Chapter 16: Beach Vacation (3)
Noon
As soon as lunchtime arrived, the maid café became packed with customers.
Unlike yesterday, Li Nuo had already gotten somewhat used to wearing the maid outfit.
At least now he no longer felt awkward walking around, nor did he constantly worry about accidentally exposing himself because of the outfit.
His small figure moved smoothly between tables like a fish swimming through water.
Even with so many customers, he managed everything without much trouble.
After the lunch rush finally ended, he could slow down a little.
Just as he was about to finish cleaning the last table, he saw three familiar figures walk into the café.
Seeing Zhou Qikuan and Ye Feilu chatting happily together, he was stunned.
When did those two get so close?
Just yesterday, she had seemed scared of him.
Li Nuo looked at An Ran'er in confusion.
"What's going on with those two?"
"Ummm... a few things happened."
After hearing An Ran'er's explanation, Li Nuo finally understood what had happened.
He could not help sighing inwardly. Zhou Qikuan is really lucky. He got together with the girl he likes so quickly.
Then he thought about himself. He had been single his entire life. He barely knew any girls, let alone had a girlfriend.
For a moment, Li Nuo felt rather pathetic.
Still, he did know a few girls now.
Thinking of that, his eyes unconsciously drifted toward An Ran'er.
"What's wrong?"
Noticing his gaze, An Ran'er looked puzzled.
"N-Nothing."
Caught peeking at her, Li Nuo quickly turned his head away.
Pretending to wipe the table, he failed to notice that what he was holding was actually a piece of leftover cake from a customer.
"What are you doing?"
An Ran'er stared at him in surprise.
"Huh?"
Li Nuo looked down.
Only then did he realize he was using a piece of cake to wipe the table.
"Whoa!"
Startled, he immediately threw the cake away.
Unfortunately, it flew straight through the air and landed perfectly on Zhou Qikuan's face.
At that moment, Zhou Qikuan had been happily chatting with Ye Feilu.
"Sorry, I—"
Before Li Nuo could finish speaking, Ye Feilu jumped up in shock.
"Ah! Qikuan-kun, are you okay?"
"Daijoubu (don't worry), Feilu-chan. I'm completely fine."
Even with cake all over his face, Zhou Qikuan calmly wiped it off with his hand. Then he licked the cream from his fingers and flashed a bright, handsome smile.
"Uh... haha..."
Li Nuo's face twitched. Hearing the way they addressed each other and watching their interaction made him feel extremely awkward.
Even An Ran'er simply shook her head, looking speechless.
Not wanting to think about it anymore, Li Nuo grabbed a rag to clean up the cake on the table.
Suddenly someone grabbed his butt.
"Ah!"
He immediately covered himself with both hands and spun around.
The culprit was none other than the café owner, Yu Lin.
With a cigarette hanging from her mouth and a mischievous smile on her face, she said,
"Didn't expect your butt to feel so nice."
"Sister Lin, you..."
Li Nuo felt both embarrassed and angry.
This was the second time he had met a female troublemaker like this.
As a guy, being teased by two different women was a huge blow to his pride.
"Alright, alright."
Seeing his wronged expression, Yu Lin quickly waved her hand.
"I just came to tell you that you don't need to work this afternoon."
"Why?"
"There won't be many customers this afternoon anyway. Why don't you go have fun at the beach with your friends? Aren't you here on vacation?"
"Wouldn't that be inappropriate? I..."
"It's settled."
Yu Lin interrupted him before he could finish.
"Just go and enjoy yourself."
With that, she waved goodbye and walked away.
……………………………
Afternoon at the Beach.
The beach was still crowded.
On the golden sand, some people stood at the shoreline enjoying the waves washing over their feet.
Others played beach volleyball in teams.
Some even wore blindfolds while playing the watermelon-smashing game.
And then there was Li Nuo.
He was crouching on the sand and building a sandcastle.
That's right.
Li Nuo could not swim.
Don't ask why someone who couldn't swim would come to the beach during vacation.
The answer was simple.
He was terrible at refusing other people's invitations.
Besides, he had originally planned to come mainly for the part-time job. And honestly, building sandcastles was pretty fun too.
Completely focused on his sandcastle, he failed to notice someone standing in front of him.
"What are you doing?"
"Hm?"
Li Nuo looked up. The first thing he saw was An Ran'er looking down at him.
He lowered his head again and mumbled,
"I'm... building a castle."
"Huh? Are you an elementary school student?"
An Ran'er rolled her eyes.
"Why aren't you swimming with everyone else?"
"I... I can't swim."
Perhaps because he found it embarrassing, his voice became very quiet.
"If you can't swim, I can teach you."
…………………………
"That's right! Like that! Kick harder! Move your legs faster!"
In the shallow water near the shore, a girl was holding a boy's hands and shouting instructions.
When she saw that he was finally kicking his legs properly, she let go.
"Now try moving your arms gently. Like this... yes..."
A few seconds later…
Splash! Splash!
The boy immediately began flailing wildly in the water.
"I... really... can't... swim...!"
Gurgle! Gurgle!
Several mouthfuls of seawater rushed into his mouth.
"What attempt is this already?"
An Ran'er slapped her forehead.
"You're really a complete idiot."
After dragging him back onto the beach, she looked at the frightened boy who was still gasping for air.
"I think you'd better go back to playing with your sand."
"I told you from the start that I can't... swim."
"No."
An Ran'er shook her head.
"You're just an idiot."
"Fine, then I'm an idiot."
Li Nuo sat back down and continued playing with sand.
"Not knowing how to swim won't kill me anyway."
Seeing his completely defeated attitude, An Ran'er gave up trying to persuade him. Instead, she changed the topic.
"By the way, why are you wearing a shirt?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Not really. It's just that most guys don't wear shirts at the beach."
"I... I'm not used to showing my upper body in public."
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"Hmm..."
An Ran'er stared at him with disbelief.
"Sometimes I seriously wonder if you're actually a boy."
"Huh?"
"I mean, are you sure you're not secretly a girl?"
"What are you talking about?!"
Li Nuo immediately jumped to his feet.
"I'm definitely a guy!"
"Hahaha, alright, alright."
An Ran'er waved her hands.
"I know you're a guy. I was just joking."
Only then did Li Nuo sit back down and continue building his sandcastle.
Watching him crouch there playing with sand again, An Ran'er quietly muttered to herself,
"If you really were a girl, that would have been nice..."