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

Yan Xi reached out her hand, took the hand cream, and unscrewed the cap.

"Right hand. Extend it."

Li Chen extended his right hand. There were two shallow scratches on his knuckles. They were from the punch he received that afternoon.

Yan Xi squeezed a little hand cream onto his knuckles. She pressed her thumb against them and gently spread it along the lines of the scratches. The pressure was very light.

Her fingertip lingered on the scratch on the second joint of his middle finger for two seconds.

"From now on, when you hit someone, aim two centimeters lower. This increases the contact area of ​​your knuckles, dispersing the impact and making it less likely to hurt yourself."

"You're teaching me how to hit someone."

"I'm teaching you how not to get hurt."

She screwed the cap back on the hand cream and put it in the breast pocket of his jacket.

"Keep it safe. Don't lose it."

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

His mother.

Li Chen took it out and glanced at it.

[Shen Ruolan: Have you booked your accommodation? What are the conditions like? Is there hot water? Are the blankets clean? Send me a picture.]

Li Chen raised his phone and took a picture of the room.

Bed, table, window, sea view. Send it over.

three seconds.

[Shen Ruolan: Just one bed?]

Li Chen stared at the screen for two seconds.

Yan Xi peeked out from behind him and took a look.

"The aunt's questions were quite accurate."

Li Chen locked the screen.

"I'll go check on the kitchen."

He turned and went downstairs.

Yan Xi watched his figure disappear at the top of the stairs.

She walked back to the windowsill and sat down. She took out her phone.

I sent a message to Leng Qingge.

[Yan Xi: We've arrived. On the island. Mountaintop guesthouse.]

three seconds.

[Leng Qingge: How many rooms?]

[Yan Xi: One room.]

[Leng Qingge: !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! ]

Yan Xi locked the screen. She placed her phone face down on the windowsill.

The sea outside the window grew completely dark. The lighthouse's white light shone. Every twelve seconds. Accurately.

The sound of a running tap came from the kitchen downstairs.

Yan Xi looked down and glanced at the traces of hand cream left on the back of her left hand.

It got on my skin when I was applying it to him earlier.

She didn't wipe it.

Li Chen searched the kitchen thoroughly.

There is a yellow croaker, half a cabbage, three eggs, and a block of firm tofu in the refrigerator.

The only seasonings were salt, soy sauce, a small bottle of vinegar, and half a head of garlic.

No scallions. No cilantro.

He stood in front of the stove for three seconds, thinking. Yan Xi doesn't eat onions, garlic, or cilantro. The garlic in the fridge is fine, we don't need it.

Steamed yellow croaker. Stewed cabbage and tofu. Fry one egg, and use the other two to make soup.

He washed the fish, rubbed it with salt, and then started cutting the cabbage.

Footsteps echoed down the stairs.

Yan Xi came down.

She changed into a pair of slippers from the closet in her room. Her hair was retied, and the phoenix hairpin was inserted neatly.

She walked to the kitchen doorway and leaned against the door frame.

Yellow croaker. Cabbage. Tofu. Eggs.

How did you know?

"I heard you open the fridge once and close it once. There was no sound of you repeatedly selecting items. That means there weren't many kinds of food, so you just took everything."

Li Chen's knife didn't stop.

"You can listen to me open the refrigerator from the second floor."

"The soundproofing of this house is just as bad as its load-bearing walls."

Yan Xi walked into the kitchen.

The space is very small; there's not much room left if two people stand there.

Her shoulder brushed against his arm.

"I'll start the fire."

"No open flame. Induction cooker."

"Then I'll watch over you."

She pulled over a low stool next to the stove and sat down.

His chin rested on the back of his hand, just like when he was working at a food stall.

Li Chen poured water into the pot, preparing to steam the fish.

"When you're chopping vegetables, the angle of your left knuckles is two degrees greater than when you cooked at Yanxi's apartment last time."

"Remember the angle of my knuckles when I cut vegetables."

"You keep track of my cadence. That's fair."

The water boiled. Li Chen put the fish in and put the lid on.

Steam for eight minutes.

He turned around.

Yan Xi sat on a low stool and looked up at him.

The kitchen light was a bare bulb, giving off a warm yellow hue.

The light shone on her face, melting away the usual cool tone.

Why are you staring at me?

