Oh no! I've only been a freshman and I've already been targeted by a mean upperclassman.

"Weren't you writing your year-end summary yesterday?"

"I went out for a while after I finished writing."

"What time is it?"

"4:30."

Li Chen thought for a moment. She had sent him a message at 4:30, saying she was busy. He assumed she was in her office.

"You went out and bought gloves, then came back to continue writing your summary?"

"Fifteen minutes. They sell it on the first floor of the shopping mall near the east gate of the school."

Li Chen put on the gloves. The leather fit his hands perfectly. The size was just right.

How did you know my size?

"Last time you helped me move the display boards. I measured out the amount of hand cream I was applying to your palm."

"...Did you measure it at the time?"

"Visually estimated. The error is no more than half a size."

Li Chen looked down at his gloves. They were gray, the same color as his windbreaker.

"Thanks."

"Need not."

Yan Xi overtook the truck in front of her. She changed lanes and returned to the straight lane.

The navigation system indicates that there are still three kilometers to the highway entrance.

"Turn off the navigation sound. Read it to me."

Li Chen turned off the voice prompt.

"Take the right turn ramp 200 meters ahead to enter the coastal expressway."

Yan Xi turns on the light. (Connecting lines.)

The Porsche's engine hummed softly in the ramp.

We got on the highway. The speed stabilized at 110 km/h.

The road ahead was straight. Gray-green median strips lined both sides. The distant horizon began to change from iron-gray to light blue.

The sun hadn't risen yet, but a layer of light had already spread across the horizon.

Li Chen's phone lit up.

Group 302.

[Wang Qiang: The person's gone???? How did I oversleep???? I wanted to see them off!!!]

[Chen Mo: You drank four bottles of beer and two glasses of baijiu last night. Based on your metabolic rate, the current residual alcohol concentration in your body is approximately 0.04%. You woke up 37 minutes later than usual. Normal.]

[Zhao Zixuan: I just got up. The doorway is empty. He's really gone.]

[Wang Qiang: Li Chen!!! Report back when you arrive safely!!! Don't just care about your sister-in-law and ignore your brothers!!!]

Li Chen typed three words.

[Li Chen: On the way.]

[Wang Qiang: Is your sister-in-law home?]

[Li Chen: Driving.]

[Wang Qiang: Then tell your wife that if Wang Qiang passes advanced calculus, he'll treat her to dinner!]

[Chen Mo: Based on your spending habits and how well Yan Xi's dietary preferences match, a reasonable budget range for treating your sister-in-law to dinner is—]

[Zhao Zixuan: Alright, alright. Let people drive quietly.]

Li Chen locked the screen.

Yan Xi's gaze never left the road.

Have you heard from your dad today?

"Not yet. Probably sulking."

Where's your mom?

"I sent her a WeChat message before I left, saying I was leaving. She replied, 'Be careful and let me know you're safe every day.'"

"Didn't your dad respond?"

"His WeChat profile picture is grayed out."

Yan Xi's smile changed slightly.

"So angry you quit WeChat?"

"It's not that he quit. It's that he turned off the access to his Moments. He does this every time he gets angry. He turns it off for three days, and then secretly turns it back on."

"Your family members have a pretty consistent way of getting angry."

"What do you mean?"

"You also turn off your Moments when you're angry. Last time I posted that photo with Leng Qingge, you didn't like it for an hour. I checked your Moments, and it was closed."

Li Chen's hand stopped on his knee.

He did turn it off that time. Because in the group photo, Leng Qingge had his arm around Yan Xi's shoulder, and Yan Xi was smiling, and he felt that smile wasn't directed at him.

I'm not angry.

It's something else.

"I'm not angry."

"You turned it off for fifty-seven minutes. Then you turned it back on. You liked it. You commented with two words—'Good-looking'."

"Because it really looks good."

"It took fifty-seven minutes to confirm it looked good?"

Li Chen did not respond.

Yan Xi increased the car speed from 110 to 115.

"You're jealous."

"no."

"Your reaction time has given you away. That pause just now was 1.4 seconds. Your average response time is 0.7 seconds. That's doubled."

Li Chen leaned back in his chair.

The scenery outside the car window began to change. The plains receded. Some undulations appeared on the distant horizon.

