CS - 39

The waves crashed again, swallowing all the unspoken words.

After a while, Lin Zhe Xia said: “My legs are fully healed now; I can run.”

She added, “For us who’ve had knee injuries and couldn’t do strenuous exercise for a few days, we tend to like running after recovery.”

Chi Yao’s tone was cold: “Then don’t sit next to me, go run a few more laps.”

Lin Zhe Xia ignored what he said and sat down beside him anyway, saying: “...I’ll rest a bit before running.”

But even though she tried to hide it, Chi Yao always managed to notice her unease immediately.

Chi Yao: “You’re acting strange today.”

Lin Zhe Xia: “Where’s strange?”

Chi Yao: “Not normal.”

“...”

Lin Zhe Xia: “You’re the one who’s not normal.”

Finally, she said in a broken voice: “It’s just... my first time seeing the sea, I’m too excited.”

“This seems like our first time watching the sea together.”

Chi Yao, however, said: “Second time.”

Lin Zhe Xia: “When was the last time?”

“When you were twelve, you insisted on watching a deep-sea documentary.”

Lin Zhe Xia thought for a moment and remembered that there indeed was such an incident: “...Does that count as watching the sea together? And it was so long ago, how do you still remember?”

“Because of those three hours,” Chi Yao sneered, “I was sitting on pins and needles.”

“...”

As evening approached, the group returned to the hotel to pack up and head back.

Lin Zhe Xia bought tickets for the same train as them. When she finished packing and checked out, she ran into Shen Shanshan.

Lin Zhe Xia’s first reaction was awkwardness. She wondered if she should pretend she didn’t know about the things Shen Shanshan had said the night before.

Shen Shanshan, however, greeted her with a smile: “Hi.”

Currently, only the two of them were downstairs in the lobby, so they started chatting.

Shen Shanshan: “Thank you.”

Lin Zhe Xia was puzzled: “What for?”

Shen Shanshan: “Thank you for keeping my secret.”

“I shouldn’t have said those things yesterday,” Shen Shanshan continued, “Later, when I went back to my room, I felt a bit regretful.”

Lin Zhe Xia thought for a moment and said earnestly: “It’s nothing. You didn’t say much yesterday, and I have a bad memory anyway. After sleeping, I barely remember anything.”

Shen Shanshan knew she was trying to comfort her. The two stood quietly for a moment, then Shen Shanshan brought it up: “I confessed yesterday.”

Lin Zhe Xia didn’t expect her to bring it up: “Ah.”

Shen Shanshan shrugged and quickly said: “But I got rejected.”

“He said he doesn’t want to think about relationships before the college entrance exam and hopes I can focus on studying—quite official, right?”

Lin Zhe Xia: “Yeah, quite official.”

After saying this, she didn’t know what else to say, and after a while, she managed to blurt out, “Don’t be sad.”

Shen Shanshan looked at her and said: “I’m not sad. Strangely, I feel a bit relieved.”

“Relieved?”

“Mm,” Shen Shanshan thought for a moment, “Maybe because I never really thought we could be together. So being able to tell him what I wanted to say before leaving feels like the best ending to this story.”

Lin Zhe Xia realized the advantage of Chi Yao being difficult.

That is, when he rejects someone, no girl ends up feeling heartbroken.

Tang Shuxuan didn’t, the girl who brought water didn’t, and neither did Shen Shanshan.

…

At this point, Lin Zhe Xia also said a word of thanks to Shen Shanshan: “Thank you.”

Shen Shanshan found it strange: “What are you thanking me for?”

Lin Zhe Xia: “Because I suddenly discovered something. Without you, I might not have figured it out.”

Shen Shanshan still felt confused, but Lin Zhe Xia didn’t elaborate further.

“In any case, thank you.”

As they spoke, the others finished packing and came down to gather and line up.

Shen Shanshan stopped insisting: “Alright, then we’ve thanked each other once, let’s call it even.”

Lin Zhe Xia asked: “Are you transferring schools this semester?”

Shen Shanshan watched the crowd coming out of the elevator and hummed: “Next week, I’ll start the transfer procedures. Probably... by next month, I won’t be in Cheng’an anymore.”

As Shen Shanshan spoke, she glanced at the most eye-catching boy in the crowd.

It was as if she was looking at him for the last time.

The boy dragged his suitcase lazily, walking last. There was a piece of clothing draped over his suitcase. Today, he rarely wore an earring, and the cold silver made him seem even more unapproachable.

For a moment, she seemed to see the Chi Yao from the first day of middle school again.

The person she had secretly liked since middle school up until now.

Shen Shanshan quickly retracted her gaze and followed them onto the bus with her suitcase.

