Tie Ci quickly searched around the ship but still couldn’t find where San Hai was.

But actually, from the moment she had drunk that wine earlier, she knew there was no need to continue searching.

Returning to the lower cabin, the communal sleeping area was already full of people. Dan Shuang sat up from among a pile of men and pointed to an empty bunk across from her.

There was no choice—the two were disguised as different sailors, the incompatible kind at that. Their bunks weren’t together, so there was no way for them to protect each other.

Tie Ci had to walk toward Er Dan’s bunk across the way. The people on the ship worked hard, everyone kept their heads down and worked, no one had the leisure to look up at others, and at night they snored thunderously from early on. Er Dan’s spot was called an empty bunk, but it had already been mostly occupied by the arms and legs of people beside it. She could probably only sleep there by lying on her side.

However, Tie Ci had always been able to ascend grand halls and chew grass roots. Since she was disguised as Er Dan, she couldn’t not sleep. She organized those arms and legs and climbed onto the bunk.

The smell was really unpleasant, so she stuffed paper balls in her nose.

Suddenly someone entered from outside, swaying like a drunk. Looking again, it was the cook, already changed into dry clothes. Tie Ci glanced at him and turned over to face away.

The drunk came in, swayed behind her, then suddenly reached out to pull up the two people beside her, shouting: “The boss says he needs people for night watch. How are you all sleeping like dead pigs? You! You! You two, go on night watch!”

Those two were dragged to the floor and immediately woke up startled. They jumped up to curse, but seeing the cook, they immediately fell silent, rubbing their eyes and putting on clothes before going out.

The cook crawled onto the bunk and began snoring loudly.

The others either weren’t awake or were afraid of being awakened and dragged out for night watch duty by the cook. They all slept motionlessly, and the person on Tie Ci’s right side quietly moved over a bit.

Now the cook and Tie Ci slept in the space of three people, making it much more spacious. But Tie Ci absolutely refused to move toward the cook. Although she didn’t consider herself a sheep, she also had no reason to deliver herself to be taken advantage of.

The cook seemed truly drunk, sleeping deeply. While sleeping, he made a fierce turn and looked like he was about to slide right up against Tie Ci’s back.

Tie Ci lifted her leg and kicked, just managing to block him as he was about to stick to her, pushing with her foot and forcefully flipping him over.

It became quiet behind her.

What was even more remarkable was that through this fierce flipping and pushing, the snoring never ceased.

Tie Ci closed her eyes but couldn’t fall asleep for a moment. The presence of the person behind her seemed very strong—even with her eyes closed, she seemed to see his gaze lingering on her back.

After a while, she heard extremely faint scraping sounds.

Tie Ci didn’t hesitate and rolled over.

That side seemed to be sleeping motionlessly, but the distance between them seemed to have shortened.

So he had been slightly squirming closer?

Tie Ci thought about his appearance writhing like a big insect, squirming over, and for a moment she was simply speechless.

She grabbed the bedding and piled it between them like a demarcation line. The bedding didn’t know how long it had been since it was washed—the quilt top was greasy with a layer of black. Let him embrace the quilt in a death-defying entanglement!

That person stopped rolling and moving. Tie Ci vaguely heard the soft rustling of clothes, as if… he was undressing?

She raised an eyebrow but wasn’t alarmed.

If this person really had such thick skin, she wouldn’t mind letting everyone appreciate the view.

Across the way, Dan Shuang also hadn’t fallen asleep. She kept vaguely seeing constant small movements from that bunk, and sat up wanting to ask. Tie Ci pressed her hand down to signal her to sleep and not worry about it.

A moment later, a faint woody fragrance approached, and a piece of clothing covered her shoulders.

Tie Ci didn’t move.

Looking down at the half of the garment that had slid over, it was a clean deep red robe, even its wrinkles looked warm.

She stared at the clothing for a long while, then closed her eyes.

Moonlight poured in from the side of the small porthole, light flowing and covering her temples with a layer of peaceful white.

She fell asleep.

…

Tie Ci was awakened by the commotion outside. In the instant before opening her eyes, she thought: I was careless—how did I sleep until the very end before getting up?

But when she opened her eyes, she saw everyone sitting up sleepily, and the clamor was coming from outside. Military boots stomped on the ship’s deck, and someone was shouting: “Everyone assemble! Get up! Get up! The masters from the patrol ship are here!”

The patrol ship had come to inspect so quickly.

This came too early and too unexpectedly—it was clearly meant to catch people completely unprepared.

Tie Ci was about to get up when the cook who seemed to still be sleeping soundly beside her suddenly stretched out his long leg and placed it across her body.

