Chapter 2 Part 1

As soon as the red-haired man said this, his other friends started to jeer.

“How are you going to have him serve you, Qian Shao? Just a few days enough?”

“Tsk tsk, didn’t you bring two on board already? Can you handle it like this?”

“Such fair skin and tender flesh… Come with me instead. I’m more tender-hearted than Qian Shao~”

“This waist is so slim…”

Amid the strange, mocking voices mixed with laughter, all sorts of gazes fell on the waiter standing in the middle of the encirclement.

Some leaned in close, grinning mischievously as they reached out to measure the young man’s waist, but they didn’t succeed. They were met with a faint glance from the young man, and for some reason, they froze stiff.

Under those eyes swirling with dark blue, the person turned into a statue fixed by Medusa, unable to move, their face and neck above turning redder and redder.

Only when Zhong Nian shifted his gaze did the man recover his senses. He touched his nose awkwardly, coughed once, and stepped aside.

Miraculously, the others also held back their laughter, merely gluing their gazes to the young man.

The atmosphere grew subtly tense.

Once the surroundings quieted, Zhong Nian gave his unhurried reply: “Sorry, I’m not really interested.”

Red Hair froze for a moment, either lost in thought or never expecting rejection. It took him several seconds to react, and anger surged onto his face.

“Not interested? Don’t be ungrateful. Do you even know who I am?” Red Hair flung off his sunglasses, stood up, pointed at his face as he leaned close to Zhong Nian. “Take a good look. My surname is Qian! My family has a stake in this Cruise Ship!”

“Oh…” Zhong Nian put on an expression of sudden realization. “So you’re one of the owners of this ship too?”

“You could say that.” Red Hair immediately felt he’d regained his face and smugly waited for the young man before him to regret it bitterly and bow his head in submission.

Sure enough, he heard the young man exclaim in admiration: “That’s impressive. So rich.”

Red Hair smirked smugly, crossed his arms over his chest, and turned to lie back on the beach chair: “You can still change your mind now.”

But the young man unexpectedly said: “But right now, I don’t really like money.”

At these words, some people laughed.

A waiter who didn’t like money?

These spoiled brats only thought he was playing hard to get, wanting more.

Qian Shao sneered: “Then what do you want? Name it. I, Qian Shao, am always generous to my own people. Be straightforward and drop the pretentious pure act.”

Zhong Nian shook his head: “You probably can’t give it.”

His current wish was naturally just to safely complete the Task and survive, but “survive eight days on the Cruise Ship”—who knew what hidden crises lay within?

Maybe a weather disaster, maybe an accident, or perhaps the danger came from people.

Zhong Nian had even imagined an octopus-like sea monster in the ocean.

He didn’t think following a rich person would make him carefree. Most importantly…

“You’re not really my type either. Just that alone makes it unacceptable.”

With that, Zhong Nian politely clasped his hands behind his back and bowed slightly. Both the movement and the smile were impeccable.

“Sorry about that, sir.”

Everything was pleasing to the eye, yet the words were extremely insulting.

“Pfft—”

No one knew who laughed first, but in an instant, the watching young masters and ladies burst into laughter.

The target of the mockery nearly fell off his beach chair in rage. He looked like a furious clown, the spring under his feet rebounding as he bounced right in front of Zhong Nian.

“You dare reject me! And, and say I…” Red Hair couldn’t utter that word no matter what. “You’re just a waiter. Who gave you the guts to be so arrogant? It’s your fortune that this young master took a liking to you, and you get all uppity. I think you look… look nothing special anyway…”

The last half-sentence came out stuttered, as if choked, his face redder than a boiled crab.

Facing such a peerlessly beautiful face, no matter how angry or hateful, he really couldn’t bring himself to say words like “ugly.”

“You’re right, sir. I’m far from worthy of you. I’ll take my leave and not obstruct your view.”

Zhong Nian’s emotions remained steadily calm throughout. He planned to turn and leave.

As he glanced up, the spoiled brats blocking his path froze and parted to let him through.

But some who had lost face absolutely wouldn’t let him off that easily.

“Stop right there! You’re not going anywhere!”

Red Hair grabbed Zhong Nian’s wrist with great force.

Zhong Nian felt pain and frowned as he tried to shake free, but it only backfired, fueling Red Hair’s anger further.

Red Hair had always relied on his family. When had he ever lost face like this? Especially in front of others—it made him lose all face.

Naturally, he had to regain his dignity from the culprit.

“Whether you’re willing or not doesn’t matter. Today, I’ve set my sights on you! If I don’t mess you up good, my surname isn’t Qian.”

With that, he beckoned to the black-suited man in the corner. The tall, burly bodyguard walked over and moved to drag Zhong Nian away.

“Qian Shao, I think…”

Someone tried to smooth things over but was immediately given a fierce glare by Qian Shao and shut up.

The others stayed silent too, watching with eyes full of sympathy and pity.

From this, it was clear that if Zhong Nian was dragged away, it wouldn’t be just a simple “settling of scores.”

At this critical moment, a cold, deep voice intervened from behind: “What’s this?”

The man’s appearance changed the entire atmosphere. The spoiled brats’ expressions tightened as they turned to look, and even the bodyguard who had been obeying Red Hair halted.

A flash of impatience crossed Red Hair’s eyes, but he restrained himself: “Sheng Chu, this doesn’t concern you. Stay out of it.”

The man snorted coldly: “I couldn’t care less what you do, but I don’t want any dirty business on this ship. It’d ruin my mood too much.”