Nope
Chapter 10, Section 1
When the alarm clock rang, I stared at the ceiling for half a minute before I realized that I didn’t have insomnia last night.
The curtains were not drawn tightly, and the morning light seeped in through the gaps. I touched my phone, and the screen was still stuck on the chat interface with Zhao Yin. I had read that lonely word "good" no less than twenty times. Looking at it again now, it seemed like something that happened yesterday, today.
When I went downstairs, I ran into Zhao Yin, who had just come back from outside.
"Good morning." His voice was a little hoarse than usual, probably because he had just finished exercising.
"Good morning." I took a step aside to make way for him at the stairwell. "Going for a run?"
"Yeah, I walked around the village." He glanced at my pajamas. "Why don't you put on more clothes?"
I looked down at my short-sleeved shirt. It was indeed a little thin. "I just got up. I'm not cold."
He didn't respond, turned and walked towards the kitchen. When he passed by me, he took out a mint candy from somewhere and stuffed it into my hand.
"Wake up." He threw down these two words and turned into the kitchen.
I held the candy in my hand and stood there without moving.
The candy wrapper was blue, unlike the peach candy he gave me yesterday. It reminded me that he always seemed to have candy in his pocket. Once, during a livestream selling goods, the host was too hasty to pass the microphone, and he calmly slipped a candy into my hand, saying it would "moisten my throat."
Xiao Chen came down from upstairs, rubbing his eyes and yawning: "Good morning, Teacher Wen, where's Brother Yin?"
"In the kitchen." I stuffed the candy into my pajama pocket.
"Auntie said the soy milk is warming in the pot and the fried dough sticks are just fried." Xiao Chen leaned over to the kitchen door and poked his head in, then pulled back and winked at me. "Brother Yin is helping Auntie carry the dishes. This is the first time I've seen him do this."
When I walked over, Zhao Yin was putting a plate of side dishes on the dining table. There was some sauce on the edge of the white porcelain plate, and he wiped it with a tissue. His movements were not very skillful, but very serious.
"Let me do it." I reached out to take the soy milk pot from his hand, but he dodged sideways.
"It's hot." He put the kettle on the table and poured two bowls of it. "Let it cool for a while before drinking."
The fried dough sticks are freshly out of the pan and are steaming hot.
I picked up a piece, broke it in half, and handed it to him: "Try it?"
It felt a bit abrupt when I said it, as if we had never been so close before.
His hand froze in mid-air, neither receiving nor giving.
He glanced at me, took it, and took a small bite: "It's okay."
When Jiang Li and the male guest came down, they happened to see this scene. Jiang Li raised her eyebrows and smiled: "It seems that we are late again. Are they dividing the spoils?"
"The fried dough sticks made by Auntie are delicious, you guys should try them."
I quickly changed the subject and picked up one and put it in my mouth.
Zhao Yin didn't say anything, but just pushed the bowl of almost dried soy milk towards me.
Chapter 10, Section 2
In the morning, the program team arranged a task for us to experience life in a fishing village and follow the fishermen to collect their fishing nets.
The wind at the dock was stronger than in the village. I wrapped my coat tightly and watched the fisherman move the heavy fishing net onto the boat. The rope made his shoulders red.
"This net must weigh several dozen kilograms, right?" I whispered to Zhao Yin beside me.
"Pretty much." He stared at the knots in the fishing net. "I've seen this in documentaries before. This old-fashioned fishing net relies entirely on human labor."
"Brother Yin, you even read this?" Xiao Chen followed, camera in hand. "I thought you only read sheet music and scripts."
"I take a look occasionally." He said it lightly, but his eyes fell on the fisherman's hands.
When it was time to collect the net, Zhao Yin and I were assigned to another group, responsible for pulling the rope on the right.
The net was fine when it just left the water, but when it was filled with fish and seaweed, it suddenly became much heavier.
