The floating markers on the lake were gradually being retrieved.

Yi Sa gripped the binoculars, watching the shimmering waters near and far, then looked at Jiang Xiaoguang, who was white-faced and clutching the ship’s railing tightly, not knowing what to say.

Hurried footsteps came from behind. Looking back, she only recognized the leader as Ding Changsheng.

Ding Changsheng wasn’t tall, had a crew cut, and wore round glasses—if he’d been wearing a Zhongshan suit, he’d have looked exactly like a Republican-era intellectual—typical outward appearance of someone dull, but with a mind like mountains and seas.

This “mountains and seas” wasn’t praising his broad-mindedness: mountain depths and sea depths are unpredictable and mysterious.

Ding Changsheng spoke with immediate steadiness: “Xiaoguang, the crew on this ship isn’t our people. If they find out someone died and report it to the police, things will get complicated.”

“Let’s split into two groups. First, send some boats over to check the situation there, and confirm if the dead person is really Jiang Jun; meanwhile, I’ll have Ding Xi take charge here, pretending to be searching for someone, and temporarily take control of the passenger ship—we’re already anchored anyway, as long as the ship’s employees stay quietly in their rooms, it’ll be much more convenient for us to handle things inside and out.”

“Afterwards, we’ll tell them the person wasn’t lost, they were found, it was a false alarm. How does that sound?”

Jiang Xiaoguang seemed to have only heard the “send boats over” part.

He pushed past the people in front of him and stumbled down to the lower deck, muttering: “It can’t be Jiang Jun, it’s impossible, how could a water ghost drown…”

Yi Sa accompanied Jiang Xiaoguang onto the rubber dinghy.

When they arrived, two boats were already there, everyone gathered on one boat, while the other was emptied to hold Jiang Jun’s body.

Jiang Xiaoguang took a flashlight and crossed over before the dinghy had fully stopped. Yi Sa remained seated: after all, she was from a different surname family and wasn’t particularly close to Jiang Jun—for identification purposes, Jiang Xiaoguang was far more suitable.

She looked toward the small boat full of people: “Who found him?”

A man in his early twenties sitting on the edge raised his hand: “Me, from the Yi family.”

Yi Sa made a sound of acknowledgment: “What’s the situation?”

“Body’s rigid, no bloating, must have happened today. As for the rest… it’s too dark, I couldn’t make out much.”

As they spoke, Jiang Xiaoguang suddenly collapsed sitting in the boat, the flashlight tilting to one side, its beam shooting diagonally into the air, fading into a pale spot in the darkness at its end.

Yi Sa’s heart sank.

Outside was chaos.

Zong Hang peeked out to look for a while, then quickly withdrew, explaining to Jin Xiu: “They say someone’s missing from the ship, now they’re searching everywhere, checking room by room, and many people have gone into the water to search…”

Jin Xiu said: “With such a commotion if the person were on the ship, they’d have heard it by now. Either they’re being held captive, or they’re in the water… Hey, do you think…”

She lowered her voice: “Could this be related to that Yi Xiao?”

Zong Hang couldn’t say for sure. Yi Xiao’s demeanor clearly showed ill intent, and the ship was full of people from the three families…

As he was pondering, sudden knocks came at the door.

The search had reached their room.

Zong Hang felt nervous and took a deep breath first. Jin Xiu sat on the bed, giving him an “OK” gesture: though the eye makeup had smudged somewhat, it added to the blurry effect, and the scar was still holding up well—should be fine.

The moment Zong Hang opened the door, his mind exploded.

Three or four people stood outside, including the kitchen supervisor, but leading them was… Ding Xi.

Although they’d encountered each other at lunch in the buffet, that time had some cover. Now face to face, barely half a meter apart, it was truly unexpected…

Zong Hang’s back began to sweat.

Ding Xi glanced at him.

