Chapter 54
Waves
"Zhaozhao — you're back?"
Xu Chenzhu came through the door and found Chao Musheng holding the little spoon.
"I'm sorry — the set was too charming, I couldn't help picking it up." Chao Musheng became aware, with some mortification, that he had just casually handled someone else's belongings. How had he committed such a basic error of social conduct?
Not like him at all.
"It doesn't matter. The set was meant for you." Xu Chenzhu took off his jacket and came over. "I saw how much you liked it at lunch, so I had someone track down the full collection."
"For me?" Chao Musheng put the spoon down and then immediately picked it up again, arranging the cup, bowl, and plate in a row on the table and turning each one slowly to look from all sides. "They're so lovely."
"I'm glad you like them."
All of the young man's attention had gone to the tableware. Watching the delight on his face, Xu Chenzhu found himself drifting a few steps closer without deciding to.
"Thank you, Mr. Xu." Chao Musheng stacked the pieces carefully. "When I get home I'll use this set every single day."
Xu Chenzhu smiled. Twenty years old, and even happiness was this uncomplicated.
He found a gift box and lined it with foam padding. "Should we pack them away for now?"
"We should look after them properly." Chao Musheng took the box and began wrapping each piece. He glanced up with mild concern. "What if there's rough water? Will they get damaged?"
"They won't." Xu Chenzhu said it simply. "They'll come home with you in one piece."
"All right." Chao Musheng closed the lid of the box. He had a particular faith in what Mr. Xu said.
Secretary Liu, watching this exchange, was quietly baffled. It was a bowl. If it broke at sea, you just bought another one. Why were the two of them treating this like a solemn ceremony?
Both of them had their backs to him. He opened his mouth, then closed it again — because he had just noticed that Xu Chenzhu had placed his own jacket down directly next to Chao Musheng's.
People had an instinctive sense of distance. In a room this size, with this much space, you only set your own clothing against someone else's worn clothing if something in you had stopped registering the gap.
Secretary Liu reflected that he might be developing certain associations he hadn't been looking for. He gathered the organized files into his arms, walked quietly to the door, and took one last look back.
Chao Musheng was searching for somewhere to put the gift box. Xu Chenzhu stood nearby, cup in hand, watching him with the particular softness of someone looking at something they couldn't quite believe was real.
Secretary Liu opened the door, slipped out, eased it shut, rode the elevator back to his room, took two deep breaths, and opened his phone. He found a certain anonymous discussion forum and began to type.
[Genuine question. A remarkably capable new person joined the company. Since his arrival, every team he's been in has run more smoothly, including clearing a long-standing technical obstacle. Since he came, the boss has been treating him with notable attention — passing him water when he's thirsty, handing him chopsticks at meals, and when the new person so much as looked at something with interest, the boss had the full set sourced and gifted. Is this normal?]
Mid-afternoon was prime workplace-procrastination time, and the post attracted responses quickly.
[Reply 1: Perfectly normal. If we had someone that capable at my company, the boss wouldn't just fetch water — he'd call them Mum and Dad if that's what it took.]
[Reply 5: OP's boss is smart — knows how to make talent want to stay. Stick with a boss like that and your future is bright. Unlike my company, where the old boss can't keep up with the times and the heir has CEO-drama delusions without the CEO-drama capability.]
The comments section rapidly became a general forum for complaining about management, until Reply 158 asked the critical question.
[Reply 158: OP — are your boss and this new person both single? Are they good-looking?]
Secretary Liu didn't quite follow the angle, but answered honestly.
[Both single. Our boss is very wealthy and quite handsome, but he's never been the flashy type. The new colleague is extraordinarily, exceptionally, extremely good-looking. Better than celebrities.]
[Reply 158: No further questions. This is love.]
[OP: ???]
He refreshed the page. Dozens of new replies had appeared.
[Reply 208: Young, handsome, wealthy boss. Capable, beautiful, universally-liked employee. Give it five minutes and half the writers on this site will be here.]
