Dong hua watched feng jiu standing there amidst the broken plate and cups. It was not hard to deduce that she had been bringing in tea and cakes when she had overheard the both of them. But the fact of the matter was how much she had overheard and how much damage control was required for him to do.

He knew telling her the whole thing would just send her on a redemption mission for all the creatures sealed over the realms. While it sounded good on a theoretical basis, it was not practical and dong hua knew that. One other thing he understood was the loving and compassionate heart of his wife. He knew that just like the lei niaos, she would wear herself thin to give salvation to every sealed creature possible and that was a risk he was not prepared to take.

So, he just calmly watched her making sure that no expressions appeared on his face. Feng jiu was proving hard to decipher at the moment. Her anger was palpable but she was giving no reaction as to how she wanted to take this further. Dong hua watched as without moving an inch or giving away anything, she calmly addressed their visitor.

"lian song, I would like to speak to my husband alone. Give us some privacy." It was a command and not a request. Lian song understood that and quickly scrambled out of the study and the house. Feng jiu waited till she felt lian song's aura disappear from the premise. Only after they were completely alone, she spoke to dong hua, "well, would you like to explain now, or are we waiting for someone else?"

Dong hua observed as she stood perfectly still in the same spot with her hands crossed inside her sleeves, in front of her. He carefully watched her expression devoid face as he said, "what do you want me to explain?"

"don't play that game with me, dong hua. I understand you well enough to know not to fall into your word trap."

"it is a word trap only if the other person's mind fails to keep track. If one can follow the conversation which he is a participant to then it is not a word trap but a mere dialogue between two individuals."

"Explain what it is you are hiding from me this time, dong hua."

"xaio bai, what makes you so sure that I am hiding something from you?"

This time her calm façade cracked; he could see the anger pulsing in her face. "oh, the fact that you just told lian song that you will explain to me everything after this week? And let's not forget the little detail that you also commanded him to tell mo yuan just so, he wouldn't blow up the big reveal you have planned and tell me before you. Answer me, donghua, I am waiting for your explanation."

This was what he had been waiting for. Now, he knew that the only part she had heard was the last of their conversation. In dong hua's mind, while this alone was too much, he could still work his way around it. With a clearer picture in mind, he spoke in a softer tone this time, "xaio bai, if you know that I will explain everything after the week is over then wouldn't it be wise to wait till that time is up?"

"no because if you went to such lengths to hide something from me then it poses a huge danger to the realms and to you. I will not let it slide, dong hua. Either you tell me or I will find it myself."

Dong hua knew that this threat wasn't any empty one. It wasn't the threat per se that he was afraid of. He had used every questionable and despicable method in the book and some even outside of it to get what he wanted. He wasn't pure by any chance. What worried him here was feng jiu herself. While she might be adept at magic and its many illustrious ways, her heart was pure. So, if she were to use a questionable method in a fit of anger then it would weigh heavily on her mind later when the clouds of rage disappeared. Dong hua knew very well that some choices left a heavyweight on the conscience and he didn't want her to be the one to bear a weight like that. So, to stop her from doing something that will hurt her in the future, he knew he might have to hurt her a little now.

"If you go looking for it yourself, you will bring harm to anyone and everyone that willingly, unwillingly, consciously, unconsciously, or mistakenly reveals it to you. I will personally cut off each of their heads for going against my command, I promise you that. So, go ahead try me."

"oh, so this is a promise that you are willing to keep. What happened to the promise that you made to me earlier, dong hua? Remember, the one about open communication and honesty? Was it not good enough to keep? Or is it just the promises concerning me that you are willing to look over?"

"I haven't broken my word, xaio bai. You already know that I plan on explaining everything to you after this week, so, I am not breaking my promise. I gave you my word to tell you everything and I will. I never said anything about doing it the exact time something happened. Give me this week I will explain everything to you."

