Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Most tourists in Beijing would go to The Great Wall and Forbidden Palace. The Great Wall was over 10,000 miles long. It was a miracle from the past. The scene was spectacular when looking over from the top of it.
Wang Yao and Su Xiaoxue had lunch in a nice and clean small restaurant before continuing with their journey. They went to Prince Gongâs Mansion in the afternoon.
It was the largest mansion in Beijing. People said the mansion contained half of Qing Dynastyâs history. Although the mansion was still smaller than the Forbidden Palace, it had its own characters.
There were not many people in the mansion since it was not weekend or holiday. They walked for a while before bumping into other people, most of whom were elders.
âDo you think the residents here in the past would get lost living in such a big place?â Wang Yao asked.
âProbably,â Su Xiaoxue said.
âI think they should set up some signs with arrows to indicate where the kitchen is and where the toilets are,â Wang Yao said.
âNo way. What if someone wanted to assassinate the prince?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âYou are right,â Wang Yao said.
âI heard this place is haunted,â Su Xiaoxue said.
âIsnât Forbidden Palace haunted, too?â Wang Yao asked.
âDo you think ghosts really exist in the world?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âI donât know. At least, Iâve seen a ghost in my life,â Wang Yao said.
Suddenly, they felt a gust of wind, matching exactly what they were talking about.
âOh!â Su Xiaoxue exclaimed.
âIs the ghost coming?â Wang Yao joked.
âWhat!â Su Xiaoxue pretended to scream.
âHaha!â Their laughter echoed in the yard.
They took time to walk around the mansion because there were not many people inside. It was 4 p.m. by the time they left Prince Gongâs Mansion.
âWould you like to visit any other places?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âNo, weâve been out for a whole day. Letâs take a break,â Wang Yao said.
âOK,â Su Xiaoxue said.
âPlease recommend a restaurant to have dinner tonight, but it will be my treat,â Wang Yao said.
âNo problem,â Su Xiaoxue said. âIâll ask Auntie Lian to join us.â
Wang Yao was curious about Chu Lian, who was a very responsible employee of the Su Family. He wondered why Su Xiaoxue called her auntie since she was just in her 30s.
Chu Lian picked the restaurant, a private kitchen located in an old folk house. It was a bit far from the city center, but it was apparently very popular.
âThe chef here is really good, although he is a weird person,â Chu Lian said.
âHow weird?â Wang Yao asked.
âHe decides what to cook for the customers. So, the customers donât make orders here, they just eat,â Chu Lian said.
âHe is weird,â Wang Yao said.
They waited nearly 20 minutes before the dishes were served. The chef apparently took his time to cook. It took nearly an hour to have all the eight dishes served. The dishes were delicious. The chef used a lot of ingredients.
âHmm?â Wang Yao was a bit surprised after tasting one of the dishes. The dish contained licorice and peppermint. He tried another dish, which also contained very small amount of herbs.
âIs everything alright?â Su Xiaoxue asked as Wang Yao was trying each dish.
âYeah, Iâm just curious of the taste of each dish. I want to try them all. The chef is truly weird,â Wang Yao said with a smile.
âHow do you find the dishes?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âHe put herbs in those dishes,â Wang Yao said.
âReally?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âThis one contains peppermint and licorice. This one contains ginseng and lycium Chinense miller. And, this one contains poria and fritillary...â Wang Yao pointed at the different dishes as he told Su Xiaoxue the herbs each dish contained.
âIs it OK to eat them?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âIt should be fine,â Wang Yao said.
The dishes were similar to an herbal diet. However, some herbs in one dish actually had conflicted nature. It could cause mild gas and diarrhea.
âIâm curious where he got those recipes,â Wang Yao said.
âDo you want to speak to him? I donât want to have a diarrhea later on,â Su Xiaoxue said.
âNo, never mind,â Wang Yao said.
The dishes were delicious. The three of them finished dinner at about 7 p.m.
âWould you like to watch a movie?â Su Xiaoxue asked.
âOK,â Wang Yao said. He hadnât been to the cinema for many years.
They picked a drama with a pleasant story. The two of them sat together watching the movie quietly.
Su Xiaoxue was eating popcorn while watching the movie. Her mood was as sweet as the popcorn.
The movie was not impressive. Most of the audience was couples. They just wanted to find a suitable place to be together. Some of the couples were in each otherâs arms.
Chu Lian looked at them quietly in the corner. Miss Su is more and more in love with Dr. Wang.
