CH 201

That night, not much happened.

Of course, this was thanks to Xing Conglian’s restraint, but in the final analysis, the reason was that Lin Chen still had a fever and was still hung up on anti-inflammatory drugs all night. Although there was appropriate medical support, in such a harsh medical environment, it was almost impossible to recover in a short period of time.

The hull shook lightly. Lin Chen listened to the sound of water, half dreaming and half awake.

At some point in the night, Lin Chen felt Xing Conglian leaving the beach bed on the side of the room. In fact, he probably had a feeling in his heart that every time he fell asleep, Xing Conglian would always leave for a while.

After they escaped from the life-threatening danger, they didn’t encounter any further obvious pursuit by the rainforest armed groups. It wasn’t an exaggeration to describe the journey as a sightseeing trip for tourists. Whether it was due to Mr. Zaratul having a change of heart or some issues in his organization that rendered them unable to continue their military operations, regardless of the reason, it likely required some effort and arrangements.

He rolled over a little but couldn’t fall asleep.

After a while, the hatch opened again, and the smell of the person coming in was soft and sweet. Naturally, it could only be Wang Chao.

Seeing him open his eyes, Wang Chao seemed a little frightened and took a step back. “A’Chen Gege, why are you awake? The Boss said you were fast asleep!”

Lin Chen reached out to turn on the desk lamp, preparing to sit up. Wang Chao quickly grabbed a pillow from behind the bed and placed it behind his waist.

“So, were you sent to monitor me?” Lin Chen asked with a smile.

“Ah! I’m not the only one. There are still two generals standing at the door!” Wang Chao said and sat down by the head of the bed. Only then did he realize he had spilled too much. Seeing the teenager’s reaction, Lin Chen felt that this problem was probably different from the previous one.

“What happened?” he asked.

Wang Chao had a hard-to-tell expression on his face. Looking at his appearance, Lin Chen didn’t want to ask, but he also wanted to tease him.

“Do you want to play a guessing game with me?” He paused and stretched his tone. “If you do, I don’t need to test your physiological indicators. I can guess just by looking at your expression.”

Wang Chao let out an “Ah” and shouted, “A’Chen Gege, you can’t do this!”

“I’m going to ask, so you can turn your head away and don’t let me see it.”

“You have to take good care of your illness. What the hell are you worrying about? You can rest assured that nothing will go wrong when we’re here!” Wang Chao patted his chest and turned around.

“Zaratul.”

The young man took two steps.

“Duan Yang, Duan Wanshan…”

The young man’s footsteps didn’t stop.

“Hongjing, Yongchuan…”

The boy’s hand was already on the doorknob.

“Something happened on the boat?”

Wang Chao looked back with a sad face. “A’Chen Gege, you can’t do this!”

“What happened aboard? The Gaomeng people…?” After he asked, Wang Chao’s reaction explained everything.

Lin Chen accepted it as soon as he saw it and said to Wang Chao, “Come back. I won’t ask.”

The teenager walked back depressingly. “It’s easy for me to lose to you like this!”

“Okay, be good and tell me. What brings you here specifically?” Lin Chen rubbed the boy’s head and spoke gently.

Wang Chao was the type that could be coaxed. He quickly pulled something out from behind him and handed it over.

Lin Chen was surprised because he had handed over a cellphone.

“You stole this kind of contraband and came in. Does your boss know?” Lin Chen asked.

“Ah!” Wang Chao’s little face was full of horror, and he couldn’t help but say, “A’Chen, there needs to be more trust between us. I just thought you were too bored resting, so I want to give you my phone for you to play with. You can’t blame me.”

Lin Chen looked at the phone, stretched out his pinky, and hooked it with the boy’s.

However, when he turned on the phone and was ready to surf the internet, he realized that he might have been tricked by the other party.

Most of the webpages on the phone were useless to open, leaving only strange communication software and Tetris which was the default game on the phone.

Lin Chen clicked on the messaging software, and there were only two people on the contact list: Xing Conglian and Wang Chao.

“Comrade Xiao Wang.” Lin Chen put down his phone and looked intently at the young man in front of him. “When did you become like this? I think we need to talk.”

Wang Chao snickered. “A’Chen, don’t be angry. I just thought you could use some entertainment and play with it. Once you return to China in a few days, you won’t need it anymore.”

Almost at the same time he opened the software and saw Xing Conglian’s avatar, Xing Conglian actually sent him a smirking emoji through the chat software.

Lin Chen didn’t know what kind of play this was. They were just a few steps away, yet they had to use their phones to chat and solve the problem.

