Chapter 47

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"Uncle, let's stop up ahead!" Lin Li said in a high-pitched voice, pointing to the fork in the road ahead.

Tong's father nodded from the driver's seat and slowly pulled the car over to the side of the road. Lin Li practically fled, pulling open the car door and hurriedly tossing out a "thank you" before disappearing into the alleyway.

Tong Yao, sitting in the back seat, looked through the car window at Lin Li's almost panicked back, and her lips unconsciously curled up slightly.

Thinking back to the mall earlier that day, she ended up buying those two identical shirts, giving one to Lin Li and keeping the other for herself. It wasn't that she particularly liked them, but... she was just too lazy to choose another one. "I'll just have to make do," she thought at the time.

In the months following the start of the school year, Lin Li, having been retaliated against by Tong Yao for her previous playful "tickling," seemed to have developed some kind of "psychological trauma" and dared not act recklessly again. The two maintained a delicate "respectful" relationship, which seemed to have stagnated.

Even on Tong Yao's birthday, Lin Li simply offered a proper gift and blessings, without doing anything out of line. Sometimes, looking at his cautious demeanor, Tong Yao felt a strange emptiness in her heart. She almost thought that their relationship would continue in this lukewarm manner.

That evening at the dinner table, Tong Yao's father, who had once again returned empty-handed from fishing, shoveled rice into his mouth, looked at Tong Yao with a flickering gaze, and tentatively asked, "Yao Yao, that male classmate who was really good at fishing during the New Year... how about we invite him over for dinner?"

Tong Yao paused in her eating, almost choking. She looked up at her father in disbelief.

Tong's father rubbed his hands together a little embarrassedly and added shyly, "Um... why don't you give me his contact information? I'd like to talk to him myself and ask him for advice on fishing."

Tong Yao fell silent. She looked at the rare longing in her father's eyes for catching fish, and then thought of Lin Li. After struggling for a few seconds, she finally gave in and handed over Lin Li's contact information.

_

As May arrived, the weather gradually warmed up. On the weekend, Lin Li, dressed simply in a white short-sleeved shirt and black trousers, sat nervously at Tong Yao's dining table.

When he received Tong Yao's dad's friend request and invitation last week, he was completely stunned. Dinner at Tong Yao's house? Fishing with Tong Yao's dad? This combination sounded like a series of unknown challenges. He dared not refuse, so he obediently shouldered his fully equipped fishing basket and arrived on time.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was so subtly unsettling it made his scalp tingle. He mechanically shoveled rice into his bowl, finding it tasteless, and every now and then he'd steal glances at Tong Yao across from him, his eyes screaming for help: "What's going on? What should I do?"

Tong Yao simply looked back at him calmly, then shook her head almost imperceptibly, giving him a cold "you figure it out yourself" look.

Lin Li inwardly groaned, but had no choice but to bite the bullet and force a smile to start a conversation: "Uncle, where are we planning to go fishing this afternoon?"

At the mention of fishing, Tong's father immediately became animated, enthusiastically sharing the "secret fishing spot" he had heard about: "Go to that black pond in the suburbs! I heard there are lots of fat fish there!"

_

So, by the black pond in the suburbs, Lin Li demonstrated his professional skills as a "fishing expert".

He deftly helped Tong's father adjust the float and prepare the bait. He even tried fishing twice to confirm there were bites before handing the rod back to Tong's father and thoughtfully giving him some instructions:

"Uncle, you can fish here. If the fish aren't biting well, you can try this." As he spoke, he rummaged through his treasure chest and pulled out some fresh earthworms he had prepared, handing them over.

Tong's father happily accepted the gift, thanked him repeatedly, and then focused intently on fishing at the "golden spot" where Lin Li had prepared the bait for him.

Lin Li then picked up his fishing rod and tactfully walked to the other side of the river.

He chose a spot under a large willow tree; although it was easy for wires to get caught there, it was at least shady. He had barely sat down when he heard light footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw Tong Yao following him, holding his light jacket.

"Why did you come here?" Lin Li asked, somewhat surprised.

Tong Yao squatted down beside him, her tone still calm: "I'm afraid you'll get lost."

This is clearly a response to his deliberately offensive remark to Tong Yao before the start of the school year.

Lin Li choked for a moment, touched her nose, and was about to say something when her attention was drawn to the fishing float on the water—a fish had taken the bait!

