Tang Shi was washing his swim trunks in the bathroom. I sat on the sink watching him and asked if we had run into some bad people.
He hung his washed swim trunks on the rod to dry, turned on the faucet to rinse his hands, and said, “Who knows.”
Tang Shi’s swim trunks were blue and seemed a size larger than mine. Two wet swim trunks hung on the wall, and a small puddle quickly formed on the floor.
The hotel sink was quite high, and as I sat on it, my toes couldn’t reach the ground. I swung my legs and sighed, touching my face. “I think it’s all because I’m too good-looking. I’m always attracting attention.”
“Yeah,” Tang Shi flicked his wet fingers at my crotch, “attracting attention with your kindergarten size.”
Could he not speak properly? I kicked him, demanding an apology.
This action provoked Tang Shi. He grabbed the foot I had kicked him with and started tickling my sole. It was unbearably ticklish, and I leaned back against the mirror, laughing and begging, “I give up, I give up, stop tickling.”
At lunch, we ran into that couple again. The woman had changed into a brightly colored strap dress and came over with a glass of champagne to talk to us.
She handed over a business card this time, saying she was from some company and was responsible for some program.
I was lost in her words because Tang Shi kept distracting me, stealing shrimp from my bowl one moment and snatching my coconut juice the next.
My mom politely exchanged a few words with the woman, declined her invitation to dine with us, and hoped she wouldn’t disturb us again.
The woman seemed a bit disappointed but still said, “Alright, our program is recruiting trainees here recently. If you change your mind, you can bring the little brother to try it out.”
Tang Shi heard this and snorted, using his chopsticks to take the last shrimp from my bowl.
The woman was just a minor episode, and we didn’t think much of it. After lunch, my mom urged me to take a nap, saying she’d take us to the ocean bath in the afternoon.
I asked her to buy me a small plastic bucket because I wanted to collect things by the sea.
She readily agreed, saying that after I woke up, Tang Shi would take me to buy one.
Our rooms weren’t on the same floor, so I had to follow Tang Shi into the elevator.
“Wait,” my mom suddenly stopped us, “come with me for a moment.”
She took us to her room and handed me a bottle of sunscreen. “Remember to apply sunscreen when you go out this afternoon, so you don’t get sunburned.”
She instructed Tang Shi, “Make sure to put it on your little brother.”
Tang Shi nodded lazily, his tone suggesting he wasn’t taking it seriously. “Alright, got it.”
I was worried Tang Shi would forget to buy the bucket, so I nagged him about it all afternoon.
Tang Shi frowned impatiently, annoyed. “Do you believe I’ll smack you?”
I shut up and lay back on my bed, trying to sleep. But after just two minutes, I got up again.
“Tang Shi.” I crawled onto Tang Shi’s bed with my pillow. The hotel standard rooms had single beds, and Tang Shi, finding it cramped, didn’t let me up. I insisted, squeezing next to him, and asked, “Am I good-looking enough to become a star in the future?”
“You?”
Tang Shi glanced at me. “What a dream, stars need to be tall.”
“Tsk,” I nudged him, “I’m only sixteen, I’ll grow taller.”
Tang Shi was reliable enough to take me to buy a plastic bucket in the afternoon, and he also bought a silly straw hat to put on my head.
I was a bit dissatisfied and asked why only I had to wear such a silly hat.
Tang Shi led me to the entrance of the ocean bath. Even though it was afternoon, the sun was still glaring, and the sand was scorching. Tang Shi walked barefoot on the ground.
I didn’t dare step directly on the sand, so I followed him in flip-flops, making a clapping sound.
Tang Shi said I was a little fool, so I had to wear a fool’s hat. I refused to listen and tried to take the hat off, but my mom, wearing a similar straw hat with lace, slapped my hand.
While queuing for tickets, my mom checked if I had applied sunscreen. Seeing that I had, she was satisfied and held my hand. She asked Tang Shi, “Did you apply sunscreen, Tang Shi?”
He hadn’t. He said that boys should be a bit tanned to look good, and a pale, weak frame looked fragile.
Aunt Tang playfully hit his arm, telling him not to make fun of me. We had our tickets checked at the entrance and walked to the beach together.
This ocean bath was specially enclosed as a tourist attraction, with filtered seawater, so there wasn’t a speck of dirt to be seen.
I carried my bucket and asked Tang Shi to help me find starfish, but he ignored me and quickly walked into the sea.
My parents and Aunt Tang also wanted to swim, leaving me as a lonely figure standing by the shore.
The sun was fierce, and after searching for starfish on the beach for a while, I felt dizzy and sat down on the sand, only to jump up from the heat.
Feeling miserable, I took my plastic bucket to a rest area to drink soda, placing the bucket on the table to inspect my finds.
Many people with phone stands were live streaming by the sea. One of them came over to me, introducing themselves as a streamer from the X platform and asked if I could greet their audience.
I felt a bit shy and used the small bucket to cover my face.
The streamer laughed, “Your ears are red, how cute.”
