Capturing My Demon King Costar

MY COSTAR WORRIES

"I don't feel any changes," Yao Shen says.

"Are you sure you were supposed to drink it?"

Yao Shen nods. "Yes, I'm positive, Meng Po said so."

He turns the vial around in his hand, inspecting the engravings and its shape. It doesn't look any different than all the others he saw in Meng Po's house, but maybe there's something small he isn't noticing.

"Show me Yan Shuyi's vial."

Xin Hulei opens his closet doors and takes out a beautiful lacquered box. Inside it are three small drawers. He pulls open the first one, which has only enough space for Yan Shuyi's memory vial and a beautiful, white jade waist token.

The waist token catches Yao Shen's attention. The white silk tassels hanging from it are wrapped carefully around the jade ornament. Clearly Xin Hulei values it highly.

It sends a sour pang of jealousy through Yao Shen to see such a stark reminder of how much Xin Hulei still treasures his shizun.

Xin Hulei hands him the vial, and Yao Shen inspects it together with his own, side-by-side. "They're identical," he concludes, giving Xin Hulei Yan Shuyi's memory vial back.

"Could the contents have been altered?" Xin Hulei frowns. "We don't know if Yan Shuyi's memories are in his vial either."

"Have you found a way to look into them?"

Xin Hulei shakes his head. "There might be something at 'Hell on Earth' that can help, but I'm not sure I want to. It feels like a violation of shizun's privacy."

Yao Shen understands that, and he knew it was a possibility when he gave Xin Hulei the vial. Mostly, he wanted Xin Hulei to have something of Yan Shuyi's. Meng Po has so many memories already, maybe Xin Hulei could keep this one close to his heart.

That bitter tang of jealousy rises in the back of his throat, but Yao Shen swallows it back down. Whatever Xin Hulei can give him, Yao Shen will be happy with. He'll do his best to put all thoughts of Yan Shuyi out of his mind.

"I need to go back to Youdu," Yao Shen says with a sigh. "Maybe Meng Po knows something, as to why it isn't working."

"Maybe she's the one responsible," Xin Hulei suggests.

That seems unlikely to Yao Shen. Nothing about Meng Po struck him as dishonest. If she wanted to give Yao Shen a vial without his memories in it, she could just have given him any random vial and sent him on his way before he ever set eyes on the repository of memories.

"I'll go to see Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu first, then" Yao Shen says.

If there's something unusual going on, Fan Wujiu will know about it. Xie Bian is too self-absorbed to notice anything except the size of his own ego.

"I'll go with you."

Yao Shen smiles a little at the determined look in Xin Hulei's eyes. "I don't think that's a good idea. Not yet."

Xin Hulei opens his mouth to argue, but Yao Shen silences him with a kiss.

"I'll come right back if something goes wrong."

After some coaxing, Xin Hulei relents.

They go back to Yao Shen's apartment, where he changes into some of his own clothes. He tries to get in touch with either Xie Bian or Fan Wujiu via the two-way mirror, but doesn't get an answer from them.

Xin Hulei thinks that's a bad sign. "They aren't saying anything."

"Maybe they aren't close to the mirror? It isn't like a mobile phone you know? It's not portable."