20

The next day, the island's official WeChat account issued a friendly reminder: be wary of thunderstorms and heavy rain, stay away from the coast, and avoid going into the water.

Today wasn't a good day for swimming, so Zhong Yan decided to go to Chen Baoran's pottery studio to see the finished products.

It was said that it would rain, but when Zhong Yan went out, there wasn't even a cloud in the glass-like sky. The high temperature continued to bake the earth, and the cicadas' chirping reached the sky.

Zhong Yan passed by the Jasmine Milk Tea shop, and the person behind the counter had been replaced by the original owner, Sister Yang.

She was carefully wiping the glasses behind the counter.

Lily should be alright by now, right?

Upon arriving at the pottery studio, Chen Baoran brought up the topic: "Little Lili is alright, just a tear in the esophageal mucosa caused by food poisoning, it looked scary. Thanks to Jifeng and you that day, Sister Yang even said she'd find time to properly thank you two benefactors."

Zhong Yan quickly waved her hand, "Ji Feng was driving all of them, I didn't help much."

"What are you saying! If you hadn't been holding Lily from behind, how could Ji Feng have gotten her to the hospital safely!"

Chen Baoran took out the porcelain shards of the little seagull and showed them to Zhong Yan.

Because the petrel's plumage is relatively dark, Chen Baoran suggested that she use blue and purple as the ambient colors reflected by its feathers.

The ceramic shard depicting the little seagull is very spirited and beautiful, like a character from a fairy tale.

Zhong Yan couldn't resist taking a picture, wanting to keep it as a memento.

As a result, Chen Baoran turned around and presented two smaller pottery shards with seagull heads, which even had holes punched in them so they could be tied with ropes and used as pendants.

Zhong Yan was very pleased. "How can I take your work for free? I'll pay for it."

"Why would I give you money?" Chen Baoran said generously. "We're friends. It's normal for friends to exchange small gifts!"

"……friend?"

Zhong Yan blinked her eyes slowly a few times.

"What? Aren't we?" Chen Baoran frowned, putting on a fierce look.

It looks fierce, but it's not scary at all.

Zhong Yan couldn't help but raise the corners of her lips, "Yes."

"Wow! You actually have dimples!" Chen Baoran exclaimed, discovering something amazing. She slid her stool closer and said enviously, "Your smile is so beautiful, why don't you smile every day?"

Zhong Yan was at a loss because of her exaggerated tone. She had just put down her lips when the other woman used her fingers to prop them up again.

"You have to laugh, otherwise it's a waste!"

The monsoon came in while the two of them were "playing around".

Zhong Yan's face was being held by Chen Baoran's hands, one on each side, the upward force causing her cheekbones to bulge out, making two soft mounds of flesh appear on her thin face.

Both of them were drawn by his footsteps and turned around.

Ji Feng's gaze swept over quickly.

"What are you doing, beating up a guest?" he laughed.

Chen Baoran put her arm around Zhong Yan's neck, and the two sisters said affectionately, "Nonsense, how could I bear to hit my sweetheart?"

Monsoon said, "What do you mean, 'yours'?"

Chen Baoran liked to be sarcastic, and she retorted, "If it's not mine, is it yours?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Feng paused, his gaze sweeping towards Zhong Yan like a gust of wind.

Zhong Yan suddenly met his gaze, quickly looked away, and clenched her fingers, at a loss.

Ji Feng's sudden glance made her feel extremely guilty.

Is it because I reacted so strongly to him touching my face yesterday, but now I let Chen Baoran do it?

One looked on inexplicably, and the other hid inexplicably.

Chen Baoran was caught up in the strange atmosphere, his mind racing. Just as he was about to make a joke, two footsteps entered one after the other.

"Monsoon, you're such a jerk! I traveled all this way to come to you, and you just dumped me at the port..."

"Didn't I tell you the location? You're such a grown man, and you still can't use navigation properly." Ji Feng turned around.

The first person to enter was a young man wearing glasses, with a red headset around his neck, a black T-shirt with white gears on his body, and carrying an exaggerated backpack. He was covered in sweat.

Coco, who was following behind, sighed, "I thought it was picked up by a customer."

The young man pushed up his glasses, looked around, and introduced himself: "Oh, this is Ji Feng's college classmate, roommate, and best friend, Lin Yuhang. Just call me Brother Hang."

“You’re younger than them, what advantage do you have?” Ji Feng exposed him.

"Ah, everyone here seems quite young..." Lin Yuhang's gaze finally landed on Zhong Yan.