"You don't look at your phone or get distracted when you're cooking, and your knife skills are steady. Your breathing is slower than usual." She paused. "You're most relaxed when you're cooking."

Li Chen did not answer.

He bent down and rummaged through the low cabinet, took out a bowl, washed it, and poured in half a bowl of vinegar.

"You're making the dipping sauce. But there's no ginger in the fridge."

"There's a Sichuan pepper tree in the boss's yard. I picked a few peppercorns when I came in."

He took out four Sichuan peppercorns from his down jacket pocket, crushed them, and threw them into the vinegar bowl.

Yan Xi's gaze shifted from the vinegar bowl to his pocket.

"You can always pull something out of your pocket. Sichuan peppercorns, rubber bands, seasickness patches, preserved plums, hand cream."

"You always have iodine and liniment in the lining of your backpack."

The two looked at each other for a second.

Yan Xi looked away first.

The fish was steamed. Li Chen lifted the lid. Steam billowed out. He tested the fish meat with chopsticks and found he could easily separate it.

Yan Xi stood up.

"I'll take it."

"hot."

"I've served more things than you can imagine."

She took a towel as a mat and carried the plate of steamed fish to the stone table in the courtyard.

Li Chen followed him out and brought out the cabbage, tofu, and egg drop soup.

It was dark in the courtyard.

Only starlight filtered through the gaps in the pine trees overhead.

Li Chen borrowed a camping lamp from the shopkeeper. The orange-yellow light illuminated a small circle around the stone table.

There is no rice.

"Do you have noodles?"

"We have noodles. But cooking them will require turning on the stove again. You can eat first if you're hungry."

I'm not hungry.

She reached for the fish with her chopsticks, picked up a piece, glanced at the distribution of bones, and then put it in her mouth.

"fresh."

"How does it compare to a food stall?"

"What you did was different."

Li Chen put a piece of tofu in her bowl.

"What's different?"

Yan Xi chewed twice. Then she swallowed.

"The fish at the food stall is a commodity. The fish you cooked is—" Her chopsticks paused in mid-air. "...You cooked it."

Li Chen lowered his head and ate his food.

My phone kept vibrating in my pocket. (Group 302)

He didn't look at it.

Yan Xi picked up a piece of cabbage with her chopsticks and put it into his bowl.

"Your group chat is exploding again."

"Um."

"Not going to watch?"

"Have a meal."

Yan Xi's foot touched his foot under the stone table. Not stepping on it, but resting on it.

The toe of his shoe pressed against his ankle.

You haven't answered your mother's question yet.

Li Chen stopped eating.

Which question?

"There's only one bed."

Li Chen looked up.

The camping lamp's light couldn't illuminate Yan Xi's expression. Only the outline of her chin and the reflection from the end of her phoenix hairpin were visible.

"I'll sleep on the floor."

"Stone floor. January. On the island. You sleep on the floor."

"I can withstand the cold."

"How many times have I exposed your 'liar' today?"

Li Chen didn't speak.

Yan Xi removed her foot from his ankle. She stood up and picked up the empty fish plate.

"I'll wash the dishes. You go boil some water."

"I'll wash it—"

"Li Chen".

Her voice wasn't loud, but Li Chen recognized the tone. It was the same as when she was in student council meetings—unyielding and brooking no argument.

"Today you climbed two lighthouses, walked nine kilometers of the island's ring road, beat someone up, waited on a fishing boat for ten minutes, and cooked a meal." She picked up the chopsticks and bowl and stacked them together. "Go boil some water. I said wash the dishes, so I mean wash the dishes."

Li Chen went to boil water.

The water heater should indeed be turned on half an hour in advance.

He pressed the switch and glanced at the bathroom again.

It's very small. The showerhead is old-fashioned. The water pressure might be insufficient.

He turned on the showerhead to test it. The water pressure was barely enough. It would take two minutes for the temperature to rise.

He tested the water temperature with his hand. It was a bit cool. After the water warmed up, he hung up the showerhead and adjusted it to her preferred temperature—two degrees higher than his own.

This data was secretly noted down at the hot spring resort last time. Yan Xi turned the showerhead a few times and calculated the readings.

When I stood up, Yan Xi had already finished washing the dishes and came up.

"Is the water temperature adjusted?"