Paradise Island (1)
After the Queen Anne left Egypt, its next port of call was the Maldives. This also meant that the cruise ship was about to leave the Mediterranean, pass through the Suez Canal, cross the narrow Red Sea, traverse the Indian Ocean, and sail continuously at sea for more than a week.
Even with modern internet access and abundant entertainment facilities on board, human beings were still creatures of the land. Facing the vast, boundless ocean day and night, it was inevitable that they would feel, to some degree, a faint sense of drifting loneliness and having nowhere to belong.
Of course, this did not include Tan Guhong and Luo Jingming. The uninterrupted days of sailing were simply more time for the two of them to fool around together, day and night. In truth, there was no difference between being above deck and below deck.
Sometimes Tan Guhong would wonder, if she had boarded this around-the-world cruise alone from the very beginning, would this journey have been different? More exciting, more boring, lonelier, or more carefree?
But this was destined to be a question without an answer. There had never been any if onlys in this world. Every twist of fate and coincidence had long since been arranged by heaven.
Today was the final day of sailing through the Red Sea. There was neither wind nor rain, and the sky was clear. Where the sea met the sky, it made one deeply realize that the planet we lived on was blue.
Tan Guhong and Luo Jingming had eaten at the open-air seafood restaurant on the deck. Sitting beneath a parasol, they chatted idly about this and that. All the ingredients at this restaurant came from the stretch of ocean right before them, requiring only simple cooking and retaining an abundance of freshness. On the cruise-ship restaurant chart Tan Guhong had made, it could be given four stars.
It was an extremely boring chart. Over these days, the two of them had more or less eaten at every restaurant on the ship and experienced every leisure and entertainment facility. They had even walked through every corner of the cruise ship and counted exactly 304 decorative paintings in its public areas.
Tan Guhong said to Luo Jingming, “You could say you’ve conducted a firsthand inspection of the service quality of your own cruise ship.”
Luo Jingming said to Tan Guhong, “I’ll consider going back and giving the restaurants you rated five stars better pay and benefits.”
“Why is it called the Red Sea?”
Tan Guhong gazed at the blue-green sea and blue sky before her and asked curiously.
Luo Jingming said, “The name Red Sea comes from ancient Greek. Its true meaning can no longer be determined. Some say it was because of algae, some say coral, and others say rocks and beaches. After all, some shallows near the coast really are red because of their mineral content.”
Tan Guhong thought for a moment. “I couldn’t see any red sea, but I have seen a pink lake.”
“The Retba Lake in Senegal?”
She smiled. “That’s right.”
It was a remarkable lake located in Senegal, in West Africa. Because the lake contained large amounts of extremophiles and had an extremely high salt content, sunlight caused its waters to take on a strawberry-milk pink color, making it exceptionally lovely.
Viewed from above, the pink lake water, white waves, lush oasis, barren Sahara Desert, and the blue Atlantic Ocean separated from it by a strip of golden sand seemed like nature’s most perfect palette.
“Africa is a very remarkable land...” Luo Jingming sighed. “It has the most magnificent scenery, the most primitive cultures, and a long history of isolation from the outside world. Then, without any preparation, it was suddenly struck by modern culture and left at a loss. Its future development is a very difficult question.”
Tan Guhong felt this deeply. “When I was working in Equatorial Guinea, I was in the capital, Malabo. It’s an island, and conditions there were already considered relatively good. But when we looked out from the two-story building where we lived, there wasn’t a single better building in sight. Even that one had been built by the project office itself.”
Everyone carried a smartphone, yet the country’s infrastructure was a complete mess. Primitive backwardness and advanced technology existed side by side, making it an extremely fractured society.
“Were those days in Equatorial Guinea hard for you?”
“They were all right. Actually, it wasn’t that bad, since we ate and lived at the project compound.” She smiled. “It was just that you couldn’t leave the compound casually. Security outside really wasn’t very good.”
Guns were prohibited in Equatorial Guinea, and robberies on the streets were an everyday occurrence. Sometimes even the police would personally join in. Aside from work, the project staff were usually forbidden from going outside, to avoid accidents.
As she said this, Tan Guhong suddenly remembered something. “The cruise ship is leaving the Red Sea tonight and entering the Gulf of Aden, right?”
This also meant they would be entering the waters off Somalia, where pirates were frequently active.
“That’s right.”
“Are there any precautions we need to take?”
Right after everyone had first boarded the ship, the entire ship had already conducted a relevant drill. And during the Captain’s Dinner earlier, the captain had also given a speech concerning pirate defense.