He could tell that the girl was definitely younger than him, but Ji Feng wouldn't introduce her to him, so he could only nod and smile at them.

"Brother Hang, are you here for tourism?" Chen Baoran, with the attitude of a guest, enthusiastically introduced, "Would you like to make some pottery souvenirs to take home?"

Unable to refuse such hospitality, Lin Yuhang scratched his head and buried his head in looking at the exhibits next to him.

Ji Feng glanced down at his phone and said to Zhong Yan, "I'm going out to take this call."

Zhong Yan nodded.

After Lin Yuhang finished looking at the exhibits, he returned to the table. Coco had just brewed some tea and handed him a cup.

He accepted it respectfully, then looked around, "Where's the monsoon?"

Zhong Yan looked up and said, "He went out to make a phone call."

"Oh, oh." Lin Yuhang felt relieved to sit down and drink tea after realizing that he hadn't been abandoned.

"How come I've never heard that you and Ji Feng are good brothers?" COCO asked mischievously.

Lin Yuhang wasn't discouraged: "Hey! That's just his personality. When he's in a good mood, he enjoys teasing others, but when he's in a bad mood, he puts on a sour face and keeps strangers at bay."

Coco laughed loudly, "That's right, that's right, she has such a bad temper!"

Chen Baoran said, "Then why are you still brothers with him? Brother Hang, you can raise a beagle now!"

It means they are too tolerant.

"There's nothing I can do. I admire people who are strong, and he's just too strong." Lin Yuhang took a sip of tea, sighed sadly, and began to complain to everyone. "Well, I'm young because I skipped a grade. I thought I could be the best in the world when I got to university, but then I ran into Ji Feng. Can you believe it?"

"Ji Feng is this good even in college?" Chen Baoran urged him to shake more.

"He's amazing. Combustion is one of the courses with a relatively high failure rate in our department. The senior students are studying it like crazy, but he went to audit the classes as a sophomore and even got their exam questions. He got 98 out of 100."

"Also, Ji Feng was able to handcraft a flying machine in his freshman year, the kind that could actually fly. Even the dean of the flying machine design department came to ask him if he wanted to switch majors..."

Lin Yuhang shook his head, saying with a mixture of admiration and emotion, "It all comes down to interest. He was probably born for this line of work, known as 703 Tony. Sigh, I'm Jarvis."

Chen Baoran laughed, "As expected of Jifeng, even at university you have a butler."

COCO, while attending to the guests, said to Lin Yuhang, "You're not bad either, you're even an artificial intelligence."

The three chatted more and more congenially, gradually shifting their focus from the school to the island's tourist attractions. Zhong Yan quietly got up and walked out.

Jifeng has been gone for twenty minutes.

Outside the pottery studio, the sky was dark.

A downpour is brewing.

Zhong Yan searched everywhere and finally saw Ji Feng under a road sign not far away.

He leaned against the signpost, one leg straight and the other bent, his head lowered, revealing a section of his bent neck.

His phone was still stuck to his left ear.

Zhong Yan hesitated whether to step forward, and moved a few steps like a tortoise.

"...Hmm...There's no difference between a 10% increase and a 5% increase...I'm doing fine lately, I won't go back yet..."

Judging from Ji Feng's tone, it seemed like he was about to end the call. Zhong Yan quickly turned around, just as Sister Yang from the milk tea shop next door opened to pick up a package. Seeing her, she greeted her with a smile, "Little Yan's here!"

Zhong Yan smiled and nodded at her. When she turned around, Ji Feng had indeed heard the noise and looked over.

"I haven't had a chance to thank you for helping my Lily last time. Come in quickly, it's going to rain outside," Sister Yang greeted them warmly, and the two had no choice but to comply.

As soon as I entered the milk tea shop, a light drizzle began to fall outside.

While Ji Feng was talking to the shop owner, Zhong Yan took a look around the small shop.

White walls, wooden tables and chairs, a large pot of Monstera deliciosa in the corner, and bottles of fresh wood and daisies on a wooden shelf on the wall.

A very simple and cozy little shop.

They sat down at a table against the wall, next to which were several sticky notes with writing on them. The shortest one was written crookedly in colored pen:

I hope I turn 16 soon!

The name left is Lily.

"Lily heard that you can only start working at sixteen, so she wants to grow up quickly so she can help me and earn money to support the family," Sister Yang explained with a smile when she saw the two of them looking at the picture.

