Smiles can mask so many emotions. Whores know that trick, don't they? Keep smiling, keep laughing, be pleasant and you will live another day. Meng Yao had perfected his sweet expressions in the brothel, peering into his mother's mirror while obscene things were done to her. He had to learn to be numb.

Too numb.

"I'm glad." he softens with a sad frown, "There isn't much room in them, but the gardens are worth visiting."

His pale cheeks turn pink at Mingjue's kindness. So what if it isn't exactly like Lan Xichen's? It exists and Meng Yao isn't going to waste it.

"This way." he turns and leads the way to the kitchen, immediately seeking out ingredients that will make a pleasing meal for Mingjue. With his eidetic memory, the process isn't difficult and -

"I'm...unusual." the admittance comes out quietly while things are cooking, "I only need to see or hear a thing once and I never forget it. My memories are...real. They exist before my eyes. I sometimes have a difficult time telling which is the memory and which is reality."