Lin Jin drove Zhu Hong and Da Qing, along with their prisoners back to Sid. As soon as they arrived, Old Li took charge of them and allowed no-one near them.

Wang and Lin Jin wanted to know what had happened, but Old Li didn't wait to hear their explanations. He didn't care.

Neither of them knew who Shen Wei was or how did he happen to get shot, but they knew what they were supposed to do now.
Go on with their work and close the case so that Yunlan wouldn't have to worry about that.

Yunlan waited at the hospital until finally a doctor came out.
"Are you his family?" he asked.

"I'm the only one he's got," Yunlan said, and introduced himself.

The doctor explained to him that the surgery had gone well but also how it was too early to know how he would respond.

Before leaving, the doctor hesitated a moment than asked, "All those scars, what happened to him?"

"He's had a hard life," was all he could say, and the doctor left.

Whenever visits were allowed, Yunlan was there, holding Shen's hand. The rest of the time he spent locked in his office.
He didn't eat or sleep until finally Wei woke up.

He was the first thing Wei saw when he opened his eyes, and was rewarded with a weak smile.

"You saved my life," Yunlan said trying to hold back his tears. He hadn't cried since he was a child and his mother died.

"No," Wei said. "You saved mine, you gave me back my life and now it belongs to you."

"Don't ever do that again," said Yunlan placing a soft kiss on his lips, very carefully.

Wei smiled but said nothing. Of course he would do it again, he would do anything to protect Yunlan.

They stayed silent for a while, holding hands, then Yunlan left his room only to get him some water, and when he was out Chu and Sang appeared.

Wei sighed, thinking that he knew why they were there. "I understand", he said, "you have your duty," but they both shook their heads.

"Even though that's the king's order, we could never do that to you; we hoped we could find a solution together."

Wei smiled sadly, he didn't expect that but it didn't change things one bit. "There is no solution I'm afraid."

"Let's not give up without trying, there must be something we can do, we could tell him that you died and hopefully he won't send anyone else," but Shen Wei shook his head.

"It won't work, I know the king, he told you to either bring me back or to bring him the proof of my death, didn't he?"

They looked at each other, Wei was right, but... "You could give us the envoy's insignia, you'd be left with no powers but you could escape..."

"Only the king's sceptre or my actual death can take them off my body, I'm afraid there is nothing we can do."

The two of them weren't willing to give up, but Wei asked them to go away before Yunlan came back, so they did.

For a while longer he didn't want to think about that. Yunlan was here and that was all he cared about.

Yunlan insisted that Wei would be let out of the hospital as soon as possible. His heart ached when Wei smiled and asked, "Are you taking me home?" but Yunlan couldn't bear to know that he was alone all day without anyone close, so he took him to Sid instead, where there was always someone that could look after him.

Everybody was worried, not only for Wei but also for Yunlan who hadn't eaten or slept much during all that time.

They prepared one of the beds for him and Yunlan ordered that he was not to be left alone.
Wei complained that they all fussed around him, he didn't want to cause so much trouble to those people he barely knew.

Yunlan told Wang to get him the dishes that he knew Wei liked, and Hong reminded him that Wei needed to eat to regain strength but that he was refusing their help, she told him that they should eat together so that Wei couldn't refuse, and this way she got him to eat something as well.

Despite her feelings for Yunlan, she could clearly see now that he would never be hers, it was more than clear by the way he didn't even look at her while she talked to him, his eyes refusing to leave Wei.

~~~

Chu and Sang bought some time telling the king what had happened, that the envoy had been severely injured in Haixing and they would soon bring his body back to him.

The king smiled an evil smile and they hurried to leave.

Meanwhile Shen Wei was getting better, he didn't need to sleep so much anymore and was awake most of the time, so Yunlan reluctantly agreed to leave his side, he had to go to report on what had happened. He made sure to tell the others to look after him while he was away, as if there was any need to remind them.

Shen Wei had regained most of his strength, it still hurt but it was nothing he couldn't bear. He asked to be left alone with Zhu Hong, she looked surprised but didn't argue, and when he asked her to help him walk for a while, saying that he was feeling better and wanted to breathe fresh air, she agreed thinking that she'd be able to keep a close eye on him so that nothing wrong could happen.

She walked alongside him ready to help him if he felt too weak or to protect him if anything happened. Despite her jealousy, her duty as Yunlan's officer came first.

Neither of them spoke a single word. When they got to where the door to Dixing was, he stopped and transformed his clothes into those of the envoy. She gasped and took a step back, but he quickly said, "No, don't be afraid," and added, "I never intended to bring you back."

His real mission was to learn about the Ghost and find him, he told her, but to her astonishment he didn't ask her anything about the Ghost or how she had met him.

Instead he gave her a sad smile and said, "Nobody is free, not even me. The powers of the Envoys come from devices that are 'entrusted' to us, which means that they are fused into our bodies as we take our role, whether we want to or not. They simbolize our restraints and connection to the king."

Hong didn't know what to say about that, but knowing now that he was the envoy, another question came to her mind because for a normal human it was one thing, but getting hurt so easily was not what she expected from the legendary figure of the king's envoy.

So she asked, "But if you are the envoy, why were you hit? You are faster than anyone, people always said that the envoys were as fast as the wind, surely you could take her out easily..."

Another sad smile that seemed to hide a world of secrets. "I'm not that fast," Wei said. "The previous envoys were like that but I'm different," then he changed the subject.
"I'm so sorry for what Dixingian women like you have gone through, I wish I could have done something but... no, that's not enough, I should have tried, but things were complicated and I only thought of what would happen if I failed...  I should have put more effort in trying to win, but I was always too weak."

Zhu Hong was speechless, what could she say after such a speech? How could this man say something like that! But her thoughts were stopped by his next words.

"I was a fool thinking that I could live with Yunlan and be free. I burdened him with my presence but it was hopeless from the start, I will never be free, as long as our king is alive he will never allow it."

He smiled the saddest smile she had ever seen. He said, "Have a happy life, Zhu Hong. Please, tell Yunlan that I love him," and with that he vanished thru the portal.