Guo zhen lifted up his head that had been staring at the joined hands that had been on the counter top. Surprise evident on his face, "How do you know that name?"
Removing one of the hands he was using to keep Guo zhen steady, Yan raised it to flick the middle of his forehead, a praise me, am I not great satisfied smile on his face. "He.. he.. don't be naughty, it's my turn to ask the questions."
In all his twenty six years of existence, no one had ever taken on such a role of a supposed elder with him, his eyes widened a little and the hand that had been freed from Yans grip was raised to touch the spot that Yansheng had touched on his forehead.
If his assistant or anyone else who really knew him had seen him like this, they would have been surprised at the amount of emotions he had shown since entering the Inn. Before he could think further on how rude and emotionally distabilizing Yansheng was, the hand he raised was grabbed again and placed on the table. He could tell Yan had no intention of letting him go, so he only stared at him and waited for him to explain.
Receiving no explanation, Guo zhen could no longer take the silence. Looking back at their joined hands, "He's my, he was my… he's my partner."
"Hmm." Was Yans only response.
Guo zhen looked at Yansheng, really looked at him. He noticed that even though this person wore white all through, his face pale, around his eyes, there seemed to be a dust of pink or red, he wasn't sure, but it made him look more, more… catching himself, he immediately looked away.
Exhaling like he had finally given up, Guo zhen muttered, "What do you really want to know, I'll tell you."
Yan knew that he had successfully disarmed Guo zhen, it was actually really useful to look this good, he patted himself in his mind.
Outwardly, Yan smiled. "Everything, I want to know everything, your life story and Lu zhihao, how you both came to be and it ending with you like," looking him up and down, like trying to make a statement, "this."
A dry laugh escaped Guo zhens lips, "Thats a very long story, do you have time to listen?"
"You don't need to say anything actually." Yan winked at him, "This Inn, our hands joined together, and Fei bao's powers, as long as you give me permission, I can enter your mind. You can directly show me your memories, saving you the stress of having to talk too much."
"Oh," glancing at the cat that was purring softly on the side, asleep, Guo zhen raised an eyebrow distrustfully at Yan.
Laughing a little, Yan assured, "Don't worry, he's actually very reliable when he wants to be."
"But since he's asleep, it means he won't be joining us for the trip."
"So, do we have your permission?" Yan asked.
Deciding to go with the flow of things, Guo zhen nodded his head, approving, and immediately, the scenery changed. He saw himself in an office, actually, calling it an office was a bit of a stretch, it was more of a lair, with black out curtains on the windows and double seater chairs arranged haphazardly about. The only place that looked decent was a small corner with a rosewood study table and an office chair where he was sitting in the memory.
He noticed that this version of himself was the nineteen year old him who hadn't been found yet by the Li family. He was busy counting money by hand, envelopes neatly arranged on the table with people's names written on the back, and when he filled another envelope with money, he would write another name on it.
He was dressed in black jeans, a white round neck and had a black leather jacket on to chase away the cold. It was also the most expensive thing he had. His hair, at this point in time was at shoulder length and he currently had half of it packed up, tied with a ribbon to hold it in place, allowing the rest to fall freely on his neck and some loose strands on his face. He had a relaxed look about him.
After his parents had been reported for child abuse and arrested when he was seven, he had been taken into the system and put up for adoption, and whenever he found a new family, his eerily red eyes and silver hair made them afraid of him. Whenever something bad happened in the family, they would attribute it to him. If someone fell sick and he passed by, they would say he was the cause, he was a ghost, a curse and at one point, a priest had been called to exorcise the demon in him, he had been lashed with a whip dipped in holy water, crisscross marks splayed beautifully on his back during the process and even he himself hoped that if he finally survived this, if they believed the evil spirit was gone, they would finally accept him and let him stay, anyway it wasn't like this was the first time he was being beaten.
The longest he stayed with a new family was six months. After getting passed around and returned three times back to the orphanage, he decided he wasn't going to try to please anyone anymore.
A mother and father, he didn't need.
As long as his belly was full and he had a roof over his head, that was enough. He was twelve when he came to this conclusion. While still lost in thought and looking at his younger self, a door out of nowhere in the middle of the room opened and Su Yansheng walked out, the door disappearing immediately after.
"Where were you?" He asked.
Looking a bit disheveled, his hair more out of place than usual, Yansheng grumbled. He looked a bit annoyed at Guo zhen and raised his finger at him to complain but put his hand back down when he looked into his eyes and remembered all the things he had seen.
"Who asked you to fast forward your life so much, I was lost trying to catch up to where you had gotten to in your memory."
"Lost?" Guo zhen asked skeptically.
"Yeah, your mind had decided this was an important place to start reviewing your memory from but you suddenly started thinking about your past from when you were three and I had to go through all of it alone even though it was on fast forward. While you only needed to chill here, waiting for me." He snorted, shaking off imaginary dust from his sleeves.
"How long were you gone for?"
Seeing that Guo zhen seemed to actually care about his well-being, he decided to let him off.
"Not long, a year."
"Hmm, and between the time I was in the bar and opening my eyes here, it's only been a minute, fascinating." Guo zhen said to no one in particular.
Upon hearing what he said, Yan realized he was only using him for the math and the anger that had died down came flaring back up, but before he could say anything, a knock came on the door, a head of crisp short black hair poked through and a face that still retained its baby fat called out to the Guo zhen that had been counting money.
"Big brother, there's someone here for you, they say they're your family member."
"Oh, which one is it this time?" Guo zhen asks, not raising his head up from the table he was currently stuffing money into an envelope on.
Stammering a little, the baby face, Fang Rui, finally allowed his body to fully enter the room. He was dressed almost identically to Guo zhen, except, instead of a leather jacket, he had on a simple black flannel shirt over his white roundneck and he also had prescription glasses on. His voice soft, not daring to face Guo zhen directly, he replied, "The.. the Li family"
"They say they're your biological family and are here to take you home."
Guo zhen looked up from what he was doing, a bit of interest finally showing in his eyes.
"Oh."