[Reply 210: No need to wait, I'm already here. Reply 158 is correct. OP, don't second-guess it. This is love.]
[OP: But my colleague is a man.]
[Reply 210: OP, don't be so narrow-minded. Times have changed. Gender is not the point. Even if your boss or your colleague happened to be some kind of supernatural entity in disguise, that wouldn't affect the fact that this is love.]
Secretary Liu: "..."
The psychological state of the modern internet user was genuinely unstable.
Love.
He turned this over privately. He couldn't blame himself for not having considered it before — Xu Chenzhu's behavior prior to Xiao Chao had contained no discernible proximity to the concept of love whatsoever.
As for Xiao Chao — from any angle, he didn't seem to have those kinds of thoughts.
Which would leave the boss in a one-sided situation.
Secretary Liu shook his head vigorously. He wasn't going to entertain a theory that alarming. Those unreliable internet strangers had gotten into his head.
*
"Where's Brother Liu?" Chao Musheng finished packing the tableware, looked around, and found the room empty.
"He went back to his room to rest." Xu Chenzhu paused. "Did you need him for something?"
"Nothing urgent — he did me a favor and I haven't properly thanked him yet."
Xu Chenzhu turned and started the coffee machine. "You get along well with Secretary Liu?"
"He's been very good to me at work." Chao Musheng watched Xu Chenzhu's hands at the machine. Hands that looked like that — even making coffee was somehow worth watching.
"Secretary Liu is generally attentive to new colleagues." The rich fragrance of coffee drifted out, carrying its familiar edge of bitterness.
"Try some?" Xu Chenzhu set the cup in front of him.
Chao Musheng accepted it in silence. He didn't actually like coffee very much.
"Not to your taste?" Xu Chenzhu lifted the cup away and retrieved a can of cola from the refrigerator. "Want to sit outside for a bit?"
"Yes please." Chao Musheng took the cola with both hands and nodded. He was young. He didn't need to drink bitter things.
The sky was clear blue, drifting with thick white cloud.
Chao Musheng settled into the deck chair with comfortable ease. "The first two days here, everything felt interesting. Now I mostly just miss home."
When you spent every day rocking on a ship, even beautiful scenery wore thin.
"Once this business trip is done, there are two days' leave, plus the weekend — four days off in a row." Xu Chenzhu glanced sideways at Chao Musheng, who was visibly more relaxed by the minute. "Anything in particular you'd want to do?"
"I'm not sure what would be good." Chao Musheng looked at him curiously. "Will you be taking leave too, Mr. Xu?"
The corner of Xu Chenzhu's mouth curved. "Of course."
"If you have no other plans, there's somewhere I'd like to take you." He took a measured sip of his coffee. "General Manager Chen has a private garden estate in the outskirts of the capital — apparently it's built in the style of several famous classical gardens. He invited me today. If you're interested, I'll accept."
"A private garden estate?"
Chao Musheng's eyes went wide. Such rarefied vocabulary. "Is it beautiful inside?"
"Passable. Though a replica will always lack the character of a genuine old garden." Xu Chenzhu's tone was measured. "I have two private garden estates in the south myself — both several hundred years old. When you have a longer break, I'll take you."
"Mr. Xu. Please don't describe two private garden estates the way you'd describe two bread rolls." Chao Musheng sat up cross-legged, the deck chair swaying slightly under him. "I'm young and susceptible to acute envy."
Xu Chenzhu: "Then I'll give you one."
Chao Musheng stared. "Give me what?"
"A garden estate." The same measured tone. "You said you liked them."
This was not a question of liking—
Chao Musheng pressed a hand to his chest. "Mr. Xu. Sir. Brother. Please don't make jokes like that — I do know what those things are worth."
Xu Chenzhu had been about to say he wasn't joking. But looking at Chao Musheng's expression — so entirely unserious, not a trace of belief — he lowered his eyes slightly.
He doesn't want it from me. He wouldn't take it.
