BOOK 9. Zhao Yunlan is a private investigator who will accept almost any case as long as it pays, and when he finds a client's lost cat, they ask him to look into their friend's memory loss but he refuses. Shen Wei is an architect and after he mee...
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The guards had brought the couple back to the lounge at home and then left returning to their own area and reporting to Guo Ying who would need to know every detail.
Wei was starving, so he led Yunlan down to the kitchen where Ava was waiting with an assortment of small dishes already prepared, smiling when she saw him approach.
"I knew you would be hungry My Lord. I'll leave you to enjoy your food, call me if you need anything else," and she bowed slightly before she left and headed towards her room to rest before dinner.
Yunlan sat beside Wei and placed several dishes in front of him while he chose others for himself and watched as the full plates disappeared quicker than usual.
"When did you last eat Xaio Wei?" Yunlan asked as he saw him finish another dish and replace it with one full of thin slices of fish.
"Breakfast yesterday, I think," and Wei carried on eating until a thought crossed his mind.
"How did you know I was in trouble, or where to find me?" He asked as he lifted a cup of tea and relaxed, staring while he waited for an answer. Yunlan put his food to the side and turned to look at this tired person beside him who did not ask out of suspicion or mistrust, there was no malice in his thoughts, only curiosity.
Yunlan lifted one of Wei's hands and held it in between his while he spoke in a soft hypnotic tone, as if telling a bedtime story and gazed deep into Wei's eyes.
"Ying came to see me when he became concerned for your safety and I was taken to the old ruins. After I saw you go in and close the doors, Ouyang Zhen approached to have a look but when his thug was knocked out after running into your protection dome, he realised that he wouldn't be able to pass it, and left. I thought that as long as you were behind the barrier, you would be safe, so I went for a look around the cottage before going home. I asked the guards to keep watch through the night, just in case anything happened and they stayed until I returned when I felt that you were in danger, the dial of the watch turned red.
Guo Ying knew you were in trouble even before I called him and he transported me down into the basement, but it took a lot of persuasion to assure him that I would be better on my own, and I managed to convince him to wait outside. When I started following the wall of shadows, they completely ignored me. Apep explained that it was because I had no signs of having dark energy and they didn't consider me a threat."
Wei felt his eyes becoming heavy and he was having a hard time trying to stay awake. He was unaware of Yunlan using mild hypnotism to put him to sleep, and after he closed them, Yunlan lifted him gently and summoned a guard to transport them both to Shen Wei's room and he placed him carefully on the bed to sleep and smiled as he thanked the guard who bowed in respect and left.
Yunlan started to undo Wei's collar and loosen his neck, making him more comfortable while he slept, before he removed his shoes and looked around for the blanket he'd used previously, and then slipped into bed beside him and cuddled him from behind. Yunlan wasn't tired, it was only late afternoon but he needed reassurance that Wei was alright, so he lay and listened to him breathe. It gave him time to remember what he had been told yesterday in the cottage, that Wei could live for as long as he wanted, but one of his ancestors had died suddenly through ill health, while his partner was still alive, so nature still had a say in how long his life span was. He suddenly remembered the history books that he had brought back with him from the cottage and slipped off the bed to fetch one from his own room before coming back to retake his position, but sat up, so that he could read. Wei must have felt him move in his sleep and he turned to throw his arm across him, holding him in place as he cuddled into his side.
Several hours later, Guo Ying tapped the door and entered to ask about dinner, finding Yunlan engrossed in a book while Wei was still sound asleep, and he automatically lowered his voice to a whisper.
"I came to ask if either of you would like any dinner, My Lord."
"Thank you Ying, but it might be better if Ava could leave us a small plate that we could heat up later when Wei is awake."
Ying nodded but he noticed the history book that Yunlan was reading and recognised it from years ago when his father had shown it to him.
"It's a very interesting book, but it includes a lot of violence which was not exaggerated. Also it's one of a pair, there are two history books. Just another mystery of this strange world we live in, we don't know who the author is but it gets updated to keep it accurate. If you want to know the future, you would need to find the portraits, but they could be a bit cryptic sometimes, though, not always," Ying explained.
Yunlan froze, he remembered the gallery and all the portraits but for some reason, he thought they were all painted to commemorate the events, not foreshadow them.
"They were painted before the scenes happened?"
"Yes My Lord, sometimes a week, or six months or even a year before an event. The mystery artist created them and changed them when necessary, whenever he needed more space."
In the history book, there were the same illustrations before every chapter which described what had happened and out of curiosity, he flipped through the pages to the last chapter, to see what it said and was surprised to see a picture of this house they were living in temporarily, but there wasn't very much written about it.
"Ying, where would the portraits be now, if they continued?" Yunlan asked not even sure if he believed this phenomenon, but he had already stepped into this world and was willing to accept these extraordinary occurrences.
"Not the gallery My Lord, because it's public. It would more likely be in a house, a room, but not here because this is only temporary accommodation. There is one of these paintings in the lounge, but it was bought. Lord Shen may want to take it with him when he returns home, it's possible we could see them appear there."
Ying bowed and left quietly to instruct the cook while Yunlan looked down at Wei and brushed the hair away from his face, he felt his heart swell as he stared at his sleeping beauty beside him. Wei's hold tightened as he dug his fingers into Yunlan's side to keep a hold of him, and at the same time, his expression changed to worry while he began to mumble in his sleep calling out his name. Yunlan was trapped by his powerful grip but he had no wish to move while Wei was in distress and he ran his hand over his brow, hoping to awaken him out of his nightmare, but he didn't. His look of concern only increased while he remained asleep.
In his dream, Wei was desperately clinging onto Yunlan who was hanging over the edge of a tall building trying to save him from falling. He was on his own without the guards and no skills, just an ordinary human who was struggling to try and save someone's life, while he continually spoke to him, telling him of all the wonderful things in this world. The joys of finding someone he would want to be with for the rest of his life, but in this dream they were strangers, they had never met. One was a professional medic and very good at his job and the other was willing to leave this world over a dream that kept repeating every night. Yunlan had cried every morning because he wanted to stay in the dreamworld with the light of his life but had to leave, not knowing if he could return.
Shen Wei abruptly awoke from his dream and sat up quickly, leaning over his bent knees, and he cried sorely, while hiding his face. He understood completely what the dream had meant and he didn't want to know this, but he wasn't aware of Yunlan beside him until he felt his hand rest on his back. Wei raised his head but the crying never stopped even when he came closer to comfort him.
"Nightmare? Do you want to talk about it?" but Wei didn't and never would until he had to. He just turned and attacked Yunlan's mouth, fiercely kissing him before stopping to cling onto him and wait for the tears to stop. Yunlan moved him into a more comfortable position as he lay sobbing, and allowed him to hold on for as long as he needed, while he supported him in his arms.
During this time Guo Ying appeared unexpectedly and glanced over, but Yunlan only needed to nod and signal that Wei was alright and the guard returned his nod before he silently left. Yunlan was beginning to understand a few more things in this strange life and realised that he wasn't the only one who knew when Wei was suffering, and it wasn't just an ordinary nightmare which meant that it involved his fate in some way.
So Yunlan came to a definite decision, he would try and make Wei as happy as possible in this life and first thing tomorrow they would start to organise the move back to his own house, and out of this goldfish bowl.
