Chapter 52 - 1

Getting Better

There was no ghost outside, only Song Cheng crawling all over the floor.

Literally crawling all over the floor.

Chao Musheng had never seen a person crawl so abstractly.

It was unclear what had triggered Song Cheng, but he was crying his eyes out, completely disregarding his dignity as the heir to the Song Corporation. He was moving on all fours on the deck under the bright sun, looking somewhat like a fly larva from a distance.

He kept looking around, dodging pathetically, as if a real ghost was chasing him.

"He Yi, don't come over!"

"Help me! There's a ghost!"

The crowd, which had initially been just watching the spectacle, felt a chill in the air upon seeing this scene, which was quite unsettling.

"Young Master Lian." A few of Lian Hai's younger brothers swallowed nervously: "Could Song Cheng have touched something he shouldn't have?"

Otherwise, how could he go so crazy?

"I wish there really were ghosts in the world." Lian Hai's face was exceptionally ugly. The He Yi mentioned by Song Cheng was a high school classmate of his and Song Cheng's.

He remembered this name because He Yi had suddenly jumped to her death from a building a month before the college entrance examination.

When her mother came to the school to claim the body, she cried so much she couldn't walk. That was the first time he knew what it was like to cry one's heart out.

"Help me!" Song Cheng lunged at a middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man had a stern face, and even without frowning, there were two lines between his eyebrows. He was wearing a navy blue uniform with the Wangyue logo embroidered on the chest and captain's epaulets on his shoulders.

This was the captain of the Wangyue.

"Sir, please calm down." The captain seemed displeased with Song Cheng's claim that there was a ghost on the Wangyue, but due to Song Cheng's status, he could only explain patiently: "The Wangyue is one of the safest and most luxurious cruise ships in the world. You don't need to worry about your safety at all."

"There's a female ghost in a school uniform here!" Song Cheng gripped the captain's arm tightly, his eyeballs bulging, terrified to the extreme: "Did you see her?"

"Sir, you are not in a good state of mind right now. I will arrange for someone to take you back to your room to rest." The captain signaled the crew to take Song Cheng away, then turned to the crowd and said: "I'm sorry to have alarmed our distinguished guests."

"Lian Hai!" In his fear, Song Cheng had extraordinary strength. He broke free from the crew's control and lunged at Lian Hai in the crowd: "It's He Yi!"

Xu Chenzhu raised his eyes slightly, and several bodyguards pinned Song Cheng to the deck.

The medical staff rushed over and gave Song Cheng a tranquilizer shot.

"Who is He Yi?" Chao Musheng vaguely sensed something terrible and turned to look at Lian Hai, who had come out with him to watch the show.

"She was a high school classmate of mine and Song Cheng's." Lian Hai's face was even uglier than before: "She was good-looking and had good grades. She was an outstanding specially-admitted student in our year. In her senior year of high school, her grades suddenly plummeted. A month before the college entrance examination, she committed suicide by jumping off a building. The outside world said she couldn't accept the fact that her grades had worsened, which is why she chose to commit suicide."

But now he was beginning to doubt this statement.

The medical staff carried Song Cheng away on a stretcher. Among the crowd of onlookers, Chao Musheng spotted Shen Ran.

He sat quietly behind the crowd. When Song Cheng was carried away, a smile appeared on his face, as if he was very satisfied with this farce.

This smile was fleeting and disappeared without a trace the moment he looked up.

Chao Musheng took two steps back so that Shen Ran wouldn't know he had been spotted.

"Zhao Zhao?" Seeing Chao Musheng retreat behind him, Xu Chenzhu looked back at him: "What's wrong?"

Chao Musheng shook his head: "Nothing."

He glanced through the crowd a few times but couldn't find his uncle.

Strange, even the captain has come out to deal with the emergency, why is his uncle still nowhere to be seen?

He hadn't replied to the message he sent at noon. Could there be some secret mission on the ship?

"Mr. Xu, I'm going to the sixth floor." The more Chao Musheng thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He turned and ran towards the sixth floor.

"Boss?" The bodyguards left behind by Chao Musheng looked at each other, and finally all looked at Xu Chenzhu.

"Follow him." Xu Chenzhu retracted the leg he had stepped out with: "Don't let him get into any danger."

