However, I guessed he wouldn't want to see me.

So, please don't introduce us.

If you truly value our friendship, don't intervene or interfere as you did before unless he asks you to."

She paused and finally warned, "If you really are grateful to me, after finding out you've been used by him for nothing, please don't call me to cry about it. Hmm, and if you find that he doesn't care to use you at all, please don't either."

Tong Hua was furious, exploding with rage:

"Why am I doomed to be used by someone for nothing!"

"..."

Ye Zhi smiled, picked up her coffee cup, and said nothing.

She just took out her makeup mirror, opened it, and held it up in front of Tong Hua—inviting her to see her own foolish face, increasingly naive because of her worries.

Tong Hua fell silent.

Like a boneless creature, she slumped over the table, unable to rise again.

"It's really incomprehensible."

She sighed helplessly, "Having such tension every day, feeling like something is chasing you from behind, it's bound to cause issues over time, right?

Why exactly..."

"Who knows?"

Ye Zhi looked down, her gaze lingering on the sea waves and the fleeting light outside the window for a long time, "If I had to say... it might, perhaps, be guilt?"

It was not from theory, nor was it objective, but more like a presumptive conclusion, or perhaps, an intuition from the heart.

She reached out her finger.

Towards the scratch-filled sticky note.

Easily, effortlessly, she poked a large hole right through the middle of the scratches.

As if it had always been there.

Just unnoticed.

This was the root cause.

Perhaps it was encountering something, then losing it, something more important than life itself.

Something taken away, destroyed, hollowed out.

Leaving behind an irreparable void.

Like an inescapable curse, bringing pain and torment, yet somehow like a unique miracle, pushing him to keep moving forward.

From that day on, every day he lived had to have value.

Every day as the sun rose, he opened his eyes, hearing voices echoing deep within his soul, telling him—do not let down your own life.

"How tough it is," Ye Zhi sighed softly.

Bang!

A dull sound suddenly came from outside.

On a high platform not far away, a mischievous child jumped deep into the water, like a little bomb, splashing water around.

Joyful splashing, shouting, waving, making the little girl on the platform hesitant to join in.

"Come on, come on, hurry up!"

Then another older girl angrily, without any regard for politeness or decorum, hands on hips, pointed at the children: "You brat, get up here now!"

"No, no, no!"

The cheeky child splashed water, giggling loudly. Instantly, the furious sister rolled up her skirt to wade after him, a punch making him behave and cry loudly, "Mom, Lu Ling is bullying me!"

"Still yelling? Asking for a beating!"

"Hey, it's alright, they've got their swimsuits on, how nice to swim a bit?"

Meanwhile, their mother under the parasol smiled and advised, "Lu Ling, you go play for a while too."

Bang!

The hesitant little girl on the platform suddenly jumped down too, giggling with the youngest, splashing water on their sister.

"Big brother, come on!"

"Coming, coming!"

A dark-skinned man quickly removed his floral shirt, in the numb gaze of his sister, and climbed up the platform too, "Let me show everyone a 'deep water bomb'!"

Bang!!!

Just like that, he plunged into water only waist-deep, legs still visible, twitched a few times, and surprisingly survived!

Then he laughed loudly, got up, and joined the water battle with a bucket.

Mainly by teaming up with the other siblings to gang up on the second sister...

Drenched, Lu Ling finally turned around, seeing a savior: "Second brother! Please take care of them!"

"Coming, coming!"

Excited shouts arose.

A young man with severe scars waved, lifting a newly modified Gatling gun fashioned from a car-mounted high-pressure water gun, cackling madly as he rushed forward:

"Everyone not in swimsuits is going to die!!"

However, as he ran past the dessert shop, he seemed to notice someone behind the window, stopped for a bit then peered in and waved.

Then, he couldn't wait to plunge into the sea.

Hunting time!!!

Inside the private room, Ye Zhi blankly watched the receding figure, turned back, and looked at the completely numbed Tong Hua.

"Do you know him?"

"I do."

Tong Hua sighed with unspeakable feelings, "He's the one you just said was having a tough time."

So, Ye Zhi was numbed too.

After a long silence, she suddenly heard Tong Hua's light laughter.

Leaning on her hand, she gazed out at the seaside:

"It's pretty good too."

Having a water fight, mainly by bullying the second girl, then everyone ganging up on Lu Feng until his water gun ran out of power.

Diving, seeing who could make the biggest splash, thoroughly won by Lu Feng as he had the hardest head.

Playing with sand, they built a little castle for the youngest, a little swan for the third child, a bust for Lu Ling, and a grave for Lu Feng—everyone buried him together, leaving only his dog's head visible.

They bought milk tea, everyone took turns drinking, ate fruits brought from home, including peaches, apples, and watermelons, and stole the youngest's grapes, exceptionally sweet.

When the children got tired, Ji Jue picked each one up, carrying them on his shoulders, and, under the direction of the third and youngest, dashed back and forth between the shallow sea and the beach.

"Second brother, I want ice cream!"

"Sure, sure, let's have ice cream!" Ji Jue went with the flow, looking at the animal-shaped ice creams in the freezer: "How about the cat one?"

"Alright!"

"I want one too! I want the shark!" the third child raised his hand.

Then, the cat ice cream battled the shark.

Both losing their heads.

Sea breeze echoed, brought from afar.

After a while, under the blazing sun gradually setting, a diffuse orange spread across the green sky, with countless golden points dancing among the waves, like innumerable fish.

The sunset was beautiful.

This was the best value.

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