The car parked at the corner of the villa, and Yi Yan stepped out, spinning the keys on his finger.
Lin Ze stood dumbfounded, staring at the villa before him, and then watching Yi Yan stride toward the entrance.
“You, don’t tell me you rented this for the past couple of days?” Shocked to his core, Lin Ze thought that since there were only two of them, renting a couple of rooms would have been enough. Why splurge so extravagantly on an entire villa?
“Huh? Didn’t rent it. It’s under my name.”
It felt as though a mouthful of heavy soil was lodged in Lin Ze’s throat, leaving him speechless.
Ultimately, his scope had simply been too small; next time, he could afford to let his imagination run a bit wilder.
Although a faint smile still lingered at the corners of Lin Ze’s lips, a strange, bitter ache brewed deep within his heart.
Other people lived in multi-million-dollar seaside villas, while he was saddled with tens of millions in debt.
Hilarious. Human beings might all belong to the same species, but they certainly weren’t cut from the same cloth.
Casually throwing an arm around Lin Ze’s shoulders with an uninhibited, swaggering smirk, Yi Yan gazed out at the boundless ocean, a flash of shrewd calculation gleaming deep within his eyes as his mind plotted something unknown.
“How about it? Want to go for a shallow swim in a bit?”
“Sure!”
Lin Ze eagerly accepted without a second thought. Visiting the beach without swimming would be a complete waste, wouldn’t it?
Moments later, Yi Yan emerged from the bathroom fully changed.
His brows raised slightly, carrying a sharp, incisive edge between them. His tall physique and the broad, graceful lines of muscle along his arms struck a direct blow to someone’s eyes.
Lin Ze’s gaze shifted downward, landing squarely on his well-defined abs, all eight packs clearly visible.
Lin Ze’s lips twitched slightly.
He had previously ridiculed Yi Yan for being frail and wind-swept, a tall, skinny guy without an ounce of meat on him. Yi Yan had humored him without offering a counter-argument, making Lin Ze genuinely believe Yi Yan was just a weakling.
Yet seeing him today, exactly who was the weakling here?
This kid Yi Yan really looked slender in clothes, but packed muscle underneath!
Feeling a sudden pinch of embarrassment, Lin Ze instinctively patted his own abdomen. Uh, six packs.
“Xiao Zeze, aren’t you going to change?” Barefoot, Yi Yan walked toward him step by step.
Not quite registering what Yi Yan was asking, Lin Ze had an avalanche of insecure questions crashing through his mind: Yi Yan’s physique was actually better than his? Better than his?
Embarrassed, he yanked his gaze away and blurted out out of nowhere, “Don’t get too cocky! Give me a little time and I’ll definitely surpass you!”
With that, he strode off toward the bathroom.
Yi Yan?
In the distance, the sea stretched out. Ocean and sky merged into one endless expanse, presenting a breathtakingly magnificent view.
Sunlight danced across the surface of the water as if scattered with a layer of gold, sparkling and shimmering.
A sea breeze swept past, rolling up wave after wave that crashed like tumbling snowdrifts against a mountain of gold.
The scenery was undeniably gorgeous, though it lacked people; practically no one else was around this stretch.
A gentle, serene, and warm breeze washed over them.
“Hiss, so comfortable.”
Bathed in the warm breeze, Lin Ze half-closed his eyes in comfort.
Suddenly, a splash of seawater struck him right in the face. Wiping the water away, Lin Ze glared angrily in Yi Yan’s direction.
“Hahaha, Zeze’s a drowned rat!”
Submerged up to his waist in the ocean, Yi Yan watched Lin Ze stand frozen and dazed on the shore, stirring up a wave of mischief.
Being deliberately naughty, he splashed Lin Ze a few more times, sticking his tongue out to taunt him without forgetting a single beat.
“Yi Yan! You are dead!” Lin Ze ground his back teeth and roared fiercely at him.