If he could, he would rather go with him himself.

But if he did that, Zhao Zhao would definitely think he was strange.

He couldn't let Zhao Zhao dislike him.

During working hours, the corridor on the sixth floor was almost empty.

Chao Musheng knocked on Chief Officer Zhao's door, but there was no response from inside.

Uncle Zhao was not in the room.

"Mr. Zhao, this is the staff accommodation area."

Chao Musheng turned around and found that the captain had appeared behind him at some point.

He had a smile on his face, but Chao Musheng didn't see much sincerity in it.

Chao Musheng: "You know me?"

"Of course." The smile on the captain's face became a bit more genuine: "On the day Mr. Xu boarded the ship, I personally welcomed him. I stood with him on the deck, and he was watching you the whole time."

Chao Musheng began to recall what he was doing when he first boarded the ship. It seemed... he was taking pictures?

So, his appearance of walking around and taking pictures was all seen by Mr. Xu?

Oh no, his perfect image of an excellent employee is gone!

"Chief Officer Zhao has other work arrangements for the past two days, so you may not be able to contact him for the time being." The captain glanced at the private bodyguards who had rushed over and opened the door opposite Chief Officer Zhao's room: "Come in for a cup of tea?"

"What work arrangements does Chief Officer Zhao have these two days, and why can't I contact him?" Chao Musheng followed him into the captain's room. The layout of the room was no different from Chief Officer Zhao's room, and compared to Chief Officer Zhao's, this room was even tidier and more spacious.

"Some work on the ship is not convenient to disclose, please forgive me." The captain took out a teapot, turned on the water dispenser to boil water for tea: "Please sit anywhere."

Unlike his uncle who liked to put messy little things on the table, the captain's table was very clean and tidy, with only a photo frame and a palm-sized statue on it.

The statue was of a young boy. He was holding a sword, his face angry, his features somewhat strange, with a large distance between his two eyebrows.

The ship swayed gently with the wind and waves, and the statue's head and sword fell off.

Chao Musheng glanced at the captain who was still brewing tea with his head down, and silently reached out to put the statue's head and sword back in place.

"Mr. Zhao, don't mind it." The captain picked up the tea leaves and put them in the pot: "The head was meant to fall off anyway."

He poured the tea into a cup: "I don't know much about the tea ceremony, please drink as you like, just to quench your thirst."

"Thank you." Chao Musheng sat down at the tea table, looking at the still steaming cup, and didn't reach for it for the time being, afraid of getting burned.

"My child is just like you, doesn't like to drink things that are too hot." The captain picked up the teacup in front of him, blew on it, and took a sip.

"Is the painting in the photo frame on the table also drawn by your child?" Chao Musheng's gaze fell on the painting in the photo frame.

It was a very childish painting, more like a child's doodle than a painting. Above the three stick-figure heads, there were crookedly written pencil marks.

Dad, Mom, and me.

A very happy family of three.

"Yes." The captain stared at the photo frame and smiled: "It's a bit childish, I hope you don't mind."

"It's very cute."

It's just that the three stick-figure heads only had a few hairs, making it a bit difficult for him to tell the gender.

"Thank you for the compliment." The captain seemed much happier. Chao Musheng thought he would continue to talk about his child, but unexpectedly, the other party changed the subject and talked about something else.

"Mr. Xu's trip on the Wangyue this time was a last-minute decision, right?" The captain blew on the steam in his cup: "I didn't receive any news that Mr. Xu would be coming at first."

Many parents, when chatting with others, will mention their children a few words if they hear others praise their children.

The captain didn't mention it at all. Could he be a person with a strong sense of boundaries?

"I'm not sure." Chao Musheng withdrew his gaze and said with a smile: "I just became the president's assistant, and I haven't gotten the hang of many things in the company yet."

"Captain." A sailor walked to the door of the captain's room. He was stunned to find four bodyguards standing at the door and a young man in the room: "The sick gentleman has been sent to the infirmary. His family wants to see you."

"Since the captain has business to attend to, I'll take my leave." Chao Musheng stood up, "I don't understand the work on the ship, and out of responsibility for the safety of the passengers on board, I can't offer much advice."