"you are simply incorrigible. You twist and weave words just so they suit you best. Do you think about me when you do this? I asked you for only one thing, to be honest with me and share your burdens with me. I don't care if I can or cannot help you with your task but is asking to share your thoughts too much, dong hua?"

"you know that everything I do is to keep you safe. You are the first thought on my mind and my supreme concern. Nothing ever comes before you and you know that. But the communication you talk about is a two-way street, feng jiu. Can you honestly say that you are not hiding anything from me? That you haven't been hiding something from me for almost a year now?"

This shocked feng jiu. First was when he called her by her given name. Dong hua has never called her feng jiu before. In all the years they had known each other, he has never addressed her as feng jiu. When he said her name, something broke inside her, the pain resonated within and before she could cope with that he threw out another devastating question. The way this question led, frazzled her. She didn't know how to react to that.

"you... you... you know...?" She stuttered.

"yes, I know. Tell me now, feng jiu why didn't you talk to me about wanting kids? Why didn't you tell me that I was the failure in this story? I kept waiting for you to talk to me, to tell me what was weighing on your mind. And want to know something, when zhe yan told me the truth about my situation, it crushed my heart that it wasn't you who told me that when you already knew. I got to know about my failure as a husband from someone else. Everyone believes that I have a rock in place of a heart and before you that might have been true. But what about my heart now, feng jiu? The one you pulled out from that rock? I gave it to you to care for and you let it get smashed by someone else. Can you wonder what it made me feel like when it wasn't you, I heard the truth from?" Dong hua hadn't planned on going this route. This wasn't even in his mind when this had started but the moment, she had insinuated that he never thought about her, something in him had cracked open the lock on his emotions. For a lack of a better word, he could only say that his emotions had gotten the best of him. All the pain and anguish of the last week had spilled over. He saw as his words crept up feng jiu.

She was scrambling to keep up with them. The words had been too much of her. The only thing she couldn't imagine doing was hurting dong hua and to see that she had done exactly that, even if unintentionally, it was too much for her. He watched as she started mumbling something. He walked closer to her and heard her muttering "that is not possible, I couldn't have hurt him", over and over again.

Before he could process what she was about to do, she bent down and started picking up the broken cup pieces by hand. To cope with her thoughts, her body had gone on autopilot and began cleaning while her thoughts were still running on the same loop. She was still muttering the same thing. Dong hua knelt down beside her and tried to get her to leave the sharp broken pieces but it wasn't working. Her hands were working on autopilot and she wasn't listening to him. When he tried to take the pieces out of her hand, she pulled them back. He felt a jagged end cut through his hand and knew that it must have slashed her skin, too. He had had enough.

So he called out, loudly, "look at me, xaio bai."

For feng jiu, it hadn't been the volume or the command that had worked. Instead, it had been the use of the name that had broken through her haze. Dropping everything, she looked up at him. Staring into his eyes, she saw his love for her swirling through their depths. With a shaky breath, she begged, "say that again, please."

Dong hua though had been watching her every movement carefully. The moment she had dropped the pieces on her hand, he had magicked away every little broken piece before she could hurt herself anymore. All this while though, his eyes hadn't wandered off of hers for even a second. He had seen the way the name had registered with her. So, when she begged him to repeat his words, he knew what she was exactly asking for her. Reaching up he cradled her face in hands and with all the love in his heart, she whispered tenderly, "xaio bai, my xaio bai."

She grabbed his hands as he spoke and with his words, the dam of her tears broke. She collapsed in his arms and cried out all the hurt, worries, and fears she had been bottling up for a year.

Dong hua sat down beside her and nestled her close. Wrapping her completely in his arms, he caressed her head as she cried. He kept murmuring all the loving names he called her as she wept. It took a while for feng jiu to calm down. After the tears had stopped and she had quieted down, he slowly turned her in his lap. This way her body was arranged perpendicularly across him and she could rest nestled in his arms while according him the opportunity to look at her face.