Tie Ci looked down at that leg. Even wearing worn trousers, she could see it was long and straight. His belt around his waist was loose, slightly revealing a corner of the deep red robe—the garment that had served as her blanket last night had somehow been put back on him.

People around them were getting up one after another, but the cook remained motionless. Tie Ci understood his meaning and also slowly stretched, pretending to dawdle, while giving Dan Shuang a look to go out first.

Only after everyone in the communal sleeping area had left did the cook say: “In broad daylight, the ship’s boss will accompany the patrol, checking against the roster one by one. Do you think it will work?”

Tie Ci frowned. She knew it wouldn’t work. Although she had disguised herself as Er Dan and could roughly resemble him, without long-term interaction and study, it was impossible to impersonate someone flawlessly.

During daily work mixed in with sailors, everyone was busy and familiar with each other—no one would stare at others’ faces for no reason.

But once the ship’s boss accompanied soldiers on patrol, they would inevitably examine each face carefully, and problems would definitely be discovered then.

That’s why she had kept Er Dan—she planned to switch him back during the inspection. Getting Er Dan to cooperate obediently wouldn’t be difficult either.

But today’s patrol came too quickly, and there was no time.

The cook was stretching while glancing at her, then suddenly pounced on her.

Tie Ci raised her hand to block, but he stuck to her like taffy, embracing her as they rolled around with a clatter until they reached the end of the communal sleeping area.

When he rolled over, Tie Ci understood and didn’t resist, taking the opportunity to reach out and fiercely pinch his buttocks.

This pinch was both fierce and accurate, causing the cook to shudder and gasp. Looking again, the person beneath still had the dignified, saintly expression.

Very… split personality.

Bang—the two hit the bulkhead, feeling like they had shaken the entire ship, and then Tie Ci felt emptiness beneath her as she tumbled inside.

The space under this outermost bunk was actually hollow.

It wasn’t some secret room though, at most a small compartment that could barely fit one person sleeping, and even then it was a bit cramped.

The cook crouched above, pushed her down further, moved his long legs in, and sighed: “Move around more when you have time. Look at you—you’re so fat you barely fit.”

Tie Ci: “…”

Then she smiled: “Your Lordship is quite thin though—your buttocks don’t even have two taels of meat.”

The cook immediately felt his buttocks hurt again.

Then he slammed the wooden board of the sleeping area shut with a bang.

He got up and shuffled out. Outside the door, Er Dan had already appeared, looking confused and pale, walking straight-eyed with the crowd.

Since everyone had just gotten up, this drowsy state wasn’t conspicuous.

The cook went over, put an arm around Er Dan’s shoulder, and went to queue up with a grin.

At the same time, in a certain corner, Dan Shuang was pressed against the cabin wall by a tall person who covered her mouth, while a short person hauled someone up from underwater with a splash.

Dan Shuang, who was about to counterattack, saw that person and immediately stopped moving.

It was the real San Hai.

The short person quickly changed the other’s clothes, stuffed a pill in his mouth, and seeing his spirits improve somewhat but his expression still dazed, dragged San Hai away. Only then did the tall person release his grip.

Dan Shuang glared with wide eyes and fiercely stomped on the tall person’s foot, even grinding it.

The tall person seemed like he wanted to cry out but held it back, his proper face twisting fiercely.

Only then was Dan Shuang satisfied. Following his direction, she slid down the ship’s side and dove into the water.

Yesterday San Hai had been kept in a cage underwater like this all night.

When he was about to drown, someone would go down to lift him up.

Just as Dan Shuang slid down, the ship’s boss was calling people over there. The tall person responded familiarly and went over.

Dan Shuang saw he was also wearing sailor clothes and seemed very familiar with everyone, which left her feeling confused.

That face hadn’t changed much—just darker, rougher, and a bit older, but still a familiar person. But how this familiar person could mix so well with the sailors on this ship, as if he had always been part of this group, was quite puzzling.

Dan Shuang and Tie Ci might not have been unable to conceal themselves, but having someone actively help was a relief. With mixed feelings, she slid down and turned to see the tall person gazing at her from the ship’s rail. For no reason, her face reddened.

Over there, the patrol officer had a face like a pot lid, with forehead and chin protruding front and back, representatively ugly.

Nearby, soldiers with rosters checked each person one by one, taking people below deck to knock on every inch of bulkhead, very thoroughly.

But no one thought there would be a compartment under the communal sleeping area inside the cabin—after all, it was something the cook had secretly helped dig recently.

The patrol officer searched once and found nothing, but this trip was originally meant to extort money. He dawdled and refused to leave. The ship owner understood and hurriedly had people stuff silver into his hands.

