Chapter Eighteen
It was 4:30 in the morning, and it was still dark.
Scattered stars hung in the night sky, but the dock was brightly lit, as bright as day.
Fishing boats arrived at the port one after another, and the open-air fish market was bustling with activity. Each fisherman and vendor divided up the huge square like a mountain.
The fresh catch has already been sorted on the fishing boats and transported to the dock by small boats. The porters, shirtless or wearing vests, are all sweating profusely, regardless of their height or weight.
Baskets of seafood were laid out on the ground, with only narrow aisles between the different vendors. Customers, all sweating profusely, jostle and weave back and forth, their shouts and bids rising and falling.
White, red, and blue fish baskets are filled with white, red, and blue seafood, with crushed ice spread on top, so that your ankles feel a slight coolness as you walk by.
Tengzhi endured the pervasive smell of secondhand smoke, looking around like a curious child.
Ye Yin was tall and strong. He walked beside her, shielding her from some clueless passersby, and would remind her from time to time to watch her step so that she wouldn't get her foot caught on the protruding fish basket.
It's too noisy around, you have to shout to talk, and shouting turns into arguing.
Several men were swearing in dialect, almost coming to blows.
Teng Zhi had never seen anything like this before, and couldn't help but stand aside to watch the spectacle. She even leaned closer to Ye Yin and whispered, "You're arguing like this over a few baskets of fish?"
"That's normal, it's noisy every day."
Ye Yin leaned closer to her ear and said, "The fishmongers here are all short-tempered. If you're just here for the fun and ask the price two or three times without intending to buy, the owners will ignore you."
He raised his hand, his large palm gently covering Tengzhi's head, and turned her head to the side, his tone furtive and mysterious: "Look over there, someone filming a video is going to get yelled at."
Teng Zhi pushed up her glasses and looked over.
Ye Yin showed her a young man with a GoPro, dressed smartly and with his hair and makeup done, who was clearly out of place in this bustling city.
Perhaps because he asked for prices multiple times in order to film a vlog, the fishmonger got angry and directly hurled a few genital insults at him and told him to get lost. The guy was not intimidated and even pointed his GoPro at the fishmonger to film him.
The two of them started arguing, and the argument escalated.
Seeing the growing crowd and some onlookers starting to record videos with their phones, Teng Zhi was startled and inexplicably guilty, so she hid behind Ye Yin.
Ye Yin looked around and took Teng Zhi's forearm from behind: "Let's go, let's go somewhere less crowded."
Teng Zhi subconsciously moved her arms, but couldn't break free.
The man had already led her forward, so Tengzhi had no choice but to let him hold her hand.
People came and went, bustling about.
The sea breeze carries the salty, fishy smell of seafood, the steamboat exhaust fumes are pungent, and the stench of smoke and sweat is thick, creating a strange and complex atmosphere that envelops the body and mind of the vine-covered branches.
The hand that held her forearm was warm and slowly moved down, eventually encircling her wrist.
Teng Zhi tugged at it again, but still couldn't budge it; Ye Yin's fingers tightened even more.
She waved her hand: "Hey... I can walk by myself."
Ye Yin had his own "reasoning": "There are so many people, and you're not very tall. What if you get bumped into or get lost?"
Teng Zhi wrinkled her nose: "I'm not that stupid."
As soon as she finished speaking, two passersby swarmed towards her like headless flies.
Ye Yin suddenly raised his hand and blocked the other person's back, shouting loudly, "Hey, watch where you're going!"
The passerby walked away without even saying "sorry." Ye Yin raised an eyebrow at Teng Zhi, giving her a "see, I told you so" look.
Tengzhi had no choice but to glare at him weakly and let him be.
They walked from one end of the fish market to the other, and then walked back to get their car.
It was almost 5:30, and the sky in the east was beginning to lighten. Some fishing boats set sail again, and fishmongers who had sold their catch began to pack up and prepare to leave, while those who hadn't sold their catch were still enthusiastically hawking their wares.
But the crowd hadn't dispersed much, and the hand on my wrist loosened at that moment, leaving only a warm, damp ring.
Teng Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, but then noticed another emotion seeping out from the depths of her heart.
But before she could fully grasp the emotion, the hand reached out and took hers.
This time, Ye Yin held her hand, cupping her from the back of her hand to her fingers in his palm.
Teng Zhi suddenly looked up, and just then, Ye Yin turned his head to look at her.
"It's almost dawn, shall we go watch the sunrise?"
The man's eyes were calm and open, and his voice, as he earnestly asked for her opinion, sank quietly like the setting sun at dusk.
The sea breeze passed between the two, tugging at the tips of their hair and even attempting to lift a corner of their hearts.
Teng Zhi steadied her breathing and nodded: "I saw it."
After retrieving their car, they left the bustling city.
Ye Yin drove very fast, along the coastline, and arrived at a seaside resort five kilometers away in less than ten minutes.
Teng Zhi was wearing sneakers. Ye Yin got out of the car first, rummaged through the trunk and pulled out a pair of his Crocs, asking, "Do you want to wear my flip-flops, or these sandals?"