I gritted my teeth and pulled back. The rope was so tight that it hurt my palms. When I looked up, I found that Zhao Yin was almost pulling the rope alone, and most of the rope was tilted towards him.
"I'm fine here, you don't have to..."
"Shut up, La." He didn't even turn his head.
When the fishing net was finally dragged ashore, my palms were red. Zhao Yin squatted on the ground and unbuckled the net.
"How are your hands?" he asked suddenly, his eyes still fixed on the tangle of knots.
"It's okay." I put my hands behind my back so he wouldn't see.
But he seemed to have eyes, and suddenly reached out, grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand forward.
The red mark on his palm was particularly conspicuous among his pale hands.
"I told you it's okay..." I tried to pull my hand back, but he squeezed it even tighter.
"Come with me." He ignored the looks around him and pulled me towards the fishermen's rest shed.
There is a medicine box in the shed, which was prepared by the program team.
He took out iodine and a Band-Aid, put my hand on my knee, and lowered his head to apply the medicine.
It hurt a little when the cotton swab touched my palm, and I subconsciously wanted to shrink back, but he held me down with his other hand.
"Don't move." The cotton swab gently circled the red mark.
Someone around looked over and Xiao Chen could clearly hear the shutter sound of his camera.
I felt a little uncomfortable and tried to pull my hand back, but he held it even tighter.
"Brother Yin, if this gets broadcasted, netizens will say you are biased." I muttered softly.
"They say what they want." He tore off the Band-Aid and carefully placed it on my palm. "Okay."
I looked at the traces of iodine left on his fingertips, and suddenly remembered the last time he bandaged my foot injury.
At that time, he used sun sleeves as bandages, and his movements were more clumsy than they are now, but it seemed to make people more panicked.
"Thank you." I took my hand back and clenched my fist.
He didn't say anything, just put the medicine box back in its place, and when he turned around, there was some iodine on his sleeve.
Chapter 10, Section 3
We had lunch at a fisherman's house at noon. The aunt cooked some freshly caught sea fish, which she steamed with only some shredded ginger and chopped green onions. It was so delicious that it made my tongue numb.
I was enjoying my meal when Zhao Yin suddenly picked up a piece of fish belly and put it in my bowl - that was the tenderest part of the fish and had the fewest bones.
"Thank you." I quickly put it into my mouth, afraid of being seen by others.
He continued to eat his meal as if nothing had happened. When picking up food, he avoided the belly of the fish and only picked up the bones.
Jiang Li laughed at what she saw: "Brother Yin gave all the good things to Wen Xi, and we are just here to serve as a foil?"
"He has a bad stomach, so this will help him digest it."
Zhao Yin calmly made up an excuse, as if I had said eight hundred times that I had a bad stomach. In fact, I only mentioned it once casually one night when he caught me drinking an ice drink and I said, "Ice is bad for the stomach."
I lowered my head to eat, but my ears turned red.
(This guy always catches me off guard.)
I had nothing to do in the afternoon, so I sat on the rocks at the pier to bask in the sun, playing with the conch whistle in my hand.
I don't know when Zhao Yin sat next to me, reading a music sheet in his hand.
The sea breeze made the music score rustle. He pressed the corners with stones, tapped the notes lightly with his fingertips, and played silently.
"What song is this?" I leaned over to take a look. The notes were as densely packed as tadpoles.
"I wrote this before, but I didn't finish it." He closed the book. "Just some sketches."
"Brother Yin can also write songs?" I was a little surprised. I had the impression that he had only sung songs written by others.
"I write occasionally." He said it lightly, but pushed the sheet music towards me. "Look at it if you want."
The pages of the music score were a little yellowed and the edges were curled, as if they were often flipped through.
The last page did not contain musical notes, but a few lines of words, which read "the sound of the tide, the sound of the wind, and the conch shells." The handwriting was as thin and powerful as he was.
"This is……"
"The last time I heard you play the conch, I thought the tune was good, so I wrote it down." He put the sheet music away. "I haven't composed it yet."
