"like."
They walked to the beach, where a wave was just coming in. The shallow water reached their ankles. Xiao Shulang bent down and casually scooped up a handful of water, watching it slip through his fingers.
"Looking at the boundless expanse always makes me feel that my heart and mind also expand. Climbing mountains and looking into the distance has the same effect, so I like both."
Humans are insignificant, but their hearts are vast. When I visit these places, I feel this even more deeply. My heart can hold a boundless ocean, and any worries I may have become insignificant and unnecessary in the face of such a vastness.
Qin Shuang rarely spoke more than a few words.
"I never understood why people at the beach could laugh so happily until I got closer and experienced it myself, and then I discovered how wonderful it was."
When I was a child, I watched TV at the orphanage. The people on the beach in the TV show were always very happy. This city has a sea, but they don't have the opportunity to go there. During a charity event, some children were invited to the beach, and Qin Shuang was one of them.
When Qin Shuang saw the sea, he felt for the first time that he had escaped an invisible cage. At that moment, he secretly thought, I want to move forward, to go higher and farther. Even if I did not grow up in an ordinary family, none of this will stop me.
He has come this far step by step thanks to boundless courage and perseverance.
It took me this long to meet this special person.
Qin Shuang looked at Xiao Shulang and pointed ahead: "Let's swim a lap? Let's see who's faster and we'll reach the edge of the safe zone."
Of course, Qin Shuang: "Round trip?"
"One way is fine. This isn't a swimming pool, so the view won't be good when we come back."
Qin Shuang agreed: "Okay."
After warming up thoroughly, the two walked to the shallow water area, stood still, counted down, and then shot out like arrows.
The program team released drone footage showing the two swimming very fast. Xiao Shulang's swimming style was very beautiful, like a nimble fish. Qin Shuang's arm muscles were taut and looked very powerful.
The audience jokingly placed bets on who would win.
In reality, the two were about the same speed. When they touched the net at the edge of the safe zone, they looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.
Xiao Shulang smiled even more broadly: "They're evenly matched. We'll have to watch the replay to see who wins."
But winning or losing isn't really important; what matters is having fun.
After resting for a while, the two swam back to the shore at a much slower pace than when they came. With her wet hair hanging down, Qin Shuang used her hand to comb her hair back from her forehead to avoid obstructing her vision.
This grab revealed his entire handsome face. He was already handsome enough on ordinary days, but now he had an added touch of wildness and unruliness, his hormones were practically exploding!
Xiao Shulang's heart skipped a beat. He quickly looked away, thinking that the comments section was definitely going crazy because of Qin Shuang's little action.
Xiao Shulang changed the subject as if to cover up his embarrassment: "I'm going to buy two drinks."
Qin Shuang didn't notice anything amiss and nodded. Just as Xiao Shulang was about to leave, he suddenly heard a faint scream.
Every now and then, people cheered and shouted joyfully at the beach, but this sound was different. It didn't sound like a happy scream, but rather like... a sound of pain.
But it stopped abruptly, blending into the sound of waves and voices. If Xiao Shulang hadn't been so sensitive to sound, he would have easily missed it.
Qin Shuang saw him stop and look around: "What's wrong?"
"I think I heard..." Xiao Shulang said, "Wait, look over there!"
Xiao Shulang looked in the direction from which the sound had come, and his gaze finally fell on a man and a woman. The two were in the shallow water, where the water was up to their calves. When a wave came in, the man grabbed the woman's hair and pushed her head underwater.
The woman screamed just before being pushed into the water, but her voice was quickly cut off as her head was submerged. She struggled, but seemed powerless.
As the wave receded, the man pulled her head out of the water, his expression extremely fierce, and he was saying something.
Xiao Shulang: "It doesn't seem like they're joking or playing around."
As he spoke, he started running towards that direction. Qin Shuang noticed this, and the staff immediately followed them.
As they got closer, they could finally hear the man cursing incoherently, while the woman weakly gripped his hand, barely able to stand, her voice trembling as she cried out, "Help...help me..."
She had a wound on her forehead and bruises on her limbs. She wasn't wearing a swimsuit, but ordinary summer clothes, all of which were soaked.
"What are you doing?" Xiao Shulang had already walked up to them. "This lady is in a lot of pain."
Seeing someone approaching, the woman suddenly regained some strength and struggled, crying out, "Help! He's hitting me! He's trying to kill me!"
"Shut up!"
The man roared viciously, his grip still tight, and looked at Xiao Shulang: "I'm disciplining my wife, what's it to you!"
Xiao Shulang stepped forward: "Let go first!"
The man swung his fist: "Believe it or not, I'll beat you up too!"
Qin Shuang took a step forward and raised her hand towards the man. The man thought Qin Shuang was going to hit him, so he was so frightened that he let go of the woman's hair. Xiao Shulang took the opportunity to rush over and support her, quickly taking her away from the man.
But Qin Shuang didn't hit anyone; he just struck a pose to scare them.
The woman was already unsteady on her feet. If Xiao Shulang let go, she would immediately fall into the water. Xiao Shulang supported her and pulled her out of the sea. The man came to his senses and finally noticed the camera following Qin Shuang and Xiao Shulang. He suddenly panicked and said, "What are you filming... Stop! Put her down!"
