The police exchanged glances and laughed, “In such a hurry? Engaging in lewd acts in broad daylight?”
He Jianxi’s face turned completely red, a mix of anger and fear. When did a woman appear in his bed? Just a moment ago, he was certain that there was no one in the bed; he had seen Zhang Haiyan crawl in. How did it suddenly turn into a woman?
Could it be that Zhang Haiyan was cross-dressing?
No, hadn’t he just been half-naked?
He Jianxi was utterly confused. What had he just said to me? Did he want to report me as an accomplice? The information was too overwhelming, and cold sweat began to bead on his forehead.
But to the police, this kid seemed embarrassed, making them laugh even harder. Then they heard the woman in the bed say, “Nonsense, where’s the daylight? There’s no such thing as daylight.”
“Be careful with the woman on the boat; you might catch the plague,” the police said as they lowered the curtain and continued their investigation.
Listening to the police’s voices fade away, He Jianxi immediately wanted to lift the covers to see what was going on. He turned around and saw that Zhang Haiyan had returned to the position he was in earlier, the cigarette still lit, looking at him coldly: “You’re not good at lying. How have you survived until now?” It was actually a teasing female voice.
He Jianxi glanced at Zhang Haiyan’s chest. Of course, he had never seen a woman’s chest before, but in his mind, a woman’s chest should have something. However, all that Zhang Haiyan had was a pair of pectoral muscles, nothing else.
It looked just like the hundreds of thousands of men he had seen.
Could it be the legendary hermaphrodite?
He Jianxi’s mind was in chaos; he had no concept of gender equality at that time. His first reaction was that a hermaphrodite had slept in his bed. He didn’t know if it was because he had hit his head earlier or if he was just unable to process the situation; he began to feel dizzy.
Zhang Haiyan touched the bed board and said, “How do you sleep on this thing? It was quite comfortable when I was in your bed just now. I could just sleep with you. Anyway, I won’t be able to stay for long.”
The voice was charming, like an orchid in a secluded valley.
He Jianxi tilted his head and collapsed onto the bed board.
Zhang Haiyan was stunned for a moment; it was the first time he had seen someone faint while talking to him. He sighed deeply. At that moment, he heard the whistle of the South An ship. Looking out through the gaps in the deck, he could see the chimney of the South An ship emitting smoke, seemingly about to set sail.
Damn it. Zhang Haiyan knocked on the deck; there were police outside, and he couldn’t get out. Moreover, it was still light outside, and he had no way to dive back into the water. He had to wait until nightfall to have a chance. Furthermore, the speed of the iron-hulled ship was something a barge could never keep up with. Even if he hijacked this ship to chase the South An, it would be impossible.
He wondered if anyone on the shore had seen Zhang Ruipu when he jumped into the water; otherwise, he didn’t know if the sea shrimp was in danger.
He closed his eyes and began to recall the old nautical chart in his conference room, which contained various route information. His mind raced, and soon he realized he had one last opportunity.
The Nan’an ship is now departing but will have to return after reaching the deep-water port of Singapore. The route for the day before to San Francisco and Xiamen is the same. Just now, Long Ge told him that the Bao’en ship would set sail at dusk. Calculating this, they would enter the open sea earlier than the Nan’an ship. As long as he jumps into the sea at the junction of the inner and outer seas, he will float along the route of the Nan’an ship. If luck is on his side, the Nan’an ship will arrive in an hour. Although the distance between the two ships is unpredictable, the physical distance will not exceed four kilometers. Moreover, it should be around midnight tomorrow. The sea will be pitch dark at night, but the electric lights of the Nan’an ship will be bright, and he can swim over.
The tin boat is very fast, and he only has one chance to swim to the front of the Nan’an ship and wait for it to collide with him. The sides of the Nan’an ship are very high, so he has to find a way to climb up.
But this is under completely unexpected circumstances. Zhang Haiyan deeply regrets his recklessness and silently prays to the heavens that if he is spared this time, he will be cautious in the future.
At dusk, when He Jianxi wakes up again, Zhang Haiyan is no longer across from him. The various sounds outside are noisy, but they seem to be different. Moreover, the ship is rocking violently. He immediately checks his belt and finds that his money is still there, letting out a sigh of relief.
