Meng Qingyi smiled and said, “This island is full of tourists. If you want fewer people, we can only go back to the room.” He parked the car by the beach, rolled up the windows to block the outside view, and opened the terminal to change into a V-neck pure white T-shirt, fluorescent yellow beach pants, swimming trunks, and beach slippers. Then he selected a fluorescent yellow swimsuit with an orange hooded sun protection jacket and sent it to Yu Yi, knowing she was shy, and deliberately chose a conservative one-piece style.
However, Yu Yi shook her head when she saw the swimsuit. “I’ll just wear what I have on now,” she said, about to get out of the car.
Meng Qingyi didn’t force her, only saying, “At least change into some slippers. Otherwise, the sand alone will be enough to bother you.”
Yu Yi chose a pair of semi-transparent lemon yellow beach slippers with a small fish pattern. Meng Qingyi then bought a bottle of sunscreen for her to apply. The two got out of the car and headed straight to the seaside.
This was Yu Yi’s first time at the beach, and everything felt fresh to her. She felt uncomfortable with the men and women in swimsuits and didn’t want to look directly at them, so she pulled Meng Qingyi towards a less crowded area.
Taking off her shoes and casually throwing them aside, she stepped on the warm, damp fine sand heated by the sun, standing quietly in the shallow water, feeling the waves washing up, gently brushing against her calf skin. Her toes sank halfway into the delicate white sand. Occasionally drinking the cold juice made her unconsciously relax.
Yu Yi looked at the blue-green sea in the distance, then glanced at the jade-like water nearby, and looked down at the crystal-clear water beneath her feet. She couldn’t help but wonder, “Is seawater transparent or colored? Why is the sea blue-green in the distance, but here it looks like stream water?”
Meng Qingyi laughed, “It’s a magic trick of light.”
Yu Yi was still confused. Meng Qingyi pulled her towards deeper water. After a few steps, Yu Yi realized the water was about to reach the bottom of her cropped pants, so she struggled back, saying, “My clothes will get wet.”
Meng Qingyi was in a playful mood and insisted on pulling her into the water, “If they get wet, they get wet.”
Yu Yi was pulled several more steps into deeper water, where the water was already quite cool. She scooped up some water to splash him.
Meng Qingyi was drenched, laughing heartily, and scooped water to splash her back while pulling her further into the water. Yu Yi splashed back, but her smaller hands meant her splashes were less effective.
After a few attempts, she forcefully broke free from Meng Qingyi’s hand and ran towards the shore.
Meng Qingyi stopped splashing her. He was now standing in water up to his waist. Yu Yi ran a few steps, noticed he wasn’t chasing, and stopped. Turning back, she saw him removing his wet T-shirt.
Yu Yi blushed and turned her head away. Meng Qingyi laughed, took off his beach pants, and tied them together with the T-shirt and waterproof bag. He called out, “Catch!” and threw the clothes to her. Yu Yi quickly caught them, and Meng Qingyi turned and started swimming.
Yu Yi returned to the shore and sat on a protruding rock, smoothing her disheveled hair and tucking the stray hair behind her ears. She untied the bundle of clothes, wrung out the water, and spread them on the rock to dry.
She sat hugging her knees, watching Meng Qingyi swim from a distance.
After swimming back and forth for more than ten minutes, Meng Qingyi returned to the shore, standing upright in the shallower water as he walked towards the beach. As he emerged from the water, his skin seemed to have a thin, glistening water film reflecting the sunlight.
As seawater slid down his shoulders and chest, his light wheat-colored skin was revealed, with fine water droplets hanging on his slightly bulging chest muscles. His low-waisted, boxer-style swimming trunks left his lean, muscular abdomen fully exposed, the leg openings tight against his thighs, outlining the shape of the muscles beneath his skin.
Yu Yi had been watching him swim and was surprised when he suddenly stood up from the water, facing her directly. She stared blankly as he walked towards her. When he was still a few meters away, she suddenly realized and quickly turned her head, her face burning hot.
Meng Qingyi smiled at her shy appearance and leaned in to kiss her lips. Yu Yi’s face grew even hotter. She had never been kissed in public like this before, though no one around was paying attention to them.
Meng Qingyi put on his beach pants and half-dry T-shirt, then pulled her up. “Let’s go,” he said.
Yu Yi tried to sound natural. “Where are we going?”
“Back to the room. We’ll be late, and Old Griffin will be waiting.”
In a blue sapphire hotel, on the tenth floor, Griffin put down his telescope and turned to his assistant. “Gerry, I asked you to find a mediocre private detective, not an irresponsible kid who brought a woman along.”
The assistant Gerry looked embarrassed. “It’s my mistake, but since he’s already here…”
“Let it be. As long as he doesn’t go too far and does his job, it’s fine. They should be coming back. Go downstairs and wait.
Don’t let them mess around in the room. My time is limited.
Yes,” Gari took the elevator down to the lobby and waited. Soon, he saw Meng Qing and Yu Yi holding hands as they came in from outside. He quickly went to meet them, “Mr. Li Zhi, Mr. Griffin has a meeting later, and he hopes to see you before the meeting to discuss the entrusted matter.”
“No problem, I’ll take a shower and then come over.”
Gari followed Meng Qing to their room. Meng Qing took out the room card, opened the door, and gestured for Yu Yi to enter first. Then he turned back to his assistant, “Mr. Gari, you can go back. I’ll be done in five minutes.”
Gari smiled, “Since it’ll only take five minutes, I’ll wait outside the door.”
Meng Qing also smiled, “Then I’ll try to be quick.” He went in and closed the door.
Ten minutes later, Meng Qing came out with a document case. Gari didn’t mention anything about the five minutes turning into ten, “Mr. Griffin’s office is on the 10th floor. I’ll take you there.”
After Meng Qing went upstairs, Yu Yi took a shower in the bathroom. After showering, with Meng Qing still not back, she walked to the window and looked out, discovering she could see the beach they had just visited.
There was a spacious platform by the window, so she sat down, opened her terminal, and began browsing local news.
She had already discovered that to quickly understand a time and space, besides the memory package implanted before the mission started, reading local news was also a good way to get familiar with the process.
The door lock made a soft “hiss-click” sound. Yu Yi looked up towards the door and saw Meng Qing entering, somewhat surprised, “That was quick?”
Meng Qing said, “I just signed an entrusted contract, discussed the current content. There were no disputes, and Old Griffin agreed to the payment readily. He even prepaid ten thousand in investigation expenses. If it’s not enough, we can ask Gari.” He handed the signed contract to Yu Yi.
Yu Yi looked at the contract’s agreed payment of fifty thousand local currency, and they only needed to pay 20% breach of contract to Li Te. Now she understood why he said this mission was good.
The contract’s content was entrusting Li Zhi to investigate the recent frequent accidents at the Blue Sapphire Hotel, identify the culprits, and collect evidence.
After she finished reading the contract, Meng Qing said, “Griffin suspects that the recent accidents were done by their competitor, Rainbow Hotel. We can start our investigation from there. He hopes we first go to the hospital.”
