Joy at the Tip of the Eyebrows (Part 5)
Sunlight poured down from the azure sky, scattering across the vast sea, and every grain of sand on the fine, soft beach was coated with a layer of light.
Everyone prepared to put their favorite ingredients on the barbecue grill. Ji Qingzhou took a plate of grilled food to An Yi's side.
"Want some? Your colleague grilled it."
Ann was sitting on the beach, hugging her knees and quietly watching the sea. She shook her head and said she wasn't hungry.
Ji Qingzhou glanced at An, who had already returned to the barbecue grill.
After a while, another plate was brought out. The plate contained some vegetables and barbecue with less oil and seasoning, which looked much more refreshing.
Ji Qingzhou sat down next to An Yi. "Eat something, don't go hungry."
Her gaze, which had been fixed on the plate, slid down to his face; he was genuinely worried that she was hungry.
An had already taken a skewer of small mushrooms. "Thank you." The mushrooms were grilled with a peppery and slightly sweet flavor; they were delicious.
She asked, "Did you bake this?"
"Um."
An had thought of something to say, "It's delicious."
She ate a little but wasn't really hungry, and after eating a little more, she didn't want to eat anymore, so she asked Ji Qingzhou to finish it.
Ji Qingzhou held up the plate and urged An Yi to finish eating several times before she finally managed to finish.
The cod called out to An from afar, urging them to come over. A colleague, trying to liven things up, suggested they all play a game of musical chairs.
If there's no drum, music will be used instead. When the music stops, the person who receives the flower will either sing or answer a question, and must tell the truth.
The game began, and the person who received the flower sang a song:
“Prince charming sings to me.
All that I'm missing.
Wish you could see the smile I'm trying to withhold.
You're leaving little behind.
Except for this memory of time.
All the sun can never shine as bright as you." ("oceanside")
The sea breeze brushed past my ears, and the song drifted in the air.
Everyone was immersed in the joyful and pleasant scenery.
After countless encounters, the flower eventually ended up in Ji Qingzhou's hands.
Everyone cheered, and finally it was President Ji's turn.
Ji Qingzhou chose to tell the truth.
The host eagerly asked, "How did you two get together?"
“I know that: An confessed first,” Cod said with great regret. “If you wanted to know, you should have asked me first. Isn’t this a waste of opportunity?”
But everyone heard Ji Qingzhou deny what Xueyu said, "I was the one who asked An Yi if she wanted to be together first."
"Huh?" Cod exclaimed in surprise; this was different from the version she had heard.
An Yi frowned. In her world, she should be the one to reveal her true feelings to him first.
She shook her head at the cod; she didn't know why Ji Qingzhou said that.
The crowd gasped, perhaps because the answer was unexpected, or perhaps because some firmly believed that An Yi was trying to climb the social ladder by marrying Ji Qingzhou.
After pondering for a moment, Ji Qingzhou told them.
“I witnessed a marriage proposal in Sweden a year ago. Apparently, the man had his twin sister lure his older sister out to surprise her, and he recognized her the moment he saw the twins.”
"Do the two sisters look alike? Yes, they look alike more than any twins I've ever seen. No, they don't look alike. A boy can recognize his lover at a glance."
Everyone was confused, wondering what this had to do with Qingzhou's confession.
"Then I opened my phone and sent her a message: Would you like to be with me?"
An was confused. If she remembered correctly, the message she received was, "In that case, would you be willing to be with me?"
She seemed about to glean something from Ji Qingzhou's words.
Does he mean that his confession has no causal relationship with her message?
An Yi was so engrossed in her thoughts that she almost dropped the cup in her hand, but Ji Qingzhou caught it quickly.
He said, "Luckily, her answer was yes."
The last two sentences were clear to everyone: the love lives of people like Ji Qingzhou are just as down-to-earth as those of ordinary people—they confess their feelings first and then confirm their relationship; it's not as dramatic or convoluted as people imagine. He didn't even mention that trending topic.
The answer to this question also dispelled people's speculations to some extent.
