0039 039 Are you by my side, or will you drift away with the wind?
Waking up groggily on the plane, Qi Shuyao remembered that when she was a unreasonable child, her favorite time of year was this time of year, because only then did Qi Yu have a long vacation. However, the happiest time was the vacation before she turned ten. After she turned ten, more and more people would come to her house under the guise of vacation and pester her father.
She rolled over in bed, squinting and trying to make out the contents for a long time before realizing that this was not her family's private jet at all. She had been busy for the past six months, constantly traveling between Yangcheng and Jingyang, and hadn't been on a long trip in so long that she had almost forgotten what the cabin looked like.
She lifted her leg and draped it over the person next to her, flipping herself completely over to hug Qi Yu's waist. She nestled close to him and asked in a sticky, affectionate tone,
Where are we going?
Qi Yu's arm slipped under her, wrapping around her waist and shoulders, while his other arm pulled her into his embrace.
"It's just the two of us going on a beach vacation."
Qi Yu had a total of twelve days of vacation this year, and he made the most of it, even bringing only a new SIM card, completely leaving all those troubles behind.
The plane crossed the ocean and arrived in a strange country where no one knew them or their relationship. She could cling to him anywhere, hug him, and ask for kisses. The sun was high in the sky, and the sea breeze was cool—her favorite kind of weather.
"Let's come here from now on. The weather is nice and the people are nice. It's much better than Jingyang and Xijin."
"The activities are a bit monotonous, and it gets boring after a while."
"No, no matter where I am, I'll just be doing the same few things. Besides, I'll never get tired of being with you."
As they spoke, Qi Shuyao lay on Qi Yu's lap with her back to him, eating fruit. They faced the sea, with a large umbrella overhead. Qi Yu gently patted her waist, remaining silent where she couldn't see him.
Only children can easily make promises of forever, but for him, he only wanted the present and didn't even dare to hope for tomorrow.
"Try this, it's so sweet."
She held up a piece of tropical fruit, which was not common in Jingyang, and offered it to Qi Yu's lips. After holding it up for a while without receiving a reply, she turned her head in confusion, only to be met with his lips, which reached around her hand and bit hers.
His tongue swirled twice on her lips before darting into her mouth and scooping up her fruit juice.
"Mmm, it's very sweet."
"Wow, have you been practicing some kind of martial art lately, or have you suddenly been enlightened? How come you're so..."
They had been together for so long that their emotions only fluctuated significantly when they were hovering on the edge of taboo. Once their relationship stabilized, they naturally became like an old married couple.
"Did you get flirted with?"
Qi Yu turned her over and hugged her, pinching her soft cheek with one hand. Her lips pouted, and she could barely speak.
"I was just thinking, how come you've been single for so long when you're so good at flirting?"
Sometimes Qi Shuyao didn't even know what she was thinking. He kept saying he loved her, and she kept asking him why he hadn't been with anyone else before. She would always pretend to be generous and smile, asking if he had a girlfriend outside but just didn't tell her. Qi Yu looked at her without answering, and she would just laugh to herself, saying she didn't care.
She hated herself for it. She cared so much that she never thought about her mother again after realizing her feelings. She silently prayed that her mother would not appear or come back, but the longer it went on, the more afraid she became that Qi Yu's single status was because he was waiting for her mother. She tried to hear him say that he had a girlfriend, so that perhaps it would prove that the woman who had given birth to her with him was not so important after all.
Torn between conflicting emotions, she was nearly driven mad.
Qi Yu stared into her eyes. She spoke in a light tone, but never looked at him. She was an impulsive, brave, and selfish girl, much like her mother.
He could see her struggle, and he thought he should act impulsively and tell her the whole truth, since they were together anyway, and he was still hers.
But can she accept it?
Unable to get a reply from Qi Yu, Qi Shuyao had gotten used to it. She broke free from his embrace and ran to the beach outside to play with the friends she had met the day before.
"I'm going to play ball."
In the sunset by the sea, her voice was reflected with a different texture than usual, mixed with the saltiness of the sea breeze. Qi Yu's gaze never left her figure. Over the years, she has remained as sunny as ever, untouched by the dust of darkness. She is right beside him, yet drifts far away, requiring him to reach out and grab her from time to time to confirm that she is still there.
The little girl ran back, panting, and swayed as she reached out her hand. He opened his arms and caught the little ball of flesh that was thrown at him. He let her rub his hair, put his hands behind her knees, turned around to shield her from the wind, buried his face in her stomach, and bit her skin that was covered with a thin layer of sweat.
