Wen Ci spent several seconds trying to determine whether Dou Yiqing was really there or whether the fever had made her hallucinate.
“Why are you sleeping here?”
After several seconds of silence, Dou Yiqing finally found her voice.
She was real.
Wen Ci’s fever-dulled mind began working at full speed.
She murmured, closed her eyes and started speaking nonsense.
“Mum, I think my fever is making me hallucinate… I can see Yiqing.”
“?”
Dou Yiqing fell for it immediately.
“It isn’t a hallucination. Two tickets suddenly became available, so I came back early. You have a fever? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Wen Ci pretended to realise what was happening only belatedly.
“It started around noon. I was afraid you’d worry, so I didn’t say anything.”
“How are you feeling now? Has the fever gone down?”
Dou Yiqing touched her face.
It was still slightly warm.
“It’s gone down a lot. You know what I’m like. I’ll recover after a little while. Don’t worry.”
Dou Yiqing nodded.
“Why are you sleeping in Zhou Wu’s bed?”
“He was worried I might faint from the fever with no one around, so he told me to lie down here.”
Wen Ci stumbled over her explanation.
“He… He’s quite kind.”
“Really?”
Dou Yiqing looked suspicious.
“Then why aren’t you sleeping in the guest room—”
Wen Ci suddenly flopped backwards.
“My head feels so dizzy.”
“Have you taken medicine?”
Dou Yiqing was startled and glanced around.
“Your lips are so dry. I’ll pour you some warm water.”
Because of the typhoon and Wen Ci’s fever, Zhou Wu had not allowed the cleaning staff to enter that day.
Wen Ci saw the nearly empty, wide-open box of c*ndoms sitting brazenly at the edge of the desk.
Near the luggage rack lay the strappy swimsuit that had been casually discarded.
Her vision went dark.
She instinctively reached out and caught Dou Yiqing’s clothes again.
“What… What kind of fish are you holding?”
Wen Ci spoke weakly.
“Did you bring them back from the island?”
Dou Yiqing immediately became enthusiastic.
At last remembering the important matter, she raised the bag and began introducing them.
“I caught all of these! Look, this grouper on the left is huge, isn’t it? We’ll steam it tonight. You’re ill, so it’ll be perfect for helping you recover. And the one on the right…”
When Zhou Wu returned after finishing his online meeting, he found the bedroom door wide open.
A vague description of that evening’s menu drifted from inside.
He entered the room.
Wen Ci looked as though she had seen her saviour.
She repeatedly widened and narrowed her eyes at him, her face—which had been pale all day—turning red with panic.
Zhou Wu followed her hints naturally.
He calmly tidied the scene of the crime, picked up the box and swimsuit, then stuffed both into his pockets.
“You’re back?”
Zhou Wu spoke indifferently, interrupting Dou Yiqing’s endless explanation.
“Should you put the fish in the kitchen first? The bag is dripping.”
“Oh, right.”
Dou Yiqing froze and only then noticed that the bottom of the bag was indeed wet.
She looked towards Wen Ci.
“Come back with me, then.”
“Let her take her medicine before leaving,” Zhou Wu said. “The hot water is nearly ready.”
“All right. Thanks for troubling yourself.”
Dou Yiqing held one hand beneath the bag.
“I’ll put the fish away first so it doesn’t drip in the bedroom and make everything smell.”
Once Dou Yiqing left, Wen Ci released a long, heavy breath, still shaken.
Her cheeks and ears were bright red.
Zhou Wu pressed the back of his hand against her face to check her temperature.
“Is this from the fever or the fright?”
“The fright,” Wen Ci answered honestly.
Zhou Wu laughed.
“Did you bring any long sleeves on this trip?”
Wen Ci shook her head.
So Zhou Wu went into the dressing room and returned with two long-sleeved sweatshirts.
“Wear one back. Wear the other tomorrow.”
…
Both fish were completely eaten that evening.
Wen Ci still had a low fever.
After returning to her room and washing up, she fell into bed and slept again.
When she woke the following day, she had finally recovered.
At noon, Dou Yiqing checked her temperature for the third time.
After confirming the fever had not returned, she immediately began planning the afternoon.
The typhoon had only brushed past them and caused little damage, but diving was certainly impossible.
After searching through every travel guide she could find, Dou Yiqing decided they would visit the aquarium near the resort.
