KN | Chapter 17

Sharing This Moment Though Worlds Apart

The atmosphere suddenly turned somewhat bitter and heavy. Zhuo Zhixuan fell silent for a moment, then deliberately joked, “A Platonic unrequited love, is that what you mean?”

Chen Wan only gave a muffled laugh.

Loving Zhao Shengge was his own business. How he loved him, and how much he loved him, was his own business too.

This was the fundamental law of secret love that belonged to Chen Wan alone. He was the one who drafted it, and the one who enforced it. In his own world, he carried it out perfectly, upheld it with absolute resolve, and refused to let anyone break it.

Including Zhao Shengge himself.

But all of that was only because this person was Zhao Shengge. That was why Chen Wan was willing to do all of it, willingly, gladly.

Because this person was Zhao Shengge, all of it became bittersweet and sweet.

With anyone else, it would not do.

After the late-night snack, everyone collected their room cards and dispersed.

The room cards had been handed out at random. They were all first-class cabins, with no difference between them.

Chen Wan walked down the carpeted corridor. The lighting was dim and subdued. No matter how good the soundproofing was, as he passed certain rooms he could still occasionally hear a few noises.

The young masters played hard. Chen Wan only lowered his head and hurried forward. Following Zhao Shengge’s game had taken a lot of brainpower, and he was a little tired.

Suddenly, a shadow fell across the space in front of him.

“Mr. Qin, you’re not resting yet?” Chen Wan greeted him.

Qin Zhaoting leaned lazily against the corridor window and smiled at him. “It’s rare to get out, so I’m taking a look at the sea at night.”

It was already very late. The giant liner was sailing across some point where lines of latitude and longitude met in the middle of the ocean. Outside the window, it was pitch-black. Far away, a lighthouse cast a faint glimmer, and the seawater gave off the steady sound of waves slapping against the hull.

Chen Wan nodded. He had been about to say that he would not disturb him, but the other man clearly meant to keep talking. “What about you? Why are you still up so late?”

Chen Wan was the sort of person who was born to worry. After the young masters had eaten and drunk their fill and scattered, he had still gone to confirm tomorrow’s weather and route with the cruise ship’s captain and butler.

It was not technically his responsibility, but none of those young masters looked like the sort who would handle that kind of thing. He was used to being thorough. Asking a few extra questions put his mind at ease.

Chen Wan had no intention of having a deep conversation with Qin Zhaoting, so he only said, “I was just walking a bit to settle my food, Mr. Qin, and…”

With a click, a door at the end of the corridor opened, and a young man in a white robe stepped out. He was very beautiful.

Chen Wan froze for a moment, then quickly looked away as if nothing had happened.

The room cards really had been handed out at random, but the owner of this cruise ship was different. The owner had a room reserved exclusively for himself.

The first room at the bow had the best scenery. Other guest rooms had at most windows on two sides. The room at the very front could be designed with sea views on three sides.

Qin Zhaoting watched Chen Wan’s expression. Chen Wan remained just as composed as ever while speaking to him, his face showing nothing unusual.

A trace of amusement rose in Qin Zhaoting’s eyes. After observing him for two seconds, he said, “You’re being too distant. You can call me Zhaoting, like Tan Youming and the others do. Let’s be friends.”

Chen Wan smiled too and was just about to speak when the door to that first-class cabin, the one the young man had just come out of, opened again.

This time, it was the owner of the room himself.

Even in the middle of the night, he was dressed from head to toe in a formal suit.

With his back to him, Qin Zhaoting asked Chen Wan, “What is it?”

Chen Wan gave a respectful nod toward the person behind him. “Mr. Zhao.”

Only then did Qin Zhaoting seem to realize that Zhao Shengge had come out. Smiling at him, he said, “Why are you still not asleep either? Are you done, or haven’t you started yet?”

Chen Wan kept his face utterly blank, eyes lowered, nose observed, heart observed, and did not join the discussion.

Zhao Shengge did not answer Qin Zhaoting’s probing. He only said, in an even tone, criticizing the two of them, “Chatting outside someone else’s door in the middle of the night, isn’t that a bit rude?”

“…”

Leaving aside the fact that they had been speaking very quietly, quiet enough that they could not possibly have disturbed anyone in a room with such excellent soundproofing, even taking ten thousand steps back, the place where they were standing was still far enough from Zhao Shengge’s private room that it could hardly be called “outside his door.”

