“Oh? Having dinner already? Isn’t Xiao Ji going home?”
The lively atmosphere at Yun Su’s house had caught the neighbors’ attention. But since it was mealtime, no one felt comfortable coming over to gawk. Liu Zhaodi, who lived directly across the way, leaned right against the courtyard gate and shouted over at them.
Yun Su’s mother, wok spatula in hand, stood in the yard and yelled back: “We’re eating, so don’t you dare come over here shamelessly asking for handouts.”
As soon as she said that, snickers and laughter erupted from the neighboring houses.
Clearly, everyone had been eavesdropping!
Liu Zhaodi, embarrassed by Ma Ailan’s blunt refusal, swallowed the words she’d been about to say.
She stormed back home, fuming. Seeing Grandpa Yun and Grandma Yun picking vegetables at the door, she said, dripping with sarcasm: “Dad, Mom. Third Brother and his wife sure are carefree. They’re not even married yet, and they’re already letting that young man stay overnight.”
Grandma Yun wasn’t one to take any crap. She shot back: “Minzi and Fuzi’s room has plenty of space. So what if our future son-in-law stays over? If you have so much free time, why don’t you keep an eye on Yun Feng? I heard she spent the whole afternoon wandering around the village with that Hu Chunhua. Hu Chunhua is the one who harmed Xiao Su and went to jail. You can’t be hanging around with someone like that.”
“Grandma, don’t talk about Chunhua that way. It was all a misunderstanding.”
Yun Feng had just returned from outside. Upon hearing this, she quickly explained. Ridiculous—she had other plans that required Hu Chunhua’s help. At this stage, she couldn’t break with Hu Chunhua.
Grandma Yun was about to say something more when Grandpa Yun stopped her.
Grandpa Yun sighed and didn’t say anything further.
His eldest granddaughter seemed to have gone astray. They were old and frail—they couldn’t manage her anymore.
Yun Feng didn’t notice her grandparents’ expressions. She didn’t really care anyway. She was about to get married. Before that, she wanted to settle a few scores so she could fully embrace her new life.
—
Yun Su knew nothing of this. All she knew was that dinner that night was delicious.
She also discovered that Ji Xiangtian was very skilled at doing laundry. The man was staying over tonight. After washing up, he automatically washed his own clothes and hung them out to dry. He even offered to wash Yun Su’s clothes. That scared her so much she quickly hid her changed clothes in her room and washed them herself.
It wasn’t that she was unwilling to let him do the work. It was just that Yun Su still had some vanity. In the summer heat, with no air conditioning or electric fans, her clothes had been soaked in sweat all day. If she gave them to Ji Xiangtian to wash, wouldn’t he notice?
At that moment, Yun Su thought to herself that she wanted to leave the impression of a sweet-smelling, pretty girl in Ji Xiangtian’s mind.
Back when she wasn’t in a relationship, she used to think people in love were so sentimental. But now that she was the one in love, she didn’t call it sentimentality. She called it making an effort to leave a beautiful impression in the heart of the person you liked.
As for Ji Xiangtian, he lay on the unfamiliar wooden bed that night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
He was staying in the younger brother Fuzi’s room for the night. Fuzi had gone to share a room with his older brother.
It wasn’t that Ji Xiangtian was a picky sleeper. Rather, he was just so excited to be staying in the home of the person he liked.
Even though several walls separated them, it didn’t stop Ji Xiangtian from feeling the thrill of being under the same roof as his sweetheart.
But soon, a serious thought occurred to him. He absolutely had to wake up earlier than Yun Su. Otherwise, if she saw him right after waking up, before he’d even washed his face, he might look groggy or have sleep in the corners of his eyes.
Not that he’d ever actually noticed such things on himself, but the occasion felt especially important. Ji Xiangtian felt he had to maintain his image.
And so, both Yun Su and Ji Xiangtian fell asleep that night carrying the weight of their image-consciousness.
—
Early the next morning, while the sky was still hazy and the rooster had crowed twice, Yun Su was roused by her mother.
Yawning, Yun Su walked to the small washroom partitioned off from her room. There sat a bucket of cold water she’d set aside before going to bed the night before.
She squatted in the washroom and finished brushing her teeth and washing her face.
Then she changed into the white Dacron floral dress she’d planned to wear for the trip, tied her hair into a loose ponytail, and made sure her appearance was very presentable. Only then did she open her door and step out.
“You’re so quick today! Why didn’t you come out to wash up?”
Her mother asked naturally, completely unaware of the little vanity tucked in her daughter’s heart.
Yun Su gave a dry laugh and asked quietly, “Is Xiangtian awake?”
Her mother said: “That boy is so earnest! Your brother and father got up at three to wash up and head to the dock to meet up. He got up with them and said he’d help make breakfast. But there was no need for him to help with that—I’d already prepared everything last night and kept it warm on the stove. I told him to go back to sleep. He said he couldn’t sleep and got up to make steamed buns in the kitchen. He wanted us to taste his cooking.”
Yun Su was stunned. This man was really…
She hurried to the kitchen and found him opening a bamboo steamer, wearing a washed-out, threadbare “弓” (gōng) print undershirt.
The steamer billowed with hot steam, shrouding his tall figure.
Sweat beads trickled down his temples—a stark contrast to his usually polished appearance.
This was a side of Ji Xiangtian Yun Su had never seen.
