The most popular tea house in the capital was the Golden Flower Tea House. It was an exclusive tea house, patronized by people of higher social status.
Naturally, this was not a place where Xiao Song could imagined he was going to have lunch for their super expensive price. As they set their foot at the entrance of the tea house, Xiao Song began to understand why the place was associated with people with higher pedigree.
The tea house's building was located at the prominent alleyway in the capital. It was a gigantic building, and beautifully design that it resembled a mansion rather than a tea house business.
The staff was friendly and efficient both of them were ushered straight to the lunch room. The lunch area was a three leveled spacious space with an enormous stage located in the middle of the it. A band of musicians were playing music and agile looking dancers were spinning on the stage. Lu Zheng decided to have their lunch on the lower level so they could have better view to see the dancers on the stage.
"We are here to have lunch, not to see people dancing" Xiao Song argued.
"I love to show you the extravagant entertainment that we, the people of the capital, love to spend our money on , Young Lord." Lu Zheng kept on teasing him.
The lunch that they had in the afternoon was heavenly. Xiao Song was too proper to admit that it was the best lunch he ever had. The hearty meal was delicious and wonderful. For someone who had lived his entire life combating drought and rationing for food shortage, the delicacies was flavorful for his unadventurous taste bud.
A soon as he finished the last bite of the meal, Xiao Song carefully wiping his mouth with a handkerchief. He thoroughly enjoy the meal as well as the conversation that he had with Lu Zheng while they were having their lunch.
"This is one of the most delicious meal I had ever taste." He finally admitted. "Thank you for introducing the capital's finest food to me" Xiao Song properly thanking Lu Zheng.
" This is not a big deal. Your family had been feeding me a lot of delicious food while I was at Shen province. You wouldn't even tell me that food were suppose to be rationed there. I ended up finishing most of your family's food stock. This is nothing to be compared with the compassion your family had shown me in the Shen province."
Lu Zheng who was the native of the empire capital had been travelling to the south as part of his medical intensive training. Their fate came across when Xiao Song found a traveler fainting on the empty street near their house , due to empty stomach. He brought the stranger back to their house to feed him and the rest was history.
" So my dear Lu Zheng, when are you going to be the next Dr. Zhan?"
"After my father - the second Dr.Zhan- dies"
"So, you have accepted the idea of inheriting the title the Third Dr. Zhan and becoming the third generation of Zhan family's genius doctor?" it was Xiao Song's turn to tease Lu Zhang. His knew that Lu Zheng abhorred his father and clearly stated that he have no intention to inherit his father's title as the number one doctor of the Tang's capital.
Lu Zheng glared at Xiao Song. He reached for the tea pot and poured the content into Xiao Song's cup.
"This is chrysanthemum tea , a speciality of this place. Drink this and never mentioned about the old man again" He trying to change their subject of discourse. Lu Zheng dislike small chats involving people's daily lives including his own.
Xiao Song was grinned cheekily as he accepted the drink from his friend. Xiao Song loved to tease the taciturn Lu Zheng. Exasperating Lu Zheng was his favorite past time when the young doctor visited Shen province many moons ago.
Xiao Song then , proceed to lift his head as he was about to drink the tea. Unexpectedly, his eyes caught the image of a young woman sitting at a table on the second level's balcony.
She was a beautiful girl who has the most luscious thick black hair he had ever seen. Her eyes twinkling with excitement as she was watching the dance performed on the stage. Her lips was ruby red and she has a contagious smile, Xiao Song could not help but to smile as he was watching her.
Watching the girl had invoked indescribable feeling inside him. It was pleasant and uncomfortable at the same time.The image of the beautiful woman remained imprinted on his brain even after several days had past. It seemed as if he could not get rid of her image out of his head.
