Chapter 4

Everything went so smoothly that I had to admit my luck really was pretty good.

I found out her name was Xiao Chen. She’d quit her last job and had been hanging around at home ever since.

One day she received a delivery, scanned a QR code, and got this cruise ticket out of it.

“I honestly thought it was a scam at first. Never imagined it was real.”

Even now, talking about it, she still couldn’t believe she’d gotten this lucky.

“You know, converted to RMB this ticket is worth over four hundred thousand.”

I secretly snapped a picture of Xiao Chen with her head bent over her sketchbook.

Then I motioned for her to stand up so I could sit by the easel instead, pestering her to take one of me.

Xiao Chen’s photography skills really were good. When she handed my phone back, I was thrilled.

“I’ve always wanted to pull off that artsy-girl vibe. Meeting you is a stroke of luck-I can finally fake it on this cruise.” I made no attempt to hide my scheming.

Xiao Chen was amused too. “Putting on an act is one of life’s greatest pleasures. We really seem to click.”

I sent both the shot of Xiao Chen with her head lowered and the one of me to Xu Jiacheng, telling him they were photos of me and my bestie.

Very soon, Xu Jiacheng replied, telling us to have fun.

Seeing I’d successfully bluffed my way through, my mood soared, and I started chatting away happily with Xiao Chen.

After coming over to say hi, Guo Bin told me there was actually a casino on the cruise, and he wanted to go test his luck.

“Go ahead.”

I waved him off, perfectly aware that casinos on these cruises were mostly small-time, just for fun.

Xiao Chen and I quickly evolved into hand-in-hand besties, to the point we were even talking about bedroom stuff.

“Ugh, after dealing with countless men, I finally figured it out: stamina is stamina, the equipment is the equipment, technique is technique.”

“In the end, if he’s no good, he’s just no good.”

She had me laughing so hard my stomach hurt. Thinking of Xu Jiacheng, I blurted out, “My boyfriend… he’s not really that great.”

“Oh yeah?” Xiao Chen covered her mouth, giggling. “But he looks-”

I knew she thought I was talking about Guo Bin, but I didn’t correct her. I just smiled.

With Guo Bin’s big muscles, eight-pack abs, and that surplus of energy, there was no way he wasn’t “great.”

She laughed for a while, then, worried I might feel awkward, tried to comfort me. “Hey, not gonna lie, my first love was the same. And he wasn’t just ‘not great,’ he was downright-”

Before she could finish, a thunderous boom rocked the cruise ship.