Honeymoon

"Shut up!" Xia Yanchun shoved Li Shiyan, angrily smearing a handful of wet sand onto her.

As if afraid of retaliation, she immediately ran far away. Hit and run means never losing out, and anyway, Li Shiyan couldn't outrun her.

Approaching noon, the sun started to get hot. The number of people on the beach gradually increased. The originally somewhat empty beach would probably become packed with people before long.

Xia Yanchun had no desire to swim anymore. Having had enough of playing in the water, her mind turned to taking good photos.

What beautiful girl goes out to play without taking photos?

The moment she returned to Shen Yue's side, Li Shiyan followed right behind her.

Xia Yanchun sat down with her legs bent, unlocked her phone, and curiously glanced at Shen Yue, who was binge-watching a show. "Aren't you going to play in the water?"

"What's so fun about water? I'm not a kid."

"Sister Shen Yue, you're becoming a boring adult."

"Ha, so what? Just you wait. When you go to college, I'll ask about your grades every day. When you graduate, I'll ask about your job. When you get married, I'll ask when you're having kids, and when you have one, I'll ask when you're having a second."

"None of that can pressure me," Xia Yanchun hummed, starting to take pictures around the area.

There were also sandcastles built by little kids nearby. Xia Yanchun took many pictures of them, thinking they were super cute.

Before long, Shen Nian, having finished his swim, strolled over. His body was still a bit dripping wet. "Phew, haven't swam in a long time."

"Here, a towel."

"Oh my, how is Chunbao so good to me?"

Xia Yanchun looked disgusted. Calling her Chunbao was fine in private, but wasn't it embarrassing to shout it out in public?

"Outside, you must use my official title. Next time, remember to call me Sister Chun."

"Alright, Lord Haji-Chun."

"..."

With more people around, the desire to play faded.

She originally wanted to go into the water with a swimming ring, but now... sunbathing seemed more appropriate.

Sunscreen is essential for a beach trip. Both Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan brought some. Xia Yanchun carefully applied it to every exposed area of her skin.

"Shen Nian, let me put some on you." Xia Yanchun poked Shen Nian's shoulder.

"I'm not sunbathing."

"Put it on anyway. It blocks UV rays."

"It's that awesome?"

"Really." Without taking no for an answer, Xia Yanchun smeared it onto Shen Nian's face and neck, helping him rub it in evenly. Whether he sunbathed or not, putting it on couldn't hurt.

The sunscreen didn't have that sticky feeling; it was actually a bit cool, and applying it felt very, very comfortable.

Shen Nian looked at Shen Yue again. "Did anyone hit on you?"

"Why do you have to speak so unpleasantly?"

"?" Shen Nian laughed out of exasperation. "Looks like no one did."

"..." Shen Yue looked depressed.

Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan snickered on the side, taking the opportunity to move their mat out to sunbathe.

Sunbathing wasn't as comfortable as they imagined. They originally wanted to lay out for half an hour, but ended up only doing it for a few minutes before the two girls moved the mat back, focusing all their attention on taking good pictures.

They had lunch nearby. Prices by the beach were much higher than elsewhere. Fast food for the four of them cost a full hundred yuan, and it tasted bad with small portions.

In the afternoon, Xia Yanchun was pulled by Li Shiyan to the beach to take photos. After playing in the water for a bit, everyone started packing up to head back to the hotel.

"So boring," Shen Nian said casually.

"You were laughing the hardest when you were splashing water on me," Xia Yanchun curled her lips.

"Is that the same? I was just facing every battle with a smile. Are you saying people aren't allowed to smile? Just because I smiled doesn't mean I was happy, inequality solved."

Xia Yanchun ignored him and leaned into Shen Yue's ear to whisper, "Sister Shen Yue, did your mom give birth to Shen Nian while doing a handstand..."

"It's possible."

"No wonder."

"Bro, couldn't you two lower your voices when gossiping about someone?"

"You were clearly eavesdropping on our girl talk."

"..."

How ridiculous.

Back at the hotel, they turned on the AC. Xia Yanchun took a shower first, followed by Shen Nian. They had to wash off all the sand and salt water from their bodies.

The Golden Beach trip was only scheduled for three days: yesterday, today, and tomorrow noon. Shen Yue and Li Shiyan would catch a ride back, while he and Xia Yanchun would take the high-speed rail to their next destination. The itinerary was packed full.

