Beside them, Shen Ran and Guan Qi quickly tilted their heads up to look at the sky.
The bodyguards nearby, who had changed into ordinary clothes, were even more diligently pretending to be passersby and tourists.
Ji Huanlan cleared her throat, took another skewer and continued eating, then handed the rest to Shen Ran. “I can’t finish all of these. You should try some too.”
In truth, Shen Ran also loved these snacks—especially the squid tentacles from this particular stall. It was just that with his second brother and sister-in-law present, he couldn’t very well abandon his duties to go eat, could he?
But Ji Huanlan had noticed the anticipation in Shen Ran’s eyes and found an excuse to give them to him.
Shen Ran took them happily. “Thank you, Second Sister-in-law!”
The moment he said that, he met Shen Xi’s calm, unreadable gaze. He quickly pulled out one skewer. “Second Brother, would you… like to try one too?”
He’d originally assumed his second brother was merely a bit annoyed that his sister-in-law had given the squid tentacles to him instead. He’d make a token gesture of offering one over to appease any displeasure in his brother’s heart.
But no one could have expected that Shen Xi actually—really—took it!!
Shen Ran seriously suspected they’d pushed the wrong person out of the house today.
Didn’t Second Brother dislike this kind of food?
He could drink porridge but wouldn’t touch rice, and had always detested foods with strong, pungent flavors. What was wrong with him today?
Shen Xi held a squid tentacle between his fingers without changing his expression, chewing calmly as Guan Qi pushed him forward.
In the end, even Guan Qi couldn’t help but lean down and ask, “President Shen, is it good?”
Shen Xi nodded very seriously. “It’s good.”
Guan Qi quickly added, “Would you like me to buy some more for you?”
Shen Xi glanced, seemingly casually, at the woman who was looking around them. “No need.”
Ji Huanlan was taking in the lively atmosphere of the mortal world before her.
“Second Sister-in-law, the fireworks show is about to start,” Shen Ran reminded her.
“Okay.”
Before descending the steps, Shen Ran tossed the bamboo skewers into the trash bin, just as the square’s sanitation workers happened to be swapping in a fresh bin.
The reason Haiyue Guangchang was so famous was that its sanitary conditions were the most appreciated aspect.
Even the trash bins along the snack street had no odor at all. They were changed every hour, and the replacements were always scrubbed spotlessly clean.
As she descended the stairs, Ji Huanlan heard a word of caution beside her: “Don’t walk too fast. There are quite a lot of people.”
Ji Huanlan paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded. “Okay.”
There really were a lot of people—a sea of them.
With such tall steps, it was far too dangerous.
“The fireworks show is about to start! Hurry up!”
“Coming, coming!”
“Excuse me, coming through!”
“I’ve been waiting all day for the fireworks! Hurry over, or we won’t get a spot in the front row!”
Young people rushed down the steps in high spirits as they passed.
The venue’s security personnel kept urging everyone through megaphones to slow down and be careful to avoid falls and injuries.
But there was no stopping the crowd’s enthusiasm.
Ji Huanlan walked for a while and reached a landing platform, preparing to descend the next flight of steps.
But just as she turned around, she heard a burst of screams.
“Ah—”
“Help—”
“Ahh!!”
Cries rose and fell one after another in an instant.
On the staircase that rose like a tower to the heavens, countless people came tumbling down from above in wave after wave, rolling and falling.
As Ji Huanlan was forcibly knocked down by the crowd, the last thing she saw was Shen Xi’s face, full of anxiety as he looked at her.
“Shen Xi…”
“Ji Huanlan!”
Their voices were instantly swallowed by the crowd.
Stampedes always came without warning. The security personnel on the landing tried to help, but it was all in vain.
Ji Huanlan did know close-quarters combat, but with so many people lunging toward her as if gravity had failed, there was no way she could dodge them all.
Her arms, her lower back, her knees, even her forehead—every part of her got slammed into something, though she had no idea what exactly she’d hit.
In the blink of an eye, the square descended into chaos.
It wasn’t until Ji Huanlan felt a bone-chilling cold wash over her that she found herself choking on water, her entire body forcibly squeezed into a wooden barrel filled with ice and cold water, rolling downhill with the crowd.
Ji Huanlan counted herself lucky.
At a moment like this, she’d have crawled into a manure barrel without a second thought to escape—let alone one filled with ice.
Ji Huanlan felt the world spinning around her, with absolutely no idea where she was rolling to.
Screams surrounded her on all sides, and in the midst of the tumbling, she caught sight of blood.
Fatalities from stampedes were all too common.
Ji Huanlan’s eyes suddenly stung, as if she were about to cry.
But it wasn’t from the pain of being knocked around—it was for her sham of a husband.
She was terrified that she might become a widow at such a young age.
Ji Huanlan curled up inside the ice barrel, rolling this way and that over steps and over people’s bodies, with no destination in sight.
The crowd in the stampede was wailing and crying for their mothers and fathers, while Ji Huanlan—perfectly calm, sparing only a sliver of her attention to worry about whether she’d be widowed—desperately wanted to tell them.
At a time like this, crying for your parents wouldn’t help. Even crying for your ancestors wouldn’t do a damn thing.
As she rolled, Ji Huanlan heard the sound of bones snapping, along with shoes, hats, glasses, and other belongings being flung every which way.
She was terrified.
Terrified that among them might be Shen Xi’s deep blue, gold-rimmed glasses. After all, his legs were already in bad shape—if he lost his glasses too, he truly wouldn’t stand a chance of survival.
But even more than that, she was terrified that Shen Ran might be among the fallen.
Why?
Because when Ji Huanlan lost control and was knocked down by the crowd, the clearest thing she heard was Shen Ran’s hysterical cry of “Second Sister-in-law!”
He’d shouted it with such warmth and enthusiasm, so loud and clear.
It was easy to tell just how worried that boy was about her.
Shen Ran… where was Young Master Shen Ran?
Shen Ran was in a spotlessly clean trash bin.
In the brief instant Ji Huanlan rolled past the steps and through the crowd, she happened to lock eyes with Shen Ran, who was sitting in the trash bin with a completely bewildered expression.
That half-second was enough to fill her heart with boundless melancholy.
With this roll, who knew when they’d ever see each other again.
Shen Ran peeked out with one eye, silently watching his brand-new second sister-in-law—who’d only been in the family for a few days—curl up in that wooden barrel that occasionally flung out chunks of ice, rolling toward the bottom of the seemingly endless steps.
Shen Ran: Goodbye, Second Sister-in-law. I hope all goes well for you.
Ji Huanlan: …
Ji Huanlan truly feared death. She’d survived countless brushes with death over the years, and just as she was about to welcome a brighter future, how could she let herself wither away like this?
So when she felt that she’d reached flat ground, Ji Huanlan risked having both hands crushed underfoot, stretched out her arms, pressed both palms flat against the ground, and executed a textbook “hand brake.”
One second later.
Perfect. The wooden barrel actually came to a stop.
Just as someone was about to step on her precious, delicate hand without any control over their movements, Ji Huanlan shoved hard at the person’s calf, freed her hands, and scrambled out of the barrel with lightning speed.
Fortunately, this was already the end of the line—no more downhill to tumble down.
“Bang—”
Ji Huanlan had barely steadied herself, surrounded by choking dust and the cacophony of wails and screams rising and falling all around her.
Fireworks burst into bloom in the night sky not far away.
They illuminated Ji Huanlan’s survival after the ordeal, and also lit up Shen Xi, who sat in a wheelchair nearby, his suit slightly disheveled.