“I thought I’d mistaken you for someone else — so it really is Mr. Lu of Nanyang Hongye. What an unfortunate coincidence.” She eyed him sidelong.

Lu Shicheng, however, was only staring with concern at her hand. Following his gaze, she looked down and found two fresh scrapes on the back of her hand — likely from when she’d been “fighting” as the old woman earlier.

Before he could ask, she quickly tucked both hands behind her waist. “Is this your room, Mr. Lu?”

She made a show of touring around with her hands behind her back, examining everything. No matter where she wandered, she could feel Lu Shicheng’s gaze following her closely from behind. Her mind was a little unsettled — when buying the ticket, she’d only been told it was a Nanyang shipping line; she’d never expected it to be a Lu family vessel. Had he only just returned from abroad? Had the clan’s affairs all been settled? Then she thought — none of this really concerned her anymore.

Looking around carefully, this was a large suite — what appeared to be a bedroom inside, and outside a spacious sitting room, with three large sofas arranged together, plus a liquor cabinet and side table.

Everywhere her eyes fell was clean, tidy, and orderly — exactly Lu Shicheng’s style.

Lying down on that comfortable sofa would surely be relaxing, and she was even more tempted to pour herself a drink from the liquor cabinet to calm her nerves — but she hadn’t forgotten they’d already broken up, so she only glanced at it “indifferently” and considered her tour complete.

Still, given how high up his room was, the view from the doorway must be quite pleasant. Unable to restrain her curiosity, she walked to the door and quietly pressed her ear against it to listen.

“The ship has already set sail, but the officers should still be searching the second floor.”

He spoke up from behind her.

This reminded Wen Tingli of something. She thought it over, then returned to the coffee table and picked up her small suitcase. “It’s fine, this is actually a good time for me to leave. Thank you for your help just now, Mr. Lu.”

She turned to go, but he caught up and grabbed her arm. She glanced at him sidelong. “Do you have something else to say, Mr. Lu?”

“Someone’s coming.” His voice was very low.

Someone? She hadn’t heard anything. Just then a knock sounded abruptly at the door, and before Wen Tingli could react, Lu Shicheng pushed her — bag and all — into the inner room.

Wen Tingli could only look at him questioningly: Where do I hide? The wardrobe again?

He pointed at her feet — just stay right here.

The visitor seemed to be a room attendant.

“Mr. Lu, your dinner.”

“Just set it on the table. Have those officers downstairs left yet?”

“They’re searching room by room — doesn’t look like they’ll leave until they find the culprit. Mr. Kuang has already spoken sternly with them; they’ve promised to disembark first thing tomorrow morning. Mr. Kuang asked me to inquire when he might come up to see you.”

“Tell him there’s no need to come up. I’ll go down and find him myself shortly.”

Then came the sound of the door closing. Wen Tingli peeked out and saw Lu Shicheng returning to the bedroom doorway. Meeting her gaze, he nodded at her.

The moment she stepped out, a rich aroma of food hit her. At midday, in her rush to help deliver the suitcase for Head Nurse Liu and the others, she’d only managed a quick bite at a roadside shop, and by now she was famished.

She couldn’t help glancing repeatedly at the food on the table. Lu Shicheng followed her gaze, and almost instantly his expression softened. He looked at her silently for a few seconds, then went straight into the inner room and picked up a file from the desk. “I need to go out for a while.”

Wen Tingli could hardly stay still. “I should be going too, then.”

“No. There are people cleaning the deck outside right now, and the officers below are conducting a thorough search — you’ll have to wait until dark no matter what. Don’t worry, it’s safe here.”

Wen Tingli had no choice but to stop, gesturing at the food on the table. “Won’t you eat dinner, Mr. Lu?”

“This is your dinner. I’ll eat downstairs.”

As she watched Lu Shicheng head toward the door, Wen Tingli couldn’t help following a couple of steps. At the doorway, Lu Shicheng said quietly, “Those people outside should finish their work within half an hour. To be safe, you’d best stay in the inner room once you’ve eaten.”

Once he’d left, Wen Tingli could no longer keep a straight face, bursting into quiet laughter with her head down. To think he could say all that so righteously — he just wanted her to stay in his room a bit longer.

