Work Text:
“How can he be the one to stay?”
Those words rang in Feng Xin’s head, why should that wretched Hua Cheng of all people be the one to stay with His Highness. To say he was jealous was an understatement. He felt robbed.
But Feng Xin was loyal in a way Hua Cheng could never be.
If Feng Xin was ordered to leave, he would not dare to stay.
If Hua Cheng was ordered to leave, he would not dare to leave.
Feng Xin wondered, if that was the flaw, that being so loyal to Xie Lian was the reason the days when they were young and kissed underneath a blanket of moonlight far away from the palace, would never return.
He thought about the statues and the murals in the cave, he wondered if he had those skills, would Xie Lian still love him?
It was foolish, to think that what happened 800 years ago would stay the same centuries later, and Feng Xin was a fool.
So he ran.
He and Mu Qing ran.
It was not uncommon for them to run while His Highness stayed, what was uncommon was that Feng Xin was not the one with Xie Lian to stay.
His mind wandered back to memories of him and Xie Lian, he recalled the times they had kissed, when they would spar, when they would bathe together in a river (Mu Qing was there as well, although Feng Xin was focused on Xie Lian), the time when Xie Lian ordered him to leave, and he came back to him screaming and crying and saying that he wanted his mother back and that it was all Xie Lian’s fault for their death. His heart ached remembering that, remembering how he held Xie Lian in his arms, remembering how eventually the sobs quieted and he fell asleep.
He really did miss the days when they were young.
He thought of himself, and Hua Cheng, he wondered if Xie Lian would choose both of them, instead of one or the other.
And even if he did, would Hua Cheng allow it?
He shook his head, trying to clear away his thoughts. It was 800 years ago, and Xie Lian had most likely moved on long ago.
Deep down, a small, selfish part of him secretly wished Hong Hong-er had just died without knowing who Xie Lian even was.