(1)
The waves of the sea washed over the golden sand one after another. More than twenty people scattered across this vast beach, looking as tiny as specks of dust falling into a desert.
“Ugh…” An Jing held her head and slowly sat up. The orange-red sunset before her made the sea surface shimmer. “Huff… headache…”
“An’an, awake?” Wang Xinru gently rubbed her own thigh that had gone numb from being used as a pillow, and smiled as she looked at her.
②
“Mm… Huh? I just…”
“I thought it would make you sleep more comfortably.”
An Jing scratched her head a little sheepishly. She watched as Zhu Ying also slowly sat up from her lap, propping herself up little by little.
“It feels like there are several tornadoes spinning in my head…” Zhu Ying groggily flopped onto Wang Xinru, then a few seconds later suddenly realized something was off. With another “Huh?” she sat upright again.
“We slept from afternoon all the way to evening,” An Jing said with a big yawn. “Even though we slept that long, I feel even more tired.”
“Well, we had such long dreams…” Zhu Ying rubbed her eyes, stood up, and took two steps, but then stumbled into An Jing’s arms—she strongly suspected Wang Xinru was doing it on purpose. “It’s only natural to be tired.”
“Where’s my grandpa?” An Jing looked around and asked in confusion.
“Grandpa and the others already went back. They said there wouldn’t be any buses if they stayed too late.” “Oh, so he came by bus himself. I thought someone drove him.” An Jing stretched out widely, letting Zhu Ying rub her fluffy hair against her chin. “Wangwang, you looked after us the whole afternoon. You could have just let us lie down and sleep, and gone off to play yourself.”
“It’s fine. I already had my fill of fun in the morning. Listening to the two grandpas tell stories about the past was very interesting too.” Wang Xinru shook her head with a light laugh. “An’an, Yingying, are you hungry?”
“If you hadn’t mentioned it, it would have been okay… but now I really do feel a bit hungry.” An Jing held her stomach, which promptly let out a protesting growl.
“Xiao Jing’s stomach just sounded like thunder, didn’t it?”
“No way…”
“Grrr—”
“Looks like yours is the noisy one, right?”
Zhu Ying quickly changed the subject, pretending to be clueless as she stretched out her arms. “I’m hungry! Where’s the food?” “I heard Teacher Qiu went to get the car. It should be here soon.” “The car?” Zhu Ying blinked curiously. “Driving onto the beach?”
“Mm-hmm, driving onto the beach.”
—
(2)
The lingering rays of the setting sun spilled over the luxury food truck parked by the seaside. This truck was much larger than the usual ice cream vans or snack trucks seen at the beach. Many parts of it could be unfolded in a convincing manner, not only to display a wide variety of food, but also to allow people to sit at the collapsible small tables extended to the side and enjoy dinner—though it couldn’t seat too many at once, it had no problem seating seven or eight people.
From an ice cream machine to milk tea and beverage dispensers, to ovens, baking trays, and frying pans, all kinds of tools were available. Even though they were far from civilization by the sea, they could still enjoy an experience comparable to shopping on a street full of stores.
An Jing had thought dinner would be barbecue—since that was more common—but she never expected Qiu Yikai to bring a luxury food truck. Not only could they eat buffet-style, but they could also have food made on the spot according to the students’ requests.
Of course, the person making the food wasn’t him, but the gentle housekeeper whose eyes had a few wrinkles and who always spoke in a kind and friendly manner.
The menu was pasted on the side of the truck. Most things people could think of were on it, and many things they couldn’t think of were also listed. They could even try French dishes like foie gras and caviar.
However, since only one person was working, the food preparation was not very efficient. If you didn’t want to wait, it was best to pick the ready-made food—like sandwiches, burgers, or grilled meat rice.
In fact, faced with so many delicacies that were normally hard to come by, most people wouldn’t choose to order a freshly made plate of fried noodles or something—even if it were seafood fried noodles.
Since she didn’t plan to eat at the truck’s tables, An Jing only took things she could hold in her hands. The only thing that might need to be put on a table was a small plate of foie gras with caviar.
Even though she lived by the sea, she had never eaten caviar before. It felt a bit novel.
“Here.” An Jing handed one of the three ice creams in her left hand to Zhu Ying and Wang Xinru, then gestured with her eyes toward her pocket. “Get the burgers and sandwiches yourselves. I also grabbed two meat rolls. Where should I put this foie gras and caviar?”
“Put it on my lap.” Zhu Ying patted her own thigh and naturally took the strawberry-flavored ice cream, while Wang Xinru took the blueberry one.
The one left for An Jing was the plain flavor—when it came to ice cream, the better the quality, the more you should go for the plain version, because that was when the milky aroma was most intense.
After setting down the plate, An Jing let Zhu Ying fumble through her left pocket while she took out the food she had packed from her right pocket.
