Over there, the rest time scheduled by Xia Yuan had come to an end.
True to her word, she clapped her hands and stood up, carefully helping Jiang Tong—who was still squatting—back to her feet.
“We’ve already played for twenty minutes! Come on, Sister Jiang Tong, let’s go replenish some energy! I’ve been eyeing the fruit juice for ages!” With sparkling eyes, Xia Yuan grabbed Jiang Tong’s wrist and pulled her toward the long table holding drinks and fruits.
The long table was laden with many cups of freshly squeezed fruit juice, cut tropical fruits, and base spirits and club soda for mixing cocktails.
As a woman of action, Xia Yuan grabbed two glass cups, poured more than half a cup of orange juice for Jiang Tong first, then poured some for herself, and picked up a bottle of pink pre-mixed cocktail next to them, looking rather eager to try.
“Sister Jiang Tong, do you want to add some of this? It’s peach-flavored and has a very low alcohol content—just a tiny bit. Adding it to the juice gives it a really special taste!” Shaking the wine bottle, Xia Yuan solicited Jiang Tong’s opinion.
The peach fruit flavor wafted out from the bottle mouth and was indeed enticing, but Jiang Tong’s body was truly unsuited for consuming alcohol.
Jiang Tong wanted to open her mouth to politely decline, but before she could utter a sound, a cool-toned female voice cut in from slightly behind her left side: “She doesn’t drink.”
The voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for the few people nearby to hear clearly.
Xia Yuan’s hand holding the wine bottle paused, and she raised her head in surprise to look toward the source of the voice.
It was Xie Weiyi.
Xie Weiyi didn’t know when she had walked over; she was standing just two steps away from them.
She seemed to have come ashore from the sea not long ago, her hair tips still damp, with water droplets sliding down her graceful necklines into the collar of her swimsuit.
When her gaze swept past Xia Yuan, Xia Yuan gave an involuntary shudder, feeling somehow that her idol’s look wasn’t all that friendly, carrying even a somewhat chilly undertone.
Jiang Tong also slowly turned sideways, meeting Xie Weiyi’s gaze.
The care in Xie Weiyi’s eyes was almost overbearing, and her face was icy cold—who knew who had provoked her to make her unhappy.
“Give it to me.” Stepping forward, Xie Weiyi took the bottle of cocktail close to Jiang Tong’s cup into her own hands and poured it all into her own cup with a gurgle-gurgle sound.
Then she glanced at Jiang Tong and added a warning instruction: “You’re not allowed to drink it.”
Jiang Tong’s heart felt as if it had been lightly bumped by something—a bit stuffy, yet carrying an indescribable flutter.
“Mm.” Jiang Tong nodded subconsciously.
Steadying her mind, Jiang Tong gave Xia Yuan a slightly apologetic smile and followed Xie Weiyi’s words: “Xia Yuan, thank you for your kindness, but I’ll just add some sparkling water.”
Then she turned toward Xie Weiyi, bowing her head slightly: “Thank you for the reminder, Senior.”
As if she hadn’t heard the layer of detachment in Jiang Tong’s words—or rather, she had only captured the fact that Jiang Tong agreed with her and thanked her—
A smile of excessive brilliance instantly bloomed across Xie Weiyi’s face, the corners of her eyes upturned and filled with childish pride.
“Mmhmm, you’re welcome.” Xie Weiyi’s voice became incomparably brisk as she nodded lightly, accepting Jiang Tong’s thanks.
Following that, she took a small step forward, closing the distance between them.
“You guys…” Her red lips parted slightly, her gaze shifting between Jiang Tong and Xia Yuan before finally landing back on Jiang Tong’s face.
She cared deeply about the interactions between Jiang Tong and Xia Yuan, with many things she wanted to ask, such as “Did you have fun playing with Xia Yuan?”, “What were you guys talking about?”, “Can you spend some time with me?”…
Yet all these inquiries exceeded the boundaries of the relationship between “Senior” and “Colleague,” so Xie Weiyi could not ask.
Thus she weighed her phrasing and tone.
Before she could even organize her words, however, Jiang Tong swiftly poured some sparkling water into her cup, while her other hand grabbed Xia Yuan’s wrist with utmost naturalness, driving yet another dagger straight into Xie Weiyi’s heart.
“We won’t disturb Senior Xie’s rest; we’ll leave first.” Jiang Tong hurriedly nodded toward Xie Weiyi as a farewell.
Xia Yuan grinned, gripping Jiang Tong’s hand back as she began babbling and enthusiastically fantasizing about the magnificent scene of the sandcastle’s completion.
Watching Jiang Tong’s slender back and the hand tightly grasping Xia Yuan’s wrist, Xie Weiyi’s smile froze right at the corners of her lips.
She opened her mouth, but those unuttered words—”Can I join?”—were choked right back down, transforming into a knot of pent-up, stuffy air stuck in her chest, neither going up nor down.
Xie Weiyi felt like laughing and crying at the same time.
Sensing that a camera nearby was zooming in, seemingly attempting to capture her expression at that moment,
Xie Weiyi swiftly adjusted her expression, putting back on that flawless smile as if the small interlude just now had no impact on her whatsoever.
The audience, however, watching the live broadcast with eight-fold magnification lenses, were already howling across the bullet comments in total chaos.
[I love a messy drama, heh heh heh~~~]
[Only children make choices; adults want it all! Those supporting Jiang Tong holding both in her arms, hit 1 in the bullet chat]
[11111……]
[Never expected that even a succubus like Aine could encounter someone she can’t reel in. Anyway, I’ve taken the bait.]
[Xia Yuan the previous second: Idol is scary qvq. Xia Yuan the next second: Sister, sticker-sticker o3o]
By the time Xie Weiyi was drinking her second cup, Su Leli had strolled over leisurely, holding a coconut water.