But Chen Wan still apologized at once. “Sorry, Mr. Zhao, we disturbed your rest.”

Qin Zhaoting said nothing.

Because Chen Wan’s attitude in admitting fault was so good, and because he was standing some distance away from Qin Zhaoting, Zhao Shengge chose not to pursue it. But then he noticed that while Chen Wan was speaking, he had not looked at him at all. The smile on his face looked like some kind of mechanical template.

Suddenly, Zhao Shengge asked, “What floor is the wine cellar on?”

Both Qin Zhaoting and Chen Wan were taken aback for a moment. That tone made it sound as though the ship were not Zhao Shengge’s own property. But Chen Wan still said mildly, “Second floor. Are you thinking of going for a drink?”

Zhao Shengge glanced at him, rubbed his eyes, and said in a very calm tone, not sounding like he was complaining, “Mm. What little sleepiness I had got disturbed.”

“…” Then Chen Wan could only apologize again. “I’m very sorry. How about I accompany you downstairs and pick out a bottle for you, as an apology?”

Rather reluctantly, Zhao Shengge agreed.

“…” Qin Zhaoting was still standing there, and Chen Wan obviously could not leave him hanging. “What about you, Mr. Qin? Would you like to come downstairs for a drink too?”

“Didn’t I already say you can call me Zhaoting?”

Zhao Shengge looked at Chen Wan.

Chen Wan smiled and nodded. Someone like him, with no backing to speak of, always had more paths open to him with one more friend.

Zhao Shengge really did seem to want a drink. He did not urge them, but he slipped both hands into his trouser pockets.

Qin Zhaoting lifted his room card and smiled, the meaning layered. “I’ll pass on the drink. A spring night is hard to come by, and there are things more important than drinking.”

“…” Chen Wan was long since used to this kind of thing. Politely, he said, “Then I wish you an enjoyable night.”

Zhao Shengge asked, “Can we go now?”

Chen Wan immediately said, “Let’s go, Mr. Zhao.”

The wine cellar on the second floor was open twenty-four hours a day. Precious wines were arranged in the cabinets by vintage and place of origin.

Chen Wan asked, “What would you like to drink, Mr. Zhao?”

Zhao Shengge rested one hand against his forehead and tapped the tabletop with his fingers. Casually, he said, “You choose.” As if the one who had insisted on coming downstairs for a drink in the middle of the night had not been him.

Chen Wan watched him sit at the bar in a daze, like a large lion that had been woken up and was not especially pleased about it. His eyelids drooped, unlike his usual self. He looked relaxed and languid. Chen Wan picked out a bottle of Queen of Parma for him, not too strong and easy on sleep, and conscientiously decanted it for him.

The red wine swirled in the swan-shaped glass, held in Chen Wan’s hand.

A wave of fragrance slipped into Zhao Shengge’s nose. The Queen of Parma had opened up.

Thoughtfully, Chen Wan ringed it with a layer of dry ice. The mouthfeel would be smoother that way.

Even so, Zhao Shengge still had the feeling that Chen Wan was not in very high spirits. Chen Wan always wore that same warm, spring-breeze expression, but Zhao Shengge’s powers of observation and judgment were extremely sharp.

At the moment, Chen Wan was speaking even less than he had when Qin Zhaoting was there. After thinking about it, Zhao Shengge said, in a rather considerate tone, “If you’re tired, then go back and rest first.”

Chen Wan’s movements paused for a second. He was a little puzzled, and a little disappointed too, but he would not brazenly stay behind. Smiling, he said, “Then please enjoy it at your leisure, Mr. Zhao. I’ll go back and rest first. If you need anything, just call for me at any time.”

Zhao Shengge said nothing.

Tan Youming happened to hit the muzzle of the gun at exactly the wrong moment and called. “I heard you went downstairs for a drink?”

“My friend,” Zhao Shengge warned him gently, “I really do not wish to see any unfamiliar living creature in my room again.”

“…” Tan Youming loudly cried injustice. “It wasn’t me.” He had been hanging around Zhao Shengge for so many years, how could he possibly do something that stupid, at the risk of being thrown into the sea to feed the sharks?

Zhao Shengge did not listen to his explanation and simply hung up.

He took a sip of the wine Chen Wan had decanted for him. The fragrance of the Queen of Parma had already faded.

