Chapter 5

After getting ready and lying in bed, it was already 11 p.m. Looking at her silent phone, Jiang Lan felt a little irritated. She picked it up and tossed it aside repeatedly, finally unable to resist opening the chat window and typing, "Are you asleep? What are you doing?"

I gritted my teeth and clicked send.

He knew that pursuing a girl required taking the initiative, but the girl he wanted to pursue was really aloof, and he was a little intimidated by her, afraid that he would bother her and annoy her.

Since junior high school, he has never lacked suitors. When girls take the initiative, they are just as good as boys. He actually hates being pursued, as he feels it affects his life too much.

After starting work, the girls he met became more outgoing, and some of his suitors were even older women. Seeing that he was still single, and even some girls confessing their love to him, he had no choice but to choose the quietest and most gentle Meng Lin from among his suitors, which finally calmed things down a lot.

During the two months he dated Meng Lin, they were in the initial stages of their relationship. They held hands twice, but never kissed. Then he quit his job and they broke up.

He judged others by his own standards, thinking that excessive harassment from suitors would be annoying, so he hesitated to send a message. But now he simply couldn't hold back any longer.

He stared at the screen, waiting for the girl to reply to his message.

A moment later, a conversation popped up on my phone: "Getting ready for bed, currently scrolling through my phone."

He felt a surge of joy and quickly typed, "Tomorrow is Sunday, do you have any plans?"

Just as I was about to press send, I suddenly remembered that I had an appointment tomorrow, and I felt a pang of regret.

Yesterday, Liu Zhen invited him to go out to sea tomorrow. At the time, he thought he had nothing to do recently, so he agreed to go.

I thought about canceling, but then I decided against it. Liu Zhen had asked me out so many times, and it wouldn't be good to agree and then stand him up again.

I deleted the message I wanted to send, then remembered I didn't know her name, so I asked her, "I still don't know your name."

The other person replied immediately: "My name is Xiaoming. What's your name?"

Seeing this perfunctory name, Jiang Lan's smile froze for a moment, then she reassured herself that it was good for the girl to be wary, and replied, "My name is Jiang Lan."

[Xiaoming, what do you usually like to do after work?]

[Playing games, playing badminton, what about you?]

I also play games and basketball, but I usually play basketball with my friends.

He wanted to say that he had seen her at the entrance of the stadium last time, but hesitated and didn't say it.

Then I asked her, "What games do you like to play?"

I'll play anything that seems interesting, like shooting games.

I also like shooting games, let's team up and play sometime.

Okay.

Jiang Lan wanted to say something more, but a message popped up on the other end saying, "I'm sleepy, goodnight," so he could only reply with a "goodnight."

After putting down my phone, I felt a lack of interest in doing anything, so I turned off the lights and went to sleep.

Xiao Ming glanced at the chat box and scoffed, "Ha, men."

I tell you what I like, and you say you like those things too? What a coincidence! You'll make up any nonsense just to pick up girls.

A simple "goodnight" will shut you up and shut down all your other nonsense.

In his dream, Xiaoming walked along a mountain path all night, searching for the source of the flower fragrance, but he couldn't find it all night.

I woke up this morning to find that one of my legs was numb from being pressed down by the other, no wonder I couldn't walk all night.

I looked at the jasmine blooming in the corner of the bedroom wall and finally found the source of the fragrance that I had been searching for all night. Yesterday afternoon, the sun was too strong, and I was afraid that it would damage the flower, so I moved it from the balcony into the room, but I forgot to move it back out last night.

She's going to work overtime at the company today to finish up the things that need to be done during the two-day team building event.

When I arrived at the company, I found that many people were working overtime, including Sister Ying, the administrator.

There's no way around it; when the company organizes events, the administration staff are always the busiest.

After finishing his work, Xiaoming overheard Yingjie grumbling and asked, "Yingjie, who upset you? Why are you so angry?"

Sister Ying angrily replied, "Who else? Some people who have no self-awareness! I've already said that family members are not allowed to bring their children to this event, but there are always people who keep pestering me, as if they can't understand human language!"

"I'm already so busy I'm practically running around like a headless chicken, and you still have to come and make things worse. You keep saying you could handle it before, but why can't you do it this time? Let me make this clear: it's not that it can't be done this time, it's that it can't be done in the future!"

Seeing that Sister Ying was so excited that she was spitting out words, Xiao Ming obediently leaned back, smiled and agreed a couple of times, and then ran off.

I bought milk tea and cold noodles on the way home, and after having a quick meal, I turned on my computer and started playing games.

Jiang Lan, holding a fishing rod and wearing sunglasses, sat under a parasol. Liu Zhen had chartered a yacht, and those he had invited to play included several key employees of the company and familiar clients, a dozen or so people in total.

To liven things up, they even brought in a few girls.

As soon as he boarded the boat, Liu Zhen pushed a girl over to him and said, "This is the prettiest one here. Tell her to keep you company."

Seeing Liu Zhen's behavior, Jiang Lan was furious: "Take a good look at me and her, who's accompanying whom?! What kind of mess have you set up? You should just turn around and take me home right now!"

As soon as he said that, everyone on the boat stopped chatting and doing their work, looked at Jiang Lan, and then at the pretty girls.

Liu Zhen realized that this partner was not only handsome, but also, strictly speaking, a lifelong single. He realized he hadn't thought things through. With a girl like this by his side, it was hard to say who would be at a disadvantage and who would benefit.

