Translator: 549690339
After they had their fill and rested for a little while, they finally pushed open the door and walked out.
It was already past nine in the evening, and they planned to stay overnight in this small town, meeting up with the other five people tomorrow morning. Xia Siyu showed no complaints about the arrangements by the program team, appearing as calm as if she had no interest in the small town whatsoever.
But it was precisely because of this that she seemed suspicious.
Xia Siyu was someone who could become lively when around people; even without others to join her, she could entertain herself. Words like low-key, calm, tolerant, and submissive had never been in her vocabulary. Therefore, her behavior now seemed even more questionable.
So he took the initiative to suggest, “I ate too much for dinner, and it was a bit greasy. Can we go out for a walk? I’d like to digest the food.”
His reason was plausible, leaving nothing to refute, and the director’s team nodded in agreement.
Bo Yan still looked seriously at Xia Siyu, “I’m not familiar with this area, so you lead the way. I’ll follow you.”
Xia Siyu was taken aback for a moment but didn’t oppose his suggestion and quickly nodded her head.
The night had deepened, with a full moon hanging in the sky. Xia Siyu led the way with Bo Yan following behind, both of them silent as they threaded through the small town.
Taormina is a mountainous city by the sea, with the vast ocean on one side and magnificent volcanoes on the other. It has a long history, once a colony of Ancient Greece and later occupied by the Rome Empire. Along the road were rows of palm trees and citrus fruit trees, and the balconies of the medieval houses were all adorned with bright flowers.
Compared to Palermo and Syracuse, there weren’t many grand buildings here, but the place was leisurely and relaxed, as if time itself had slowed down a notch.
Xia Siyu didn’t head to the seaside; instead, she went up in circles. On the top of Mt. Taormina, there was a castle, and from the terrace above, one could see the entire view of the town. Bo Yan knew she was doing it deliberately. She couldn’t visit the Chinese District, where she once lived, as part of the program’s schedule. Nevertheless, she wanted to say a distant farewell to her past in this way.
But halfway there, the accompanying cameramen apologized, “The camera’s out of battery.” Another shook his head, “The memory card is full.”
Mainly because they didn’t expect Xia Siyu and Bo Yan to come out for a stroll late at night, they hadn’t brought the full gear, nor had the program team prepared for it. Xia Siyu didn’t want to give up now that she had finally made it here, but before she could speak, Bo Yan said, “No worries, you guys go back first. We’ll just walk around and come back, not delaying anything. She knows Italian, I know English, and we have mobile navigation. We won’t get lost.”
The cameramen looked at each other, nodded, and left.
And then on the quiet mountain path, it was just the two of them.
The three-hundred-plus-meter hill wasn’t very tall and was quickly scaled. Indeed, Bo Yan noticed that she had been standing at the terrace looking towards the Chinese District all this time.
They didn’t start heading down until the director called them, reluctantly beginning their descent. On the way through the town and around a corner, several youths on rollerblades sped past them, coming so fast that they were about to collide.
“Watch out.” It was Bo Yan who grabbed Xia Siyu’s arm and pulled her close to him. The group of youths whisked by them one after the other with whooping and hollering, quickly disappearing at the end of the street.
Bo Yan was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he suddenly realized that Xia Siyu was in his arms.