Chapter 50: I'd Have to Be a Fool to Believe You Enough to Watch the Sunrise With You
The Riverside Bridge was very long and very beautiful.
Because it wasn’t a main road, there were almost no cars passing by late at night.
Walking along the dashed line in the middle of the road, Lin Yibai, who always saw herself as a good citizen who followed the rules, looked uneasy and said, "This doesn’t feel right! What if we get hit by a car?"
"This isn’t even a main road."
"Still, cars do pass by sometimes!"
"The view from the bridge is so wide. If it wasn’t safe, I wouldn’t let you walk here. I wouldn’t take that risk."
Xia Changyu only dared to do this because he believed it was safe, and honestly, he also had a little selfish reason.
He was thinking: walking on the road together like this…
That’s something he never even did with his girlfriend Gu Xiaoxue… Well, ex-girlfriend, since they broke up after going home.
So he was super excited. But sadly, he could only use the excuse of taking photos, to walk the street with the girl in front of him.
They walked together from one end of the bridge to the other. Was this little trip finally coming to an end?
Finally, she might be able to shake off this annoying love rival.
At the part where the road split, Xia Changyu asked, "Do you want to go watch the sunrise together?"
Lin Yibai shook her head. "Nope!"
Xia Changyu said, "I heard that…"
Lin Yibai quickly interrupted, "Stop! I don’t want to hear any more of your ‘I heard…’ stories!"
Because if she was late getting to the internet café, the sky would be bright soon…
She had paid for a full night of internet time, but only got to play a few hours. That would be such a waste!
So no, she didn’t want to hear anything more.
Right now, all she wanted to do was go to the internet café!
But Xia Changyu didn’t want to give up. Even though they had only spent a short time together, he felt like he had figured out a little bit of her personality. So he said,
"I know you came to Binhai because of me, and you spent a lot of money to get here. So even if things didn’t work out, you could still treat it like a trip. And one of the most famous things to see by the sea is the sunrise. If you don’t even watch the sunrise, can you really call it a vacation?"
Lin Yibai stopped walking.
From a tourist’s point of view, she had to admit, what he said kind of made sense.
It’s like going to a tourist city... and then only sleeping in a hotel?
She had a lot of concerns though. She said honestly, "I’ll admit, you do have a point. Traveling without taking pictures is like eating noodles without garlic. I might consider your idea, but that doesn’t mean I’ll agree to it."
"Why not?"
"No money!"
Xia Changyu said, "I heard there’s a seaside park less than 20 kilometers from here. There’s a big rock called ‘Sea View Rock.’ People say the sunrise view from there is amazing! And tickets are only 120 yuan each. If we go now, we’ll make it in time."
When Lin Yibai heard that, she shouted, "120 yuan per ticket?! That’s robbery!" And just like that, she refused even harder.
Xia Changyu was confused. "How is that expensive?"
Clearly, they weren’t on the same page.
Lin Yibai thought, ‘If he wants her to spend 120 yuan per ticket, she might as well drop dead. She’d rather spend the money on a full meal!’
But Xia Changyu thought, ‘120 yuan per person is really not bad at all. Two tickets for 240 yuan, totally worth it!’
In Lin Yibai’s simple and thrifty mind, she was spending her own money to go sightseeing.
In Xia Changyu’s mind, he was planning to pay for everything.
Lin Yibai shook her head hard. "No way, not going. Don’t waste your time. Even if you beat me, I still wouldn’t go!"
Xia Changyu said, "But I’ll pay for it."
Lin Yibai shook her head out of habit. "You’re paying?"
After a while, she realized what he said and replied, "Still, I don’t think I should go."
She still believed that kind of "free deal" was too suspicious.
Have you ever heard the story of the dog giving candy to a cat? The cat ate the candy, fell asleep, and the next day… its butt hurt.