The Ji Xiangtian she knew always wore a white button-up shirt with black trousers—very respectable and refined. But the man before her now, in his undershirt and black shorts, revealed solid arms and muscular calves. His demeanor was rugged and full of the vitality of everyday life.
“Oh, you’re up!”
Ji Xiangtian set down the steamer a little self-consciously. He glanced at his own attire. It seemed to have completely deviated from all the careful considerations he’d thought through the night before.
Yun Su walked over with a beaming smile and reached out to grab the man’s arm.
Ji Xiangtian quickly stepped back: “I’m all sweaty! The buns are ready—you eat them while they’re hot. I’m going to go rinse off and change…”
Yun Su didn’t say a word. She pulled his arm close to her chest, stood on her tiptoes, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
It was a little damp and carried a faint salty taste. But damn if it wasn’t charming.
Ji Xiangtian was stunned by the kiss. The tips of his ears turned red as always. His gaze wavered for a moment. But then he steeled himself, wrapped his arms around Yun Su, and leaned down to…
“Oww…”
Fuzai’s clear, adolescent voice rang out at the kitchen door. Then the little guy started shouting “Wah wah wah!” as he ran toward the main room. No need to guess—the little rascal had gone to tattle to Mom…
The moment was broken.
Yun Su could hear the man above her let out a disappointed sigh. She laughed and pressed her forehead against his chest, her head bobbing as she giggled.
Ji Xiangtian felt her nuzzling against him. The regret from having the moment interrupted faded away.
He cupped Yun Su’s face in his hands. It was so small—not much bigger than one of his palms.
“I’m going to go rinse off and change. You have a bun first. The boat leaves at six—it’s just past five now, so there’s still time. Eat slowly.”
With that, he moved like lightning, bent down, and gave Yun Su’s lips a quick peck before hurrying out of the kitchen.
A stunned Yun Su covered her freshly kissed lips with one hand. After a long pause, she licked them: They were sweet!
Ji Xiangtian dashed away, clutching his chest as he ran to the bathroom. He closed the door and stood there breathing heavily.
He’d been so nervous!
Ji Xiangtian swore—not even his first time scrubbing in for surgery had been as nerve-wracking as that. But…
He licked his lips. They still held Yun Su’s scent—fragrant and sweet…
—
In the main room, Yun Su’s mother tapped her youngest son’s head after hearing his account.
“Little rascal, next time don’t make such a fuss when you see something. Just pretend you didn’t notice.”
Her daughter knew what she was doing. And Xiao Ji was an extremely polite young man. Seeing them so happy together only delighted her as a mother. But they were young, and when feelings run deep between young people—well, who knows what might develop?
Yun Su’s mother had been young herself. She knew exactly what that honey-sweet, oil-slick intensity felt like.
With that thought, she began to wonder if she should get in touch with Ji Xiangtian’s parents. Maybe they could arrange an engagement for the two young people first.
When the two young people, who had just lost their first kisses, saw each other again, they were both properly dressed and looking respectable.
Yun Su’s previous dress had picked up Ji Xiangtian’s scent, so she changed into a suspender-style long dress and tied her hair back in a ponytail.
Ji Xiangtian had washed and dried the clothes Yun Huaimin had lent him and changed into a brand-new outfit he’d prepared—a white shirt and black trousers. His hairstyle was… well, there wasn’t one. With his buzz cut, he didn’t need to do anything with it.
And so, the two of them sat together in the main room, ate their steamed buns, then walked hand in hand toward the dock.
—
On the way, they were both still a little lost in the memory of that kiss, so they didn’t say much. But the sweet atmosphere surrounding them was enough to make anyone envious.
Of course, there were hardly any people out on the road so early in the morning.
When they reached the dock, they finally let go of each other’s hands. There were many people there.
The island had only a few docks. This one was the largest, with ferries running back and forth.
They bought tickets, boarded the boat, and found seats to sit down. The voyage would take just over two hours. There weren’t many passengers. Yun Su and Ji Xiangtian found a spot with a great view.
After looking around for a while, Yun Su asked a question she’d posed before: “Where exactly did you fall into the sea last time?”
Ji Xiangtian held her hand with one of his and pointed with the other toward the deck: “Right there, in that corner.”
On this small ferry, you could see the deck clearly from the inside seats. When Ji Xiangtian pointed, Yun Su immediately saw the spot.
“My dad has a friend—Uncle Dalin from the neighboring village. He should have been on the same ferry as you that day. Dad asked him later, and he said he didn’t notice anything strange either.”
There weren’t many passengers on the boat, and the seats around Yun Su were empty. She thought for a moment, then leaned close to the man’s ear and whispered about the discovery of the gold.
Ji Xiangtian’s expression was one of sheer surprise after hearing it.
He immediately thought that the gold might be connected to his fall into the sea. But over the past weeks, before he was transferred back to the island, he hadn’t heard about any major crimes or cases in Guangzhou. Still, Guangzhou was a big city. Some areas were still quite chaotic. And it wasn’t far from Hong Kong. There could be all sorts of things going on.
He tightened his grip on Yun Su’s hand and whispered back: “Tell your parents not to go asking around about this. Let me have someone look into it instead.”
As for his own inexplicable fall into the sea, Ji Xiangtian had never given up investigating. It was just hard to look into—there were hardly any leads.
What Yun Su had just told him was a relatively clear thread.
After that, they didn’t bring up the topic again. They watched the waves churn outside the window and the seagulls soar freely, feeling certain that their trip today would go very smoothly.
—
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