98 Like Yesterday Once More (2/2)
”You're such an ass,” An Ning shook her head.
”Why? It's the truth.”
”It was another lifetime ago, Nian Zhen,” she mocked. ”Even your name has changed.”
”I'm still the same inside. The same man you married. The same man you grew up with since you were three.”
”The same man who left me for another woman on our wedding day,” An Ning smiled. ”Yup, the same man. How could have I forgotten?”
Nian Zhen had the grace to blush.
”You left her on your wedding day?” Gu Sheng was shocked, staring at Nian Zhen like he was the worst louse in the entire world.
”Yup, on our wedding day. He met another woman and fell in love. Or so I'm told.”
”You've forgotten?” Nian Zhen was surprised. ”And it was not love by the way. It was just simple old lust.”
”Whatever,” An Ning shrugged. ”Anyway, he wanted to marry the woman and we separated. End of story.”
”You forgot about me defying time and gravity to be with you again. I've lost you before, An Ning. Never again.”
”This is such a weird story,” Gu Sheng complained. ”I know you've tried to explain it to me once before but meeting him now...it's just getting bizarre and more bizarre.”
”The story of our lives,” An Ning agreed.
”So, you're not going back since he won't let me back?” Gu Sheng asked, a bit too casually. Nian Zhen heard the different tone in his voice and he glowered menacingly at the young emperor.
”Seems like it. Yuqui will be okay. I left Yi Hai as regent.”
”He learned from you so he'll be quite a taskmaster,” Gu Sheng smiled, meeting Nian Zhen's glare with a bland look.
”Why don't you just go home and leave?” Nian Zhen asked, his lips curved in malice. ”If you're that worried about Yuqui...”
”Who says I'm worried?” Gu Sheng asked. ”Yi Hai will be an excellent regent. Even if he takes over the crown and becomes emperor he'll still be a good choice.”
”Are you serious?” asked An Ning, spearing him with a glance.”You really want your father to hate me, don't you? You are going back, Little Gu, and that's that.”
”But he says not yet so I'm staying,” Gu said was unconcerned.
”Who says I want you here? Didn't you just hear me say you can leave?” Nian Zhen raised his voice, still glowering at Gu Sheng.
”I want to see the town,” Gu Sheng told An Ning, not even deigning to look at Nian Zhen. ”Finish your tea so we can leave.”
”Later, I have to talk something with Nian Zhen first.”
”What about?” Nian Zhen asked.
”This,” she said, showing him the cellphone.
Nian Zhen took the phone and turned it on. He clicked on the messaging app and frowned when he read the message.
”They lost their way? It's not even possible. It's a straight road. It doesn't even have curves but only edges. I don't get how it's even possible,” Nian Zhen asked, frowning.
”The opening is back home in Yuqui. If you let me go I can still reach them. I can show them the way. Nian Zhen, my mom might have brought the twins with them. They need my help. If I return to Yuqui....,” An Ning was not even ashamed of pleading. ”I'll come back.I promise I will.”
Nian Zhen stretched out a hand to wipe the single tear that rolled down An Ning's cheek with his fingertip.
”I know, darling.I know,” he said softly. ”But even if you go back, it might not be possible for you to see them again. I don't fully understand how this portal works but if you saw what you said you saw, it might not be them per se but a mirror image.”
”Mirror image? What do you mean?” An Ning frowned.
”Your grandmother's time machine created some sort of a link with the outside world. I don't know how she did it but it works rather like a video conference app for other worlds. The only problem is that the machine may get in touch with these worlds but it doesn't exactly know how to get there or even know where it is.”
”Don't they just input the date of the era or time they want to visit and that's it?That's how it works in the movies.”
Nian Zhen smiled and shook his head.
”It should work that way but your grandmother, for some reason, didn't build it that way. She builtit to work like a looking glass except that she did something and the machine instead acquired a life of its own and started beeping hellos to other worlds. I think she infused it with some sort of magic which, as most unknown energy source tend to do, it went crazy and did something else.”
”How did you know about this? About my grandmother and the time machine?”
”Obviously because I used it,” Nian Zhen said.
”What?”
”I was a spirit, An Ning. I wasn't actually tethered to anything, especially a body, so when I was following you and saw what your grandmother was up to, I thought why not.”
”You didn't have a body....” said An Ning, thinking of Han.
”My brother took over my physical body for some reason. He didn't want to die so his soul pushed mine out.” Nian Zhen stopped, his hands fisting in unconscious rage.
”I hated him for that,” he continued. ”I still hate him. It was him who died but it was I who became stuck in limbo,” he said, the resentment evident in his voice. ”He took my life, An Ning. He took you and he took the life I could have with you and the twins.”
”So, you messed his head up and the reason why he's now with Valerie.”
”Why not?” Nian Zhen jeered. ”He didn't deserve you. Why should I make it easy for him? Do you know what I did to come back like this? I went through hell. No, scratch that.Hell is not the word I would have used to describe it. I climbed the pit of the abyss just to come back so don't expect me to feel sorry for my brother.”
Nian Zhen's body was shaking with rage when he finally stopped. His handsome face was covered in sweat, his cheeks flushed and his eyes flashing red lights. An Ning took a step back in alarm when she saw his expression. Nian Zhen looked like he was about to explode.Even his ponytail was shaking with his fury, the ends emitting a current that was starting to filter the air with a bite.
”Richard!” An Ning screamed, pushing Gu Sheng out of the way before attacking Nian Zhen, who was now standing in the middle of the kitchen transformed into a snarling demon. Her fists were about to fly to his face when the door was flung open and five men rushed in armed with tasers.
The men surrounded Nian Zhen who was growling at them with fury. The men simultaneously attacked, the tasers in their hands filling the room with their loud buzzing sound.
Nian Zhen, however, deflected the attack by jumping and crawling on the ceiling. He was about to jump out the window but An Ning was already there, blocking his path with her body. Nian Zhen charged at her but An Ning was faster. She lunged and her fist connected with his jaw, the force of it sending him reeling backwards across three rooms, the study, the porch, and the willow tree where his body crashed and finally stopped his momentum.
Nian Zhen's body fell on the ground, still and unmoving.In the sudden silence that followed, An Ning's voice was heard: ”What the fuck just happened? Somebody better give me an explanation or I'm going to tear this place apart to get the answers I want.”