In order to celebrate the sacrifices to the gods as it is coming closer to the end of the year and approaching the start of a brand new year; the Chinese people often hold a festival called The Spring Festival. At this time families would gather round and eat with each other. However, during this special occasion, we wouldn’t eat the food that we normally consume on a daily basis; instead, we have a more luxurious feast. Chicken (ji), fish (yu), and bean curd (doufu) are served mainly because of the significance of their pronunciations. Ji represents auspiciousness (Jíxiáng), Yu represents abundance (Yúshēng), and doufu represents richness (Fēngfù). In addition, many activities are held in the streets such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs. And since the sounds of fireworks were believed to cast away evil spirits, they are utilized as well. The Spring Festival is usually celebrated for about four days (including Eve). But since I have important matters to settle back in my hometown, I decided that I could only celebrate tonight because I need to leave early tomorrow morning.

I was planning on telling Mei Lien that I’m leaving the palace however my affection for her made it difficult for me to tell her this news. I’ve already informed her parents about this a few days ago but because I’ve stayed by Mei Lien for many years, protecting her and admiring her from afar, I didn’t have the courage inside of me to tell her myself. As much as I wanted to stay with her, I knew I couldn’t because I need to be with my own family… especially since my grandfather has been very ill. I mean I’m sure Mei Lien will understand that I need to be by his side but the fact that I don’t know when I’ll return makes me hesitant to let her know about this. What should I do? Should I confess to her tonight knowing that I might never come back? Or should I keep this secret hidden forever?

I was nervously pacing back and forth around the halls contemplating. But suddenly Mei Lien jumped on my back and wrapped her arms around my neck and softly whispered in my ear, “Did I scare you?”

I paused for a bit then slowly removed her arms and turned to face her. She looked disappointed at me because I didn’t seem to be amused by her action. I replied, “You used to do this all the time, even when we were younger.”

Mei Lien frowned at my response and said, “Yi Xing, is there something wrong? You usually play along with the things that I do.”

I looked at the ground guiltily and looked back up to her and responded, “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to sound annoyed. It’s just that… I was just thinking about something earlier… before you came. I-It’s really not that important.” I could tell from Mei Lien’s face that she knew that I was lying.

Before I could continue to explain she cut me off, “It’s probably not any of my business but I think that tonight, you should just clear your mind and enjoy the festival. You’ve been working hard all year so you should just think about having fun with me, your best friend.” She smiled then locked her arms around mine and said, “Besides, you promised me that you’re going to me to the festival.”

As she started to drag me towards the palace entrance, one of the guards stopped us. It was the guard from before, Wu Fan. “Princess, I don’t think that it is safe for you to leave the palace,” he said to her, completely ignoring my presence.

She looked up at me, tugged at my arm and answered him back, “Yi Xing is going to protect me and besides, I’ve already received my parents’ approval.” I looked at her and smiled and turned to him and gave him a smirk.

He continued to ignore me and asked Mei Lien: “Isn’t there a large feast that you’re supposed to attend? It would be disrespectful of you to leave while the guests are still there.”

The anger inside of me was beginning to emerge; I couldn’t help but to retort back at him: “I understand that you’re the palace guard so you’re supposed to be concerned about the princess’s safety. But you shouldn’t speak to her in that way.”

Mei Lien gestured at me that she could handle the situation and replied back to him. “I went there, greeted the guests and ate for a bit,” she said, “My parents are going to take care of the guests anyway. And when I told my parents that I wanted to go out, they told me it was okay as long as I had Yi Xing by my side.” Just then, she let go of my arm and slipped her hand into mine and walked nonchalantly passed by Wu Fan. After we distanced ourselves from the guards, she turned to me and said with a smile, “Thanks for trying to defend me Yi Xing, but I’m also capable of standing up for myself.”

I already knew that she could deal with the guards because of her naive and spontaneous personality but something inside me just kept on wanting to protect her…