Since he’d gone to such trouble, she decided not to make things difficult for herself either, and settled comfortably onto the sofa. She’d been so tense in front of Lu Shicheng that it had worn her out completely. Trying so hard to treat him as a stranger who meant nothing to her had actually taken all her strength.

After resting a while, she perked back up, sat down cheerfully at the dining table, and finished off the entire dinner that had originally belonged to Lu Shicheng.

After eating, she retreated to his bedroom to avoid making noise moving around the outer room.

The bedroom held a large round bed, big enough to nearly dance on.

The white bedding was so immaculately smooth it looked as though no one had ever slept on it. The large desk to the left, however, was clearly well-used, piled with books and notes.

He really was a thoroughgoing workaholic — in this, at least, he was much like her.

Finally she sat on the single armchair beside the round bed, looking around. This wasn’t the first time she’d been in his bedroom, but whether it was the one at the Lu residence or this one here, both shared the same style: clean, bright, without a single superfluous object.

Tinged with a hint of world-weariness, as if he could withdraw from all this splendor at any moment.

Truly a man impossible to see through.

Bored, she idly toyed with the flowers on the side table when she suddenly felt a twinge of pain in her foot. Looking down, she found a small cut on her ankle too, and turning her elbow, discovered two more long scrapes on her arm.

That evening, in her effort to draw everyone’s attention, she’d deliberately stepped on a banana peel and fallen in front of everyone — her elbow, her leg, her back had all been scraped, and even her backside ached faintly.

She hurried to search the room for cotton balls and gentian violet solution but found none. With Lu Shicheng not there, she didn’t feel right rummaging through his things, so she gave up.

She checked the clock on the desk — already half past seven in the evening. She was normally quite energetic, and at this hour on an ordinary day would never feel sleepy, but tonight, for some reason, her eyes grew impossibly heavy. She supposed it must be from having eaten too much just now.

To keep herself alert, she tried propping her eyelids open with her fingers, which only backfired — her eyes grew sore from being held open too long, and once sore, they needed to close and rest a moment. And resting like that, she ended up dozing off with her head tilted against the sofa.

Some time later, she jolted awake from a dream. Opening her eyes, she found herself bathed in warm lamplight, her surroundings feeling somewhat unfamiliar. After a dazed moment, she was startled to see the clock on the table already pointing past ten, and scrambled to her feet in alarm.

Only then did she notice a suit jacket draped over her — it appeared to be… Lu Shicheng’s jacket.

Wen Tingli peered out in surprise and saw Lu Shicheng sitting alone on the sofa in the outer room.

“You— when did you get back, Mr. Lu?”

Some documents sat on the coffee table in front of Lu Shicheng. He glanced up at her, then let his gaze fall back to the papers. “Didn’t notice — around nine, I think.”

Which meant she’d slept in front of him for over an hour, during which he’d apparently been working the whole time. Still somewhat dazed, she rubbed her eyes, removed his jacket from her shoulders, and stood to walk out.

Having slept so long, her mouth was terribly dry. She walked to the liquor cabinet, only to find it held nothing but unopened bottles of wine — no kettle or cup in sight. She scanned the cabinet with her eyes, but the more anxious she grew for water, the less she could find it.

Lu Shicheng watched her for a moment from behind, then rose and walked over, reaching past her to pull open the cabinet door further. It turned out the water kettle wasn’t sitting on the countertop but wedged inside the door, its base fixed in place so it wouldn’t spill even with the ship’s rolling.

Lu Shicheng poured her a glass of water and handed it to her. Wen Tingli drank in large gulps.

He watched her finish, then poured her another glass before returning to his seat.

Once she’d had enough to drink, Wen Tingli glanced back at Lu Shicheng. Just then, a faint commotion could be heard from outside.

She turned her head in surprise to listen. “What’s happening — did they find that bandit leader Liu Kai?”

“They found him — as a corpse. Probably assassinated by his own accomplices in the chaos. The officers suspect infighting, and are now trying to root out the culprit.”

Wen Tingli sucked in a breath. “Then there’ll be no peace all night?”

Indeed, not just that. After several rounds of searching, the officers had by now formed a general impression of the passengers on the first and second floors. Her unfamiliar face suddenly appearing in a second-floor cabin would inevitably make her a prime suspect.

Lu Shicheng, head bowed, kept signing various documents. “You’ll just have to make do here tonight.”

“That won’t do at all,” she said, exaggeratedly furrowing her brow and shaking her head.

