There really was a barbecue restaurant by the sea.
The wooden stairs slowly stretched upwards, reaching a height where one could overlook the coastline.
Right there stood the barbecue joint.
There weren’t many customers, only three or four tables occupied.
Considering it was autumn by the seaside, the sparse crowd was expected.
“It doesn’t taste authentic,” Zhu Niao commented with a frown.
Beside her, Gou Yu nodded in agreement.
Of course, compared to before, Gou Yu looked a bit more disheveled now, mainly covered in sand and dust.
“You’re judging the taste before even eating?” Liu Xie tilted her head and gave Zhu Niao a pressuring look. After all, she had carefully selected this place as their guide.
“There’s not even the smell of cooking oil smoke, it feels like half the flavor’s missing.” Zhu Niao crossed her arms and shook her head.
Gou Yu also shook his head alongside her.
Liu Xie realized she shouldn’t bother with these two—none of these two couples were normal.
She turned her gaze toward Ye Qingchang, who was leaning against the railing, staring out into the pitch-black, endless ocean.
There seemed to be sorrow in his eyes, an unresolved melancholy.
Damn it, another artsy soul disease.
Compared to them, Xu Nian and Yang Shuli were relatively normal; at least these two were seriously picking out skewers, ready to eat their fill.
The iron plate clanged, and Liu Xie also went to pick some grilled skewers.
Compared to other places, seafood barbecues by the sea definitely had some unique flair—just looking over, you could see all kinds of seafood piled everywhere.
Without noticing, Zhu Niao tossed two skewers of shrimp onto Liu Xie’s iron plate.
“Shrimp this big, if I don’t eat them, won’t they become spirits?” Zhu Niao said righteously, making it hard for Liu Xie to find fault.
“Take more if you want, just make sure you finish eating them.” Liu Xie didn’t even bother matching Zhu Niao’s thought process. “Quit whining.”
Then she saw Zhu Niao suddenly look down at her lower body after hearing that, then gently bumped her side with her head.
“What whining? You lying to me?”
Liu Xie increasingly felt she’d made a mistake—at times like this, she shouldn’t even respond to Zhu Niao’s words.
Just then, Gou Yu came over.
Liu Xie knew these two were about to combine forces again.
So she saw Gou Yu twisting his body and raising his voice toward Zhu Niao: “Brother, I want to eat this~ Will you peel it for me~?”
Gou Yu was pointing at a big crab.
Zhu Niao also raised his voice in reply, but unlike Gou Yu, his tone was sweet to the bone: “Fine, you jump into the sea now and catch one, then I’ll peel it for you.”
Gou Yu returned to his normal tone: “Actually, my aunt came over today, so I can’t get into cold water.”
“Do you even know what you’re saying?”
Liu Xie’s brow twitched from listening, but she felt utterly helpless.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, something caught her attention and brightened her mood.
Ping-pong sounds rang out twice as she picked up two glass bottles of beer.
She temporarily set down her iron plate and raised the two bottles in front of Zhu Niao.
Like a zombie seeing a talisman, Zhu Niao instantly straightened up.
Because he knew he couldn’t drink alcohol.
“Sir, we can talk things out…”
“If you can’t drink, then shut up.” Liu Xie smiled at the corner of her mouth and turned back to pick more skewers. “A Sudra who can’t drink is not worthy to talk to Brahmins who can.”
This was how the shame of a poor tolerance for alcohol showed itself.
Especially knowing you’re embarrassing but still can’t drink.
Turning around, she saw Gou Yu gloating: “Don’t look at me. My family sells alcohol; of course I can drink.”
Even more depressing.
“Hey, damn it, I want to drink too.” Yang Shuli saw Liu Xie holding the two bottles of beer and even giving one to Ye Qingchang, so she shouted.
She left Xu Nian’s side and reached out for Liu Xie’s beers.
Liu Xie didn’t even look, just pressed her hand on Yang Shuli’s head. Even with her little frame and fully stretched arm, Yang Shuli couldn’t reach the bottle.
“No kids allowed to drink.”
“There’s no eating barbecue without drinking, right?” As a typical northerner, Yang Shuli seemed to have some ingrained ideas.
Liu Xie decisively cast a pleading look at Xu Nian beside her but found him already holding a can of pineapple beer.
“See? This is beer too. The two of us drink the small cans, you can eat more barbecue.” He put the pineapple beer into Yang Shuli’s hand.
Yang Shuli held the cold can, looked up at Xu Nian.
She trusted he wouldn’t lie.
“You really understand me, Ai Qing.” She stood on tiptoe and patted Xu Nian’s shoulder.
Besides the pineapple beer, Xu Nian also brought other drinks, just in case Yang Shuli didn’t like this zero-alcohol flavor.
Like milk beer.
Of course, Yang Shuli had no idea; the silly girl was still challenging Xu Nian to a drinking contest.
After Liu Xie paid, she walked past Zhu Niao and Gou Yu, who were teasing each other, and Xu Nian, who was doting on Yang Shuli, heading straight to Ye Qingchang’s side.
Ye Qingchang was still leaning against the wooden railing, eyes fixed on the nearly pitch-black sea.
The sea breeze carried a salty dampness but was replaced by the dry freshness of autumn air.
Slightly chilly.
“You really like the sea that much?”
Liu Xie clinked her glass bottle against the beer bottle in Ye Qingchang’s hand and, mimicking his pose, gazed out at the sea.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t see any deeper meaning—she wasn’t the gloomy literary type like Ye Qingchang. All she could say was that the wind felt damn good.
“I just like this atmosphere. It lets me take out things I usually don’t want to think about and savor them again and again.” Ye Qingchang watched Liu Xie take a sip, then grabbed her own bottle and gulped some down.
It was a bit too harsh, whether from not drinking in a long time or because she was in a different body now.
“Thinking about what? The meaning of life?” Liu Xie teased, bumping Ye Qingchang’s shoulder.
“Exactly.” Ye Qingchang didn’t look at Liu Xie’s stunned face, continuing, “I always wonder what it means for a person to be meaningful. I finally concluded—being needed by others is what makes someone meaningful.”
“You guys have bugged me plenty about my relationship with Xiao Yi’an—one is a green tea girl playing with others’ feelings, the other a pitiful, timid digital pet.”
“But back then, he needed me. He treated me like his whole world. I’d never experienced that before—the feeling of being so valued, every move treated like an imperial decree, never before.”
“It was the first time someone needed me so much. He told me I was the only one in the world who mattered the most, the irreplaceable one, the most useful to him.”
“That’s why I can’t let go. You can say I like being pampered, but he needed me, and only I could help him. So I had to help.”
She spoke all this without hearing a single objection or interruption from Liu Xie.
Normally, Liu Xie should have started criticizing or commenting from her perspective by now, but not a word came out—probably because she was holding back laughter.
So Ye Qingchang turned to her, “If you want to laugh, just laugh.”
But she saw Liu Xie’s expression of mild surprise.
She also saw Liu Xie point hesitantly with her finger beyond the railing, toward a spot down on the coast.
Liu Xie hesitated before speaking, “Third, your psychological journey and all that can wait. Look down there—is that your digital pet walking?”
“Holy crap!”
Uh-oh, did Yi’an hear that?
Peak introspection.