Seeing that Shi Yu wasn’t taking things seriously, Ruan Li decided to find someone else and turned to leave.
Shi Yu blocked the door. “Not learning anymore?”
“You weren’t planning to teach me properly anyway,” Ruan Li muttered.
“Learning to breathe is the first step in swimming,” Shi Yu glanced at her. “You don’t even know how to kiss, so how are you going to learn to breathe?”
Ruan Li was both amused and exasperated by this twisted logic. “So, by that logic, is that how you learned to swim back then?”
“No.”
“Then how did you learn?”
“Someone threw me into the sea. Either die or swim—that’s how I learned.”
Ruan Li paused mid-step.
The rippling water reflected on Shi Yu’s striking profile, adding a touch of loneliness. A pang of pain pierced her heart, as if a thorn had been driven into it.
Just as she was about to say something, she saw him smile again. “So, can I kiss you?”
Ruan Li: “…”
She must have been crazy to believe him.
“Alright, I’ll stop teasing you,” Shi Yu pulled her back. “I’ll teach you another way. Consider it the ‘minor protection mode’?”
Only then did Ruan Li stop.
“Come on, open your mouth,” Shi Yu stepped into the pool and demonstrated. “First, take a deep breath, hold it, quickly submerge yourself in the water, and then exhale.”
Ruan Li followed along from the poolside.
Breathing seemed easier than she had imagined.
Shi Yu praised her, “Good girl.”
On the other side of the wall.
Jiang Siyan chased after her, feeling somewhat regretful.
He had been too flustered with concern earlier, letting his emotions get the better of him and speaking harshly to Ruan Li.
That wasn’t what he meant.
Jiang Siyan hurried past the neighboring room when he heard a man’s low, husky voice coming from the private pool. The sound drifted intermittently through the door.
“Open your mouth.”
“Breathe in hard.”
“Exhale.”
“Good girl.”
Jiang Siyan froze—what an awful-sounding voice.
But he didn’t have a habit of eavesdropping. He just thought the voice sounded a lot like his roommate, Shi Yu.
He immediately shook his head.
No way. He and Shi Yu had been roommates for years, and he had never seen Shi Yu show any extra emotion. Though poor, Shi Yu carried no air of destitution. Instead, he possessed a noble and refined appearance.
Even though he was quiet and aloof, he was well-liked. Yet, few could truly get close to him—he was the epitome of an unattainable flower.
When faced with various confessions, Shi Yu always declined gracefully.
Except for one time—
The department beauty from the art school sneaked into the boys’ dormitory, completely naked, and hid in Shi Yu’s bed. When Shi Yu returned, he threw her out into the hallway, bedding and all, showing no mercy whatsoever.
…
Just as Jiang Siyan was reminiscing, the pool door opened.
A tall figure walked out.
Jiang Siyan looked as if he had seen a ghost. “Brother Yu, is that really you?”
Shi Yu: “What a coincidence.”
Jiang Siyan pointed inside the door and tentatively asked, “Girlfriend?”
“Mm.”
“Really?!” Jiang Siyan exclaimed excitedly. “When did you get a girlfriend? You didn’t even tell us, your brothers!”
He was genuinely curious about what kind of girl could make Shi Yu, the unattainable flower, develop feelings.
He eagerly added, “An Shengnan and I are planning to go camping next week. Brother Yu, why don’t you bring your girlfriend along?”
At the mention of An Shengnan’s name, Shi Yu’s brow furrowed.
In his life, what he despised most was being a third party.
Therefore, no matter how much he liked someone.
He would absolutely never become a homewrecker who ruins someone else’s relationship.
“We’ll see.”
Shi Yu went to the front desk and said to the owner, “Give me a swimming ring.”
“Got it!” The shopkeeper quickly stood up and took out an iPad. “Young Master Fu, you could have just notified us about what color you wanted. Why bother coming in person?”
Shi Yu didn’t waste words with the shopkeeper. His gaze swept over the inflatable ring designs on the screen, and a faint smile curled at the corner of his lips.
“That one.”