Lu Shicheng stopped writing and looked at her, as though waiting for her to suggest something better.

Normally, Wen Tingli would already have come up with a hundred new ideas, but perhaps because she’d just woken up, after a long moment of thought, she couldn’t come up with a better plan.

So she set her water glass down on the table with an air of solemnity, about to say something equally solemn, when she suddenly noticed a bottle of gentian violet and a packet of cotton beside his hand.

Without looking up, he simply pushed the items toward her. “It’s hot out — wounds get infected easily. You should treat those soon.”

After a pause, he added, “There are some common wound medicine and antiseptics in the bedside table in the inner room.”

Wen Tingli said nothing, simply gathering the items and carrying them into the room.

He never once pressed her about how she’d gotten those wounds — just as he’d never asked why the officers were looking for her, simply standing between her and them as a matter of course.

These virtues he’d always had — only, she vaguely felt that Lu Shicheng now was even more considerate and tolerant than before.

He seemed to notice everything, yet chose to overlook it all.

She couldn’t help wondering where these subtle changes in him had come from.

She tended her wounds in the room while he continued working outside; for a while, only the sound of pen scratching across paper could be heard.

Suddenly, the sound outside stopped.

Wen Tingli glanced out curiously and saw Lu Shicheng opening the door and going out. Just then she needed to check the scrape on her elbow, but her sleeve was too narrow — pulling it up, she couldn’t help hissing in pain. The best solution would be to simply remove her top to examine it, but underneath she wore only a thin undershirt.

Although Lu Shicheng’s position outside couldn’t see the bedside area, there was no door separating the two rooms.

If he’d chosen to step out on his own, it could only be because he’d heard something suggesting she needed privacy…

With him gone, she simply stood by the bed and took off her top to examine herself, knowing that with his personality, he’d never suddenly come back mid-way.

Halfway through undressing, she buttoned back up and went to press her ear to the door first, listening for a moment. Then she quietly cracked the door open and saw Lu Shicheng standing on the deck with his back to the cabin door, apparently gazing out at the sea, no one else beside him.

“Hey,” she called softly, “come here a moment.”

Lu Shicheng came in and looked at her. She said, “It’s too hot — I want to take a bath before applying the medicine. Where’s the washroom?”

Lu Shicheng led her to the bedroom. It turned out the bathroom door was hidden in the wall beside the round bed, a concealed door — no wonder she hadn’t found it earlier.

He turned on the hot water tap for her, then, after a pause, asked, “Do you need a towel and soap?”

“There’s some in my suitcase.” She didn’t look at him — perhaps because of the steam filling the bathroom, both of them looked somewhat awkward.

He said nothing more, went out, and closed the door for her. Wen Tingli caught sight of herself in the mirror — her face was flushed red from the heat.

After bathing, she instinctively reached for her nightgown, then thought better of walking around in front of Lu Shicheng dressed like that, and instead picked out a clean qipao suitable for going out. Coming out, she saw he was still working in front of the sofa, and sat down to tell him, “I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight.”

“I’ll be working quite late.”

“That’s fine.” Wen Tingli sat in the chair across from him. “I’ll wait until you’re finished before sleeping.”

Lu Shicheng seemed a bit distracted, suddenly stopping his pen. “You should sleep in the inner room after all. If anything happens, you’ll have more time to react calmly from in there than out here. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

Wen Tingli was persuaded by this, though she didn’t immediately get up to return to the room. Instead, her gaze fell on the pen in his hand — the one she’d given him for his birthday last year, which he still kept. She pressed her lips together and turned her face away. “It’s so hot — why don’t you take a bath too? I’ll wait out here.”

He’d always been fastidious about cleanliness; if she went straight to bed in the inner room, he would absolutely refuse to disturb her again afterward for any reason, which would likely make for an uncomfortable night for him.

Lu Shicheng finished signing a few more documents, nodded, and said, “I won’t be long.”

Though Wen Tingli sat outside, her eyes weren’t behaving themselves — the moment he went in, she peeked curiously, watching Lu Shicheng open the wardrobe across from the round bed. His clothes hung in neat rows, sorted by category — outerwear on the left, underclothes on the right.

At a glance, she spotted a familiar set of pajamas among the clothes on the right. After all this time, he still kept them. Such a sentimental man.

