The monkey had grown up among people since birth, had been trained, and was friendly toward humans — but naturally it paid no attention to commands from a stranger, and showed no reaction whatsoever to its new name.

Showing no fear of the unfamiliar person, it took a handful of peanuts from the young miss on its own initiative, eating while looking around with curiosity, scattering peanut shells all over the floor.

The young miss stared at the monkey with a furrowed brow. “Why isn’t it dancing? It seemed so much smarter on stage, and it seems kind of… smelly…”

She lowered her head and sniffed the hand the monkey had grabbed the peanuts from, and her expression changed immediately: “It really does smell awful!”

Du Lai wanted to laugh, and managed to hold it back.

The young miss dropped the chain in her hand with complete and utter disdain and said: “Put it in the cage! Give it a bath! It reeks!!”

A bodyguard immediately took the monkey out.

The young miss muttered complaints as she went to wash her hands.

When she came back, her expression was still disagreeable. She dropped onto the sofa, and with a tone of redirected frustration, said to Du Lai: “Hurry up and do your magic! If it’s not interesting, I’ll throw you in the sea to feed the fish!”

Du Lai: “…”

He thought for a moment, and said to the young miss: “Since the young miss is in a poor mood, how about I accompany you in a mind-reading game? It’s good for lifting the spirits.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “What is a mind-reading game?”

Du Lai drew a deck of cards from his prop box. “The rules are simple. There are fifty-two cards here. The young miss may choose any one she likes, according to her own inclination. I will find a way to reach into your mind and guess which card you chose.”

“You can read my mind?” The young miss let out a scoffing laugh. “How bold of you. But it does sound somewhat interesting — all right, let’s give it a try. If you can’t guess it, I’ll throw you in the sea to feed the fish~”

Du Lai had lost count of how many times she had threatened to throw him to the fish by now.

He pressed every last wave of exasperation down to the bottom of his heart, put on a casually confident smile, and began to shuffle the cards.

He had a pair of very beautiful hands.

Long, nimble fingers. His shuffling technique was especially elegant to watch. In his hands, the cards fanned open, then snapped shut, then opened again — flowing through a variety of flourishes — and immediately drew the other person’s gaze.

The young miss stared at his hands without blinking, her eyes filled with curiosity and eager anticipation.

When it came down to it, she was still just a young girl.

Over the years, Du Lai had encountered countless female passengers on the ship. He had far too much experience reading what they wanted and how to charm them into having a good time…

……

Late in the night, Du Lai knocked on his Shifu’s door.

Shifu opened it, glanced warily left and right, then stepped aside to let Du Lai in, and asked in a low voice: “Why so late?”

“Got held up by a wealthy young woman,” Du Lai said with a helpless laugh. “The kind with bodyguards. She wouldn’t let me leave until I’d entertained her sufficiently, so it took a bit of time.”

The man laughed when he heard that. “You, kid — women have always flocked to you, even when you were on the ship before. I remember back then you must have been around seventeen, and some of the young women from the dance troupe were fighting over you. Even female passengers would buy tickets onto the ship just to watch your act.”

Du Lai gave a slight smile. “That’s all in the past. Shifu, let’s talk about that job — I’m interested.”

The man gave him a knowing look, clearly prepared. He turned and retrieved several clippings and magazines from the bed, and handed them to Du Lai.

In the age of internet information, these clippings and magazines carried the dated feeling of another era.

Du Lai noted the dates — the newspapers and magazines had all been published at least ten years ago, and most of the content was related to a criminal organization.

The smile on Du Lai’s face faded. He had an unsettling premonition…

He had expected this to be a big job. He hadn’t expected it to be this big.

He looked up at the man who had once been his Shifu, and asked carefully: “Are you… setting your sights on Fu Lisheng?”

—