Chapter 26, First Update

Chapter 26, First Update

The money was found, and Yuan Li was crying as if her heart would break. Li Fangfang held the money and sighed in relief. Seeing this, she didn’t say anything more. She turned to Tian Shuyun and said, "I'm sorry for wronging you."

Tian Shuyun shook her head. Under normal circumstances, she would have made a few sarcastic remarks, but the person who cleared her name of the theft accusation was none other than Qin Yao, someone she didn’t get along with. Just today, she had spoken ill of Qin Yao to Li Fangfang, saying that she would eventually gain back the weight. Now, she felt both embarrassed and guilty.

If it weren’t for Qin Yao, she would have been branded as a thief, a stain she wouldn’t be able to wash away in the future.

For Tian Shuyun, this was akin to a "narrow escape from death."

Tian Shuyun glared fiercely at Yuan Li, threatening to report the matter to the authorities. But Li Fangfang, with a softened heart, generously interceded, "Xiao Liz just made a mistake. Give her a chance."

Tian Shuyun snorted and, turning her head again to look at Qin Yao, said awkwardly, "Thank you. I owe you one today."

Qin Yao shook her head. "It's enough to find out the truth. The person who made the mistake should bear the responsibility. We can't wrong innocent people."

Qin Yao walked out, and standing by the door was Gu Cheng, wearing a mask, having witnessed the entire scene. The other girls didn’t recognize him. The two descended the stairs.

Gu Cheng recognized Tian Shuyun from their previous meeting on the boat. Surprised, he said, "You're quite the 'Qin the Just'?"

"Aren't you?" Qin Yao asked curiously.

Gu Cheng crossed his arms. "I’m not someone who likes to meddle in others' affairs, nor am I overly enthusiastic."

Qin Yao chuckled. "Then how did we meet?"

"Captain Gu, why do some young lads love to meddle so much? And they throw chalk with precision."

Gu Cheng: "..."

"Before I came to the island, I met a particularly enthusiastic young lad. He helped me carry my luggage in a heavy rainstorm."

The two reached the bottom of the building. By now, it was dark, and a grayish veil covered the surroundings. The clouds playfully hid the eyes of the moon, allowing the stars to come out and quarrel.

With a mischievous smile, Qin Yao looked up at the sky, where the stars took turns flashing, as if they were holding a debate in the sky, each flashing once to make a point.

The star in the north was the brightest, surely the best debater.

Gu Cheng exhaled, muttering to himself in confusion, "Why are some girls so shameless?"

"How can someone ten years younger still call herself a sister?" Gu Cheng removed his hat and mask, revealing a pair of beautiful eyes shaped like crescent moons, with pronounced undereye bags outlining an attractive curve, exuding a strong youthful aura. "Sister, don’t you think you're old? If you're too old, you'll be rejected in matchmaking."

"There’s a generational gap."

His voice popped out like bubbles. Qin Yao instinctively covered her ears. If she had a smartphone on her, she would have called the police.

Too affected, too squeaky. She was hearing the male version of an "affected voice."

"Captain Gu, do you have a complex or not?"

This guy was a natural actor. Once in the dark, he immediately let go, and Qin Yao wondered if he had been repressed for too long, letting loose more than anyone when it was time.

It was maddening. Qin Yao despised her own ears, her own taste. Why did she like this squeaky voice so much that she wanted to hear more?

In a daze, Qin Yao thought of male Peking opera actors, whose hoarse, enchanting voices reached deep into one’s heart. Even as a woman, she was moved.

Was Gu Cheng "shaking his complex at her"?

Qin Yao shook her head, thinking this was the generational gap, young Gu.

The two walked hand in hand in the dark. Gu Cheng was internally pleased, holding the girl’s hand and gazing up at the stars, which reminded him of the nights on the boat with Qin Yao.

"They say that to be in a relationship, you need to watch the stars and the moon."

To craft three-line love poems, Gu Cheng had read many poems about stars and the moon and had written many lines himself. Yet, despite the surging emotions inside, he couldn’t muster poetic inspiration.

He shook Qin Yao’s hand and pointed to the stars in the sky. "Say something to match the scene."

Qin Yao pondered for a moment and teased him, "Should I say we’re watching the stars quarrel in the sky?"

Gu Cheng: "..."

"Look over there, blinking so fiercely, they’re really arguing. See that light? That star must have stood up angrily. And that one over there, it’s not blinking anymore. Is it feeling guilty now?"

Qin Yao’s vivid description, filled with laughter in her voice, was highly immersive.

Gu Cheng raised his eyebrows. "You—"

The gentle sea breeze brushed against the lit night lights of the military harbor, passed the drooping banana leaves sleeping with their heads down, and finally caressed their faces. Above them, the stars twinkled, forming the Milky Way.

The starry sky above was a dreamlike scene. Gu Cheng had dreamt many times, but this time, he knew that under the starry night, it wasn’t a dream. The person standing next to him was real.

He hadn’t met Qin Yao many times. Their moments alone were even rarer. They didn’t know each other well.

