They both climbed onto the boat and sat down.
Yan Rusheng gazed at Wen Xuxu and told her, "You'll row the boat."
Xuxu had expected this and showed no signs of surprise.
However, upon scanning the entirety of the small boat, there was no sign of a boat paddle at all. So what was she supposed to row with?
But at this point in time, Yan Rusheng had already used his hands to push the boat off the beach, and the boat inched little by little into the sea.
"Wen Xuxu, are you planning to row?"
Yan Rusheng watched as Xuxu sat there motionless. As she sat there unmoving, he egged her on without restraint.
"President Yan, I would like to row too, but how am I supposed to row without a boat paddle?" Xuxu lamented.
"Ah!" It suddenly hit him. He didn't bring a boat paddle with them.
He scanned the shores and realized that the previous users of the boat had a boat paddle outside their doorstep.
Just as he was deciding whether he should get back on shore to get the boat paddle, the door opened, and out came a plainly dressed middle-aged lady.
The lady saw the boat paddle upon opening the door and realized that the boat was gone. Instinctively, she turned her head towards the sea.
Yan Rusheng felt an unsettling feeling surge through him.
"Wen Xuxu, hurry…" He reached out and grabbed her slender wrist, his eyes widening as he stared intently at the shore.
Wen Xuxu had her back to the shore, so she was oblivious to what was happening.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she turned her head back puzzledly.
Before she knew it, a blood-curdling scream shot through the air.
"Catch them!! They stole my boat!"
One lady jumped into the sea, furiously trying to get to them.
Wen Xuxu trembled with fear.
Seeing how pressing the issue had become, Yan Rusheng used his hands as boat paddles and paddled as hard as he could.
He arched his back and reached for the deep waters, trying to ride the waves to move the boat forward. To his relief, the boat started advancing further away from the shore at a pretty good speed too.
As the boat went further into the deeper waters, the lady chasing after them was having more difficulty in trying to get to the boat.
Xuxu was just about to open her mouth to try to explain that they had only wanted to borrow their boat to go check out the mountain on the other side, and that they were not trying to steal the boat.
But Yan Rusheng's scolding voice suddenly cut her off.
"Stupid woman! Why are you staring into space for? Help me row the boat!"
He stared intently at Wen Xuxu, anger radiating off him.
What an idiot. I wish I could throw her into the sea and feed the sharks. We're being chased but she's just sitting there doing nothing, Yan Rusheng thought to himself.
"Oh." Wen Xuxu subconsciously started mimicking Yan Rusheng as she used her hands as paddles as well to row the boat.
After the uproar, the neighboring families stepped out of their houses. Some of them held poles and feather dusters. They were ready to take on a fight.
All of them held their stances, asserting their dominance.
Upon seeing this, Wen Xuxu knew they were done for.
This time, they would not be able to get away with stealing this boat. They were in too deep and no one could help them.