Power Up, Artist Yang!

Ouch. 

What did people say about falling asleep on shoulders as cute again? It was comfortable at first, but feeling a stiff neck in the morning might not have been the most worth it.

She looked over at Zixu almost immediately after waking up, blinking when she realized that he was already wide awake, observing her.

"How long were you awake?" she asked, all the while moving aside to stretch and gently massage the back of her neck.

He pulled the "blanket" to his side, transforming it back to the outer robes he was wearing yesterday. "Not for long," he replied, focusing on straightening his sleeves.

"Not for long?" Yujia repeated, pausing.

In her recollections, Zixu always woke up early. She glanced up at the sun in the sky. It looked early, but it definitely wasn't the crack of dawn. 

Putting two and two together, it was obvious that he woke up early but didn't get up, likely not to wake or disturb her.

She cracked a grin. "Alright. Sure. Not for long."

Grabbing the side of the tree, she tried to help herself to stand up. Her ankle seemed almost worse than yesterday, or at most, just as bad.

And so, with that current predicament of hers, it was back to letting Zixu give her a piggyback ride as they walked down the river bank. Unlike last time, where an old fisherman appeared rather quickly, they had to walk for quite a while before luckily seeing a patch of road. Then, with no other options, they began to go down that path. Yujia feared that at this rate, it would be late afternoon by the time that they hit the borders of civilization. The sun had been steadily creeping up the sky all the time.

It seemed like fate had enough fun torturing them, though, since from the distance, the sound of rolling wheels began to travel to Yujia's ear. Both her and Zixu looked up, with even the dogs and their ears perking up once they heard the sound. 

Sure enough, within a few more moments, a cart, pulled along by a single horse, emerged from the woods beyond them. A middle-aged woman was driving the cart, moving along slowly towards Yujia and Zixu's direction.

Yujia's eyes lit up. 

This was good news: Zixu didn't have to carry her any more! It was surely exhausting for him to carry her for so long, even if he claimed that she was light. If they could hitchhike a ride with the woman, then they could go back to the capital in a breeze.

Yet with every good news, there seemed to also be bad news. The woman was driving the opposite direction of them. She was likely heading to a destination far outside of the city. Would she really be gracious enough to grant them a ride?

"What are you two young folks doing, out here, so early in the morning?" she asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Zixu sighed deeply. "We were just taking a simple walk yesterday with the dogs, and by accident, we became lost in the forest. We had to stay overnight, and even worse, my wife tripped and sprained her ankle. It was only a few hours ago when we finally found this path out."

He turned his head to look at Yujia with deep concern in his eyes. She willed her eyes to water, gazing back at Zixu, then the woman, with such a pitiful, watery gaze. 

"How bad is your ankle?" the woman asked, her eyes trailing down to Yujia's foot, hanging by the side.

"Very bad," Yujia responded quickly, forcing a slight tremble into her voice. She may have dramatized the performance, but the pain in her ankle was not a lie. "I can't even walk."

"I had to carry her all this time," Zixu made sure to add.

"Madam, if possible, could you please have pity on us and give us a ride back to the capital?" Yujia pleaded. "We realize that it is inconveniencing you, but if you could—"

"Alright, alright," she interrupted waving her hand. She gestured for the two of them to get on the back of the cart. "I'll do this for y'all out of the kindness of my heart."

Both Yujia and Zixu thanked her profusely. Then, one by one, they got onto the back of the cart. First, Zixu walked over and set Yujia down carefully, making sure to not move her leg or foot in any way. Then, he got the dogs to obediently sit on the inside of the cart as well. Lastly, he himself got on.

With all of the passengers on the cart, the woman coaxed the horse around and began driving down the direction to the city.

Yujia glanced over at Zixu, about to say something, but the middle-aged woman cut in, pointing out, "You must be quite a loving couple for your husband to be willing to carry you this entire time."

Zixu smiled faintly. "I just did what I was supposed to."

The woman shook her head. "Aiya, if I sprained my ankle, my husband would not be willing to carry me the slightest. He'd keep complaining about my weight, his old back, and whatnot." She turned her head back at Yujia. "You are lucky, alright, girl?" 

Yujia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yep. I am indeed lucky."

"How long have you two been together?" the woman then questioned. It was a rather forward question, but then again, this woman had demonstrated a direct personality ever since the moment they began to speak with her. 

"We were married just recently," Zixu decided to answer, upon seeing that Yujia faltered for a split second.

"Ah, is that so? Well, you two do give off the appearance of newlyweds." 

Yujia thought about her and Zixu. Was this what newlyweds looked like?

The ride continued onward, peaceful conversations going on between the two of them and the woman. Although the horse pulled the cart slowly, it seemed like barely any time had passed by the time that the forest slowly thinned out to the borders of the city. Time had simply slipped by so quickly.

When they arrived at the city walls, that was where Yujia and Zixu decided to step off. They wouldn't inconvenience the woman any further. She cheerfully bid them goodbye, and after thanking her a few more times, they parted ways.

"She was quite kind," Yujia noted, once the woman drove off, back into the forest.

"Indeed." Zixu bent over, ready to give Yujia a piggyback ride again. She got on quickly, rather familiar at this point with piggyback rides.

"Last time with the fisherman, you claimed that we were siblings," she added on, "so why is it that this time, we are husband and wife?"

Zixu began to walk, though he turned his face to give her a matter-of-fact look. "Well, that is closer to the truth, isn't it? Anyways," he paused, giving her a smile, "let's go get you some medicine."