Li Yan looked up at Zhou Xiaoyu, who was standing not far from him, frowned slightly, and looked a little impatient. He then lowered his head and continued to search for pebbles of suitable size, which he then placed on the shore to dry.

"Hey! Li Yan, what's wrong with you? I came to help you, at least you responded, right? You're acting all high and mighty. Fine, I'm magnanimous, I won't stoop to your level. Want to have a competition?" Zhou Xiaoyu's temper flared up when she saw Li Yan's reaction. She stood not far from Li Yan, one hand on her hip, the other holding two round pebbles, and said provocatively.

"With you? No interest!" Li Yan said, continuing to search for the next stone. His words made Zhou Xiaoyu pout, her big eyes darting around. She suddenly had an idea. She placed the pebbles in her hand next to the ones Li Yan was looking for, and then kept finding pebbles near Li Yan, placing them together in a show of defiance. In no time, Zhou Xiaoyu had found many more pebbles than Li Yan, and they were also more uniform in size and smoother.

"Hey! You're so slow! Why are all the stones you found so oddly shaped? Hehe, they're so ugly!" Zhou Xiaoyu kept teasing Li Yan, showing off every round pebble she found in front of him. Finally, Li Yan was angered by Zhou Xiaoyu's behavior. "Stop! Stop swaying around! You want to have a competition? I'll play with you! Put down the stones in your hand, and we'll have a competition, starting now! Find ten stones, using the ones in your hand as the standard. The size and shape must be close to that standard. Stones that aren't close are unqualified! Are you ready? Let's begin!" After Li Yan finished speaking, he raised his handsome face and stared at Zhou Xiaoyu fiercely.

"Tch! Let's compete then, who's afraid of you! A grown man with no manners at all, I'm here to help you, you know! Seriously! Let's compete! Ready! Go! Hehehe! I found one!" After saying that, Zhou Xiaoyu raised the stone she was using to make the standard and waved it triumphantly! "You! Humph! You win, I'll let you have one, it's no big deal!" Li Yan was furious at Zhou Xiaoyu's actions, but he still managed to maintain some decorum and not argue.

"What are you saying? Who asked you to give way! You can't even take a joke? Fine! I'm not competing with you anymore! Anyway, I have enough stones. You can play with them slowly! I'm going to dry the stones!" After saying that, Zhou Xiaoyu picked up the stones and walked straight to the stream.

"You! You come back here!!" Li Yan was furious with Zhou Xiaoyu, his head throbbing with anger. This little girl was utterly unreasonable. "You clearly didn't dare to compete yourself. What excuse did Lin Lei come up with?"

"Where did I make an excuse? You said it yourself, okay? I didn't realize you, a guy, were so stingy, especially since you're so handsome! Humph!" After saying that, Zhou Xiaoyu turned her head away and ignored Li Yan, instead focusing on fiddling with a pile of round stones placed by the river.

"You!" Li Yan couldn't help but throw the stone in his hand into the water. Unexpectedly, due to the excessive force, his foot stepped on a slippery stone, and he immediately leaned back and sat upright in the stream.

"Hehehe, you're so clumsy!" Li Yan said, sitting in the water, sulking and refusing to get up. Zhou Xiaoyu, who was next to him, got into the water again and came to Li Yan's side with a smile. Then she stretched out her hand and said, "Okay, I'm not kidding anymore. Get up quickly, or you'll catch a cold."

"Get out of here! It's none of your business!" Li Yan felt a surge of anger when he heard Zhou Xiaoyu's laughter. He shouted loudly without even looking up, though the stream water beneath him was indeed quite chilly.

"Okay! I apologize! I'm sorry, is that alright now? Get up! Be good!" Zhou Xiaoyu squatted down, her big, watery eyes fixed on Li Yan, speaking in a tone as if coaxing a child.

"You!" Li Yan wanted to yell again upon hearing Zhou Xiaoyu's words, but when he looked up, he saw Zhou Xiaoyu's eyes. Her large, bright black eyes made his heart skip a beat. He had never observed a girl's eyes so closely before. Adding to this, Zhou Xiaoyu's ample bosom, coupled with the V-neck sports T-shirt she was wearing today, inadvertently revealed a patch of white skin, which delivered a fatal impact to Li Yan. After uttering the word "you," he fell silent. A slight blush appeared on his handsome, sunny face.

"Get up! Such a childish temper!" Zhou Xiaoyu said, reaching out and grabbing Li Yan's hand. Then she pulled Li Yan out of the stream.

At that moment, Li Yan's brain cells were a bit overwhelmed, and a feeling he had never experienced before spread through his heart. He let Zhou Xiaoyu lead him by the hand to the stream, and then suddenly remembered to break free from Zhou Xiaoyu's hand and hurriedly ran back to the camp.

"Hehehe! Still shy, huh?" Zhou Xiaoyu's voice came from behind, and Li Yan quickened his pace. "Big brother, where's my spare pair of pants?"

"Huh? What happened? Did it fall into the river?" Li Jia had actually been observing Li Yan and Zhou Xiaoyu's conversation the whole time. She pretended to be puzzled and asked, but she had already taken out another pair of Li Yan's sweatpants and handed them to him.

"Oops... I accidentally sat in the water, but it's okay!" Li Yan said, quickly running into a tent, changing his pants in a few moments, and then hanging his wet pants on a low tree to dry.

"Brother Li, come and see if we have enough stones?" Zhou Xiaoyu called out to Li Jia, while her hands moved without stopping to spread out a pile of round stones so they could dry faster.

Li Jia jogged to the stream and looked at the large pile of pebbles drying on the big rock. "Alright! That's enough! We're all done. We just need to wait for them to dry before we can use them. You can go play by yourself for a while, but don't go too far, okay?"

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