“You really aren’t coming with me?”
Inside the villa bedroom, Dou Yiqing looked up from packing for the umpteenth time, still unable to believe it.
Wen Ci placed half the bottle of mosquito repellent she had just poured out into Dou Yiqing’s backpack.
“I’m not going. I get seasick, and… I’m a little afraid of monkeys.”
“I meant to ask earlier—when have you ever been on a boat?”
Dou Yiqing searched her memory.
“When our middle school organised that trip to Monkey Mountain, you didn’t seem particularly frightened either.”
“I’m afraid now.”
After struggling for a long time, Wen Ci added, “When I was young, I once rode a swan-shaped pedal boat in the park.”
“?”
Dou Yiqing looked speechless.
“That isn’t remotely the same.”
“In any case… I simply don’t want to go that much.”
Wen Ci touched her nose, then asked, “Unless you need me to accompany you? If you don’t want to be alone with Qin Yun, I can try to overcome it.”
“That isn’t the problem. Since becoming a teacher, my tolerance for idiots has reached an entirely different level.”
Dou Yiqing spoke honestly.
“And… he barely counts as a human being now. He isn’t as irritating as he was in high school.”
“I’m only worried you’ll be bored staying here alone.”
“I won’t. I brought books.”
Wen Ci paused.
“Besides, Zhou Wu is staying here too, isn’t he?”
Dou Yiqing looked confused.
“What difference does that make? You two aren’t close.”
Not knowing how to respond, Wen Ci blinked rapidly.
“Mm… Mm. Have you finished packing? What time is the boat? I’ll accompany you there.”
Dou Yiqing frowned.
Wen Ci’s attempt to change the subject, along with that evasive expression, suddenly seemed rather familiar.
Before she could think about it more carefully, her phone rang.
Qin Yun was urging her to hurry.
Dou Yiqing did not answer. She declined the call, lifted her bag and said, “There’s no need. The road is so dark that you’d have to return alone afterwards.”
“I’m leaving, then. If you wake up tomorrow and regret it, buy a ticket and come find me.”
Wen Ci agreed.
The hotel arranged a car to take them to the pier.
The two boarded the boat at the very last moment.
As the vessel slowly moved away, Qin Yun bent over with both hands gripping the railing, panting heavily.
“The last time I… f*cking ran like that… was in high school…”
And even then, Dou Yiqing had always marked him down as late.
Dou Yiqing was also out of breath.
“That only proves you don’t exercise enough.”
“Ridiculous. I exercise every day, okay? This happened because you took forever to come downstairs!”
“…There was too much to pack, and I spoke to Wen Ci for a little longer before leaving.”
Dou Yiqing admitted that she had delayed them.
For one brief moment earlier, she had understood how Wen Ci’s mother usually felt.
Although she and Wen Ci were about the same age, Dou Yiqing had always felt an inexplicable urge to protect her.
Perhaps it was related to Wen Ci’s appearance and personality.
She was too obedient and looked far too easy to bully.
“Why don’t we get off the boat?” Dou Yiqing suddenly suggested.
“You can’t get off now. You can only jump overboard and swim back.”
Qin Yun looked at her coldly.
“What madness is this?”
“Tch. I’m only worried about leaving Wen Ci alone in Bincheng. She isn’t familiar with the place.”
Dou Yiqing asked, “The resort security is good, right?”
“Obviously. Besides, isn’t Zhou Wu there too?”
Qin Yun looked at her as though she were an idiot.
“Relax. They may not be as close as we are, but they were still high-school classmates. He’ll look after her.”
“With him there, you’re a hundred times more likely to be kidnapped by monkeys on the island than Wen Ci is to encounter danger.”
“Get lost. Who’s close to you?”
Qin Yun scoffed.
“We’re already in the same boat. There’s no point saying that now.”
Dou Yiqing ignored him.
She looked worriedly towards Bincheng as it receded into the distance and spoke like an anxious mother.
“Little Wen Ci, you must behave yourself and wait for Mummy to come back.”
…
“Sorry. Does this look strange? My other nightdress is still wet from washing, and wearing a swimsuit now didn’t seem appropriate…”
Hearing this, Zhou Wu raised his eyes.
Wen Ci lay beneath him.
He had undone three buttons at the front of her bear-print pyjama top. Her bra had been pushed up towards her collarbones, while her pyjama bottoms had long since been tossed casually to the foot of the bed.
Her soft black hair spread across the mattress like a waterfall.
Wen Ci’s lips were swollen and red, and the skin around her ears was flushed pink.
She looked at him from beneath her long lashes and considerately asked, “Should I take it off myself?”
“No. I deliberately left it on.”
Zhou Wu kissed her chin.
“It makes you look very obedient.”
Although she was usually obedient anyway.
Wen Ci had intended to ask Zhou Wu to switch off the light.
It was too bright.
Previously, whenever they slept together, they had left only one night-light on. The darkness concealed many of her reactions.
But now, the chandelier overhead illuminated the entire room clearly—including her.
After hearing Zhou Wu’s words, Wen Ci swallowed the request and silently covered half her face with one arm.
Zhou Wu normally paid close attention to Wen Ci’s feelings in bed.
But after being interrupted repeatedly several times before, he was slightly impatient tonight.
Fortunately, Wen Ci always responded well.
After kissing for a while, she was already fully aroused.
Zhou Wu caught her ankle, turned his face and rewarded her with a kiss along the side of her leg.
Wen Ci instinctively clenched one hand.
Just as her nails were about to dig into her palm, Zhou Wu caught it, forced her fingers open and pressed her hand against the bedding, threading his fingers through hers.
Wen Ci unexpectedly met his gaze.
Zhou Wu looked down at her with undisguised, wicked desire.