"Do you not usually joke with people, Mr. Xu?" Chao Musheng pressed a hand over his thumping heart. Anyone would feel something, hearing a joke like that.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because ordinary people don't joke with private garden estates." Chao Musheng produced a smile of exaggerated poverty. "It's very out of touch."
A brief uncertainty crossed Xu Chenzhu's face. "Did I offend you?"
"What?" Chao Musheng looked at him — and there it was, a flicker of something almost flustered in those features. He found himself staring with genuine interest. "No, not at all. You just made me want to be rich even more. Mr. Xu, with all your money, I imagine you wake up every morning in a two-hundred-meter bed?"
A two-hundred-meter bed?
Xu Chenzhu turned this over with sincere confusion. Did Zhaozhao want that?
Should he look into having one made?
"Ha — ahahaha." In Xu Chenzhu's bewildered eyes, Chao Musheng caught the faintest edge of something genuinely, unexpectedly endearing. He held up his cola. "I'm joking! Did you never come across that terrible overused CEO-drama trope when you were a student?"
The bubbles in the can burst and crackled, sending up a sweet drift of sugar.
"No." Seeing Chao Musheng laugh like that, Xu Chenzhu found his own mouth following the shape of the smile. "I'm sorry — I never went to school, never had friends, so I don't know what's popular out in the world."
The laughter stopped.
Chao Musheng, who had been the most popular kid in every room since he was old enough to walk, found he had no frame of reference for the kind of upbringing Xu Chenzhu was describing.
No school. No gatherings. No friends. That wasn't raising a child. That was building a machine.
Noticing the change, Xu Chenzhu set down his coffee. "I'm sorry — is it boring, being around me?"
"How could it be boring?" The smile came back. "Without you, which other CEO would actually sit here and drink a cola with me?"
He was young, not blind. He'd seen and remembered how much patience and care Mr. Xu had shown him.
The boss opens the way for my ambitions — I owe him my best work in return. I am absolutely going to create value for him.
"And how could you possibly have no friends, Mr. Xu?" Chao Musheng set the cola beside the coffee cup and extended his hand. "Am I not one?"
Xu Chenzhu reached out and took it.
Warm palm. He felt the pulse of living blood through the skin.
"Yes." His voice was even. "You are."
"Then make sure you bring me along to that garden estate gathering." Chao Musheng drew his hand closer, smiling in a way that was openly, unashamedly persuasive. "I've never actually stayed in a private garden estate before."
"I will." Xu Chenzhu's voice came out slightly rougher than he intended.
Was his palm sweating?
Would Zhaozhao notice something was wrong with him?
When Chao Musheng finally let go, the absence was immediate. A little longer would have been good.
"Oh — Mr. Xu, I have other plans for dinner tonight. You don't need to wait for me." He was still thinking about taking Brother Liu out to thank him properly.
Xu Chenzhu glanced at the heavy cloud massing in the sky. "Come back early."
Chao Musheng nodded obediently. "I will."
*
Evening. Fifteenth-floor music restaurant.
Chao Musheng handed the menu across the table and waved his hand generously. "Order whatever you like, Brother Liu. This is on me."
"Very free-spending — that small reserve fund must be healthy." Secretary Liu accepted without ceremony and ordered several substantial dishes.
"Heh." No denial. "I helped Lian Hai sort out a small matter and he gave me a very generous red envelope."
Secretary Liu was aware of Lian Hai's reputation in wealthy-heir circles — a known playboy running an entertainment company on his parents' money.
"Which reminds me — your mother is editor-in-chief of Shiguang Magazine. You have your own connections in the entertainment world." Secretary Liu added one more dish to the order. "Xiao Chao, honestly — a perfect life with no visible flaws. Surely that's your only problem."
"I have plenty of worries day to day, and this was actually nothing to do with my mother." Chao Musheng said. "Lian Hai's company has been trying to connect with a particular special effects studio — they're quite sought-after at the moment. His people couldn't get an appointment. I introduced them."
"Look at you. Impressive connections."
