing tips her chin up, but her voice trembles.

"If he finds out, you will not be punished, but someone else would. It could be your maid or one of the eunuchs or the guards or Yang-xiong. It could very well be the entire household of Fang DuoBing's family. Or it could just be me."

Li LianHua takes a step closer, holding her gaze while projecting calm, understanding and wisdom.

"I…" Princess ZhaoLing blinks.

"Gongzhu, I would gladly bear the punishment since I'm already dying," Li LianHua continues, voice soothing and persuasive, "but I cannot guarantee I will be the only one."

Princess ZhaoLing presses her lips together and shakes her head.

"If you care for Fang DuoBing at all, if you consider me a friend," Li LianHua urges even as his chest seizes up, "please, return the box and its contents right now."

"I…" Princess ZhaoLing's face crumples and the box slips from her hands, dumping its contents on the ground. Spinning around, she runs off.

"Gongzhu!" Yang YunChun and Fang DuoBing call in unison.

Li LianHua sways, vision blurring and knees buckling. Despite Di FeiSheng's grip on his arm, they end up kneeling on the grass. Li LianHua bends over and coughs, a spray of dark red staining bright green.

"Li LianHua!"

"Go to your princess, XiaoBao. I'll stay with him." Di FeiSheng pulls Li LianHua up with him and helps him over to the table.

- o –

Fang DuoBing finds Princess ZhaoLing standing beside the small stream with her back towards him. He makes sure the hem of his robes rustle the grass as he approaches and stops a dozen feet away.

"Gongzhu."

She turns her head a little, just enough for him to see her delicate profile, and for one eye to peep at him.

"Fang DuoBing," she says and sniffles. "Are you here to scold me too?"

"What? No, of course not."

"You should. I've put you and your entire family in grave danger."

"You didn't know."

She turns around a little more.

"So you're not angry with me?"

"I…" Fang DuoBing hesitates before shaking his head. "No, I'm not."

Maybe he should be. Maybe he would be later, but right this minute, he isn't. Who's to say he wouldn't have done the same in her place?

"You should be," she insists. "I tried to help, but I've made things worse."

Clasping his sword in both hands, Fang DuoBing offers a salute.

"Gongzhu's heart is as kind as her spirit is righteous."

She turns around to face him and stamps a foot.

"Well, I don't feel kind. And I don't feel at all righteous!"

Fang DuoBing forces a smile that feels as pained as how Li LianHua's had looked earlier.

"It'll be alright," he assures her when he has absolutely no idea how to make it so. "We'll return the…"

And here, the rest of his words get stuck in his throat. He doesn't want to return the Styx Flower. He wants to give it to Li LianHua, wants it more than anything else in the world.

Maybe they could just take it and – and - and then what?

His mother's words echo in his mind, when he came to her after the Pagoda of Bliss incident, when he told her he was prepared to break his father out of prison if needed.

"Your father will live the rest of his life as a runaway rebel. You know him. He'd rather die than become that."

So would Li LianHua.

Fang DuoBing blinks angrily, so frustrated he could scream.

"Fang DuoBing? I never meant to hurt you or your family, or any of you. That was never my intention, I swear it!"

"I know."

"I just want to help Li LianHua. He saved my life. He's my friend and your friend too."

He's my best friend and my shifu, Fang DuoBing wants to say, but doesn't.

"You… you're really not angry with me?" Princess ZhaoLing sniffles again.

"I'm not."

"You said it so you should mean it. But I've made such a mess of things!"

She bursts into tears like she did at Yu LouChun's manor, soft and hitching and utterly heartwrenching. Fang DuoBing's traitorous eyes start stinging again.

"Gongzhu, please don't cry."

But that just makes her cry even harder.

Before he can second guess himself, Fang DuoBing marches over and pulls her into his arms, one hand going to the back of her head to press her face to his neck.

"Don't cry. Please don't cry, Qing-er. We'll think of something."

Trouble is, he can't think of anything.

- Chapter End –