Xing Conglian: [Did that brat wake you up?]

Lin Chen glanced at Wang Chao and asked in a low voice, “What kind of black technology is this? How did he know that I was awake?”

“Because the Boss’ requirements are quite perverted. When you open this software, the front camera will automatically turn on.”

The corners of Lin Chen’s mouth twitched as he replied back to Xing Conglian: [No, I didn’t fall asleep…]

Xing Conglian: [I’ll be back in a while.]

Lin Chen: [Don’t worry. Let Wang Chao talk to me for a while.]

Xing Conglian: [No, he talks too much, which will affect your rest.]

Lin Chen: [So… why did you ask him to give me his cellphone?]

Xing Conglian: [So you can put it on the bedside. I’ll watch you sleep.]

Lin Chen couldn’t help laughing.

Probably because he was smiling happily, Wang Chao had an expression of disdain for them.

Wang Chao also lowered his head and took out his phone. After a while, Lin Chen received a notification to join a group chat: [You are invited by the “#1 Thug Wang Chao” to join the “Exclude the Boss and Go for the Small Red Envelope Group”.]

Wang Chao put his index finger on his lips and made a silent gesture. Lin Chen looked away and clicked on the red envelope group.

Sure enough, the group had already started swiping red envelopes.

Zhang Long first sent a red envelope called [To Consultant Lin. Prepaid medical treatment fee.]

Lin Chen looked at Wang Chao and asked, “Why are you excluding the boss?”

Before he finished speaking, Wang Chao had already taken the lead in opening the red envelope. Lin Chen leaned over and took a look. Mr. Zhang Long made an extraordinary move. The entire red envelope was worth 1,000 yuan, and Wang Chao won 2.3 yuan.

“This is unscientific!” Wang Chao stared at his phone, dumbfounded, and shook it, thinking he was hallucinating.

“Huh?”

“Ahhhh!” After a moment of confusion, Wang Chao answered his question just now. “Because we usually don’t bring the Boss when we snatch red envelopes. He has such good luck that he always manages to grab the biggest one, which makes others envious and resentful…”

Before Wang Chao’s voice fell, a record of “Xing Conglian has received a red envelope” appeared in the chat log. Lin Chen took the opportunity to open the thousand-yuan red envelope Zhang Long had just sent.

Looking at the numbers that appear on the screen, he also shook the phone, thinking he was seeing things.

In the chat group, Xing Conglian angrily said: [Wang Chao, did you fucking upgrade the system or something?]

Wang Chao stared at the red envelope collection details displayed on the screen and looked up at him again, then began to tap the phone frantically.

Wang Chao: [It’s completely randomly allocated. Boss, do you think I’m mentally retarded? If I were to change the system, why wouldn’t I just increase my own share? I only got 2.3 yuan from 1,000 yuan. 2.3 yuan! What a joke!]

Zhang Long: [Fuck me. Fuck me. It’s a miracle! Consultant Lin actually got 888* yuan! The Boss only got 0.01 yuan!]

*Clarity: The number 888 is considered lucky in Chinese culture because its pronunciation, “ba ba ba” (八八八), sounds similar to the phrase “发发发” (fa fa fa), which means “get rich, get rich, get rich.” It is often used in business and personal life to convey good luck and prosperity.

Zhao Hu: [Am I seeing things? The Boss only got a penny?]

Ye Zhu: [Hehe. Karma.]

Looking at the reaction of everyone in the Red Envelope Group, Lin Chen could probably guess how terrifying Xing Conglian’s dominance over red envelopes was. As if he didn’t believe in bad luck, Kang An immediately sent another red envelope. “I wish Consultant Lin a speedy recovery!”

Everyone quickly snatched it all within three seconds.

No one in the group spoke. Lin Chen frowned and clicked on the section to check the details of the red envelope collection. He was shocked again.

Kang An’s entire red envelope had a face value of 100 yuan, and he received 66.8* of it, while Xing Conglian once again finished at the bottom with 0.01 yuan.

*Clarity: In Chinese culture, the number 6 is associated with smoothness, and 8 is associated with prosperity and wealth. Therefore, the number combination 668 is often considered a lucky number that represents smooth and prosperous progress.

Seeing this detail, Lin Chen seemed to be able to feel the laughter outside the door and in all corners of the ship while sitting in the cabin.

Xing Conglian: [Wang Chao, come to the first floor. Your boss hasn’t had a heart-to-heart with you in a long time.]

