Xie Zhen, finally shaken free from the tense, eerie atmosphere, abandoned Lin Ran to enjoy hotpot sweetly with He Mo.
Sheng Qingxi hadn’t seen Song Xingyu in his younger years before, so her curiosity led her to glance at him a little longer. Lin Ran caught her in the act.
She quickly averted her gaze.
Lin Ran raised an eyebrow. “Brother Song, how about we switch seats?”
After Xie Zhen ran to the opposite side, Song Xingyu ended up on Lin Ran’s right, with Sheng Qingxi seated on Song Xingyu’s right.
Song Xingyu calmly agreed, “Sure.”
After Lin Ran and Song Xingyu swapped seats, the first person to feel uncomfortable was Lin Yanyan. She thought Song Xingyu hadn’t noticed, so she scooted slightly away, though it was so little it was as if she hadn’t moved at all.
Song Xingyu glanced down. The young girl seemed a bit afraid of him.
Lin Ran, now sitting to Sheng Qingxi’s left, grabbed a small stool and boldly placed it right beside her, closing the distance between them in an instant.
As always, Lin Ran was domineering. His long legs stretched out in front of Sheng Qingxi, effectively boxing her into her spot.
Caught off guard, Sheng Qingxi scrambled for a topic. “Lin Ran, are you full?”
Lin Ran shot her an amused glance. They had been eating hotpot for nearly two hours—anyone, even a pig, would be full by now.
As that thought crossed Lin Ran’s mind, Xie Zhen’s loud voice rang out, “Where’s the meat?! Tonight, all the lamb in this pot is going into the belly of this little piggy!”
Lin Ran: “……”
He had underestimated pigs.
Still, Sheng Qingxi’s question put him in a good mood. This silly girl was feeling guilty after all.
Lin Ran leaned in closer to Sheng Qingxi, the firelight casting a warm glow on her reddened cheeks.
He chuckled softly, “Sheng Qingxi, were you just looking at Song Xingyu? What were you looking at? Do you think he’s handsome? Do you like guys like him?”
Before she could answer, Lin Ran lazily continued, “Gentle, wears glasses, scholarly, attentive and considerate.”
Sheng Qingxi pressed her lips together and quietly responded, “I just glanced at him.”
Song Shiman, who overheard the conversation, was practically holding her breath. Was Lin Ran the king of jealousy? She just looked at the guy! Even if you pass by a dog on the road, most people would take a glance!
But Lin Ran wasn’t letting it go, “Why did you look at him?”
Sheng Qingxi couldn’t come up with a good answer. After a long pause, all she managed to say was, “I don’t like guys like him.”
Lin Ran’s eyes darkened slightly. He tilted his head closer to her ear, his voice lowering into a husky tone, “Then what kind of guy do you like?”
Sheng Qingxi: “……”
Though she could easily admit to herself that she liked Lin Ran, in front of him, the words seemed to disappear. That youthful love, the unspoken confession, had all vanished in the fire that consumed her in her past life.
Lin Ran, seeing her flustered and at a loss for words, chuckled softly. He decided to let it go.
He picked up her cup of juice from the table and pressed it into her hands. “Drink your juice.”
Sheng Qingxi, without saying a word, took the cup and immediately used the straw to block her mouth.
The entire time, Song Shiman had been frowning. She wondered if she had been a fool in the past. Why on earth had she ever fallen for this unreasonable, arrogant man? She must have been blind!
—
As the fire began to die down, Lin Ran and the others got up to wrap things up.
Xie Zhen and the boys were planning to rope Lin Ran and Song Xingyu into playing games, while the girls queued up to use the makeshift showers set up nearby. Since there were still strangers around, the boys stood guard outside, playing games to pass the time and make sure nothing happened.
By 11 p.m., the entire campsite had fallen into a deep slumber. Only the bonfire in the middle still glowed faintly, its dim light not disturbing the young campers as they drifted into dreams.
Song Shiman, too afraid to sleep alone, bunked with Lin Yanyan, who was still young. The two of them shared a tent.
That left Sheng Qingxi alone in her own tent.
The sound of waves crashing against the rocks could be heard faintly. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep, lulled by the clear yet distant sound.
Suddenly, a sense of suffocation closed in from all sides, seeping into Sheng Qingxi’s body without any gaps.
She relaxed her body and opened her eyes, looking upward. The shimmering surface of the water seemed to move farther and farther away. Light filtered through the cold seawater, yet the temperature around her continued to drop.
She could feel herself sinking.
She knew she should struggle to swim upwards, but the overwhelming sense of helplessness and exhaustion kept pulling her down.
The past ten years without Lin Ran had been so lonely.
Oddly, Sheng Qingxi found herself thinking about the unpleasant feeling of falling from a cliff, a sensation she never liked. It seemed she wasn’t cut out for thrill rides at amusement parks.
She was so tired.
When had this fatigue first crept up on her?
Perhaps it was after Lin Ran’s memorial day that year, or maybe it was when she finally caught the culprit who had caused Lin Ran’s death. After that, she had just felt… drained.
Her life after that had no purpose, no dreams. And now, as she sank deeper into the sea, she felt an odd sense of relief. She slowly closed her eyes, and as she continued to sink, she suddenly heard a faint, distant voice—
“I can bring you back.”
Back?
Sheng Qingxi shook her head. She didn’t want to go back.
What did she want?
She wanted Lin Ran to come back to life.
To bring back the boy who had perished in that fire.
—
In the early hours of the morning, Sheng Qingxi awoke from her nightmare, her forehead covered in cold sweat.