In the days they had been apart, Gu Cheng couldn’t contain his affection and liking for the young girl. With fragmented memories, he imagined her, even in dreams, dreaming of her beauty, of her looking at him on the boat, her eyes filled with stars.

But that was the Qin Yao in his dreams, the one in reality would point to the night sky and say:

"The stars above us are arguing."

It was such a mood-killing statement.

Damn, why did he find it so adorable?!

The Qin Yao in his dreams was like a rigid shadow puppet, a counterfeit trapped in a framed picture.

"What about me?" Qin Yao asked, tilting her head. After saying that, she felt embarrassed. Compared to the earlier scene of catching a thief, the conversation she had with Gu Cheng held no substance.

In truth, she had watched countless TV dramas and romance novels but had never experienced a "proper" romance.

In college, a highly talented man pursued Qin Yao for several years. When she finally agreed to be with him, there was no sweetness of love. They treated each other politely, like strangers. He regarded her as a goddess but seemed to think, "Goddesses don't drink water, pass gas, or sit on the toilet," and looked at her with astonishment when she haggled with vendors over small change.

This made her, who originally had no pretensions, develop the burdens of being a campus beauty.

However, it was different in front of Gu Cheng. By the time they first met, she had already ascended to the "mastery of comedy."

Pretensions? What pretensions?

She didn't ask, but she was deeply puzzled about why Gu Cheng liked her. That day on the boat, his affection was still negative, but it rose to over eighty the next time they met, and it increased again after a kiss.

Qin Yao didn't know the system's criteria for affection levels. To avoid influencing her judgment, she had stopped checking the true affection levels unless the person was "hard to discern as friend or foe."

She said the stars in the sky were quarreling, which was perhaps a reflection of her own heart.

A myriad of emotions surged within her. Love was like a "guessing game." She was puzzled about why Gu Cheng liked her and contemplated her feelings for him.

When he wasn't around, she didn't miss him, thinking she could easily let go. But when she saw him, she liked him, a liking she couldn't suppress even herself. At the same time, she disliked his reactions and didn't want to see him again. But when he clung to her again, she couldn't help but respond... Her emotions became a roller coaster.

Which emotion was real? Which was fake?

Her liking and disliking of him were like playing on a seesaw in a park, going up and down, liking him one moment and disliking him the next.

If she were to summarize her first failed relationship, she had once thought there was no such thing as true love. So-called love was just a simple "imagination."

The person one fell in love with matched their imagination, and they would like them more. But if, after contact, they didn't match the imagination, would they become disillusioned?

—So, what did this damn kid imagine her to be?

Qin Yao reached out and wiped Gu Cheng's cheek but resisted her curiosity and chose "no."

She didn't know Gu Cheng's exact affection level for her, but for now, being by his side still nourished her with his affection, probably above eighty.

It might be rising or falling.

When it dropped to zero, he wouldn't like her anymore.

Annoyance.

"A man who indulges, still has a way out; a woman who indulges, has none."

Qin Yao didn't want to be the one deeply trapped in the mire.

In her chaotic thoughts, everything suddenly went dark, and the next moment, the wind beside her disappeared as the man in front of her held her in his arms.

The embrace made her feel like a razor clam buried in the sand, defenselessly dug out by a large hand, with nowhere to hide.

Qin Yao: "Being with you has a seafood smell."

Gu Cheng was stunned. His brows furrowed in displeasure as he turned his head and sniffed his shoulder. He didn't smell anything fishy? Wasn't it normal to have a sea smell from being by the beach all the time? Was his nose broken?

Did Qin Yao find him smelly?

Captain Gu's handsome face fell instantly. If she found him too old, he could secretly act younger. But if she found the sea smell on him unpleasant, what was he supposed to do, a big man like him, rub some fragrant balm or wash his clothes with scented soap?

A man should smell like sweat, not seafood. Should he come to see her drenched in sweat next time?

Gu Cheng tightened his hold on the woman in his arms. The good mood from just holding her was gone. This picky, quirky little chubby girl didn't mind her bad temper but found him smelly.

He secretly grew angry and fiercely pressed her head against his neck, making her smell the sea smell more to get used to it sooner.

Qin Yao choked: "The seafood smell is stronger!"

"Where's the seafood smell?" Gu Cheng said grumpily, intending to bite this little chubby girl's face but accidentally caught a whiff of the milky candy scent from her body, sweet and creamy.

"Me." Qin Yao, shorter than him, was forcibly pressed against his neck, like being "hanged."

If she wasn't the razor clam, who was?

Gu Cheng was stunned.

"Have you ever gone clamming for razor clams? I'm like a poor little razor clam dug out of the sand by you." Qin Yao tried to push him away but couldn't, truly a helpless little seafood, unable to escape.

"Captain Gu, do you smell the seafood on me? Fresh."

Gu Cheng chuckled: "I didn't sprinkle any salt."

When clamming for razor clams, people usually sprinkle salt near the breathing holes, but this thing was rarely caught for eating.

The smile on Gu Cheng's face couldn't be contained, his bad mood rocketing up like a joyful burst. So, she didn't find him smelly.

Too happy.