The Finale
Since Xia's mother remarried, Xia Tong and Fu Jia's life has become even more leisurely. They'd go out for hot pot in Dongcheng one day, and stargaze together on the hillside the next night—their life was far more romantic than that of ordinary young couples. One day, Fu Jia's group of friends went to the beach, and Fu Jia dragged Xia Tong along to join the fun. Xia Tong had already realized that these supposedly arrogant spoiled brats were just a group of even more carefree young people. After getting to know them, they jokingly called Xia Tong "sister-in-law" all the time, and their relationship was no worse than that of any other friend.
As evening fell, the once stunning view of the sea and sky merging into one transformed into a round, almost oily salted duck egg yolk, smeared with a few drops of tomato sauce, hanging above the dark blue sea.
"Huiyao, are you sure your chicken wings are cooked through?" Xia Tong took a bite of the chicken wing that Fu Huiyao had just grilled, frowned, and asked suspiciously.
Fu Huiyao tilted her head and narrowed her eyes: "I didn't ask you to actually eat it, I just wanted you to taste whether it was cooked or not!" Then she snatched the half-cooked chicken wings, still bloody inside, from the skewer and put them back on the grill. Xia Tong pouted and picked up a piece of golden cake that was grilled next to her to eat.
Meanwhile, Yan Xin handed Fu Jia a skewer: "Brother, try this." But just then, Fu Jia picked up a cup of tea and looked at Xia Xiaotong, who was whispering to Hui Yao.
How many times has this happened? Why do I always get ignored and brushed off when I try to talk to him? Yan Xin remembered Xia Tong's threat: "Otherwise, no matter how many years you've been his sister, I can make you a complete stranger." Did she really speak ill of me to him?
"Brother, did I do something wrong? Why do you always avoid me like this?" Yan Xin couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed Fu Jia's arm and looked straight at him. She wanted to get to the bottom of this. She couldn't let Fu Jia just ignore her and leave her in a corner like this.
Fu Jia glanced at the cup with a little spilled tea in his hand and frowned. His gaze shifted to the small hand clinging to his arm, and he felt a little impatient. However, when he turned his head and saw Yan Xin's tearful eyes and aggrieved expression, he couldn't bring himself to be stern. He could only ask helplessly, "What's wrong with you now?"
"Why do you always ignore me? I... I feel terrible." Yan Xin looked at Fu Jia with deep affection in her eyes.
Fu Jia recalled Xia Tong's words to him earlier and carefully examined Yan Xin. She had a pointed chin, a fair complexion, and delicate makeup. He had always thought of Yan Xin as the little sister who had covered for him when they were young, but now she truly was a beautiful young woman. He himself had changed so much since childhood; how could he possibly believe she was still the same little girl?
"No, Xinzi, you're all grown up now. You should do your own things and stop clinging to your parents all the time." Fu Jia put down her cup, not wanting to talk any further, and prepared to leave.
“Is it because my sister won’t allow it? Is it because my sister doesn’t like me?” Yan Xin also stood up and followed her.
Fu Jia was displeased when she heard Xia Tong mentioned in that tone, and quickened her pace, wanting to shake off this little tail: "It's none of her business."
"Whose business is that?" Yan Xin's voice changed when she saw that he seemed to want to get rid of her, and it became accusatory. "Besides her, who else could make you abandon our friendship of more than ten years?"
Fu Jia walked towards the hotel by the sea: "Go back, don't make me angry."
“Go back? Go back where? You’re about to marry someone else, where am I supposed to go back to?!” Yan Xin shouted desperately from behind when she saw him not turning around, like a wounded cub.
Fu Jia turned around in surprise. He had always thought that Xia Tong was overthinking things regarding Yan Xin, but in order to make her feel more secure, he had gradually distanced himself from this younger sister. Now, when he heard her call him that, he realized that something was wrong.
"Is it worth it? Is it worth it for Xia Tong?" Yan Xin's face was already covered in tears. "You've liked her for so many years, and I've liked you for so many years. Why is it that you can find happiness while I can't?"
Seeing Yan Xin's hysteria, Fu Jia felt it was the biggest joke in the world, utterly incomprehensible: "Are you crazy?"
"Am I crazy, but aren't you crazy too? Holding onto someone who hates you for so many years."
“But I got it.” Fu Jia’s face was grim.
"If I just keep waiting, I'll get it someday." Yan Xin's face was also resolute.
Seeing her stubbornness, Fu Jia felt as if she were seeing her former self. She sighed, "It's no use. When I was selfish, I could even pretend not to see her pain. How could I possibly care about you?" With that, she left dejectedly.