“Drowning your sorrows in alcohol over a broken heart? Cocktails with such a low ABV won’t get you drunk; should I swap you for a bottle of Erguotou instead?” Su Leli teased unmercifully.
Xie Weiyi: “…”
First getting dizzy from jealousy over Xia Yuan, then getting snubbed and stabbed by Jiang Tong, and now being poked fun at by a bad friend like Su Leli, Xie Weiyi felt like her stars were completely out of alignment all morning.
What kind of mess was all this!
The afternoon sun tilted westward slightly, though its heat remained unabated.
After lunch, the production team gathered everyone together, heading to a well-ventilated, semi-open pavilion within the resort.
Long tables and chairs were set up inside the pavilion, laid out with flexible rattan vines and trimming tools, alongside baskets of cleaned decorative items in various colors and shapes.
Peeking in, everyone saw they were seashells, conches, and small coral branches.
A spry, energetic elderly man was standing smilingly by the table waiting. He wore simple cloth garments, his hands covered in thick calluses, and suffered from a slight hunched back due to years of bending over labor.
He was Lin Bo, an intangible cultural heritage inheritor of rattan weaving specially invited by the production team from the local area.
“Our afternoon activity is learning simple rattan weaving techniques following Lin Bo. Everyone can use these decorative materials to craft an oceanic-styled ornament or small object.”
After reading her cue card, host Liang Xin winked at the camera, half-covering her mouth and speaking in a low whisper: “When this episode ends, the production team will open a live-streaming connection and give away the guests’ handmade works via a lucky draw, oh!”
[Hooray!!!]
[Production team, draw me! Wishing for Bai Yu and Song Anna—draw me, you two sisters!]
[What kind of wild talk is that person above typing hhhhhh]
Compared to the physical activity required in the morning at the beach, this quiet handicraft session was clearly more to Jiang Tong’s liking.
Choosing a seat near the edge, she sat down, her calm gaze falling upon those materials as her fingertips gently brushed across a rattan vine, seeming to test its flexibility and texture.
Xie Weiyi walked over as well.
Instead of heading straight for the center like she did in the morning, Xie Weiyi chose a spot diagonally opposite Jiang Tong with feigned casualness.
This angle allowed her to take in Jiang Tong’s movements and expressions without appearing overly deliberate.
“Rattan weaving involves more than a dozen processes such as selecting rattan, washing rattan, and shaving rattan. To save time, the rattan vines placed in front of everyone have already been processed; today we’ll mainly teach you the weaving techniques.” (1)
Lin Bo spoke with a slight accent, making it sound down-to-earth and vivid.
The work of his hands flowed like running water, and the rough rattan vine seemed to be endowed with life between his calloused fingers. Shuttle, intertwine, wrap—very soon, a delicate little flower basket took shape.
“Wow!” The guests stared with dropped jaws, scrambling to try it themselves.
Jiang Tong learned very earnestly. Rather than chasing speed, she carefully imitated Lin Bo’s technique, pressing the rattan vines tight bit by bit.
Xie Weiyi also held a rattan vine in her hand, but her movements were very slow and she was clearly distracted. Moreover, her gaze kept drifting toward Jiang Tong diagonally opposite.
When she saw Jiang Tong’s fingertip get scratched by the edge of a seashell, she immediately frowned, pinching her own fingertip at the exact same spot, as if doing so could help Jiang Tong share the pain.
She watched as Jiang Tong got stumped by a complex weaving step, causing her to gently bite her lower lip.
She watched as, after independently completing a portion of the weaving, tiny specks of light flickered in Jiang Tong’s eyes like sunlight filtering through the sea surface—clear and enchanting.
She watched as Jiang Tong received praise from Lin Bo, proudly lifting her chin with a smile that made her eyes curve into shapes of happiness.
Xie Weiyi raised a hand to lightly touch her heart, as if she had been gently scalded by Jiang Tong’s smile.
She suddenly remembered a long time ago when Jiang Tong used to be just like this.
Jiang Tong would display that same proud and satisfied expression whenever she nailed a high-difficulty dance routine or wrote a melody she was happy with.
At that time, Jiang Tong would unsparingly share her joy, her eyes curving into crescent moons as she would pounce over to grab Xie Weiyi’s arm and shake it: “Weiyi! Look! I did it!”
Recalling the past, Xie Weiyi felt her nose sting as her fingertips tightened unconsciously, the irregular seashell edge grazing her finger and causing a faint prick of pain.
Snapping back to her senses, she realized that at this moment, her heart was filled entirely with an almost pathetic pain and nostalgia.
She couldn’t look anymore.
If she kept looking, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to control herself and would do something even more foolish and impulsive.
Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to put her attention back onto the rattan vine in her hands, clumsily weaving away while imitating Lin Bo’s manner.
“Sister Aine, what are you weaving?” Yu Ningzhi leaned over, looking at the somewhat wild semi-finished product in Xie Weiyi’s hands and asking.
The rattan vine had truly suffered in Xie Weiyi’s hands, getting tangled up in a rather messy manner, though one could still vaguely make out the outline of a thick trunk and a crown spreading upward.
Without even raising her head, still battling the rattan vine, Xie Weiyi spat out three flat words: “A tree.”
“A tree?” Yu Ningzhi blinked, examining it closely. “It’s woven quite abstractly and artistically.”
“Yeah, a Chinese parasol tree.”
Diagonally across, the movement of Jiang Tong’s hands paused, her knuckles gripping the rattan turning slightly white.
The smile on Yu Ningzhi’s face stiffened, and she subconsciously turned her head to glance at Jiang Tong.