The first ebb tide

After saying those few words, Lu Zhe slowly lowered the hand covering her mouth.

Jiang Yao stood frozen, her pupils trembling. She felt like throwing up again and hurriedly covered her mouth, but ultimately kept it down!

Jiang Yao had never seen Lu Zhe treat her like this!

In her eyes, Lu Zhe had always been an easygoing, happy-go-lucky boy.

Even when girls picked on him, he would never hold it against them.

But today, she had seen another side of Lu Zhe!

For a moment, she was a little dazed. "Is... is this still the Lu Zhe I know?"

She felt she ought to really dislike Lu Zhe being so rough, but in fact, she felt not the slightest disgust, and even felt something unusual!

"Xiao Zhe..."

"Mm."

She blushed slightly. "Thank you..."

"You're welcome!" Lu Zhe gave a faint smile, his tone a little gentler than before. "I know it's unrealistic to expect you to change completely in such a short time, but you have to learn to adapt. That's the only way to survive! Understand?"

Jiang Yao nodded. "I... I'll try!"

Ning Shu stood up and held out a friendly hand. "Welcome, Jiang Yao, to your official place on the Jiaotong University Finance Department's survival team!"

Jiang Yao hesitated, then reached out and shook Ning Shu's hand. "Thank you, class monitor!"

Then she said to Lin Qianqian and Tang Xiaoguo, "Thank you both, too!"

Lin Qianqian smiled brightly. "Conditions are a little rough. I hope our esteemed welfare representative won't mind!"

Jiang Yao looked around. "Well, it's a bit dirty, but it's not bad! That's all thanks to everyone's efforts! Huh..."

Just then, she lowered her head, feeling as though something was missing!

"My... where's my Tingmei?"

"Uh..."

That question was rather difficult to answer. Lu Zhe scratched his head and pointed toward the beach. "Hey, looks like there's something over there. I'll go take a look!"

Then he promptly slipped away!

Seeing Lu Zhe leave, Ning Shu sighed helplessly!

She handed the bra over. "It was affecting your breathing, so I took it off for you!"

Jiang Yao took it and looked it over, then suddenly cried out in shock, "How did it get dirty on the inside? There's so much dirt! I can't wear it anymore!"

Ning Shu smiled helplessly. "To tell you the truth, we used it to filter these bottles of water!"

"Huh? Whose idea was that?!"

To avoid unnecessary awkwardness between the boy and the girls, Ning Shu gritted her teeth and decided to take the blame for Lu Zhe.

"It was... me!"

Jiang Yao froze at first. "You, class monitor?"

"Mm..."

Ning Shu had thought Jiang Yao would fly into a towering rage, but she seemed rather calm. On closer consideration, there even seemed to be a trace of disappointment. "So you were the one who used it, class monitor. I thought it was that guy Lu Zhe!"

"Yaoyao, you don't blame me, do you?"

"Of course not! Your idea was great, class monitor! I thought I was completely useless, but it turns out I contributed to the team even while unconscious!"

As she spoke, she deliberately thrust out her chest!

Looking at her impressive figure, Tang Xiaoguo said sourly, "Hey, hey, don't act so provocative! Girls should show a little restraint! Don't forget there's a boy here!"

"You mean Xiao Zhe!"

Looking at Lu Zhe's back a short distance away, Jiang Yao gave a leisurely shrug. "But there's nothing I can do about it. I can't exactly blindfold Xiao Zhe!"

The intimate way Jiang Yao kept calling him "Xiao Zhe" made Tang Xiaoguo a little unhappy!

"By the way, Guo'er, I heard a snake bit your foot. How is it?"

At Jiang Yao's question, Tang Xiaoguo stuck out her little foot to show her the wound and said pitifully, "The snake was very venomous. Luckily, Xiao Zhe helped squeeze the venom out! It's much better now!"

"Oh, he squeezed the snake venom out for you himself?" Jiang Yao asked in surprise!

With a little calculation, Tang Xiaoguo said, "It was so embarrassing, but there was no other way. It was dangerous at the time. If he hadn't done that, I might not have survived! Ah... I wonder if his future girlfriend will find him disgusting because of it!"

Jiang Yao thought for a moment, then smiled faintly. "She won't! He was saving someone. If his girlfriend is as understanding as I am, she'll not only understand, she'll be proud of him!"

Tang Xiaoguo said, a little annoyed, "Why do you sound like you're already his girlfriend?"

"It's hypothetical! But even just as his dance partner, I think what he did was very manly, don't you?"

"Well..." Tang Xiaoguo was at a loss for words and frowned. She felt that, since becoming stranded on this deserted island, she had encountered a real crisis!

She compared herself to Jiang Yao in her mind. Compared with Jiang Yao, apart from being a little shorter and having a slightly smaller chest, I'm every bit as pretty, and I even have a slight edge in cuteness! Besides, I can sing and dance, and I have an elegant air. There's no reason I should lose to this clean freak!

Ah, who knows what that blockhead Lu Zhe is actually thinking...

And Lu Zhe?

He wasn't thinking about anything. He had simply walked down to the beach alone!

He carefully observed the beach and the waves!

Soon, he discovered an important piece of information!

The waves could no longer wash up to the highest point they had reached not long before!

In other words, the tide was now beginning to go out!

"Look, the tide's going out!"

The girls all looked toward his voice!

By then, the sun had slanted westward and was drawing ever closer to the sea's horizon. The air had finally become a little cooler, too!

Seagulls and boobies also began to appear, flying along the shoreline in search of food.

"It really is!" the girls said in delighted surprise.

Lu Zhe walked back, checked his watch, and said to the four girls, "Everyone, it's four thirty in the afternoon. That means this is when the tide starts going out on this island!"

Lin Qianqian took out her notebook and hurriedly wrote it down!

Lu Zhe continued his analysis. "The tide starts going out at four thirty in the afternoon. Assuming two ebb tides a day, it'll reach its lowest point at ten thirty tonight, then start coming in. The second ebb tide will be around four or five tomorrow morning, and it'll come in again at ten in the morning."

Ning Shu gave him a thumbs-up. "Impressive!"

Tang Xiaoguo said happily, "Now that the tide's going out, can we go beachcombing for treasures? Like those beachcombing bloggers on Douyin. They bring back a whole basket of seafood every time!"

Lu Zhe nodded. "We can, but don't get your hopes up too high. Most of those Douyin beachcombing videos are fake. Real beachcombing isn't that easy!"

"Hey, maybe we'll get lucky!" Tang Xiaoguo said eagerly. "If we find a king crab, we won't have to eat that stupid snake, right?"

"A king crab?" Ning Shu asked in surprise.

"What? Can't we?"

"Guo'er!" Lu Zhe said with a serious expression. "I can tell you for certain that the odds of finding a king crab on a beach like this are about the same as finding a box of fish-fragrant shredded pork over rice!"

"Why?"

Lin Qianqian said timidly, "If I remember correctly, king crabs live in cold, deep waters, don't they?"