"Oh no... I've been eating too much these past few days, my stomach is so bloated that my skirt is too tight."
"The dress shrunk. I'll take you to buy a new dress later."
"No, I want to lose weight."
"You don't need to lose weight, don't blindly follow trends."
He looked at her with a stern face; his handsome, cold expression was indeed intimidating. But as Qi Shuyao gazed at him, she gradually smiled.
"You don't look angry at all. I've seen you when you're really angry. You can't fool me."
When have you ever seen me angry?
"It wasn't just anger, it was ruthlessness, it was terrifying to look at. It was a long, long time ago, before we came to Jingyang, when Uncle Jin was still alive."
Her voice lowered a little as she nestled in his arms and touched his abs. As darkness fell, she cheered up again and pulled him to eat.
After dinner, Qi Shuyao walked on the sand outside the villa. There was a small open space between their villa and the one next door, with two swings hanging on the frame. The twins from next door were happily swinging in the air. She suddenly wanted to go up and play too, but she couldn't go and take it from the children.
"Yaoyao, come and help me."
Qi Yu's voice came from the yard. She ran back and came back through the grove of trees. She saw him busy on the shelf in the yard. A rope had been hung up and a board was hanging down. He was measuring the length of another rope. When he saw her come back, he asked her to come and get the screws.
A simple little swing was hung in her yard. She sat on it with her feet just off the ground, and the man stood behind her, gently pushing the swing. It swayed back and forth, and time passed slowly.
Qi Shuyao felt a lump in her throat as she shook her head. She jumped down, grabbed Qi Yu who was still in a daze, and helped him sit on the swing. She then sat on his lap. The sunset over the sea had completely disappeared below the horizon. With her back against the trees, there were many mosquitoes, but she just wanted to stay there a little longer and didn't want to leave.
"Should we take this swing down when we leave?"
"No need. The houses here are just shells; the rest was built by the tourists themselves, and gradually they became what they are now."
"Then the people who live in this house will be sitting on the swing you made for me."
"So what do you want? Should we take this off and bring it home with us when we leave?"
"What? I mean, this was originally mine... Oh, what..."
She became incoherent again because of this meaningless thing, covered her face with her hands and bent over, leaving behind a stubborn little back. She heard Qi Yu laughing behind her and patted his calf to tell him to shut up.
Qi Yu bent down and picked up a screwdriver that hadn't been put away from the ground, handed it to Qi Shuyao, and then, holding her hand, carved a line of small characters on the wooden board.
"Exclusive to Yao Yao"
"The people here don't use our writing system, so how can others understand it?"
"Then let's pray that the next guest is someone from our hometown."
"Dad, I've noticed you've become really childish lately."
"Isn't this a good thing?"
"Okay, I like it."
They squatted on the ground for a long time. When they got up, everything went black before their eyes. They hugged each other and lay down on the sand. The stars on the beach looked very bright, but her vision was blurry, and she kept seeing them.
"Dad, things are great now, I don't want her to go."
"It will be alright, it will always be alright, wait for tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, everything will be fine."
Time seemed to slow down within this barrier. Qi Shuyao contentedly counted the days on the calendar, turning the pages slowly, but her joy was shattered by a phone call on the seventh night.
Indeed, most people were at work, and it was normal for things to go on, she comforted herself with that thought.
But Qi Yu withdrew his arm from her waist after listening to the phone call.
On the eighth day of their vacation, they boarded a plane back home. Qi Yu first went to Henghai New District, the newly expanded area of Jingyang, to meet some leader. He sent someone to take Qi Shuyao home first. Instead of a plane, a high-speed train, or a highway, she was taken directly by Zhou Cheng to a small helicopter. Soon, Yangcheng appeared below her. She watched the helicopter hover over her house and land on the platform of the manor backed by the mountain.
She got off the plane and walked a few steps forward. The entire estate was laid out before her, and she could even see two workers herding sheep in the yard.
However, the spot where she was standing was blocked by tall trees, making it impossible for anyone to notice her, even in winter when the trees had not yet sprouted.
She stared straight ahead and could only see the window on the third floor of Qi Yu's bedroom, with the paper-cut window decorations she had pasted on the glass before she left.
This year marks the seventeenth year that Qi Shuyao has been by Qi Yu's side, yet she still knows nothing about him.
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