Her Tentacles 35

Chapter 35: The Voice

Shu Yao decided to use one of the two photos she had just taken as her screen saver and the other as her wallpaper. And the unlocking sequence would go from her looking at the camera to looking at Lin Ran, so that every time she picked up her phone, she could see their sweet, passionate love!

After the thought arose, she felt that just these two photos were not enough.

She also wanted to have her beautiful girlfriend as the background for various chat software, and as her chat avatar—

So she picked up the camera, and from the field of photography she was not good at, she walked back to her comfort zone as a photographer, and took many pictures of Lin Ran.

Her girlfriend smiling at her when the wind stopped.

Her girlfriend, with the waves churning under the bridge, her hair flying, her head turned to face the sun, half of her face illuminated by the golden light.

Her girlfriend, wearing the same hat as her, her hat brim lowered as she looked at the camera.

In her friend’s gaze of a love-struck fool, Shu Yao focused on capturing many of Lin Ran’s beautiful moments. With her unreasonable good looks, and her extreme cooperation with the photographer, she could produce a blockbuster with every shot without much effort in composition.

So much so that trying to pick the best one from the same set of photos became an extremely difficult choice.

Shu Yao slowly browsed through the pictures in her camera’s memory, one by one. Even for the blurry photos that were destined to be deleted, she wanted to look at them a few more times.

For example, the one she was looking at now.

She didn’t know where the camera had focused when she took the picture. Although there was only Lin Ran in the lens, it was blurry, and there was a colorful, translucent object clinging to the lens…

Shu Yao looked at the camera lens with the back of her hand, wondering if it was because she had accidentally splashed some water from the wind when she was taking the picture, or if some small creature from the sea had been blown up.

But the lens was clean.

So she looked at the photo again, curious about what pattern she had captured with the long focus blur in her continuous shooting. Then she found that the translucent mark looked a bit like—

The arm of an octopus?

From thick to thin, with circles of suckers of various sizes on it…

Where did the octopus come from?

It couldn’t be that a gust of wind had just blown a small animal from the sea up, and it had hit the lens and then fallen off, leaving this mark, right?

Shu Yao’s expression was bewildered. She thought to herself that she didn’t seem to have heard any strange sounds.

…

“Have you taken enough pictures of your beautiful girlfriend?” Situ Jin, who was leaning against the railing and waiting, looked at the famous island that was getting closer and closer to the ship, and only then did she lazily take out the sunglasses hanging from her shirt pocket and put them on. “If you haven’t taken enough, you can have more fun when you come back. The ship is about to dock, babies.”

Reminded by her, Shu Yao immediately looked up.

After leaving Nancheng Port, after a day and a night of sailing, this ship was now about to arrive at a famous coastal island in a neighboring country. This was a very famous tourist destination, and many domestic tourists would fly over for a short vacation during holidays.

Therefore, this place was visa-free for domestic tourists, saving the trouble of getting a visa.

Even though she wasn’t seasick, after a day of slight rocking at sea, Shu Yao felt a special sense of familiarity when she saw land.

Under the blue sky, this volcanic island stood alone above the sea level. The green covering it was lush and verdant, making one feel cool just by looking at it in the hot summer.

She put away her camera and asked Situ Jin, “How long will the ship be here?”

“Until eight o’clock in the evening.”

Her friend, who had already made travel plans, answered, and then said, “I’ve booked two local specialty restaurants. They’re very close to the coastline, so it’s more convenient to go back to the ship after dinner.”

Shu Yao began to applaud like a little seal. “Yay.”

Situ Jin graciously accepted her compliment and asked her, “Which one do you want to eat first? Although both are local specialties, one is for seafood, and the other has ginseng chicken soup, grilled black pork, seafood noodles, and tofu soup.”

So Shu Yao immediately turned to look at Lin Ran.

Lin Ran replied gently, “Whatever you guys want, I’m fine with anything.”

And Situ Jin looked at Mu Qing, who had been with them all along. “What about you, do you want to join?”

Mu Qing looked as if she had received an unexpected surprise. “Sure. I was just thinking of just walking around after getting on the island. Since Boss Situ is willing to treat me to a meal, then I’ll gladly accept.”

