Translator: Transn Editor: Lucas
After their morning exercise, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke returned to the hotel, planning to have breakfast during their leisurely bus tour in Gao Fen.
Lou Cheng waited a short while after his shower until Ke stepped out of the bathroom.
She had just changed her hairstyle, a side fringe hanging down, making her eyes and brows more beautiful, temperament purer and more cultured. Her beauty shone more than ever.
White long down jacket, black leggings, fluffy snow boots, light pink knitted hat, delicate silver earrings... In front of Lou Cheng’s eyes was a breeze of youth and agility. He was used to her look, but couldn’t resist starting at her.
“Is it nice?” asked Yan Zheke with a shy smile and some pride.
“You put on some makeup?” asked Lou Cheng, gazing at her delicate, pink lips.
For a straight man, lips were the easiest part of a girl to look at to determine if she had makeup on. A heavy color lipstick indicates heavy makeup and a light color lipstick signals light makeup. If he couldn’t tell from the lips, she probably had no makeup on.
Of course, under Coach Yan’s instructions and tutoring, his knowledge grew day by day so that he would no longer be so shallow.
“A little bit. We are going on a date, so of course I’ll take it seriously.” Yan Zheke raised her chin a little bit, her eyes shining.
Lou Cheng chuckled, tempted to grab her and eat her alive.
Yan Zheke saw dangers from his eyes and took one step back. She waved her hand with little strength. “Doing makeup is loads of work.”
Don’t you mess with me!
“Hmm... ” Lou Cheng gathered his thoughts and changed the subject. “I feel your face is too slim.”
“Hmm! Easy!” She puffed out her fat cheeks
Look! My face is fat!
“Bear it... Can’t do it... Then go ahead... ” Lou Cheng stepped forward all of a sudden and pulled the girl over to plant a kiss on her.
“You... ” Yan Zheke’s complaint was silenced at once as her mouth got sealed by the kiss.
She gave Lou Cheng several gentle punches and gradually closed her eyes as the kiss carried on, hugging her boyfriend and leaving her makeup behind.
While feeling each other’s lips, they gently licked and sucked. Their even breaths slowly turned into panting.
“Are we going out or not?” As the atmosphere became hotter and more intense, Yan Zheke tilted her head backwards and glanced at Lou Cheng with her watery eyes, breaking free from his hug.
“It would be nice just hanging in the room all day,” said Lou Cheng, locking his eyes on her lips.
“Pervert!” cursed Yan Zheke, annoyed but more amused. She quickly made her way to the bathroom to fix her makeup and then stood at the door, waving her hand. “Let’s go.”
“Sure!” Lou Cheng stepped over and left the room, holding her hand as they made their way towards the closest bus stop in a leisurely manner. Not long after, bus no. 7 pulled in.
On a random weekend, with less people commuting for work but several old people traveling, the bus wasn’t crowded at all. Lou Cheng inserted coins before leading his little fairy to a back row. The bus carrying them slowly drove through the city of Gao Fen.
The scenery changed from modern skyscrapers to old sky buildings. Many houses dating back to the last century were unfolded in front of Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke.
“These used to be factories of different companies. Then, when factories were relocated further away from the city, this land became their employees’ accommodation... ” said Lou Cheng, pointing at the window. He had done his homework long ago. “There should be a university and a senior high school nearby. They will be bustling with noise and excitement to a level. Let’s go eat a private home cuisine.”
“Private home cuisine?” Yan Zheke asked in a surprised tone.
A private home cuisine for breakfast?
She was not that type of girl who would simply enjoy dating without putting in her own effort. After the first few times, she began to help make plans and speak out her own opinion, getting closely involved. However, her lower stomach hurt too bad last night, so she had no energy to discuss this with Lou Cheng.
“My private home cuisine has a pair of quotation marks. You will see,” answered Lou Cheng with a grin. The bus stopped and he helped Ke up. “It’s for us.”
Filled with curiosity and expectation, Yan Zheke followed Lou Cheng like an ignorant deer, hopped off the bus, crossed the street, and entered a fairly old estate.
Inside the estate, Lou Cheng led ahead, turning left and right while asking random passer-bys the directions to Building Four.
Finally, after passing rows of buildings, they reached their well-hidden destination.
With no elevator, they climbed some stairs to the second floor, where they saw that the flat to their left was open and a very tasty smell was flowing out.
“A noodle shop?” Yan Zheke’s nose moved, breathing in the good smell.
“Yes, the old lady here used to be the chef of the Gaoyun Noodle Shop. After her retirement, she moved here with her husband and bought the flat next door under their children’s encouragement to open an unnamed noodle shop. There are actually quite a few places like this, mainly serving students and teachers who don’t like to eat in their schools’ cafeteria. Other people can’t find it without a local guide.” Lou Cheng introduced this private home cuisine.
Gaoyun Noodle Shop had a long history in Gao Fen. It was recommended by many tourism-related programs. However, it became worse and worse and eventually lost most of its local customers. Only tourists would still visit.
Yan Zheke opened her eyes wide and blurted out, “How did you find this place? Shuang Shuang didn’t mention it yesterday.”