This dry threat only emboldened Yi Yan further. Pouting into a wronged, obedient expression, he muttered, “Aww, don’t be so fierce. I’m so scared.”
This act by Yi Yan successfully caused Lin Ze to magnanimously exercise mercy and spare him this once. “Consider yourself lucky, but.” Still.
The very next second after Lin Ze decided to let it slide, Yi Yan burst into loud laughter, making Lin Ze realize he had been played by Yi Yan yet again!
Furious, he struck a fist down onto a breaking wave, sending saltwater flying in all directions, some of it splashing over half a meter high. “Yi Yan, this time you are truly finished!”
Watching Lin Ze fluff up like an angry cat at his hands, Yi Yan felt an inexplicable wave of contentment and laughed even more heartily.
Swimming a bit further away, he hooked a finger and enticed seductively, “Then come get me. Catch me and I’ll let you punish me however you want!”
To Lin Ze, those teasing words sounded like a blatant provocation!
Whenever those other buddies of his acted like jerks in front of him, they pulled the exact same stunt!
Laughing out of sheer rage, Lin Ze nodded as he laughed, his teeth clicking together furiously. “Fine, just you wait!”
Frolicking in the blue sea, Yi Yan moved with effortless ease even in the water, dodging left and right so smoothly that Lin Ze couldn’t lay a finger on him.
“Yi Yan?” Looking around and finding no trace of Yi Yan, Lin Ze called out with a smile, “Yi Yan, where are you?”
Several minutes passed, and still there was no sign of Yi Yan.
Lin Ze began to grow nervous. In a panic, he combed his damp bangs back behind his head and slapped the surface of the water with his hand.
“Hey, stop hiding. Isn’t it uncomfortable staying submerged down there for so long? I won’t hit you anymore, hurry up and come out.”
Still, no movement from Yi Yan.
His eyes widening in terror, panic took complete hold of Lin Ze’s heart, and without a moment’s hesitation, he held his breath and dove beneath the waves.
He spotted a familiar figure not far away.
His heart skipped a beat, a chilling wave rushing over his soul.
Paddling desperately toward the other side, he only managed to calm down the moment his hand made contact with Yi Yan.
With great effort, Lin Ze dragged Yi Yan ashore. Seeing Yi Yan’s pale complexion, he slapped Yi Yan’s cheeks firmly.
“Hey, Yi Yan, wake up!”
Good lord, don’t scare him like this. He didn’t want to have a human life weighing on his shoulders right after coming out for fun!
Reaching out to check beneath Yi Yan’s nose, he felt the faintest, wispiest breath, causing his furrowed brows to slowly smooth out.
Lin Ze alternated between performing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Yi Yan.
“Please, come back to life.”
“Hold on, hold on, brother!”
After working at it for a long while without seeing any movement from Yi Yan, nor any water expelled from his lungs, Lin Ze gazed at Yi Yan’s tightly shut eyes and tremblingly reached out once more to check his breath.
Not checking would have been fine, but checking revealed absolute zero respiration, scaring Lin Ze into a panicked cry.
“Yi Yan, Yi Yan. Don’t scare me.” Tears instantly spilled from his eyes.
Lin Ze’s mind went entirely blank; he simply couldn’t accept that a living, breathing life could vanish right in front of him just like that!
Everything around him threatened to swallow Lin Ze whole, a boundless darkness greeting him head-on. Even with the warm beach breeze blowing, he could feel his hands and feet growing ice-cold.
“Hey, stop crying.”
Propelling his upper body up, Yi Yan tilted his head slightly to look at him. Dark ink-colored locks, dampened by the sea water, were still dripping, while his eyes lacked their previous playful luster, carrying an ambiguous undertone instead.
Seeing Yi Yan miraculously sit up and quietly study him, an overwhelming wave of fury instantly surged from the depths of Lin Ze’s being!
“You were tricking me just now?!” Swallowing his tears, his eyes rimmed furiously red with anger.