“Maybe… it was the sea that gave me courage,” Su Man said softly, picking up her paintbrush and adding a few strokes of white waves to the canvas. “I used to think I had to paint like a master, but now I think it’s enough to paint what I see and feel.”
Looking at her focused profile, Lin Xia suddenly realized that the Su Man before her was completely different from the girl who had been silently lost in thought at the airport three days ago. Back then, Su Man said she didn't know what she wanted to paint, and felt that painting was just a job to make a living. But now, the light shining in her eyes was the rekindled flame of her love for what she loved.
The wind chimes outside the window rang again, the sound of seashells clattering crisply and melodiously. Lin Xia picked up a takoyaki, its warm texture soothing her stomach and a strange, inexplicable emotion. She suddenly understood that the meaning of travel might not lie in how far you go, but in being able to see everything around you with a fresh perspective when you return to familiar places. Just like now, even the smell of paint in Su Man's studio seemed to carry a hint of sunshine.
Chapter Four: The Fishy Smell of the Midnight Diner
At seven o'clock in the evening, Chen Mo sat in the "Midnight Canteen" downstairs from his company, a steaming bowl of seafood noodles on the table in front of him. Two bright red prawns rested on the noodles, along with several tender white fish slices, and the broth was sprinkled with vibrant green scallions and golden egg shreds. He picked up his chopsticks, about to take a piece of fish, when he suddenly smelled a faint fishy odor—not the seafood from the bowl, but a more complex, more brimmingly briny smell, much like the smell emanating from the old fisherman gutting a fish on the fishing boat that day.
"Boss, another bottle of ice-cold beer!" a few office workers at the next table shouted, the clinking of beer bottles echoing in the small shop. Chen Mo looked up at them; each of them wore a tired smile, talking about their day's work and the evening's ball game, as if trying to dispel the day's stress with their noise. This scene was so similar to the food stall in the fishing village three days ago. Back then, the three of them had sat around a rickety wooden table, with crabs and clams freshly caught from the sea on it, drinking local rice wine, and listening to the fishermen at the next table tell stories of the sea.
"Young man, your noodles are getting cold," the owner said with a smile as he walked over with a plate of fried squid rings. Chen Mo nodded, lowered his head to pick at his noodles, but suddenly remembered the scene on the boat where the old fisherman taught him how to gut a fish. "Watch carefully, cut here, avoiding the innards," the old man said, his calloused hands gripping the knife with practiced and steady movements. "Fish, like people, have their own patterns. Follow the patterns, and you won't go wrong." Back then, Chen Mo had clumsily held the knife, almost cutting his finger, but the old fisherman had just smiled and said, "Take your time, haste makes waste."
His phone vibrated in his pocket; it was a WeChat message from Lin Xia, asking when he was coming back. Chen Mo replied, "I'll leave after I finish eating," then put down his phone, picked up his chopsticks, and grabbed a large shrimp. The shell was crisp, cracking open with a gentle bite, releasing a burst of delicious juice into his mouth. He suddenly remembered that evening on Gouqi Island, when they went out to sea with a fishing boat, and the shrimp they caught by hand tasted just like this, carrying the sweetness of the sea and the warmth of the sun.
"Chen Mo?"
A familiar voice rang out at the door. Chen Mo looked up and saw Su Man standing there, holding a painting tube. "What are you doing here?"
"I just came back from the art studio and passed by here. I saw your car." Su Man sat down opposite him. "Where's Lin Xia?"
"She's working overtime and said she'll come to see us later." Chen Mo pushed the menu over. "What would you like to eat? It's on me."
Su Man ordered a bowl of fish ball soup, then looked at the seafood noodles in front of Chen Mo: "You seem to really like eating fish?"
“I didn’t like it before, I thought it was fishy.” Chen Mo took a sip of soup, the warm liquid sliding into his stomach. “But the fish I ate by the sea seemed to have a sweet taste in the fishy smell, just like… just like the difficulties in life, you can grit your teeth and get through them, and you can even taste a different flavor.”
Su Man laughed: "You're starting to sound more and more like that old fisherman."
"Really?" Chen Mo scratched his head. "Maybe it was from the sea breeze."
The two were silent for a while, listening to the noise inside the shop and the sound of rain outside the window. A light rain had started falling, the raindrops pattering against the windowpane. Chen Mo looked at the rain-blurred street scene outside and suddenly remembered their last night in Shengsi, when the three of them sat on the terrace of the guesthouse, listening to the waves crashing against the rocks. At that time, Lin Xia had said, "I really don't want to go back. I feel like all those troubles will come back to haunt me." Su Man had said, "But we're different now, aren't we? Just like seashells left on the beach after the tide recedes, something has been left in our hearts too."
"How's that seascape you painted coming along?" Chen Mo suddenly asked.
“I’m still revising it,” Su Man said, a glint of light in her eyes. “But I think I’m getting the hang of it. I’m no longer thinking about how perfect it is, but about how to paint what I saw and felt at the time. Just like you said, follow the lines.”
"That's good." Chen Mo nodded, a warm feeling suddenly welling up inside him. He remembered that at the company today, he had finally mustered the courage to bring up the long-shelved project plan to his boss. Although his boss didn't agree immediately, he didn't reject it outright like before, but instead said, "Let me think about it." This small step forward was like a pebble thrown into a lake, showing him the possibility of change.
Just then, Lin Xia pushed open the door and walked in, her hair still damp with rain. "Wow, it smells so good!" She rubbed her hands together and sat down next to Su Man. "I'm starving! Boss, give me the biggest bowl of seafood noodles!"
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
