Mei Lan opened her eyes. For a moment, she thought she was dead, but soon realized that she was lying in a beautiful bed, her bed.  

'I'm not dead' She thought wonderingly, as she looked around her. Her clothes had been changed into a soft cotton nightgown, and her body had bandaged tightly. She slight stretched, suddenly she felt her wound burn when she stretched. Her whole body felt like it had been put under the knife of her chef.

Therefore she could only turn her head around. She found four servants dozing on her right and Du Hai dozing on her left. 

"Um" She croaked, he brother suddenly woke up, and when he saw her, his face brightened and bloomed into a smile.

"Lan'er your awake! How are you? Do you need water? Tell me if you feel something!" He quickly spurted out random questions. However when he saw her laughing at him, he just smiled and awkwardly hugged her, trying not to hurt her. "I'm very glad your alive" He murmured, his voice a little scratchy.

"Well, darling brother, I am also very glad that I am alive." She laughed smiling. 

They stayed there, Du Hai slightly leaning down, his arms embracing her weak body, and his head leaning on her shoulder, however neither his arms nor his head was touching her. He was afraid she would start spurting blood like a fountain if he did anything, like hugging her.

So they stood there, awkwardly hugging, for a long time. Maybe 3 hours, maybe 5. Everyone could tell that Du Hai cared for Mei Lan very much. 

Soon, the Du mansion that had a dark and depressing aura for the 2 and a half weeks she was fighting for her life, bloomed with happy flowers and laughter fountains.

___________________________________________________________________________

Even after 3 months of the assassination attempt, things were still chaotic, the emperor did not care much because he did not have much love for the crown prince. However the crown prince was busy trying to find who was behind the attempt. 

Rumors about the heroic lady of the Du Mansion spread far and wide, and Mei Lan's reputation became equivalent to heavens gift. 

Mei Lan quickly recovered and was fully healed by three months. The snow had begun to fall, the biting cold attacked from the north, and everyone stayed inside.

One beautiful white day, Mei lan was playing with some koi inside a pond that was built inside especially for her.

They had not gone out as they use to, Du Hai's excuse was that she was still vulnerable and that the cold would worsen her situation. However, everyone knew she was perfectly healed. She was practically jumping off the walls because of boredom. But everyone also knew that Du Hai was afraid to show his precious sister to the outside world, afraid the nearest armed man would attack them. 

  It was irrational, yes, but Du Hai still kept her inside. If they ever did go out, he would bring 10 guards, to surround the carriage while only allowing her to stay in the carriage. 

Mei Lan was so bored, she could practically point out where each star on her ceiling was without opening her eyes. 

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Crown prince's Palace (Main Hall)

A tall slender youth with delicate features and a noble aura was standing in front of tall handsome rough looking tiger of a youth. Both of them looked as if they could tear off the  others head any second. 

There were three more youths standing at the sides, looking very amused. One even hooted from the anticipation of a fight.

"Du Hai! Stop being unreasonable, your sister is fully healed, you cannot keep my goddess locked inside your cage forever. She is not yours!" The slender youth yelled, stomping his foot. He wasn't able to do anything in front of Du Hai. other than stomping his foot.

"She is still traumatized from the attack. If the place was guarded from the beginning my sister wouldn't have had to face such hardships. How dare you think that she is ok! She even protected you with her life! Shouldn't you be thankful?!" Du Hai yelled back.

"Now you just being unreasonable. I know she saved me, but it was also her choice. That's why I want to see her and thank her. She's my goddess. No body could have anticipated the attack, don't blame anyone!!" Li Anye tried to reason with Du Hai. But Du Hai wouldn't change his mind. This angered Li Anye to an extent where he screamed " The one who traumatized is you! Your just hiding behind your sister like a coward!"

Suddenly everything went silent, Li anye was huffing and puffing as if he did not realize he just called the second scariest man one earth a coward.

"OH darn, don't kill my brother Du Hai. He might be a little hateful, but we still love him. remember!" Li Cheng yelled from the sidelines. Too scared to actually defend his brother.

When the crown prince saw that Du Hai was actually going to attack li cheng he stepped up and stood between them.

"Stop, enough, no need to fight over a girl." Then he faced Du hai. "I think some of what Anye said is the truth, she is perfectly fine, yet you are keeping her shut up. I don't think you are scared but scared of your sister being hurt again. How about I make it possible for her to come out?" He asked Du Hai. 

"HOw?" Du Hai asked, still red from keeping his anger down.

"I, the crown prince, son of heaven swear on my heavenly right, that Mei lan is forever this kings person, as you are all. And as I promised all of you. I will protect her, fight with her, be happy for her as if it was my happiness, and I will never betray her. She will be my blood sister." 

slinece..................................

"Serously?" Long asked after a long silence.

"I have been thinking about adding her to out brother hood, not only because she is Du Hai's sister, but because she showed wisdom, bravery, and strength. She also showed that she could sacrifice her life for others. Therefore I wanted her to join our brother hood." The crown prince finished. At that moment he was like a dragon, with his deep voice and  complicated wording.

"Well... She might not agree, but fine, since you made that promise, I will bring her out to meet you guys next Friday, at the Crown Prince's hall. If she agrees, then we can all make the blood oath once gain." Du Hai said. Finally calming down.

"But she's a women" Long muttered. However no one seemed to be particularly against it. Most, including Long even seemed to like the idea of her joining. 

As everyone left, the crown prince stared into the distance, contemplating the mysteries of this interesting women.