"I've always spoken it, I just never learned to read it," Wan said slowly, smiling sadly, "My... The guy who took care of me... he taught me Chinese. It was his first language. He knew some English, but said we could get the same news in the China town papers as the English ones so it didn't really matter which one I learned. So... Anyway, I don't mind tangents."
He brightened and turned to Rene, "And meandering stories are usually the most interesting."