The next morning, Yan Zhen woke up before even the servants did. He's excited about going out. He slowly, steadily stood on his feet.
"Yay! I did it!", he muttered silently to himself, his voice filled with excitement.
He walked without holding anything for support and he did it well.
The pain was less hurting, he sighed in relief,"phew, now I don't have to sit, lay down or sleep all day".
He began doing the warmup he used to do in his modern world when training sword with his grandfather. Old habits die hard. He can bend his body a little bit but not much, he can lift his legs freely but not faster.
Just then, The Emperor entered unannounced..
Yan Zhen paused mid stretch and quickly stood straight as he looked down and bowed deeply to him, bad idea, a sting of pain shot through his abdomen. He hissed and quickly straightened himself.
The Emperor rushed over to him,"what I said about being careful of your injuries?", he scolded, but his voice was filled with concerned anger.
"I-i'm sorry",Yan Zhen said because he didn't know what else to say, he's awkward in holding conversations.
"Try to be more careful from now on, I don't want your healing to take more time, the palace feels empty without you",Jinhai scolded gently.
"Ah ah i understand, now can you please take me out?", Yan Zhen asked suddenly realised something,"I mean...can you please take me out, Your Majesty?".
The Emperor looked at him for a moment before he chuckles,"I told you, no need to be formal now".
"But you are the emperor, i should be respectful, it's necessary...anyway...can you take me out now?"
The Emperor smiled and nodded,"okay, as i promised, come with me."
The Emperor walked out of the room and Yan Zhen followed behind, excited to see this new world fate has offered him to live.
They walked with Just two guard trailing behind in distance. It was a narrow path between the dense forest which eventually led them to a field.
Yan Zhen almost gasped at the sight. The field, stretched and endless like the sky, with farmers scattered around, watering and some teaching the kids how to do farming, who learnt it so seriously.
Some kids running around, few elder farmers were sitting under a big banyan tree, talking among themselves. It was all laughter and happy.
Some farmers looked up from their work and bowed to Jinhai and Yan Zhen, some nodded in acknowledgement, completely fearless.
"They don't...fear you, Your Majesty?", Yan Zhen asked, trying to hide his amusement.
"It's not our first time walking around the field, Yan Zhen...did you forget?",Jinhai said as Yan Zhen sighed.
"Uh...i remember, i remember ", Yan Zhen said with a nervous chuckle, he don't remember anything because he's not Yan Zhen but tried to play it cool.
"In this empire, fear is not necessary", Jinhai said as he walked through the field while Yan Zhen nodded and looked around amazed at the sight.
"This place is so cool and... beautiful"
He thought to himself, it's so rare to see fields this big in his world, he felt a twig of sadness at the thought that the upcoming future would eat this away. The place would be surrounded by buildings and all.
"I'm so lucky to experience this", he thought to himself and followed Jinhai quietly.
A farmer, a old man looked at Jinhai and bowed to him, then looked at Yan Zhen then smiled at him.
"You recovered pretty well, General", the farmer said, his voice rough but not unkind.
"Um...yeah..", Yan Zhen trailed off and smiled nervously at him, he's awkward in holding conversations and the farmer's attention is not helping either.
"We'll take our leave", Jinhai interrupted almost immediately as if he had read Yan Zhen's mind and gave Yan Zhen a look that said 'come on' and Yan Zhen followed him, sighing in relief.
"T-thanks", Yan Zhen said.
"For?", Jinhai asked.
"For interrupting. I got awkward with conversations lately.", Yan Zhen said, hoping it was believably enough.
"That's alright", Jinhai answered shortly.
They walked through a crowded market street, the vendors were calling customers to buy their things, the kids are buying foods and sharing among themselves, while chatting.
The crowd seemed unfazed by Jinhai's presence and Yan Zhen. They all just went about their routine.
Yan Zhen looked around the market at each shops, some were selling figure candies, some were selling handcrafted pots and jewells and cotton hanfu.
Yan Zhen stopped at a shop, figure candy shop.
Jinhai turned around to find Yan Zhen missing. He looked around and found him near that shop and approached him with a small smile.
"I never knew, the mighty, scary General loves figure candy", Jinhai teased.
Yan Zhen's face heat up at the teasing but he refused to move.
"Can I buy this?", Yan Zhen asked with his irresistible puppy eyes.
