Will You Get Whatever You Want?
Walking north along the coast for about a kilometer brings you to the residential area of the small town, with the pier situated at the northernmost point.
In April, the sea breeze is salty and humid. The cement ground shows varying shades of gray, and the sea silently and tenderly receives the pinkish-white petals falling slowly with the wind.
Perhaps because Lu Ling was holding a camera, the owners on the pier and the fishermen who had just stepped off their boats couldn’t help but steal glances at them.
Lu Ling carried the camera, her hand tightening instinctively. Lin Que, however, remained high-spirited, looking at the products for sale at the small stalls as she walked—rightly so, she must have long been accustomed to the various gazes cast upon her.
Some were kind, some malicious, and some devoid of any emotion.
When she first stood before the lens, was she always this composed?
“Youyou,”
Lu Ling snapped back to reality, looking down at the camera screen. “Hmm?”
Lin Que had stopped in front of the last stall on the pier. The stall owner was a grandmother with a kind smile. The small stall displayed various bracelets and wind chimes made of seashells.
“Ling-ling—”
The wind rose, the chimes rang, and the sea breeze was low. The sky was a washed blue. Lin Que’s long hair was tied casually into a low ponytail with a black rubber band. She watched the items on the stall quietly; a few strands of hair, borrowing the wind and the colors of spring, stole a kiss from the corner of her mouth.
The grandmother introduced them warmly: “I learned how to make these myself by following videos on my phone. The bracelets are five yuan, the wind chimes are ten. I just do it for fun, I don’t charge much…”
These things are common in fully developed tourist areas, but Lin Que showed no intention of leaving, and Lu Ling did not urge her to go.
Lin Que’s gaze finally settled on a certain spot—it was a bracelet.
The two spoke simultaneously:
“Doesn’t it look like a kitten?”
“It looks like a butterfly.”
Lin Que looked at the bracelet, her brows furrowing slightly, then smoothing out the moment she looked toward Lu Ling. “Does it look like a butterfly?”
Lu Ling nodded, pointing the lens at Lin Que. “I think it looks like a butterfly.”
“Hmm…”
Lin Que placed the bracelet back in its original spot and gave the grandmother a shallow smile and a nod. “Thank you, Grandma.”
—She seemed to say something else.
“Hoo—hoo—”
Before Lu Ling could ask, the sea breeze suddenly gusted violently, whipping the waves against the fishing boats. Lu Ling stabilized her camera, but Lin Que had already turned to walk toward the seafood stalls on the other side of the pier.
The whistling sea breeze seemed to have no effect on her at all.
As for the seafood on those stalls, Lin Que only gave them a distant glance before decisively giving up.
They hadn’t come at the right time; most of the items on the stalls were leftovers. Secondly, the production team hadn’t provided funds for ingredients, and Lin Que was merely using the vendors’ stock to guess what “scraps” might still be found.
But without money, it was difficult to move an inch.
“Hmm… say,” Lin Que turned to ask Lu Ling, “if I strike a deal with these owners—I help them sell fish, and the reward is they give me some fish, shrimp, or crabs—what are the odds of success?”
Lu Ling surveyed the surroundings. “The only people on this pier who currently count as customers seem to be you and me.”
“Then what should we do?” Lin Que tilted her head to look at her, her eyes under the sunlight appearing like a lake filled with the light of spring. “My little lucky star~.”
Lu Ling’s breath hitched. She instinctively turned her head away. Before she could find the right words, her gaze collided with the owner of a fishing boat that had just docked. At that moment, her left eyelid twitched uncontrollably—
Lin Que and the boat owner spoke at the same time:
“Boss, are you going out to sea again?”
“We’re heading out one last time, want to come along and see?”
Lin Que’s eyes lit up for an instant. She didn’t agree immediately, but looked at Lu Ling first.
Lu Ling instinctively nodded.
“Zhi-ya-ya—”
Standing on the deck, Lin Que turned and reached out her hand to Lu Ling. “Come.”
