It was fortunate that Bai Zhou meant it when he said ‘soon’. Within a few minutes, they arrived at a tall observation platform.
The observation platform was constructed near the sea, allowing one to immerse themselves in the expansive scenery of the open sea.
It wasn’t hard for Ji Fanyin to figure out why Bai Zhou brought her here, considering the current time on her watch, but she still asked him about it anyway, “What is this place?”
“A place to watch the beginning of a new day.” Bai Zhou casually parked his bicycle by the side. “I used to always come here to draw whenever I vacation in Santorini. There are many places where we can watch the sunrise from, but Santorini’s sunrise is the dreamiest one I’ve ever seen.”
“So, you anxiously pulled me here because you wanted to share the sunrise you love with me?” asked Ji Fanyin smilingly.
Bai Zhou looked at her for a moment before his eyes timidly drifted away. “… Mm. I hope that you’ll like it too.”
Ji Fanyin sat down on one of the benches on the observation platform and patted the empty space next to her. “Come here.”
Bai Zhou hesitantly walked over and sat down next to her. His sitting posture was restrained, unlike his usual arrogant demeanor.
“There’s no way I wouldn’t like it,” replied Ji Fanyin with a soft chuckle. “You shared your valuable treasure with me. I’ll cherish it as dearly as you do.”
She figured that Ji Xinxin would also say such words when put in the same position.
Bai Zhou’s expression visibly relaxed upon hearing those words. He rested his back on the bench and said, “We were still a family of three when we came here for the first time, but in less than a day, the two of them had already started arguing. While they were shouting at each other, I snuck out and found this place. It happened to be sunrise then.”
Ji Fanyin tilted her head toward him and earnestly listened to his story.
“… I prayed to the rising sun that they would have stopped fighting by the time I returned.” Bai Zhou stared intently at the expansive sea before him as he spoke. “They really stopped fighting when I went back. They were anxiously looking for me, afraid that I'd gone missing. That was the only time I recall the two of them feeling like parents to me.”
Ji Fanyin had never known about this, but she wasn’t too surprised either.
How could he be so blind as to be fooled by a woman who didn’t cherish him if he hadn’t suffered any trauma in his childhood?
Bai Zhou should have been smart enough to see through Ji Xinxin’s ploys, but Ji Xinxin was still able to blindside him.
The tricks used by pickup artists could hardly be called ingenious, and they could be easily used by anyone. Whether the tricks worked or not depended not on the pickup artists themselves but their targets.
A golden boundary had started forming at the distant sea horizon, a sign that the sun was about to emerge.
“… I don’t need their love anyway,” murmured Bai Zhou. “I don’t need anyone else as long as big sis is around.”
Ji Fanyin looked at Bai Zhou and said, “The wish you made with the rising sun the other day came true, right?”
“Mm,” replied Bai Zhou with a self-deprecating smile. “But I know that it’s just a coincidence. I’m no longer the child who believes in such things.”
“But I believe in it.” Ji Fanyin flicked Bai Zhou’s cap lightly. “I also have a wish to make.”
When the first crack of sunlight shone upon the surface of the sea, imprinting a beautiful shimmer on it, Ji Fanyin clasped her hands together and began earnestly making a wish.
5 billion in three years, 10 billion in five years! I’ll live a carefree life once I earn enough and return home whenever I want to!
When she opened her eyes, she heard Bai Zhou grumbling beside her, “You should tell me your wish instead. I’ll help you realize it. I should at least be more reliable than that central air-conditioning up there…”
Ji Fanyin turned her head over and asked with a smile, “You mean it?”
Bai Zhou was briefly stunned before he quickly nodded in response, “Of course! There’s no way I’d lie to you, big sis.”
“I’ll tell you my wish.” Ji Fanyin’s eyes curled into tender crescents. “I asked the sun if he could bring the young Bai Zhou, who was overjoyed when he found that his wish had been realized, to me and have him smile at me.”
Bai Zhou’s eyes dilated.
With a chuckle, Ji Fanyin took off the cap that was covering half of Bai Zhou’s face and ruffled his hair.
“Sometimes, I feel like I’m not doing enough for you. I can’t even make you smile when you’re right beside me,” she said.
“That’s not true!” Bai Zhou blurted out.
“Can my wish be realized then?”
Bai Zhou turned his head away out of awkwardness and embarrassment. There was a few seconds of silence before he cleared his throat and said, “The young Bai Zhou says ‘Thank you, big sis’.”
Ji Fanyin: “…”
Just this once, this doltish Bai Zhou actually feels doltishly cute.
“I hope that I’ll be able to come here every year with big sis to watch the sunrise,” Bai Zhou said out of the blue.
Ji Fanyin felt that his abrupt outburst reeked of a desperate attempt to change the topic, but a professional like her wouldn’t be so tactless as to point it out.
Ji Xinxin was supposed to be a caring and considerate person.
“I’ll accompany you here whenever you want.”
If I have spare time on hand and you pay me enough.
It felt like a moment ago that they sat down next to one another on the bench, but the sun was already halfway up the sky.
Ji Fanyin was starting to regret not bringing her sunglasses out with her when Bai Zhou suddenly asked, “There’s one thing that I’d like to ask big sis.”
“What is it?”
“Big sis, you rejected Song Shiyu because you don’t like him, right?” asked Bai Zhou.
“You were there that day too,” replied Ji Fanyin with a helpless sigh. “Shiyu is just a friend to me.”
Bai Zhou turned his head over and stared at her intently. “I want big sis to become my girlfriend.”
Ji Fanyin turned her head over in astonishment, causing their eyes to meet one another. The rising sun cast a golden glow on Bai Zhou’s cheek.
“I’ve made my wish to the rising sun… Is there any chance that my wish can be realized?