The kitchen supervisor explained from the side: “This is Zhang… Youhe, a kitchen assistant, helps with cutting vegetables and serving dishes and such. No one else in the room, oh right, he brought his girlfriend, young people, you know, deeply in love, can’t bear to be apart…”

He called into the room: “Hey, miss, show your face, we’re doing a headcount here.”

Jin Xiu quickly stuck her head out with a smile.

Ding Xi wasn’t interested in the messy business of ship workers bringing women aboard and was about to leave when something suddenly clicked.

How could this face appear here?

He pushed the door open wider, watching Jin Xiu’s smile freeze instantly.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

Ding Xi suppressed his doubts and reached up to take the work ID hanging around Zong Hang’s neck.

Then he moved the side with the photo toward the supervisor: “Him? Zhang Youhe? Is my eyesight bad? Does this match the photo?”

The supervisor was in agony, and could only explain with an appeasing smile: “It’s like this, Zhang Youhe had a family emergency, and we were short-staffed, so we temporarily brought him in, but company headquarters is slow with issuing IDs, couldn’t get it in time, so we just let him use Zhang Youhe’s work ID. Really, the young man is absolutely fine, he’s been busy in the back kitchen all day, everyone in the kitchen can vouch for him.”

The explanation was reasonable.

Ding Xi smiled: “I see.”

He returned the work ID, reassuring the supervisor: “No problem, I’m only concerned with finding the person. Your internal staff arrangements are your business.”

They got through it.

Zong Hang closed the door, his back against the door panel, his heart only now starting to race uncontrollably. After a while, he praised Jin Xiu: “Jin Xiu, your makeup worked wonders.”

Jin Xiu’s mind was in chaos, not knowing what expression to make, only managing a stiff smile: “I told you it would be fine.”

No, no, no, Zong Hang might be fine, but she had a problem.

Ding Xi had seen her.

His gaze was deep, if it weren’t for all the people around, he wouldn’t have just left like that.

What would he think? Would he think she had followed him here?

Jin Xiu sat on pins and needles. Zong Hang asked if she wanted to wash up, and had to ask twice before she responded.

While showering, listening to the rushing water, she zoned out several times.

She had a premonition that Ding Xi would come find her again.

Sure enough, after returning from her shower and just finishing drying her hair, the supervisor came knocking, saying they needed to prepare a batch of late-night snacks, asking Zong Hang to come to the kitchen to handle another few baskets of work.

Zong Hang was grateful he hadn’t washed off his makeup.

He changed into his work clothes and made his way out.

The corridor light was dim, the kitchen pitch black. Zong Hang fumbled for a long time before finding the light switch.

Wasn’t there supposed to be a batch of late-night snacks to prepare? Why was he the only one here?

He felt suspicious, washed the few baskets of potatoes from the afternoon that hadn’t been peeled, then put them in a basin and sat on a stool to peel slowly.

After peeling for a while, he would look around suspiciously.

So late at night, the back kitchen was empty and full of strange sounds: the faucet wasn’t tight enough, dripping occasionally; under the large sacks of vegetables, there were occasional rustling sounds, perhaps due to poor sanitation, mice had gotten in…

Zong Hang went to the meat counter to get a cleaver.

Someone had just gone missing on the ship, he didn’t want to be the second one.

When the knock came, Jin Xiu was applying lipstick.

She convinced herself: that she wasn’t putting on makeup for someone surnamed Ding, but because after their sudden encounter, she wanted to look comfortable, beautiful, and radiant.

There are plenty of fish in the sea, after you, I’ll find someone better.

But when she went to open the door, she wiped off the lipstick with the back of her hand.

Didn’t want him to misunderstand, after all, women dress up for those who appreciate them, and someone like you doesn’t qualify.

As the door opened, Ding Xi smiled at her: “How interesting, before it was me opening doors for you, now you’re opening them for me.”

Jin Xiu kept her face cold: “I took a job, providing service, I don’t know what you’re here for.”

Ding Xi came in, closed the door, and latched it.

He felt anxious and wanted to get straight to the point.

“That boyfriend of yours, I sent him away, have something to tell you.”

