Chapter 26: Peter Pan
It seems that only Xia is seriously picking up shells.
The first shell she picked up was an orange-red scallop, no longer than a thumb's radius. Its sheen against the gray-black sand was striking. She held it in her palm for a moment, then dropped it into her pocket. She took a few steps, then stooped and picked up a small, creamy-yellow spiral shell that looked like a curled-up hard candy.
I really want to pick up all the shells.
While she was having such bad thoughts, she heard someone talking to her.
"Be careful about stepping on shells."
The boy's voice came from the sea breeze, a little hazy and unclear. Xia Cun looked up and saw He Shizhao stopped in front.
Why should I be careful? Will she crush the shells?
They should sink into the sand because it's so soft.
"Put on your shoes. There are a lot of shells in front, and it's easy to get hurt."
I see. Because the soles of my feet are also very soft.
As Xia Cun pondered, she glanced up at the beach ahead. After the tide receded, the sand was covered with freshly washed-up seashells, seaweed, and driftwood. She paused, put her beach sandals back on, and stopped moving forward.
"What's wrong?" He Shizhao asked sharply.
She looked at him and suddenly said, "I asked Xiao Lan a question last night."
As if her sudden desire to go home hadn't happened, she sent Xia Lan a message last night, asking her many seemingly insignificant questions. Xia Lan, like she'd forgotten about it, answered her questions one by one.
For example, she asked Xia Lan, if she saw someone but didn't speak to them, did that mean she didn't actually want to talk to them? Xia Lan replied that wanting to talk or not isn't a consistent, absolute thing. Like other emotions, it's fleeting. Perhaps she simply didn't want to talk at that moment, but a blink later regretted wanting to say something. She pressed on, asking, "What if she didn't feel any regret?" Xia Lan replied, "It simply means there's nothing to say, nothing to think about."
She told He Shizhao about this conversation. He Shizhao didn't show any abnormality after hearing it. He was just as calm as ever, and his voice was no exception.
"So, you want to tell me that you and I have nothing to talk about?"
He asked frankly, as if since he asked the previous question, no other question would embarrass him.
"I have no idea."
"Don't know what?"
"I don't know what to say to you."
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening...and then what? What else could she say to He Shizhao?
Confusion appeared in her eyes, and she continued to ask, "What will you say to me?"
She also asked frankly, looking directly at the boy in front of her, without disguising her sincerity or confusion.
He Shizhao couldn't help but be stunned. The anger that was originally spreading was suddenly covered by a glass cover, suppressed somewhere, and unable to vent outwards.
He suddenly realized that the girl standing in front of him was a "Peter Pan" type girl. She was just used to being immersed in her own world, flying in the air like Peter Pan, not caring at all whether others would fall behind.
How could he not understand? And yet he still used those words to trouble her, to drag her into his own troubles.
"I'm sorry," he said, answering her question. "I was too self-righteous when I said that to you before."
Xia Cun shook his head and said, "Maybe I'm wrong. I shouldn't have said that you are self-righteous."
He Shizhao finally laughed out of anger and asked her, "Is it because you realized you really have nothing to say to me?"
Because it was the truth, he was not self-righteously misunderstanding her.
"That's not the case." She denied, frowning slightly. "It's because I found that when other people ignored me, I would think that they didn't want to talk to me."
"Really?" He Shizhao glanced behind her, "So the other people you're talking about are Jiang Song?"
Xia Cun nodded.
He Shizhao asked again with an ambiguous tone, "Then why can't we all be so self-righteous?"
Why exclude yourself?
Did she think she wouldn't be self-righteous?
Xia Cun tilted her head slightly, lost in thought. He Shizhao noticed that she was still frowning slightly, and fell silent.
In his limited memory of her, she had never frowned like this. What did this mean? Was the Peter Pan girl beginning to grow up?
"Collect shells," he said, "and don't think about it anymore."
He made the final decision, as if he was worried that the girl in front of him would suddenly grow up in the next moment. Fortunately, she seemed to have listened to him and headed straight for the shell-strewn beach with her bag in hand. He stayed where he was, looking at the boy walking towards him.
Another Peter Pan.
…
Summer is searching.
She found a dense gathering of shells and squatted on the beach to observe.
Soon, she gave up the bad idea of picking up all the shells because she found that these shells were not what she imagined. They were as small as gravel and mostly ordinary. She only wanted bigger, more beautiful and more unique shells.
Before this, Xia Cun had only seen a real shell once, but that one experience was enough to raise her expectations. It was at the H City International Shell Exhibition two years ago. She and Ren Yi had just graduated from junior high school, and to celebrate her admission to the same high school despite having the lowest academic record, Ren Yi announced she would take her to a wonderful place, and that wonderful place was the Shell Exhibition.
At the Shell Fair, shell merchants from all over the world set up stalls selling a wide variety of shells. All the shells were unique, beautiful, and colorful. Even the names of the shells were incredibly cute: Green Apple Snail, Oil Painting Scallop, Strawberry Conch...
