City of endless rain ( 終雨之城 )

Chapter 6

"What are you smiling about?" Seeing him grinning, Tang Shan furrowed his brows in distrust.

"It's nothing," Li Yuanyu answered, giving the same reply as Tang Shan. He linked their hands together.

"Let's go, I'll take you to a restaurant."

Just as Li Yuanyu opened the door, they discovered Jake right about to press the doorbell, his hand suspended in the air.

"Morning! What a coincidence, I was just about to ring the doorbell!" he greeted merrily.

In contrast with Jake's good mood, Li Yuanyu seemed to be unhappy.

"What are you doing here?"

"Um, I'm just here to visit you and maybe have some breakfast as well. Are you two going out?" Noticing that Li Yuanyu's didn't seem to be in the best mood, Jake made a show of smiling. Seeing Tang Shan behind him, he could guess at the situation.

"Do you want to come along?" Tang Shan invited him.

"Oh! Can I?" Jake's immediately lightened up, but the sight of Li Yuanyu's scorching glare caused him to trail off, "Nah, it's okay! I just remembered I had some things to tend to!"

It was obviously a lie, but Tang Shan didn't bother seeing through it. He turned to Li Yuanyu, and the change in his mood for the better caused Tang Shan to shake his head. He was just like a little kid. There really was nothing he wouldn't do to ensure the two of them would enjoy their time together.

"You're the manager of this city. I expected you to be more tolerant." Tang Shan chastised him.

"That's different. You can't put it like that," Li Yuanyu defended himself.

"Let's go." Tang Shan couldn't be bothered with continuing this conversation and quickly got them to leave the house.

The moment they were outside, Tang Shan wanted to retract his hand. Two men holding hands out in the open seemed quite inappropriate. He had a rather traditional mentality and was unwilling to meet with the condescending gazes from the public. However, despite wiggling his hand around, he couldn't get Li Yuanyu to let go.

"What's wrong?" Li Yuanyu enquired. "Can we not hold hands in public?" Tang Shan asked. Li Yuanyu's expression faltered at that, and he quickly added, "At least not in broad daylight."

"It's cloudy now," Li Yuanyu blinked innocently.

"That's not the issue here." Knowing Li Yuanyu was feigning innocence, Tang Shan had an internal struggle before he finally gave up on pursuing this matter. "Never mind, forget I said anything."

"The restaurant is at the other end of the city. Should we call for a carriage?" Li Yuanyu brought up, quickly changing the topic.

"A carriage? The kind that almost crashed into me the last time?"

"Yes." Li Yuanyu nodded.

"I've never been on a carriage before. It's like going back to the eighteenth or nineteenth century." Tang Shan was curious and eager to try it out.

"You've been on one before. It's just that you forgot." Li Yuanyu got his mobile phone and proceeded to call for the carriage.

"Are carriages the typical mode of transport here? Are there no buses or cars here?" Tang Shan asked again, finding this peculiar and quite interesting at the same time.

"Carriages are primarily used. Cars aren't as common. I have a car at a villa near the outskirts nearby. Do you want to take this chance to see it?" Li Yuanyu suggested.