“You are bringing me there?”
“Unless you mean to go there yourself,” said Lu Yi, “Are you planning on walking there? Or crawling?”
Yan Huan swung her legs about. My legs are still working, she thought, of course I’ll walk. She wasn’t a caterpillar, so why would she crawl?
“When’s the temple fair?” asked Lu Yi. He needed to plan his leaves ahead if he wanted to make it to the fair.
“The day after tomorrow,” said Yan Huan as she drank her milk. There will be tasty stuff at the fair. How lucky I am.
Shaking his head, Lu Yi picked up his phone and walked outside to make a call to his secretary, asking if he was free on that day, and to cancel everything planned for him.
Yan Huan wasn’t an easy person to please; she had her whims and tempers. But he was the one who chose to marry her. His life would’ve been easier if he married someone with Fang Zhu’s temperament, but doubtlessly less… exciting.
As compared to a routine life, she preferred what she had now.
He, on the other day, could no longer imagine days without this petulant woman.
The past seemed no more than a dream. As much as he was comfortable with the past, he welcomed change. But not once did he wish anything to change after adapting to his new life.
With her as his wife, he could safely say that his life had been worth living.
My wife is reincarnated, he ought to add.
Good news came from the secretary. He was unbooked on the day after, so all he had to do was to finish the work at hand.
Yan Huan slept early that night. She used to like sleeping sideways, but that was before she broke her arm. Now she had grown accustomed to sleeping face-up and eating with her left.
Lu Yi went over to adjust her blanket.
He then walked to his desk and began compiling his recent work. The light from the computer screen limned his face, a face that lost its hardness from previous days. Focused in his work, he didn’t notice that Yan Huan was awake and staring at him.
She smiled.
You should go out more when you are not working, Prosecutor Lu. Work isn’t the only joy in life. This trip will be a great experience for someone who has never visited a temple fair.
She pulled up her blankets and fell asleep for real this time. It was only a day away before she could go out there and get some fresh air. The past few months had been suffocating.
Not as suffocating as Lu Yi, of course, who had to work in the day and take care of her at night. During that time, he stayed away from the Procuratorate whenever possible to work from home instead. A large part of her speedy recovery had to be accredited to Lu Yi.
His cologne lingered on the blankets, the faint floral smell she loved best. The air was permeated with the humidity exclusive to Sea City, but it didn’t feel so bad in this season.
When she opened her eyes again, the curtains had already been drawn open. Mellow light spilled into the room from the windows, covering her like a soft blanket. She rubbed her eyes and sat up carefully.
The door opened. Lu Yi walked in and shut the curtains. The sunlight was too strong.
“It’s still early. You should sleep more,” he urged, walking to the bed. He reached out and spruced up her bed-tousled hair.
Her hair was always a nest when she woke up in the mornings. Fortunately, she had good sleeping habits. At least she didn’t roll in her sleep, or he would have to worry about her crushing her broken arm.
“I’ve slept enough,” said Yan Huan, leaning her head against Lu Yi’s shoulders, lethargic.
“Alright then,” said Lu Yi. He pinched her face as he stood up. “Go get changed, we are heading out. Weren’t you looking forward to going to the temple fair? There will be less people if we go early.”
Yan Huan pulled down the blanket and stood up. She stretched lazily with one arm, which was, unfortunately, as graceful as a chicken with one wing.
Lu Yi helped her into a black-framed glass and a sun hat.
“Do you want a mask?” he asked as he adjusted the angle of the hat to hide most of her face.
“Nah. No one will notice me there,” Yan Huan shook her head. She wouldn’t be able to eat anything with a huge mask on. Everyone at the temple fair would be too distracted to pay any attention to her anyway.
Yan Huan rested her right arm on her leg, which Lu Yi proceeded to cover with another blanket. It looked much more normal this way, and it was hard to even tell she was wearing a cast.
Lu Yi pressed her hat down further before pushing the wheelchair out.
When they reached there, a couple of early-risers had already arrived to vie for the first joss sticks. It was thanks to them that Lu Yi knew where to park.
Lu Yi took the wheelchair out from the car boot and ensconced Yan Huan into it. Yan Huan didn’t hate it either. This way, she could shop without having to walk.
She found a small mirror from her handbag and checked her bearings.
No makeup. She was still pretty, but looked sort of different from how she looked on the screens. On the screens, she was always at her best angle, with her makeup done to perfection.
Which meant that she was safe. She kept the mirror, free from the worries of getting recognized. Not like anyone would associate a wheelchair-bound woman to Yan Huan in the first place.
Still, someone might recognize the combination of her and Lu Yi.
But as it turned out, she was only overthinking. There weren’t many people when they came, and none of them noticed them as they were more focused on making their way up the mountains. Later on, when people were everywhere, there was even less of a possibility of being noticed.
There were many people at the fair, and many food vendors as well.
Yan Huan was happily munching on a roasted wheat glutton skewer. It tasted authentic, a unique flavor where she could not hope to find anywhere else.
There also people kneading flour figurines and blowing candy figurines, as well as gambling booths who prompted people to bet on the number of sunflower seeds or poker cards with their convincing lies.
Of course, smart people could easily tell that they were frauds, and that the banker and the winners were in cahoots.
