Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 8 - Chapter 8

Anya and Qin Ruoshuang emerged from the coconut grove one after the other.

Before long, they met Zhang Liu, who had been searching for them.

The three stared at one another in silence for a few seconds.

“Anya?” Zhang Liu’s face lit up with joy at the sight of her, “Did you come to rescue us?”

Anya and Qin Ruoshuang both fell silent, their hearts sinking.

When they first saw each other, they had shared the same hope.

“Uh… I see,” Zhang Liu muttered, unsure what to say.

“Anya floated here with a piece of plane wreckage,” Qin Ruoshuang explained to break the awkward silence.

“Right…” Zhang Liu nodded and, after collecting himself, he said, “Qin Ruoshuang, I found a great cave for us to sleep in tonight.”

“Mm!” Qin Ruoshuang nodded slightly, already aware of his relocation plan.

Standing beside her, Anya spoke up, “Zhang Liu, do you have any food? Give me some.”

Grrr…

Almost as if on cue, her stomach growled loudly.

Anya had floated ashore with some plane debris. After arriving, she had found only beaches and dark forests in sight.

She didn’t dare enter the forest, so she had survived on two bottles of water she had salvaged from the debris. After walking along the coastline all day and spending a night on the beach, she was both hungry and thirsty.

Only this morning had she spotted the coconut grove, but before she could eat, she ran into Qin Ruoshuang.

Now, seeing Zhang Liu—whom she was used to ordering around for trivial tasks—her tone carried a faint hint of command.

Qin Ruoshuang frowned slightly at her attitude.

“Uh…” Zhang Liu hesitated for a moment, then pointed toward the rocks nearby. “There are coconuts over there.”

“Alright, go ahead and open one for me,” Anya waved her hand, then followed Zhang Liu’s gaze towards the foam on the ground. She walked over, sat down, and said, “Hurry up, I’m about to die of thirst.”

“Okay!” Zhang Liu nodded but didn’t immediately go to open the coconut. Instead, he spoke to Qin Ruoshuang, who was standing still: “Qin Ruoshuang, why don’t you sit for a bit? We can have lunch together.”

“Mm.” Qin Ruoshuang nodded, swallowing the words she was about to say, and sat next to Anya. But when her eyes landed on Anya again, it wasn’t the same friendly gaze as before.

Instead, it carried a hint of dissatisfaction.

“Ugh… I wonder how long it’ll take before someone rescues me…” Anya took the coconut shell filled with coconut water from Zhang Liu and drank heavily. Then, noticing that Qin Ruoshuang hadn’t drunk her coconut water, she asked, “Why aren’t you drinking?”

“Zhang Liu, you go ahead and drink first,” Qin Ruoshuang didn’t respond to Anya, instead getting up and walking to Zhang Liu, holding the coconut shell to his mouth.

“Ah?” Zhang Liu instinctively turned his head away as he had never been this close to a girl other than his sister. The coconut shell spilled the water everywhere, soaking into the golden sand.

“Sorry, sorry…” Zhang Liu quickly apologized, looking at Qin Ruoshuang’s embarrassed expression. “I’ll open a few more for you.”

“It’s fine, just drink first, you’ve got sweat all over your face.” Qin Ruoshuang wiped the sweat from Zhang Liu’s forehead and then didn’t sit back down with Anya. Instead, she picked up a stone and started scraping the coconut meat for him.

Anya, as a member of a prestigious family, wasn’t stupid—she immediately understood from Qin Ruoshuang’s actions and expressions that she was intentionally trying to please Zhang Liu.

But why?

Zhang Liu was just an ordinary boy—what was so special about him that required such flattery?

Though she was annoyed and confused, Anya didn’t speak further, just quietly drank her coconut water.

In contrast to Zhang Liu’s rough method of opening coconuts, Qin Ruoshuang was more gentle and meticulous. The coconut meat left on the shell went from 40% to just 10%.

Soon, however, Zhang Liu suggested that Qin Ruoshuang sit down somewhere else.

The reason was simple.

He wasn’t blind—he had seen the bloodstains on her thigh.

It wasn’t gentlemanly to make a girl work in this situation.

Before walking away, Qin Ruoshuang did feed him a few pieces of coconut meat, and the sensation of her cold, soft fingers brushing against his lips gave him a strange refreshing feeling.

“Why are you trying to please him so much?” After Qin Ruoshuang sat back down next to Anya, she heard Anya’s quiet question.

Qin Ruoshuang cast her a brief glance and didn’t answer.

Her actions weren’t to please him—they were to express gratitude.

No one in this world was obligated to be kind to others without reason. Qin Ruoshuang and Zhang Liu were merely classmates, yet Zhang Liu had already helped her in many ways.

She hadn’t been able to thank him properly before due to her physical condition, but now that she was recovering a little, Qin Ruoshuang was ready to express her deep gratitude after they were rescued, and to cooperate with him to survive here until then.

Anya only shrugged helplessly, as if she didn’t care.

“Here, let’s eat together,” Zhang Liu said as he brought over the lunch he had prepared.

This time, he really went all out with the coconuts.

Four coconuts were piled into a mound, their white flesh peeking out in little spikes. Three large coconut shells were filled with clear coconut water.

As for the shells of a few snails he had kept in his pocket…

Zhang Liu had only just realized that they had been turned into a sticky mess of slime and broken shells from his climbing efforts.

So he took the questionable, possibly edible items out of his pocket and buried them in the sand.

“Thank you.” After Qin Ruoshuang sincerely thanked him, she took the coconut water from Zhang Liu. Anya, however, grabbed a handful of coconut meat and stuffed it into her mouth.

She chewed a few times and swallowed.

She hadn’t had solid food like this for a whole day and night.

Even the coconut meat that Zhang Liu and Qin Ruoshuang had started to dislike was an absolute feast for her.

“Eat slowly… drink some coconut water to wash it down,” Zhang Liu noticed that Anya seemed to be choking on the coconut meat and quickly brought over the coconut water. “I have more, take your time.”

Anya didn’t thank him but casually took the coconut water and drank it.

Qin Ruoshuang watched this without saying anything, her brows furrowing slightly.

She had already noticed that Zhang Liu’s attitude towards Anya was very much one of flattery.

After hesitating for a few seconds, she reached out and grabbed Zhang Liu’s sleeve, saying, “Zhang Liu, can you come with me for a moment?”

“What’s up?” Zhang Liu, still trying to drink the coconut water, asked, confused.

“Mm, just come with me for a moment, please?” Qin Ruoshuang’s gaze was sincere. After a few seconds of eye contact, Zhang Liu nodded.

The two of them left Anya, who was still eating, and walked a little farther away.

“Zhang Liu, do you like Anya?” Qin Ruoshuang asked seriously.

“Hmm? No, I don’t really like her,” Zhang Liu peered at Anya, who was looking over at them from a distance, then answered seriously, “Why are you asking me this?”

“I just think your attitude towards her is strange,” Qin Ruoshuang said, holding her left arm with her right hand. “You’re being a bit too enthusiastic, don’t you think?”

Seeing the confused look on Zhang Liu’s face, she couldn’t help but quietly add, “And I feel like Anya looks down on you…”