As the morning light slowly seeped in, the villagers did not give up. They continued to search for Ye Zhi and me on the beach, scattered around with flashlights. The closest one to us was only about 300 meters away and could come over at any moment.
Fortunately, the sound of the tide was loud enough to drown out the sounds of us splashing around in the water, but the surging tide also made swimming more difficult, especially for me. My hand had just been cut by a splinter, and the pain from being soaked in the salty seawater was unbearable... Meanwhile, those reefs that looked so close were always far away from us, out of reach.
Ye Zhi noticed my unusual behavior. She tried her best to get closer to me, preventing the tide from separating us, and then asked me with great difficulty, "What happened to your hand?"
"I just got hurt by a splinter, but it's nothing."
"Grab me, and I'll give you a ride."
Facing the tide, I replied with equal difficulty, "I can hold on. Don't talk, save your energy."
I'm worried about you.
I forced a smile and said, "Good people don't live long, but bad people live for a thousand years. Don't worry... I'm the bad one... Let's have a contest and see who swims to the other side of the reef first. The loser will treat everyone to seafood tonight."
"Okay...you treat me to salt and pepper mantis shrimp."
"Don't be too confident, it's not certain who will lose... If you lose, you have to treat me to a seafood platter, I want to try all the best seafood."
Ye Zhi responded and then fell silent. We continued to compete with each other, searching for the motivation to push our physical limits... It worked for me, anyway. I endured the pain while imagining: Ye Zhi and I sitting under a parasol, drinking beer and eating a seafood platter before nightfall...
Is there anything more pleasant than this in the world? I can't imagine it. If it could be achieved, it would be a peak moment in my life.
...
Swimming in the real ocean is completely different from swimming in Erhai Lake, because the force of the tide is so great that I barely managed to get close to a reef where we could hide when I was almost completely exhausted...
I couldn't wait to grab a corner of the rock with one hand, and then used my other hand to pull Ye Zhi so that she could also grab a corner of the rock.
Ye Zhi was, after all, a woman, and her physical strength was somewhat inferior to mine, so she kept breathing heavily to relieve the discomfort caused by the high-intensity exercise.
I wiped the seawater off my face and, panting, said to her, "We have good news and bad news... Which do you want to hear first?"
"The good news is we're finally safe; the bad news is I lost... right?"
I looked at Ye Zhi, and a ray of morning sunlight fell on her tired face and damp hair, making her look so beautiful… So, without any logic, I replied, “Your biggest flaw is that you’re too smart, but… you’re really, really beautiful, like a lotus just emerging from the water!”
Ye Zhi avoided my gaze, appearing somewhat shy.
I chuckled, then used the buoyancy of the seawater to climb onto the reef... I then offered my hand to Ye Zhi, who didn't refuse my help. The moment I pulled her onto the reef, we were finally safe for the time being... But to get out of trouble completely, we still had to find a way.
...
The sun slowly rose along the coastline, and the temperature gradually increased. We were lucky... Thank goodness we were in Sanya. If we were in another coastal city with four distinct seasons, we would have been in real trouble!
At this time of year, which is early spring, the lowest temperature in many places is still hovering around zero degrees Celsius, but Sanya has remained stable at around 20 degrees Celsius. Even after being soaked in seawater, there is no chill in the air.
I took off my shirt and hung it in a sunny spot to dry. Ye Zhi wasn't as open as I was; she sat next to me wearing wet clothes the whole time.
I unzipped my jacket again, took out the new phone I'd just bought in Shanghai, and said to Ye Zhi, "The phone's ruined..."
So we can't contact the outside world?
"That's not the point, because I don't mind staying here a little longer... What I mean is, you have to pay me back for my phone. I just bought it a few days ago, and it's the most expensive one I've ever owned... My heart is aching right now!"
"Are you being so petty?"
Ye Zhi's tone was unusually gentle, which startled me. I exclaimed, "Miss, please lower your head and look at our impoverished world, okay?... To be honest, this phone alone is worth a month's salary for me before. That's all hard-earned money!"
"Don't play the poor card... I'll just give you one back."
I added, "The phone isn't the point... If I had a choice... I'd like to still be able to smoke this pack of cigarettes I'm carrying."
As I spoke, I took out a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, but the cigarettes inside had already been soaked and turned to mush... I wasn't lying to Ye Zhi; at that moment, I really needed a cigarette to calm my turbulent emotions.
I sat back down next to Ye Zhi, feeling a little dejected... I just sat there, enjoying the sea breeze, staring blankly at a giant cargo ship sailing in the distance. After a while, I heard the cries of seabirds again. Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a white seagull standing on another rock nearby, looking at Ye Zhi and me, the two uninvited guests, with a curious expression.
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