Chapter 34 (Part II)

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Liu Ya gasped at the view. The town was now lit up by lanterns, which reflected in the water of the canal. The yellow light managed to make everything look magical. She was blaming Yong Liang all the way here, saying he was really bad at planning a romantic time with a girl, but now she saw how wrong she was. This place looked beautiful in the daylight, but she never thought it could be transformed like this upon nightfall. Now she finally understood why there was a smug smile on Yong Liang all the way here.

"How did you know?"

"How did I know what?"

"That this place could be this romantic?"

"I had a life before I came to Lotus Pier, you know."

"What does that supposed to mean? Did you live here?" Yong Liang shook his head. "So, you visited this town with your family or something?"

"I did use to do a bit of travelling with my grandfather. But no, I came here with sect leader Jiang for night-hunting."

"You said you came here before you went to Lotus Pier."

"I said I had a life before I came to Lotus Pier. I didn't say I came here before that, though."

"Oh, you are so annoying."

"Then find someone other than this annoying man to marry."

Yong Liang thought Liu Ya would say something back jokingly, but she kept staring at him without saying anything. Awkward silence and crickets. Why were crickets crying, though? He really hoped it wouldn't rain that night. Still awkward silence. It was becoming unbearable, and Yong Liang had to admit he shouldn't have said that. But he only meant it as a joke. Either way, it seemed better to change the subject.

"Let's go to the town."

"No. I want to stay here. The town would be nice, but I love this lake or pond or canal or whatever it is. And some things look more beautiful when seen from afar." She gestured at the gorgeous view of the town.

"But I'm starving. If we stay here, we won't get any dinner tonight. I'll buy you something delicious."

"We can eat those." Liu Ya said, pointing to some lotus pods.

"But we eat those every day."

"Yes, but who knows. Maybe these taste different. Come on. Let's stay here for a while. The villagers were already preparing for bed, even though they knew they won't get much sleep tonight. What is there to assure that the town's people won't blow out all those beautiful lanterns and go to sleep in a moment. We can find food if you still feel hungry after eating lotus seeds. But I want to enjoy this beautiful view while it lasts."

"If the people from the town all blew out their lanterns and went to sleep, there wouldn't be any place for us to get food either. So, let's have something while the restaurants are open."

"Don't worry about that. If they closed all the restaurants we can go and knock on the door of a nice old lady, and tell her that we had to run away from home and now we are lost and hungry, and she would treat us to a nice warm homecooked meal."

"You are quite the dreamer, aren't you. Fine, let's live on lotus seeds tonight then."

Thankfully, the water still carried the day's heat and hadn't caught up with the night's cold yet. So, they both could wade in it without worry. Yong Liang like a gentleman did offer to pluck lotus pods on his own, but seeing that the canal wasn't deep and the water would only come up to their thighs at the highest Liu Ya also ran into the water holding her robes.

The small pouch Liu Ya made by bending her robes were almost overflowing as she came out of the water. And all that holding up the robes from the water had been useless. She could not believe they actually ended up playing in the water like some brats who's going to get scolded by their parents when they found out. Just like she and her brother did, and it was still so much fun. Why do adults stop playing when they become adults? Such a waste.

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