After Ruan Xi finished speaking, she cheerfully darted into the guest room.
The suitcase propped against the door was taken away by Cheng Daichuan, and the door closed slowly behind her with a soft “click.”
The advertisements weren’t lying— life aboard the cruise ship truly felt like a different kind of summer.
On the small balcony of the guest room, there were two chairs and a little round table, facing the endless stretch of deep blue sea. A seagull stood on the railing, peering about.
It was such a soothing scene.
Ruan Xi leaned in for a closer look. She had just said, “So seagulls really do have red eyeliner,” when the seagull, showing no appreciation, flapped its wings and flew off.
She clicked her tongue and called after its retreating figure, “If I had food in my hand, let’s see if you’d still fly away! Are you related to Shi Chao or something?!”
A soft chuckle came from behind her.
Turning around, she saw Cheng Daichuan sitting atop his enormous suitcase, examining a seagull figurine placed on the TV stand.
The curve at the corner of his lips lingered as he finished his inspection. Then, with a touch of mischief, he leisurely placed his sunglasses on the figurine’s head.
The real bird had flown off, leaving only the toy bird with sunglasses behind.
With the door closed, the room became a sealed space.
Ruan Xi suddenly felt a wave of belated nervousness, standing by the sliding balcony door, throat dry as she swallowed hard.
She forced herself to ignore the awkwardness and took in the guest room.
The room’s décor matched Dusk’s signature white and blue color scheme. The space wasn’t exactly roomy—not comparable to the Sunset Suite in the brochures—but it was cozy and comfortable.
Her eyes skimmed quickly over the two single beds…
On the nightstand between them sat a fruit platter, with a small blue flag that said “Welcome.”
Just then, Cheng Daichuan spoke: “Which side do you want to sleep on?”
Ruan Xi pointed to the single bed closer to the balcony. “This one.”
Cheng Daichuan nodded and sat on the other bed.
Judging by the way he sat and how much the mattress sank, Dusk hadn’t exaggerated in its advertising—the mattress really did look comfortable.
Ruan Xi blurted out, “How’s the mattress?”
Cheng Daichuan lowered his head and gave a soft laugh, looking a little helpless. “Not bad.”
After that, nearly half a minute passed in silence between them.
All that could be heard was the sea breeze stirring the waves.
Ruan Xi hurried to find something to do. She crouched down and opened her suitcase.
Twisting the lock to the right numbers, she popped the latch.
Because it was overstuffed, the suitcase burst open instantly, and little things she’d forced in at the last minute—like her phone power bank, tripod, chargers—spilled out and clattered onto the floor.
Cheng Daichuan came over to help pick them up. “You brought this much?”
“Yeah, it’s over ten days, after all.”
Thinking about spending all those days and nights sharing a room with Cheng Daichuan made Ruan Xi’s heart flutter helplessly.
It was like damp waves rising and falling in her chest.
She quickly changed the subject, saying she’d brought doubles of some items and could lend him whatever he needed.
Her voice was small and a little unnatural.
Cheng Daichuan glanced at her, set the things he’d picked up on the TV stand, turned to grab a bottle of Mineral Water, unscrewed it, and asked, “Let’s pack the suitcase later.”
Ruan Xi looked up.
He tossed the opened bottle of Mineral Water to her and said, “Want to go for a walk?”
She caught the Mineral Water and nodded. “Mm.”
That was good—she could use the chance to adjust her mood…
She really envied Cheng Daichuan. He was so clear-minded, treating her only as a good friend.
Maybe he even thought of her the same way he did Shi Chao—as a buddy, a pal.
Ruan Xi looked at Cheng Daichuan with mixed feelings. He unscrewed another bottle of Mineral Water, tilted his head back to drink, his Adam’s apple moving.
His ears were actually red.
Was he sick? Running a fever?
Ruan Xi said, “Cheng Daichuan, your ears are really red.”
With his head tilted back, she couldn’t see his expression, but she heard him say, “Ah, it’s just hot.”
It had been over an hour since they started boarding just after five.
The sunset still hung above the horizon, golden light shimmering across the sea.
Their shadows stretched long in the sunset, spilling over the open suitcase and the floor.
She didn’t think much of it, only felt that it really was the hottest time of day. She set down the Mineral Water bottle and said, “Let’s go get some fresh air.”
At every elevator on each floor, there were guide signs. They passed by bars and restaurants of various styles, and also by the Star Cinema and Meili Opera House.
When the evening glow was at its brightest, they went to the Viewing Garden at the bow of the eighth deck.
Ruan Xi wanted to capture her first sunset on the cruise, so she found a good spot and fixed her phone on the tripod.
Just as she finished setting it up, a call came in.
She glanced at the sky—the sun was already touching the horizon, about to disappear.
But the call was from Grandmother, and she really wanted to answer.
Ruan Xi lightly tapped Cheng Daichuan on the shoulder. “I posted a boarding video in the Family Group, Grandmother is calling about it, could you…”
Cheng Daichuan, like he could read her mind, didn’t wait for her to finish. He unlocked his own phone and slotted it into the tripod. “Go ahead.”
Ruan Xi answered the call.
The old lady’s voice sounded full of energy. “Oh my, your ship is really huge.”
Ruan Xi replied in a sweet, drawn-out voice, “Super—huge—!”
Cheng Daichuan pinched the bridge of his nose again.
Nuan Grandma asked, “Did you bring Motion Sickness Medicine?”