Jin Xiu sat on the bed: “Say it.”

“Why are you here?”

“Coincidence.”

Ding Xi laughed mirthlessly, his gaze gradually turning cold: “Jin Xiu, don’t treat me like a three-year-old.”

“Last time I saw you was at that hotel in Cambodia, I called to make an appointment, you showed up, all perfectly reasonable, then we parted ways cleanly, no contact.”

“Less than a month later, you appear again, on a passenger ship on Poyang Lake no less. Do you know what this ship is for? These odds—using coincidence as an excuse is too perfunctory.”

Jin Xiu didn’t want to dwell on this: “Ding Xi, it is a coincidence, I swear, I didn’t follow you here. If I’m lying, may I never have another man in my life and die alone. I just boarded this ship with my… friend, if you hadn’t come knocking, I wouldn’t have even known you were on board.”

Her immediate oath left Ding Xi speechless.

Though their time together wasn’t long, he understood her somewhat: she had an innocence that didn’t match her profession, always hopeful about the future—”never have another man” and “die alone” were heavy words.

Ding Xi tried to ease the atmosphere: “That guy… your boyfriend?”

Jin Xiu made a sound of agreement.

“That can’t be right, weren’t you trying to come to me before? It’s only been a month and you already have someone else, close enough to follow him to work?”

Jin Xiu smiled coldly: “What era are we in, is it wrong to be practical? If one place doesn’t want me, of course, I need to quickly find the next. You didn’t want me, do I need to pine away for you?”

Unexpectedly sharp-tongued, Ding Xi maintained his composure: “But… it’s interesting, I asked the supervisor in detail, and he said you only boarded the ship last night… did you know someone died on the ship today?”

Jin Xiu froze.

“Nothing happened for several days before, then trouble starts as soon as you arrive. Didn’t you check your boyfriend’s background before getting together? He doesn’t even have proper ID, just a temporary worker—don’t you think he’s rather suspicious?”

Jin Xiu couldn’t hold back: “Don’t talk nonsense, Zong Hang would never do something like that.”

Ding Xi said: “That’s hard to say, after all, you can’t know someone just by…”

He suddenly stopped, his expression changing. When he spoke again, even his voice was different: “What did you just say… his name was?”

Jin Xiu was stunned too.

Had she just let it slip? Had she said “Zong Hang”?

She stammered a bit: “His name is Zhang… Zhang Youhe…”

That wasn’t right either, he was a substitute worker, Zhang Youhe’s cousin, should he even have the surname Zhang?

Ding Xi spoke slowly and deliberately: “Jin Xiu, you lived in Siem Reap, I remember. When I left, there were missing person posters with rewards all over Siem Reap streets. A boss from mainland China with the surname Zong was looking for his son there, his son was called Zong Hang—it couldn’t be that one, could it?”

Jin Xiu didn’t make a sound.

Ding Xi’s hand at his side slowly clenched into a fist, veins bulging on the back of his hand.

He asked again: “It is that one, isn’t it?”

One basket of potatoes was peeled.

Zong Hang stretched, pounded his back, and was about to take the basin to rinse under the faucet when he suddenly stopped.

He thought he heard footsteps.

Very light, couldn’t be the kitchen workers coming to make late-night snacks—those guys were loud, their voices arriving before they did.

Not the supervisor either, he wore leather sandals with broken straps that went click-clack when he walked.

Zong Hang felt creepy, held his breath, and silently reached for the knife.

This knife was for chopping bones, sharp and quick.

The moment the door opened, he grabbed the knife handle and then looked up.

First surprise, then couldn’t help but smile.

Yi Sa looked somewhat tired, walking in while looking at the vegetable basin on the counter: “Chef, I saw your lights on, are you still cooking? I didn’t eat dinner, I’m a bit hungry, and wanted to get something to eat.”

Zong Hang said: “We are!”

Afraid it wasn’t loud enough, he nodded vigorously: “We are cooking!”