Short, Light, Free

Xiamen was a bustling city.

Gulangyu, a scenic island off this city, was exceptionally quiet in contrast.

“You said you’d accompany me, darling. Let’s go watch the sea,” Xiaoyue urged as she pulled on Lixia’s sleeves.

Lixia shrugged her hand off in frustration. “Haven’t we already been there this morning?”

Xiaoyue pursed her lips, pleading, “Let’s go again, please? Just once more.”

Lixia shook his head helplessly. “Okay, but it’s too hot now. I’ll get two bottles of orange soda from grandma’s shop first so wait here for a while.”

Xiaoyue nodded and smiled, revealing six white teeth.

Lixia didn’t know how to handle Xiaoyue. She was always doing this.

Watching the sea… but we live just off the coast.

Lixia did not understand why Xiaoyue loved watching the sea so much.

Grandma’s shop was situated up a slope on Gulangyu. One could easily locate it by walking along the graffiti walls.

Xiaoyue walked slowly, her gaze fixed on the road far ahead. She could vaguely catch a glimpse of the beach.

Xiaoyue looked on absentmindedly as her oversized slippers came loose countless times.

The slippers were very big for her size 35 feet. It was clear that the slippers belonged to someone else, and that someone else was none other than Lixia.

Xiaoyue could still remember the first time she saw Lixia.

They were both studying in Xiamen Gulangyu’s music academy, albeit in different classes. Xiaoyue specialized in the most reputable instrument – the guzheng.

Lixia, on the other hand, had a special liking toward the guitar in his hands.

She remembered how Lixia used to have stage fright. In order to train his guts, he had to practice his guitar on the beach where crowds usually gathered.

With his large-size slippers left on the sand, he strummed slowly on his guitar, producing melodious tunes that moved all listeners.

Xiaoyue approached from afar, thinking that her seat had been occupied by this hairy fellow.

She had intended to reason with him.

She wore a long floral dress, matched with a pair of white sandals.

Lixia was captivated by her beauty.

Lixia’s lecherous gaze made Xiaoyue blush and forget everything that she was about to say. “H.. hi,” was all that came out of her mouth. Flustered, she accidentally broke her sandals.

Like a gentleman, Lixia made up for his mistake by offering his own slippers. Following that, he sat beside her and continued playing his guitar.

It was at this very moment that Lixia had entered her life. It was also at this very moment that she would only wear his slippers.

Lixia ran up the alley with the graffiti walls toward unit 63 located on top of the slope.

Truth be told, Lixia hated the sea very much.

Lixia’s father had once been a well-known fisherman in Gulangyu.

It was known that the people living in this quiet alley were either musicians or fishermen.

Lixia’s father never returned from a fishing trip five years ago. It was said that he was caught up in a rainstorm that overturned his boat as he was trying to rescue somebody.

And after that accident, Lixia waited bitterly by the beach for three whole days.

He refused to leave. His mother had to drag him home and lock him up in the attic.

Lixia knocked unceasingly on the door, wanting to go out there to wait for his father’s return.

Lixia’s mother finally calmed him down with a simple sentence.

“Li, you’re the only man grandma and I can rely on from now on,” she had cried.

From then on, Lixia developed a fear of the sea and disliked visiting the beach.

And that one time that he met Xiaoyue while strumming on his guitar… it was destiny.

Xiaoyue was his complete opposite; she loved the beach.

Lixia arrived at his grandmother’s shop. She sat by the shop’s entrance, attending to her customers.

“Grandma,” Lixia shouted happily.

“Oh, Li. Why are you here?” she waved her hand, smiling.

She put her hand over the calluses on Lixia’s fingers. He couldn’t feel it physically but this gesture of hers warmed his heart, nevertheless.

“Why are your calluses thicker than those on my hand?” she mumbled.

“Not again, Grandma. I’m not coming anymore if you carry on this way.”

“Alright, alright. Is anything the matter?” she asked.

“Two bottles of orange soda please, Grandma,” Lixia answered.

“Give me a moment.”

With the drinks in his hands, he bade his grandmother goodbye before sprinting off to meet Xiaoyue.

Xiaoyue waited quietly for Lixia.

Lixia returned, holding onto the drinks. There was nothing better than drinking his grandmother’s soda on a hot summer day like this.

Xiaoyue pulled Lixia along as she walked toward the pier.

Lixia had asked her quite a few times why she came here every day and each time for a few hours.

Her wait grew longer and her visits became increasingly frequent.

Each time, she would look far out at sea, sigh, and ask, “Are you willing to wait with me, darling?”

Hearing Xiaoyue’s voice, Lixia would nod his head in agreement. He couldn’t help it.

They would sit on the beach as Xiaoyue leaned on his shoulder, watching the sea absentmindedly.

Lixia would stay silent and keep his mind occupied with his six guitar strings.

The sun shone down on their bodies as the sea breeze and bottled sodas accompanied them through their wait, effectively throwing their mind off the summer heat.

An hour turned into a whole afternoon.

A few days later.

Lixia shook Xiaoyue and said urgently, “You must have gotten a heat stroke. Let’s go home.”

Looking into his eyes, she said, “Can you watch the sea with me, darling?”

Her voice was ever so gentle. Trembling, Lixia grabbed onto Xiaoyue. “Let’s go home. You can’t watch the sea in this condition.”

Struggling free, Xiaoyue countered, “You promised, darling. You’ll accompany me always.”

Lixia clenched his teeth, carried her up and took her home.

“No, no,” Xiaoyue yelled while attempting to break free.

It was Lixia’s first time to go against her will.

At home, Lixia placed her down on the bed.

Xiaoyue asked weakly, “Don’t you like me anymore?”

“It’s not that.”

“Then why won’t you go with me to watch the sea?” Xiaoyue asked angrily, pushing him out of her room.

Xiaoyue lived alone on Gulangyu. Her parents had left the island to make a living elsewhere when she was eleven. Rumor had it that they were very successful but were too busy to come back.

Xiaoyu wept in her room as Lixia stood outside, looking at her guzheng.

Her guzheng had six strings, just like his own guitar.

He couldn’t play the guzheng but he remembered a piece that she had once guided him through.

A disjointed tune from ‘Fishermen’s Return at Dusk’ filled the house.

Xiaoyue stopped crying and came out of her room.

She looked at Lixia and slowly asked, “Will you wait with me, darling?”

Not knowing how to respond, Lixia could only return her gaze.

He couldn’t understand why she was so devilishly obsessed with the sea.