And oh but his heart breaks when Jin Ling offers to pay off his debt like it's nothing - he's so determined, so perfectly kind and caring and Yuan wishes the debt were the only problem.

There's a tiny, horrible part of him that wants to just say yes, that's what the problem was, and Jin Ling will take care of it and Yuan can forget all about the real problem because what does it matter, it's not like being a Wen ever did him any favours anyway.

But he can't do that. He can't. He remembers so little of his childhood, his family, but there was so much warmth and love in those tiny scraps of memory that abandoning the only connection he has to them feels like the worst kind of betrayal - especially knowing that they're all dead.

"A-Ling..." he says softly, savouring the word as if it might be the last time he gets to say it "I know you know my family name isn't really Zheng, but I never told you what it was... I don't really tell anyone, if I can help it, because I know how they'll react, and I don't... I don't know if you'd feel the same if you knew..."

He takes a breath, knowing that he's about to destroy everything, maybe for both of them.

"It's Wen."