It really was awesome to bask in the sun, feel the warm and wet breeze, and eat a bowl of rolled ice cream in the middle of winter.

The only not so good thing was that their clothes didn’t want to dry. It was saltwater, and it was humid, so Huo Ran and Kou Chen could still squeeze water out of their pants when they went back to the beach with drinks.

Kou Chen took his shorts off, and wrung out a whole bunch of water in front of them.

“Look, what do I do now?” He said.

“I saw a shop that sells clothes over there, t-shirts, shorts, all that.” Huo Ran said. “You can buy a change of clothes if you want.”

“I’m sticky all over.” Hu Yi touched his leg, “And sandy too. It’s all in my mouth and ears.”

“Let’s go take a shower,” Xu Chuan said. “How are we supposed to eat otherwise?”

“Kou Chen,” Xu Zhifan looked behind Kou Chen. “You’re being photographed standing on the beach in underwear.”

Kou Chen turned around, and saw a group of university-aged girls standing not too far from them. Seeing him turn around, they all averted their gaze and took photos of the sea as they giggled.

Girls these days are getting more and more brave. Their acting skills need some work, they keep giggling.

They all went to shower, before buying a change of clothes.

Clothes sold at attractions like these weren’t very high quality, and on top of that, they were all colourful and flowery. The seven of them all chose different designs, but they still obviously looked like a group of tourists.

A group of ocean licking landlubbers from afar.

After that, the ocean licking group went on a photography journey. They took photos of the sea, the trees, the hammocks, the rocks, the shops by the beach, the lifesavers, the abandoned fishing boats, the fishing nets..

They sent every photo in the group chat, so everyone could pick which ones they wanted to post.

The timeline was full of photos of them smiling sillily in different poses with different backgrounds and with different people.

Their classmates all berated them for clogging up the timeline.

Someone asked them where they were, and Jiang Lei replied with:

-Thailand

After they saw pretty much everything the beach had to offer, Huo Ran’s face hurt from all the smiling he’d done that day. Everyone else was probably in the same boat. When they returned to the car, the driver took one more group photo for them.

Nobody was smiling.

They all looked very cool.

Kou Chen posted that picture.

Wu Xiaochen commented:

-Did you guys get scammed by the tour guide?

They were still laughing at that even after they drove off.

“Mister, take us to where the locals eat.” Xu Zhifan sat in the passenger seat. “We’ll give you your commission directly, don’t take us to a tourist restaurant.”

The driver laughed: “We all eat at the street vendors.”

“That’s what we want.” Kou Chen said. “We love street food.”

“Alright then, I’ll take you to my friend’s.” The driver said. “Very fresh, just a little pricey.”

“That’s fine, as long as it’s good.” Kou Chen said. “If it’s good then we’ll go back tonight.”

“I think we can just stay there until dinner.” Xu Chuan said. “It’s already three.”

“If it’s good we’ll stay until dinner, even for our midnight snack.’ Kou Chen said.

“If you guys want a midnight snack,” The driver laughed. “I’ll take you to a night market. It’s open from ten to one or two in the morning. It’s a whole street of variety, very lively.”

“Okay, we’ll go there.” Kou Chen nodded.

Back at school, they would usually go out to eat, but it was still different compared to right now.

Right now, they were a group of friends in a faraway seaside town in the south. With unfamiliar people, unfamiliar scenes, unfamiliar smells, and unfamiliar accents.. Not only that, if they didn’t speak Mandarin it would’ve felt like they were in another country.. And they might not understand them anyways, they had a myriad of accents and dialects here.

They had the complete freedom to do anything, and it couldn’t be compared to just going out to eat on a normal day. It was all so new and relaxed, with a hint of excitement stemming from ‘we’re grown up now, we have everything under control’.

They have their fair share of seafood back at home, but sitting in a small restaurant just a road away from the sea as they laughed and drank, the food would just taste different.

Usually when they had a really pretty and unique dish, they would take pictures as they ate. Now, they took a photo of every dish that was brought to them, and then they all collectively flooded the timeline.

Pc atf fcv, Kjcu Qfl wjvf j qbra bo tfg bkc.

-You guys are so heartless, stop showing off! We’re all classmates, can’t get enough of each other, enough is enough!

Ktja qbra gfmflnfv j ktbif yecmt bo ilxfr.

Coafg atfs jaf atflg vlccfg jibcu klat iecmt, Bbe Jtfc qjaafv tlr yfiis jcv asqfv bc tlr qtbcf: “Yxjs, ijra qbra jcv atfc kf’ii ifjnf atfw jibcf.”

-Finished dinner. Our nightlife begins now.

Bbe Wljb kjr atf olgra ab mbwwfca.

-Fuck off.

Huo Ran burst out into laughter. He spammed the timeline to the point that even his mom commented saying:?Son, don’t forget to come home. Your home is in the far away north with no night markets in the wintertime.

The didn’t market didn’t just have food, there were also two streets selling ‘art’. There were two types of ‘art’. One type was various shells and pearls and sea related things, and the other was small commodities that you could find all over the country.