He had no choice but to pull the girls away and tell them not to get too close to Jiang Lan.

I fished for ages, feeling impatient and frustrated, but came up empty-handed.

I dropped my fishing rod, ran to the ship's dining room to scroll through my phone, looking at the few words in the chat box, scrolling down and then scrolling back up.

A former colleague, now a key employee, who was also playing on his phone in the restaurant, noticed him and came over to ask, "Boss Lan, do you have a girlfriend?"

Jiang Lan didn't answer him, but asked instead, "Brother Tao, I remember you guys seemed to have no trouble pursuing your girlfriends back then, how did you do it?"

Guo Haitao's face showed a hint of smugness as he spoke eloquently: "Girls these days are very materialistic. If you're tall, rich, and handsome, it'll be half the battle in pursuing a girl. If you have two, you'll have her in no time. If you have all three, you'll be invincible."

Jiang Lan listened and looked at him expressionlessly.

Guo Haitao touched his nose: "If someone like you can't be invincible, it means the girl you're chasing is most likely a lesbian."

Hearing Jiang Lan's cold laugh, Guo Haitao mumbled a few words and tried to cover it up: "If you show off your income and assets, you won't even need to chase after them; the girls will come running to you. My girlfriend pursued me the first time, and I only agreed to date her because I saw her sincerity."

"Brother Tao, be careful that these words don't get back to Sister Qing, or she'll teach you a lesson without even taking a breath."

Zheng Hui, who was passing by, couldn't stand it anymore: "President Lan, don't let him lead you astray. He's the typical 'straight man with science and engineering' that people talk about online. When pursuing a girl, you have to consider her personality and cater to her interests, but the most important thing is to respect her."

Jiang Lan finally heard some reliable advice and listened attentively.

"A girl like you who caught your eye must have some special qualities. Just subtly praise those qualities, send her flowers, invite her out for a nice meal, hold her hand, and once you're a little closer, lean in for a kiss and confess your feelings. If you follow this process and still can't win her over, I'll do a handstand while washing my hair!"

The detailed plan has been finalized and sounds quite feasible. Jiang Lan nodded in satisfaction: "Brother Hui, you can't judge a book by its cover. Is this how you pursued your girlfriend?"

“I saw that’s how it’s taught online. My wife and I went from school to wedding, we’re in love, so we don’t need any of those things.” Zheng Hui was a little shy when talking about his wife.

It turned out to be all talk and no action, and Jiang Lan was caught off guard by being fed a few mouthfuls of dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection), which made her lose interest in chatting.

Seeing Guo Haitao talking on the phone, which sounded like he was talking to his girlfriend, Zheng Hui also found a recliner and started playing a mobile game on his phone.

Jiang Lan felt a sense of desolation. She walked onto the deck with her phone in her hand and watched a few people swimming in the sea.

On the other side of the deck, a girl was taking selfies, looking for the best angle with her selfie stick. Another girl called out to her, "Come down, this angle will make the photos look even better. I'll post them on my WeChat Moments and they'll be so jealous."

Jiang Lan's eyes lit up. She took out her phone, turned on the camera, and recorded a video. She took a few photos of scenic spots, then a few selfies, edited them, put together a nine-grid layout, and posted it on her WeChat Moments.

Mustering up my courage, I sent the video to Xiaoming.

Then, pretending not to care, you look at people and scenery.

The message notification sounded, and after enduring it for a few more minutes, he finally couldn't resist taking out his phone to check the messages.

He pinned Xiaoming's profile to the top, but there was no red dot at the top; the area below the pinned profile was full of red dots, so he had absolutely no desire to click on it.

I opened my WeChat Moments again, and there were tons of likes and comments, but she wasn't there.

I had just exited my WeChat Moments when my phone vibrated and I saw a small red dot appear at the top of the screen.

Jiang Lan was so excited that she almost dropped her phone into the sea.

I hurriedly opened the chat window and saw three green bubbles with a thumbs-up emoji.

Jiang Lan quickly typed: [I went out to sea with my friends today, what are you doing?]

A message popped up in the chat box: "The scenery is beautiful, but I'm working overtime. Have fun, we'll chat again when you have time." And then, nothing happened.

Jiang Lan nodded obediently, sat on the recliner with a blank face, and deeply regretted not standing Liu Zhen up today.

Just as Jiang Lan was lying on the recliner, dozing off, she heard the others shouting something. Guo Haitao, who was lying next to her, exclaimed, "Holy crap, the boat capsized!"

Jiang Lan sat up with a start, picked up the binoculars on the table next to her and looked out at the sea. In her line of sight was a large cruise ship. The ship was already tilting. Jiang Lan estimated that the tilting angle was about 30 degrees and it seemed that the tilting was still continuing.

He put down the binoculars and said to Guo Haitao beside him, "Quick, call the coast guard!"

He then yelled at the people swimming in the sea, "Get up here now!"

He immediately ran down from the cockpit. The captain and first mate also noticed the listing vessel: "That ship is listing very quickly. We turned around and approached. The coast guard said they would arrive as soon as possible and asked us to provide some rescue equipment first."

This was within their area of ​​expertise, and Jiang Lan could only stand aside and watch them receive orders from the Coast Guard.

Jiang Lan walked to the side and dialed Li Zhiqiang's number: "I have a cruise ship capsizing here. I have notified the coast guard, but the ship is capsizing very quickly. I am afraid that the coast guard ship will not be able to get there in time. Do you have any emergency measures?"

"You mean... a Rubik's Cube?"