As the two girls wandered through the park, one fantasized: If shells were still the currency of the 21st century, there would be huge shell thefts, and they would be made into movies as frequently as bank robberies or jewelry thefts. If she and Ren Yi committed a crime together, their deeds would be adapted into a movie.
Another person complained: "Xia Zunsheng, if you can't afford it in the future, just give me shells. What's the point of giving me stones?"
When she was a child, she gave Ren Yi a stone, and Ren Yi has been puzzled to this day.
So that day she gave Ren Yi two shells, one from Mozambique and one from Peru. When she wanted to buy another shell, Ren Yi held her head down hard because they didn't have much money, at least not enough to spend on shells.
As she recalled, she picked out complete, colorful small shells from the pile of shells. Then she noticed a figure passing by in her peripheral vision. She turned her head and saw Jiang Song squatting on the beach not far away picking up shells.
Why didn't he come and talk to her?
never mind.
The thought flashed through her mind, and she continued searching, while the figure sometimes floated to her left, sometimes to her right.
The mist dissipated, the sun rose from the sea, and the beach finally absorbed a warm yellow after the heavy rain. More and more tourists came to the beach to pick up shells. Xia Cun had already picked up about two handfuls of shells. It sounds insignificant, but that's only because the shells she picked up are always very small.
She kept picking up shells until she had collected half a bag of them, and then she left the beach under the envious gazes of the tourists.
She saw Mr. Mizuno, who was talking on the phone under a coconut tree, holding a small white bucket, which was obviously the same one Jiang Song had been carrying when he was picking up shells. Xia Cun realized at this moment that she hadn't seen Jiang Song for a long time, but she thought that Jiang Song must be within Mr. Mizuno's sight, so she looked around.
She saw Zhou Yun first. He was standing on the beach in front of a restaurant, holding his stomach and laughing until his shoulders were shaking. Jiang Song was squatting among the children beside him, while everyone else was sitting at a round table at the other end.
What happened?
Xia Cun left the beach alone, and when she returned, the others were already having breakfast. Seeing her return empty-handed, Miao Wen couldn't help but stare wide-eyed and asked, "Where are your shells? Where did you go all morning?"
After all, everyone has seen how selflessly she picks up things.
“It’s been sent.”
This time, she will give Ren Yi lots and lots of shells.
"I'm almost dying of laughter. Guess what Jiang Song just did?"
Zhou Yun's voice came faster than his. Everyone turned around and saw him holding back a smile. The young man following behind him looked indifferent. He walked closer, dragged an empty stool over, and sat right next to Xia Cun's seat.
Everyone was already used to it, so Zhou Yun continued, "Just now he was actually playing house with a group of kids. Of course, that's not the point. The point is that he actually drank. Hahahahaha--" He started laughing again, and Miao Wen looked at him with a frown.
"He actually drank a drink handed to him by a two-year-old. Come on, he drank something that even the other kids wouldn't dare drink!" He felt a chill run down his spine again. "Does anyone know what that unknown liquid is?"
“…”
Everyone looked at Jiang Song silently, and Xia Cun also looked at him, but he just held his cheek with one hand without explaining, as if he didn't mind being laughed at.
"Why?" Xia Cun suddenly asked him.
He looked at her and explained seriously, "Because she's still very young. If she were over three years old, I wouldn't drink it."
But because she was still very young and was very serious about playing house, he wanted to drink the drink she handed him.
"Hey, could you please stop talking like you're so principled?" Zhou Yun said.
Xia Cunze blinked.
Jiang Song is a very childlike and innocent person, no wonder he played that set of piano pieces so well.
He told her that it was a piece of music that he had loved since childhood, Debussy's Children's Corner, which was translated into "Children's Paradise" in Chinese. He played it for her because he thought it was suitable for her, but it was obviously more suitable for him.
Xia Cun suddenly imagined the possible scene when she gave Jiang Song a gift. He would definitely like her gift very much because it would be the most dreamy and lovely gift in the world, but hadn't she already decided not to give him a gift?
Xia Cun was still wavering until the end of breakfast.
After breakfast, the boys felt sleepy and returned to the villa to catch up on their sleep. Xia Cun woke up to a knock on the door. She opened the door with sleepy eyes, but there was no one outside.
Am I dreaming?
The answer is no, because when she closed the door, she found a glass jar on the side of the door. Dazzling, colorful, incredible.
She picked up the glass jar and felt its heaviness.
Inside the jar, colorful shells are crowded together, making crisp sounds like wind chimes when they collide against the wall of the jar. A white five-pointed starfish is pressed on the top, as if floating on the waves, like a comfortable Patrick Star.
There was no signature on the gift, but it was obvious who gave it.
She thought, maybe Ren Yi wouldn't be angry with her anymore, because she seemed to no longer be angry with Jiang Song either.
Whether he left without saying goodbye, or he was hot and cold, or he didn't treat her as a friend, she wasn't that angry.
So, should she change her mind and give him a gift in return?
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