He suddenly stood up and cast his line, but forgot about the willow branches overhead. The fishing line instantly got tangled up and got stuck all over the tree.

"Oops!" Lin Li exclaimed in frustration, frantically pulling at the fishing line. Seeing this, Tong Yao placed her light jacket on the dry ground nearby and stood up to help. It took the two of them quite a bit of effort to finally untangle the fishing line.

Lin Li sighed; it seemed this place really wasn't suitable. He looked around, his gaze settling on a treeless hillside in the distance.

"Let's try over there!" He shouldered his gear, picked up a small hoe, and cleared a path.

Tong Yao frowned as she looked at his exposed arms: "Lin Li, put your clothes on." The edges of these weeds are sharp and could easily scratch the skin.

Lin Li then remembered, quickly put down her schoolbag, took the coat, and put it on: "Thank you, you're so thoughtful."

After getting dressed, Lin Li quickened his pace. As he cleared the weeds, he couldn't help but turn back to Tong Yao, who was following closely behind, and say:

"Actually, you could have stayed in the car; you're not interested in fishing anyway."

Tong Yao pursed her lips, not answering, but subconsciously clenching her hands. She felt a vague unease, a sense that letting this guy run around alone would lead to trouble.

This inexplicable premonition made her unable to stay in the car. In the end, she just repeated the same excuse:

"I'm afraid you'll get lost."

Lin Li paused slightly. Why was she so fixated on this? She had been behaving herself for so long!

There's a saying that goes, "Looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death." This Blackwater Pool can actually be considered a tributary of the Yangtze River, a very long river.

They walked along the hillside for nearly half an hour before finding a fishing spot that Lin Li considered to be at a suitable height and relatively safe.

He cast his line into the water again, then quietly crouched down to wait. Tong Yao stood behind him, watching his focused profile and soft hair, and almost unconsciously reached out and gently ruffled it.

Lin Li didn't dodge; instead, like a comforted puppy, he tilted his head slightly and nuzzled her palm.

In an instant, a tranquil and intimate atmosphere filled the air.

However, after waiting for a long time, the water remained still. Lin Li lost patience and stood up: "Tong Yao, let's go, it looks like this..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly stood up because he had been squatting for too long, which caused a momentary lack of blood supply to his brain. His vision went black, and he uncontrollably fell towards the river!

"Lin Li!" Tong Yao's tense nerves made her react extremely quickly. Almost subconsciously, she suddenly reached out and grabbed Lin Li's collar and pulled him back!

But Lin Li was half a head taller and much heavier than her, and there was no support from the riverbank behind them. When Tong Yao pulled, she was instead pulled off balance by the forward momentum! She ended up losing her balance in a one-for-one exchange.

"Thump!"

A loud splash jolted Lin Li awake! He turned around in horror and saw Tong Yao struggling in the water!

"Tong Yao!" Lin Li's heart clenched. Without thinking, he immediately jumped down to save her.

Fortunately, Tong Yao held her breath the moment she fell into the water and instinctively reached out to grab a clump of tough water plants on the bank. Lin Li quickly bent down, grabbed her arm, and pulled her out of the water.

"What are you doing! I can swim!" Lin Li looked at Tong Yao, who was soaking wet and in a sorry state, feeling both scared and angry, her voice trembling.

Tong Yao coughed violently, her face pale, but she seemed to have finally let go of a huge weight in her heart. She leaned weakly against him, her voice filled with relief: "I... I was panicking in the car... I kept feeling like something was going to happen to you... Luckily... luckily I came..."

She raised her wet hand and poked Lin Li's chest hard. "You can swim? What if you fell in like that and got knocked out? What if you got cramps?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Li's heart trembled violently. All the words of reproach stuck in his throat, leaving only a deep sense of heartache and lingering fear. He held her tightly, feeling the slight tremor in her body.

Just then, a gust of wind blew by, and Tong Yao, who was soaked to the bone, couldn't help but shiver.

Lin Li immediately realized she had to dry her wet clothes, otherwise she would definitely catch a cold from hypothermia. The parking lot was too far away, so turning back wasn't feasible.

"Quick, take off your wet coat first." He unzipped Tong Yao's coat. However, the soaking wet white shirt clung tightly to her body, almost transparent, clearly outlining the contours of her underwear.