Leaving the small cabin, he understands why the sounds have changed; they have already set sail. The voices from the shore are no longer audible, the sea breeze is stronger, and the sails are full.
The people on the ship have begun to quiet down, trying to adapt to their new life at sea. Regardless of comfort, this shabby ship will be their home for the next few months.
The outer sea at dusk is incredibly beautiful; the waves are neither too big nor too small, and the ship appears to have a strange beauty in this soft light.
What about the “Yin-Yang person”? Was that just a dream? No, the silver dollars are still gone.
He Jianxi is captivated by the dusk and the sunset in the distance. At this moment, he suddenly doesn’t want to think about anything; he just wants to melt into this beautiful scenery, even though he knows he will face this view every day for the next few months.
While he is lost in thought, he suddenly hears a popping sound from one side. Turning around, he sees the “Yin-Yang person” playing mahjong with several passengers.
Damn, it’s really not a dream.
Zhang Haiyan just won, and the cards are flipped over for the passengers to pay. There are many silver dollars in front of Zhang Haiyan, and he doesn’t know where they came from. The sailors are all watching.
He Jianxi walks over, and when Zhang Haiyan sees him, he directly counts out a stack of silver dollars and hands them to him: “Take it. It’s for you.” He then counts out another stack for Long Ge beside him, “Long Ge, here, for the brothers.”
Long Ge has obviously been rewarded more than once, and he takes it, saying, “How can I accept this?”
Zhang Haiyan puts a cigarette in his mouth: “My brother doesn’t know better and will definitely cause trouble for Long Ge. Just give him a little more.”
Long Ge immediately takes out a match to light Zhang Haiyan’s cigarette, “Don’t worry, Brother Yan. I didn’t recognize your status before. If I had known you were Mr. Rui Pu’s esteemed student, I wouldn’t have dared to be so reckless.”
“Keep the things I wrote safe. Once you send my little brother to San Francisco, take the receipt to Mr. Zhang Rui Pu to get the money. It’s a simple task; don’t mess it up.”
Long Ge nods, his flattery almost nauseating.
He Jianxi is puzzled and looks at the silver dollars, “You won this; I want my own.”
“Have you and that money become so familiar? You all have feelings for each other, right?” Zhang Haiyan laughed, “Brother Long, you see this kid, the one who does the accounts for Mr. Zhang Ruipu, would never make a mistake even if he died. He’s talented, right?”
“He’s talented. He’s talented.”
Zhang Haiyan handed the silver dollar to Brother Long, who passed it to He Jianxi. He Jianxi took it back immediately, tucked it away, and turned to leave. At this moment, Zhang Haiyan got reckless again; the nearby gamblers had reddened eyes and exchanged glances, drenched in cold sweat. A middle-aged woman came up to pull the gambler, saying, “Don’t hit him, old man. If you keep hitting, you’ll lose everything.” The gambler shoved the woman away, saying, “Get lost! It’s because of your incessant nagging that I can’t even touch the cards.” As he spoke, he pushed another silver dollar forward, looking at Zhang Haiyan.
He Jianxi suddenly felt something was off. He raised his hand to smell it and found a faint hint of turmeric on his fingers. Looking back at Zhang Haiyan’s hands, he suddenly realized and became furious. He went back and saw that Zhang Haiyan had a good hand right away. He immediately said, “Are you cheating to scam money?”
Zhang Haiyan was taken aback for a moment. He Jianxi grabbed his hand, sniffed it, and confirmed it was indeed turmeric. He turned to the crowd and said, “He has turmeric marks on these cards; he’s cheating to scam money. Whose money here isn’t hard-earned? If you cheat like this, they’ll end up dead. You people don’t see us as human; aren’t you afraid of the plague god coming for you?!”
Everyone stared at Zhang Haiyan. Faced with He Jianxi’s accusations, Zhang Haiyan was dumbfounded and hadn’t responded yet when a nearby gambler grabbed Zhang Haiyan by the collar, saying, “Oh, so you’re cheating.”
Zhang Haiyan was knocked down by a punch, causing He Jianxi to stumble out as well. He saw three Mahjong partners getting up and surrounding Zhang Haiyan. Brother Long immediately came over to help Zhang Haiyan, but other gamblers gathered around to watch the commotion, splitting the sailors and gamblers into two factions.