The prim and proper Xiao Song was to embarrass to ask about the girl from Lu Zheng. To be able to spend her time at the most exclusive tea house in the capital, she must hailed from a good and affluent family. The two servants , a bodyguard and a maid who were standing by her side at the tea house was an obvious indication that she was no ordinary girl. Xiao Song would not dare to start a forbidden romance in the capital. Even though he was of a good pedigree and related to the royal family, his family was quite infamous in the capital as the impoverish aristocrats who moved to the countryside after loosing much of their fortune.
No sane father would want to marry their daughter off to him. His family were rendered penniless as soon as his father decided to relocate at Shen province.
After he met Lu Zheng on the fateful day, Xiao Song spent his days afterward helping Lu Zheng in his lab, experimenting on new drugs. According to the initial plan, he was supposed to go back to Shen province together with Xiao Zhan three days ago . However, he decide two stay in the capital for a month or two depending to how long emperor to order him to stay around.
Xiao Zhan looked reluctant to go back on his own. His younger brother wanted to accompany him in the capital citing that he was worried that Xiao Song would get bored staying in the capital all by himself. Xiao Song however, was not born yesterday. Rather than worrying about him, he knew that his younger brother had other objective and it had nothing to do with Xiao Song's well being.
Xiao Song however, taking the precaution step by never pressing him over the matter. He had learned his lesson on the previous debacle regarding the hairband. He did not want to put his nose into his younger brother's private matter anymore.
Nevertheless, he had to decline Xiao Zhan's offer as they cannot afford to have both of them to stay in the capital any longer. Therefore, Xiao Zhan embarked on his journey home with a defeated look.
"Xiao Song, do you have any plan on what to do tonight?" Lu Zheng asked him. He was lazying on a chair while Xiao Song was diligently crouching in front of the stove broiling a new type of drug. It felt good to have an assistant.
"I believe that my schedule is free from any activities. Why did you ask?"
" The capital are going to have firework display tonight. Do You know about it?"
"Well, I have no idea. Fireworks? Its been a long time since I watched once!" he exclaimed.
" Well let's meet up in front of the capital's main bridge. That place is the best spot to enjoy the firework"
Xiao Song was excited! There were hardly any firework display in Shen province. Firework was luxury item for people who had to face drought few times for the past of couple years. Hence, he had very little experience of enjoying them
Xiao Song decided to visit the bridge earlier than the time they supposed to meet. Xiao Song wanted to enjoy the robust atmosphere of people crowding the street in preparing for tonight's celebration.
Xiao Song spent his evening strolling aimlessly along the bustling alleyways. The road was packed with people and hawkers selling interesting goods that he had neber seen before. Due to the large number of people crowding the street, he frequently bumped into other pedestrians to the point that he cease in paying attention to them. He decided to apologize whenever he bumped into someone else. Suddenly, the loud voice of a young man promoting his Tanghulu caught Xiao Song;s attention.
"Young master. Why don't you buy our Tanghulu. You would not find any other Tanghulu like this in other place. We made this Tanghulu by using our family's secret recipe" the hawker eagerly explained to the him.
" It does look delicious. But I am not fond of sweet things" he politely decline.
"Er….then, why don't you buy this Tanghulu for your wife?"
"My wife?"
" Yes. The one who is standing behind you"
Shocked, Xiao Song immediately turned around to see the woman that the hawker referred to. To his astonishment, he saw the face that had been lingering on his mind since he first saw her a few days ago.
"It's you!" he exclaimed in disbelief.
Where did this woman coming from? He did not realized that there was someone sticking to him all this while.
Unlike her joyful appearance at the tea house, the woman looked rather flustered and in distress. She had worries etched on every inch of her beautiful face. She tried to open her mouth to communicate but nothing came out of it.
"Young master? Do you still want to buy this Tanghulu?" the hawker was still determined to sell his Tanghulu to - what he assume as - the young couple.
"Ahh…alright I'll take one" Xiao Song hurriedly paid an amount of money to the hawker and fished out a Tanghulu from his hand. He, then, grabbed the young woman's arm and began to ushered her to a safer place far from the throngs of people flocking the road.