Lu Shicheng took only ten minutes to bathe. He emerged with water droplets still in his short hair, and hadn’t changed into pajamas, instead putting on outdoor clothes just as she had.

He walked out without meeting her eyes, pouring himself a glass of water. “It’s getting late. You should go rest.”

Wen Tingli noticed he’d been deliberately avoiding her gaze since a moment ago.

She glanced at his slightly damp collar, then down at her own damp hair falling over her shoulders, and went into the room, lost in thought.

She lay down on the round bed, still dressed.

The bed truly was enormous, seemingly without edges, the bedding soft as well. Lying down felt like sinking into a pile of cotton, indescribably comfortable.

Her greatest talent was adapting easily to any situation, and now she was delighted, rolling this way and that on the bed, thoroughly entertaining herself alone.

Suddenly, a clatter rang out in the quiet outer room. She jumped off the bed to look and found Lu Shicheng’s water glass had fallen and shattered on the floor.

Lu Shicheng stood there apparently in a daze, but quickly came to his senses and crouched to pick up the glass shards at his feet.

She wasn’t going to fall asleep anyway, so she came out to help. The moment her hand reached toward the pile of glass, he raised his hand and blocked her.

“I’ll do it myself.”

He picked up all the fragments on the floor one by one and set them on the coffee table.

She noticed he was once again avoiding her gaze. Once he’d finished cleaning up, he stood and walked toward the door, apparently intending to step out for a while.

“What are you hiding from?”

Lu Shicheng stopped in his tracks.

“Why be so restless? Just pretend I don’t exist.”

Clearly, he couldn’t do that.

She circled around in front of him. “Let me ask you — earlier, why did you drag me into your room to hide me? Weren’t you afraid I might be an accomplice of the bandit leader?”

He didn’t answer. She rose on her toes and leaned close to his ear, saying mischievously, “I’ll tell you the truth — I’m the one who killed that bandit leader Liu!”

“Oh.”

“You don’t believe me?” she scoffed. “Just think about it — if it wasn’t me, why would those officers have targeted me from the start? Scared now, aren’t you? You can still push me out the door if you want.”

She stood before him with her hands on her hips, glaring fiercely.

Lu Shicheng suddenly spoke. “Do you find it stifling, staying cooped up in the cabin?”

She was caught off guard — she was a little bored, but that wasn’t the reason she’d been picking a fight with him.

“If you’re really that bored, I’ll take you out for a bit.” Wen Tingli fell silent at once — she was curious where he intended to take her.

Who knew he would lead her straight into the bedroom.

Wen Tingli kept her composure at first, but when she saw him leading her toward the washroom door, she couldn’t help growing flustered — she hadn’t expected there to be a floor-length door behind the shower. Lu Shicheng turned the black iron handle and gestured for her to look outside.

Outside stood a small ladder.

He climbed up first, pushed open a hatch overhead, and leaned down toward her. “Come.”

Wen Tingli followed without hesitation, and once on the ladder, extended her hand to him; Lu Shicheng pulled her up and out.

The moment she emerged, her eyes widened in astonishment — it was an observation deck for watching the sea.

She’d never known the night sky over the ocean could be so breathtaking. The sky was like a great swath of peacock-blue velvet, drifting serenely above her head; the stars overhead felt so close, as if within reach. For the first time in her life, she felt this close to the sky and the stars, as though the universe above could hear whatever she said.

Her spirit was instantly captivated by the scene before her, and for a long moment she couldn’t look away or move a step.

Dazed, she heard Lu Shicheng beside her say, “This observation deck was specially designed — no need to worry about being seen from below.”

Completely reassured, she spread her arms wide to the wind.

The wind blew from every direction, carrying a cool freshness that seemed to wash everything clean.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, letting all her worries drift away on the wind.

Behind her, Lu Shicheng gazed silently at her hair billowing in the wind, and after a long moment, tilted his head back to look at the stars overhead as well.

After a while, he sat down not far behind her, occasionally glancing at the dark sea, but his gaze soon settled and remained on her silhouette for a long time. Once Wen Tingli had spent a good while enjoying the breeze with an untroubled mind, she turned and went to sit beside him. And so the two of them sat quietly together, without speaking, without needing to speak — nature itself has a power to soothe the soul.

By the time they returned to the cabin, Wen Tingli felt utterly renewed.

