Master's Untamed Wife

As he had said last night, Shui Xian took Raelle to the village nearby. The village was called Misty Rock village. There wasn't anything particularly special about this village. It was just like any other village but it was actually quite developed now. 

But Shui Xian still wanted to show Raelle the world she had never seen before. So, he had chosen to make a visit to this place. After all, it was obvious that someone like Raelle who grew up abroad had never seen a village or how the village people lived.

As a matter of fact, Hyson also grew up in a village until the age of eight. But Raelle met him when he came to the city and because of that, she had never been able to see the place Hyson grew up in. Hyson had no attachment to that place as well so he never went back there.

Moving on to the present, with their hands wrapped around each other snuggly, both husband and wife were walking through the streets of the village. It was a market street and one could find all kinds of stalls lined up on both sides. The streets were bustling with people and it looked like a lively scene.

"What's that?"

Shui Xian followed the line of her sight to see what she was pointing at. He saw that what caught her eye was the stall that was surrounded by children. Some kids were dragging their parents over, throwing tantrums to make them buy the snack.

The sweet and sour snack of candied fruits was on bamboo skewers, looked so shiny and bright red. It was none other than everyone's childhood favorite snack, tanghulu.[1]

"Wife, you have never eaten tanghulu before?" asked Shui Xian in surprise. "That's my favorite childhood snack." As if remembering something, he went on, "Oh, right. You grew up abroad so you must have never seen it before. Look at me, how can I forget that?" He looked at Raelle and inquired, "Do you want to try it? It's quite sweet and sour."

"I'll try," said Raelle as she still looked at that stall. 

Shui Xian happily went over to get two tanghulu skewers and offered one to her. Raelle took a bite with a crunch sound and seeing her eat it, Shui Xian's eyes softened before he started eating as well and moved further ahead.

The stalls were selling all kinds of trinkets and street food. Raelle stopped at a stall and picked up an elegant-looking wooden hairpin. It was in black color and had a slight wavy design which gave it a different feel. The hollow flower carving at the end was exquisitely done. 

The stall belonged to an old woman who gave a gentle smile when she looked at Raelle and said, "Young lady, you have an eye for treasure. This piece is really worthy of your beauty."

Raelle extended it towards her and said, "I want it."

The stall owner's smile grew bigger when she heard it and immediately packed it up for her.

"Wifey, you don't wear such hair ornaments," said Shui Xian in confusion. He had never seen her using any ornaments of such kind. 

"That's for Yue," she answered. "She likes to wear hairpins. Although it's made of wood, it looks good. Besides, if I offered her one made of jade, she won't take it."

Shui Xian nodded his head in understanding and pulled out his wallet to pay.

"I'll pay for it," said Raelle.

"Do you have cash?" asked Shui Xian.

Raelle looked down since she really didn't have any cash on her as always. Shui Xian chuckled at her response. He paid for it without saying anything else and said thanks to the stall owner before taking his wife ahead.

They passed by all sorts of things but strangely enough, Raelle's eyes would only go to things that she wanted to buy for others. For instance, now she wanted to buy that pair of silver moon-carved tassel earrings for Mu Chenyan. But since she seemed to like it how could he refuse?

She even ended up finding a unique kind of stone that she wanted to take for Bà. And since she couldn't seem to find anything for Grandfather Xiang, Shui Xian took her to an inconspicuous shop where he helped her pick a pair of jade Pixiu figures. Both were very beautiful with deep colors. 

Honestly speaking, Raelle didn't know the meaning behind this gift so Shui Xian explained it to her, "Pixiu was a mythical beast. It had a dragon's head, lion's body with wings, hooves, and tail just as it's carved beautifully here. It brings luck and wards off evil. Isn't it the best gift for Opa?"

And only when he said it like that did Raelle agree that it was indeed a good gift even though she didn't believe in such things. 

Later, Shui Xian bought a roasted duck and asked her to eat it.

Raelle looked at the roasted duck and then at him, "It's unhygienic."

"Ayah! Wifey, it doesn't matter," was Shui Xian's response. "Perhaps there are some germs on it but so what? If we won't eat a bit of germ how will we know whether our stomach is strong enough to fight these germs or not?"

He really made no sense but he didn't care. He brought a piece of duck meat before her lips and as he had expected Raelle opened her mouth to eat it. He smiled to himself. He was really figuring her out well by now. She would never disrespect food. So, once you bring it to her mouth, she'll eat it. She never disappoints.

Shui Xian was happy with his own speculations becoming true. It meant his observation wasn't that useless. Hyson was right, he could figure his wife out if he only paid a little extra attention to her.

[1] tanghulu: If any of you don't know it, this is a traditional northern Chinese snack made of fruits that are sugar dipped which makes them look so glossy and appetizing.. It's also known as Chinese hawthorn.