After looking around for the perfect spot, they finally settled down at the most isolated part by the river. He can clearly seen that the woman's facial expression turned calmer as they were away from the crowd.
" Here take this." He held out the Tanghulu to the woman. The woman was staring suspiciously at the Tanghulu. She kept on looking at the Tanghulu and his face alternately.
"I don't eat sweet things. I bought this so that the hawker would let us go" He explained. She was still hesitating to take the Tanghulu from his hand when her stomach suddenly produce a loud sound. Her face turned red but she decided to grab the Tanghulu.
"Why were following me?" Xiao Song began to interrogate her as she finished swallowing her first Tanghulu bite. Her eyes once again twinkled as her mouth touched the sugar-coated Tanghulu.
'She likes it' Xiao Song made a mental note.
"I was with my servants just now. We were suddenly separated when a group of men knocked into us on the street just now. I know no one in the capital. Hence I decided to follow you as I remember your face at the tea house"
'
Xiao Song let out a heavy sigh. "You made the right choice by following me. I'll help you find your servants. But please keep in mind that you can't easily follow a stranger just like that." he reprimanded her.
She nodded her head. The woman appeared to be so delicate that Xiao Song was afraid that she would break into two if someone was to mishandle her.
"My name is Xiao Song. What is your name?"
"Liu Shi" she replied.
After Liu Shi wolfed down the entire Tanghulu, both of them began their way to search for her servants. It was reasonably difficult for them to find her servants as there were lot of people gathering in the place to watch the firework display. They had been searching for almost half of an hour and could not find either one of her two servants. Hence, Xiao Song decided that they best going to the river instead.
"Why?"
"That is where everyone is heading to. We might find them over there. If we get to the bridge, we have higher chances to find your servant from much higher point of view"
As he predicted, the river was totally packed with the capital's residents. They tried to squeezed between the masses in order to get to the bridge.
Suddenly, Liu Shi lost her balance and trip over her dress. Xiao Song sprinted into action and caught her before her body reached the ground. In attempt to prevent her from falling, Xiao Song's right hand sneaked below her waist while his right hand manged to grabbed her shoulder. Liu Shi in turned held tightly onto the lapel of Xiao Song's outer robe. Their eyes met .At this moment, Xiao Song felt as if everything around him was sucked into an imaginary vacuum leaving only both of them.
Despite being shoved and tussled around by the passerby, both of them remained in the position for a while. The blaring sound of fireworks exploding in the skies failed to distract their attention away from each other.
"Young Miss! Young Miss! Are you alright?!"
They voice calling Liu Shi pulled them away from their preoccupation. Xiao Song and Liu Shi hastily letting go of each other. Both of them unconsciously tidying their clothes and hair while facing away from each other. Both of Liu shi's servants were eyeing them with suspicious look. There was a brief moment of awkwardness lingering around them
"Look. I was right Miss Liu Shi. We found them" Xiao Song tried to ease the awkwardness.
"Ah…...yes. Thank you Mr…?"
"Xiao Song! Er..my name is Xiao Song"
"Thank you Mr Xiao Song for helping me" she bowed her head elegantly toward Xiao Song.
The three of them did not stay long to see the fireworks as they had a curfew. As Xiao Song was watching Liu Shi's back walking away from him, he felt a surge of pain gnawing his chest. He put his right hand on his chest.
'What is this feeling?'
"Xiao Song! Xiao Song!" Lu Zheng's breathy voice brought his mind back to the reality. He almost forgot about his appointment with Lu Zheng this evening.
"Why are you late Lu Zheng?"
"I'm so sorry Xiao Song. Something happened back home, that's why I was late" he explained.
"What happen?"
"Nothing much, I have gotten carried away in the lab just now I accidentally blow my working room" he shrugged.
"What?!!" Xiao Song's jaw dropped as soon as he heard Lu Zheng's shocking explanation.