It took her a while to fully pull herself out of the dream.
Sheng Qingxi rarely dreamed about the accident from her past life. Most of her dreams revolved around the raging fire that could never be extinguished.
Outside, the sound of the crashing waves had grown more intense.
In a daze, Sheng Qingxi thought, maybe it was because they were by the sea.
When she woke up, Lin Ran still hadn’t gone to sleep. He was sitting by the bonfire, smoking. As Sheng Qingxi sat up, the firelight cast her shadow against the tent.
At first, Lin Ran assumed she had woken up to get some water, but after watching her for a while, he realized she was just sitting there, motionless.
A sense of unease crept up on him.
He put out his cigarette and walked toward Sheng Qingxi’s tent.
Inside, Sheng Qingxi sat hugging her knees, lost in thought, unaware of the approaching footsteps outside her tent. It wasn’t until she heard the soft sound of footsteps that she snapped out of her daze and looked up.
At the same time, Lin Ran’s low, raspy voice came from outside, “Sheng Qingxi?”
Sheng Qingxi quietly responded, “Lin Ran.”
There was a brief pause before he asked, “Did you have a nightmare?”
Instinctively, Sheng Qingxi nodded, forgetting that he couldn’t see her.
Even though she hadn’t said anything, it was as if Lin Ran had sensed it. In a low voice, he asked, “May I come in?”
For Sheng Qingxi, Lin Ran was always welcome, no matter what.
She trusted him completely.
After a few seconds, Lin Ran heard the soft rustling of movement. The zipper of the tent was pulled open, and a small head peeked out. Her face was pale, but her eyes were still bright.
Once she made room for him, Lin Ran ducked into the tent.
Unlike the cooler air outside, the inside of the tent was warm, filled with Sheng Qingxi’s scent. After Lin Ran entered, the faint smell of tobacco mixed with the air.
Sheng Qingxi’s nose twitched slightly as she looked up to find him. In the dim light of the tent, Lin Ran sat on the edge of her air mattress, keeping a respectful distance between them.
Recently, Lin Ran had been smoking more frequently. It started the night she found him on the rooftop.
Sheng Qingxi quietly shifted closer to him, her soft voice breaking the silence in the tent, “Lin Ran, you’ve been smoking again.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Ran hesitated for just a moment before taking off his shirt. He unzipped the tent, tossed the shirt outside, and zipped it back up.
“Does the smell still bother you?” he asked.
Sheng Qingxi was momentarily stunned by his action.
She had only meant to ask why he had been smoking so much, but Lin Ran had misunderstood, thinking she was bothered by the smell of smoke on him. So now, here he was, sitting in her tent without a shirt on.
Sheng Qingxi pressed her lips together. “Lin Ran, what’s been going on with you lately?”
Lin Ran had indeed been dealing with a lot of stress recently. Lin Youcheng’s issues had been driving him crazy.
And then there was Sheng Qingxi. He was sure that their relationship wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Her feelings for him were too indulgent, to the point where she seemed to have no boundaries.
She could even accept him being with someone else.
This was something Lin Ran couldn’t shake.
But he didn’t want to affect her focus before her competition. “We’ll talk about it when you get back from your competition.”
He then changed the subject, asking, “Did you have a nightmare again?”
Sheng Qingxi nodded softly.
Lin Ran’s expression darkened slightly. He hadn’t been around her much at night, only a couple of times. But during those two times, she had nightmares, waking up in fear.
He frowned and asked, “What was the nightmare about?”
Sheng Qingxi tilted her head, resting it on her left arm, and quietly said, “I dreamed that I was sinking into the sea.”
Lin Ran remained silent for a moment, recalling the time at Sishi Mountain when he had jumped into the pond and saw Sheng Qingxi. She hadn’t seemed quite right then either.
He didn’t bring it up now, though. Instead, he reached out and gently ruffled her hair. “It’s still early. Lie down and go back to sleep. I’ll stay here with you until you fall asleep.”
He sighed softly, “Don’t be afraid.”
Unconsciously, Sheng Qingxi nuzzled against the warmth of his hand.
Before long, she lay back down on the air mattress.
She blinked sleepily. “Lin Ran, why aren’t you sleeping?”
Lin Ran had too much on his mind and hadn’t been sleeping well these days.
“I’ll sleep soon. Ah Zhen and the others are still playing games,” he explained.
Sheng Qingxi nodded drowsily, her consciousness fading.
Even after she fell asleep, Lin Ran didn’t leave.
He sat in silence, watching over her as she curled up in a ball, staying in the tent with her for a long time.
Outside the tent.
Xie Zhen yawned as he headed to the restroom, but halfway there, something felt off.
Huh?
What was that on the ground?
If he wasn’t mistaken, it looked like… a piece of clothing? Why was there a piece of clothing in front of the fairy’s tent?
Xie Zhen glanced around in shock.
Lin Ran was missing!
In a panic, Xie Zhen rushed over to Sheng Qingxi’s tent and picked up the clothing. He examined it over and over again, confirming his suspicion three times.
This was definitely Lin Ran’s shirt.
The shuffling noises outside had already caught Lin Ran’s attention. He originally thought Xie Zhen was just passing by, but hearing him stop at the tent entrance made him frown.
With a slight movement of his long arm, Lin Ran unzipped the tent just enough to reveal part of his upper body.
Frowning, he lowered his voice and asked, “What are you doing?”
Xie Zhen dumbly looked up.
His gaze slowly drifted down, landing on Lin Ran’s bare chest.
Xie Zhen: “…………”
What the hell?