CHAPTER 744: CHAPTER 448: DAILY ROUTINE OF GOING TO THE MARKET WITH MY WIFE_2

"There are too many people. Should we wait for the next one?" Uesugi Sakura looked at the screen above showing another three minutes until the train arrived and asked.

"Okay." Hanamaru Hanabi naturally didn’t want to squeeze into a crowded train car either.

Train broadcast: [You have arrived at: Shirokane Takanawa Station, You have arrived at: Shirokane Takanawa Station, Next stop, Shirokanedai, Next stop, Shirokanedai]

The train arrived, bustling with a massive flow of passengers.

Uesugi Sakura stood at the back and watched a station worker, flushed with effort, trying hard to push a gentleman’s rear inside, finally getting the train door to barely close.

"So crowded."

The next train was slightly better, with Uesugi Sakura leading Hanamaru Hanabi, pushing their way inside, barely finding a corner for them to stand.

Broadcast: [Next stop, Shirokanedai, Next stop, Shirokanedai]

The train began moving, gradually shaking, with Uesugi Sakura propping his hands on the upper pole, sheltering Hanamaru Hanabi in the corner.

Not sure if it was due to the crowd and heater running in the carriage, raising the temperature, but Hanamaru Hanabi’s cheeks became rosy, adorably tender.

"Do you remember, Hanabi?"

"Huh," Hanamaru Hanabi barely raised her head to look at him, "Remember what?"

Uesugi Sakura looked at her little face and said, "When we just started dating, I also shielded you like this, and someone even misunderstood that I was harassing you. Your dad’s colleague even questioned us about it and took notes."

"Sakura-kun... Sakura-kun is talking about that..."

The train reached the station; the inertia from stopping made the people behind stagger, bumping into Uesugi Sakura’s back, and as he and Hanamaru Hanabi were face to face, some upper body contact was inevitable.

Uesugi Sakura didn’t mind at all, but Hanamaru Hanabi, because of this closeness, her face blushed crimson.

"Are you okay?"

"Not... not okay, just a bit crowded."

"Then I’ll move a bit."

"Sakura-kun!" Hanamaru Hanabi called out to him again, her face fully red, "Don’t... don’t move..."

Uesugi Sakura smiled down at the young girl and said:

"Compared to before, Hanabi-chan hasn’t changed much, still just as cute."

"You tease..." Hanamaru Hanabi wanted to glare at him, but with such close contact now, she was too shy to look up anymore, only managing a weak protest to show her resistance to his teasing.

Uesugi Sakura got squeezed a bit more towards Hanamaru Hanabi by the people behind, making her face turned sideways, resting near his chest.

"A bit more time till we reach the stop, just bear with it a little longer, Hanabi-chan."

"Mm... mm..."

Once at the station and off the train, Uesugi Sakura tried to hold Hanamaru Hanabi’s hand, but she stepped aside, avoiding it.

Uesugi Sakura looked at her, withdrawing his right hand that almost held hers, and smiled, "Considering how close we are, Hanabi-chan, bumping into each other accidentally shouldn’t make you sulk, right?"

"It wasn’t just a little... It was for a long time... It hurt to brush against it..."

"Should I give you a massage at home?"

"You rogue... big rogue!"

Hanamaru Hanabi lifted her amethyst eyes, staring at his smiling face, "Even if it wasn’t intentional, Sakura-kun was obviously deliberate with what you said afterward... Even if Hanabi married Sakura-kun... You can’t behave like this casually..."

"Like what? Tease you?" Uesugi Sakura thought she looked too adorable with her hesitation and shyness in front of him and couldn’t help wanting to tease her more.

"Sakura-kun, you’re asking questions you already know the answer to!"

"Alright, alright," Uesugi Sakura walked closer to hold her hand, "I apologize."

Hanamaru Hanabi turned her face away, "Sakura-kun... You’d forget even after apologizing quickly!"

Uesugi Sakura didn’t give up, continued to coax her gently, his mouth near her ear whispering warm words, melting the girl’s soft heart quickly.

"Then... Hanabi will forgive Sakura-kun..." Hanamaru Hanabi looked down at their hands holding each other.

"Yeah, my wife is the cutest," Uesugi Sakura whispered again near her ear, "After shopping, how about we play a princess game at home? You’ll be the little princess, and I’ll be the knight serving the princess."

The girl’s gaze turned evasive, and her ears turned rosy red.

Seeing this, Uesugi Sakura felt pleased with himself and continued to tempt her further.

"Don’t worry... The princess won’t get tired; I’ll take care of everything."

A shy Hanamaru Hanabi, of course, wouldn’t fully agree, only being tightly held by his hand and teased into a fluster, softly replied:

"No, don’t let it go on too long..."

"Okay, everything will be as the princess says."

In emotional exchanges, Uesugi Sakura could maintain some lead, but when it came to shopping, he wasn’t nearly as skillful as her.

Chinese woks or square knives are only sold at Chinese markets.

Uesugi Sakura led Hanamaru Hanabi out of Ikebukuro Station, headed to a market called Itabashi, then found a Chinese supermarket where they found the wok they wanted in the cookware section.

Uesugi Sakura grasped the handle, tapped the bottom twice with his finger.

"Bang bang," a crisp sound.

"Why does Sakura-kun insist on cooking with this type of pan?"

Uesugi Sakura held the wok in one hand, thought for a moment, and said, "With so many cuisines in the world, you need different tools to truly experience the original flavors of food, right? For example, if we stir-fried green pepper with our small frying pan at home, the heat and taste wouldn’t be the same at all."

"What about this?"

Hanamaru Hanabi picked up a shiny knife, her expression curious and cute.

"This..."

Seeing her with the knife, Uesugi Sakura got flustered for a second, recalling a dream where he got stabbed in the stomach.

It’s fine, he wasn’t scumbag Uesugi, and this square knife wasn’t easy to stab with anyway.

"This knife feels good for chopping." Uesugi Sakura explained a bit guiltily, although he didn’t know why he felt guilty.

"Really?" Hanamaru Hanabi tried swinging it down twice slightly.

But why did this action resemble chopping someone?

Whew!

Uesugi Sakura sighed in relief, glad it wasn’t a black Hanabi coming to the supermarket with him; otherwise, who knows what scary jokes she might make.

"Buy it home and try it, you’ll know."

There were many types of woks and knives, and it took them ten minutes to make their selections.

Looking at the two kitchen tools different from usual, Hanamaru Hanabi was a bit puzzled because she hadn’t used them before, only seeing these tools, "Sakura-kun... It seems like you’ve known a lot about China since you were small?"

"Is that so?" Uesugi Sakura answered in Japanese while paying an auntie who couldn’t speak Japanese. The auntie thought he was Chinese and had married a beautiful Japanese bride, and praised him for bringing glory to the country.

Hanamaru Hanabi, not understanding what they said, just saw the smile on the auntie’s face.

As they walked out of the supermarket, Hanamaru Hanabi followed beside Uesugi Sakura:

"Yes, you can speak Chinese; in elementary and middle school, your classical Chinese and ancient poetry were the best in class too."

"It’s just that though I can speak it, I don’t use it often."

"Sakura-kun’s Chinese is really good, but if you don’t use it often, why learn it..."

"Ahem," Uesugi Sakura tried to change the topic, "it’s like English, even if we don’t speak it well or like it, we have to learn it. It’s a way to understand another culture and a method of acquiring knowledge."

After speaking, Uesugi Sakura turned to look at Hanamaru Hanabi, suddenly noticing her adorable amethyst eyes watching him: "Hanabi suddenly feels like Sakura-kun is someone from a previous life."