“You sailors are colluding with this kind of cheat to scam us on the ship. You must give us an explanation today and return our money!” shouted the leading gambler. The others on the ship had previously been bullied by the sailors and were already very angry. Upon hearing this, they immediately echoed in agreement. He Jianxi was overjoyed, seeing everyone unite, and stood up, saying, “Robbing and killing for money? We are paying passengers; we want our rights!”
The crowd shouted in unison.
With more and more people gathering, the sailors became flustered. They looked at Zhang Haiyan and said, “Brother Yan, cheating is where you went wrong.”
“I didn’t cheat,” Zhang Haiyan said with a smile. “The ones using turmeric are those three. I got it on my hands by accident. If you don’t believe me, young brother, you can smell it. Who has the strongest turmeric scent on them, me or them? They are professional swindlers who have scammed enough money in Malacca and are planning to con people in San Francisco. Their tactics are sophisticated, and they have ample funds. If you let them stay on the ship, you’ll all be in trouble.”
At this moment, He Jianxi had realized something was wrong. After the two groups had separated, he could clearly smell that Jiang Huang was on his side. He twitched his nose and was about to speak when a ship passenger punched him in the nose, knocking He Jianxi to the ground. “You believe his nonsense? Don’t be polite with them. From now on, we are in charge on this ship. We have the numbers! Look at who has the money; do we look like frauds?”
Everyone looked at Zhang Haiyan, and to be honest, he seemed more like a fraud. One of the onlookers among the ship passengers said, “This guy has a private cabin while we all sleep in a dormitory. He’s young and has money for a private room; it must be money he scammed!” Suddenly, discussions broke out everywhere. The leading ship passenger sneered at Zhang Haiyan and shouted, “Right, it’s all dirty money, isn’t it? You must have a lot more money on you!”
Seeing the situation was not good, Long Ge immediately pushed Zhang Haiyan out: “Don’t act rashly. Your own grievances should be settled among yourselves. Don’t disturb the ship’s captain; otherwise, no one will reach San Francisco.”
“How ungrateful, Long Ge,” Zhang Haiyan took a deep drag on his cigarette, looking at the crowd that had surrounded him. But no one was willing to make the first move; everyone was in a state of observation. After all, their profession was that of con artists, not instigators, and they didn’t know how to conclude the situation.
After a stalemate for a while, the woman from earlier suddenly said, “You evil person, let the plague god of the sea take you!” At that moment, the leading ship passenger had an epiphany and immediately echoed, “Yes, let’s take back the money and throw him into the sea! Let the plague god take him. The plague god’s mouth has blades; let him cut that lying mouth of yours!”
What a weak villain, always opposing people like this. How could Zhang Haiyan not take a step back? The leading ship passenger saw that no one was moving, exchanged glances with three friends who played mahjong, and the three of them drew their daggers from three directions and began to encircle him.
The first one rushed behind Zhang Haiyan, but he slightly shifted to the side and elbowed the man, breaking his nasal bone. The man flipped over. Just as he turned to face the second one, he slapped down, sending the person crashing to the ground.
The whole sequence of movements was so fast that no one could see clearly. By the time the leading ship passenger reached him, Zhang Haiyan had already grabbed his neck and lifted him up, kissing him.
Everyone was stunned. The ship passenger flailed his limbs wildly but could not break free.
Zhang Haiyan released his grip, and the ship passenger fell to the ground, clutching his throat and beginning to vomit. The woman rushed forward, “You scoundrel! You’ve violated my man!”
The leading ship passenger pushed the woman away and started to vomit blood, expelling countless pieces of blood and two or three blades. When the blades fell on the deck, everyone watching took a step back.
“Weren’t you wanting to meet the plague god?” Zhang Haiyan, with his back to the sunset, had his hands in his pockets and opened his mouth, revealing a chilling glint. “Long time no see, everyone.”
Oh dear, Zhang Haiyan is not here, I’m being a bit reckless, but it feels so liberating! Indeed, being reckless brings joy to both body and mind, Zhang Haiyan thought to himself.
He Jianxi lay on the ground, his last thought was: the hero he admired, the plague god of the sea, the chivalrous protector of Chinese people on the shipping routes, was a gender-bender.
