Longing for You, Waiting for You

On the winter solstice, in the third year after we met, my older sister recognized me.

The gentle older sister who called me her little sister: I took her home, taught her to protect herself, and gave her someone to rely on.

Later, she could protect herself, had someone by her side, and had somewhere to go.

But by then, like the young man before me, I would have to remain in Shifangzhou forever.

Xiao Yao: [Little sister, I'm here. I'll always be by your side.]

I still remember how carefully he held my hand, brewed tea for me, took me out to bask in the sun, and let me laugh as freely as I pleased. He let me be myself for a long time.

Even though, later on, I no longer had the joy of my youth, and he put his family first, those memories alone were enough to keep the broken bond between us alive.

Feng Long: [Only after dark do I dare come see you, carrying all this love that threatens to overflow.]

He and I had been together for a very, very long time. We had supported one another from the time we were two little children, and to each other, everyone but my older sister was an outsider.

We were family, kin, brother and sister, but we could never be lovers.

So I helped him compete and scheme, giving him everything I had.

Much later, he climbed step by step to the heights of power. But the three children who once played outside Chaoyun Hall could never be found again.

Cang Xuan: [I thought you'd stay by my side forever.]

The morning sun rose warmly. It was the purest smile I had ever seen. For the first time, I met someone so gentle and sincere, who came close to me without the slightest hint of using me.

He once held my arm so carefully, as if I were some precious treasure, and told me sweetly that if my eyes never healed, he would be my eyes.

But later, he was Tushan Jing, and I was no longer the blind Shiqi of Qingshui Town.

Tushan Jing: [I like you. I really, really like you.]

When we first met, he was terribly thin, so fragile he looked as if he might break at a touch. Back then, I brought that small, skinny person home and saved him.

I nourished him day after day with jade marrow and spirit mushrooms, and somehow he survived.

After that, everyone said I had a mad dog at my heels who had pledged himself to me.

He taught me how to defend myself, protected me from behind, and treated me as the only one who mattered.

And for many years afterward, I would rather he had been Fangfeng Bei than Xiang Liu.

Xiang Liu: [I regret not telling you sooner that I loved you too.]

Theme: Love.