Chapter 47

Weng Shao himself did not know. Perhaps his luck had been especially good that night.

Weng Shao looked excitedly at the tuna on the deck. In a flash, something seemed to flicker through his mind. But the thought vanished too quickly, leaving him no room to think it over.

Someone went to the kitchen for an electronic scale, and everyone pitched in to weigh the tuna—it actually weighed 123 jin.

"You're incredible!" Everyone erupted.

Lu Qingyang theatrically raised both hands like a referee officiating a match and announced loudly, "I hereby declare Weng Shao the champion of this fishing competition! Congratulations, classmate Weng Shao, on winning a wish card. Is there anything you wish to accomplish right now?"

"Not for the moment." Weng Shao thought about it seriously. He was certain that he could solve all the problems he currently faced with his own abilities—the only thing he could not solve was Pei Xingze's refusal to sleep with him. But that was not something anyone else could help with.

"Then save it for later." The others immediately chimed in. "There's no time limit on this reward. Whenever you think of something, just let us know, and we'll make it happen."

After laying the groundwork all night, Lu Qingyang finally revealed his true aim. "Shouldn't we form an organization dedicated to fulfilling rewards?"

"That's right." The others immediately agreed. "The organization will disband whenever Weng Shao's wish is fulfilled!"

Pei Xingze looked at Weng Shao and seriously suggested, "You're the champion. How about you name it?"

Weng Shao stared steadily at Pei Xingze for a moment before suddenly asking, "What is the distribution range of yellowfin tuna?"

Pei Xingze: "..."

Everyone else: "..."

Chapter 47

Weng Shao had heard long ago that some fishermen who came back empty-handed, in order to save face when they failed to catch anything, would buy fish at the market and pretend they had caught them themselves.

But he had never imagined something like that would happen to him.

"How did you do it?" Weng Shao's gaze fell on the deck.

Thinking back on it now, aside from that 123-jin yellowfin tuna, many of the sea fish Weng Shao had caught earlier were not even creatures from these waters.

Lu Qingyang rubbed his nose, while the others hemmed and hawed. Everyone's gazes converged on Pei Xingze, who looked at the sky and the ground but refused to look at Weng Shao.

Without saying a word, Weng Shao fixed the same blazing gaze on Pei Xingze.

After a long while, Pei Xingze could only say awkwardly, "It was actually simple. We just prepared the fish, shrimp, and crabs beforehand, then had divers go underwater and hook them onto your line."

Pei Xingze had prepared for everything, except he had not considered that the seafood market, which claimed to serve seafood fresh from the catch, sold so many kinds of fish and shrimp that did not exist in these waters.

—Wasn't this cheating? President Pei felt deeply wronged. He almost wanted to call the consumer protection hotline.

Weng Shao laughed.

It turned out that people really did laugh when they were speechless! No matter how hard Weng Shao racked his brains, he could never have imagined that these crafty fishermen could come up with such a stunt.

Pei Xingze explained timidly, "I just thought you'd been wronged lately, and I wanted to cheer you up."

"I'm very happy." Weng Shao's features relaxed. Looking at Pei Xingze with a dazzling smile, he admitted frankly, "Happier than if I'd really caught a big fish."

At that instant, Weng Shao's dark, profound eyes seemed like diamonds tempered by fire. The light bursting from them because of his feelings was so brilliant it stirred the heart, even more dazzling than the stars glittering overhead.

Pei Xingze only felt his heart sway, and he smiled without meaning to. "As long as you're happy."

Perhaps because his smile was too radiant, his circle of fair-weather friends could even see a trace of foolishness in Pei Xingze's sharp brows and eyes.

Everyone exchanged looks. Good grief, Weng Shao wasn't bad at fishing at all. He'd practically hooked Young Master Pei into pouting!

Only Pei Xingze himself was too immersed to see it clearly.

Then again, if they met someone like Weng Shao—flawless in looks and temperament, able to sweet-talk them into happiness, handle every problem at work, meticulous in thought, skillful in action, and capable of making money—their heads would spin too. Like Pei Xingze, they would use every possible means to keep him close.

—Unfortunately, they did not have such luck.

In an instant, everyone felt as though they had fallen into a vat of aged vinegar, their emotions a tangled mess.

Pei Xingze's little tricks to cheer someone up had all been exposed, and Weng Shao could no longer be bothered to fish.

In truth, Weng Shao had never been particularly attached to fishing. Catching fish was nice, of course, but being caught by someone else when he failed to catch anything made him happy too. Weng Shao even felt that Pei Xingze going to such lengths to cheer him up was more worth being happy about than truly catching a big fish. He desperately wanted to do something. So, after the group of rich second-generation heirs all went back to their rooms yawning, Weng Shao gently took Pei Xingze's hand. "Will you watch the sunrise with me?"