“I heard there’s pizza too, but you had to queue for it, so I didn’t wait. If I’d waited any longer, I would have starved to death.”
“This is good enough. It smells so good~ My stomach is about to cave in.”
Wang Xinru lightly licked the ice cream in her hand. “I should have gotten the ice cream after finishing the meal…”
“Yeah… now I have to finish the ice cream before eating anything else, or it’ll melt.” An Jing slapped her forehead. “It’s just that when I saw such good ice cream, I couldn’t help wanting to eat it…”
“It’s fine. Start by slowly enjoying your sweet ice cream. A trip to the beach definitely needs ice cream, right?”
“Xiao Ying, you’ve got it all over your mouth…”
“Xiao Jing, want to lick it off for me?”
“Ew, no way…” An Jing frantically turned her gaze toward the slowly receding tide. “Compared to the era my grandpa grew up in, we’re really much happier now.”
“Yeah. They all say that back then, just being able to eat their fill meant all of life’s wishes had come true.” Wang Xinru licked the blueberry pulp from the corner of her mouth. “Hearing them talk about the past makes it feel so incredible. It’s only been a few decades, and life is completely different.”
“Times are developing faster and faster, and life is getting better and better.” An Jing took a big bite of her ice cream, then winced as her teeth were chilled. It took her a while to recover. “Sss—that’s freezing.”
“Take smaller bites. Anyway, it’s hot, and the other things won’t cool down that quickly.” Zhu Ying suddenly leaned her little face close, staring intently at the corner of her mouth with those bright eyes.
“Eek?! W-what are you doing?”
“Hehe, I want to taste the ice cream on the god’s mouth~”
“Hey, hey! Wah—now it’s all your saliva!”
“Heehee~”
An Jing awkwardly wiped the saliva off the corner of her mouth, coughed dryly, and tried to continue the previous topic. “Do you remember? When we were in first and second grade of elementary school, they said that once the internet developed, the world would become a global village. Back then, they said email was really convenient!”
“But now we all use QQ, that, um… instant messaging thing.” Zhu Ying struggled to find a fitting adjective and playfully blinked at An Jing. “Ice cream–flavored god~”
“Cough!!”
“The things we imagined as kids are being fulfilled one by one.” Wang Xinru hugged her knees with one hand, a serene smile on her face. “There are more and more things in life worth looking forward to.”
“Yeah… I really want to grow up fast and do so many things I want to do.” An Jing had already finished the top part of the ice cream and was now chewing on the cone, crunching it noisily.
“Adults always say that once you grow up, you’ll think being a kid was better.”
“They do say that, but I don’t feel it.”
“Because you haven’t grown up yet.”
“Yeah. So, instead of regretting it after you grow up, enjoy the happiness of being a child while you still can.” Wang Xinru pursed her lips and gave a not-so-pretty smile. “Can you eat foie gras while having ice cream?”
“Sure. Since foie gras and caviar are cold too.” An Jing pointed to the toothpicks on the foie gras. “Originally there were forks, but I thought forks were too much trouble and too heavy on the plate, so I brought toothpicks instead. Just poke and eat. I haven’t tried it yet.”
“Then let me give it a try—I saw it before when I went to dinner with my dad and other people.”
“But you didn’t get to eat it?”
“Mm… I didn’t get to.” Wang Xinru shook her head. “That kind of expensive caviar was snatched up in no time.”
“So, now that you’ve tasted it, what’s it like?”
Wang Xinru chewed the caviar she had popped into her mouth along with the foie gras, tilting her head in thought for a long time before answering, “The foie gras is very fragrant. The caviar… it’s like tiny crunchy pearls. The taste… salty and fresh, and a little bit fishy. It’s not as good as I imagined.”
“Ha!” An Jing wore an expression that said “I knew it.” “So these extravagant dishes are all hyped up. The taste is really just so-so.”
“It’s not about the dish.” Zhu Ying shot a glance at her. “It’s about the money, a symbol of status.”
“It’s the same with tea. Someone gave my dad this really, really expensive tea. I secretly brewed some once, and it tasted just okay. Not even as good as cola!”
“Pfft, maybe Xiao Jing’s tongue just isn’t sensitive enough~”
“Is that so? I really think it’s pretty average. Sure, it’s a bit more fragrant, but if I want to experience that kind of fragrance, wouldn’t I get more by chewing on a grass root?”
“Tea is different…” Wang Xinru shook her head. “My dad says good tea really does have a big difference.”
“Really? But isn’t the standard for that difference set by adults themselves? Maybe after a certain point, even if the price is a hundred times higher, there’s no real difference. The so-called difference is just psychological—to show off how refined you are or something.” An Jing curled her lip. “It’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes!”
“Maybe only adults’ tongues can taste those subtle differences~”
“Hmph, either way, it’s all bitter and astringent…”