The viewers in the live chat were enjoying the sweet moments when they were all stunned by what they saw.
[Oh my god, is this domestic violence?]
He just said it was his wife, and holy crap, he grabbed her hair and shoved her underwater!
[And she has injuries, she has injuries!]
Xiao Shulang successfully brought the woman ashore, found her under an umbrella to lie down, and the woman coughed a couple of times, choked on water, and sobbed softly.
The man caught up with them: "She's my wife! What do you want?!"
"Don't come any closer!" Xiao Shulang raised his hand to stop him. "It's you who wants to do what."
He looked at the crew members and said, "Please call an ambulance and then call the police."
"Why are you calling the police! I told you she's my wife!"
The woman propped herself up slightly, crying, "No, not anymore! Don't go, help me, I want a divorce, call the police, arrest them!"
She had been abused and her speech was broken and unclear, but her meaning was clear. Xiao Shulang stood in front of her and said to the man, "But she doesn't want to acknowledge you."
The man was just waving his arms in the water to scare Xiao Shulang, but this time he was really angry and raised his hand to hit him. But as soon as he made a punching motion, he suddenly felt dizzy and was thrown to the ground with a "thud".
He didn't know what had happened, but the audience saw it all clearly.
[Over-the-shoulder throw!! Holy crap, Qin Shuang is so cool!!!]
[Protective mode activated! Brother Qin is awesome!!]
Qin Shuang grabbed the man's wrist and said coldly, "Still want to hit someone?"
When the man struggled to no avail, he suddenly shouted, "He's hitting me! He's hitting me!"
His voice attracted other tourists around him, and they all gathered around. The men didn't watch the show or follow celebrities, but with so many people, some of them were bound to recognize Qin Shuang and Xiao Shulang. The crowd whispered among themselves.
"Hey, isn't that Qin Shuang? Is he hitting someone?"
"Quick, record a video! A celebrity is hitting someone!"
"No, no!" The staff quickly gathered around and immediately explained, "Someone was using violence, Qin Shuang was helping them!"
The viewers in the live stream also became indignant.
[They were clearly doing a good deed!]
Don't worry, there's a live stream, everyone's watching!
Xiao Shulang stood next to Qin Shuang, about to speak, when the woman who had been beaten struggled to get up. One of the female staff members helped her up. She spoke more fluently than before, her face showing great anxiety, and said to the onlookers, "They, they saved me, they are, they are helping me!"
People around looked at her injuries and saw that Qin Shuang was only holding someone's wrist and not making any other moves. Their doubts gradually subsided and the questions swirled around them.
Qin Shuang's expression remained unchanged. Even when these people surrounded him and questioned him, he did not loosen his grip at all, as if the people talking about him were not talking about him at all.
Ambulances and police cars arrived quickly, and Qin Shuang only let go of Qin Shuang's hand when the police arrived.
After learning the general outline of the incident, the police said to Qin Shuang and Xiao Shulang, "According to procedure, you two also need to come with us to give statements. We hope you will cooperate."
The ambulance took the woman to the hospital first, and the man was also taken to a police car. Xiao Shulang and Qin Shuang had to suspend their live broadcast and go to the police station to give statements.
The director asked them to remove the split screen from the screen first, and the live stream also issued an announcement. Before it was removed, the comments were all praising Qin Shuang and Xiao Shulang.
[A heroic act, I love it!]
She looked so badly bullied, thank you brothers for helping her, sob sob.
Xiao Shulang and Qin Shuang changed their clothes. Since the police car couldn't fit them, the production crew sent a car to take them there.
After getting into the car, Xiao Shulang held up a towel and said to Qin Shuang, "Give me your hand."
Qin Shuang paused for a moment, then slowly raised both arms and presented them to Xiao Shulang.
Even the strongest person would eventually tire of holding down a strong, resilient man for so long.
Qin Shuang thought he had hidden it well... but his arms were already trembling.
When Xiao Shulang was changing his clothes, he asked the shop for a hot towel. He looked at Qin Shuang's slightly trembling arm, his eyes darkened, and he wrapped the towel around Qin Shuang's arm.
With a hot towel applied to her muscles, the heat penetrated, and Qin Shuang could clearly feel her arms being soothed and relaxed.
He looked at Xiao Shulang's fingers, which were red from the heat, and said softly, "Let go of your hand, it's hot."
The temperature of the towel was just right for tired arms, but for Xiao Shulang, it was nothing but burning.
Xiao Shulang shook his head, and through the towel, pressed his fingers down to help Qin Shuang relax her arm.
Qin Shuang: "You..."
Qin Shuang thought of the coaxing words she had learned last night: "Don't make that face. Do you want me to tell you a joke?"
Xiao Shulang looked up in surprise: "Teacher Qin, where are you reciting lines from?"
That's not a line from a script.
"And you can tell jokes?"
Qin Shuang: "No."
He said no, but Xiao Shulang's gloomy expression immediately relaxed, and he laughed out loud: "Haha, what can I say about you..."
He still doesn't know how to coax people, but Xiao Shulang was already amused.
Perhaps their communication doesn't require him to learn any special languages; whoever he is is the most suitable.
In Chapter 40, Xiao Shulang felt as if this was the most beautiful night he had ever experienced.