Before dawn, the sky was still a deep indigo blue. As time passed, the brilliant stars gradually disappeared behind the vault of heaven.

The color of the night slowly faded, like an enormous curtain losing its dye, changing little by little from dark blue to pale blue.

As the stars shifted across heaven and earth, Weng Shao and Pei Xingze stood side by side on the deck, waiting from the darkness before dawn until the first faint light of daybreak.

Before long, a streak of rosy light appeared at the end of the horizon, dyeing both sky and sea red. A crimson sun slowly rose.

The morning wind carried the cries of seabirds. A whale suddenly burst from the water, spinning through the air in a graceful arc. From afar, it seemed to rise together with the sun.

A long whale call drifted from the distance. Weng Shao and Pei Xingze watched calmly as the whale plunged back into the sea, sending up spray that gleamed brilliantly under the sun's reflection.

It was another new day.

Weng Shao stretched in the morning light and asked Pei Xingze, "Are you going back to catch up on sleep?"

Pei Xingze nodded.

The two returned to their room and lay side by side on opposite edges of the bed. Weng Shao resumed his proper sleeping posture, as though he were lying in a coffin.

But this time, he did not smell the scent of soil and coffin wood rotting together in his dream. Instead, he was wrapped in a damp, salty sea breeze. In a daze, he sank into the depths of the ocean.

In his sleep, Weng Shao naturally turned over and followed the heat at his side, burrowing into Pei Xingze's embrace.

And so, even the seawater in that dark dream was no longer cold.

By the time Weng Shao woke up, it was already broad daylight. Golden sunlight squeezed through the gap in the curtains, leaving behind a dazzling beam. Still half-asleep, Weng Shao instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and buried his head in the blanket.

A muffled chuckle came from above his head. Weng Shao abruptly opened his eyes, threw back the blanket, and immediately saw Pei Xingze's handsome face close at hand.

Weng Shao's mind buzzed. It took him a long while before he gradually recalled what had happened before he fell asleep.

"Finally awake?" Pei Xingze, lying beside him, shifted his arm slightly.

Weng Shao jerked his head up in alarm and watched as Pei Xingze stiffly and slowly withdrew his arm, using his other hand to massage it.

Pei Xingze had woken earlier than Weng Shao, but in order not to disturb him while he slept so soundly, he had not dared move at all. He had endured until Weng Shao woke up, to the point that his arm had gone numb from being used as a pillow.

Weng Shao felt a little dazed. A man usually so eloquent actually did not know what to say. Pei Xingze was the first to speak. "Hungry?"

Weng Shao blinked, then suddenly reached out and grasped Pei Xingze's arm, massaging it to restore the circulation.

"I sleep too deeply." Weng Shao said, "If I do this again, just push me away."

"Why would I push you away?" Pei Xingze smiled. "It was an honor for this arm to be your pillow."

Weng Shao fell silent.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Pei Xingze asked again.

Weng Shao glanced at the electronic clock on the bedside table. "It's already noon."

"What do you want for lunch?" Pei Xingze smoothly corrected himself.

Weng Shao was speechless. "Why do you keep asking me what I want to eat?"

"Because I want to take good care of you." Pei Xingze took Weng Shao's hand and looked straight into his eyes. "Weng Shao, have I never told you that I like you?"

Weng Shao abruptly looked up at Pei Xingze.

"I'm sorry my confession is so hasty." Pei Xingze spoke apologetically. He had not originally planned to confess to Weng Shao so soon. After all, Weng Shao had only just graduated from high school and entered university. In Pei Xingze's eyes, Weng Shao, who had only just turned eighteen, was still a child.

But things had developed beyond Pei Xingze's expectations, and his actions had always been more honest than his mouth.

Now they had kissed—at the hotel, on the forehead—hugged—last night—and slept together—during their nap that morning. If Pei Xingze still refused to face this relationship on the grounds that Weng Shao was too young, even he himself would feel that he was being far too hypocritical and despicable.

A knock suddenly sounded at the door. Pei Xingze got up to answer it, exchanged a few brief words with the person outside, then pushed a dining cart over in front of Weng Shao.

Weng Shao stared blankly at the dazzling spread of breakfast on the cart. Among it was a plate of tuna arranged into roses. Pei Xingze picked up that plate of tuna roses, knelt before Weng Shao, and said, "Time was tight, so I didn't have time to prepare fresh flowers. I'll use tuna instead for now, and make it up to you once we're back on shore. Is that okay?"

Chapter 48

"A very distinctive confession gift." Weng Shao lifted the plate and accepted the tuna roses Pei Xingze had prepared so carefully with a smile. "Can you go take a shower first?"

Pei Xingze paused slightly, unable to understand the connection between those two sentences. But he could sense that Weng Shao deliberately wanted to send him away. "...All right, dear classmate Weng Shao. How long do you think I need to shower?"