As a rich young master that had never left home, Kou Chen wanted to buy everything he saw.

“Don’t buy that, you can get it at the shop behind school,” Huo Ran had to stop him. “You want this? Eighty for that? I can make you ten for eight..”

“Deal,” Kou Chen pointed at him. “I don’t want ten though, one is enough.”

Huo Ran opened his mouth.

“What about this? This seashell lamp is really pretty.” Kou Chen had his eyes on something else now. “I’ll buy you one.”

“Huh?” Huo Ran started, looking at the shell lamp in front of him flashing with rainbow lights. He felt like he was losing his ability for speech because of Kou Chen’s strange aesthetics.

“Don’t you sleep with a nightlight?” Kou Chen whispered. “I’ll buy you one, isn’t it cool?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to sleep then?” Huo Ran said. “I’ll be looking at a rainbow even with my eyes closed, it’s like the lighting effects in horror movies.”

“Really?” Kou Chen looked back at the lamp before putting it down reluctantly.

They wandered around, and Kou Chen pretty much picked up everything made of seashells to examine.

Huo Ran really didn’t understand. Kou Chen had a great sense of style, when he wasn’t in uniform, he gave off the air of ‘I’m a dreamy model that’s being held back from my true potential by school’ from head to toe, so why did he revert to the tastes of a little kid when picking souvenirs like this?

It was probably the atmosphere.

The freedom of a group trip without ‘adults’ to nag you.

After going through the two streets, they saw the rest of the guys all holding bags of stuff, and Huo Ran felt that his judgement should be very accurate.

Everyone had a couple of things in their bags that they would never have normally bought.

Xu Zhifan’s seashell bracelet, Xu Chuan’s light-up vase, Jiang Lei’s scallop shaped lamp diffuser, and Wei Chaoren and Hu Yi’s glow in the dark kinetic sand, one green and one blue..

“What’s wrong with you guys?” Huo Ran looked through them all in shock.

“What did you get?” Jiang Lei asked.

Huo Ran hesitated before looking down at his own bag, “Shrimp and dried scallops.”

“..Smart.” Xu Chuan gave him a thumbs up, before turning to leave, “Wait for me, I’m gonna get some too. I didn’t even realize you could buy stuff like that.”

“Me too!” Everyone followed him.

“Me too..” Kou Chen said as he made to move.

“Didn’t you buy it already?” Huo Ran followed him. He was with Kou Chen the whole time.

“I wanna get that lamp.” Kou Chen said. “They all bought stuff, why can’t I?”

Huo Ran sighed, but didn’t stop him.

They’re here to have fun. Who doesn’t buy things on vacation that they would regret later?

When his mom went out before, she brought back a box of coconut ‘wind chimes’ from some foreign island. She couldn’t even give them out as gifts. Then she went online and saw that they were being sold for half the price online.

The lamp Kou Chen wanted was 25 yuan. He can suit himself.

“25, I’m not ripping you off.” The owner said. “I bought them for nearly 20 a piece!”

“No way,” Kou Chen said. “It’s so ugly, you bought them for 20? Who’d believe that?”

People like you!

You’re aware of how ugly they are! And you’re still buying it!

Huo Ran stood behind him and whispered: “Not 25, if you can’t haggle it down we’ll get it from somewhere else.”

“Make it cheaper, or I’ll go somewhere else.” Kou Chen said.

“How much do you want?” The owner said. “Name a good price and it’s yours.”

Kou Chen was quiet for a while, and then he flicked the metal stand coolly: “24.”

Huo Ran and the owner both turned to him in shock.

“Yes or no?” You could see the impatient ‘if it’s a no I’ll leave’ expression written on Kou Chen’s face.

“It’s yours, it’s yours!” The owner quickly put the lamp in a bag and handed it over.

Kou Chen paid the 24 yuan, and left with the lamp.

“I thought she was gonna say no.” Kou Chen took the lamp out as they left. “She bought it for 20, and then you have to consider the booth rental, transportation, and labour..”

“Who said she bought it for 20?” Huo Ran asked. “Didn’t you also say there was no way?”

“I lied,” Kou Chen said. “Isn’t that how you haggle?”

Huo Ran patted his shoulder: “That’s right.”

“Should I get Kou Xiao one of those seashell rings..?” Kou Chen thought about it.

“She’s gonna beat you up.” Huo Ran said.

“..True.” Kou Chen said.

“Why don’t you buy pearls or something? For your mom or Kou Xiao.” Huo Ran said.

“Nah, it’s too expensive.” Kou Chen shook his head.

“You think something is expensive?” Huo Ran was shocked. “You could’ve bought a decent pearl with the lunch money you threw at Li Jianying, right?”

“That’s not it.” Kou Chen lowered his voice. “If I were by myself I would’ve bought it, but we’re with everyone else now. What if they saw that I bought something so expensive for my family..? Then they’d do the same. If they don’t, then it’s like they’re giving their family a cheap gift while other people are getting expensive gifts.”

