Chapter 27

Chapter 27: I Came to Find You

The next morning, Huo Zheng also got up early. When Chun Zhi finished making the tofu and was about to set out, he came out of the room.

Seeing him come out, Chun Zhi said to him: “From Peach Blossom Lane to West Street is a bit of a walk. You should take the wheelchair.”

Using a crutch is fine for short distances, but a longer walk is tiring.

Huo Zheng set the crutch by the wall, sat in the wheelchair, and left with Chun Zhi.

Pushing the handcart was a bit hard for Chun Zhi, but she was in a good mood. In the pale morning light, she passed through one lane after another toward West Street.

Huo Zheng turned the wheels and kept pace at her side.

While pushing the handcart, Chun Zhi talked to him as she said: “I will show you the way today. After this, you can sleep in a little and come later.”

Huo Zheng only wanted to see how the people of Nanzhou lived, and whether Linshui Town was like other places where farmland was seized and wrongful cases kept happening. Chun Zhi, however, thought he was bored at home while he healed. He did not explain, and after a long walk they finally reached West Street.

It was not fully light yet, but the vendors all along the street were already busy.

Chun Zhi pushed the handcart to her usual spot, greeted the neighbor selling pancakes, Auntie Zhang, and quickly laid out the tofu.

Huo Zheng parked his wheelchair beside her and watched her work.

Seeing Huo Zheng there, Auntie Zhang laughed as she said: “Young Gentleman Huo is here too.”

Huo Zheng nodded as he said: “Hello, Auntie Zhang.”

Hearing that, Chun Zhi was a bit surprised as she said: “You know this is Auntie Zhang?”

If she remembered right, Huo Zheng had only seen Auntie Zhang once, on their wedding day. He had remembered after just one meeting.

“I did not lose my memory,” Huo Zheng said. “Of course I remember.”

“You have a memory like a camera,” Chun Zhi said with a smile.

“What is the big deal?” Huo Zheng said, not impressed.

He could truly recite texts after a single reading.

Not long after Chun Zhi set up the stall, people came one after another to buy tofu. Everyone who saw Huo Zheng sitting beside her would ask: “Chun Zhi, is this your new husband?”

After asking, they always had to add: “He is really handsome!”

The ones who loved lively talk most would add: “Even more handsome than the top scholar.”

Afraid Huo Zheng would feel awkward, Chun Zhi took off the money pouch at her waist and handed it to him as she said: “Do not sit here and let people stare. Go up ahead and look around. If you want to buy something, just buy it.”

Huo Zheng did not take it as he asked: “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

He was not even embarrassed to sit by a tofu stall, yet Chun Zhi wanted him not to sit here.

“How am I getting rid of you?” Chun Zhi stuffed the money pouch into his hand as she said: “I just think you have nothing to do sitting here. Go have a look around, and buy something to eat if you want.”

Every morning when she set up the stall, Chun Zhi had no time for breakfast. The last few days she had made breakfast and left it for Huo Zheng, but today there was no time. She had already planned to let him buy his own breakfast on West Street.

Hearing that, Huo Zheng believed she was not trying to chase him away.

He asked Chun Zhi: “What do you like to eat?”

“Buns from Li’s Bun Shop up ahead,” Chun Zhi said. “The meat buns are best. The veggie ones are good too. You decide.”

“Alright,” Huo Zheng said, and he wheeled away.

By then the daylight was bright. More and more people filled the street. Buyers squeezed past each other as they came for vegetables and meat.

Rolling his wheelchair through the crowd, Huo Zheng did not look the least bit awkward.

Auntie Zhang said to Chun Zhi: “Your husband is in a wheelchair, and still so many young ladies and young wives are sneaking looks at him.”

Glancing in the direction Huo Zheng had gone, Chun Zhi laughed as she said: “That is true.”

“You are still laughing,” Auntie Zhang said. “Be careful someone steals your husband.”

“He is not that easy to steal,” Chun Zhi said.

“How so?” Auntie Zhang asked.

Chun Zhi could not exactly tell Auntie Zhang that, in Huo Zheng’s eyes, ordinary pretty faces on the street would not catch his interest. She simply smiled without answering.

Auntie Zhang did not press her. She only said: “Newlyweds have many little secrets.”

Chun Zhi: “…” [How am I supposed to answer that?]

The crowd on West Street surged. Soon she could no longer see Huo Zheng’s back.

A line formed in front of her stall, and Chun Zhi focused on doing business.

But while the vendors were busy, a squad of soldiers suddenly came from the head of the street. Without a word, they began smashing stalls. People buying things were scared off, and the soldiers shouted loudly: “Prince Chang’an is inspecting Nanzhou! Clear every street!”

Shouting as they marched from one end to the other, the soldiers kept smashing and flipping stalls.

Seeing this, Chun Zhi hurried to pack up her tofu. The nearby vendors also grabbed their things and pushed their handcarts away.

But Huo Zheng had not come back yet.

Afraid that a man in a wheelchair might be shoved by the soldiers, Chun Zhi looked anxiously toward the way he had gone.

As he passed by, Brother Zhao the butcher asked her: “Chun Zhi, what are you still looking at? Hurry up and go, or they will smash your tofu stall.”

“I am going now!”

Answering him, Chun Zhi pushed her handcart and went to look for Huo Zheng in the direction he had gone.

A soldier saw she was pretty and blocked her cart on purpose, refusing to let her pass.

Chun Zhi frowned as she said: “Officer…”

Right then, Huo Zheng appeared and pushed her handcart forward, knocking that soldier away as he said: “Prince Chang’an is inspecting Nanzhou, and you dare tease a decent woman here? Are you tired of living?”

The soldier who fell scrambled up and was about to attack Huo Zheng, but the captain, hearing him mention Prince Chang’an, grabbed the man at once as he said: “Prince Chang’an is already in Nanzhou. Do not cause trouble these days!”

While speaking, the captain watched Huo Zheng with caution.

The young man before them wore plain clothes and had trouble walking, yet the calm force he carried was stronger than even their prefect’s.

Better not to offend him if they could help it.

“Let’s go,” Huo Zheng said. Without another glance at the soldiers, he helped Chun Zhi push the handcart back. He said, “They are smashing stalls everywhere. Why did you come this way instead of going home?”

“I came to find you,” Chun Zhi said.

She added, “I was about to go home, but you had not come back yet. How could I go alone? What if you could not find the way back?”

She thought that since this was his first time out, she could not leave him by himself.

Slightly stunned, Huo Zheng said: “When there is danger, take care of yourself first. Do not worry about me.”

“How could that work?” Chun Zhi said.

He had just opened his mouth to say more when she added: “My money pouch is still with you.”

Half serious and half joking, Chun Zhi said: “I can leave you alone, but I cannot lose my money pouch.”

Huo Zheng: “…”

The whole street was a mess.

Some vendors whose stalls had been smashed were crying and wailing.

Pushing the handcart fast, Chun Zhi kept glancing back to make sure Huo Zheng was following. She also asked: “Did you get the buns from Li’s Bun Shop?”

Huo Zheng did not feel like answering.

The line at Li’s Bun Shop had been very long. He had just reached the front when he heard the soldiers flipping stalls down the street. Worried that Chun Zhi might be bullied, he had turned back at once.

And now this person said she could leave him alone but could not lose her money pouch.

He let out a cold laugh.

Huo Zheng was angry.