Wang Chao: [Boss, I swear that the system hasn’t been touched. Trust me!!! Do I have to prove my innocence myself?!]

As he said it, he quickly sent out a red envelope that looked like a huge denomination.

“Should I still swipe it?” Lin Chen asked Wang Chao in a low voice.

He asked, forgetting that the front camera was still on.

Xing Conglian: [Take it! Take it! Good fortune shouldn’t flow to outsiders*.]

*Fertilizer should not flow into someone else’s field (肥水不流外人田) Idiom referring to the resources, benefits, or profits should be used by those who have contributed to them and should not be taken away by outsiders who have not participated in the work or investment.

Lin Chen nodded and opened the red envelope again.

The amount of the red envelope that popped up on the screen was 5.01 yuan, making Lin Chen breathe a sigh of relief.

However, before he could react, information prompts for the Red Envelope Group suddenly popped up on the phone screen one after another.

[“Xiao Wu” has withdrawn from the Exclude the Boss and Go For The Small Red Envelope Group, “Kang An” has withdrawn from the Exclude the Boss and Go For The Small Red Envelope Group, “Ye Zhu”…]

In an instant, everyone in the group left, leaving only him and Xing Conglian.

Lin Chen opened the red envelope inexplicably. What he never expected was that the total amount of Wang Chao’s red envelope turned out to be 8 yuan, and Xing Conglian once again was at the bottom with a penny.

“Why are you so stingy?” Even Lin Chen was speechless.

“A’Chen Gege, I mainly spend my money on new mobile games,” Wang Chao said as he quickly shut down and restarted his phone, as if this way could solve the universal problem of bad luck. But before his phone screen lit up again, there was a rapid sound of footsteps outside the cabin, and the frequency of these footsteps could only belong to Xing Conglian.

When Wang Chao heard the sound, he anxiously jumped up from the chair and began to look for places to hide in the room.

The hatch slammed open, and Xing Conglian’s angry face appeared at the door.

Wang Chao was caught as soon as he opened the medicine cabinet that he wanted to hide in. The young man had no other choice but to pounce on his boss’ legs. “Boss, believe me. I’m really innocent!”

Xing Conglian lifted his legs twice and found he couldn’t’ get away. “Laozi believes in your evil!”

Lin Chen picked up the phone and gently pressed it twice.

Xing Conglian’s phone message prompt sounded. “You sent it?” he asked as he opened it, then asked in surprise. “Why did you transfer all the money you grabbed to me?”

“Raise you… Keep you.”

Xing Conglian laughed, as if he had lost his anger in an instant. He kicked Wang Chao’s foot. “Disappear within a second.”

The teenager grimaced, once again showing a disgusted expression on his face, but he probably thought about it and decided that his life was important, so he quickly disappeared without a trace.

Xing Conglian locked the door and walked slowly to the bedside. He threw his phone on the bedside table and said seriously, “Consultant Lin, it’s easy to get into trouble like this…” As he spoke, he bent down and kissed him.

The kiss was just a brief one, and soon he withdrew and sat at the bedside. “If you ever transfer me a red envelope again, I’ll add a zero and return it to you,” he said.

“How can this be?” Lin Chen lowered his head, and Xing Conglian actually transferred the money to him.

“To be honest, I’m happy about it,” Xing Conglian said.

“Huh?”

“When I used to grab red envelopes, they usually didn’t let me play because my luck was too good, and I always grabbed the one with the highest amount.”

“What’s going on today?” Lin Chen asked, “Did your good luck spread to me?”

“That’s why I’m happy,” Xing Conglian said, and then rubbed his face again, “If that’s the case, I can rest assured.”

Xing Conglian’s tone was very plain, and his words were concise. But Lin Chen remembered the topic they had discussed before about luck, and he felt that this was probably Xing Conglian’s most sincere wish from the bottom of his heart. He sighed, hooked Xing Conglian’s collar, pulled him in front of him, kissed his neck, and finally let him go.

Xing Conglian stood up, and somewhat reluctantly used his thumb to touch his lips. “You, open the camera and let me watch you rest. I still have to go out.”

After thinking for a moment, Lin Chen decided to break the mood at this moment. “What happened on the ship?”

Xing Conglian frowned, and he became serious. “What nonsense did Wang Chao say to you?”

“It doesn’t matter whether he said anything or not,” Lin Chen said softly. “There’s a smell of disinfectant on your body, and Duan Yang hasn’t come for two and a half hours. What happened to the Gaomeng people on the ship?”

Xing Conglian thought about it and finally decided not to hide it from him. “Two people died.”