"More luck than anything. The studio's founder is a senior classmate of mine. Lian Hai has money to spend, the studio has the technical capability — it was a natural match for both of them." Chao Musheng smiled — and didn't mention that he'd invested some early capital in the studio himself. He'd essentially been helping his own returns.
The food arrived. Chao Musheng noticed, as the waitress set down a dish, that the back of her hand was unnaturally swollen.
"Your order is complete — please enjoy your meal."
She reached across the table, and her sleeve rode up slightly, revealing a cuff with powder makeup on the fabric.
"Thank you." Her wrist, Chao Musheng saw, was hanging at an odd angle — she'd nearly tipped into the soup bowl. He caught her wrist through the sleeve before she could fall. "Careful."
"I'm so sorry, sir!" The waitress, realizing she'd nearly scattered the dish across a guest, went pale.
*
"It's all right — as long as you're not burned." The makeup on her cuff, he thought, was probably there to cover bruising on her hand.
She glanced up at him. A quiet, brief thank-you. Then she turned away, eyes reddening, and retreated.
People could be strange that way — enduring enormous indignity for the sake of getting by, holding steady through it all, and then falling apart at the first small kindness.
Warm music floated through the restaurant. Secretary Liu had been increasingly aware, for the last few minutes, that the people around them were looking at their table in a way that was subtly off.
"Xiao Chao — have you noticed that everyone else in this restaurant seems to be in couples?"
"Really?" Chao Musheng looked around. "I asked a crew member earlier which restaurant was nicest on this floor for treating someone to dinner, and they said this one. Couples liking it too isn't surprising."
"Is there any chance," Secretary Liu said, feeling the situation becoming urgent, "that this is specifically a couples' restaurant?"
"There are two people of the same gender eating together in that corner over there, so it's clearly not couples-only. Whatever kind of restaurant it is, as long as the food is good." Chao Musheng was unbothered and returned to his meal.
Secretary Liu turned his head — and made direct eye contact with Xu Chenzhu, who was standing outside the window, looking in.
"Brother Liu, try the prawns — the freshness is remarkable." Chao Musheng lifted a prawn with the serving chopsticks and placed it in Secretary Liu's bowl.
Secretary Liu: "..."
It was as though every inch of his back had grown thorns.
"Brother Liu? Are you all right?" Chao Musheng noticed him go rigid. "Why aren't you eating?"
"Ha. Ha." Secretary Liu could not bring himself to turn around. "Xiao Chao — the person standing outside the window. Doesn't he look rather like the boss?"
Chao Musheng looked toward the window. That was Mr. Xu.
He gave him a wave, then turned back to Secretary Liu. "Not rather like. It is him."
Secretary Liu turned his head, very slowly, degree by degree, and met his employer's gaze through the glass — cool and precise behind his lenses.
The internet was right. This was love.
Xu Chenzhu strode into the restaurant and sat down beside Chao Musheng. "What a coincidence."
Secretary Liu's smile achieved the bitterness of undiluted gourd. Not a coincidence. He was the surplus party here.
No. He would be strong.
"Sir — are you here to walk Xiao Chao back?" He set down his chopsticks. "I've had plenty."
"Brother Liu, you've barely eaten anything." Chao Musheng served him a mushroom. "I'm not done yet."
Xu Chenzhu: "Take your time. There's no rush."
Secretary Liu: "..."
The food has no taste. Everything tastes of cardboard. I am sitting on a surface made entirely of needles.
Xiao Chao, say something — just tell him you didn't know this was a couples' restaurant—
"We only realized halfway through dinner that this is a couples' restaurant." Chao Musheng leaned slightly toward Xu Chenzhu and lowered his voice. "Good thing you turned up — the looks from the other tables were starting to get strange."
Secretary Liu's heart swelled with gratitude. Thank goodness he has a mouth.
Before the three seconds of gratitude had finished, someone at a nearby table said: "Oh wow — a three-man Burning Ice situation?"
Secretary Liu: "..."
Could the universe extend him any goodwill at all?
"Takeaway boxes, please." His expression was a wall. Stop talking. If this continues he will simply cease to exist.