"Lily is such a good girl," Ji Feng said, saying the words that every parent loves to hear.

Sister Yang nodded, "With this child, I'm not afraid of any hardship. Come, come, try my lemongrass roasted chicken wings and honey-glazed sausage. They're the shop's signature dishes, and all the customers who have tried them say they're delicious."

To thank the two for their help, Sister Yang not only offered them snacks and drinks but also wanted to give them red envelopes. The two refused to accept the red envelopes no matter what. Just then, the copper bell on the door rang, and a couple entered the shop. Sister Yang had no choice but to give up on giving them red envelopes and go to greet them.

The couple also chose seats against the wall.

The atmosphere on Zhong Yan and Ji Feng's side wasn't warm, while on the other side it was a scene of intense turmoil.

Clearly, they were already frustrated by the trip, and then the rain ruined their plans.

The girl said, "You didn't even bring an umbrella, and this is the surprise you wanted to give me?"

"I didn't mean to leave without an umbrella. Don't you always check the UV index and remember to apply sunscreen before going out, even if it's going to rain?"

The two men didn't speak loudly, but their voices were incredibly powerful.

Although Zhong Yan was sitting with her back to them, she was still made to feel extremely uncomfortable by the invisible glint of swords and spears.

When she was a child, her parents were still married, and there were always arguments at home. The small bedroom had poor soundproofing, and even when she hid under the covers and covered her ears tightly, she couldn't stop those hurtful words from seeping into her heart.

Her parents were the strongest and bravest fighters, while she was the only cowardly and useless deserter.

Ji Feng glanced at her a few times and asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"

Zhong Yan was too embarrassed to comment on other people's arguments, so she lowered her head and said, "I'm worried about Xiao Haiyan."

As she spoke, she remembered something, took out the little seagull pendant that Chen Baoran had made for them from her pocket, and said, "Here, have one, a little seagull made by Sister Baoran."

Ji Feng picked it up with great interest and looked at it. "How is it similar?"

"I think it's quite lifelike." Zhong Yan emphasized again, worried that Ji Feng might tell Chen Baoran that her work wasn't good. "I think it looks like it."

Ji Feng didn't say anything more and put the pendant in his pocket.

“I just heard from Senior Lin about what you did at school…” Zhong Yan’s eyes lit up a little. “You’re amazing.”

"He actually praised me?" Ji Feng raised an eyebrow, questioning his "good brother's" sharp tongue.

"He said that you would be able to build an airplane in your freshman year and fly into the sky."

Jifeng said, "Oh, that one is relatively simple. The outer shell and propeller are 3D printed, and the engine is also taken from a toy and modified."

Although the monsoon sounds simple, it's still a very impressive thing for laymen.

Sizzle—

The chair legs behind her scraped violently against the floor, and the girl angrily shouted, "Let's break up!"

The boy didn't say anything, got up and left.

The girl was taken aback by the other person's reaction. After a moment of stunned silence, she walked out with a dark expression.

The sound of the copper bells was no longer as crisp as before, but rang out in a dull thud.

Both of them left, but one left his lipstick on the table, and the other left his handbag by the chair.

Zhong Yan immediately told Ji Feng, who looked out the window and said, "They've started acting out melodramas."

Zhong Yan pressed herself against the window and looked out. The light rain outside turned into a moderate rain. The "male and female protagonists" in the rain went left and right respectively. After a while, the boy stopped and looked back. At this time, the girl was still walking. When the boy turned around, the girl turned around, but she could only see the boy's resolute back.

A series of unforeseen events led this couple further and further apart.

Zhong Yan looked at Ji Feng and said, "Aren't they misunderstanding each other because they didn't turn back?"

"Life isn't a script; nobody knows what will happen next." Ji Feng looked at Zhong Yan's worried face and comforted her, "They lost something, but they'll definitely come back to get it later."

Zhong Yan hesitated for a moment, and the couple had already walked out of sight.

She could only tell Sister Yang that the guest had lost his personal belongings.

The rain outside kept falling, and neither Zhong Yan nor Ji Feng suggested going back to the pottery studio, even though it was only a few steps away.

They finished their chicken wings and sausages, and also drank their beverages.

Ji Feng showed her the small flying machine he had made.

It's a video.

The video begins with Lin Yuhang's face, smiling happily in the sunlight. He makes a "V" sign at the camera, then clears his throat and says, "Ji Feng, Class 1, Department of Flight Engineering, 2023, Octopus Flying Machine 3.0 test flight, first time."

