Yore Descry (昔日的描述)

Glimpse 23; Lies

Haoyu had his head laid down on his arms folded on his shop's wooden counter, looking up at the wall of antique clocks at the other side of the room. In his right hand he fidgeted his silver key pendant, still loosely tied around his neck by a black thread. Next to his hand was a silver old-school pocket watch, its chains nearly falling off the side of the counter. Haoyu listened to its ticks, counting the minutes that go by with his eyes closed, slowly lulling himself to sleep.

"It's such a cool sound!" It brought him back to one of his childhood memories, the very first time his father gifted him the timepiece.

"Right? The ticking sound is one of a kind," Haoyu recalled his father's kind, but enthusiastic voice. "It's worth plenty, but I thought it would be a good gift for you. When you grow up, you can do whatever you want with it. You can auction it if you need, or even keep it."

Even with knowledge that the timepiece was worth a fortune, he never felt any urge to give the artifact to someone else. A pocket watch that his father found in one of his expeditions and repaired to gift it to his son for his 4th birthday, it became a treasure Haoyu couldn't sell for any price.

Haoyu's eyes opened slightly from ring of the bell above his shop's door, slowly lifted his body up from seeing Wufei walk in, with an older man he didn't recognize.

"40 minutes; I'm satisfied to know you understand my hint." Haoyu smiled pleasantly.

"Expect nothing less from me, Haoyu." Wufei smirked pridefully.

"And, are you Lao Jin Chengxi?"

"It's an honour to finally meet you, Xiao Haoyu." Chengxi bowed his head politely.

"Oh, you know my partner already~?" Wufei- for whatever reason, seemed to be in a playful mood.

"I assist your superior and he's quite comfortable with me, he vented to me from time to time about how tiring it is to bear with your tomfoolery, Lao Wufei." Haoyu snickered slightly; it was sarcasm.

"What tomfoolery? That man just exaggerates sometimes..." Wufei sighed as he sat on one of the chairs lining the counter. "Whoa, neat pocket watch. Packing it up for someone?" he said when he saw Haoyu's silver pocket watch on the table.

"No, it's mine." Haoyu smiled slightly, "What are you here for?" he asked as he puts his timepiece into the drawer under the cashier to store it away.

"I was assigned to investigate a mysterious break-in downtown, a house owned by Huang Jianguo and Huang Jianhua. They're your friends, aren't they?" Wufei smiled as Chengxi sat on the seat next to him.

"I believe you've done further investigations about my personal life than I hoped, Lao Wufei. I don't quite appreciate that,"

"Sorry, I have a bad case of curiosity. Once something's piqued my interest, I go out of my way to satisfy my own questions." Wufei shrugged a shoulder, "Oh, I left the case papers in the car..." he had a sudden realization.

"I'll get it..." Chengxi sighed and stepped out of the shop, leaving Wufei alone with Haoyu.

"You did that on purpose,"

"Hahaha, was it obvious to you?" Wufei grinned shamelessly, "I just wanted to ask you one question,"

"I thought so," Haoyu already has plenty that he expected from the prodigy detective, including his awful curiosity.

"Are those rumours true? Can you really see the past in objects?"

"Wow, you detectives are similar in some ways, huh...?" Wufei's scepticism gave Haoyu a strong feeling of deja vu that it summoned an awed but confused expression on his face.