I was stunned for a long time before I remembered the broken notes I had played on the island yesterday. Could that even be called a tune?
"I was just bragging..."
"It doesn't matter." He looked at the fishing boats in the distance. "Sometimes what you say is better than what you write."
(Telling lies with open eyes, isn't it partiality, or what?)
"It looks like it's going to rain tomorrow," he said suddenly.
"How do you know?"
"Look at the clouds." He raised his hand and pointed to the horizon. "These kinds of clouds usually mean it will rain later in the evening."
I looked up and saw that the clouds were white and soft, like marshmallows.
"Brother Yin, you can even tell the weather by looking at the clouds?" I couldn't help but laugh. "Is there anything else you can't do?"
"Yes," he said.
"What?"
He didn't answer, but just quickened his pace, leaving me half a step behind.
In fact, he secretly said: "I don't know how to love you."
Chapter 10, Section 4
It really started to rain in the evening, drizzling.
The production team canceled the bonfire party at the last minute, and everyone huddled in the living room to play games.
Jiang Li suggested playing Truth or Dare, where the loser had to either answer a question or do a designated thing.
I lost the first round. Jiang Li's eyes lit up: "Teacher Wenxi, truth or dare?"
"Truth or dare." I think that big dare is definitely not a good thing.
"Then let me ask—" she drawled, "Have you ever secretly followed the movements of any of us?"
This was a very clever question. It didn't mention anyone by name, but it also limited the scope to just a few of us guests.
My heart skipped a beat and I subconsciously looked at Zhao Yin. He was playing with his phone and seemed not to hear the question.
"I think everyone is paying attention to it. After all, we are in the same industry." I answered vaguely, picking at the corner of the sofa cushion with my fingers.
"You're lying!" Jiang Li insisted. "There must be someone who's paying special attention to you! Is it Brother Yin?"
Everyone around us started laughing. Xiao Chen pointed his camera lens at me. I felt my cheeks getting hot. Just as I was about to make an excuse, Zhao Yin suddenly put down his phone.
"It's time to deal the cards." His tone was flat, but he successfully diverted attention.
The game continued, and I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but Zhao Yin lost several times in the next few rounds.
"Brother Yin, let's take a big risk this time!" Jiang Li became excited. "Just... just peel an orange for someone here. Peel it whole and don't break it."
Everyone's eyes were between Jiang Li and me.
Zhao Yin didn't say anything. He picked up the orange on the table and used his fingers to cut a slit in the orange peel slowly.
His fingers were very long, and when he peeled the orange, the white orange peel was gently pulled off, revealing the plump orange segments, which were indeed not broken at all.
Then he handed the orange to me.
"Here." He said it naturally, as if this was the most normal thing.
(I mean, he did it in front of the guests and on the live broadcast.)
I took it with stiff hands. The noise around me suddenly became very distant. I could only hear my own heartbeat mixed with the sound of rain outside the window.
When I returned to the room at night, the rain had not stopped yet.
I peeled the orange and ate it one slice at a time. It tasted sweet with a hint of sourness, just like the mood I had just felt in the living room.
My phone vibrated. It was a WeChat message from Zhao Yin: [It will rain tomorrow, remember to bring an umbrella.]
I looked at the screen and suddenly remembered what he said in the afternoon, "There are things I don't know how to do."
I tapped my fingers on the screen and sent: [What is it that you can't do? ]
He replied quickly: [Guess.]
I smiled at these two words for a long time, rubbed my fingers on the orange segments, dipped them in some orange juice, and sent them: [Can’t guess, any hint?]
But there was no reply from the other side.
I put my cell phone on the bedside table and looked at the rain curtain outside the window. Maybe what he couldn't do was related to me?
As soon as this thought came to mind, I suppressed it. Thinking too much can easily lead to insomnia.
But when I closed my eyes, all I could see was him peeling an orange with his head down.
I murmured, "What is it that he can't do...?"
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