Situ Jin yawned lazily and had already made a decision when she put her hand down. “Then let’s have seafood for dinner.”

Situ Jin, who had been clubbing all night and still had to get off the ship today, was still full of energy and had arranged everything perfectly.

The few of them left through the VIP channel, and after stepping on land again, there was a luxurious black business car waiting outside to take them directly to the destination restaurant for lunch.

Outside the restaurant was a field of grass, a large patch of grass like an oil painting. It was built of wood itself, with four-cornered windows on the walls, like picture frames that captured the beautiful scenery of the four seasons.

Amidst the sizzling sound of the barbecue and the smell of the meat slowly cooking, Shu Yao sat in the center of the well-ventilated restaurant, looking at what seemed to be a small, clear puddle like a spring on the grassy hillside.

She remembered the boss had just said that if they came in April or May, this mountain would be covered with rape flowers, which was also very suitable for taking pictures and traveling—

She narrowed her eyes and praised the rich woman, “I really want to go on a trip with Jin every day, wuwu…”

Situ Jin used her chopsticks to move the grilled black pork, which was glistening with oil, cooked on the outside and still tender pink in the center, and then scooped up a spoonful of the enticing rice cakes stir-fried with spicy sauce and put it in her mouth. “Okay, quit your job now, and I’ll support you. As long as your girlfriend has no objection.”

Shu Yao said seriously, “I’ll support her, and you’ll support me.”

“Your abacus beads are hitting me in the face.”

As the two joked, Mu Qing looked at the person quietly sitting next to Shu Yao, putting food on her plate, and suddenly smiled. “Director Lin, why aren’t you eating? Do you have no appetite?”

The lively atmosphere around the dinner table suddenly froze.

Shu Yao, who knew that Lin Ran was a picky eater and hadn’t wanted others to notice, subconsciously pressed her lips together and turned to look at her girlfriend, wanting to find a reason that would neither embarrass her nor spoil Situ Jin’s hospitality.

Who knew that the next second.

Lin Ran suddenly grabbed her hand, which had just picked up a piece of grilled meat. Her sparkling lips drew near, and just like that, resting on her girlfriend’s wrist, she took the slice of meat from between her chopsticks and into her mouth.

After slowly chewing and swallowing, her deep, bottomless black eyes met Mu Qing’s, and her tone was light. “Because I prefer to dine this way.”

…

In the atmosphere where time had frozen.

Shu Yao’s wrist trembled, and she almost dropped her chopsticks.

It was Situ Jin who sighed first, looked at Mu Qing, and asked earnestly, “Aren’t the dishes I ordered enough? You had to add a dog food dish. Now, are you full?”

Mu Qing: “…”

Then Situ Jin turned her head away as if she couldn’t bear to look, and waved at the little couple. “You two, change to another table now, because I’m starting to get homophobic.”

Shu Yao, who was forced to show off her affection: “…QAQ”

But changing tables was impossible.

Because the scenery of this restaurant was too good, and it only accepted reservations. It was now lunchtime, and it was also the summer vacation when students were on holiday. All the other tables in the restaurant were full of tourists who had come out to travel during this hot and busy season.

Miss Situ, who had carelessly forgotten to book the whole place, could only pinch her nose and endure the feeling of having just been kicked like a stray dog.

Shu Yao didn’t dare to look up for the rest of the meal.

Like a country dog at a meal, she wanted to bury her head in her rice bowl. But while she was eating, she secretly put some food on Lin Ran’s plate, not forgetting to feed her girlfriend.

And whenever Lin Ran wanted to say something, she would be pinched on the waist under the table, forbidding her to speak again.

After being pinched by her several times, Lin Ran’s expression changed from confusion to realization.

After lunch, after Miss Situ had paid the bill, she said she wanted to walk along the long stone path with the fence by the sea to digest. Shu Yao, who was walking too slowly and had fallen behind, felt her hand being pulled by her girlfriend and placed on her waist.

She: “?”

Lin Ran looked at her. “Don’t you like to pinch here?”

Who likes to pinch here!