Qin Yun responded, “What’s interesting about an aquarium? We might as well stay home and play cards. Whoever wants to go can go. Zhou Wu and I—”
Zhou Wu stood at the door with an umbrella already open, sheltering Wen Ci beneath it.
He said goodbye coldly.
“See you, then.”
“…”
In the end, all four of them went together.
The typhoon had disrupted everyone’s plans.
The aquarium was packed with visitors, and children ran everywhere.
Qin Yun, who had claimed he did not want to come, became the most enthusiastic person there.
He pointed at a manta ray.
“Dou Yiqing, this one. When I first saw you at the beginning of our first year of high school, this was exactly what you reminded me of. You look identical.”
Dou Yiqing pointed at a humphead wrasse.
“You.”
“Blindly attacking me is pointless. Everyone knows I was breathtakingly handsome when I started high school. During our second and third years, girls constantly came to stare at me from outside the classroom.”
Dou Yiqing looked at him with pity.
“You’re rich now. Go to the hospital and have your brain examined. They were all there to see Zhou Wu.”
“You’re talking bullshit!”
For one moment, Wen Ci felt as though she were attending a school trip.
Although her fever had gone down, she still wore Zhou Wu’s grey sweatshirt that day.
She paired it with a long white skirt, and a loosely woven braid rested over her right shoulder.
Standing before the glass, she was covered in a gentle layer of watery blue light.
“So noisy.”
Zhou Wu stood beside her with his arms folded, leaning against the railing.
After looking her over for a while, he lazily added, “I don’t know why they came back.”
Wen Ci smiled and resisted agreeing aloud.
From the other side, Dou Yiqing leaned out and asked Wen Ci to send her the photographs of the rain she had taken beside the window that morning.
Wen Ci agreed and opened WeChat.
While there, she also replied to several other messages.
Zhou Wu watched without avoiding it and discovered that Wen Ci created a separate chat background for every person.
Each background was a selfie of the person she was speaking to.
After sending the pictures, Wen Ci was about to lock her phone when it suddenly vibrated.
She instinctively opened the new message.
**Zhou Wu: .**
Wen Ci froze slightly.
The person beside her spoke.
“What does this mean, Ms Wen?”
“Mm?”
Zhou Wu tapped the dog in the chat background.
His expression resembled that of a parent looking at a troublesome child.
“Why does it get to be the background for my chat?”
“…Because it’s adorable?”
Zhou Wu raised an eyebrow at her.
He was clearly dissatisfied with that answer.
So Wen Ci pointed towards one corner of the picture.
“You’re actually in this photograph too. Look—”
Zhou Wu stared at the half of one eye and half an arm visible in the corner.
He finally laughed in disbelief.
He took Wen Ci’s phone, directly opened the front-facing camera and raised it in front of them.
“Smile.”
Wen Ci obediently lifted her lips.
“Don’t give me a fake smile, Ms Wen. I’m not one of your colleagues.”
Wen Ci burst out laughing.
The photograph froze.
Zhou Wu examined it and appeared reasonably satisfied.
He returned the phone to her and raised his chin.
“Change it to this.”
…
After walking around for a while, the four found a restaurant inside the aquarium and sat down to rest.
They could watch the fish while eating dinner.
Dou Yiqing beside her was concentrating on editing photographs.
For what felt like the hundredth time, Wen Ci secretly opened her conversation with Zhou Wu and looked at the new photograph again.
They had been fortunate.
Just as the photograph was taken, a whale shark had passed overhead.
The spots along its body seemed to glow, and schools of small fish in various colours swam beside it.
Zhou Wu had told her not to smile falsely, yet his own expression was faint.
Only the corners of his lips lifted slightly, making him look casually cool.
Beside him, Wen Ci had laughed so hard that her face was blurred, making her look like an idiot by comparison.
She would ask him later whether they could retake it.
She was studying the photograph intently when a clear, childish voice called from beside her.
“Big sister.”
Still wearing an unconscious smile, Wen Ci turned her head.
“Mm?”
It was a little girl who was almost the same height as the table.
She held a clownfish-shaped lollipop and pointed towards Zhou Wu, who sat opposite Wen Ci.
She loudly asked, “Will you and big brother kiss again later?”
“…”
Everyone at the table—and even the surrounding guests—turned towards Wen Ci.
Wen Ci’s mind went blank.
“What? Of—of course not.”
The little girl looked disappointed but quickly brightened again.
“Will you dance again, then? Like this—”
She spun in a circle on the spot.
Wen Ci finally remembered her.