Before boarding, she suddenly recalled the moment when she confessed to Chi Yao by the sea yesterday.

She was so nervous she couldn’t speak, closed her eyes, and said, “I like you.”

Amid the sound of the waves, Chi Yao first said, “Thank you.”

Then, after that very official rejection, he said three more words: “And also...”

But this sentence ended abruptly, so fast that it felt like she might have misheard it.

Shen Shanshan sensed that this was a sentence filled with emotions because Chi Yao’s tone was different from usual, and his voice sounded somewhat subdued.

So she asked: “What?”

But Chi Yao didn’t continue: “Nothing.”

“And also...”

What did he mean to say afterward?

Shen Shanshan thought about it for a moment.

The group boarded the bus to the train station, hurriedly checking tickets and getting on board. In the rush, she quickly pushed this thought out of her mind.

The return high-speed train ride still took over six hours.

Since Lin Zhe Xia bought her ticket separately, her seat was far from everyone else, not even in the same carriage.

She was staring at the constantly moving scenery outside the window when suddenly, a voice interrupted: “Excuse me, sorry to bother you, would you mind switching seats?”

She turned her head and saw Chi Yao standing in the aisle with his ticket.

The person he was talking to was the female office worker sitting next to her.

The female office worker’s face reddened slightly: “Do you need to switch seats?”

Chi Yao held a piece of clothing in one hand and extended the other, holding his ticket between two fingers. He waved the ticket in the air and pointed at her: “My younger sister is sitting here alone, and I’m not reassured. If it’s convenient, could you switch seats with me?”

When he said “my younger sister,” Lin Zhe Xia widened her eyes.

Lin Zhe Xia: “Who’s your younger sister…”

Chi Yao raised an eyebrow: “Who do you think?”

Lin Zhe Xia turned her head and said to the female office worker: “Sister, he’s lying. I don’t know him.”

Chi Yao cut her off with a single sentence, speaking neither cold nor warm: “Still throwing tantrums at your older brother.”

Lin Zhe Xia: “……”

This guy was truly insufferable.

With Chi Yao’s face, the female office worker didn’t hesitate and got up to switch seats with him: “Sure, I’ll switch with you so you can sit closer to your sister.”

They quickly swapped seats.

Lin Zhe Xia turned her head away, pretending not to know this person.

But at the same time, she felt a bit of anticipation: “Why did you switch over?”

Chi Yao: “Xu Ting is too noisy, disturbing my sleep.”

Lin Zhe Xia suppressed that bit of anticipation: “Oh.”

The air conditioning on the high-speed train was set high.

After a while, Chi Yao asked again: “Are you cold?”

Lin Zhe Xia’s hands were already cold, and unconsciously, she hugged her arms, but stubbornly replied: “It’s fine.”

After she spoke, Chi Yao threw the piece of clothing he was holding to her.

“…” Before closing his eyes to sleep, he said, “...If it’s fine, then take it.”

Lin Zhe Xia held the clothing, and the mood she had just suppressed suddenly leaped up again.

When Lin Zhe Xia got home, Lin He and Wei Ping had already returned from their trip and were organizing the souvenirs they brought back from the vast grasslands in the living room.

Lin Zhe Xia’s unauthorized trip to Haicheng City had been digested by Lin He and Wei Ping over a few days, and they weren’t as angry as before.

So when they saw her, Wei Ping calmly called her over to receive a gift: “Xia Xia, your mother prepared a gift for you.”

Lin Zhe Xia walked over and saw a small glass bottle on the table: “What is it?”

Wei Ping: “Grass.”

“...”

Lin Zhe Xia held the emerald green glass bottle and felt complicated: “I’m touched. I have a mother who went to the grasslands and didn’t forget to pick some grass to bring back for me.”

But digesting it didn’t mean they wouldn’t get angry upon seeing her.

Lin He: “Every time I see your face, I remember how you went to Haicheng without a word.”

Lin Zhe Xia took a few steps back to the door: “Then I’ll temporarily disappear. Don’t look at me.”

“Tell Chi Yao to come over for dinner tonight,” Lin He shouted from the living room, “You going over there was such a hassle. He was busy with the competition and still had to take care of you—did you hear me?”

Lin Zhe Xia leaned against the door and shouted back: “I heard.”

Chi Yao coming over for dinner wasn’t a big deal.

Everyone was used to it.

After dinner, Wei Ping pulled him aside to chat in the living room.

Wei Ping sometimes had topics to discuss with Chi Yao that were exclusive to the two of them, unlike when he interacted with Lin Zhe Xia.

Wei Ping: “Take a look at this. What do you think of this car model? Uncle wants to assemble one.”