Shu Yao’s expression was shocked, as if she had been slandered on the spot. Before she could explain that she had just wanted her to be a little more restrained and not do strange things at a crowded dinner table again, she saw Lin Ran, as if she had remembered something, slowly pull her hand up.

“Oh, it seems that when you sleep at night, you like to pinch here—”

Just as her palm was about to be forced to cover her perfect chest curve, Shu Yao’s pupils quaked. She pulled her hand away without hesitation, with a look of “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m a little kitty.”

“I’m not! I didn’t! Don’t talk nonsense!”

“Forget this right now! Ah, Jin and the others seem to have gone far. Let’s hurry and catch up…”

After she finished speaking, she turned and ran.

Leaving Lin Ran to watch her back as she ran through the lush green grass, her floral skirt like a stream of light being chased by the blades of grass.

Lin Ran walked slowly, not chasing her.

Because she knew that Shu Yao would eventually come back to her.

The four of them walked along the coastline of the island, and once again admired the different sea and tides from the perspective of the island. Until the yolk-like sunset was swallowed by the sea level with a gulp, they arrived at the dinner restaurant that was said to have many authentic and special seafood dishes.

But the restaurant was closed.

And it wasn’t just this one. In the nearby wet market, in the seafood area where tourists could pick and kill on the spot, there were also very few stalls. Even though there were occasionally oxygen tanks in the water tanks, the seafood inside looked half-dead.

Situ Jin made a phone call.

Shu Yao listened on the side and roughly understood the meaning.

It was said that the fishing boats that had gone out to sea these two days had all returned empty-handed. Not only could they not catch any small fish or shrimp, but their nets were also full of jellyfish. This had caused the seafood prices on this island, which relied on the sea for its livelihood, to soar overnight.

Even so, the supply was still not enough to meet the demand. There were too many tourists, and it was difficult to transport the same large amount of seafood from other parts of the country. And the entire coastline of the country was now in the same situation.

Only Shu Yao and their country, which had aquaculture farms in the sea and on land, were in a better situation. But as long as you opened the news, you would also find that the seafood prices in the country were also soaring.

At this moment, near the restaurant where they were, there were also other tourists who were annoyed because they had booked a restaurant in advance but couldn’t eat delicious food. Some were even arguing with the shop owners over refunds.

In such a somewhat chaotic scenic spot, Shu Yao was thinking, if the supply of seafood continued to be in short supply, would the restaurants on the ship, most of which served seafood, change their menus?

Changing the menu wouldn’t be a big deal. She was just afraid that in addition to the seafood shortage, there would be other things.

Following Situ Jin and the others back to the ship early for dinner, Shu Yao smelled the sea breeze and inexplicably felt a sense of an impending storm.

…

And it did rain that night.

The pattering raindrops hit the ship’s railing and windows, blurring the view from the panoramic window, which could only reflect the ship’s bow lights, into an orange halo.

Shu Yao was half-lying on the sofa, which had a pattern very similar to the one in her home. Because she had had a full day, she was a little drowsy in this natural white noise environment.

In a daze.

She heard a soft, whispering voice by her ear:

“Cuddle?”

“Hug! Hug!”

Shu Yao raised her hand and opened her arms to the person opposite the sofa. “Hug.”

Lin Ran, who had been sitting on the edge of the bed, grading her students’ papers, heard her and came over to hold her in her arms. Just as she was about to readjust the person in her arms’ posture to make it easier for her to continue reading the papers on her laptop, she heard the girl in her arms mumble, “What spirit? Are you disgusted with me?”

Saying she’s a clingy spirit, right!

Lin Ran: “?”

She looked down at Shu Yao and said in confusion, “What?”

Shu Yao looked up at her, drowsy and dazed, and became a little more awake, but the soft, whispering voices by her ear did not disappear.

【Jar spirit? Hug?】

【I want to cuddle too, sob】

One after another.

It was a soft, childish tone.

And the only other person in the room was now holding her, her rosy lips not moving at all.

A cold sweat, like the rain outside, seeped from her skin. Shu Yao’s throat was dry. She licked her lips and tried to ask:

“Lin Ran, have you…”

“heard any voices?”