She no longer picked fights with Lu Shicheng, but quietly went to bed.

She hadn’t lain there long before Lu Shicheng also turned off the outer light and lay down on the sofa.

The whole suite fell into darkness.

Wen Tingli lay awake in the dark, still unable to sleep.

They were, in fact, sleeping in the same room — that close a distance.

She didn’t know what he was thinking at this moment, but she knew that a person’s breathing while awake was different from their breathing while asleep. Listening carefully, he clearly wasn’t asleep yet either.

She rested her cheek on one arm, idly toying with a lock of hair over her shoulder.

“I lost my gun.”

“When the officers were searching the second floor, I hid the gun in a wine barrel. I managed to get away safely, but the gun’s gone.” She spoke with some regret.

She knew he was listening intently, because his breathing suddenly grew lighter and slower. She wanted very much to say something more to him, but was afraid that if they kept talking, neither of them would get any sleep that night.

Before long, she fell asleep — and slept unbelievably soundly and peacefully that night.

Waking up, Wen Tingli’s first instinct was to get out of bed and look outside, where she found Lu Shicheng still asleep on the sofa.

A suit jacket of his own covered him, his body turned toward the bedroom, head bowed against his chest, sleeping deeply.

Wen Tingli tiptoed into the washroom to wash up, and by the time she emerged, Lu Shicheng still hadn’t woken. She couldn’t help wondering — sleeping this soundly, could it be that he’d stayed up very late the night before?

She deliberately avoided speculating about the reason for his insomnia, and with nothing else to do, sat quietly in the chair across from him, resting her chin on the back of her hand, patiently waiting for him to wake on his own.

Lu Shicheng slept quietly and beautifully, like a sleeping dove — the kind of white dove that shields its face with its wing while sleeping.

Wen Tingli was amused by her own comparison and laughed silently, when suddenly a knock sounded at the door outside.

She couldn’t help frowning; sure enough, Lu Shicheng jolted awake at once.

He looked up in a daze, seeming to search for the source of the sound, then unexpectedly caught sight of Wen Tingli beside him and rolled right off the sofa. But his reflexes were quick — he braced one arm behind him on the sofa and the other on the coffee table, and stared up at Wen Tingli in bewildered astonishment, as though trying to determine whether he was dreaming.

Wen Tingli had never seen Lu Shicheng in such a flustered state, and couldn’t help but find it both funny and awkward. She waved her hands at him and pointed toward the door.

At this, Lu Shicheng fully came to his senses, seemingly a bit embarrassed by his own loss of composure. He lowered his head to steady himself for a moment, then stood and pulled her by the arm into the inner room.

Then he returned to the door, cleared his throat, and asked, “Who is it?”

“Mr. Lu, I’ve brought breakfast.”

Lu Shicheng glanced at his wristwatch — it was already past eight. He’d actually slept that soundly.

In an instant, he’d fully composed himself, stepping forward to open the door and watching as the attendant set breakfast on the table. Once the man had gone, he returned to the bedroom doorway, his expression somewhat awkward. “When did you wake up?”

Wen Tingli said cheerfully, “Just a tiny bit before you.”

Lu Shicheng brushed past her and went into the washroom to freshen up.

By the time he emerged, he found Wen Tingli sitting on the edge of the round bed, holding up a small mirror, fixing her hair in the reflection.

The sight inexplicably warmed something in his chest.

His heart raced, but he kept a composed expression as he stepped out of the bedroom.

Wen Tingli followed him out too — she was hungry.

Looking at the table, though breakfast had many dishes, since only Lu Shicheng was meant to eat, each portion wasn’t very large.

She sat down, folding her arms on the table. Either he’d have to go out and find food again like the night before, or the two of them would split the one breakfast between them. This time, Lu Shicheng sat down directly across from her.

She glanced at him once, then began dividing up the breakfast.

“This is mine, this is yours, we’ll split the bread and the fried egg, the sausage is too salty — you take it, I don’t want it.”

However she chose to divide things, Lu Shicheng raised no objection. She suddenly asked him, “Where’s your cup?”

He went to the liquor cabinet and brought back an empty glass, handing it to her. She poured most of the juice into it for him, keeping a small amount for herself. “I can’t drink anything too cold in the morning,” she said.

He nodded, waited a few seconds, and once he saw she’d properly started eating, began on the leftovers she’d picked over.