“...”

After dinner, Lin Zhe Xia went to wash her hair.

While washing her hair, her phone rang. With a head full of foam, she shouted: “Who can help me answer the phone?”

The scene was a bit chaotic. Lin He was busy in the kitchen, and Wei Ping, wearing glasses, spent a long time searching for her phone.

In the end, Chi Yao found her phone wedged in the sofa.

Wei Ping: “Whose call is it?”

“He Yang.”

“Then answer it for her,” Wei Ping naturally sat back down, “It’s something between you kids, I won’t interfere.”

The call connected.

He Yang sounded triumphant: “I knew you’d answer my call. I deliberately didn’t call Chi Yao—he sometimes doesn’t pick up. Am I smart or what?”

Then He Yang heard Chi Yao’s voice from the other end: “Mm, smart.”

He Yang: “…”

He Yang: “Wait, why is it you?”

Chi Yao: “Get to the point.”

He Yang: “We got a cat. My mom’s colleague’s cat had several kittens, and she brought one back. I wanted to ask if you guys want to come over and play with it.”

The content of communication among this group of childhood friends from Nanxiang Street was often trivial.

It frequently involved things like who bought a new computer, who bought a new gaming console, or raiding the snacks at the corner store for scratch-off lottery tickets.

Chi Yao wanted to say, “Not interested in cats,” but the thought merely passed through his mind. What came out instead was: “She’s washing her hair, wait a moment.”

“Alright,” He Yang revealed his true intention, “Could you buy some cat food from the corner store before coming? It arrived so suddenly, and we didn’t prepare anything for it to eat.”

“…”

He Yang: “Isn’t it reasonable to bring a small gift when visiting? Not excessive, right?”

Lin Zhe Xia finished washing her hair but only dried it halfway. Eager to leave, she pulled Chi Yao out to see the cat: “He’s such a scammer. This whole thing is just to trick us into buying cat food.”

Chi Yao: “Then why are you going?”

Lin Zhe Xia: “I’m doing it for the cat’s sake; otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.”

Before leaving, Lin Zhe Xia searched for her coin purse and grabbed her phone and keys. Her hands were full, and she couldn’t carry anything else. So before leaving, she handed the hair tie on the table to Chi Yao: “Hold this for me. I’ll put my keys in my pocket and take it later.”

Chi Yao stood at the door waiting for her and reached out to take it.

Lin Zhe Xia’s hair wasn’t completely dry yet and was still damp, so after putting her keys away, she completely forgot about the hair tie.

She rushed straight to the corner store and found kitten food on the lower shelves after searching for a while.

When they arrived at He Yang’s house, He Yang pretended to be surprised and took the cat food: “Oh, you shouldn’t have brought anything, too kind of you.”

Before entering, Lin Zhe Xia said: “I specially brought a gift. Are you feeling embarrassed?”

He Yang feigned politeness: “Yes, yes.”

Lin Zhe Xia fiddled with her phone for a moment and then pulled up a QR code: “Then pay me. It’s 48 yuan. Scan me.”

He Yang: “…”

He Yang was speechless and was about to say, “I lost this round,” when he looked up and saw the person standing behind her.

The young man leaned against the door, his eyes lowered, and his lips twitched slightly, seemingly amused by Lin Zhe Xia.

Lin Zhe Xia played with the cat at He Yang’s house for a while.

The cat was only two months old, a white long-haired kitten. A few people sat together discussing what to name it.

Lin Zhe Xia: “How about Dian Dian? Look at how it walks—it’s quite bouncy.”

“…”

A two-month-old cat was almost always sleeping.

After watching for a while, someone finally broke the silence.

Chi Yao: “Do you find this interesting?”

Lin Zhe Xia: “…”

He Yang: “…”

Chi Yao stood up: “Let’s go.”

Lin Zhe Xia also stood up: “Even though it’s cute, it keeps sleeping. Three people staring at a sleeping cat feels a bit silly.”

He Yang: “Then I won’t see you out.”

By the time Lin Zhe Xia and Chi Yao left, it had gotten a bit darker.

After the mini holiday, summer was nearing its end, and the cicadas’ chirping gradually became fainter.

When Lin Zhe Xia stepped out, the wind blew against her, lifting her hair and covering half her face.

Only then did she realize her hair had dried.

Remembering she needed to tie her hair, she searched her body: “Where did I put my hair tie...”

Before she finished speaking, a hand stretched out horizontally.

The young man’s wrist was slender, and around the protruding wrist bone was wrapped a very thin black hair tie—the one she had handed over before leaving.

Amid the faint cicada sounds, Chi Yao’s tired and cool voice rang out: “Your thing, take it.”