Lu Ling looked at the outstretched hand—the fingertips catching the golden sunlight against the azure sea—and then, she shifted her gaze away, quickly estimating the distance between herself and the boat—
“Zhi-ya—”
Lin Que was slightly stunned, her gaze following Lu Ling. Lu Ling bypassed her, controlling her breathing. Once she had steadied herself, she turned around and looked at Lin Que. “Go on in.”
Having said that, without waiting for Lin Que’s answer, she lowered her head, gripped her camera, and hurriedly walked into the cabin.
Lu Ling was afraid of heights.
But at that moment, the hand Lin Que had reached out felt like a kind of high-and-mighty disdain.
A childish motivation, an irrational logic.
Lu Ling’s ears turned red until they ached. She kept her back turned to Lin Que the entire time.
Consequently, she did not see the curve of the smile on Lin Que’s lips as she watched her back—a look of doting affection that Lin Que herself hadn’t even realized.
The fishing boat started up, heading toward the depths of the sea.
Lu Ling had conquered her fear of heights, only to be met with a world-spinning bout of seasickness.
Meanwhile, Lin Que sat beside her, her expression normal, showing no discomfort whatsoever. Not only that, under the boat owner’s guidance, she quickly got the hang of things.
The familiarity with which she cast the net made Lu Ling feel for a moment that she was someone who made her living this way. It seemed there was nothing in this world that Lin Que found difficult.
Thinking of this, a surge of irritation rose in Lu Ling’s heart. It felt as if she had returned to that childhood, where she was always secretly competing with Lin Que.
What was the reason back then?
She couldn’t remember. The feeling was more etched into her memory than the root cause.
Lu Ling took a deep breath, shouldered the machine, and focused on the images on the screen, forcing herself to ignore the feeling of malaise.
In the frame, Lin Que was wearing the same orange life jacket as her. The depths of the sea were a murky blue. Lin Que looked down, her face calm and devoid of any emotion.
The fishing boat rose and fell with the waves. Lu Ling struggled to suppress the discomfort in her stomach, thankful she hadn’t eaten anything, while her peripheral vision remained fixed on Lin Que.
Lin Que still showed no signs of distress. It was as if she were on flat ground.
Sensing Lu Ling’s gaze, Lin Que turned her face toward her, and in that instant, a gentle smile bloomed.
Sunlight pierced through the clouds, a thin but extremely dazzling golden line of light crossing through Lin Que’s eyes. That sense of unreality surfaced in Lu Ling’s mind once more.
Yet, the white mist that rose and dissipated with every breath was proof that none of this was a dream.
“So handsome, little girl.”
The boat owner sat across from them, looking at Lin Que and offering a generous compliment.
Lin Que beamed and thanked him gracefully. “Thank you.”
“I think I’m pretty, too,” she said, then tilted her head. “Camera teacher, am I pretty?”
Ding—
A burst of dial-tone-like noise rang in Lu Ling’s ears.
By the time she snapped out of it, Lin Que was smiling gently in the sunlight. “Thanks~”
She must have nodded just now.
Lu Ling sighed softly. Before she could finish lamenting her own lack of resolve, Lin Que leaned toward her, brushing against her shoulder. “Does the camera teacher have any fish she likes to eat?”
“Will I get whatever I like?” Lu Ling countered.
Lin Que’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Tell me first.”
Lu Ling thought for a moment, looking at Lin Que, and said tentatively, “Eel?”
The words had barely left her mouth when the boat owner laughed. “That’s going to be hard.”
Lin Que turned to him and asked, “Has no one ever caught an eel?”
“It’s not that,” the owner said, squinting at the sea. “It’s just not the season—Haul in the net!”
Lin Que hurriedly stepped forward to help. “If it’s not the season, it doesn’t mean there are none.”
The owner muttered as he hauled the net, “It’s quite heavy, hey.”
“Maybe it’s a bumper harvest,” Lin Que said.
