✔ Strange Land | China

三

Few Days Later-

You were sleeping soundly until Yao came in and started shaking you.

"_____, wake up-aru! It's already past 10 AM!"

"Yao...?" you called and slowly sat up, "Leave me alone,"

"____, there are dumplings if you want to have some..." he gazed at you.

"Huh? Okay..." your head got heavy and it fell on Yao's lap.

"_-____?! Are you okay-aru?"

You were silently sleeping right there.

"She's sleeping again-aru. It must have been tough for her, I think..." he patted your head.

"She sleeps like a log every night. I don't know how she does it,"

"Yao...I'm hungry...." you mumbled in your sleep.

"Then get up!"

---

"I'm sorry you had to go through the trouble of waking me up, Yao," you apologized, while munching on some dumplings.

"That's okay...but do you usually do that?" he asked curiously, as he eyed you intensely.

"Not so. Back there, I had sleepless nights most of the time," you said, trying to ignore his sincere gaze.

"Is that so?"

"Yup! It's the first time after a really long time, I'm getting real good sleep!" you grinned.

"As for me, I wake up early. I really like to see the sunrise! It's beautiful-aru!" Yao smiled brightly.

"Really? I think sunsets are pretty too," you said, sipping on some tea.

"Yao...?" you called.

"Yes?"

"How do you make green tea? This tastes good. I like the bitter taste," you complimented.

"You like it? I mean, many people don't really like bitter stuff," Yao's eyes widened in surprise.

"Well, you could say that I'm an exception!" you slapped his arm.

"I'll show you whenever I can. I need to buy some stuff for lunch. Want to come shopping with me?" asked Yao.

"May I really?" your gleaming eyes did all the asking. He couldn't resist.

"Yeah!"

---

You and Yao walked down the busy market road looking at the shops. You always appreciated any sort of excitement.

"Wow! It's really cool here. There's lots of stuff!" you exclaimed.

"Right? Traders and businessmen come from all over to sell their stuff," said Yao, pointing at cloth shops and groceries.

"Wow....That's so awesome!" your eyes sparkled again.

Yao chuckled,"We need to buy vegetables. Let's go over there-aru,"

Yao took your hand and walked to a shop he pointed to.

"Hey, Mr. Yin! It's been a while!" Yao called.

The shopkeeper named Yin looked up and smiled, "Yao!"

Both bowed as a greeting.

"How are you doing, Yao? You look happy as usual!" Yin laughed.

"I'm doing great! Xie Xie!" Yao laughed as well.

You smiled. For once, you were actually glad that your adoptive father decided to leave you here. China was a place full of life and you loved it already.