Shells

Yu Lin set an alarm for five on his phone. He woke groggily to the ringing and only then remembered that they had agreed to go watch the sunrise over the sea yesterday.

He pushed himself up and turned on the room light, finding that Li Yu in the neighboring bed was still asleep.

Perhaps he had kicked off his blanket in the middle of the night. Li Yu was uncovered, his short-sleeved shirt pushed up from being pressed beneath him, revealing his fair, narrow waist. His long legs were slightly bent, and even his pink-tinged toes were curled.

Yu Lin had been about to wake Li Yu, but at the sight of this, he instantly went mute.

"Fuck..."

Yu Lin cursed under his breath, feeling that his body was being far too uncooperative.

He stepped back before gently shaking Li Yu's arm.

"Little Yu, Little Yu, time to get up."

Li Yu was still half-asleep. He had thought about many things last night and gone to bed rather late.

He gave an "Mm," his voice softer than usual and carrying a faint nasal tone.

Yu Lin felt even hotter inside at the sound. Forcing himself to speak, he said, "Little Yu, it seems like you barely kept your blanket on last night. Do you think you caught a cold? Your voice sounds a little stuffy. How about taking some cold medicine later?"

Li Yu obediently nodded, staring blankly at his own bed as though his soul had yet to return.

"Hurry and get up. Once we're done, we'll head to the beach."

Yu Lin let out a breath, leaving the en suite bathroom for Li Yu while silently running downstairs to use the bathroom there.

Only after coming to his senses did Li Yu realize he felt somewhat unwell. He must have caught a chill last night.

He slowly rummaged through his suitcase for the disposable toothbrush and towel he had brought, then went to wash up.

Li Yu and Yu Lin were the last to reach the beach. From a distance, they saw a crowd gathered there. Aside from the other guests and staff, there seemed to be other tourists as well.

"Well, Yu Lin, wasn't your place the closest to the beach? How did you get here later than us?" Shu Menglan asked.

For once, Yu Lin did not respond to Shu Menglan. He rubbed his nose and glanced at Li Yu beside him, feeling somewhat guilty.

"I got up late," Li Yu said.

His voice was slightly hoarse and still nasal.

Chi Yan immediately noticed the difference in Li Yu's voice and asked with concern, "Did you catch a cold?"

"A little. I just took some medicine."

Chi Yan knew that Li Yu must have kicked off his blanket again in the middle of the night.

Li Yu was usually very well-behaved in his sleep. Only when he occasionally felt hot in the middle of the night would he kick off the covers.

The guests all walked barefoot on the sand, and Li Yu's feet were surprisingly the fairest among them. The seawater kissed the tops of his feet, cool enough to make him curl his toes.

Chi Yan pulled Li Yu to his side and said quietly, "You feel cold, yet you're just standing there? Is it fun?"

Li Yu pursed his lips, thinking that it really was quite fun.

He did not know where he found the nerve, but he stepped on top of Chi Yan's foot and said, "Brother Chi, want to compare?... Your feet are so big, much bigger than mine."

Chi Yan's throat caught. The sand Li Yu had rubbed against him was cool, yet the place where they touched felt somewhat hot.

It was like elementary school kids comparing that thing in a bathhouse.

He wanted to say there was something even bigger that Li Yu had not seen, but after thinking about it, he did not dare say a word.

Yet Li Yu remained oblivious as he continued fanning the flames, rubbing all the sand stuck to his sole onto Chi Yan's foot.

Chi Yan sighed. Through Li Yu's clothes, he pinched his waist, a sudden fierce glint in his eyes. "Don't move. If you move again, I'll make sure your whole body gets covered in this stuff today."

Only then did Li Yu become frightened. He hunched his neck and said, "Brother Chi, I was wrong. I was just messing around."

He quickly broke free from Chi Yan and ran over to Shu Menglan.

Having come to terms with some things, Li Yu felt as though his courage had suddenly grown quite a bit. But... being a little mischievous once in a while was really fun.

By six, the sky was already bright, and then the sun slowly rose.

The sea had originally been blue, but once the sun emerged, the rosy clouds tinged it red. Amid the shimmering waves, it looked as though specks of gold dust had been scattered across the water.

Seagulls flew everywhere, crying out as they went. Shu Menglan said, "The sun's finally up!"

"Yeah, no wonder everyone says you have to watch the sunrise when you come to the seaside. The view is pretty breathtaking," Xiang Zhinan said with a smile.

After watching the sunrise for a while, Xie Jingming suddenly crouched down on the beach, seemingly looking for something.

Li Yu noticed and, curious, crouched down beside him.

"What are you doing?"

Hearing Li Yu's voice, Xie Jingming turned to look at him.

Li Yu was standing rather close, his breath brushing past Xie Jingming's ear. He pinched his earlobe, finding it a little hot.

"Picking up shells."

The expression on Xie Jingming's face was somewhat awkward. He had never seen the sea before, and he wanted to collect some shells as a keepsake.

He was afraid Li Yu would find this behavior a little childish, so his face had reddened slightly.

"I'll help you. I know some shells."

Li Yu smiled at Xie Jingming and pointed at the shells in his hand. "This is a Venus clam, this is a Ringed clam, this is a Phoenix conch..."

"You know so much?"

Xie Jingming became interested. Whenever he saw a shell, he would point at it and ask Li Yu what kind it was.

"This one with the long tail is an Auger shell. This one with lots of tiny 'tentacles' is a Spider conch. You should know this one—it's a sea snail..."

Li Yu was practically a shell encyclopedia. Xie Jingming asked about anything, and Li Yu could answer. He was starting to suspect that Li Yu's side job was beachcombing.

[What's going on? Does Li Yu live by the sea? How does he know so much...]

[That's perfectly normal. My wife always brings me surprises.]

[I have reason to suspect Li Yu secretly watches beachcombing streams every day.]

[The two of them are so cute. They kept picking shells until they wandered straight off from the main group, hahaha.]

[Liang Meichen/Yu Lin: Wait, where are our teammates?]

[Wuwuwu, these shells are so beautiful. My collector's itch is acting up—I want to go to the beach too.]

Liang Meichen and Shu Menglan chatted for a while before realizing that Li Yu and Xie Jingming had already gone somewhere quite far away from them.

Shu Menglan waved toward Li Yu and shouted, "Hey! What are you two doing over there? Time for breakfast!"

Xie Jingming and Li Yu had both picked up a few things. Besides shells, there were also many strangely shaped colorful stones.

"So you went over there to pick up shells? I was wondering why you ran so far away," Liang Meichen said.

"Let's see what you picked up."

Zhou Yanqing walked up to Li Yu with a smile, and Li Yu spread his hands for him to see.

"Some shells and stones. But we didn't pick up too many, since we were afraid of damaging the ecosystem."

"If anyone sees something they like, they can take it," Xie Jingming said.

The others did not take much, seemingly uninterested. Only Zhou Yanqing took several colorful stones from Li Yu's hand.

"It's time for breakfast. Let's go," Liang Meichen said, taking the lead in front.

Li Yu gave all his remaining shells to Xie Jingming, who then turned and asked a staff member to hold onto them.

Chi Yan was lost in thought and did not notice when Li Yu had quietly come to walk beside him.

Li Yu's pale hand was clenched into a fist and held before Chi Yan. With a mysterious smile, he said, "Brother Chi, guess what's in here?"

Chi Yan replied instinctively, "A shell?"

"Wrong."

Li Yu opened his hand and showed Chi Yan what was in his palm.

It was a pink stone. Though its shape was somewhat irregular, it vaguely resembled a heart.