From a distance, Xue Jinxu saw the bantering of the cousins. She could even hear the boisterous laughter of Mo Wenbin. When she got nearer, she asked them, "What did I miss?""Five years, Jinxu! We missed five long years of togetherness!" Chen Linyun blurted out.
"All because Mo Wenbin hid a certain information!" Chen Linyun threw a sideglance at his cousin.
"Whatever, Chen Linyun. With your personality back then, even if I tell you, you wouldn"t even approach Teng Man Rui. You"re quite aloof to women. You don"t even spare any woman a glance."
"What are you talking about?" Xue Jinxu was getting all the more intrigued, especially at the mention of "Chen Linyun" and "women". She tilted her head suspiciously, her face was blank though.
"Mo Wenbin and Teng Man Rui knew each other since college. We could have met sooner, Jinxu." Chen Linyun explained to her.
"Oh."
"It"s alright, dear." She caressed his distraught face with her palm. He looked like a child who suffered from his first injustice. "How cute. Would our little boy pout the same way?" Xue Jinxu shook the idea from her head.
"How do I look?" She steered away from the topic. "Am I covered enough?" She twirled for Chen Linyun"s inspection. She was now wearing a rashgard on top of her bikini but left the bottom part of the bikini as is. She let the front zipper of her rash guard stop just where her cleavage is.
"Good enough." He opened his arms and invited the lady for a hug. She readily rushed to him. "It"s hot, though, with the rash guard on." She whined.
Chen Linyun poked her on the forehead lightly. "Once we get into the water, you won"t feel as hot anymore."
Zhu Li Qiang and Teng Man Rui went to the house to settle and change as well. Xue Jinxu accompanied them and pointed out the room a.s.signments. She accompanied Teng Man Rui in their room.
The three went out after a few minutes. Zhu Li Qiang wore a sando and board shorts while Teng Man Rui wore a cute conservative two-piece swimsuit with a midrib tanktop and a bottom that had a short skirt attached to it.
At the beach, the men tended to the needs of their women first. One bought fresh coconut juice for his lady, and the other bought shaved ice dessert. They spread out a big rectangular mat on the sand near the empty benches. Mo Wenbin and Xue Guangxi both occupied the empty recliners while the couples sat and lied down on the mat. Chen Linyun lied down on Xue Jinxu"s lap.
Zhu Li Qiang couldn"t help but ask, "Hey, Jinxu, how come the Xue young master did not join today? It"s only the two of you."
"That"s right, I haven"t seen Minhe-ge for years already." Teng Man Rui seconded.
Xue Jinxu and Xue Guangxi exchanged glances. "He"s still abroad. He"s so busy with the partners.h.i.+ps abroad that even the elders sometimes fly out to lend a hand." The older sibling lied.
"Ahh, what a pity. I thought I would meet him here. He"s too elusive." Zhu Li Qiang commented sadly.
"Well, I"m still here. Is my presence not enough?" Xue Guangxi retorted humorously.
"Pfttt. Haha. Too conceited!" They all laughed.
"Don"t mind him. He"s used to being the center of attention and life of parties." Xue Jinxu shrugged him off.
"I see. That"s great. He"s young and brilliant and full of energy. There"s nothing wrong with that." Zhu Li Qiang observed.
"I hope in the next outings you still invite me. It"s fun. I haven"t had such close friends before. Also, I"m still hoping to meet your older brother. You know, just to make sure we don"t have any business-related grudges of some sort."
"Well, we"ll relay it to him. As you know, even if Minhe-ge is the president, Guangxi here is the COO. As long as you"re in good working relations.h.i.+p with Guangxi, you"re good with him too."
"Yeah. It works that way." Xue Guangxi remarked.
In her mind, he was praising the kid. "Well-played, Guangxi." He was giving him the look of praise. The boy winked in acknowledgement.
This encounter wasn"t new to her. Some old acquaintances still asked about her older brother. It was still a family secret after all - that the older brother had already pa.s.sed away. This time, she couldn"t help but think and explore the possibility of sharing the news to the public once and for all, since Guangxi already entered the company and was quite doing well in leading it. "I have to talk it out with my parents when we return. It has to end somehow."
After their snacks, they all played beach volleyball. It"s a game of three versus three. One group comprised of Chen Linyun, Xue Jinxu and Mo Wenbin. The other group was composed of Zhu Li Qiang, Teng Man Rui and Xue Guangxi.
At first it was a close match. The ball volleyed back and forth without touching the ground for a long time, hence not one from the two sides could score. Nevertheless they were all enjoying it.
However, at some point, the game was becoming a little too personal. It couldn"t be confirmed though, but Zhu Li Qiang"s turns almost always led the ball to the direction of Mo Wenbin. Because generally Mo Wenbin wasn"t that malicious, he didn"t see anything out of the ordinary, and he was able to return the ball anyway so there"s really no issue with him. Eventually the game ended with Zhu Li Qiang"s team as the victor. It appeared that Zhu Li Qiang and Xue Guangxi had developed a great teamwork between them. Teng Man Rui was not that athletic but the two were enough to cover everything.
After their beach volleyball, they rested for a while and had their lunch. The menu for the day was fresh seafood dishes, and of course, rice partnered with fresh coconut juice. Everything was tropical. They ate in an open restaurant by the sea. The flooring of the restaurant was even sand, and the furniture were made of wood and rattan. Partnered with the cool seabreeze and the picturesque view of the bright blue sky with white c.u.mulous clouds towards the horizon where the sea and the sky meet each other, and good food, the group had a totally relaxing vacation. It"s worth the more-than-five-hours trip going there.