As soon as Shen Lang let out that shameless remark, Lin Xiaoyu's pretty face flushed crimson in an instant, like the evening glow washed over by a rising tide.
"I didn't..."
She tried to back away, but bumped into the rough reef behind her.
It was at that exact moment she noticed how the setting sun silvered the edges of Shen Lang's profile.
His slightly narrowed phoenix eyes, his high bridge of nose, and even that fierce scar looked breathtaking in the interplay of light and shadow.
Memories suddenly surged in her mind...
The village elders always said that when the neighboring village tried to forcibly seize the fishing grounds last year, it was this troublemaker who led men to guard it for three days and three nights, taking a heavy blow to the head yet refusing to let go of the opponents.
In the end, they won the dispute.
Last month, a torrential rain breached the embankment.
It was also him who braved the storm to clear the drainage ditches.
Afterward, his body was covered in deep scratches and soaked in muddy water, yet he just laughed and said, "A few minor scrapes are nothing."
Right as she stood there in a daze, Shen Lang deftly pinned the back of her neck.
His breath, carrying the scent of tobacco, brushed against her ear, and his warm, damp lips pressed down upon her red ones...
"Pop—"
Lin Xiaoyu's mind went completely blank.
By the time she came to her senses, she realized it was already too late.
She pushed hard against his chest with both hands, but he held her firmly within his embrace.
It wasn't until she bit Shen Lang's lip and gave him a vicious kick that he finally let go with a smile, flashing a row of white teeth:
"Stingy, a kiss won't cost you a pound of flesh."
"Pervert!"
"I haven't agreed yet..."
"Hmph!"
Lin Xiaoyu stamped her foot and stepped back.
The splashed mud stained the cuffs of Shen Lang's trousers.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, a mix of shyness and vexation.
Yet she saw that Shen Lang had already squatted down, his index finger poking precisely into a bubbling mud hole.
With a flick of his wrist, a plump razor clam was pulled out of the water, gleaming with a pearlescent luster in the setting sun.
"Watch closely."
Shen Lang used a seashell to trace a half-meter-long shallow groove in the mud, and soon a few clams emerged from the murky water.
"Wherever little bubbles rise in the mud, there's definitely something underneath."
"Remember, your hand must be steady, and your retraction must be fast."
Lin Xiaoyu bit her lip and squatted down. Her fingertips had barely touched the sticky silt when something pinched her hard.
She cried out in pain and pulled her hand back, only to see a little crab waving its claws as it scuttled away in a panic.
Shen Lang laughed so hard he slapped his thigh, splashing mud onto her hair ends: "Silly girl, you can't be afraid. With guts like yours, how do you expect to support your mother?"
These words struck like a sharp dagger straight into the softest corner of her heart.
Lin Xiaoyu thought of her mother's daily emaciated face on the sickbed, and the bloodstains she coughed onto her handkerchief, making her eyes burn instantly.
Thus, she stubbornly reached out again, her fingernails packed with black mud, her palms scratched by seashells.
After several attempts, Lin Xiaoyu finally dug up a fist-sized sea snail.
"Not bad."
Shen Lang appeared beside her from nowhere, his warm breath brushing against the tip of her ear.
"You're improving!"
"But if you want to catch the really good stuff, you still have to learn from me."
Lin Xiaoyu bit her lip stubbornly and said nothing, digging her fingernails deeper into the sea mud.
Suddenly, Shen Lang reached out and pinched her chin, forcing it upward: "What, is our top campus belle still too proud? Where do you expect to get the money for your mother's medicine, then?"
"You..."
Hearing him say this, tears welled up in Lin Xiaoyu's eyes. "You jerk, do you have to bully people like this?"
"Hey..." Shen Lang stared into her eyes, then suddenly let go, pulled a large sea snail from his bamboo basket, and tossed it to her. "Catch, you're such a fool."
Lin Xiaoyu was taken aback.
