xxxii

After touring the market for about an hour, they both agreed to leave. They had bought a lot of small —useless but cute— stuff, and Lan was especially pleased with his purchases.

After the necklace and hairpin, he didn't buy anything else for Liwei. He wasn't even sure he would give her these two gifts, to begin with. Although some things had caught his attention, he refrained himself.

"We should go to that inn." Liwei said, referring to the one they were supposed to rest at, but didn't.

"Yes. It's getting late, and with all the tourists we saw, I hope we'll still find vacant rooms."

"Maybe we should have booked the rooms earlier after all, and come to the market afterward."

Lan sighed, "You're right."

"In any case, if there are no free rooms there, we can always go to a different inn."

"But what if there's really no room at all in the whole town ? What then ?"

Liwei chuckled. "Always envisaging the worst, aren't you ?"