As soon as Hua Nanyi left, Xiao Zai came out of his office and approached Chu Yun gingerly.
"I take it thinks didn't go well," he said, taking a seat in front of Chu Yun, resting his cheek on his open palm.
"I don't know," Chu Yun said, lowering his head between his crossed arms over the table with a deep sigh. "I just feel sad, and tired. The depth and breadth of everything I cannot fix may as well crush me."
He felt a touch on the back of his wrist, and raised his head from the cradle of his arms to look at Xiao Zai. "Why should you have to fix everything? I think you're expecting too much of you, and too little of everyone else."
Chu Yun didn't know what to say to that and lowered his head back into his arms.
But Xiao Zai wasn't done speaking. "Don't think you're the only person to see the need for change, or the only one capable of enacting it."
Chu Yun winked at Xiao Zai, his face still partially obscured by his arm. "Because you're the King and that falls to you?"
Xiao Zai's smirk matched the one still hiding behind Chu Yun's crossed arms. "No, not entirely, I think the people of Zui do much more than I ever could. So I just try to take strength from that."
It was a comforting thought, even though Chu Yun didn't know where Hua Nanyi fell among all that.
"Why don't you go for a walk?" Xiao Zai suggested, shaking Chu Yun's arm. "Talk with your brother, about home, about Lieba Chun, or maybe go pay a visit to Tan Ruomi, you haven't seen her in some time."
That sounded like a good idea. Chu Yun knew he had a tendency to get stuck in his own head. And there was nothing like admiring the beauty of nature, or just spending time in some idle conversation to let go of himself.
With a languid roll, as languid as his condition allowed, Chu Yun got up to his feet, grimacing at his own inelegance and making Xiao Zai laugh. He went over to his side of the table and extended him a hand. "Will you come with me?"
Min Sezhui let out a pleased sigh. "I have no idea how you do that, I don't think my hands would ever be able to move like that."
Chu Hean shrugged. "It's just practice, I've been doing it since I was a child."
Chu Yun made his way towards the stone table and leaned against the edge. He stood behind his brother and admired the moving shadows he cast on the wall.
"He's being modest," Chu Yun said smiling when the shadow cat switched paws, "I taught him how to do this but he became much better than me."
Even in profile, Chu Yun could still glimpse the uptick of Chu Hean's lips. "Do the bird," he said, nodding towards the wall.
With a reluctant sigh, Chu Yun brought his hands together above Chu Hean's head and made an awkward bird soar over his cat. The difference between their skills became even more apparent when Chu Hean made the cat smoothly chase after the bird, when Chu Yun could only make its wings flap in one direction.
Even so, their silly display amused Min Sezhui, whose eyes shone brighter than the moon.
"You have to teach me that someday," she said, getting up to her feet after the cat finally caught the bird and dragged it to a messy death.
"Don't leave on my account," Chu Yun said, sitting down on the seat opposite Chu Hean's. "I'm the one who's interrupting."
She shook her head, making the dangling trains of her hairpins jingle musically with the movement. "It's late, I'll let you two talk."
Chu Yun watched in interest as Chu Hean's eyes followed her departure, his smile dimming the further away she got.
"I didn't know you two had become friends," Chu Yun said, remembering the last time he saw Chu Hean and Min Sezhui in the same environment.
Chu Hean grimaced. "It's very hard to dislike her," he rubbed the back of his neck, "I think we naturally fell into a friendship. And besides, talking with her as made me reconsider some things..."