Xu Chenzhu: "What is Burning Ice?"
"Ha ha." Secretary Liu held his smile with great fortitude. "I think it's something about winter being warm and full of spirit. I'm not entirely sure."
"Is it." Xu Chenzhu looked at him with a mildly suspicious expression that produced an immediate cold sweat.
Three hours ago, he was a happy and dedicated secretary. Everything has changed.
Curse this wretched thing called love.
He looked at Chao Musheng — smiling away in perfect unknowing — and felt an odd, irrational stab of envy.
His own fault. Knowing too much.
*
"I think I understand now."
Curly Hair had spotted Xu Chenzhu while he was still outside the couples' restaurant. She hadn't known how long he'd been standing there. Xiao Chao had simply waved, and he'd walked straight in.
A boss really wouldn't act like this toward an employee. But a person would act like this toward the one they loved.
Feelings were like a cough — no matter how you tried to suppress them, eventually something showed through.
*
The food was packed to go. Secretary Liu vanished from Chao Musheng's and Xu Chenzhu's line of sight at something resembling a sprint.
"Brother Liu seemed very rushed." Chao Musheng carried the takeaway box. "If I'd known it was a couples' restaurant, I would've chosen somewhere else. I didn't want him to be uncomfortable."
"No one says only couples may eat there. You did nothing wrong." Xu Chenzhu took the box from his hands. "Let's go back."
Two steps down the corridor, Chao Musheng noticed Curly Hair, crouching alone in a corner.
Curly Hair had not expected to be spotted at that level of concealment. She stood up with a forced smile. "Xiao Chao — have you eaten?"
What a nothing sentence.
People really did reach for the most worthless small talk when they were embarrassed.
"Just finished." Chao Musheng looked at the darkening sky outside. "If you're not working late tonight, go back to your room and sleep early."
He had an irrational, sourceless feeling that the storm was going to come tonight.
"Got it, Xiao Chao." Curly Hair wasn't going to ignore a single word of warning from him. The moment he was gone, she sent a message to Xiao Liu and the others — and after a moment's thought, sent Tiger a copy too.
Three days left in the instance. Was the storm arriving ahead of schedule?
*
In the early hours, Chao Musheng was jolted awake by a massive, rolling lurch. He sat up, barely avoiding being thrown from the bed entirely.
Knock, knock.
A knock at the door in the darkness. Chao Musheng groped his way across, maintaining as much balance as he could, and opened it.
Xu Chenzhu was standing outside. In the dark Chao Musheng couldn't make out his expression.
"Hold out your arms." The waves seemed to have no purchase on Xu Chenzhu at all — he stood steady and still in the doorway as he fitted a life jacket around Chao Musheng.
Outside the balcony doors, the sealed storm shutters had engaged. The whole suite had become a sealed container.
"Don't be afraid. Nothing will happen."
Chao Musheng felt Xu Chenzhu's warm hand rest briefly on the top of his head.
"I'm not afraid." The power had gone to the ship's electrical systems along with everything else, and the lights wouldn't come on. Chao Musheng looked around in the dark. "Are the bodyguards in the corridor all right?"
"The weather looked bad coming in tonight — I sent them back to their rooms early." Xu Chenzhu guided Chao Musheng to the sofa and steadied him. His feet seemed to move with the ship, attuned to every pitch and roll — no wave, however large, moved him.
Muffled shouting from beyond the door. Some wealthy passenger somewhere, berating a crew member.
"Mama!"
A child crying. Then a staff member's voice, soothing.
Chao Musheng got up and pulled the door open. In the emergency lighting of the corridor, he found one of the crew — the young man called Xiao Wu — staggering along with a child in his arms. With nothing to hold on to, Xiao Wu was being thrown side to side by the ship's lurching, almost going down with the child.
Chao Musheng grabbed him and pulled both of them inside.
"Xiao Chao." In the confusion Xiao Wu had barely registered who'd caught him. When the door shut and the room went dark again, he could just make out that there was someone else in the room beyond Chao Musheng.
