Beautiful Lotus Flowers

Sheng Ruming looked at Luo Lixi and asked by his gaze if she wanted to eat. As she nodded her head, he carefully picked a good looking piece and fed it to her.

"Aunt, it's good."

"If it is good then eat more."

Luo Lixi ate two while she fed Sheng Ruming one. After that they returned the box to her.

As the air was chilly, Sheng Ruming picked the red muffler scarf and put it around her neck. It went well with her pink dress as she looked even more beautiful and breathtaking in it.

They said goodbye to the old woman and took their leave with their things. She came to the entrance of the tavern when she saw the black car. Just from glancing at it, she knew it was very expensive. So, earlier she misunderstood them.

... ...

After the car went away, she returned inside and waited for her two people to return. Today it was raining, so they shouldn't have any extra work to do. After around two hours, two people drenched from head to toe entered the tavern.

"Ma, we've returned." Two old men entered the tavern as they hurriedly took off their boots and walked to the backside of the shop. A dog also entered with them. 

"Oh! Where is little bao?" She asked because she didn't hear her grandson's voice. Whenever they returned from outside, that boy would speak out loudly that they had come.

"He has gone to his maternal grandma's place. Ah, Dan has come with me." Ah Dan was his friend. His home was far off from here so he asked him to stop here for dinner. 

When they changed their clothes into dry ones, they began to talk between them as they sat down on the stool.

"Aunt, you won't believe, today when we were returning from the fields, we saw two people doing shameful improper things in broad daylight. When your son pointed at them, that man glared at us as if he would kill us. Gosh! we were so scared." 

Though he spoke like they were afraid, his tone contained clear mockery for them.

The aunt also chipped in the conversation, "Today, two people came into our tavern. They are husband-wife. The young girl bought something and was generous. She gave me a note of a thousand but things she bought amounted only to three hundred. They seemed like decent people."

The other men exchanged glances as Ah Dan asked her, "Was the woman wearing a pink cloth?"

"Yes. Wait, the people we are talking about...are the same people?!" The old woman gasped.

"Yes. it seems so." Ah Dan replied in awkwardness. 

"What are the shameful things they did?" The old woman was curious as she asked them. The two men exchanged glances as her son replied to her.

"They...kissed and hugged each other."

"Aiye, young people these days... Come to the kitchen to help me make dinner." She scolded them as she dragged her son with her left hand while her right had the light. The black dog remained seated at a corner, looking at his owners.

... 

Due to the heavy rain the road had many pits here and there. Sheng Ruming had to carefully drive the car for fear that it would stick somewhere again and he would be late to reach the villa. 

After the heavy pouring, the sky was cleared while the warm sunshine fell on nature. The surrounding forest looked very fresh and pleasing to the eye. 

Luo Lixi was glancing at the beautiful rainbow in the sky. She didn't remember the last time she saw one. This beautiful natural meteorological phenomenon was something she liked the most.

When they were passing by a narrow road, it's two sides had lotus ponds. The season had already entered the phase when the lotuses would start to open completely. While she was gazing outside she noticed there were many kinds of lotus - pure white, cream white, pink that was a light pink, red that was romantic. 

Luo Lixi was amazed by the scenery. The innumerable blooms stood tall within the two large ponds while when the faint breeze brushed by the flowers they fluttered as if little fairies were dancing in delight. 

Some children were playing there while a man was collecting lotus seeds. 

"Ruming, stop the car."

"Why?" He didn't stop as it was in the middle of the road. People wouldn't be able to pass by if he stopped it.

"Let's eat some lotus seeds. It's been a long time..." She was speaking when abruptly stopped. 'Huh! so she knows...' He saw her solemn expression and sighed in his mind. 'I really can't make her sad.' He parked the car at a relatively plain place at the end of the road.

When she was going to get out he stopped her and tugged the red scarf carefully around her throat. She took the loquat in her hand. When Sheng Ruming walked around and went to her side he frowned in confusion.

"Why are you still keeping this?"

"Oh, are you talking about loquats?" She looked at her hand as she replied, "You want it?"

"No." Sheng Ruming took the goldish-orange one from her hand. He broke the loquat in half and twisted the two sides apart. It easily split in half. 

He removed the stem by pulling it off and peeled off the skin before removing the seeds. He fed half of it to her. It was juicy, sweet, and bursting with multiple flavours. Luo Lixi also fed him the other half. They smiled at each other like love-struck fools.