Chapter 13 - Into the Carnival Street.

"Holly, is there any matter?" Rei asked as she noticed the subtle changes in Holly's facial expressions.

"Mmm... Rei, can you help me out for a bit?" said Holly.

"Yes, what is it?" Rei asked.

"Uhm... Hold on there... Ah, ah, ah, ah... Ah... There we have it, now listen to these two different voices."

With a short moment of hesitation, Holly adjusted her voice gradually from her original feminine and high-pitched voice to a low-pitched yet attractive manly voice.

"Wow..."

"Alright listen to this... Do you prefer this voice or... *Cough*... This voice?" said Holly as she switched to a playful teenage boy's voice followed by a gentle and warm man's voice.

"Ah... The seco... No! The first sounds good." said Rei after a short thought and hesitation.

"Hmm? Are you sure about it? I thought most ladies would prefer the second voice." said Holly with a doubtful look.

"Mmm! I am sure about it. The first voice would be perfect." said Rei, confirming her choice.

"Hmm... I see. I shall use this voice then." said Holly with the playful teenage voice.

Rei nodded with a slightly unnatural smile. Yes, Holly has once again read her mind, she was indeed preferring the gentle and warm voice more than the playful teenage voice. However, after considering Holly's energetic look, Rei feels that the teenage voice would suit Holly more.

"But Holly, what is intriguing me right now is how did you manage to change your voice so perfectly?" Rei asked as Holly helped her to get down from the cow cart to her wheelchair.

"Well, it was a skill I learned at my younger age in order to trick Dr Ben that I was someone else when he caught me skipping my class," said Holly as she shrugged.

"And let me guess... You failed," said Rei who is obviously teasing Holly.

"No! I succeeded twice but that's all, Dr Ben somehow saw through me every single time after that second successful attempt," said Holly.

"I see. No wonder Dr Ben prohibited you from wearing a man's outfit," said Rei who is still teasing Holly.

"Mhmm... That's probably one of the reasons. Anyway, the carnival market is over there, let's have our breakfast first before anything." said Holly as she pointed at the entrance of a slightly crowded street twenty metres away from them.

"Mmm... Let's go, I am actually kind of hungry right now," said Rei agreeing with Holly's suggestion.

***

With the help of the wheelchair, Holly pushed Rei towards the entrance of the street. At the entrance, two guards stopped them for a security check, the guards let them pass through as soon as Holly showed them the fake identity documents she made overnight. As they successfully passed the security check, Rei looked at Holly with an admired look, and Holly responded back to her with a blink.

Upon entering the street of the Fire Dragon Carnival, Rei was amazed and overwhelmed by the sight and atmosphere of the whole place. In order to emphasize the theme of the Fire Dragon Festival, the whole street is neatly decorated with red and orange silk ribbon and lace that was shaped into a long, majestic red dragon. Every single person that walked on the street followed the dress code strictly thus forming an orange-red sea of people. And to enhance the atmosphere of the whole environment, musicians can be spotted at a few different spots on the street playing a uniform yet melodious music.

"Wow! They are certainly very serious about this!" Holly exclaimed in amusement.

"Mhmm... Hmm? Uhm... Holly, is it compulsory for everyone to wear the right dress code to enter this carnival street?" Rei asked as she suddenly remembered a weird detail.

"Yes, it is. Is there any matter?" Holly asked, kind of curious why Rei suddenly asked her such a question.

"I wonder if Dr Ben ever wears anything red or orange, or to be more accurate, did he even have any red or orange outfit?" Rei asked as she recalled what Ben said the day before.

"Nope. Dr Ben is a boring person, so, no," said Holly without a single moment of hesitation.

"Ah... I see... Haha... I should have noticed this small detail earlier." said Rei who laughed awkwardly.

Yup, some of you might have noticed this, Ben lied to the King the day before that he went to the carnival market.

"Hmm?"

"No worries, it's just a trivial matter. Let's get to the breakfast stall, I am really hungry right now," said Rei trying her best to cover her awkwardness.

"Oh... Alright then," said Holly as she shrugged.

***

One on wheelchair, one on feet, the two ladies walked through the lively street as they skimmed through all the dazzling arrays of items sold on all the fancy stalls in the carnival street. From small items like delicate hairpins, and small porcelain dolls to huge items like a stone statue, jadeite ore and more, this carnival literally has everything you could think of. As for the food and snacks, it's even crazier, just desserts alone, there are more than hundreds of different choices, not to say the other food, steam, boil, fried, roast, bake and more, this is literally a food heaven.

"Oh my! Look at these food stalls, instead of a carnival, this looks more like a food fair." Holly exclaimed in excitement.

"Food fair?" Rei asked in confusion, this was a new word for her even when it was spoken in Qin's language.

"Ah... Food fair is like an event that promotes foods from different places," said Holly who tried to explain the meaning of food fair to Rei.

"I see..." said Rei as she nodded.

"But... Where is that famous breakfast stall we are looking for? If I was not mistaken, it is supposed to be somewhere near this area." said Holly as she looked here and there trying to find the said breakfast stall out of all the other food stalls.

"Hmm... Hmm?... Ah... Holly, did you smell something really nice?" Rei asked, out of the blue.

"Hmm?... Hey! You are right! It smells like a really nice pot of hot chicken soup." said Holly.

"Mmm... Maybe that's the place we are looking for," said Rei.

"Oh... You could be right! Let's follow the smell then!" Holly exclaimed in excitement...