Wang Yao and Su Xiaoxue sat very close to each other. They whispered in each otherâs ears from time to time. Their heads were very close together. However, they didnât do anything more intimate.
After they finished watching the movie, Chu Lian drove Wang Yao to the hotel first and went home with Su Xiaoxue.
After being out for the whole day, Su Xiaoxue was tired. She showered and went to bed. She didnât fall asleep right away. Instead, she was thinking about the sweet moments she spent with Wang Yao and where the two of them would visit the next day.
In the living room downstairs, Chu Lian was quietly telling Song Ruiping what happened during the day.
âMaâam, I feel like Iâm a spy,â Chu Lian said with a smile.
âXiaoxue is an innocent girl. Keep an eye on her. Iâm always worried about her,â Song Ruiping said.
Meanwhile, Wang Yao was standing in front of the window in the hotel. He had a full day. He was happy. He had a feeling that he couldnât really describe.
Knock! Knock! Knock! Someone was knocking at the door.
âWho is it?â Wang Yao asked.
He went to open the door and found a slim pretty woman wearing heavy makeup standing at the door.
âSorry, you are?â Wang Yao asked.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âHello, do you need special service?â the woman asked.
âWhat?â Wang Yao was surprised. âNo, thanks.â
He immediately closed the door.
âWhat the hell! Such kind of services do exist in the hotels,â Wang Yao anxiously murmured.
âHumph,â the woman coldly said as she turned to a different room.
The door was opened by an overweight middle-aged man. He took a look at the woman before inviting her into the room.
As Wang Yao was about to sleep, he heard someone screaming. It was really loud.
âOh, no!â
Whatâs going on? he wondered.
A moment later, he heard hurried footsteps. He didnât want to get into trouble, so he stayed in his room.
âWhatâs going on?â a hotel employee asked.
âI, I donât whatâs going on. He was fine at the beginning. He just suddenly passed out,â a woman He suddenly heard someone screaming. It was really loud..
Sudden cardiac death when having sex? Or, Yang depletion? Wang Yao thought.
The overweight middle-aged man had been very unfortunate. He planned to have a good time during his business trip in Beijing. Since his bossy wife was not around, he took the chance to call five escort girls for three consecutive days. He was bored again tonight, and the call girl happened to knock at his door. He took several Viagra pills before having sex with the call girl. In the end, he died of cardiac rest.
âTake him to the hospital now,â the employee said.
The ambulance arrived a moment later.
It was true that alcohol was the poison that could pierce through ones stomach, and sex was a sharp blade that could scrape the bones.
The death of the man had nothing to do with Wang Yao. He just went to sleep a bit later than he had planned.
Meanwhile, a plane landed in the airport in Beijing.
âGood evening, Mr. Guo,â said a man who went to pick up Guo Zhenghe.
âHe came to Beijing?â Guo Zhenghe asked.
âYes, we saw him and Su Xiaoxue were together,â the man said.
âI see,â Guo Zhenghe said.
He got into a car with an unpleasant looking on his face. His shiny smile was no longer there. Instead, his facial expression was full of anger.
How dare he come to Beijing! How dare he spend time with Xiaoxue!
He didnât expect that Wang Yao would visit Beijing. As soon as he heard the news, he angrily returned to Beijing.
He always made a plan before taking action. It was his principal. However, he took action before making any plans this time.
He had been thinking about what he could do and should do on the plane. He didnât go home. He stayed somewhere else. He didnât want his family to know that he was back.
It was nice and sunny the next day.
âTake enough water with you. The temperature will go over 30 degree today according to the weather forecast,â Song Ruiping said before Su Xiaoxue left home.
âI see, Mom,â Su Xiaoxue said.
âWhere are you going today?â Song Ruiping asked.
âXiangshan park,â Su Xiaoxue said.
âOK, off you go. Have a good time,â Song Ruiping said.
âThanks, Mom, see you later,â Su Xiaoxue said.
Chu Lian drove Su Xiaoxue to pick up Wang Yao. They headed to Xiangshan park.
It was Saturday, so there were a lot of visitors around.
Xiangshan park was very big. There were many places in the park worth seeing. The trees were everywhere on Xiangshan Hill. Although it was sunny and the temperature went up quickly, it was not too hot on the hill.
They visited Zhao Temple, Xianglu Peak, and Jianxin House. All those places were very famous. They had a good look at each one. While they were walking around the hill, Wang Yao paid extra attention to the trees.
He heard that 90 percent of Xiangshan Hill was covered by trees. A lot of the trees were very old.