Since they had to get up early the next day, everyone returned to their rooms early to rest.
After showering and applying a face mask, Wen Wanning lay on the bed and continued browsing the search results for beach sports: surfing, rock climbing, and cliff diving.
...Each one was more hopeless than the last.
The planner seemed determined to push them to their limits; while these activities were all quite expensive, trying to earn food expenses from them was harder than ascending to heaven.
As for activities that could actually earn a little money, such as fishing, digging for crabs, or helping tourists watch their children, they didn't strictly count as sports, and she would have to rack her brains to argue with the director team.
She shared her thoughts in the small group chat. Jiang Yun's reaction was very positive, and she brainstormed with her about what kind of crabs would sell well, while Xu Jiashu simply agreed with everything, unwilling to put any thought into it at all.
Wen Wanning took a few deep breaths and simply threw on a bathrobe to go out for some air. Just as she walked down the stairs, she saw a familiar figure sitting on the bench on the terrace.
It was just past twelve, and the production crew staff had all withdrawn.
She looked around, and seeing not even a silhouette, let alone a camera, she felt relieved enough to walk two steps closer.
"You didn't go to see the meteor shower tonight?"
After all, having just made up quite a few lies about him, Wen Wanning deliberately used a relaxed tone to hide the guilt that only she knew about.
Ling Ye had his arm draped casually over the back of the bench. As if he had only just noticed her approaching, he raised an eyebrow slightly.
His confusion was written all over his face. It took Wen Wanning a good moment to understand, and she couldn't quite believe it, "You didn't... check the messages in the group chat, did you?"
"What group?" Ling Ye said.
"Wait for me to find it."
There were many notifications from the program group. Wen Wanning flipped through seven or eight pinned chats for a while before finally finding the meteor shower gathering notice, "The schedule group with the assistants, you didn't join?"
Ling Ye was very frank, "I didn't bring an assistant."
"I didn't bring one either, but Qi Jiujiu's..."
Wen Wanning explained halfway, then felt it wasn't necessary, so she simply showed him her QR code, "Add me, I'll pull you into the group. Remember to check for messages from now on."
It was a private beach with no buildings around, and the brightest light source was the swimming pool downstairs.
The small lights from dinner were still hanging on the flower trellis, flickering, soft but dim.
Ling Ye looked up. The woman's long hair was scattered casually to one side of her ears, still damp. There was a faint, serene scent of sandalwood in the wind, a moist, shower gel scent so close it was almost skin-deep.
He didn't move for so long that Wen Wanning felt a bit awkward.
She had purely good intentions, but he might think there was no need for this at all, whether it was being bombarded by group notifications or resuming contact with her.
"If it's not convenient, never mind."
Ling Ye lowered his eyes, "I didn't hear you clearly just now, sorry."
Wen Wanning pursed her lips, barely accepting his excuse, and watched as he picked up his phone and scanned the code.
Soon, a red dot popped up with a new friend request notification.
LY: I am Ling Ye
Wen Wanning clicked accept and pulled him into the group chat. Like a mother helping with homework, she watched him change his nickname to his real name and read the previous schedule announcements.
After a while, she caught a glimpse of someone appearing to come up on the other side of the terrace. She pointed to the attic, "I'm going back first. Send me a message if you need anything."
Ling Ye nodded and watched her leave, "Okay."
On the first night of filming, the sea breeze was blowing, and it was so quiet that only the faint sound of the tide could be heard.
Half an hour had passed since she went downstairs, and no one had spoken in the small group chat, which was stuck on a piece of positive chicken soup posted by Jiang Yun.
Wen Wanning let out a long sigh, turned over to lie on her back, and stared blankly at the stars behind the skylight.
Her mindset felt like it had returned to final exams during her school days. Whenever there was a group project, the division of labor was always the same: the one with the great attitude, the one who disappeared the whole time, and the one who worried from start to finish.
She didn't expect that even after nearly ten years, she was still the diligent fool.
She hadn't been spacing out for long when her phone vibrated. A message from Qi Jiujiu: What are you doing tomorrow? Have you decided yet?
Why don't you borrow Ling Ye and have him take the young girls to race go-karts on the sand? It'll definitely make a fortune. You'll be able to buy a house in full after two days on the shore.
Wen Wanning's heart was already like still water: Don't, you guys just focus on selling flowers.
We're friends, you can help me out with a meal before I starve to death.
Qi Jiujiu: We have the sister from the flower shop on the island helping us tomorrow, so it probably won't be too hard. I asked Qiao Li, and their group is about the same.
I'll make a bold guess: the planner just wants to come up with an unsolvable problem to make you and that dog Xu Jiashu rekindle your old flame through the bridge effect. Whether you can make money is just a cover; wanting to stir up trouble is the real goal.
