The melodic tinkling of a child's laughter wakes up Yao Shen. He wakes in stages, being at first aware of the soft grass under his cheek, and then of running water nearby.
"Dage, look!"
Gingerly, Yao Shen gets up to his feet. He opens his eyes in the middle of a luxurious courtyard, the kind he has only seen in historical sight tours, or the very best of period dramas.
The source of the childish laughter is a boy of no more than ten years, tugging on the sleeve of a slightly older teenager, who must be aged around fifteen.
"Dage, the carps you gave me are already so big," the boy says, his dark eyes sparkling with joy.
The older teen turns around and Yao Shen can see his face for the first time.
It's like looking into one of his high school pictures. Except his hair had never been that long and Yao Shen is sure he has never looked that serious and focused.
Yao Shen never had a younger brother either.