Xia Changyu was totally surprised. Usually in situations like this…
When he went out with Gu Xiaoxue and her dorm mates, he didn’t even need to bring anything up, the girls had already planned where to go, what to eat, what to do. And they were never shy about spending his money.
He had made up his mind and sincerely said, "You helped me so much this time, and I’m not the kind of person who likes to owe others. Can’t you just let me thank you properly this once?"
But Lin Yibai still felt it wasn’t right. "That’s not necessary."
Xia Changyu spread his hands and begged, "Please, just give me a chance to thank you!"
"Can you stop acting like this?"
"Please!"
"Ugh!" Lin Yibai frowned and said again, "I’m not that kind of person. I helped you because I wanted to, not because I wanted anything in return."
"I’m begging you!"
"?"
"Pretty please!"
"......"
Oh please, could you not act like this? It’s really hard to say no to you when you’re like this!
Xia Changyu also noticed something about the girl in front of him. She seemed a little soft-hearted when pressured.
After a small inner struggle...
Lin Yibai took a deep breath and said with a helpless face, "Alright, alright!"
She really couldn’t do anything about him.
She swore she didn’t really want to go, but this annoying love rival just kept pushing her.
Taking a taxi to the scenic area must be super expensive, right?
Lin Yibai thought maybe she should help cover the cost, so she said, "How about we split the taxi fare 50/50? And when we get to the park, I won’t take advantage of you, I’ll also pay part of the entrance ticket."
Wait, what did she just say?
If she said that, then Xia Changyu would definitely be unhappy, the whole point of him begging like this was so he could spend money on her! And he was more than happy to do so.
How should he put it...
Not letting him spend money on her, that felt even worse than being punched.
After thinking for a moment, Xia Changyu said, "Let’s not take a taxi. I have my own car."
"Then let me at least pay for gas!"
"?"
What? Do you think I’m poor? Gas doesn’t cost that much!
Driving a girl around and asking her to pay for gas?
He could already imagine his friends laughing at him forever. He would never forget that.
They arrived at the Seaside Grand Hotel. After successfully getting in the car, they drove out of the city.
From beginning to end, Xia Changyu hadn’t returned to the hotel room, and he had no interest in seeing Gu Xiaoxue or the others.
After a 40-minute drive...
They finally reached the bottom of the mountain near the scenic area.
It was already past 3 a.m. The heat of midsummer had completely faded in this place.
Especially since they had to climb the mountain to watch the sunrise.
The higher they went, the colder it got. Lin Yibai never expected that in May, during the hot summer, she’d be freezing like a wet dog.
"Why is it so cold?"
"I don’t know either."
"You..." Lin Yibai was about to complain, but after thinking about it, she just mumbled, "Good thing it was me who came with you. If it were some other girl, she would’ve cursed you out by now. If your girlfriend came and had to go through this, she’d probably break up with you after getting back."
"Hehe." Xia Changyu gave an embarrassed laugh.
"You’re laughing?" Lin Yibai glared at him.
"I really didn’t expect this!"
"You, you, you!" Lin Yibai raised an eyebrow, then said, "You need to learn from this. If you’re going to bring a girl to a place like this, make sure you prepare in advance. Got it?"
"Got it..."
But the wind on the seaside mountain was just too cold.
The cold wind felt like it was blowing straight into their skin. A lot of people were already at the lookout spot to see the sunrise, and the ones with experience had wrapped themselves in small blankets.
Thinking fast...
He paid a high price and managed to buy one.
"Here, for you."
"Where did you get it?"
"I bought..." He paused, then decided to hide the truth. "A kind person saw how cold we were and let us borrow it."
Lin Yibai wrapped the blanket around herself. The warmth came quickly, and she felt much better.
But there was only one blanket. And the cold was everywhere.
Even though she really didn’t like this annoying love rival, who would’ve guessed it would be this cold up in the mountains, in the middle of summer?
"Hey!" After struggling for a bit, Lin Yibai opened up one side of the blanket.
"Let’s just squeeze in together, okay?"
That’s what she said.