Some say optimism can be a gift or a curse, but I think in this case it helps to have hope. [optimism, seeing the bright side of things, has definitely brought more hurt and pain to xichen's life than it saved and yet that is his curse.

it is in his nature to see the good in people, in stories. it is also why what waits for him back home is isolation.

he frowns then, glancing back at the hall and then his companion.] I am afraid, if they were ghosts at all, your laughing friends are no longer with us.