Chapter 27 Part 1

On the fifth day aboard the Cruise Ship.

That morning, Zhong Nian woke up to his biological alarm clock, with a little time still before he had to go to work.

He chose to hug the blanket in his arms even tighter and catch a few more minutes of sleep.

But as soon as he closed his eyes, his ears caught a faint noise.

With a “click,” the dormitory door opened and then closed again.

Zhong Nian’s first reaction was that a thief had entered. He silently squeezed his eyes shut even tighter and decided to play possum first.

Go ahead and steal, the thief was destined to regret walking through that door.

Both he and Ke Zhengchu were dirt poor; there wasn’t anything valuable in the cupboard.

However, after listening intently for a good while, he heard no further sounds. It was as if the intruder had vanished or frozen in place.

He secretly cracked his eyes open into a slit, then nearly jumped out of his skin at the dark shadow looming right in front of his bed. On reflex, he kicked out with one foot.

“Ugh!” The man’s pained grunt allowed the panicked Zhong Nian to recognize him.

“Zhengchu! Why are you crouching by my bed scaring me again!”

Zhong Nian sat up in bed, fuming, but when he saw Ke Zhengchu clutching his shoulder, his resentment turned to worry. “Did I kick your wound? Are you okay?”

Ke Zhengchu shook his head. “I was just calling you to get up.”

Zhong Nian: “…” Why did he always make waking someone up so terrifying?

Last time, Zhong Nian had been so startled that he’d slapped him.

“Why are you up so early?” Zhong Nian asked, then noticed the clothes on him. “Where did you go? It doesn’t seem like it’s time to go out yet.”

“I… got hungry.” Ke Zhengchu looked down at the floor. “I wanted to go eat, but they wouldn’t let me, so I came back.”

“You get hungry fast. You ate two doughnuts last night.”

Zhong Nian smiled, not thinking much of it, but he made a mental note of the matter.

…

So, early that morning, when he saw Zhan Lu first in line eagerly collecting his meal, Zhong Nian made small talk by asking how the doughnuts from last night had been.

“They were a bit few, not enough to fill me up,” Zhong Nian said.

Zhan Lu lit up with joy upon hearing that. “I’m glad you liked them. I’ll make plenty more today—how about blueberry flavor?”

Zhong Nian nodded. “Any flavor’s fine. My roommate’s not picky; he just has a big appetite.”

The delight on Zhan Lu’s face instantly froze. “Your roommate?”

“Ke Zhengchu. He loved them.”

Zhan Lu’s mouth twitched faintly. “You gave him the doughnuts I made for you?”

“You insisted on giving them to me. Can’t I decide what to do with them?” Zhong Nian looked at him innocently.

People’s joys and sorrows never interconnected, and the Live Stream Room erupted in schadenfreude once more.

【Chef Zan’s completely broken.】

【Our Baby sure knows how to rile people up to death…】

【LOL, serves him right.】

“…” Zhan Lu’s heart nearly drowned in a wave of sourness.

Who knew how much effort he’d poured into those doughnuts? Each time he finished making them, he’d come running like a dog with a bone to please him, only for them all to end up in that Ke Zhengchu’s stomach?

He really should have beaten the guy up properly last night.

Zhan Lu was always tough-skinned and thick-fleshed, yet now the wound slashed into his arm by a sharp blade suddenly ached unbearably. A dark resentment burned in his eyes.

But when he met Zhong Nian’s beautiful face, all his anger dissipated. In the end, his expression shifted through a rainbow of colors before he forced out an ugly smile at Zhong Nian.

“Fine. You could toss them into the sea to feed the fish, and I’d still make them for you.”

So what if he, Zhan Lu, was a lickdog?

–

“What did you just say to him?” Nearby, Jie Wen helped Zhong Nian load the meals onto the trolley and quietly asked about the scene he’d witnessed.

Zhong Nian pursed his lips in a smile. “Nothing much.”

“But his expression looked pretty scary. He seemed really angry.” Jie Wen didn’t press further, just looked worried for Zhong Nian. “Little Nian, they’re not bad to us crew members, but they’re not good people at heart. Be careful with your personal safety and try not to provoke them.”

Zhong Nian took Jie Wen’s words to heart and nodded seriously.

Jie Wen had a point. At the time, he’d let his temper get the better of him and deliberately provoked Zhan Lu…

Now that he thought about it, he’d been a bit impulsive. He could handle the consequences himself, but what if Zhan Lu took it out on Ke Zhengchu?

Zhong Nian started to worry and debated whether to go placate Zhan Lu after delivering the meals…

When he arrived at the Casino, he instinctively glanced around, but unfortunately, he didn’t spot Zhan Lu.

“I thought you weren’t coming again.” The Youth swarmed around Zhong Nian and the trolley as soon as he arrived, lifting the dome lid to sneak a bite. “You always have a Flower Protector delivering for you. I didn’t see you twice yesterday.”

Zhong Nian ignored him and focused on his tasks.

The Youth was flighty and a total chatterbox, able to ramble on by himself for ages. “Hey, why won’t you respond to me? I’m asking you—Second Brother or Third Brother? If neither appeals, how about me? I’m young, got stamina, and plenty of tricks…”

Halfway through the Youth’s words, a sharp whoosh cut past his ear. He dodged his head aside and turned to see the Dinner Knife embedded in the carpet and wooden floor behind him, shuddering with a chill down his spine.

“Third Brother!” The Youth yelled, glaring at Charles standing by the high-backed chair. “You nearly sliced my face off!”

Charles elegantly withdrew his hand, a smile curling at his lips. “Just testing your reflexes.”