The captain looked up at Chao Musheng.

"I hope to be reunited with Chief Officer Zhao in his room tomorrow." Chao Musheng took out the purple-gold badge and shook it lightly in his hand.

Seeing the badge in Chao Musheng's hand, the captain immediately stood up: "Mr. Zhao, I will arrange for Chief Officer Zhao to contact you as soon as possible."

"May I ask what your relationship with Chief Officer Zhao is?" The captain stared at the purple-gold badge in Chao Musheng's hand for a few seconds before slowly moving his eyes away.

"He is my uncle. The surname Zhao is not common. Perhaps from our surname, the captain can guess our relationship?" Chao Musheng put away the purple-gold badge: "Sorry, I hope I won't cause any trouble for the work on the ship."

"No." The captain smiled: "I can understand the feeling of a junior caring about the safety of an elder."

After Chao Musheng left, the captain looked down at the teacup on the table that was still steaming and untouched, picked up the photo frame on the table, and gently wiped the almost non-existent dust on it.

"Mr. Song is emotionally unstable. To prevent him from harming others, hand him over to the ship's security personnel and medical staff for supervision." The captain put down the photo frame and picked up the captain's hat on the ship.

Crew member: "Captain, he is the heir of the Song Corporation. I'm afraid Chairman Song will not agree to our plan."

"This is the Wangyue, and I am the captain of the Wangyue. When a passenger has an emergency on the high seas, I am responsible for the safety of the other passengers on board."

The captain put the hat on his head, his voice steady: "What's more, even if I have no objection, the other passengers on the ship will not agree."

These powerful and influential passengers cherish their own lives more than anyone else.

"Brother Zhao."

Shen Ran saw Chao Musheng coming out of the captain's room and stopped his wheelchair: "Are you looking for Chief Officer Zhao?"

"Yes, I haven't been able to contact him since yesterday, so I came to see." Chao Musheng walked up to him: "How is your injury?"

"Much better." Shen Ran's hand on the armrest tightened: "I saw you playing with people downstairs just now, so I didn't go over to disturb you."

The experience with Song Cheng made him subconsciously avoid those flamboyant and unrestrained rich second-generation kids.

"You are not familiar with them, so not coming over to say hello saved you from embarrassment." Chao Musheng opened the door for Shen Ran: "We are so familiar, what does it matter if we say hello or not."

From Chao Musheng's tone, Shen Ran knew that Brother Zhao must have seen him downstairs just now.

"My work schedule is quite full these few days. If my uncle comes back, please let him know for me." Chao Musheng poured a glass of water for Shen Ran: "I'm going back upstairs first."

He still remembered that Mr. Xu had specially come to the 5th floor to find him just now.

"Okay." Shen Ran nodded and hesitated for a moment: "Yesterday, Chief Officer Zhao and the captain seemed to have a small conflict and argued for a few words. But they quickly made up. Last night, Chief Officer Zhao told me that he would be busy for the next two days. If I have something and can't reach him, I should come to you."

"Arguing?" Chao Musheng was a little surprised. Uncle Zhao has a good personality and shouldn't argue with his superiors easily.

"It seems to be because a guest made things difficult for a waiter." Shen Ran told Chao Musheng about the passenger harassing the waiter, Chief Officer Zhao stepping in to stop it, and later having a disagreement with the captain.

"Those rich people, not many of them treat ordinary people as human beings anyway." Shen Ran laughed at himself: "The law gives ordinary people the right to refuse, but in their eyes, it's just an offense to their authority."

Those arrogant and ugly faces disgusted him.

"Maybe when the new era came, they still couldn't understand human language." Chao Musheng didn't feel that these "rich people" included himself at all, and instead complained along with Shen Ran: "Only fruits that are sold are graded, people don't need to be."

Shen Ran, who originally felt that there were not many good things among the rich, laughed when he heard Chao Musheng's words.

He had been led astray by Song Cheng and his cronies. In fact, there are good and bad in any group.

It was his misfortune to meet a scumbag like Song Cheng.

But it was his good fortune to meet a good person like Brother Zhao.

Chao Musheng: "If people were fruits, then you and I would definitely be sweet oranges."

Shen Ran smiled and asked: "Then what is Song Cheng?"