You should just sleep. If all else fails, just slack off tomorrow. The director team has plenty of backup plans.
With the master leading the way, Wen Wanning had an enlightenment and let out a long sigh of relief.
With the serious business settled, the rest was gossip.
Qi Jiujiu: So why didn't Ling Ye come tonight? Was he really busy?
Wen Wanning held her phone and typed: No, he didn't join the group and didn't know about the meteor shower schedule at all.
Qi Jiujiu: That can't be right. You know how hard it was for Orange TV to invite him. I remember he was added by the director as soon as the group was created...
After a few seconds, she denied it herself: It's also possible I remembered wrong, never mind.
Teacher Wen, do me a favor, take a screenshot of Ling Ye's Moments for me to see.
This request was a bit abrupt, and Wen Wanning was confused.
Should I push his WeChat to you?
To outsiders, Ling Ye was cold on the outside and not warm on the inside, and he seemed difficult to get along with. Wen Wanning could understand that she wanted to learn more about her partner in advance.
But with so many shared groups, did she really need to be so circuitous?
Qi Jiujiu: It's useless. I've sent him requests two or three times these past few days, and he hasn't responded to me.
Wen Wanning was speechless for two seconds and could only reply: Then wait a moment.
She returned to the message list. The first line below the pinned chats was Ling Ye, whom she had just added tonight, with a dark avatar.
Wen Wanning clicked on the large avatar and discovered it was a view of the night sky looking down from an airplane window.
The city was a deep indigo, with building complexes vaguely visible, and the traffic flow on the streets and overpasses looked like dense golden lava, extending in all directions.
The photo was very clear, but there was nothing special about it; it was probably just a casual shot.
His Moments homepage was also very clean, looking much like his Weibo at first glance.
The background image was the pit lane garage during an F1 race.
With the striking YE LING 77 logo, dozens of mechanics from the racing team were busy surrounding the car. To the side was a huge poster of the new Mercedes-Benz season, extending from the ground to the second floor of the Paddock Club.
On the poster, Ling Ye was wearing a black racing suit, his face sharp and deep. It was clearly a cold and indifferent temperament, but contradictorily, it had a kind of suppressed aggressiveness.
Just from this one look, Wen Wanning suddenly understood why the grandstand tickets directly opposite the Mercedes-Benz racing team were always sold out in seconds.
The engine sound on the race track was outrageously loud, and after two hours, everyone had a bit of tinnitus; only such a handsome face could provide a little comfort.
She scrolled down further.
There was no time limit displayed, but he hadn't posted anything either.
Since joining the Haas F1 Team three years ago, there was one post every winter, all of which were group photos from the season-ending celebration banquet. Among the European faces, the young man with black hair and black eyes was exceptionally striking.
The color of the racing suit had changed, but the caption had never changed; it was always just one word: thank you.
Based on these things, it seemed impossible to tell what his personality was like in daily life.
Wen Wanning returned to the chat interface. Worried about how to explain it to Qi Jiujiu, she wanted to click back into his homepage to see if she had captured the full screenshot, but her hand slipped, and she poked his avatar one too many times.
I poked "LY"
A line of prompts lit up.
Wen Wanning rolled over halfway and sat up abruptly on the bed.
Save me...
Her shaking hands needed treatment; not only did it affect her life, but it also made her look like a weird older sister flirting in the middle of the night.
The message from the other side appeared almost instantly, not even giving her brain time to cool down.
LY: ?
LY: What's wrong?
Wen Wanning braced herself and replied: I clicked it by mistake, nothing important.
The "Typing..." indicator on the other end kept flashing. She sat on pins and needles for a long time, waiting until she felt numb, before seeing one word pop up from the other side.
LY: Okay.
LY: I don't really like posting on Moments. If there's anything you want to know, you can ask me directly.
Wen Wanning: ...
More shameful than secretly looking at someone's Moments in the middle of the night was being called out to your face—
He knew she was peeking, and that she had been looking so long she didn't want to leave.
What would Ling Ye think?
She couldn't sell out Qi Jiujiu, and she certainly couldn't confirm that she was the one who wanted to look. Just empathizing with the situation made her feel like she wasn't a decent person.
Wen Wanning stared at the line of text he sent and read it over and over again. Her face felt like it was burning, yet she still couldn't think of a decent reply.
She had been silent for too long, and he probably feared she had fallen asleep, so the phone vibrated gently after a while.
Wen Wanning glanced at the screen quickly.
Double kill in one night.
Her hanging heart was completely dead.
"LY" poked my back and said: Scrubbed clean, next one.
✦✦✦