Hidden Marriage

When he heard Ning Xi’s question, the beggar seemed to hold back. All of a sudden, he became quiet and lay on the ground, avoiding her glance.

Ning Xi rubbed her chin and left.

The beggar opened his eyes when he heard Ning Xi’s footsteps leaving, then he stared at the bags of clothes with the History logo that she left behind…

After a while, he heard some footsteps approaching and he hung his head with his eyes closed before the footsteps stopped right in front of him. He rattled his bowl with some scarce change in it, but he heard a loud "thump" right beside him.

He opened his eyes again and saw a can of beer right in front of him.

The beggar sat up and quickly took the beer, almost tasting the exhilirating coolness trickling down his parched throat. He looked up and saw the girl earlier in front of him. She placed a dozen cans of beer right beside him.

«What is this?" the beggar asked doubtfully.

"These are on me, I have some booze for you and in exchange, you have some stories to tell!" Ning Xi announced brightly, putting some newspapers on the floor to sit on.

The beggar opened the can of beer and gulped it down thirstily while denying, "I don’t have any stories to tell…».

Ning Xi smiled. She was patient and she believed that the booze would loosen his tongue!

Ning Xi was not the nosy type but once she found something that interested her, she had to know everything about it!

Eventually, the alcohol did its job and he started talking after three cans of beer.

Ning Xi waved the beer in front of his face and asked, "I’m going to ask you again. How do you know so much about this outfit? And how did you even know that it’s an incomplete design?"

«Of course...of course, I’d know...it’s...it’s my child…" the beggar spoke up.

"Huh? Your child?».

«They stole...they stole my children…».

«What do you mean? Who stole your children?».

«History...stole my Neon!».

«Eh, you even know Neon? Who exactly are you? You said that History stole your Neon. Are you the designer from Neon? But isn’t David the designer for Neon?" Ning Xi was even more interested and continued to make him drink. "Come, drink more!».

The beggar guzzled another two more cans and continued, "I’m the designer for Neon...the only designer…"

Ning Xi raised her brows in doubt and replied, "You think I’d take your word for it? If you're the designer of Neon, then I’m God!"

The beggar’s expression darkened and he snapped, "Suit yourself!"

Ning Xi took out her phone and tapped on an album containing pictures of her wearing Neon outfits. "Eh, since you said you’re the only designer in Neon, let me test you! All these outfits in this album are from Neon, so you should know well enough when they were released and what series they are from then. If you really are who you say you are, then this should be a piece of cake for you."

The beggar took a glance at Ning Xi’s album, his soulless eyes suddenly brought back to life. He started mumbling, "Wonderful...looks great...they’ve found themselves a worthy owner…"

Ning Xi nodded with satisfaction. Finally, he had something nice to say.

The beggar seemed sobered and refreshed after seeing those pictures. He tapped on one of them with excitement, "You have this one too?"