The Wolf talks with his older brother

Xiao Zai got slowly stronger over the next days. The wound on his chest, perilously close to his heart, scabbed over neatly, and it no longer hurt him when he moved, or stretched his muscles.

But even so, his mood was withdrawn and sombre. He didn't talk much, and would only spare Chu Yun the briefest of smiles, before letting the corners of his mouth drop into apathy once again.

It was frustrating for Chu Yun not to know how to help him up out of the emotional slump he was in. He remembered well his own heartbreak, back when they were in Xin, when he thought his parents were so disappointed in him that they no longer loved him -- and his relief to be proved wrong.

Xiao Zai's situation was different, almost opposite, but Chu Yun could imagine the emptiness he felt in the same place that previously had been filled with nothing but tenderness was just as painful.