"Okay. I'll eat."

Yan Xi didn't turn around. But her right hand left the steering wheel for two seconds and touched the center console.

She touched the soy milk cup that Li Chen had left there.

She picked it up. She lifted the lid with her thumb. She took a sip.

It's cold.

"I'll help you—"

"No need. I can drink it."

She took another sip. Then she put it back.

"Li Chen".

"Um."

"Your travel guide says that the best time to take photos of the mudflats in Xiapu on the fourth day is 20 minutes before sunrise."

"Yes. The best light on the mudflats in winter is between 6:30 and 7:00."

"You scheduled to arrive at Beiqi Village at 6:30."

"Um."

What time are you planning to get up?

"5:30."

"It's too early. Let's change it to six o'clock. I'll just drive faster."

"On that road—"

"I'll drive. You sit. The navigation is on."

Li Chen looked at her hands gripping the steering wheel. Her knuckles were distinct. Her nails were neatly trimmed. There was a faint ink stain on her ring finger. It hadn't been washed off yet.

"Yan Xi".

"Um."

"Where's your strategy guide?"

"What strategy?"

"You said you'd decide on the route. But you must have checked it yourself too."

Yan Xi tapped her fingers lightly twice on the steering wheel.

"I checked."

"How much were investigated?"

Page 32.

"Yours is shorter than mine."

"Because I don't need to write notes like 'yogurt should be low sugar, not stirred'."

Li Chen turned his head to look out the window.

His own face was reflected in the windowpane. A slight smile played on his lips.

"Is there anything in your thirty-two pages that I don't have?"

Yan Xi drew a half circle on the top of the steering wheel with her right index finger.

"Day three, Shitang Town. You wrote 'Cliffside Noodle Shop.' Limited to thirty bowls."

"right."

"You didn't mention the alley behind the noodle shop. At the end of the alley, there's an abandoned lighthouse. It was built in the 1990s. It's no longer in use. The iron gate is locked, but there's a gap on the west side that lets you in."

How did you know?

"A forum for architectural photography. The post was made in 2019. There are only three replies. One of them is from a former employee of the lighthouse management office. He said that the iron railing on the west side was blown askew during a typhoon in 2018 and has not been repaired since."

Li Chen turned to look at her.

Yan Xi's eyes were fixed ahead. The highway stretched straight out outside the windshield.

"You want to go to that lighthouse."

"An abandoned building. It has not been renovated. The original structure is well preserved."

Her tone was the same as when she talked about those red-brick factory buildings in Nanshan Art Village. She had calmed down. She was focused.

"Then let's go."

Aren't you curious why?

"The architecture you like has two characteristics. First, it retains its original structure, and second, it shows signs of time. This lighthouse has both."

Yan Xi paused for a moment on the steering wheel with her fingers.

"Where did you draw that conclusion?"

"Nanshan Art Village".

"You mentioned when you were looking at the paintings in the red brick exhibition hall that the colors that show through the limestone base are more valuable."

"You're willing to spend time solving the riddles in the ancient town's silver jewelry shops because there's a craft passed down through generations behind it."

"You chose the first edition of Le Corbusier's manuscripts from the secondhand bookstore instead of the reprint because the first edition's printing color difference is closer to the original manuscript."

He paused for a moment.

"The things you like are things that others don't have time to notice."

There was a six-second silence inside the car.

The median strips on both sides of the highway have turned from grayish-green to a withered yellow. Traces of wind erosion remain on the road surface.

Yan Xi extended her right hand.

Palm down.

It rests on the armrest of the center console.

Li Chen pulled his hand out of his glove and placed it over his hand.

Five fingers slipped between her fingers.

Palm to palm.

On the navigation screen, a blue driving trail extends along the coastline.

It's another hour and a half to Haining.

My phone vibrated.

News of Li Mohan.

He picked it up with one hand and glanced at it.

[Li Mohan: Where did you go?]

Li Chen typed four words.

[Li Chen: Look at the sea. Don't worry.]

Send it out.

Lock screen.

Turn your phone over and place it face down on your lap.

Yan Xi drew a small circle in his palm with her thumb.

On the horizon ahead, the sun peeked out from the gaps in the clouds for the first time.