When Yao Shen returns to the apartment, the bedroom light is on and Xin Hulei is awake, waiting for him.
"Where have you been?" he asks. His tone isn't accusatory, or demanding. He just wants to know that Yao Shen is safe.
"I went to visit Meng Po," Yao Shen admits, sitting down on the bed next to him.
Xin Hulei sighs. "I don't know when I'll have the courage to face her..." His dark eyes drift towards Yao Shen. "Should I thank her, or curse her?"
Yao Shen pulls the four memory vials she gave him out of his pocket.
"I went there to curse her, but she gave me this."
Xin Hulei picks one of the vials and inspects it, turning it slowly under the room's weak light.
"Memories from your past lives?"
Yao Shen nods. "She also gave me this."
The incense burner he pulls out of the front pocket of his jumper is far bulkier, but still disconcertingly small, for what it promises to do.
