"Where are we going today?" Xia Chuyi asked Huo Shiqian curiously.
"The Great Wall," Huo Shiqian replied calmly.
He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man.
Upon hearing this, Xia Chuyi felt quite excited.
In her previous life, when she visited the Great Wall, it was already full of "true men."
"Great!" she exclaimed with joy.
Their footprints had recently been all over Capital City’s alleys, both state-owned and privately-owned restaurants, movie theaters... but they had yet to visit the Great Wall.
Xia Chuyi was looking forward to becoming a "true man" in this life.
However, once the "true man" arrived at the Great Wall, she collapsed.
Her period had started... She wasn’t sure if it was due to physical reasons, but her period was always irregular, so she hadn’t expected that, at a moment that should have been filled with fiery passion, she would indeed be "fiery."
In this era, the Great Wall did have fewer people... but even fewer facilities, like toilets.
Xia Chuyi was suffering from cramps but felt embarrassed to tell Huo Shiqian.
However, Huo Shiqian, whose attention was always on her, naturally noticed.
He calmly took off his coat and tied it around Xia Chuyi’s waist.
This gesture made Chuyi’s face turn bright red.
"No..." she started to say something.
But Huo Shiqian didn’t give her the chance. He squatted in front of her and said, "Come on, I’ll carry you on my back."
She didn’t move for a moment.
Huo Shiqian turned his head, raised an eyebrow, stood up straight, and said, "Or would you rather I held you in my arms?"
In the end, she found herself on the broad back of Uncle Liberation Army.
Perhaps it was because of his military background, but Huo Shiqian’s steps were exceptionally powerful.
Perched on his back, Xia Chuyi felt no jolting at all.
She looked up and around, and perhaps because she was a bit higher up, she suddenly felt the illusion that she had the whole world at her feet.
She couldn’t help but laugh in an instant.
Uncle Liberation Army was truly a gentle soul.
Many years later, when Xia Chuyi and Huo Shiqian had a houseful of children and grandchildren, she would often tell their descendants,
"Back in the day, your dad (grandpa) carried me on his back down the Great Wall, step by step..."
A month is neither too long nor too short.
In the blink of an eye, Huo Shiqian’s leave was over.
On the last day, before leaving, Huo Shiqian came to pick up Xia Chuyi, and said, "Let’s go to my house."
Uncle Liberation Army, what are you thinking?
"Not the Huo Family house. I mean the old Bao Family residence," he explained with a side glance at her.
Xia Chuyi: Cough cough.
"Don’t overthink it," Huo Shiqian said. "It’s just to get you familiar with the place."
She nodded, thinking that even if she objected now, it wouldn’t make any difference, right?
The old Bao Family mansion combined Chinese and European architectural features, with a Chinese-style outer courtyard, where sturdy vines and neatly arranged flora and trees could be found.
Inside, buildings with red bricks and white tiles were adorned with hanging baskets and ivy crawling halfway up the walls.
As soon as Xia Chuyi entered, she fell in love with the place, thinking to herself that if they ever enclosed it and charged admission, they would definitely make a fortune.
As soon as she finished the thought, she couldn’t help but laugh.
"This is my uncle’s study; most of the things he uses often have already been moved to his school."
"That room there was my mother’s old residence; most of her things are gone too."
After a series of introductions, Huo Shiqian handed her a set of keys and said, "Chuyi, from now on, you’ll be the one to take care of this place."