Tong Yao's cheeks instantly turned bright red. She pushed him away abruptly and pulled her clothes tighter around herself: "You pervert!"

Lin Li then realized the problem, her face turning bright red to her ears. She hurriedly turned around and stammered, "I...I didn't mean to! You...you wear mine! I'll help you start a fire to dry your clothes!"

He quickly unzipped his jacket, deftly took off his dry white short-sleeved shirt, and stuffed it, along with the jacket, into Tong Yao's arms. Then, without looking back, he ran off to collect dry branches and stones.

Tong Yao held the clothes that still carried his body heat, watching his bare-chested figure busily gathering firewood, her blush lingering for a long time.

"You...you go away! Don't look back!" she shouted at him.

"Okay!" Lin Li replied, walked a little further away, and began to concentrate on building a campfire.

After a while, estimating that she should have changed, Lin Li returned carrying firewood.

He skillfully made a circle with stones, put in dry leaves and twigs, and lit it with a lighter. Soon, a small fire was burning. He built a makeshift frame with a few longer branches.

After doing all this, he felt like something was missing.

I glanced at Tong Yao's wet coat and shirt on the shelf, and then at Tong Yao sitting by the fire with her arms crossed.

He hesitated for a moment, but still, with the intention of "preventing a cold," he earnestly reminded him:

"Why don't you take off your underwear and dry it in the sun? It's uncomfortable to wear wet underwear, and it makes you more susceptible to catching a cold."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a cool hand precisely pinched his ear.

"Ouch—it hurts!" Lin Li cried out in pain.

"Lin Li! You scoundrel!" Tong Yao was both ashamed and angry, her cheeks flushed red as if they were burning.

"I was wrong, I was wrong!" Lin Li quickly begged for forgiveness.

Tong Yao snorted coldly, let go of his hand, turned her face away, and ignored him.

Lin Li rubbed his reddened ears, sat down awkwardly to the side, and began swatting away the mosquitoes that were attacking him.

He was shirtless, practically a walking delicacy.

He rummaged through his backpack and, sure enough, found he hadn't brought any mosquito repellent. He could only sigh and prepare to check how well the clothes were drying.

He was about to turn his head when Tong Yao reached out and pushed his head back, preventing him from doing so.

"Don't look!" Her voice was filled with obvious embarrassment and annoyance.

Lin Li froze, then obediently replied, "Okay."

He could feel Tong Yao making rustling movements behind him, followed by the soft sound of clothes rubbing together.

After a while, the hand covering his eyes was finally removed. He glanced at the clothes rack and saw the white underwear hanging shyly next to the shirt, illuminated by the firelight.

Tong Yao noticed his gaze, and feeling both angry and anxious, she reached out to cover his eyes again.

Lin Li's eyes were covered, but her gaze inadvertently swept through her fingers over the slightly open neckline that had been parted by her bending over.

There, beneath the collar of his wide short-sleeved shirt—a tiny lotus bud just beginning to emerge, with a dragonfly already perched on it.

"!!!" Lin Li's mind went blank for a moment, and it seemed as if all the blood rushed to one place.

He sprang to his feet, intending to push Tong Yao away, but his hand froze in mid-air, and he became incoherent:

"I...I'll go check over there! You...call me when you're done!"

After saying that, he practically fled, running to a distance with his back to the fire, taking deep breaths, and trying to calm his wildly beating heart.

But that fleeting glimpse had been deeply imprinted in his mind, and now it was replaying itself endlessly.

No, no! Lin Li awkwardly reached into her pocket to adjust her position, then looked into the distance to distract herself.

He stood by the water, forcing himself to look at the distant mountains and the setting sun, his mind a jumble of emotions. It took a long time for the restlessness to subside.

When he had mentally prepared himself and turned back, the fire had been carefully extinguished by Tong Yao with soil, and he was dressed neatly.

When Tong Yao saw him, a blush still lingered on her face. She tossed the folded clothes back to him, her tone feigning composure: "Put these on, there are a lot of mosquitoes."

Lin Li reluctantly took it and quickly put it on, keeping the mosquitoes away. The two exchanged a glance, then quickly looked away, an unprecedented, ambiguous, and awkward atmosphere filling the air.

"Let's go, my dad must be getting impatient." Tong Yao turned around first and walked back the way she came.

Lin Li followed obediently behind him, his head down, seemingly lost in thought.