"Lin Xia, take a look at this report. The data here seems off." Xiao Zhang from the next workstation leaned over, holding a stack of documents. Lin Xia took the documents, her fingertips touching the cold surface of the paper. She suddenly remembered the crumpled nautical chart the old fisherman had handed her on the fishing boat, with the outlines of islands drawn in pencil and some blurry markings, supposedly "places where treasures are hidden." Looking at those winding lines then, she suddenly felt that life was like an unfinished map, requiring her to draw her own direction.
She steadied herself and began checking the data. The sky outside the window had darkened, and the distant skyscrapers were shrouded in a gray haze. Lin Xia stared at the screen and suddenly noticed that her reflection overlapped with the city skyline behind her, appearing somewhat blurry. But she knew that beneath that blur, something was quietly changing—like coral on the seabed, slowly unfurling its tentacles as the tide recedes.
During her lunch break, Lin Xia went to the stairwell and called Chen Mo. The phone rang for a long time before being answered, with the sound of typing in the background. "Hello?" Chen Mo's voice sounded tired.
"What should we eat for lunch?" Lin Xia leaned against the cold wall, watching a sparrow fly by outside the window.
"Just order some takeout, I still have a program to modify." Chen Mo paused, then suddenly said, "You know what? This morning when I was in a meeting, I suddenly remembered what the old fisherman said when I was watching the sunrise on the boat: 'You can only see the reefs when the tide goes out.' So I just said that line from the PPT, and it startled the boss."
Lin Xia couldn't help but laugh: "And then?"
"Then the boss told me to go outside and calm down." Chen Mo's voice was tinged with laughter. "But to be honest, Lin Xia, I think... I'm not so afraid of that code anymore. I used to think of it as a wall, but now I think I might have been trapping myself inside it."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Xia stood in the stairwell, motionless for a long time. She remembered Chen Mo teaching her how to take pictures of star trails with her phone at the beach. At that time, he held up the phone, patiently adjusting the angle, and said, "Look, the stars are always there, it's just that sometimes we forget to look up."
Chapter Three: Seashell Wind Chimes on the Studio Windowsill
Su Man's studio is located in an alley in the old town. Pushing open the creaking wooden door, you can smell the mixture of turpentine and paint. At this moment, she is standing in front of her easel, her palette crammed with various colors of paint, except for the "deep sea blue" she bought on Gouqi Island. She stares at the unfinished seascape on the canvas, her brows slightly furrowed—the seawater in the painting looks somewhat static, like a piece of solidified glass, completely lacking the surging vitality she remembered.
"Ring ring—"
The seashell wind chimes tinkled softly in the breeze. Su Man looked up and saw sunlight streaming through the window, casting the wind chimes' shadows on the floor. The outlines of the seashells flickered in the light and shadow, like dancing musical notes. She walked over and gently plucked the wind chimes. Suddenly, the small white seashell she had found at the fishing village market fell down and rolled under the easel.
Su Man crouched down to pick it up, her fingers touching a dried paint stain on the floor—it was from last winter when she accidentally smeared it while painting a snow scene. She had just broken up with her boyfriend then, locking herself in her studio for three days and three nights; the snow she painted was all grayish, carrying an unyielding sorrow. Now, looking at that paint stain, she suddenly remembered that night in Shengsi, the three of them sitting around the campfire, Chen Mo drawing crooked smiling faces on the sand with a twig, and Lin Xia humming an off-key song, the sound of the waves like a gentle accompaniment.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have used these paints," Su Man murmured to herself, sitting back down at her easel. She picked up a clean brush, hesitated for a moment, and ultimately didn't dip it in the paint on the palette. Instead, she walked to the window and opened the old-fashioned wooden window. The June breeze rushed in, carrying the scent of gardenias from the alleyway and the distant hustle and bustle of the city. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and seemed to smell the sea again—a complex aroma mixed with saltiness, sunshine, and seaweed, carrying a certain healing power.
When she opened her eyes again, the seawater on the canvas seemed to have changed slightly. She picked up her brush, the tip gently touching the canvas, no longer striving for accurate colors, but following her instincts. She remembered the sunrise she had seen from the eastern cliff, the sky gradually changing from dark blue to orange-red; she remembered the white spray left by the passing fishing boats, drawing graceful arcs on the deep blue sea; she remembered the black reefs exposed at low tide, covered with green seaweed that swayed gently in the wind.
"Click." The studio door was pushed open, and Lin Xia poked her head in: "Su Man, look what I brought you?" She was carrying a plastic bag containing two cups of iced milk tea and a box of takoyaki.
"Why are you here?" Su Man put down her paintbrush, her face smeared with yellow paint.
"I came to see you during my lunch break." Lin Xia put her things on the table and looked at the canvas. "Wow, you're making good progress."
"It's still far from perfect." Su Man picked up the milk tea, and the straw made a "pop" sound as it broke the seal. "I feel like something's missing."
Lin Xia walked to the easel and looked at it carefully: "I think it's pretty good. Look at these waves, it looks like they're about to splash out any second." She paused, then suddenly said, "Actually, that day at the beach, when I watched you paint, I was thinking that you seemed different from usual. Usually, you're always very nervous when you paint, your brows are tightly furrowed, but that day you were smiling so happily that you didn't even notice the paint smeared on your face."
Su Man subconsciously touched her cheek, recalling that day on the beach when she knelt on the cold, wet sand to capture the fleeting moment of the waves, the seawater soaking her trouser legs, Chen Mo shouting "Watch out for the waves!" while Lin Xia held up her phone to take pictures of her. At that moment, she had no worries, only wanting to freeze the beautiful scenery before her on the canvas; that pure joy was something she hadn't felt in a long time.
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