The 60s Island: The Daily Life of a Capitalist Young Lady with the Army - Chapter 63: I'm a Man, It's Fine

Chapter 63: I’m a Man, It’s Fine

Only when he desperately swam closer did he finally see the scene clearly.

Xu Xiangsi was floating perfectly fine in the water. Though her face was somewhat pale, her breathing was steady and her gaze clear.

In her hand, she was holding… a half-drowned child?

Xu Xiangsi also noticed him. Catching her breath from exhaustion, she was momentarily stunned to see him swimming over like a madman.

“Long Peiye?”

She spoke in surprise.

“Why did you come down too?”

Long Peiye’s rationality only began to return when he saw she was safe and sound.

But that overwhelming fear transformed into uncontrollable anger and panic.

Without a word, he roughly snatched the still-hiccupping little boy from Xu Xiangsi’s grasp and tossed him aside like a sack.

Then, he reached out his long arm and pulled Xu Xiangsi entirely into his embrace.

A scorching embrace, carrying the salty scent of seawater, tightly enveloped her.

The force was so strong it nearly crushed her bones.

“You scared me to death!”

The man’s burning breath brushed against her ear, his voice hoarse beyond recognition, carrying an unmistakable tremble.

Xu Xiangsi was squeezed painfully, completely bewildered.

She could clearly feel his sturdy chest, the heart beneath pounding like a drum—thump, thump—heavily against her eardrums and chest.

Wild, yet panicked.

So… he thought she was drowning?

So… he would worry about her this much?

An inexplicable warmth, mixed with a soft ache and palpitations she hadn’t even noticed, quietly spread from deep within her heart.

Her stiff body unconsciously relaxed.

As if guided by some unseen force, she raised her hand and gently wrapped her arms around his sturdy waist.

“I’m fine…”

Her voice was soft, carrying a soothing tone.

“I can swim, I… came down to save someone.”

But Long Peiye seemed not to hear, only holding her tighter as if trying to meld her into his very bones and blood.

He closed his eyes, taking a long moment to calm the heart that felt ready to leap from his chest.

He loosened his grip slightly, but his hands still firmly grasped her shoulders, his bloodshot eyes fixed intently on her.

“Don’t do this again next time.”

His voice was low and deep, commanding yet pleading.

“If something happens, wait for me to come.”

Looking at her pale face, his heart twisted with pain again.

“You really scared me… Xu Xiangsi, if something happened to you, what would I do?”

These words were spoken almost against her lips.

Xu Xiangsi’s heart skipped a beat, completely caught off guard.

Seeing the profound fear and cherishment in his eyes, she felt momentarily at a loss.

This feeling of being treasured, placed at the very center of someone’s heart, was too unfamiliar and too… scorching.

Instinctively, she averted her gaze, but her mouth moved faster than her mind, using her usual sharpness to mask her current fluster.

“Fine.”

She uttered the word lightly, a teasing smile curling at the corner of her lips.

“Next time, when he’s drowned, you can come just in time to fish out his corpse.”

Long Peiye: “…”

The little boy still held in Xu Xiangsi’s hand: “???”

He looked at this fierce older sister who had threatened to drown him, then at the man who had just emerged from the sea radiating an intimidating aura. His small head was filled with big question marks.

Long Peiye felt a suffocating pressure in his chest.

He really wanted to pry open this woman’s head to see what bizarre thoughts were inside.

Fishing out a corpse?

How could she say such words so casually!

But when his gaze fell upon her pale little face and those eyes feigning nonchalance yet unable to conceal exhaustion, the anger churning inside him simply couldn’t find release.

In the end, that mixture of frustration and fear only transformed into a helpless, doting sigh.

With one long arm still firmly wrapped around Xu Xiangsi’s waist, his other hand took the still-hiccupping boy from her grasp as effortlessly as plucking a chick, striding decisively toward the shore.

“Splash—”

The three of them finally stepped onto solid sand.

The salty sea breeze swept toward them, making Xu Xiangsi shiver involuntarily.

Only at this moment did she belatedly register the bone-chilling cold.

Her lightweight white shirt and military-green trousers were completely soaked through.

The drenched fabric clung to her like a second skin, mercilessly outlining her exquisite, breathtaking curves.

Especially the full, pert shape of her chest—clearly defined beneath the wet clothing, it stirred the imagination.

Long Peiye’s gaze inadvertently swept over her once, and his Adam’s apple bobbed heavily, uncontrollably.

His eyes instantly darkened, like deep ocean waters brewing a storm.

Without a word, he bent down to retrieve the military shirt he’d thrown onto the sand in his earlier rage, shook off the sand, and directly draped it over Xu Xiangsi’s head.

“Put it on.”

His voice was even hoarser than when they were in the water.

Xu Xiangsi pulled the garment off her head in confusion, revealing her damp face as she looked at him with utter bewilderment.

“My clothes are already soaked. If I put on your wet shirt, won’t yours get wet too?”

Long Peiye was momentarily speechless by her bizarre yet annoyingly logical reasoning. The ears on his typically stern face grew warm against his will.

He coughed heavily, his gaze shifting restlessly, no longer daring to look directly at her overly provocative figure.

“Just… cover up.”

Cover up?

Xu Xiangsi grew even more puzzled. Following his evasive gaze, she glanced down at herself.

In that instant, her face flushed crimson.

Damn it!

Unable to restrain herself, she shot this clueless man another exaggerated eye-roll.

But she still lifted her head, deliberately straightening her posture, and asked pointedly, “What about you?”

Long Peiye instinctively straightened his robust chest, his muscle contours appearing even more defined in the sunset glow, his tone carrying a note of matter-of-factness.

“I’m a man. It doesn’t matter.”

“Oh?”

Xu Xiangsi arched her elegant eyebrows, mimicking his earlier behavior as her glistening eyes swept back and forth across his bare upper body.

The firm pectoral muscles, the distinct eight-pack abs, and those dangerously seductive v-lines disappearing into the waistband of his military trousers…

Tsk.

She deliberately drew out her tone, every word spoken with righteous confidence and conviction:

“But I also don’t want your body to be seen by other women on the beach.”

Long Peiye was completely stunned.

He stared at her blankly, at the bright eyes that held a trace of cunning he had never seen before, and an unmistakable… possessiveness.

The air seemed to freeze for a few seconds.

Then, he suddenly let out a low chuckle.

The laughter emerged from his solid chest—deep, magnetic, carrying an irrepressible delight and a tingling sensation, like a feather gently tickling the very tip of one’s heart.

“Alright.”

He took his shirt back from her hands, unhurriedly.

Then, right in front of her, he put it on at a leisurely pace, covering up the criminally enticing scenery completely, buttoning it up one by one all the way to the top.

His movements were elegant, yet filled with a deadly sense of abstinence.

“As you wish.”

He bent down again, picked up the palm-leaf fan that had been blown aside by the wind, and presented it to Xu Xiangsi as if offering a treasure.

“Then… use this to cover up a bit.”

Xu Xiangsi stared at the large palm-leaf fan held out before her, utterly speechless.

Was this man determined to play this innocent and childish game with her?

She snatched the fan and irritably waved it vigorously toward her still-flushed cheeks.

The breeze was cool, yet her cheeks and the area over her heart grew increasingly hot.

She could clearly feel the scorching, somewhat aggrieved gaze beside her, fixed intently on her without wavering.

In the end, it was she who surrendered first.

Xu Xiangsi sighed in resignation and, under Long Peiye’s expectant gaze, reluctantly placed the large palm-leaf fan over her chest.