Two worlds apart

Cigarettes and kisses are a recipe for disaster.

Lan Xichen slowly woke up, and the first thing he saw was the dark curtains that barely covered the window. Then he realized that he was not in his room. Memories of what happened yesterday resurfaced, and he slowly sat up. He was alone in the room, and he did not know what time it already was, but judging from the sunlight coming from the window, it might be past five. Lan Xichen stood up and started to look around the room; he was not able to have a clear look last night. After all, this is Jiang Cheng’s personal space, and he wanted to see what it looked like; he wanted to know him more. The first thing he saw was the desk, and he could not recognize most of the items in there, but what caught his attention were the small portraits. Lan Xichen picked one and admired the details of the painting on such a small canvas. It was Jiang Cheng along with his siblings, and they looked a lot younger.

Ah, Jiang Cheng looks adorable.

He placed the portrait down and started looking around. On the other side of the wall, there is a board that was plastered, and several papers and photos were pinned. Lan Xichen is having a hard time reading the words, but it was probably important if Jiang Cheng had them on his wall. Looking around, he noted there aren't many decorations in his room; it's a little small, so Lan Xichen wondered how Jiang Cheng could be comfortable here; the bathroom is too small too.

Lan Xichen smiled to himself, walking towards the door. He tried sliding it off, but it would not budge. He realized that it wasn’t a sliding door; he could remember that Jiang Cheng did something to open it. So Lan Xichen pondered for a while, staring at the circular object in it, before he held it. Blinking,  he tried pushing and pulling, but it still would not open. Confused,  he twisted the knob and pulled. The joy he felt when the door opened made Lan Xichen smile.

So it’s like that.

Lan Xichen nodded to himself and walked out of the room. His footsteps were light as he found the stairs. The house is bright, and he made sure not to be noisy as he walked down the stairs. The house definitely looks different than what he is used to; there are so many items and decorations. His musings suddenly halted when he looked down and saw a small child looking up at him.

"Hello!" Lan Xichen smiled and greeted the child, who just kept staring at him.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"My name is Lan Xichen."

"Are you here to steal? I will tell my jiujiu!" The child pouted and was close to screaming.

Lan Xichen immediately crouched down to face him and said, "Oh no, I am your Jiujiu’s friend; you must be A-Ling? He talks a lot about you."

"You know my jiujiu?" Finally, Jin Ling relaxed at the mention of his jiujiu, and Lan Xichen smiled, nodding at him.

"A-Ling"

A woman appeared and smiled at Lan Xichen. He could see her resemblance to Jiang Wanyin, so he recognized that this was perhaps his sister, Jiang Yanli. He smiled back at her and gave a formal bow, which flustered her.

"It’s nice to finally meet you, Maiden Jiang"

Jiang Yanli laughed a little as she waved her hand. "You are too formal; you may call me Yanli," she replied, clasping Lan Xichen’s hand on her own and shaking it before reaching out to usher Jin Ling back to her. "I hope my little one is not bothering you."

"Not at all, Miss Yanli. He is quite a cautious child, which is good. He should not trust a stranger."

"Now now, let’s not talk here in the stairway; you are probably hungry. Come here, A-Ling, don’t be rude to our guest, okay?"

"Okay"

They all walked towards the kitchen, and Lan Xichen stared at the table and long chairs, a little confused at how different the set up was here. It just shows how different his and Jiang Cheng’s worlds are. Lan Xichen sat down in the chair and tried to make himself comfortable. Casually looking around before he turned to see Jin Ling sitting across him just staring at him.