Chapter 111: What’s there to fear with a challenge? (2)_1
"Andrew, why are you still standing there daydreaming? It was you who suggested we go out for a stroll," Ruby Bluen said as she approached the military vehicle. Unable to open the door without keys, she turned around and saw Andrew Carter standing there, seemingly lost in thought, and called out to him with a smile.
"I’m coming." Andrew Carter quickly dismissed his worries and, carrying the simple luggage Ruby had from her hospital stay, hurried over to the vehicle. Upon reaching it, he opened a door and tossed the simple luggage inside. He then opened the passenger door for Ruby. After she was seated, he got into the car himself.
Andrew Carter drove the car, shuttling Ruby through the streets, helping her pick out clothes to give to Marcel Horne.
Ruby was eager to return, so she wasn’t as picky as usual when buying clothes. She quickly purchased winter attire for both herself and Marcel. She also wanted to buy a couple of pieces for Andrew. She was very grateful to him for keeping her company during the past week; without him, she would’ve been suffocated by boredom in an unfamiliar place. However, Andrew refused, explaining that the entire military camp cared for her and if she were to give him clothes, she would have to give them to all the soldiers in the camp. Ruby could afford it, but since she didn’t know everyone’s sizes and worried about giving the wrong fit, she gave up on the idea.
Instead, she bought lots of delicious food for everyone, and by the time it was nearing noon, she urged Andrew to head back.
"Ruby, look, it’s already noon, and we still have a long way to go. Shouldn’t we have lunch before heading back?" Andrew Carter said with a mischievous grin, looking in no hurry whatsoever.
Thinking it over, Ruby agreed and had lunch with Andrew at a small restaurant on the street.
Ruby, being the daughter of a wealthy family, was accustomed to exotic delicacies: birds from the skies, creatures from the land, and fish from the waters—she had tried them all. But since her arrival in Tibet, staying by Marcel Horne’s side and watching him eat simple meals with the soldiers—meals that seemed bland and coarse to her—she had forced herself to partake. Once, she had found the greens fried in the camp canteen so distasteful she could barely swallow them. Yet as time passed, she wouldn’t allow even half a vegetable to go to waste. Now, she had managed to overcome her issues with the food, and plain meals were enough to sate her hunger.
And so, at the restaurant, she didn’t order anything particularly expensive but just quickly filled her belly with a fast meal.
After eating her fill in the shortest time possible, Ruby began to urge Andrew, who was eating leisurely, to hurry up, fearing that it would be dark before they could make it back to the camp.