Ruan Xi froze. “I completely forgot! I’ll just ask Grandpa to bless me so I don’t hit any rough seas.”
A disdainful “hmph” came from the phone.
In Nuan Grandma’s words, when that old man was alive, he wouldn’t even help if the oil bottle in the house tipped over. Up in the sky, he was probably just another useless God Immortal, no help to his descendants at all.
Ruan Xi laughed. “Grandpa will hear you, you know.”
It was a bit noisy in the garden, so she pointed at her phone and said, “Cheng Daichuan, I’m going to walk over there for a bit.”
Nuan Grandma knew about Cheng Daichuan.
She knew her precious granddaughter’s temperament best.
Whether in videos or calls after they’d moved, Nuan Grandma could always tell whether Ruan Xi was truly laughing from the heart or just pretending to be cheerful so others wouldn’t worry.
Ever since names like “Cheng Daichuan,” “Shi Chao,” and “Shang Auntie” started coming up frequently in Ruan Xi’s stories, Nuan Grandma knew her dear granddaughter had returned to being her lively, talkative self.
Now, she was even more talkative—
Ruan Xi was chattering non-stop to Grandmother about all the entertainment facilities on the cruise. “There’s everything you can think of! Only the internet’s a bit unstable, otherwise I could…”
Nuan Grandma suddenly asked, “Is it just you two on that big ship?”
Ruan Xi’s smiling face froze for a split second. She finished her sentence—“…video call you”—then explained a little guiltily, “Mom and Dad are busy with work, Shang Auntie too. Shi Chao went to his grandmother’s for the summer. So it’s just me and Cheng Daichuan, the two idle ones.”
Grandmother didn’t care about cruises or not—anything that floated on water, she called a boat.
Small ones were little boats, medium ones were regular boats, and the big ones were big boats.
“You two, whose idea was it to travel on the big boat?”
Ruan Xi cheerfully replied, “Your granddaughter, of course.”
When asked why, she smiled shyly and said it was because things hadn’t been going well at Cheng Daichuan’s home, so she wanted to bring him out for a change of pace.
Nuan Grandma said, “That’s right, it’s good to be kind to your friends.”
Because these friends had always been very, very good to Ruan Xi.
Ruan Xi still remembered that spring-into-summer season, when the weather suddenly turned hot.
She was often invited to join Cheng Daichuan and Shi Chao’s activities.
Ruan Xi was never good at hiding her feelings. After spending enough time together, when asked why she always seemed a little down, she would open up and admit it was because she missed home.
Shi Chao would blurt out, “What’s your home like? Do you have tons of delicious food?”
Ruan Xi shook her head.
Actually, her life back home wasn’t anything special—just the usual student days.
She had a few childhood friends, and family members like Grandmother, aunts, and uncles always around.
After school, she’d meet up with friends to buy snacks, and if they bumped into her uncle out shopping for groceries, he’d pay for them too.
Shi Chao said, “Ah, I get it! If I had to leave my dear Chuanbao all of a sudden, I couldn’t live either.”
Cheng Daichuan was grossed out by the nickname, frowned, and kicked Shi Chao.
Ruan Xi laughed at the scene, then went on to tell them about Grandmother’s Four-Seasons Osmanthus.
Shang Auntie had just arranged a vase of flowers, with yellow Butterfly Orchids dotted among blue Flying Swallow blooms—a beautiful sight.
When she heard Ruan Xi mention the Four-Seasons Osmanthus, Shang Auntie acted like a child, pouting, “Aiya, if you’d told me sooner, I would’ve put some osmanthus for you, Xi Xi.”
That was one weekend.
Ruan Xi’s parents were working overtime, and none of the four of them—including Shang Auntie—were any good at cooking, so they ordered Beef Noodles from a nearby restaurant.
Once the takeout boxes were opened, steam poured out.
Cheng Daichuan, from who knows where, produced a little box, poured out a handful of dried osmanthus, and sprinkled it into Ruan Xi’s bowl.
It sounded like a strange combination, but in the steamy aroma of Beef Noodles, Ruan Xi truly caught a whiff of her hometown.
A few dried osmanthus petals fell onto the table. Shi Chao quickly picked them up, saying they couldn’t go to waste—maybe they were even from Ruan Xi’s hometown.
That day was so lively.
The four of them at home were just as cheerful as the dozens of people gathered in the deck’s garden now.
As the cruise ship sailed across the vast sea, Ruan Xi chatted with Grandmother about everything—though she didn’t mention that she and Cheng Daichuan were sharing a room.
Before hanging up, Nuan Grandma said, “Get along well with your friend.”
Ruan Xi didn’t say that she wanted to be more than just friends with Cheng Daichuan.
The sun had already slipped below the horizon. Ruan Xi held her phone to the side, while Cheng Daichuan leaned lazily on the railing, quietly gazing at the sunset, lost in thought.
The way Cheng Daichuan stood there, lost in thought, reminded her of Jack being rejected by Rose in Titanic.
That scene in the film was hailed as the most romantic dusk of the twentieth century.
At that dusk, the two leads kissed.
Her cheeks were burning, but with everyone around bathed in rosy light, only the sunset knew their secrets.
Ruan Xi walked over, smiling gently, and just like they once cared for her, she asked, “Cheng Daichuan, are you feeling any better?”
Cheng Daichuan looked at Ruan Xi. “Yeah.”
Ruan Xi was about to say, “That’s good,” when unexpectedly, Cheng Daichuan added—
“Otherwise, your thousand yuan would’ve been wasted.”