Yao Shen wakes up with a start. His pillow and the front of his shirt are stained with tears.
He doesn't know how long he's been asleep, but the day hasn't yet gone dark outside the bedroom's window.
If he strains his ears he can make out of the sounds of Xin Hulei pacing back and forth in the living room.
If he sees the state Yao Shen is in now, he might want to intervene, either join Yao Shen's dreams, or stop Yao Shen from going forward with it.
He doesn't want Xin Hulei to suffer any more of this. He doesn't want him to see everything else Si Wang has put him through.
Yao Shen needs to know, though.
His curiosity is like a living thing -- eating at him from the inside.
He needs to know what else happened.
He pours another memory into the incense burner and goes back to sleep, falling back into its warm clutches without any conscious effort on his part.
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