The waves crashed again, swallowing all unspoken words.

After a while, Lin Zhexia said, “My leg has fully healed, and I can run now.”

She added, “People like us with knee injuries, who can’t exercise vigorously for a few days, love to run after recovering.”

Chi Yao’s tone was cool: “Then don’t sit next to me, go run a few more laps.”

Lin Zhexia ignored whatever he said and sat down beside him on her own, saying: “…I’ll rest a bit before running more.”

However, even if she wanted to conceal it, Chi Yao could always immediately detect when something was off about her.

Chi Yao: “You’re not quite right today.”

Lin Zhexia: “How am I not right?”

Chi Yao: “Not quite normal.”

“…”

Lin Zhexia: “You’re the one who’s not normal.”

Finally, she added haltingly: “I just, it’s my first time seeing the sea, I’m too excited.”

“This seems to be the first time we’ve seen the sea together.”

But Chi Yao said, “Second time.”

Lin Zhexia: “When was the first time?”

“When you were twelve, you insisted on watching a deep-sea documentary.”

Lin Zhexia thought for a moment and recalled that there was indeed such an incident: “…Does that even count as seeing the sea together? And it was so long ago, how do you still remember?”

“Because for three hours,” Chi Yao sneered, “I was on pins and needles.”

“…”

As evening approached, the group returned to the hotel to pack up for the journey home.

Lin Zhexia had bought tickets for the same train as them. While packing her things and checking out, she ran into Shen Shanshan.

Lin Zhexia’s first reaction was embarrassment; she wondered if she should pretend not to know about what Shen Shanshan had said last night.

Shen Shanshan, however, smiled and greeted her: “Hi.”

Currently, they were the only two people who had come down to the lobby, so they started chatting.

Shen Shanshan: “Thank you.”

Lin Zhexia was puzzled: “Thank me for what?”

Shen Shanshan: “Thank you for keeping my secret.”

“I shouldn’t have said those things yesterday,” Shen Shanshan continued, “Later, when I returned to my room, I felt a bit of regret.”

Lin Zhexia thought for a moment and sincerely said: “It’s nothing, you didn’t say anything yesterday, and I’m quite forgetful. After sleeping, I barely remember.”

Shen Shanshan knew she was trying to comfort her. The two stood quietly together for a while, then she brought it up herself: “I confessed yesterday.”

Lin Zhexia hadn’t expected her to mention this voluntarily: “Ah.”

Shen Shanshan shrugged and quickly said, “But I was rejected.”

“He said he doesn’t want to consider relationships before the college entrance exam, and hopes I can focus on my studies—very official words, right?”

Lin Zhexia: “Yes, quite official.”

After saying this, she didn’t know what else to say, and after a long while, managed to squeeze out, “You, don’t be sad.”

Shen Shanshan looked at her and said, “I’m not sad. Strangely, I even feel a bit relieved.”

“Relieved?”

“Mm,” Shen Shanshan thought for a moment and said, “Maybe it’s because I never really thought we could be together, so being able to tell him what I wanted to say before leaving is the best ending to this story.”

Lin Zhexia discovered an advantage of Chi Yao’s dog-like behavior.

That is, when rejecting others, somehow, no girl ever felt heartbroken.

Tang Shuxuan didn’t, the girl who had brought him water didn’t, and Shen Shanshan didn’t either.

…

At this point, Lin Zhexia also said “thank you” to her.

Shen Shanshan found it strange: “What are you thanking me for?”

Lin Zhexia: “Because I suddenly realized something, and without you, I might have had a hard time discovering it.”

Shen Shanshan still found this confusing, but Lin Zhexia didn’t elaborate.

“Anyway, thank you.”

As they spoke, the others came down with their packed belongings to gather and line up.

Shen Shanshan didn’t persist: “Alright, then we’ve thanked each other once, so we’re even.”

Lin Zhexia asked: “Will you be transferring this semester?”

Shen Shanshan looked at the crowd coming out of the elevator and made an affirmative sound: “Mm, I’ll be processing the transfer next week. I guess… by next month at the latest, I won’t be in Cheng’an anymore.”

As Shen Shanshan spoke, she looked at the most eye-catching young man in the crowd.

As if taking one last look at him.

The young man was casually pulling his suitcase at the back, with a piece of clothing draped over it. Today, he had rarely put on earrings, the cool silver color making him seem even more unapproachable.

For a moment, she seemed to see the Chi Yao from the first day of junior high school again.

The person she had secretly liked from junior high until now.

Shen Shanshan quickly withdrew her gaze and followed them with her suitcase to board the car.

