Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian was not very trustworthy, but Galaxy would not help him lie.
Galaxy itself had very acute senses when it came to “observing”––more acute than the rest of the elfins––and if it said that there was really someone watching Zhang Zian, then that was definitely true.
Fina finally became serious, and Old Time Tea and Famous both started to place more emphasis on the matter. The rest of the elfins stopped with their playful faces, then all looked around at their surroundings. The originally lively parade square suddenly became a bit strange.
There were constantly tourists that were talking and laughing as they walked past Zhang Zian, but there was no one who specially stopped to take notice of him.
The elfins separated themselves to stand at Zhang Zian’s front, back, and sides. They placed him at the center as they each took charge of a single direction so that they could search with higher efficiency.
Honestly speaking, the feeling of being observed in secret was not a good one––especially when the other party’s identity and their reason for doing so were still unknown.
Thankfully, Zhang Zian was quite big-hearted. If Fina was met a similar situation, it would have exploded a long time ago.
The elfins all searched for a long time, but they still did not notice anything out of place.
“It’s all right, don’t search anymore. It is probably like what I guessed: there is a beautiful, white, and rich woman in the capital that has a crush on me… Perhaps it’s not just one––it could be two. I need to be with one on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I need to be the other on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I can have a day off on Sunday to let me catch my breath, otherwise my body wouldn’t be able to take it…” Zhang Zian said, pretending to be relaxed.
“Ga ga! Everyone make way. Let me pee on him to wake him up!” Richard called as he made small jumps on his head.
Old Time Tea thought about it for a while and said, “It’s better like that. I suggest that we play a game of cat and mouse. We pretend that we do not care about it and just keep doing what we have to do. If the other party persists, they will definitely follow us. As long as the other party starts to move, it’ll be easy to find them.”
Zhang Zian nodded his head. As expected, aged ginger was more pungent.
Now they were in a static state, and the other side was also in a static state. It would be too difficult to find them, but as long as they started to act, the other side could only follow if they wanted to keep watching him. As long as the other side moved, their weakness would be easily revealed.
Zhang Zian pointed to the gate of the city building and said, “Anyway, we are going to visit the Palace Museum. Why don’t we go north?”
The elfins were not familiar with the area, so of course, they would follow what he said. No one objected.
The Forbidden City had yet to open, and there were not many tourists moving in that direction. When it came time for the Forbidden City doors to open, there would be a lot of tourists.
He took the lead and led the elfins through the tall doors to the north of the city building.
“Ga ga! Brother soldiers came again. Perhaps there is someone who has a crush on you inside!” Richard patted his head using his wings.
A neat line of flag guards came to the side of the building. Although it was not the formal flag raising ceremony, their postures were still straight and their movements were uniform.
“Welcoming the morning of the East, full of sincerity. Alongside the solemn music, we raised the national flag! The national flag, the national flag, it’s higher than everything else! We salute to you! We will stand guard by your side at every moment. You will always be fluttering in our heart!” They had heroic vitality, walking neatly together while they sang a team song loudly. Each step they took accurately kept beat with the drum, and the tourists consciously cleared a path for them.
Zhang Zian and the rest were standing at the roadside, sending the flag guards off with their eyes.
“Zian, how is it? Do you still have that kind of feeling?” Old Time Tea asked.
Zhang Zian tried to feel it for a moment. “It seems to have weakened quite a bit, but it has yet to completely vanish.”
That kind of feeling was very weird. He would occasionally feel a normal gaze come from a certain direction, but this was different. It was closer to a sense of pressure one would feel if something enveloped them from the sky.
Old Time Tea nodded. “Then we continue walking. I believe that the other party will give themselves away.”
They had woken up too early, and he had just randomly eaten some things to fill his stomach. He had been tossed about the whole morning, and now his stomach was a bit angry.
“Ga ga! That group of primary school children is eating over there. Should we go over and taste? I’m hungry!” Richard called out from Zhang Zian’s head. He had the highest viewpoint.
The group of primary school children surrounded a street food stall, chatting and eating breakfast. The four teachers were there, and they were eating deep fried dough sticks while drinking fermented soybean milk. They had been attracted by the fame of the capital, and they wanted to try the traditional food of the capital; however, the two female teachers obviously could not stand the taste of the fermented soybean milk. They had a mouthful of the drink and tears in their eyes, but they felt that it was rude to spit it out; yet, it was too disgusting to drink it… A greyish-white liquid came out of the corner of their mouths, somehow giving off a lecherous feel.
In Germany, they had eaten barbecued meat, sausages, and pork shank and found that it was quite good. Now that they were in the capital, they were naturally anticipating the specialty snacks that the capital had to offer.
“Actually, there aren’t any specialty snacks in the capital that are suitable for you to eat.” Zhang Zian used his fingers to count. “Bittern Flapjack, fried cow stomach, fried liver, stuffed intestine, fermented soybean milk, seasoned millet, puff pastry, sweet pea puree… It is either made of starch, or it is animal viscera, or it has a lot of spices, or it is very sweet or salty. You all definitely could not stand the taste, and eating it would cause harm to your bodies. It’d be better to find other things to eat.”
Richard was speechless. “This is the first time that I heard that stuffed intestines can be eaten… That’s insane!”
Zhang Zian bought some barbecue and other food and squatted down in a quiet corner. The food there was not cheap, but the food in the Palace Museum was so expensive that it was shocking. It was better to eat there and then go in, otherwise he would be broke again.
As he watched the tourists coming and going, he fed some food to the elfins and ate some of it himself. It was just past eight o’clock in the morning; they still was had a whole morning to explore the capital. If they did not have enough food, they would surely be weak and spiritless.
After they finished their food, he threw the bag and the paper that was used to wrap the food into the trashcan and called the elfins. “Let’s go.”
“We’re going now? Isn’t it still closed?”
Fina had finished eating and drinking and wanted to find a good position under the sun. Since it was still early, it had planned on taking a short nap. Upon hearing Zhang Zian’s words, it wore an unhappy face.
“We can’t wait until the doors are open to line up. If we did that, there would be too many people. We need to go and line up now. Once the door opens, we need to quickly rush inside. That way, we can admire the scenery in the Forbidden City in peace,” he explained.
Many photographers wanted to photograph works of art in museums, such as the Mona Lisa, without being blocked by tourists, but there were always a lot of tourists around the famous works of art. What were they to do? That required them to go the day before to get a good spot, and then the next day when the museum opened, they had to rush in and rush to the art they wanted to shoot. At that time, the large army of tourists still lagged behind, and while no one disturbed them, they could shoot as much as they wanted.
Galaxy was scared of humans, and the rest of the elfins did not want to squeeze in with the tourists. That was the only way they could explore the place to their heart’s content while avoiding most of the tourists.