The Emperor's breath caught in his throat at the unexpected expression,"my General is getting different", he muttered... affectionately.
He gave 3 copper coin to the seller and took the candy which is shaped like a bird.
Yan Zhen smiled and took the candy from his hand and started eating it happily. He walked past the Emperor slightly bumping in his shoulder but didn't stop walking, Jinhai chuckled and walked behind him.
He really loved this new side of Yan Zhen.
They walked through the narrow ways of the empire where huts were. Kids came to Jinhai excitedly...they looked up at him with pure innocence and happiness.
"Emperor! Emperor! Take us to the palace again?", a little boy asked excitedly.
Jinhai chuckled and lifted the boy in his arms as other kids also reached up to be lifted by him.
"Palace is busy now, I will take you there later", he said and gently tapped the boy's nose which made him giggle and gently placed him down and patted the other kids head.
Yan Zhen watched all this, almost not realising he's been staring at Jinhai for like...too long. He quickly snapped out when a little girl came up to him.
"General Yan Zhen?...how have you been?", the little girl asked with concern.
Yan Zhen crouched down to her level and patted her head and said with a smile,"I'm doing well, thanks for asking."
But the pain in his abdomen made him his slightly, he can't put pressure on his abdomen by crouching down. Jinhai instinctively touched his shoulder and helped him stand up.
"You are not fine", the little girl said looking at him with worry which made the other kids silent too.
"It'll heal", Yan Zhen said with a smile trying to reassure the worried kids.
Then, Yan Zhen got surprised. A little smooch sound, and wetness in his knuckle. The little girl lifted his big hand in her small once and placed a gentle kiss to it and smiled up at him innocently.
"The pain will go away, and when it does, you should give me kiss on cheek",she said with a giggle.
Yan Zhen smiled down at her.
"You're so kind, little lady", he ruffled her hair.
Jinhai was too busy admiring Yan Zhen interacting with the kids. A smile crept up it's way on his lips without realising it. His eyes softened at the sight.
Yan Zhen turned to look at him but saw Jinhai staring at him like that, he quickly looked away pretending not to notice Jinhai's stare.
"Now go and play kids", Jinhai said gently as the kids nodded and ran back to play.
Yan Zhen watched them go and turned to Jinhai, his heart was racing,"what do they mean by 'taking them to palace'?"
"Did you forget?...I always take the kids to my palace and give them the foods they like and let them play in my garden, I play with them too", Jinhai said but Yan Zhen remembered nothing, how can he when he's not real Yan Zhen.
Yan Zhen nodded,"i remember", trying to play it cool, hoping the Emperor won't notice.
They walked towards a river near the fields, the place was surrounded by flowers and rabbits.
Yan Zhen watched in wonder as he followed the Emperor. He lifted a rabbit in his arms and walked with him while scratching behind it's ear. Jinhai smiled to himself at the sight.
Then, they saw Lui Xie, the master who teaches archery. The Emperor bowed to him and Yan Zhen did too, even tho not knowing who is this. The master nodded in acknowledgement.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again, master", Jinhai said with utmost respect because he learned archery from him.
"Greetings, Jinhai and Yan Zhen", the master bowed slightly and then looked at Yan Zhen.
"How is his recovery?"
"I'm getting better, master. Thanks for asking", Yan Zhen answered politely.
The master's eyes widened slightly.
"You're surprisingly polite...you changed so much, Yan Zhen. Usually, you don't even let me near my own student", Lui Xie looked at Jinhai then back at him with a amused smile.
"Oh..I just wanted to be less strict because I reflected on my past behaviour",Yan Zhen managed to make him believe it.
"Anyways, why don't you visit palace from now on, master?", Jinhai asked with a unsuppressed eagerness for his master's visit.
"Ofcourse, Jinhai. I will visit if time allows", the master looked at the sky, then back at them.
"It's almost afternoon, so I need to go to my shrine, students might arrive. I will take my leave", the master bowed and left.
Jinhai smiled ,but something about the master didn't sit right in Yan Zhen's mind. He felt something off. A weird feeling stirred in his chest as he scratched the rabbit's ear absentmindedly. He snapped out when rabbit jumped out of his arms.
"Are you okay? You're having deep thoughts ", the Emperor asked but Yan Zhen shook his head with a little smile...
But Yan Zhen... decided to keep an eye on this master...