“I saw it when I was searching for information online and I remembered Fatty Jiang told me Huang Kun studies in the nearby University of Technology. Then I dug out his QQ and asked for details.” Lou Cheng sounded very pleased with himself. “The old lady has an odd temper. She never tries to please her customers and instead gives them dirty looks if they refuse to follow her order of eating, which is local special cold dishes, noodles, and noodle soup.”
“The odder her temper, the better her business?” Yan Zheke bit her lower lip and asked.
“Yeah. We all love to be scolded. Maybe we all believe odd people are more capable... ” Lou Cheng poked fun at himself. He walked in with Yan Zheke and saw several tables placed in two bedrooms and the living room. The old couple was watching TV, paying no attention to them entering.
Their hair was grey but their spirits were high.
Breakfast time had already passed. Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke didn’t need to wait at all and ordered two different kinds of noodles and ten dumplings to share.
The old lady didn’t say a word. She walked into the kitchen and soon came out with several bowls of food. She reminded them strictly,
“Beef noodles first. Then boiled veggies. Then dumplings. Then have the noodles with three delicacies. Last, drink its soup.”
“She does have an order... ” Yan Zheke muttered quietly after the old lady resumed her seat.
The curious pair began to eat after being given the order. It was amazing, especially the boiled veggies after the very flavorful beef noodles, refreshing and sweet.
Highly satisfied, Lou Cheng looked for the stop for bus no. 19 when they were ready to leave.
Yan Zheke rolled her eyes up while thinking and suggested excitedly,
“Cheng, what if we don’t follow the itinerary? I don’t want to wear you out.”
“What do we do if we don’t follow the strategy?” asked Lou Cheng, confused.
A smile blossomed on Yan Zheke’s face. “Let’s take whatever is given to us. We get on whichever bus and get off wherever looks nice. Don’t plan ahead and don’t care too much about the result. Follow your heart and see where it will lead us.”
“A trip of destiny?” Lou Cheng was very tempted. He didn’t fight against it and he wouldn’t.
“That sounds fun!”
They walked out of the estate and waited at a random bus stop for a random bus.
After getting on the bus, they took the back row again, held hands, watched the scenery outside of the window, and chatted casually. They hopped off whenever they felt like it, wandered about in the area, and got on another random bus from another random stop.
They didn’t think about where they would end up at nor what to do or what to eat next. They let their minds go free and legs move at a leisurely pace, taking selfies from time to time.
A commercial area, a park, a riverside bridge, a Buddhist pagoda, and a Taoist temple... After visiting many places, they decided to have lunch at the next restaurant they would chance upon.
When the alley led them to a big street, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke spotted a café almost at the same time.
“A cafe. Shall we?” asked Lou Cheng with a smile.
“Why not? Most cafes serve food,” answered Yan Zheke, completely relaxed.
Not busy at all, the café had an okay atmosphere but very few customers. Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke ordered a bunch of food, which, to their surprise, was actually really good.
“Your food is great. How come the business is not so good?” Yan Zheke asked the owner casually as Lou Cheng paid the bill.
The very elegant lady put on a wry smile and answered, “I don’t know. I guess the residents here don’t fancy western stuff. Are you staying in the neighborhood?”
“Not really,” said Yan Zheke in a lively tone.
“Are you around for business?” With very few customers to attend, the owner had plenty time to chat.
“No, we are just passing by,” said Yan Zheke with a sweet smile.
“Done.” The owner confirmed Lou Cheng’s mobile payment before throwing another question, “Just passing by... Where are you heading to?”
“Where?” After a moment of silence, Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke exchanged a glance and answered in unison,
“We don’t really know.”
They grabbed each other’s hands and turned to leave.
“Don’t know where to go... ” The owner was completely lost. He watched them from behind until their figures disappeared on the street.
Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke followed their hearts to get on and off different buses without thinking about the past or the future. They enjoyed the present to the fullest, carefreely and leisurely.
Surrounded by people in this big world, they knew it would be beautiful wherever they were as long as they had each other.
Clouds moved slowly in the sky as buses drove ahead at a low speeds. Lou Cheng and Yan Zheke continued their destiny trip in Gao Fen, quiet and excited.
When the lights were turned on in the city, they got on another bus with an unknown destination, holding back their smiles.
They had just had an impressively awful dinner in a random restaurant.
However, sharing a terrible meal together was just another fun thing for them.
“Where are we now?” asked Lou Cheng, gazing into the dark.
“How would I know?” answered Yan Zheke.
Suddenly, her eyes began to shine as a familiar building appeared in the distance.
“The beetle stadium!”
Gao Fen Martial Arts Arena!
“Sigh... It must be fate. After a whole day of random buses, we are back here,” said Lou Cheng emotionally. “The light is on. There are probably matches going on... ”
“This is the place I won my very first championship!”
“Hmm... ” Yan Zheke nodded and pulled Lou Cheng’s hand towards the back door.
“Let’s go. I’ll treat you to a match.” Her voice rose cheerfully.
...
Gao Fen Martial Arts Arena was lit up brightly, but the atmosphere was heavy.
Staring at the insufferably arrogant Albrak and his wavy blond hair in the arena, Zhang Zhutong looked very serious as he climbed the flight of stairs up.