"Wear Crocs, your flip-flops are too big."
Crocs are actually more like two covered boats, with rattan vines draped over them, making them wobble as they walk.
"Be careful not to fall." Ye Yin chuckled and took her hand, but Teng Zhi still couldn't pull her hand away.
The beach wasn't particularly clean, with a lot of trash left behind. Besides cigarette boxes, cigarette butts, and beverage bottles, there were also barbecue skewers and glass shards hidden in the sand. Tengzhi carefully walked to the seaside before daring to take off her shoes and walk barefoot on the sand.
On the beach, there were several other couples of tourists watching the sunrise, their intertwined footprints smoothed out by the waves, only to be replaced by new ones.
The sea faces south, and the rising sun is not directly in front of you, but at the end of the beach.
The sea breeze was moist, the dawn was breaking, the clouds were thin, and soon, the bursting sunlight turned the beach and the ocean golden.
Teng Zhi walked ahead, and Ye Yin followed three or four meters behind her. Before the waves caught up with them, he stepped in her footprints.
Ye Yin stared at her back.
She wasn't slender or bony, but rather well-proportioned. The wind billowed the hem of her loose T-shirt, revealing her peach-shaped buttocks that were tightly wrapped in jeans. Her ponytail was undone, and her long hair fluttered in the wind. Her pants were rolled up, revealing a section of her ankles that were so white they seemed to glow.
When the waves surged in, she would occasionally get playful, step into the waves, and kick out strings of glistening water droplets.
Like a child who hasn't grown up yet.
Ye Yin raised the corner of his mouth and silently took out his phone.
Tengzhi, who was in front of her, suddenly turned around: "Have you ever watched a sunrise like this at the beach before?"
Ye Yin put down his phone in time, thought for a moment, and said, "I didn't come to the beach specifically to watch the sunrise, but when I was a child, I would go out to sea to fish at night on Wang Longdong's boat, and I would see the sunrise on the way back."
The fireball rose fiercely at the horizon, a truly spectacular sight.
Teng Zhi asked in surprise, "Isn't Wang Sheng the owner of a hotel?"
“His family has been fishermen for generations. He went out to sea with his family’s boat when he was a child. It was only after some things happened that he started to go into business.”
Ye Yin approached her, hands in his pockets: "What about you? Have you ever watched the sunrise like this before?"
"Well, I guess so."
Teng Zhi slowly walked backwards, her arms outstretched at her sides, feeling the sea breeze like a seabird spreading its wings. "Li Tiancheng and I went to Bali for our honeymoon. Before we went, I made a long list of things I wanted to do, one of which was to wait for the sunrise at the beach and then kiss Li Tiancheng in the morning light..."
She stuck out her tongue and made a gagging face, which made Ye Yin grin and laugh: "And then?"
"That's all. For the next few mornings, Li Tiancheng was sleeping in and couldn't get up, so I went to see the sunrise by myself."
Teng Zhi smiled and said, "This is the first time I've watched the sunrise with a man."
Splash, splash.
Ye Yin felt that his heart was like the sand under his feet, all the pits and bumps were smoothed out by the gentle push of the waves.
The sun rose higher and higher, and soon it began to feel hot.
The two turned back, intending to go back to the hotel for breakfast and a short rest before heading to Shuishan City, hoping to make it in time for lunch.
Back at the car, both of their feet were covered in sand.
Teng Zhi sat sideways in the passenger seat, her feet sticking out of the door, and bent down to clean the fine sand from her soles.
Ye Yin took a bottle of mineral water from the back of the car and said as he unscrewed the cap, "Don't use your hands, I have water here."
Teng Zhi said "Oh" and reached out to take the bottled water.
Unexpectedly, Ye Yin squatted down, silently took her heel, and poured water onto the instep of her foot.
The cool mineral water made Tengzhi shiver, and she exclaimed softly, "I can do it myself..."
"It doesn't matter who comes."
Ye Yin had large hands that could easily hold her feet, and with a gentle massage of his thumbs, the sand between her toes and the soles of her feet was washed away.
Soon, a pair of feet were washed clean, still wet.
Teng Zhi turned around to find a tissue when Ye Yin stood up, leaned over and entered the car, suddenly grabbed the back of her head, and kissed her lips in the morning sunlight.
Tengzhi was caught off guard and lost his position, allowing him to slip in and stir up a sticky, hot typhoon.
When the kiss ended, their foreheads pressed together, their breathing heavy and rapid.
Suddenly, Teng Zhi burst out laughing, and Ye Yin laughed along with her.
Ye Yin gently kissed her lips and asked in a low voice, "How did it feel to kiss someone of the opposite sex at sunrise for the first time?"
Tengzhi's heart softened from the kiss, and she reached out to hook her arms around his neck: "Not bad..."
————Author's ramblings————
There will be a lot of dimensional chores on Wednesdays when school starts, I'll try to update every other day.
If I can't update for more than two days, I will ask for leave on Weibo and in the comments section.
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