The owner smiled. “I’ll take your auspicious words then—Whoa!”
Inside the net—full to the brim—it wasn’t scrap metal or ordinary small shrimp, but all kinds of fresh fish. A crab “escaped” from a gap in the net and went “airborne” the next second—
Lin Que picked it up, gave a small tsk of disappointment, and threw it back into the bucket.
“No eel.”
Lin Que looked at Lu Ling.
Lu Ling had the same expression as the boat owner. She looked at Lin Que, blinked, and then looked at the fish in the net. Even in the peak season, this trip would be considered a massive success.
“Oh my, your words really are magic!” As the owner spoke, he carried the fish into the cabin, calling out, “Come, come, come! Taste this, guaranteed fresh!”
Lin Que stood up with a smile and entered the cabin. Turning around, she saw Lu Ling still sitting in the same spot. She crouched slightly, a trace of unease surfacing in her heart, and waved at Lu Ling.
Lu Ling blinked, came to her senses, and mechanically picked up the camera to follow her in.
Inside the cabin, Lin Que started by watching the owner process the fish. Her arms, crossed over her chest, relaxed and then tightened. Finally, she stepped forward, took the knife, and volunteered.
In the time it takes to say “one-two-three,” a complete fish skeleton was removed. On the sharp blade, the dark red blood of the fish melted back into the flesh.
“Beautiful face, and beautiful movements!”
Watching Lin Que, a thought occurred to Lu Ling: Lin Que’s performance of this being her “first time” at sea was a sham.
“—What do you exist for?”
“Because of the ocean.”
That was it. Lin Que had said it—she existed because of the ocean.
“Peng—”
The boat swayed violently. Lu Ling gripped the camera. Lin Que dropped the knife almost instantly.
Lu Ling looked at her. One step, two steps—
“Da—”
She was embraced. It smelled of mint.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s okay.” Lin Que’s voice was right by her ear, yet it seemed so distant.
Like that tall old locust tree.
The discomfort returned, wrapping around her soles, calves, and finally her entire body like a spiderweb made of electric shocks.
Lu Ling shook her head, her gaze returning to that complete fish skeleton.
—Perhaps a long time ago, in an era so distant that she didn’t even count as a speck of dust, Lin Que already existed in the deep sea.
The ocean had bestowed upon her a brilliant mind, a flawless appearance, and a strong physique, yet she had betrayed the ocean. Like Prometheus stealing fire for humanity, she too had accepted the ocean’s punishment, becoming the Lin Que she was now.
“Youyou?”
Lu Ling looked up at Lin Que. The boat had stabilized.
“You must be stunned from the scare,” Lin Que said, withdrawing her hand.
Lu Ling shook her head. She looked up, and Lin Que followed her gaze, asking in a low voice, “Want to try some?”
“As for the taste,” Lin Que crossed her arms, withdrawing her gaze, seemingly disinterested in the sashimi herself, “if you’re used to it, it’s fresh and sweet. If you’re not, it just tastes of fishy blood—Shen Yuchu loves it to death.”
Lu Ling frowned and retorted, “You’re not me, how would you know?”
“I just know.”
Lin Que glanced at her sideways, a mischievous glint in her eyes, as she picked up a slice of raw fish and held it to Lu Ling’s lips.
Lu Ling leaned in, held her breath, and took a bite—like a fish biting a lure.
The next second:
“Cough, cough—”
“Spit it out.”
Lin Que held out her hand beneath Lu Ling’s mouth.
Lu Ling’s brow furrowed. She forced down the nausea and swallowed it.
She looked at Lin Que. The camera reflected the two of them, shoulder to shoulder; they were green.
Lin Que froze slightly, slowly withdrawing her hand.
After that, there was silence all the way.
The fishy stench snared her internal organs. Lu Ling became that fish sliced into pieces; her airway was like a curled, withered leaf; breathing became a slow execution.
—“Bang!”
Lin Que turned, but her hand grasped empty air.
Lu Ling had fainted on the deck.