It was quite fulfilling. He could only say that Haji-Chun truly lived up to being a Xiaohongshu user. Shen Nian didn't know about other things, but when it came to travel guides, Xiaohongshu was indeed very authoritative.

"Are we just staying in the hotel and not going out this afternoon?"

"At dusk, Shiyan and I will go down to take some photos. There shouldn't be anything else to do today."

"Did you have fun today?"

"Hmph, it was okay. There isn't actually much fun to be had here at Golden Beach; it's just for the novelty. We couldn't really spend the whole day there sunbathing and swimming, right?" Xia Yanchun propped herself up on a pillow, swinging her little feet up and down. She beckoned with her small hand, "Come here, help me pick out some photos."

"Coming, coming."

There were hundreds of photos, capturing every bit of the day. Picking the best ones to post on social media would make today's trip perfectly complete.

Even Shen Nian, who usually only posted game screenshots, made a post and uploaded some photos. A few beautiful landscape shots and coastal life pictures actually looked quite aesthetic at first glance.

In the middle, he included a selfie of Chunbao. Calling it a selfie wasn't as accurate as calling it a group photo of the four of them, just taken by Xia Yanchun. Xia Yanchun took up the bulk of the frame, while the other three just showed their faces in the background.

So pretty.

After dusk, everyone went down to eat together. Shen Yue treated them. After spending several hundred yuan, the four were just full, and the two little girls happily ran off to take photos again...

Traveling was probably just about being this happy.

...

At noon the next day, in front of the hotel, Li Shiyan and Shen Yue had already packed their belongings. They had bought their tickets in advance last night.

Li Shiyan curiously shuffled over to Xia Yanchun's side. "Your next stop is climbing Tian Mountain, right?"

"Yeah," Xia Yanchun smiled, her eyes curving. "Want to go together?"

"I'll pass..."

Li Shiyan shook her head.

She already had mild hypoglycemia; climbing a mountain might literally kill her there.

Besides, Xia Yanchun and Shen Nian were a young couple traveling together. How could she tag along? She still had that much tact.

"Climbing mountains is so tiring. Xiao Chun, if you really make it to the top, you have to take lots of photos and send them to me when you get back. I'll just pretend I went too, hehe."

"Mhm."

"Then Sister Shen Yue and I will catch our ride first. You guys be careful."

"Got it."

Watching Li Shiyan and Shen Yue get into the taxi, Xia Yanchun pouted her lips and nudged Shen Nian with her elbow. "It's just the two of us left. Is there anything else we haven't packed?"

"Everything is packed."

"Then I'll go check out."

As Xia Yanchun walked, her little ponytail swished back and forth, making Shen Nian unable to resist reaching out to flick it.

This was exactly the move Xia Yanchun had used to hook him.

After checking out, their next stop was Tian Mountain Forest Park in Zhangjiajie, which would take a long time by car.

After calling a car on her phone, Xia Yanchun leaned against Shen Nian. "It feels like we're on our honeymoon."

"No wonder you dragged me out on a trip, you actually just wanted to go on a honeymoon with me."

"Don't overthink it, okay? A trip is just a trip."

"A honeymoon is just two newlyweds traveling and relaxing together. The only thing we're missing is the actual wedding."

"That is still a long, long way off." Xia Yanchun raised her hand, gazing up at the blue sky and white clouds in a brief daze. "It feels like we've been together for ages, but if you really think about it, it's only been a little over half a year..."

"Has the way we interact changed at all since we made our relationship official?"

"Definitely." Xia Yanchun raised an eyebrow in thought, then pointed her index finger and chattered away, "You've gotten much bolder. In the beginning, you were always calling me your wife and trying to get me to call you hubby. It was so perverted."

"And how exactly is that perverted, may I ask?"

"Umm... hehe."

The girl decided to play dumb and gloss over it.

She succeeded. Shen Nian merely shot her a sidelong glance.

Shen Nian grasped the girl's small hand, gently pulled it down, and intertwined his fingers with hers. Sure enough, holding hands like this felt much more satisfying.

I will be picking up the pace recently, the holiday arc dragged on a bit too long...

This is my first time writing such a long story, so my control over the pacing is a bit poor. Please forgive me orz