The flower circulated several times before finally ending up in An Yi's hands.
Cod revealed a triumphant smile. She was determined to make things difficult for An Yi and get revenge for not spending time with her today.
She asked with ill intent, "Which of your boyfriends left the deepest impression on you?"
She also specifically emphasized that we should tell the truth.
You need to speak the truth, but you also need to consider the people around you.
His colleague next to Cod nudged him with his elbow, saying, "That's a really tricky question."
It's hard not to say that Ji Qingzhou wasn't expecting An Yi's answer, since they rarely talked about the past.
The charred meat sizzled.
An's gaze swept across Ji Qingzhou's face. "Ji Qingzhou."
Ji Qingzhou's back stiffened slightly, then he lowered his head and smiled silently, his expression hidden beneath his eyelashes.
As expected, the crowd cheered and let An Yi go.
The game ended when it was just getting dark.
On the light boat, carrying his and An's belongings, he followed her to the bus.
Cod called out to An, "Don't go back today. Stay here with me and watch the stars. Tomorrow morning we'll get up and go to the nearby mountains to watch the sunrise!"
“That’s not appropriate,” An said, tilting his head. “Besides, if we insist on staying here, we might not have enough tents.”
Cod pointed to the flashing car lights in the distance; the car was getting closer and closer.
"They're here."
Han Fei has arrived, but what's more important to Cod is the supplies he brought.
So An and Ji Qingzhou slept on the beach for the night.
Everyone set up their own tents, and it's unclear what Han Fei and Xueyu talked about in that short time, but the two started arguing.
Cod strode over to An Yi's side, ignoring Han Fei.
She said angrily, "That dog Han Fei is having another affair with someone else!"
Her voice was loud, and she was afraid Han Fei wouldn't be able to hear her.
Han Fei responded equally angrily, "Nonsense! Nothing like that has happened since I started pursuing you!"
The two were like a pair of bickering lovers, constantly exchanging barbs.
Han Fei brought plenty of supplies.
An could only understand the instruction manual; Ji Qingzhou would have to help her set it up.
Han Fei sent Xueyu over, hoping to use the tent setting as an excuse to have more contact with her and explain his question.
Cod ignored him and went straight to Han Fei's direction, saying, "I'm not wasting my time listening to this dog's nonsense."
Han Fei was so angry he wanted to pin the cod to the ground and devour it. He had finally managed to squeeze out some time to spend with her, and after setting up the tent, he quickly grabbed the cod and put it inside.
At first, there were sounds of cod fighting, but those sounds grew fainter and fainter, and then faint, ambiguous sounds began to rise.
The light inside the tent cast their shadows, and the two figures on the fabric embraced and kissed.
This series of actions seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.
She stared in astonishment at the tent in the shadow.
"Not suitable for children," a pair of hands covered her eyes, "if you like it too..."
She glanced at Ji Qingzhou and then went to their tent.
Ji Qingzhou swallowed the words she was about to say. It seemed that imitating Han Fei's style was not suitable for An Yi.
An was already lying in the tent, covered with a blanket.
Ji Qingzhou came in and lay down next to her.
The top of the tent was transparent, and An said, "It's been so long since I've seen the stars."
People used to be too busy to travel, but now they have something more attractive to them.
The sky is dotted with stars, some bright and dazzling, sparkling like diamonds; others dim, like pearls veiled by a light veil.
Under the tranquil night sky, ancient and mysterious lights travel thousands of miles to deliver light.
Ji Qingzhou and An could hear the sound of waves crashing and the sound of the wind rustling through the sand.
"Are you cold?" Ji Qingzhou asked.
An shook his head; perhaps the sound was too faint for him to perceive.
He pulled the blanket closer to An Yi, then turned over and wrapped his arms around her.
She didn't move.
An was not used to being so close to others.
But Ji Qingzhou has been getting close to her a lot lately, and she seems to have become immune to him. She had wanted to break up with him before, and even though they were a couple, they didn't really know each other.