He bent forwards and kissed her intimately in a series of heavy, wet pecks.
The sounds blended with everything else, leaving Wen Ci dazed and dizzy.
Her bra had already fallen to the floor, but her pyjama top remained on.
The final button struggled valiantly to defend its owner’s privacy through every forceful movement.
Just as numbness spread through her lower abdomen, a phone began ringing violently.
Without looking, Wen Ci fumbled along the edge of the bed until she found her phone.
She declined the call, switched it to silent—
And it began vibrating endlessly.
It rang again. She declined it. It rang once more.
After four consecutive calls, Wen Ci finally had no choice but to check the screen.
It was Dou Yiqing.
Alongside the voice-call request was a message preview:
**Dou Yiqing: What’s wrong, baby? Answer the phone, baby!!!**
Wen Ci quickly replied that she was showering.
This time, instead of another voice call, a video request appeared.
Another message followed.
**Dou Yiqing: You were already showering when I left! Wen Ci! Answer immediately!!**
This was bad.
Wen Ci raised her head and looked pleadingly at Zhou Wu.
Zhou Wu was very generous.
“Answer her first.”
Although he said that, he showed no intention of leaving.
Wen Ci’s head was spinning.
She decided she would offer one explanation and immediately end the call.
She declined the video request and called back using voice only.
Dou Yiqing answered instantly.
Heavy drumbeats sounded on her end. She had probably already reached the bar.
“What’s going on with you? Why weren’t you answering?”
Wen Ci cleared her throat and prepared to speak—
Then abruptly stopped.
Zhou Wu amusedly avoided her panicked and questioning gaze before lowering his head into the open bear-print pyjama top.
“Hello? Wen Ci?” Dou Yiqing called again.
Wen Ci:
“…”
“Mm.”
She tightly gripped Zhou Wu’s shoulder.
“I really am… showering. I… accidentally spilled something on myself.”
“Why have you been so accident-prone lately?”
Wen Ci opened her mouth, then shut it abruptly.
She closed her eyes and endured for several moments before saying without context, “I need to hang up.”
“Why are you hanging up already? I haven’t even let you hear the music.”
Dou Yiqing continued, “I rushed here the moment I got off the boat. This band is incredible live! You should have come with me!”
“There’s still a lot of soap on me. You—you can record it and let me listen when you come back.”
“I’m hanging up now, Yiqing.”
Without waiting for a response, Wen Ci ended the call.
…
After some time, the room finally became briefly quiet.
Wen Ci’s skin tingled. She was completely exhausted.
Although her eyes were closed, everything before them seemed bright white.
She breathed heavily.
Before she had recovered, Zhou Wu kissed her once.
“Sorry, Ms Wen,” he said without the slightest sincerity.
“…”
“But shouldn’t Dou Yiqing apologise to me too?”
Zhou Wu moved the sweat-dampened hair away from her forehead and accused the innocent party first.
“How many times has she interrupted us?”
Wen Ci thought that Yiqing could never hear those words.
Otherwise, Zhou Wu would replace Qin Yun as the person she hated most.
“Zhou Wu, next time… don’t do that.”
Still lying beneath him, Wen Ci cupped his face and attempted to negotiate.
“…It’s very dangerous.”
Zhou Wu gave a quiet hum, though it was impossible to know whether he had listened.
“Did it feel good?”
“…”
Wen Ci swallowed and clenched her teeth.
Only after several seconds did she answer softly and miserably.
“Mm.”
Zhou Wu smiled and lowered his head to kiss her again.
They had started too hastily.
The c*ndoms Wen Ci had brought were still in the living room, and the only one in the bedroom was the one Zhou Wu had previously hidden in his pocket.
After using it, Zhou Wu walked naked out of the room and brought back an entire box.
He caught Wen Ci by the ankle, intending to turn her onto her stomach.
Only then did he notice that the person on the bed had her cheek resting against the bedding and had already fallen asleep.
She had stayed awake late watching films the night before, then risen early that morning.
Wen Ci had slept for fewer than four hours in total.
Zhou Wu had no intention of waking her.
He fastened the buttons of her pyjama top one by one, cleaned her, covered her with the blanket and switched off the light.
Then he went to the bathroom to take care of himself.
When he returned, Wen Ci had fallen into a deep sleep.
Moonlight spilled across her delicate, unadorned face, and her breathing was steady and long.
Zhou Wu looked at her in the moonlight and suddenly remembered Wen Ci in high school.
She had always worn her hair in a ponytail.
Her uniform was forever neat.
She achieved excellent grades and was not particularly tall, so the teachers had permanently placed her within the first three rows.
The sentence she said to him most often was:
“Zhou Wu, you still haven’t handed in your English homework.”
Once, as usual, he had replied, “I’m not handing it in.”
Wen Ci stood before his desk holding a stack of newly collected assignments and did not leave for a long time.
Confused, Zhou Wu raised his head and met her hesitant gaze.
“If you don’t submit this assignment, they’ll call your parents.”
Her tone remained composed.
“I can wait for two lessons. Please write it, Zhou Wu.”
Remembering how serious she had looked, Zhou Wu smiled.
It was strange.
He had believed he barely remembered her, yet tonight, the memory had inexplicably returned.
Perhaps there had been more interactions between him and Wen Ci than he had once thought.
At first, he had agreed to maintain this relationship with Wen Ci because he was curious and found her interesting.
The greatest reason was that the night they spent together had felt very good.
But now, Zhou Wu realised that embracing her, kissing her—even exposing her lies—brought him a subtle, inexplicable pleasure.
Under the moonlight, Wen Ci remained deeply asleep.
Zhou Wu supported her chin with one hand, bent down and gave her a very light kiss.
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