He used his arm as a duckbill and snapped it shut.

Zhong Yan understood; he was just like the clapperboard in a movie shoot.

The clapperboard disappeared, revealing a large area of ​​the field behind it, where the younger Monsoon appeared in the shot.

Zhong Yan couldn't help but widen her eyes to get a better look.

In the video, Ji Feng has very short hair, almost like a buzz cut, which is very similar to Lin Yuhang's.

"We just started military training not long ago," Ji Feng explained.

Zhong Yan said, "I've never seen you without a hat."

Ji Feng smiled but didn't reply.

Zhong Yan didn't pay much attention and turned her attention back to her phone, where Ji Feng was showing off his aircraft.

He was very serious, completely different from his usual casual and easygoing demeanor. He gave a detailed introduction to the aircraft's outer shell and the propellers around it, and even showed the unseen engine inside through the laptop screen.

He was articulate and poised, as if he were standing not on a university lawn, but at a magnificent press conference.

Monsoon held the small aircraft in one hand. "...Theoretically speaking, it should be able to fly at 300 kilometers per hour. If it can't, delete this line."

Loud laughter came from the side.

They must be his classmates.

Monsoon smiled, revealing a row of neat and bright teeth.

Zhong Yan couldn't help but laugh. She was infected by the atmosphere in the video, as if she herself was basking in the sunlight, full of vigor and spirit.

"Take off! Accelerate! 210, 250, 300! 320! — 320! —"

Several boys rushed into the frame, grinning and patting Ji Feng on the shoulder. Lin Yuhang even gave him an elbow strike, making Ji Feng almost jump up. The camera shook, and the photographer's excited shouts could be heard.

Ji Feng took back his phone, double-tap the screen to stop the video, and said with disdain, "They're too noisy."

Zhong Yan shook her head, her tone unusually light, "No, it's not noisy, it's lively."

It was lively.

Zhong Yan remained quiet.

To avoid disturbing her studies, her mother even made her younger sister watch TV in the living room on silent, afraid that any noise would disturb her older sister's studies.

My uncle specially replaced the kitchen door with a soundproof one. In the sweltering summer, the kitchen has no air conditioning, and he sweats profusely with the door closed, but he doesn't complain.

Her whole family created an absolutely quiet learning environment for her, but she was ungrateful and wrote in her diary: I am being exiled, exiled to the ends of the earth where no one lives.

Zhong Yan looked up and saw Ji Feng opposite her, his chin resting on his hand. Behind him was a dark curtain of rain, and his face looked tired in the shadow of his hat.

Zhong Yan's heart suddenly sank, like a funnel filled with quicksand, with fine sand falling madly down.

My chest cavity was completely empty.

"season……"

jingle--

The door to the fruit tea shop opened, and the same boy from before, soaking wet, came in and asked the owner, "Excuse me, have you seen a tote bag with a few plush toys inside?"

Sister Yang quickly came out and said, "I saw it, and your girlfriend's lipstick too."

"Didn't she come back to get it?"

"Not yet, why don't you take it back for her?"

The boy said, "I can't get in touch with her. She'll have to come back and get it herself!"

Sister Yang was in a dilemma.

The boy was also furious and couldn't help but complain, "She blocked me! We were just having a nice time, and she got so angry over an umbrella, and then she left without looking back!"

Zhong Yan glanced at Ji Feng a few times, trying to get him to speak, but Ji Feng didn't react at all to her efforts to look at him. Instead, he looked puzzled and suspicious.

Zhong Yan had no choice but to speak up herself, "Um... your girlfriend turned around a few times just now, but she just missed you. She thought you didn't turn around, so she walked away angrily."

The boy asked in surprise, "Really?"

Zhong Yan forced a smile and replied, "Of course it's true. If you don't believe me, ask him. He saw it too."

This monsoon season has elicited a response.

"Um."

Taking the opportunity, Sister Yang acted as a peacemaker, saying, "It seems that neither of you is willing to let go. You should contact your girlfriend quickly and not let the conflict linger overnight."

The boy also got anxious, sat down in his chair and frantically tapped on his phone, saying dejectedly, "They really blocked me."

Sister Yang took out her phone, "Use mine to contact your girlfriend."

The boy held his head in his hands, looking distressed and saying, "I don't know what to say."

His eyes darted around, and seeing that Zhong Yan was still looking at him, he immediately leaned forward and pleaded, "Miss, can you tell me how to make her stop being angry?"

