A Date in Beijing

The journey had been well thought out given the hours of flight, but the discomforts ended with a good sleep. When Dash woke up, it was already six in the evening, so he decided to go out with Devon to see a bit of the city.

Mr. Han had gone out, and only a few students remained, studying school topics that few wanted to be involved with.

"Don't worry, my Mandarin is perfect for these occasions." Dash reassured Devon, who was concerned that the taxi driver wouldn't understand them, but with the different translation methods available now, at least they could manage a bit.

Everything would have been perfect if they had used a translator, but Dash, who had taken some Mandarin classes, spoke to the taxi driver: "Take us to the city center."

"What? Do you want to leave the city?"

"No, take me to the city center." Dash enunciated, thinking his language skills were perfect, but the driver didn't understand him at all.

"Do you want to leave the city?"

Devon wanted to laugh but knew the driver might kick them out of the taxi, so she quickly typed what they wanted into the translator and held it up for the driver to hear.

"Very well, miss; I'll take you to the city center." The driver smiled before starting the journey.

Dash looked at Devon, dumbfounded, as if somehow he could have explained to the driver with his beginner's Mandarin.

"That's why you also study pronunciation." Devon turned her head to hide her smile.

Dash stared at Devon for a few more seconds before asking, "Are you laughing?"

"No..."

Dash knew she was laughing, but since he couldn't do anything to stop it, he looked out the car window while still holding on to the slight thought that the driver did understand him but was just pretending not to.

"Now I remember why I hate traveling." Dash thought, slightly aggrieved.

But fortunately, the trip didn't last long. They both arrived at the busiest place in the city, so after paying through an app since cash was not accepted, they got out of the taxi.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Devon prioritized using a lot of sunscreen because she didn't want to get her skin burned by this infernal sun.