She was the little girl who had applauded for them at the restaurant that night.
But they had not kissed while dancing…
Had she seen them through the window of the houseboat?
“No.”
Wen Ci pulled her braid up to cover her face and shook her head in panic.
“Big sister doesn’t know how to dance.”
“I know. You danced only so-so. Big brother was a little better.”
“Thank you.”
Zhou Wu picked up the ice cream he had just bought and generously asked, “Would you like this? My treat.”
Wen Ci:
“…”
The little girl left with the ice cream and her lingering disappointment.
Wen Ci lowered her hair and faced the suspicious gazes of the other two people beside them.
“What’s going on?” Dou Yiqing asked, full of questions. “Why did she ask whether you two were kissing and dancing?”
Wen Ci’s mind was racing when Qin Yun snapped his fingers.
“I know what this is.”
Wen Ci:
“?”
“Isn’t this popular with children nowadays? Shipping couples. The moment they see an attractive man and woman, they automatically match them together.”
Qin Yun paused.
“Wait. Then why didn’t she ship Wen Ci with me?”
“Possibly because she has eyes,” Zhou Wu answered slowly.
Dou Yiqing froze because someone else had insulted him before she could.
Then she quickly agreed.
“Exactly.”
The meal took Wen Ci through countless emotional highs and lows.
After everyone finished eating, Dou Yiqing went to take selfies nearby, while the two men went to the bathroom.
Only Wen Ci remained at the table.
She was replying to Mother Wen’s message checking on her location when she sensed someone watching from beside her.
She lowered her phone and looked over.
It was the same little girl.
“Big sister, will you and big brother get married?”
The girl suddenly asked, “Can I be the flower girl when you do? Xiaoli was the flower girl at her sister’s wedding. She said it was fun, and I want to do it too.”
“…”
Wen Ci wanted to explain that she and Zhou Wu would never marry, so naturally they would not need a flower girl.
But when she opened her mouth, she hesitated.
She was the only person at the table anyway.
“You can.”
Amid the noisy aquarium, Wen Ci bent towards her and agreed quietly, with a guilty conscience.
…
Back in the hotel room, Dou Yiqing lay on the living-room sofa wearing a sheet mask.
Her legs were raised high as she looked through the photographs she had taken that day.
“Aaaaah! I don’t want to leave! Why do we have to return to real life tomorrow?”
The training course ended the following day, so Wen Ci had to return on time.
They had bought tickets for the seven o’clock flight the next evening.
“Why don’t you stay for a few more days?” Wen Ci suggested. “Zhou Wu and the others aren’t leaving yet.”
This trip was not purely a holiday for Zhou Wu.
His grandfather owned shares in the resort, so Zhou Wu was also there to inspect it.
He still had several meetings to attend the following day.
Naturally, Qin Yun would remain and continue enjoying himself.
“That won’t work. I signed up for several online summer courses, and they begin the day after tomorrow.”
Dou Yiqing shook her head.
“I can’t become addicted to pleasure—hurry and like my Moments posts.”
“I’m coming.”
Wen Ci laughed.
Unsurprisingly, Dou Yiqing had flooded the feed again.
Every post had comments from Qin Yun beneath it, each one irritating enough to deserve a beating.
Wen Ci liked them one after another.
When she reached a particular post, her finger paused.
Among Dou Yiqing’s countless nine-photo grids was a post from Zhou Wu.
It had been uploaded only recently.
There was no text, only two photographs.
One was a close-up of his surfboard.
The other showed the sea dyed pink by the sky.
In the lower-right corner was half of Wen Ci’s small figure, her long hair and white dress floating in the air.
Wen Ci loved looking through Zhou Wu’s Moments.
They were rich, exciting and free.
Whenever she scrolled through them, her nerves unconsciously relaxed.
She had never imagined that one day she would appear there too.
Had Zhou Wu selected the wrong photograph?
Or had he simply wanted to post the beach, with her appearing there by coincidence?
Over the next ten minutes, Wen Ci opened the post repeatedly.
Zhou Wu did not delete it.
Dou Yiqing’s muttering sounded beside her.
“Forget it. Even getting to play for a few days was already wonderful.”
Wen Ci held her phone and lowered her gaze towards Zhou Wu’s post.
She heard her heartbeat, clear and powerful, one beat after another.
“Yes.”
At that moment, she sat on the sofa hugging her knees.
The half of one foot suspended in the air felt as though it were resting among the clouds.
Leave a Reply