Xu Yanxia and Lu Jingming spent their third wedding anniversary in Jingbei.
Ever since the massive success of the show One City, One Flavor a few years ago, many similar programs had approached Xu Yanxia with invitations over the years. However, she only ever made occasional guest appearances as a judge and never easily showed off her culinary skills on any show.
For one thing, she truly had no interest in the entertainment industry. Furthermore, after having her daughter, she simply could not bear to be separated from the little one for too long.
Schedules like the one for One City, One Flavor, where a single recording session took an entire week, were truly unacceptable to her now.
This time, if an official platform had not reached out to her through Aunt Xiaohua, she probably would have rejected the offer outright.
Fortunately, the itinerary was only two days long, and her parents-in-law as well as her husband were all very supportive.
Especially since their high-end brand, Taihe Restaurant, was about to open a branch in Jingbei, this presented an excellent promotional opportunity.
Only then was she willing to temporarily part with her sweet, milky-smelling baby girl and go on a business trip alone.
The shoot this time was for a Spring Festival-themed intangible cultural heritage food program. On the first day of arrival, they shot promotional photos. She and several other guests dressed in ancient costumes and specifically went to the Forbidden City for the shoot.
The official recording took place on the second day, starting in the morning and successfully wrapping up by dusk.
After packing her things and stepping out of the studio building, she heard her assistant remind her, "President Lu is here!"
Xu Yanxia quickly looked over and, sure enough, saw Lu Jingming standing at the entrance of the parking lot. Dressed in a dark, long overcoat, he looked handsome and elegant as he gazed at her, smiling and opening his arms.
Even after three years of marriage, he still loved giving people surprises.
Smiling, Xu Yanxia bid farewell to her assistant and walked briskly toward him.
Needless to say, what greeted her was inevitably Lu Jingming's warm embrace.
The winter nights in Jingbei were still cold. Tucked inside his overcoat, she smiled, looked up at him, and asked, "Why did you suddenly come over?"
Lu Jingming replied, "I had an impromptu business trip to Shencheng this morning. Thinking it wasn't too far, I decided to come pick up my wife and go home together."
Not too far, indeed.
Xu Yanxia was amused by him. "It's a thousand kilometers!"
"Compared to being able to hold my wife, what is even ten thousand kilometers?"
Lu Jingming looked down at her with a smile. "Besides, today is our wedding anniversary."
Wedding anniversary?
Xu Yanxia let out a belated gasp. "Sorry, I almost completely forgot."
Lu Jingming let out a mock sigh. "I knew you would forget, but thankfully I remembered. Your punishment is to stop working from this moment on and keep me good company."
Xu Yanxia said, "I originally planned to rush back to be with you guys as soon as the recording was done."
But Lu Jingming smiled and said, "If we head back at this time, Nannan will already be asleep by the time we get home, not to mention you are tired too. So tonight is just for the two of us; we can go back tomorrow."
"That works,"
Xu Yanxia said with a smile. "Then I'll treat you to a big meal!"
Hmm?
Lu Jingming immediately became interested. "What are we eating?"
But he saw Xu Yanxia pulling his hand and walking forward. "Right ahead is our 1953 Restaurant. You can order whatever sea cucumber, abalone, and lobster you want."
Lu Jingming was speechless.
Well then, this was clearly a surprise inspection of the dishes at their own restaurant, wasn't it?
To be honest, though, their 1953 Restaurant was indeed very delicious. The roast duck, sweet and sour fish, and sea cucumber were absolutely superb, and it had indeed been a while since he last ate there.
Thus, he gladly followed her there.
After having a child, the couple rarely had such alone time, so they cherished it all the more.
After finishing dinner, they went to a teahouse to drink tea and listen to an opera, followed by a nighttime city walk.
It was the end of another year, and the streets already carried the atmosphere of the Spring Festival.
Although the air was a bit crisp and cold, Jingbei, as a famous tourist city, was never short of visitors throughout the four seasons.
The two held hands and walked for a while until the Forbidden City suddenly appeared in their line of sight. The red walls reflected against the thinly iced moat, and the corner towers with their flying eaves looked incredibly beautiful bathed in the warm golden glow of the lights, attracting many tourists to take photos.
This also reminded Xu Yanxia of something.
"We actually shot the promotional photos for the show inside the Forbidden City yesterday. Want to see how they turned out?"
As she spoke, she took out her phone and opened the photo album. Lu Jingming cast his gaze over, only to see her on the screen wearing a pale lotus-root-colored round-collar Hanfu, with a light cyan silk ribbon tied around her waist. Her hair was meticulously combed back, and a single silver hairpin adorned her hair bun. Although there were no complicated accessories, she looked exceptionally elegant and beautiful.
The background of the picture happened to be a courtyard within the palace, and the harmony between the person and the scenery was exceptionally high.
"So beautiful!"
Lu Jingming exclaimed, then asked her, "Have you ever done a makeup and styling look like this before?"
"No,"
Xu Yanxia said. "The styling this time is highly historically accurate. It's my first time trying it."
"Is that so?"
Lu Jingming felt a bit strange, however. Why did it seem like he had seen it somewhere before?
Unable to recall it at the moment, he had no choice but to drop the thought for now, holding her hand as they continued to walk forward.