Tang Shi, dripping with seawater, appeared behind me. He seemed a bit darker than when we left. His expression was impatient, telling the streamer to move away.
He pulled out the plastic chair next to me and sat down, taking my soda to drink.
The vendors by the sea sold happiness. Whether it was pineapple soda or orange soda, the colors were pale, like diluted joy.
Tang Shi removed the straw from the cup and drank directly from it. I watched his Adam’s apple move up and down, and soon, the cup that was more than half full was empty.
“Come on,” he said after finishing my soda, patting my face with his wet hand, “I’ll take you to buy popsicles.”
We spent the afternoon soaking by the sea with Tang Shi, and as the sky gradually darkened, the sun began to set.
The beach cooled significantly. My parents went to find the beach area manager to rent a spot for a barbecue. I finally didn’t find the sand too hot, kicked off my flip-flops, and ran around the beach, suddenly shouting, startling Tang Shi beside me.
Tang Shi, wearing swim trunks, stood tall beside me, holding a coconut. Many women in swimsuits approached him, asking for his contact information, but he turned them all away with a sour face.
He was only a year older than me, yet he acted so mature, advising me not to date frivolous girls in the future.
I disagreed with him, “They’re just a bit outgoing, not frivolous.”
Tang Shi held the coconut in one hand and pinched my cheek with the other, “You’re not listening to me? Whatever I say goes.”
In our previous interactions, I was always the oppressed one, so even though I didn’t agree with him, I had to pretend to be convinced. “Alright, you’re always right.”
Tang Shi was satisfied, draping his arm over my shoulder, “That’s right, listen to me, I won’t harm you.”
We had a barbecue by the sea. The night sea breeze was very comfortable. I sat cross-legged on the sand, gnawing on fish bones, while Tang Shi came over with an oyster, coaxing me to eat it.
“It’s very fresh, give it a try.”
I glanced at my mom, who was taking photos under a coconut tree with Aunt Tang, not noticing what I was eating.
So I confidently took the oyster from Tang Shi’s hand.
In Maupassant’s short story “My Uncle Jules,” there was mention of oysters. I knew it was the same as oysters, and I was always curious about strange things, but my mom never let me touch them.
Imitating Tang Shi, I ate an oyster, and he asked, “How is it?”
I swallowed the oyster, handed him the empty shell, and shook my head, “Not very tasty.”
“Ha.” Tang Shi sat beside me, stretching out his long legs, looking at the moonlit sea. There wasn’t much to see, the sea was pitch black, with only distant fishing boats showing specks of light.
But the beach was lively, with little kids running around naked near us.
When we returned to the hotel to sleep, my dad patted my hair, telling me to shower before bed, “Otherwise, the bed will be full of sand, and you won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
I thought my dad had tanned a lot too, but he was still very handsome.
I followed him with my small bucket, nodding.
He laughed, wrapping his strong arm around me, “My son is so good. What did you collect at the beach all afternoon?”
I got excited, showing him my bucket of treasures, “I found a starfish, look, it’s still alive.”
The purple starfish stretched its arms in the bucket. I took it out and held it in my palm for my dad to see.
“Heavens! What is that thing you’re holding!” My mom, who had been walking behind us, freaked out, snatching the starfish from me and confiscating my bucket. “It’s filthy, no more collecting trash tomorrow.”
“Tang Shi, aren’t you going to manage your little brother,” my mom nagged, “letting him mess around like this, these things are so dirty, what if there are parasites?”
Tang Shi glanced at me, chuckled softly, and said nothing.
My source of happiness was completely taken away by my mom, leaving me listless. After showering, I lay on the bed, staring blankly.
Tang Shi was showering after me, and I guessed he just rinsed off because he came out in less than five minutes.
“Hey,” he called me, “want to play a game?”
“You play.” I buried my face in the pillow, feeling very wronged, not in the mood to do anything.
Tang Shi laughed at me, “Upset? Then you shouldn’t have given up your little bucket when your mom took it.”
He said it so easily, but I wasn’t like him, disobedient. I was extremely annoyed, flipping over on the bed and covering my head with the pillow.
Without a response from me, Tang Shi stopped bothering and went back to his bed to play games.
The next morning, when I woke up, Tang Shi was already gone. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, noticing something new on the small cabinet between our beds.
It was a starfish specimen!
I rushed to the edge of the bed to grab it, and Tang Shi walked in from outside, humming a tune. He had been somewhere, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, with sunglasses perched on his head.
I was very touched, holding the starfish and asking him, “Is this for me?”
“Yeah,” Tang Shi sat down on my bed, broke off one of the starfish’s legs, and popped the seeds inside into his mouth. “Eat it, just don’t let your mom know.”
Eat… eat?
I was stunned, watching him eat one of the starfish’s legs.
The starfish looked ugly with a missing leg. Helplessly, I imitated him, breaking off a piece and taking a bite, only to spit it out immediately. “It’s so fishy.”
Tang Shi took the remaining starfish and tossed it into the trash, laughing, “How about now, not craving it anymore? You won’t hide under the covers crying over a starfish, right?”