At six o’clock the next morning, Whale 17 had already passed through the Jixi Strait, and the view suddenly opened wide.

Chen Wan got up very early, planning to admire the famous sunrise over Sha Island.

He had not expected someone to be up even earlier than he was.

Zhao Shengge was standing on the deck. When the sea breeze blew over him, he looked like a cold-faced male model shooting a magazine spread at sea.

Chen Wan poked his head out for a look, then pulled back again, because he felt that walking over right now would look too deliberate. Then he immediately felt that little move of his was not very steady or dignified.

Zhao Shengge was absurdly perceptive, as if he had eyes on the back of his head. He knew someone had just shrunk back like a gopher, thinking he had gone completely unnoticed.

He thought Chen Wan had left, but in fact Chen Wan was only standing at the very end of the corridor inside the ship, watching the same sunrise with him through the window.

Chen Wan had always been good at comforting himself. He even amused himself by thinking of a line of poetry:

Over the sea rises the bright moon, though far apart, we share this moment.

The rising red sun counted too. That “share this moment” was something he bestowed unilaterally. He did not need the other person’s permission, because he had not disturbed him either.

Although he and Zhao Shengge stood close enough to touch, there had always been a whole world’s end between them. So even being able to share this one moment, Chen Wan felt, was something worth treasuring and celebrating.

The cruise ship had already entered the heart of these waters. Because of the warm current, this was the season when large numbers of deep-sea fish migrated back through the area. Tan Youming said they were having a full seafood feast for lunch.

On board, seafood could be caught and prepared on the spot. A cruise ship of this class naturally had a complete set of fishing equipment, and the fishing permits and related paperwork were all in order. Guests could even do some sea fishing themselves and then hand the catch to the kitchen.

A whole ship full of young masters had exhausted themselves playing cards the night before, so there was no chance at all of getting them to go sea fishing.

Before daybreak, the kitchen had already begun offshore fishing. Shrimp, crab, shellfish, conches, deep-sea fish, the catch was abundant.

Chen Wan went to the fishing deck to take a look. Although every guest had filled out their physical condition when boarding, with medical history, allergens, and dietary restrictions all noted in great detail, he still wanted to check with the kitchen one more time to feel at ease. If something went wrong out here in the middle of the ocean, there would not even be time for emergency treatment.

After confirming everything with the butler and the kitchen, Chen Wan took the elevator back to the third floor, planning to return to his room, shower, and change into a fresh set of clothes. The deck had been full of lively sea creatures. The hems of his trousers were damp, and his clothes had picked up a faint smell of the sea.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, several people came toward him. When they saw Chen Wan, they greeted him.

Chen Wan smiled and responded. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Zhao Shengge. Without changing expression, he shifted half a step to the left and moved his hands behind his back. While he had been out on deck, a cod weighing dozens of jin had flopped out, and he had casually helped one of the deckhands by carrying over a tool.

Zhao Shengge noticed that the moment Chen Wan stepped out of the elevator, he unconsciously moved to stand beside Qin Zhaoting and exchanged pleasantries with the group.

The corridor was long and narrow. As they passed each other, Chen Wan also tried his best to lean farther to the other side. By himself, he had somehow widened the narrow passage into something like a broad road, leaving Zhao Shengge as much side-by-side passing space as possible.

Extremely polite.

Zhao Shengge walked past without looking sideways. Then, suddenly, he turned his head and stared at the figure walking away.

Shen Zongnian asked, “What is it?”

With one hand in his trouser pocket, Zhao Shengge rubbed his Cartier lighter with his thumb. “Nothing.”

Lunch was exceptionally lavish. People from Haishi were particular about the freshness and delicacy of seafood, and there were all sorts of ways to prepare it, steamed, blanched, simmered into soup, baked with star anise, or sliced into raw fish.

The seasonings did not need to be too complicated, just a drizzle of blended soy sauce and sesame oil, or some garlic oil made with fried minced garlic. The most primal sweetness and tenderness of the seafood came pouring out in full. It was neither heating nor greasy, and the aftertaste lingered endlessly.

Everyone ate to their heart’s content. Zhao Shengge was the only one who did not seem very interested. Chen Wan sighed inwardly, stood up, and once again troubled the kitchen to cook a pot of seafood congee.

Author’s Note:

Wan-bao’s daily routine is basically: Princess, please eat.