Huo Ran stared at him in silence.

“Right? All ordinary families.” Kou Chen said. “So I’m not gonna show off now. There’s a time and place for that.”

Huo Ran still didn’t say anything. He really didn’t think that much about it. He was shocked at how considerate Kou Chen was.

Kou Chen, who was always showing off one way or another, was actually kinda sexy when he said stuff like that?

When the seven of them met back at the street corner, they had all bought a bunch more stuff. They were gonna want to stab themselves in the eyes when they got home, but now, they were all very happy.

“Let’s go over there,” Hu Yi pointed at a small stall. “They have customized name bracelets, we can each get one.”

“With our own names?” Huo Ran asked.

“Operation: Lick the Sea,” Hu Yi said. “Letters or characters.”

“Yeah!” Everyone was in agreement.

Although Huo Ran thought it was pretty dumb, he still agreed because it was fun.

But as expected, they didn’t have the character for ‘lick’, only common surnames, because nobody had that as a name.

So they picked out the letters, ‘THXD‘.

They were little metal cubes with the letter printed in black. Paired with black string, they actually looked pretty cool.

Everyone put their bracelets on and stood in a circle with their arms extended, before taking a photo.

“Who’s posting it?” Kou Chen said. “I already said I’m not gonna post again today.”

“I’ll do it.” Jiang Lei said. “I said that too, but who cares about that.”

They all laughed and got their phones out to like Jiang Lei’s post the second he posted it.

-Guess what it stands for

The comments popped up soon after.

–He seems really

-She’s shy

-Easy to learn

-The two hands on the bottom left are Huo Ran and Kou Chen, right?

-Obviously, the perfect ship

As the driver was taking them back to the hotel after their midnight snack, Huo Ran was still thinking about that line: “What do they mean by ‘ship’ mean?”

“It means we look like a couple.” Kou Chen explained quietly.

“..I know that,” Huo Ran said. “I mean why would they say that? It’s just two arms.”

Kou Chen laughed and extended his arm.

Huo Ran put his own arm next to him: “What do you see?”

“Mhm,” Kou Chen nodded, “I’m paler than you.”

“Fuck off,” Huo Ran said. “We’ve been in the sun the whole day, I bet we’re all gonna be the same colour tomorrow.”

“I’ll still be paler than you,” Kou Chen said. “You have to accept that fact.”

“Okay then.” Huo Ran looked at his hand again.

“They’re just joking around,” Kou Chen said. “You don’t have to mind.”

“Hm?” Huo Ran glanced at him, “I don’t mind.”

Kou Chen smiled, and said nothing.

It was already past one o’clock when they got back to the hotel. Since none of them slept the night before, they all rushed back to their rooms to fight for the bathrooms, shower, and sleep.

Huo Ran took the bathroom first while Kou Chen was busy admiring his seashell lamp, and he quickly took a shower.

When he came out, he found that Kou Chen had plugged the lamp in and turned all the other lights off. He was admiring the rainbow lights it cast onto the ceiling.

“I don’t think you can sleep like this, huh?” Kou Chen put an arm behind his head. “I can see them even with my eyes closed.”

“I told you.” Huo Ran laughed.

“What now? I already bought it.” Kou Chen said. “I can give it to Old Yuan?”

“Hey, leave Old Yuan alone.” Huo Ran said. “Didn’t you say it was for me?”

“You said you couldn’t sleep like this, that it’s like a horror movie.” Kou Chen said.

“I can try.” Huo Ran said. “It’s embarrassing if you can’t even gift it away.”

“I don’t care about that,” Kou Chen said. “I give out enough gifts.”

Huo Ran thought Kou Chen would feel awkward if he kept refusing the lamp that he was so fixated on, seeing as he was a person that valued friendship a lot.

But then Kou Chen abandoned all of his EQ and said that, so he really didn’t know what to say to it.

Kou Chen laughed: “My impression of you before was that you talked too much shit, it was just a basketball game and you never shut up. Now, I think you’re actually very softhearted, right?”

“Not really,” Huo Ran said. “It’s because you’re too embarrassing, and I have nothing to say to that.”

Kou Chen wheezed with laughter for a while before he let out a sigh.

“You actually have a decent personality.” Huo Ran leaned on the desk and looked at him.

“Depends on who I’m with.” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran didn’t know if the day was just too exciting or something, but he couldn’t help but ask the question he always wanted to ask but thought it wasn’t very polite to: “Why did you transfer?”

“I heard it was because I hit a teacher.” Kou Chen said.

“Did you?” Huo Ran kept asking. Might as well get it over with since he started it.

Kou Chen was silent for a few seconds: “Bullshit, of course I did. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

“..Why?” Huo Ran asked.

“I don’t need a reason to hit people who are asking for it.” Kou Chen said. “I’ll hit them if I want to, as many times as I want.”

Huo Ran was shocked: “How many times did you do it?”

“Twice.” Kou Chen sat up and smirked, “They wouldn’t force me to transfer if it was just once.”