Zhong Yan was dumbfounded.

How would she know how to appease her girlfriend?

"You can definitely do it, girls understand girls better!"

Zhong Yan shook her head: "I really can't."

She doesn't even have many female friends, so how would she know how to coax people?

Jifeng reached out and said, "I'll do it."

The guy was even happier: "Thanks, bro, you're so experienced! This is my first time dating..."

The "very experienced" Ji Feng said it was done in less than half a minute after getting the phone.

When Sister Yang got her phone back, she found only one line of text: "Hurry back to Jasmine Milk Tea Shop, your boyfriend has fainted here!"

Boy: "..."

Ji Feng shrugged. "If she still likes you, she'll definitely come back."

And indeed, less than twenty minutes later, the boy's girlfriend rushed back anxiously.

But because of this misunderstanding, the boy had to go through a lot of trouble to win his girlfriend back.

Fortunately, the two reconciled in the end and sat back in their original seats.

The girl asked Sister Yang for a pen and started writing her feelings on a sticky note. After she finished, she looked for other people's sticky notes on the cork wall.

Zhong Yan was curious about her actions, but although she didn't understand, she didn't ask.

The girl chuckled and said, "Oh, I just can't bear to see others sad when I'm happy. Even though we're strangers, it's still nice to offer some comfort from afar."

Zhong Yan said sincerely, "You are such a kind person."

"Are you unhappy?" the girl suddenly asked Zhong Yan.

Zhong Yan was taken aback. "Huh?"

The girl pointed to her eyebrows and said, "It always seems so tight here..."

She lowered her voice again and asked, "Did you also have a fight with your boyfriend?"

"Ah?! No..." Zhong Yan was afraid that Ji Feng would hear her, so she subconsciously looked at his expression, only to find that Ji Feng's face was more unpleasant than anyone else's.

No wonder COCO always says he has a sour face.

“We didn’t argue…and we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend,” Zhong Yan explained earnestly.

The girl looked surprised, then laughed and said, "I thought you were... mistaken, mistaken."

Zhong Yan hesitated, "...It's nothing."

"Want to come over and try writing something here? It might make you feel better." The girl called her over to the cork wall on the other side and handed her a notepad.

The note read, "I hope to get into Z University if I retake the exam." Zhong Yan hesitated for a moment, then took it and wrote something in smaller print below.

"Keep going, you will achieve your wish."

"Sometimes comforting others can also bring you a good mood; this is what they mean by 'giving roses and having fragrance linger on your hand'!"

Zhong Yan thought the girl's words made some sense, so she went back and told Ji Feng about them.

Ji Feng looked at her for a moment, then said with a half-smile, "Yes, that's right."

His expression was a little strange, but he said there was nothing wrong with him. Zhong Yan asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"

Ji Feng paused for a moment before saying, "No, I just don't like rainy days."

"I don't like rain either."

They rarely had anything in common.

Zhong Yan doesn't like rain.

On rainy days, the way to and from school is always muddy and difficult to walk on. Her trouser legs get wet, her hair gets damp, and her homework becomes soggy...

My mother's mood also gets bad, and the house feels like a suffocating quagmire.

Ji Feng shook his phone. "Lin Yuhang asked when we're going back, are we leaving?"

Although the rain outside hadn't completely stopped, if we sat any longer, it would be almost dinnertime.

Zhong Yan nodded and said she was leaving.

While Sister Yang was still busy in the back, they pushed open the door and went to the pottery studio in the light rain.

Through the misty, rain-soaked glass, the store's television was broadcasting information about the airshow.

The airshow opens in the next couple of days, and there's information about it everywhere.

Seeing that Zhong Yan was turning her head to watch TV and even slowing her pace, Ji Feng took the initiative to say, "Our department will book tickets for this exhibition for all students as an extracurricular activity."

Zhong Yan looked back at him and asked, "Will you go?"

Ji Feng said, "Yeah, let's go. Lin Yuhang came here to ask me to go together."

"very nice."

Zhong Yan's eyes dimmed, her lips moved slightly, then she pressed them tightly together. When they were almost at the pottery studio, she finally mustered her courage and asked softly, "Can I...can I go?"

In the annoying drizzle, Ji Feng, hands in his pockets, turned his dark eyes to Zhong Yan's face. As her face tightened with nervousness, he smiled slightly and said softly, "Come on."

/

Monday, August 11, 2025

Whether it was happiness or sadness, everything faded in my world. Only that moment of surprise lit up my life.