Where should we trace it back to its source?
Is she already prepared to say goodbye at any time after saying "together"?
When she agreed, it was merely following her heart at the time. She didn't like him to the point of being obsessed, and while she didn't like him, she did have the intention of getting closer. But when she agreed, she also had only one plan for the future: to break up.
"Who is Huaichuan?" she heard him ask casually, pulling her back to reality.
An Yi said, "He was a classmate of mine in my senior year of high school. You met him with me that day, but I haven't contacted him since."
She also has an obligation to maintain her purity in the relationship, so she has to explain this to him.
Ji Qingzhou naturally believed her.
He simply asked, "Who is Huaichuan in my dream?"
An's body stiffened slightly, and she turned her head to meet the probing gaze in his eyes.
Ji Qingzhou closed her eyes and patted her arm to comfort her.
He said, "You have a habit of talking in your sleep, and it's been happening frequently lately."
She closed her eyes. "I don't know."
Ji Qingzhou asked again, "An old friend? Do I resemble him?"
Do they look alike?
The head that lay on the ground was stained with blood and bore a resemblance to him to about six or seven points.
But he was only seventeen or eighteen years old, a young man full of vigor and ambition.
She once told him that Huaichuan resembled him, but in her dreams she only saw his profile, with his head half turned back.
Those sorrowful, expectant eyes overlapped with his lowered gaze as he bowed his head.
Does it resemble him? She hoped it didn't resemble him, the one who kept appearing in her dreams, dying tragically.
An stopped speaking, and her breathing gradually became even.
Ji Qingzhou turned off the light in the tent and said softly, "Go to sleep. We need to get up early tomorrow."
When An woke up, she was still in Ji Qingzhou's arms.
We agreed to go hiking together to watch the sunrise, but Cod left first.
The cod left her a message. Han Fei was escorting her to catch the early morning flight.
Ji Qingzhou slightly opened her eyes, and saw that An had already wrapped one of her exposed feet into the blanket.
"Are you still going?" she asked.
An went to bed early yesterday and didn't dream at all last night. She's in great spirits now.
"Go."
Ji Qingzhou got up and packed her things.
The tent and some large items were left at a nearby guesthouse, and I asked him to forward them.
The mountain wasn't high, and there were stairs; it only took about twenty minutes to climb.
The sun was rising in the east just as we reached the top of the mountain.
As dawn broke, the sky gradually took on a faint bluish-purple hue.
Soon, the outline of the sun began to appear faintly, as if it were being slowly lifted up by an invisible hand, first revealing a golden edge, and then rising little by little.
As the sun rises, the sea is tinged with gold, like a freshly painted oil painting by a Western artist, vibrant and passionate.
A gentle breeze ruffled her hair, and she wore a faint smile.
The sunrise was reflected in her eyes, and the sunrise and she were reflected in his eyes.
She seemed to have been in such a scene before, and after thinking for a moment, she couldn't think of anything.
Once the sun was fully up, they went down the mountain.
The layers of stairs beneath her feet made her feel somewhat disoriented, and countless images flashed through her mind.
Oiled paper umbrellas, crabapple blossoms, warhorses, spring rain, fluttering sheets of paper covered with writing...
"Hiss—" An felt a sharp pain in her ankle.
A hand suddenly appeared and steadied her.
Ji Qingzhou asked anxiously, "What's wrong?"
The culprit was the protruding stone under her feet. An moved her right ankle and felt a strong tingling pain.
"It seems like you twisted it."
He checked her injuries, then squatted down in front of her. "I'll carry you on my back."
"It shouldn't be too serious."
"Get on, I'll carry you."
An had already climbed onto Ji Qingzhou's back and followed him down the steps one by one.
Ji Qingzhou's steps were steady yet quick; this seemed to be the safest stretch of road she had ever walked.
She felt a sense of peace she had never felt before.
They went to the nearest hospital, and thankfully it was just a sprain. But he was still worried and made sure she didn't put any weight on her feet until they got home before letting her go.
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