Before getting on, she suddenly recalled yesterday at the seaside when she confessed to Chi Yao.

She was so nervous she could barely speak, closing her eyes to say, “I like you.”

Amid the sound of waves, Chi Yao first said, “Thank you.”

Then, after that official rejection, he added three more words: “And also I…”

But this sentence abruptly stopped, so quickly it was as if she had misheard.

Shen Shanshan sensed that this was a sentence hiding many emotions, because Chi Yao’s tone was very different from usual when he said it, and his voice seemed somewhat hoarse.

So she asked: “What?”

But Chi Yao didn’t continue: “Nothing.”

“And also I.”

What did he want to say after that?

Shen Shanshan thought for a while.

The group took a car to the train station, hurriedly checked tickets, and boarded the train. In this rushed journey, she quickly pushed this thought out of her mind.

The return high-speed train would still take over six hours.

Since Lin Zhexia had bought her ticket separately, her seat was far from the others, not even in the same carriage.

She was staring at the constantly moving scenery outside the window when suddenly a voice sounded beside her: “Excuse me, sorry to bother you, could we switch seats?”

She turned her head and saw Chi Yao standing in the aisle with his ticket.

The person he was addressing was the female white-collar worker sitting next to her.

The white-collar woman’s face reddened slightly: “You need to switch seats?”

Chi Yao held his clothes in one hand, and with his other hand extended, two fingers holding the ticket. His fingers holding the ticket waved in the air, pointing at her: “My sister is sitting here alone, I’m a bit worried. If it’s convenient, could I switch seats with you?”

When he said “my sister,” Lin Zhexia widened her eyes.

Lin Zhexia: “Who’s your sister…”

Chi Yao slightly raised the end of his eyebrow: “Who do you think?”

Lin Zhexia turned her head and said to the white-collar woman: “Sister, he’s lying, I don’t know him.”

Chi Yao shut her down with one sentence, saying coolly, “Still throwing tantrums at your brother.”

Lin Zhexia: “……”

This person was truly a dog.

With Chi Yao’s face there, the white-collar woman didn’t even think about it, standing up to switch seats with him: “Sure, I’ll switch with you, so you can be closer to your sister.”

Soon, the two had switched places.

Lin Zhexia turned her head away, wanting to pretend she didn’t know this person.

But at the same time, she was a bit expectant: “Why did you switch over?”

Chi Yao: “Xu Ting is too noisy, affecting my sleep.”

Lin Zhexia suppressed that bit of expectation: “Oh.”

The air conditioning on the high-speed train was quite strong.

After a while, Chi Yao asked: “Are you cold?”

Lin Zhexia’s hands were already cold, unconsciously hugging her arms, but she still stubbornly said: “It’s fine.”

After she spoke, Chi Yao threw the clothes he had been carrying to her.

“…” before closing his eyes to sleep, he said, “…just take it if it’s fine.”

Lin Zhexia held the clothes, and the feelings she had just suppressed suddenly leaped up again.

When Lin Zhexia arrived home, Lin He and Wei Ping had already returned from their trip and were sorting out the specialties they had brought back from the great grasslands in the living room.

Lin He and Wei Ping had processed Lin Zhexia’s unauthorized trip to Haicheng City for a few days and weren’t as angry as before.

So when they saw her, Wei Ping calmly called her over for gifts: “Xia Xia, your mother has prepared a gift for you.”

Lin Zhexia walked over and saw a small glass bottle on the table: “What is it?”

Wei Ping: “Grass.”

“…”

Lin Zhexia held the emerald green glass bottle, feeling very complex: “I’m touched to have a mother who went to the great grasslands and didn’t forget to pick grass to bring back for me.”

But having processed it didn’t mean they wouldn’t get angry when seeing her.

Lin He: “As soon as I see your face, I remember how you ran off to Haicheng City without a word.”

Lin Zhexia took a few steps back, retreating to her bedroom door: “Then I’ll temporarily disappear. Don’t look at me.”

“Ask Chi Yao to come over for dinner tonight,” Lin He called from the living room, “You ran over there, causing him so much trouble, he had to take care of you while busy with the competition—did you hear me?”

Lin Zhexia leaned against the door panel and responded loudly: “Got it.”

Chi Yao coming to her house for dinner wasn’t a big deal.

Everyone was quite accustomed to it.

After dinner, Wei Ping pulled him to chat in the living room.

Lin Zhexia was a girl, and Wei Ping’s interaction with her was different; sometimes Wei Ping and Chi Yao had many topics that were just between the two of them.

Wei Ping: “Help me look at this car model, what do you think? Uncle wants to assemble one.”

