"Are you sure she will come?" Yezun asked again, feeling restless.

"She said she would, why shouldn't she? I told you we're friends!" Yunlan answered, not for the first time.

They were waiting for Zhu Hong, to ask her to break the curse.

"Do you think she will want to help?" Yezun asked again.

Yunlan was irritated. "Why would she refuse? She has no reason not to help us."

Zhu Hong finally arrived, twenty minutes late.
"What was it so important that you couldn't tell me on the phone?"
She looked rather annoyed, he hadn't called any of his old friends in a long time, but she waited for him to explain.

"It's about my brother," Yezun spoke first. "He has... a problem."

The boys looked at each other wondering on the best way to tell her. She got bored and volunteered her opinion.

"If it's school, you have Yunlan who has better grades than me. If it's something personal..."

They interrupted her.
"It's personal," Yezun said.

"Very personal," Yunlan confirmed.

"Well, I'm definitely not going to help him with any physical problem, you better find him another girl."

"What?" They both asked at the same time.

She had a determined look on her face but Yunlan was shocked. "We don't want you to date him!"

"Certainly not," Wei said behind them, looking more annoyed than she was.

"Then what do you want?" Hong rolled her eyes. She had other plans for the day and was eager to get on with it.

"He's cursed!" Yunlan blurted out.

"Or so they say," Wei added, sounding not convinced.

"He is." Yezun insisted. "We need you to release him from the curse."

She stared at them as if they were crazy.
"I know nothing of any curse! Why are you asking me?"

"It was one of your ancestors," Yezun explained. "She cursed him so that he could never feel love again."

She planted on Wei a pair of curious eyes but he simply rolled his, clearly showing that it was all nonsense to him.

"Why would my ancestor curse him? I don't even know him, what could I possibly do?"

Yunlan was embarrassed. "In another life you loved me but I loved... I loved him and your old self was jealous."

Hong smirked. "Really? Well, I don't 'love' you now, maybe that curse will die out by itself since I don't care."

"We did go out once." Yunlan offered, regretting it the next second.

"For two weeks and that was enough for me. Sorry to disappoint you but I don't care at all who you go out with now."

The boys seemed uncomfortable.
"Can you at least try?" Yunlan begged her.

She turned to Wei. "I release you from whatever curse any of my ancestors might have set upon you."

Her monotone voice contrasted Yezun's and Yunlan's expectant gaze.

They turned to Wei. "How do you feel? Any different?"

Wei yawned. "More bored than I already was. Can I go now?"

Both boys wanted to cry, seeing that Wei still had for them the same indifferent expression he had for everyone else.

"I told you I know nothing about any curse!" Zhu Hong reminded them.

Under Yunlan's insistence she tried once more. This time she used the words 'I forgive you' before trying to release him from the curse.

Once again, no change at all. The boys were very much discouraged, but not ready to give up just yet.

"Let's ask Pipi's help!" Yezun offered and Yunlan agreed, so they pulled with them a reluctant Hong and an even more reluctant Wei.

Pipi didn't seem at all surprised to see them again, as if she knew all along that their plan wouldn't work.

They begged her to try again. They also insisted to see and possibly talk to Hong's ancestor so that she might tell them what she did and how to annul it.

"Can we, please? We need to talk to her past incarnation." Yunlan tried the magic word to get on her good side.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Pipi asked them gently and they both nodded.

"Yes, we'll convince her to lift the curse and everything will be alright." Yunlan sounded optimistic.

Pipi agreed to help them and they did it again. They held hands while Pipi put her hands on Hong's head.

Being now connected, they saw all her past lives interacting with them until they reached the right one and stopped.

In answer to their questions a vision of Hong's past self spoke through her, directly to Yunlan.

"I did love you and said horrible things to him, but I didn't mean it. I was just hurt, I never wanted to curse him! You're wrong, time healed my broken heart, I found my way. My true path was not with you."

Before they could say anything, she spoke again, pointing a finger at Yunlan.

"The really broken-hearted was not me, but you, because he never loved you back."

Yezun turned to Yunlan with a suspicious, almost accusing gaze.

Yunlan shook his head frantically.
"NO, no, I know I'd never do such a thing, even if he didn't love me I'd never want to hurt him!"

Yezun still looked doubtful but Yunlan insisted so much until at the end he had to accept his protests.

"So, we are back to square one?" Yezun asked, discouraged again.

Pipi had watched them closely all this time, and now she offered, "Maybe you'd like to watch some more of his past lives? We can go farther back in the past."

They agreed, not having any better idea themselves.

The images began flowing once again, going back in time.

They saw two warriors. Wei killed Yunlan who kept talking about love until his last breath.

There was a series of violent images. Yezun killed Wei, and left alone Yunlan killed himself.

"See? I probably did it because you didn't love me!" Yezun shared his opinion on what he just saw.

Wei rolled his eyes. "Such a baby..." was all he had to say.

They kept watching, they were thousands of years in the past now, and further back to a time when the three of them were all gods.

Back then, Wei loved Yunlan.

A tear threatened to fall and Yunlan did his best to hold it back.

"You... you loved me." Yunlan struggled to get the words out.

They saw a Wei very much in love with a Yunlan that loved him back. There was no reason to go further, clearly Wei wasn't yet cursed at this stage, so they waited to discover what and who caused it.

They saw that Wei only had eyes for Yunlan. Back then, Wei was all Yezun had in the world and he got terribly jealous and angry at the man that planned to steal him away.

At the time though, Yunlan was arrogant and possessive, and wanted Wei all to himself.

A great battle ensued. Wei was caught between his brother and his lover. Taking a side would have been heartbreaking.

They were all powerful and Yezun and Yunlan ended up killing each other.

Wei was left alone. He had loved his brother tremendously and hadn't realised that he had been neglecting him now that he had discovered another kind of love.

Wei had lost in one go the only two men he had ever cared about in the whole world, and he had been left alone with his now hateful self.

They had been the most important persons in his life, and he could never forgive himself for what he himself had caused.

Everyone heard Wei's past life say bitter words, even though he had no more anyone who could hear them.

"I'll forever be alone, only because I dared to love someone who deserved so much more than me. It's all my fault... that wasn't love, I'm unworthy of the word, I don't know the meaning of it, I never knew and never will know the meaning of love."