Pink would suit her.
The shopkeeper nodded repeatedly, adding, “I heard Mrs. Fu’s birthday is in a few days. Many wealthy families in Haicheng have received invitations. It’s been a long time since there’s been such a lively occasion.”
Fu Shiyu’s eyes turned cold.
A mistress who schemed her way into the position—how dare she host a birthday banquet?
A cold, sharp glint flashed in his eyes as his thin lips curved into a faint smile.
He would make this banquet even livelier.
Ruan Li was changing into her swimsuit in the dressing room.
The floor-length mirror reflected her graceful figure—slender limbs and skin as fair as snow.
Mother Ruan had a good eye for clothes. This swimsuit was a grassy green color. From the front, a metal clasp connected the top and bottom, looking modest and proper.
But from the side, it was completely different.
Ruan Li suspected she had put it on incorrectly. After checking online, she discovered it was a trendy style.
And the name the seller had given it was:
“Cherishing the green of grass and trees, yet already aware of the vastness of the world.”
Ruan Li: “…”
After browsing through buyer reviews, Ruan Li confirmed that the swimsuit wouldn’t cause any embarrassing incidents from the side while swimming before finally accepting it.
She took out a small bottle of concealer and applied it to the area over her heart.
There was a conspicuous tattoo there: the letters “sy.”
It was something the Ruan family had forced her to get to sever any thoughts she might have of marrying someone else.
It was an abbreviation for Siyan.
—”A woman who has tattooed another man’s name on her body—no man would be okay with that.”
—”Ruan Li is finished for life. She can only marry Jiang Siyan.”
Those were their exact words.
[The Female Supporting Character is so shameless, actually tattooing Brother Si’s name on her body! How disgraceful!]
[Tsk, let’s see how she finds another man now.]
[Um, aren’t you being too harsh? This tattoo was forced on her by the Ruan family. It wasn’t her choice.]
[Then why didn’t she refuse? Playing hard to get, dressed so provocatively. Good thing the Male Lead didn’t see her. If she’s that desperate for men, she should go work as a KTV hostess.]
[So infuriating! Didn’t the synopsis say the Female Supporting Character loses her virginity to the Second Male Lead? And the video will be played at her and the Male Lead’s engagement party. Why hasn’t that happened yet?]
[Don’t worry, major plot points won’t change. Just keep watching!]
Ruan Li’s hand paused.
If the plot wouldn’t change, she was destined to meet her predetermined ending—
That is, at the engagement party, Jiang Siyan would replace the bride, sweetly kissing An Shengnan, while she would not only have her private video exposed, publicly humiliated, and her reputation ruined, but also be disowned by the Ruan family. Her adoptive mother would have her medical funds cut off and die alone in a foreign land.
Then what was the point of all this?
A ringing in her ears, like the sea wind whistling through rusted iron mesh, roared in her ears, blocking out all other sounds.①
On the other side, Shi Yu returned but couldn’t find Ruan Li.
He called out a few times, but no one answered.
Did she run away again?
A restless agitation churned in his narrow eyes, and a fleeting, mad thought crossed his mind.
—He wanted to lock her up, keep her by his side.
The luxurious swimming pool became nothing more than a boring backdrop. Shi Yu lost all interest in swimming and headed toward the dressing room. The fragile door gave way easily under his push.
“Ah!” A soft gasp sounded.
A dazzling grassy green flashed before his eyes, like the first snow of winter, heavy and clinging to the evergreen pine trees.
Ruan Li hadn’t expected Shi Yu to walk in.
The concealer in her hand fell with a clatter. She wrapped her arms around herself and crouched on the floor, her gaze fixed on the doorway in lingering shock.
The shimmering light from the pool filtered through the door, refracting into the changing room. A blue, rippling glow fell upon Ruan Li, turning her fair skin into a pristine canvas, painted with the boundless sea of sky and water.
Shi Yu’s eyes darkened, his gaze tangible as it traveled downward, settling on her chest.
There, a small tattoo.
Sy.
It was his name—Shi Yu.