“…”

Lin Zhexia washed her hair after dinner.

During this time, her phone rang, and she shouted with a head full of foam: “Can someone answer my phone for me?”

The scene looked a bit chaotic. Lin He was busy in the kitchen, and Wei Ping was wearing glasses but couldn’t find her phone after a long search.

Finally, Chi Yao found her phone in the couch crevice.

Wei Ping: “Who’s calling?”

“He Yang.”

“Then answer it for her,” Wei Ping consciously sat back down, “It’s business between you kids, I won’t interfere.”

The call connected.

He Yang was smug: “I knew you would answer my call. I deliberately didn’t call Chi Yao because he sometimes doesn’t pick up—aren’t I clever?”

Then He Yang heard Chi Yao’s voice coming from the other end of the phone: “Mm, clever.”

He Yang: “…”

He Yang: “Wait, why is it you?”

Chi Yao: “State your business.”

He Yang: “We have a cat at home now. My mom’s colleague’s cat gave birth to several kittens. She brought one back, and I wanted to ask if you guys want to come over and play.”

The contact content between the childhood friends of Nanxiang Street was very trivial.

Content often included who bought a new computer, who bought a new game console, or going together to raid the scratch cards sold at the corner store.

Chi Yao wanted to say “not interested in cats,” but the words only turned in his heart; what came out of his mouth was: “She’s washing her hair, wait a bit.”

“Alright,” he revealed his ultimate purpose, “Before coming, could you help me buy some cat food from the corner store? It came so suddenly, and we don’t have anything prepared to eat.”

“…”

He Yang: “You’re coming to visit, bringing a small gift isn’t too much, right?”

Lin Zhexia finished washing her hair, only half-dried it, and eagerly pulled Chi Yao out to see the cat: “He’s exploiting us, just tricking us into buying canned food for him.”

Chi Yao: “Then why are you still going?”

Lin Zhexia: “I’m doing it for the cat’s sake, otherwise I wouldn’t bother with him.”

Before leaving, Lin Zhexia looked for her coin purse, then took her phone and keys, her hands so full she couldn’t hold anything else, so she handed the hair tie on the table to Chi Yao before leaving: “Hold this for me first, I’ll take it after I put my keys in my pocket.”

Chi Yao stood at the door waiting for her, reaching out to take it.

Lin Zhexia’s hair wasn’t completely dry, still half-wet, so she couldn’t tie it up yet. Therefore, after putting away her keys, she completely forgot about the hair tie.

She headed straight for the corner store and searched around, finally finding kitten food on the bottom shelf.

When they went to He Yang’s house, He Yang pretended not to know and accepted the canned food: “Oh my, just coming is enough, why bring gifts? You’re too kind.”

Before entering, Lin Zhexia said: “I specially brought a gift, aren’t you feeling embarrassed?”

He Yang feigned politeness: “Yes, yes.”

Lin Zhexia fiddled around for a moment, then pulled up a QR code on her phone: “Then pay up, 48 yuan in total, scan my code.”

He Yang: “…”

He Yang was speechless, just about to say “I lost this round,” when he looked up and saw the person standing behind his Xia Ge.

The young man leaned against the door, his eyes lowered, barely noticeably tugging at the corner of his mouth, seemingly amused by Lin Zhexia.

Lin Zhexia played with the cat at He Yang’s house for a while.

The cat was only two months old, a white, long-haired cat. A few of them sat together discussing what name to give it.

Lin Zhexia: “How about Dian Dian? Look at how it walks, quite bouncy.”

“…”

At two months old, the cat was almost always sleeping.

A few of them watched for a while until someone finally broke the silence.

Chi Yao: “Do you find this interesting?”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

He Yang: “…”

Chi Yao stood up: “Let’s go.”

Lin Zhexia also stood up: “Although it’s very cute, it’s always sleeping. Three people staring at a cat watching it sleep seems a bit silly.”

He Yang: “Then I won’t see you out.”

When Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao went out, the sky had darkened a bit.

After the small holiday, summer was coming to an end, and the cicada sounds were gradually becoming weaker.

When Lin Zhexia went out, she was going against the wind, her hair blown up and covering half her face.

She only then realized her hair was dry.

Remembering to tie up her hair, she searched herself: “My hair tie…” Where did I put it?

Before she could finish speaking, a hand extended across.

The young man’s wrist was thin, and at the protruding wrist bone, a very thin black hair tie was wrapped. It was the one she had handed over before leaving.

In the faint sound of cicadas, Chi Yao’s cold, weary voice sounded: “Your thing, take it.”