The patrol officer received the silver with satisfaction and was about to leave when someone upstairs opened a window to pour out wash water. Splash—it nearly drenched his entire head.

The patrol officer never expected that there would be someone on this ship who dared pour water on him. He looked up with angry eyebrows, but saw a heavily made-up woman leaning against the window. She seemed not to have expected to splash an official with her basin of water and was staring blankly with her hand covering her mouth, her nails painted bright red like camellia petals from a distance.

The patrol officer was stunned, and his expression immediately softened.

Earlier when searching the ship, this woman hadn’t awakened yet. It was rare to have a woman at sea, so he had routinely taken a look. She had been sleeping disheveled in bed, and he hadn’t thought much of it. He didn’t expect that after grooming herself, she would have such charm.

The ship owner was carefully serving this master when he suddenly saw this scene. His head buzzed as he deeply regretted not being able to resist this little vixen’s pestering and bringing her to sea. Wasn’t this asking for trouble?

The woman at the window had gotten up late and was grooming herself, thinking the patrol officer had left long ago. She casually splashed a basin of water toward the sea, never expecting to splash the King of Hell.

Before she could apologize, the patrol officer said solemnly: “I didn’t examine this woman carefully before. Now I need to compare her properly against the roster. None of you are allowed to come up.”

The ship owner understood his meaning clearly. Though not entirely pleased, he didn’t dare disobey and retreated submissively.

The others naturally wouldn’t meddle and scattered.

The cook and the tall person had been gripping Er Dan and San Hai’s arms all along. At this moment, they also retreated with their charges. Since the patrol officer and the soldiers he brought were still moving around the ship, they couldn’t switch out Tie Ci and Dan Shuang from under the bunk and ship’s bottom. Even more unfortunately, at this moment someone began calling for Er Dan and San Hai to work.

Those two—one hidden in the compartment, one thrown into the sea to swim along—had been fed drugs and lost most of their vitality. Briefly appearing to deal with inspection was one thing, but working would definitely expose them. Whether the cook or the tall person, supporting them in formation wasn’t conspicuous, but following along to work would be impossible.

Above their heads, the cabin door slammed shut.

A moment later, the woman’s screams came through, faintly mixed with the patrol officer’s low laughter.

People on the ship pretended not to hear, while the patrol soldiers looked up enviously from time to time.

Over there, they were urging Er Dan and San Hai to work again.

The cook and tall person exchanged glances, preparing to risk switching the people back. Apart from other considerations, the compartment under the bunk had no air holes—short periods were fine, but long periods wouldn’t work.

Who knew that just then, the third-level cabin door was slammed open again. The woman rushed out in disheveled clothing, red marks all over her snow-white neck, forcing a smile as she said: “Official sir… official sir, please don’t be like this… this little woman is truly inconvenient today…” While running toward the ship owner, she grabbed his sleeve and whispered fiercely: “…Master swore eternal love with this slave last night, and today you’re throwing this slave to someone else. If it were an ordinary person, fine—this slave would consider it repaying Master’s deep affection. But what does that person look like, what kind of character does he have!”

Half her sleeve had been torn off, revealing arms covered with pinch marks.

The ship owner was also secretly crying bitter tears. Originally, these women from the pleasure quarters didn’t care much about chastity—going with the flow was normal, and his Lan Xian’er wouldn’t be so prudish about it. It’s just that the patrol officer was already grotesquely ugly, and apparently heavy-handed too. He hadn’t even succeeded yet but was already being rough.

But he ultimately didn’t dare accept the woman’s plea for help. After a long silence, he slowly stepped back.

Lan Xian’er glared at him viciously, her eyes slowly reddening.

The tall person felt somewhat unable to bear watching. They had mixed in at the docks for some time and become familiar with the ship bosses these merchant vessels regularly used. They had even helped this ship owner load cargo for several days. This Lan Xian’er had always accompanied the ship owner at the dock. First she had taken a fancy to their young master’s cooking, then probably to the person himself, and had always taken good care of them.

Now seeing her situation, he hesitated for a moment and couldn’t help glancing at the cook.

But the cook, like all the other sailors afraid of trouble, pulled Er Dan back into the crowd and shrank further, his gaze seemingly casually meeting his.

The tall person shivered.

That gaze was cold, lacking emotion.

He instantly sobered.

They couldn’t step forward.

If they let go, both Er Dan and San Hai would collapse, implicating those two.

The master would rather jump into the sea than bring the slightest trouble to that person.

Thinking of the girl still floating in the seawater, he coughed unnaturally and turned his gaze away.