NCT : The Dream Lab

Chapter XLII : The Origins of WayV + Fire Truck

Beijing, Chinese Empire, 1831.

Yong Qin was absolutely convinced that something was up in the pavilion.

The servants did not blabber much about Qian Kun, the head physician, which highly disappointed the young man who was hoping to find something compromising about him. All he knew was that he was twenty-seven years old, that he often hung out around the harbor and often talked with British merchants. He had a Manchu wife and two young children but they lived out of the palace for some obscure reason. Curiously, it looked like he was not much preoccupied by them and just accomplished his filial duty through the marriage.

Apart from gathering those worthless rumors about the head physician's private life, Yong Qin had also taken a closer look at the servants of the pavilion. They were... radically different from those working in the palace. They were overly discreet, avoided visitors and most importantly, they never went home or slept with the other servants in the palace, which meant they spent their whole life inside the pavilion.

And that building for sure was not big enough to permanently shelter over fifteen servants.

The mystery surrounding his cousin started to turn into a literal obsession. He was constantly elaborating new theories about what made his cousin go maniac, about the servants' behavior.

His daily visits to the pavilion were completely fruitless. Just like the first time, he was always welcomed by the same guard from a noble family, Wong Yuk Hei and then greeted by Liu Yang Yang and Qian Kun. Afterwards, they played xiangqi with Si Cheng and Yuk Hei accompanied him back to his suite and that was it. Si Cheng still did not speak.

It was honestly getting boring. The only thing that he could do without taking any risks was getting closer to Yang Yang. He took great care of it. Always keeping a low profile, flattering him, taking him on a walk in the gardens, inviting him for tea-time...

Better than this : Yong Qin grew some admiration for the man. His perfect mannerism, his exquisite culture and perfect knowledge of the classics... He was brilliant. More than this : he was completely devoid of animosity towards anyone. He never uttered a bad word about anyone from the court, even those who regularly opposed his family. He seemed to consider Si Cheng without regard for his deficiency.

Yong Qin was also brilliant, but his public image was not pristine and his impulsive and manipulative tendencies usually got the best of him. He was brilliant, indeed, but also bad and selfish. In consequence, his admiration for Yang Yang soon enough turned into a burning jealousy.

One night when he could not bring himself to fall asleep, he sat on his balcony to stargaze. Obviously, his eyes were naturally directed to the pavilion, as if a type of magnetic force was pushing him towards this place.

And then, he saw the lantern. Someone from the palace was heading to the pavilion on their tippy toes at this ungodly hour of the night. Yong Qin squinted with all his might and... he identified Yang Yang's silhouette with quasi-certitude.

Now his interest was really piqued.

Without thinking twice, he got dressed in a hurry and moved silently through the palace and the gardens without taking any lantern to avoid getting spotted.

Yang Yang had entered the pavilion through an unofficial access that was not guarded which Yong Qin used as well. Surprisingly, it gave access to a very dark row of stairs that went underground. The Siamese male had never suspected the existence of such a place before.

He was even more careful to not make any noise, since the architecture of the corridor decoupled every sound that ricocheted on the wall. Yang Yang was out of sight so he was orienting himself blindly.