She took hold of his silver strands with one hand and kept hold of his hand with the other. While she played with his hair to calm herself down, he caressed the small cut on her palm.

While he was inspecting her hand, he had completely forgotten about his own wound. The cut on his hand had been much deeper and was still bleeding. This was brought to their attention when feng jiu felt something wet and slick on her hand. She turned to see a golden drop of blood on her palm. The golden color of the blood made it apparent that dong hua was bleeding. When she made to inspect his hand, she was distracted by something much weird.

The both of them watched as the gold drop of dong hua's blood slowly sled towards the cut on feng feng jiu's palm. The golden drop eventually reached her open red wound, slid over it, and formed a golden weave inside the open skin tissues on her palm. It seemed like the golden drop had formed a protective covering over her wound. It all happened within a moment before both their bloods completely disappeared leaving behind completely smooth skin on her palm. It was like she had never been hurt at all. They both gaped with their mouth wide open.

Quickly, donghua swiped his other hand over his own wound and magicked it shut. Unable to make sense of what had happened, fenj jiu questioned aloud, "what just happened?"

Looking down at her, dong hua shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "I honestly don't know. I think my blood just healed your wound."

"did you know your blood can do that?"

"I knew that it could strengthen and heal an immortal body from the inside, only if drank directly. But this, I had never seen before."

"what do you think this meant?" Feng jiu puzzled over what had happened.

Tilting up her face, dong hua gazed deep into her eyes as he said, "I think this means that literally every fiber of my being worries and cares for you. Seeing you hurt is physically unbearable for me, xaio bai. I am sorry for everything that I said today. I shouldn't have said that. Please forgive me, my love."

Feng jiu rested her forehead against his and softly reached up to caress the side of his face. In a tender voice, she spoke, "I am sorry too, my love. I shouldn't have kept something so important from you. Keeping it in had been killing me. But I just didn't know how to tell you this. Believe me, when I say hurting you was never my intention. I love you so much, dong hua. Sometimes, it feels like my heart will burst from all this love I have for you. I never ever want to hurt you, dong hua. Never."

Dong hua cradled her close and caressed her back as he replied, "you don't ever have to keep anything from me. No matter how hard it is, I will always understand xaio bai. Because for me, nothing will ever come above you. So no matter what it is, we will bear through it together. Me, on the other hand, should be the one apologizing. I..."

Feng jiu placed a finger against his lips and stopped him from speaking further. Cutting in, she said, "don't apologize, my love. Even though you were trying to evade the topic earlier, what you said rang true. You haven't gone back on your word, dong hua. When I asked for that promise, I knew that communication doesn't come easy to you. I understand that it will take time for you to build up to that level of transparency and I accept it. We can work on it together. Take as long as you need; I am not going anywhere. I get that you worry about my safety and I do, too. I worry about your safety. So, just swear to me that nothing would happen to you before this week is over and I will happily wait for your explanation. That is all the reassurance I need, dong hua."

Taking her finger off his lips, dong hua pressed a soft kiss to the tips of each of her fingers. He enfolded her hand within his and brought it to his chest. He pressed her palm flat against his heart as addressed her concern, "I love you, xaio bai. So much that its heart for me to understand it myself. I am sorry that I am not very good at expressing it. The only way my poor heart knows to care is to worry about you. The mere thought that something might happen to you wreaks havoc on my soul. That is only the reason why I hesitate in expressing my concerns. Forgive me and my poor heart for it knows no other way to care. Each second of every day, I am so grateful that I get to be with you and to love you. Thank you, my love, for bearing through with this old rock. I cannot express how thankful I am to you. I will follow through my promise, my love. Meanwhile, I assure you I am in no immediate danger. What could ever harm me when I have my fierce little fox beside me, huh?"

Dong hua pressed a soft kiss to feng jiu's head after he finished. Reassured and relaxed, she nestled her face in the crook of his neck. He continued to caress her the back of her head until he felt her fall asleep.