Chapter 42 [VIP]
"You're back?"
Han Shu plopped down, tilted his head back, and gulped down a glass of water, finally recovering. "I just landed a little after two o'clock."
Seeing this, Chun Jing quickly refilled her glass of lemonade. "You came straight here, didn't you go back to the guesthouse?"
"Sigh!" Han Shu sighed, checked his phone but still found no messages, and said dejectedly, "If I don't come over, I'll have nowhere to stay."
Heaven knows, the homebody Wen Zhiyu wasn't home! The front door password had been changed regularly as usual, and since her ID wasn't with her, she had no choice but to come and quit her revelry.
Where did this person go?!
Instead of a pleasant surprise, he was turned away. Han Shu sighed again and looked around. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"There are no students at Langda today, and with the overcast weather, there are hardly any customers. Just relax." Chunjing pulled a bag of jackfruit from under the bar. "Have you finished with things at home?"
"Hmm, almost done." Han Shu answered vaguely, not going into details. "Where's Ming-ge?"
"The studio got a big job, it'll keep us busy for at least a month." Chun Jing stuffed one into Han Shu's mouth and another into his mouth. "We'll close up shop when the guy who rents out surfboards comes up, and I'll treat you to dinner."
"A new customer?"
"Hmm, I've never seen it before."
Han Shu flipped his phone, which was lying face down on the table, but the lock screen was still empty.
The message was sent around 9 AM, and it's 4 PM now. What has Wen Zhiyu been doing for the past seven hours?
Suddenly, Chunjing sat up abruptly, staring intently in the direction of the sea. "Something's not right!"
"Um?"
"Look over there, isn't the board overturned?"
Han Shu snapped out of his daze and followed her gaze, immediately breaking out in a cold sweat.
A huge white wave rolled in, and a blue surfboard floated upside down like a leaf, sometimes reaching the top of the wave wall, sometimes disappearing from sight. But the surfer never surfaced.
The two exchanged a glance, then simultaneously got up and rushed towards the backyard.
Chun Jing pointed out her weakness and stopped Han Shu, saying, "The waves are big, you stay on the shore."
Han Shu was untying the ropes securing his surfboard, hesitating, "I—"
Chunjing handed her his phone. "Password: 1989. Find Houhai Rescue in your contacts and call them to send a jet ski!"
Han Shu was well aware of his own limitations, accepted the arrangement, and rushed to the shore. After making a rescue call, he also contacted Xiao Yu, who lived nearby.
During this time, Chunjing had already rowed about ten meters, using the board to steadily cross the oncoming waves. But the closer she got to the deep sea, the bigger the waves became. Seeing a white wave over two meters high coming towards her, she timed it perfectly and did a turtle flip, disappearing completely into the sea.
Han Shu stood on the beach, but his heart felt like he was walking a tightrope ten thousand meters in the air. He gripped his phone tightly, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
After an unknown amount of time, Chunjing finally approached the overturned surfboard. She sat on the tail for balance, first forcefully flipping the board over, then finding the leash and pulling desperately upwards—
Chun Jing dragged two planks ashore and collapsed to the ground. Her denim shorts and blue T-shirt, which she hadn't had time to change, clung to her body, and her face was even more gloomy than the sky.
Han Shu slowly walked over and took the other trembling hand in his trembling one.
Even someone who can't surf knows what a broken leash means, let alone an experienced surfer and a beginner who's getting better at it.
The rescue team arrived five minutes later and searched the increasingly harsh environment, but still could not find the missing person.
They reported the incident to the police, provided all the missing person's information after giving their statement, and then returned to Jielang.
In the space usually filled with laughter and joy, Chun Jing, Ming Ge, Xiao Yu, and Han Shu, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, remained silent in the dim light. No one spoke; no one knew what to say at this moment. Only the roar of the waves signaled that the night was far from peaceful.
It was at this time that Han Shu received a call from the unfortunate car owner. She answered the call after walking out of the front door, but her throat felt heavy, as if a stone was stuck in it, making it impossible for her to speak.
"Hello. Regarding cat adoption, I just received a private message from a guy who lives near the Yaju Villa area and is interested in adopting one cat. However, he only wants to adopt one. Could I please provide his contact information if needed?"
The man's voice came from near and far, and it took Han Shu a while to figure out what he was saying. He replied in a hoarse voice, "I'm not considering it for now... Thank you."
"You're too kind," Qin Jianling said with concern. "So, where is the cat now—"
“At my—” Han Shu stammered, “at my friend’s place.”
"That's good," Qin Jianling said. "Then I won't bother you any longer. Contact me again if needed."
"Thank you."
After hanging up the phone, Qin Jianling turned around and exclaimed, "Damn! Are you a ghost? When did you get in?"
Wen Zhiyu leaned against the office door, the cold light from his phone screen reflecting on his chin. Combined with his tightly furrowed brows, he looked eerie. "Hmm?"
I said,
"You're in a relationship."
"ah?"
"sneaking."
"No!" He plopped down on the table. "Just a friend, a kind girl I met on my last trip to Hainan Island."
