Throughout history, there had only been three instances of large-scale flooding that occurred in Sea City, which were all well-documented. Once was during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, once was during the resistance movement in the Second World War, while the most recent one took place around the time when the nation-state was established. Based on the city records, these three times had devastated large swathes of fertile lands, caused a distressing number of casualties, almost destroying Sea City at that time.
However, it was not the same situation now, as more advanced anti-flood measures were being constructed all the time. Furthermore, due to the landscape of Sea City, a reinforced riverbank was built to defend against the centennial flood. Therefore, he believed that the imminent flood this time would not bring on consequences as severe as before, and the death toll should also be kept to a minimum.
By the time he shut down his laptop, it was already 3:25 a.m. Recently, due to his worries about the impending danger that was looming over Sea City, he did not feel sleepy even when he stayed up to the wee hours of the morning, which was a rare occurrence for him.
He walked into the bedroom. Fortunately, Yan Huan did not wake up, but it seemed like she found the room hot and stuffy as she had kicked the blanket away.
Lu Yi bent down and tried to tuck her beneath the blanket again, but this woke Yan Huan up.
Yan Huan rubbed her sleep-swollen eyes, then opened them to see Lu Yi sitting next to her on the bed, fully awake.
“What’s wrong?” She sat up and nestled herself in his arms. “You’re not sleeping. What’s the time now?”
“It’s a quarter to four. I can’t sleep, but you should go back to sleep.”
Lu Yi laid her down on the bed and patted her shoulder.
“But it’s just three o’clock,” said Yan Huan as she yawned. She wanted to force herself to remain awake several times, but she was too tired and could not fight the sleepiness that came over her, so she fell asleep again. Lu Yi hugged her and remained motionless after that, afraid that any stray movements would wake her up again.
When Yan Huan opened her eyes again, the sky outside was already bright. The sunshine shone into the room gently through the window, and the cool river breeze could already be felt, although it was still a hot September month.
She tugged the quilt toward her and covered up her head. She wanted to sleep in for a little longer, yet the strong sunlight seemed to penetrate everything. It was rather annoying when it shone on her body.
It was annoying, the hot kind of annoying.
She pushed the quilt aside and went to the washroom. When she came out, she felt relieved that at last, there was no need to drink those bland soups anymore as her period had finally ended.
However, when the housekeeper placed another bowl of soup in front of her, she wanted to cry in despair.
“Ma’am, why do I still need to drink this soup?”
The housekeeper chuckled and said, “This is the one that should be taken during normal days. The taste is not that weird, you don’t have to worry about it.”
Don’t have to worry about it? Yan Huan held the bowl in her hands. She wanted to kneel down in front of the housekeeper and beg her to stop it. She would definitely not forget the taste of dark chicken herbal soup for the rest of her life.
That kind of spiciness, that kind of sour taste, it was the ‘king’ of all the soups that she had ever drunk in both her lifetimes.
It was really strong-tasting.
For a while, she really wanted to throw away the whole bowl of soup. Would today’s soup taste the same as the previous one, or would it be even worse?
She held the soup close to her nose and took a whiff of it. It did not seem that terrible, but the dark chicken soup that she had taken previously did smell good at the start. However, the taste was a whole different thing which rendered her speechless.
She closed her eyes and felt as if she was about to slaughter a pig. After all, no matter how much she rebelled, eventually she would still need to finish it. Hence, she took a tentative mouthful of it. It turned out that the housekeeper was absolutely right.
The soup was not that bad. Even though it had a slight bitterness to it, but it was not that painful to drink. The soup tasted of the sweetness of red dates, yet she could not see any red dates present at the bottom of the bowl.
Now, she felt assured and was willing to drink the soup. Fortunately, the soup did not taste bad, or else she would have felt like dying if she had to drink it every day.
“Ma’am, can you buy some large prawns back in the afternoon?” requested Yan Huan of the housekeeper, who was currently busy in the kitchen while Yan Huan was in the midst of drinking the soup.
“Alright,” the housekeeper agreed as she made a mental note to do so later. “Miss Yan, since you want prawns, are you going to make dumplings?”
“Yes,” replied Yan Huan as she put down the bowl. All the soup had gone into her stomach. Then, she continued, “Lu Yi has not eaten my handmade dumplings in a long time. It’s a coincidence that I’m free today, so I’ll deliver it to him when they’re done.”
After saying that, she felt the call of a hearty appetite grip her body, which made her pick up her chopsticks and devour the breakfast that was prepared by the housekeeper.
Soya pudding and Youtiao were indeed the best combination, made better by a glass of milk to wash everything down.
In the afternoon, the housekeeper came back with the freshly bought prawns. All of the prawns were large. Yan Huan then shelled the prawns professionally, minced them and mixed them with the mushrooms and lean pork that had already been prepared. Afterwards, she rolled up her sleeves and wrapped the dumplings with her own hands.
When the dumplings were done and out of the pot, she tossed the dumplings in onion oil, so that they would not stick together when cooled. When it was time for Lu Yi to eat them, the dumplings would still be warm.
She packed up two big containers of dumplings and placed them in her car, ready to drive over to meet Lu Yi.
The weather outside was very good. One could feel that the whole city was full of life and excitement. The huge signboards outside the mall buildings displayed various kinds of advertisements. One could also hear the upbeat music and hollers from all sorts of merchants along the street. Although it was not a festival today, it seemed very festive.
But how long would the hustle and bustle of the city and the carefree days last?
She was the only one who knew what would happen half a month later. Although Sea City itself was not too affected, but the exterior of Sea City would turn into hell, instead of its current heaven.
She gripped the steering wheel tightly and drove the car faster, until she reached the procuratorate. The guard at the gate allowed her access after checking her entrance permit.
Yan Huan parked her car, and exited the car while carrying her dumplings. Of course, she was not a stranger here. It was not because she was a celebrity, but rather due to her relationship with Lu Yi as his wife. The famous Prosecutor Lu’s lover, and also a totally low profile celebrity.
“Miss Yan, you’re here!”
When Lu Yi’s subordinates ran into her, they would greet her familiarly.
“Hi, Shen Ling. It’s been a while!” Yan Huan greeted as she smiled kindly at him, without any haughtiness. She had remembered all the names of the people around here in just a short time. This was evidence that she had always been attentive and caring of them.