Yan Xin was left standing there, stunned.
===
The next morning, Fu Huiyao knocked on her brother's door: "Xia Xiaotong, Xia Xiaotong, get up quickly, let's go out and play." After calling for a while without getting an answer, she finally ran downstairs to the dining room and asked everyone who was having breakfast: "Where did Xia Xiaotong go? Have you seen her?"
With a piece of bread in his mouth, Xi Ming replied nonchalantly, "He must have been dragged somewhere by Fu Jia to get intimate."
Yan Xin, who was sitting quietly drinking milk, paused for a moment, without even lifting her swollen eyelids, before returning to normal in an instant.
"So early in the morning, didn't they get enough of being affectionate last night? No, I have to call her, we can't keep being so lovey-dovey every day." Fu Huiyao picked up her phone and dialed, but after waiting for a while and no one answered, she threw the phone on the dining table in frustration. "How boring, those two are really not nice to each other."
Xi Ming scrolled through her phone, then asked in confusion, "Huh, isn't it connected?"
Fu Huiyao quickly snatched the phone back and held it to her ear: "Hello—hello? Hello?" Then she looked at the phone in confusion, "There's definitely sound, so why isn't she answering me?"
Xi Ming also took it and studied it for a while. After listening to it, he clapped his hands and laughed, and immediately turned on speakerphone to play it for everyone.
"What are you doing! It hurts!" Xia Tong's extremely dissatisfied voice came through the loudspeaker with a hint of coquettishness.
Are you alright?
"Get away from me, I don't need your fake kindness! You've bitten my tongue so hard it hurts."
Hearing this, Xi Ming and the others completely gave up on breakfast and started laughing shamelessly. What a steamy scene this early in the morning!
"I was wrong, please give me a chance?"
"No."
"I was really wrong. I couldn't help myself just now. Please forgive me."
"You always act like a wild beast. Can't you be a little gentler and sweeter like a normal couple?" Xia Tong complained to him.
"But you never give me a chance. Every time I try to kiss you, you push me away and scratch me." Fu Jia's voice sounded aggrieved.
"I pushed you because you always hurt me, so how can you blame me?" The two shifted the blame to each other.
"It's not your fault, how could it be your fault? We just lacked experience. How about we try kissing again?"
"Damn it, how could I not have experience after kissing you so many times?! Besides, I haven't forgiven you yet!"
"Then how can you forgive me?"
"I'll forgive you, but how about you write a 3,000-word self-criticism?"
Xi Ming and his group gathered together and burst into laughter again: "They can even come up with a method like writing a self-criticism. Is Fu Jia's wife educating a primary school student?"
"What? A self-criticism? And three thousand words?" Fu Jia looked incredulous, then said with a touch of smugness, "I've never written anything like that in my entire life!"
"Then you should thank me for taking you to experience different aspects of life." Xia Tong's voice was somewhat smug, her smile as sly as a little fox who had just stolen some cream.
"I'll write if you let me kiss you one more time."
"So you're trying to negotiate with me again now? The market has gone up, hasn't it?"
"We won't raise prices, we dare not raise prices."
"Okay, that's good."
Fu Jia's group of mischievous friends are going to laugh themselves silly.
There was a brief silence on the other end... Those eavesdropping on the other end were getting impatient, scratching their heads and huddling around the phone, just waiting to hear Fu Jia's jokes and see how this tyrant would grovel and fawn over his wife.
"What are you doing? Don't come any closer," Xia Tong said again.
"The sea breeze is strong here, let me shield you from it," Fu Jia said shamelessly.
"No need, I prefer the sea breeze."
"You can't just keep blowing even if you like it. Do you want to grow up like Runtu? Don't push me, I'll shield you from the wind."
"Hmph, I don't care."
Another long silence followed...
"Baby--Baby?"
"Um?"
"Shall we get our marriage certificate sometime?"
Everyone perked up and listened intently...
This silence lasted exceptionally long, until everyone thought they had temporarily lost their hearing...
"Give me your three-thousand-word self-criticism first," Xia Tong said, feigning composure.
Everyone burst into laughter, but only a slender figure silently rose from his seat and left that place filled with laughter.
The sun rises slowly over the sea; not everyone is lucky enough to have someone to watch the sunrise with for a lifetime.
---The End---
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
It's finally finished! Thank you all so much for your support over the past two months. I know I still have many shortcomings, but I believe I will do better and better! There are about two more side stories coming up. After that, I'll fill in another plot hole, and then I'll start a new story~ Please bookmark my author page so you can see it when I start a new story~ I'm not a particularly good storyteller, but I have many stories I want to tell you all... Thank you again (bows)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com