Wen Zhiyu put the phone to his ear, and then the other end answered.
Qin Jianling, who had forcibly swallowed the second half of his sentence, watched helplessly as the writer Wen, who had just been aloof and sparing with words, instantly transformed into a sycophant, his icy expression melting away and even his voice gaining a subtle hint of flattery.
"Sorry, I've been in meetings all day and just saw this message. Wait until I get back—" Wen Zhiyu's eyes sharpened, then he asked incredulously, "Where are you? At the beach?"
Qin Jianling couldn't hear what was said over there, but by reading Wen Zhiyu's facial expression, he concluded that Wen Zhiyu was anxious, extremely anxious!
"Don't go back by yourself if the weather is bad. Rest at the club first, and I'll pick you up tonight," Wen Zhiyu instructed in a deep voice. Then, covering the receiver, he said, "Jianling, buy me a plane ticket. Take the next flight to Hainan Island."
Qin Jianling curled his lip in resentment. He calls himself in love? This guy's the one in love! And it's a shameful, universally despised relationship!
After hanging up the phone, Wen Zhiyu took a handbag from the cabinet. "Have you ordered it yet?"
"Alright," Qin Jianling said irritably, "We'll take off in two and a half hours, landing close to 1 a.m.
Wen Zhiyu quickly packed up his computer and phone, along with the sample books, then nodded and said, "Let's go."
Qin Jianling: ?
Seeing that he didn't move, Wen Zhiyu grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up, "Hurry up, take me to the airport."
Qin Jianling: ?
Is that right?
On the way to the airport, Qin Jianling finally lost her temper. "What did you promise me? What are you doing here now?"
Wen Zhiyu leaned back in his chair, looking down as he fiddled with his phone, remaining silent.
Qin Jianling slammed on the gas pedal. "And don't think I don't know what's going on with the preface to your new book. You think I won't notice just because you wrote it subtly?"
Wen Zhiyu chuckled lightly, "No one but you could tell, and that's enough."
"Oh, oh, oh, so I should say I'm honored?" Qin Jianling said with a sour tone, "You're taking such a rough sample book back just to show it to a married woman?"
"Hmm." Wen Zhiyu cracked his knuckles absently. "This book begins when she moved in and ends when she returned to Hainan Island. Every story is closely related to her, so naturally she should read it."
Qin Jianling turned her head away and rolled her eyes so hard they seemed to reach the solar system.
Upon arriving at the 3F domestic drop-off platform, Wen Zhiyu stretched out of the car and leaned over to say to Qin Jianling through the open passenger window, "I won't be coming to Nancheng for a while, so please come to Qiongzhou when we sign the contract. Thank you."
"Hey, I didn't agree to that! I'm not going back to Hainan Island anytime soon—"
However, Wen Zhiyu had already turned his head without looking back, hurrying away and disappearing into the surging crowd.
Han Shu went back to his room to rest around 10 p.m., but couldn't fall asleep and couldn't close his eyes.
The rescue team has not yet recovered the body, but in this kind of weather, the probability of a miracle happening is about zero.
He was a boy who had just turned 18. When the police searched his personal belongings, they found his ID card. The photo showed the boy smiling brightly and looking radiant. His promising future was utterly shattered by an accident.
First came her mother's thyroid cancer, then the sudden death of a stranger boy. The ruthlessness of death and the finiteness of life left Han Shu breathless. Life is like a grand dream, and she felt increasingly lost, unsure how to weave her own dream.
At 2:30 a.m., my phone rang.
Han Shu didn't answer, opened the door and went out. Under the dim streetlights, the coconut tree branches swayed in the wind, like a giant baring its teeth in a horror movie, but she ignored it, even forgetting to tie her hair up, and wandered along the path in the backyard until she saw a figure holding a phone and pacing back and forth through the half-closed iron gate.
Han Shu stopped and asked, "Wen Zhiyu?"
The shadowy figure paused, then strode forward, and Wen Zhiyu's anxious face gradually became clearer.
He squeezed through the crack in the iron gate, looking weary from his journey, and asked gently, "Are you alright?"
Han Shu smiled and said, "I don't know."
That fleeting smile stung Wen Zhiyu's eyes.
Qin Jianling's question still echoed in his ears. When he flew to Beicheng without a word, when he waited silently in the hospital courtyard for the surgery to end, when he couldn't sleep every night without talking to her, when he learned that she had returned to Hainan Island and rushed back immediately, that promise had completely lost its credibility.
What exactly does he want to do?
Wen Zhiyu's fingernails dug deeply into his palm as he forcefully suppressed the urge to pull her into his arms.
He should at least uphold his principles for her, even if it means repeating his mistakes and despising himself.
Suddenly, a sweet fragrance dispelled the dampness of the sea breeze, and a soft, cool hand landed on the back of his neck.
Wen Zhiyu's pupils contracted slightly, his tall figure stiffened like a stone slab, and his breathing and heartbeat stopped.
Han Shu tiptoed and carefully hugged Wen Zhiyu, burying her face in his broad and reliable shoulder.
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