"What's the situation out there?" Chao Musheng turned on his phone torch and transferred his life jacket onto the child.
A storm this size — the captain should have rerouted to avoid it. His uncle had mentioned rough weather yesterday. With this many people on board, an experienced captain with all those years of sea miles shouldn't be driving a ship into a storm zone.
"Has the ship initiated emergency protocol?" He looked at his phone. Half the ship's systems had been disrupted, and the mobile signal was nearly gone.
He shook the phone hard a couple of times. The bar crept from nothing to one flickering notch.
He opened his contacts and called the first mate.
"Deputy Captain — the autopilot navigation system has failed. It can no longer identify the correct course!"
Beneath the pounding of wind and rain, the Wangyue — magnificent and enormous — looked very small on the open sea.
The first mate surveyed the bridge's control panels, almost every indicator light glowing red. "Can anyone reach the captain?"
"All ship communications are down. We can't make outgoing calls. Nothing's getting through from outside either." A sailor said. "I'll go and find him."
"In waves this size you can't even stand, how would you—"
Ding ding ding.
In the tense, focused silence of the bridge, the first mate's phone rang.
Every sailor looked at him. The ringtone was the only sound in the room.
One of them ventured carefully: "Deputy — is your alarm going off?"
The first mate pulled out his phone. An incoming call, clear on the screen.
The sailors stared. A call was getting through?
How was that scientifically possible?
"Uncle." The connection was poor — Chao Musheng's voice stuttered and distorted. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." The first mate looked at the sea of red warnings across the autopilot panel. "Just a small spot of weather. Your uncle will take the helm personally tonight and get everyone through it safely."
"Uncle, your seamanship... crackle... I trust... completely." Chao Musheng's voice broke up further. "Uncle... crackle..."
The signal was nearly gone. Then, through the static, one last clear burst: "Uncle, don't worry about the front — I'll stay inside and pray for you."
"Mazu — make sure you pray to Mazu." Even now, the first mate remembered to specify. "For anything sea-related, she's the only one who really delivers."
*
He hung up. The first mate turned to his crew. "All right, everyone — prepare to switch to manual helm."
*
Chao Musheng hung up. He found an image of Mazu on his phone and placed it on the table with ceremony.
"Everyone come here." He settled the now-quiet child in the center, and beckoned to Xu Chenzhu and Xiao Wu. "Pray with me."
The ship pitched. Most things on the table slid and fell. The phone stayed upright.
Xiao Wu looked at the merciful face on the screen and thought privately that praying with a goddess found through a quick internet search might be slightly perfunctory.
"Mr. Xu — come on." Chao Musheng looked over at Xu Chenzhu, still standing. "You're included. Many hands make light work."
Xiao Wu: Does that expression apply here?
"Please, compassionate Mother Mazu — protect the Wangyue through the storm." Chao Musheng groped around and found a bag of snacks, which he arranged in front of the phone. He pressed his palms together. "Please keep us safe. Please."
Xu Chenzhu walked over and stood beside him. He looked at Chao Musheng, eyes lowered in prayer, and said nothing for a moment. Then he closed his own eyes.
"Please."
Outside the ship, waves roared. Lightning and thunder. In the blackness of the deep water something seemed to stir — as if countless creatures waited in the dark beneath, patient for the moment to swallow this solitary vessel whole.
"Mr. Xu — ask for Mazu's protection too."
In the dark, Xu Chenzhu's gaze had stayed on Chao Musheng without moving. He followed the shape of the gesture, eyes closing.
"Please."
Chao Musheng placed another snack in front of the phone. "And Mazu — don't forget my uncle, please. Grant him strength to ride the waves and carry everyone through."
*
On the bridge, the first mate gripped the wheel and heaved.
Something shifted. The wheel turned — when two minutes ago it had been immovable.
Strange. Why did it suddenly give?
*
In a pocket of darkness somewhere on the ship, a person laughed freely.
The autopilot was already disabled. The manual helm had been sabotaged too. Nobody could save the Wangyue.
Nobody.