The snail shell was still stained with mud, yet the mother-of-pearl shimmer could be seen inside.
"Tha—"
She barely started when Shen Lang suddenly leaned in close.
"Thank for what?" he murmured softly by her ear. "If you want to learn how to forage on the beach, you first have to learn how to read the tide. See those reefs over there?"
"When the tide rises to the third crevice, you must head back, or else you'll end up feeding the sharks."
Lin Xiaoyu nodded.
Up close, she could smell the scent of sunlight on his hair again.
The setting sun in the distance was almost sinking into the sea, casting a half-lit, half-shadowed glow on Shen Lang's face. That scar no longer looked so menacing, resembling instead a faded red ribbon.
"Tomorrow at this time, come again."
Shen Lang stood up and patted the mud off his trouser legs. "If you're late again, I'm throwing you into the sea to feed the fish."
Lin Xiaoyu watched his retreating figure, suddenly remembering the sea snail he had just handed her, which still felt warm in her hand.
She gently stroked the shell and heard Shen Lang shouting from ahead, "Dawdling like that, do you want to stay behind and feed the crabs?"
"Coming!" She stood up, but because she had been squatting for too long, her legs went numb, and she lurched forward.
This time Shen Lang was prepared; he reached out to wrap an arm around her waist, steadying her firmly.
Under his hand, it was soft and yielding.
"Thank you..."
She whispered, and could feel Shen Lang's hand pause briefly on her waist.
Though he seemed somewhat reluctant, he quickly let go nonetheless.
But they had barely walked a few steps when Shen Lang suddenly grabbed her wrist and ran toward the crevices of the reef, startling a school of mudskippers leaping across the tidal flats.
"Hurry up, Lin Xiaoyu, there are female crabs over there!"
"Ah?"
Lin Xiaoyu looked over in surprise and truly saw three plump female crabs lingering in the shadow of the reef, their distended bellies gleaming with an enticing orange-yellow.
"Really!" Lin Xiaoyu's voice trembled with excitement.
"The village doctor said female crabs are the best for nourishment, catch them and take them back for your mother to eat..."
As he spoke, Shen Lang's gaze suddenly fixed on Lin Xiaoyu's snow-white neck.
The pale pink halter straps of her dudou swayed gently in the evening breeze, tied into an exquisite butterfly knot, rising and falling slightly with her breath.
Seeing Shen Lang gazing at her so intently, Lin Xiaoyu shivered inwardly and panicked at once.
"This jerk, is he planning to here, to..."
There were only the two of them here now. If Shen Lang really wanted to pull down her underwear and do something unspeakably wicked...
Then screaming her throat out probably wouldn't do her any good...
At this thought, Lin Xiaoyu hurriedly covered her neckline.
Her feet involuntarily stepped back until her back pressed tightly against the reef.
She could clearly see the shadow cast by Shen Lang's eyelashes, and the teasing amusement dancing in the depths of his eyes.
The setting sun drew his shadow long, completely enveloping her trembling figure. Their warm breaths intertwined, making it impossible to tell whether it was the sea breeze or their heartbeats.
"No, no..."
Lin Xiaoyu shook her head like a rattle-drum.
"What's no?" Shen Lang licked his dry lips, his Adam's apple bobbing as he smiled again: "Campus Belle Lin, what are you thinking?"
"I'm catching those female crabs for your mother to regain her health, and you actually say no?"
"Ah? You, you, you... So you meant... to help me catch crabs."
"What else?" Shen Lang asked amusedly.
"I, I, I... I thought you, you, you... Oh right, we don't have any rope here, how are we supposed to tie up those female crabs waving their big claws?"
Seeing Lin Xiaoyu cleverly changing the subject, Shen Lang's gaze locked once more onto those pink dudou straps.
Then the corners of his mouth curled up, and he flashed a wicked, captivating smile at the budding young maiden: "Who says there's no rope?"