Luo Jingming said, “Actually, pirates mainly target passing cargo ships. The threat to luxury cruise ships is relatively low. More precisely, as far as we know, no pirate has ever successfully hijacked a large luxury cruise ship. But just in case, the Queen Anne is also equipped with basic defensive facilities. Moreover, starting this afternoon, all of the ship’s outdoor panoramic decks will be completely closed. Passengers will be told to reduce unnecessary trips outside. At night, most of the windows and lights on the ship will be turned off, and bright lights inside the cabins will be avoided as much as possible.”
“Reduce the number of targets?” She nodded. “That’s good. Once the ship is pitch-black, it should be perfect for stargazing.”
Unfortunately, Tan Guhong’s expectations came to nothing. The weather did not cooperate that night. Dark clouds covered the entire sky, with neither moon nor stars to be seen.
She stood before the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out at the quiet darkness of the night sky, letting out a soft sigh.
“Do you like stars that much?”
“It’s just a shame. I heard there’s supposed to be a Perseid meteor shower tonight.”
“The Perseid meteor shower isn’t particularly special. It never fails to appear in the summer night sky. Watching it at this time next year will be just as good.”
“But where I’ll be then is hard to say.”
She turned around and looked unhurriedly at the person lingering at the bar in the living room, with no intention of leaving.
“It’s so late. Why haven’t you gone back yet?”
The main lights in the room were not on. Only a small pendant lamp above the bar cast a soft, dim glow. Luo Jingming sat on the barstool and smiled faintly.
“Afraid of the dark? I’ll keep you company.”
By now, the entire cruise ship had entered a state of heightened security. Razor wire had been fastened along both sides of the lower decks closer to the waterline. The Queen Anne, usually ablaze with lights and filled with the sounds of people, was now sailing silently through the vast ocean, like a docile, quiet giant whale.
“I’m not afraid of the dark.”
“All right, then. I am.”
She burst out laughing, knowing that he was only looking for an excuse to stay. “Fine, then. I suppose I’ll have to keep you company.”
The two of them sat at the bar, drinking together by the faint light, and there was even something of the atmosphere of a candlelit dinner. The only difference was that she was drinking alcohol while he was drinking coffee.
“Don’t you worry you won’t be able to sleep if you drink coffee at night?” she asked.
Luo Jingming shook his head. “I’m used to it. I used to stay up all night studying quite often when I was in school. Coffee doesn’t really have any effect on me.”
“When you were in Toronto?” She found this quite surprising. “I never would have guessed. So you were a bookworm after all.”
“Did I never tell you? When I graduated, I received dual degrees, an MBA and an LLM.”
He smiled, set down his coffee cup, and was just about to say something when he suddenly frowned slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing...” He rubbed his temple, his expression quickly returning to normal. He said lightly, “Maybe something I ate at dinner didn’t agree with me. I feel a little dizzy.”
“Food poisoning? I don’t feel anything.”
They had eaten dinner together, and Tan Guhong quickly ran back through everything they had eaten in her mind, but found nothing unusual.
“Everyone’s constitution is different, after all.”
“Can you still manage? I don’t think I have any medicine for this here. Should we go find the doctor on the ship?”
Luo Jingming smiled. “It’s not that serious. I’ll be fine after I rest for a while.”
So Tan Guhong helped him upstairs to the bedroom and let him lie down on the bed.
The light on the second floor was even dimmer. In the faint glow of the bedside lamp, she could see him lying there with his eyes closed, one hand covering his brows and eyes, concealing his expression.
She knew that he had never been willing to show weakness. Even if he really was terribly dizzy and uncomfortable, he would not let her know the slightest bit of it. She could not help feeling somewhat worried.
She went downstairs to the kitchen and took an ice pack from the refrigerator. When she returned, she placed it against his forehead.
“Does this make you feel any better?”
“Mhm, much better.” He gave a soft laugh. “But it’s still a little short.”
As he spoke, he pulled her down to sit beside the bed, shifted his body, and directly rested his head on her lap. Then he caught her hand and placed it on his head, saying in a low voice,
“Rub it for me.”
Tan Guhong was helpless, but she did as he asked, applying gentle pressure to his temples as she muttered,
“Are you really dizzy, or are you pretending?”
If his steps had not actually been a little unsteady when they came upstairs just now, she would almost have thought he had been deceiving her.
“What do you think?”
“I think there’s an eighty percent chance it’s fake...” she teased. “You just found an excuse to stay.”
In the darkness, she heard him give a low laugh. His voice was hoarse and slow as he said,
“Then tell me, if I’m making up an excuse to stay like this, what do you think I want to do?”
“What you want to do, do you really need me to say it?”
He had never concealed his desire for her, yet he had also always known where to stop, restraining and suppressing himself. He made sure she knew perfectly well, while never doing anything too far out of line. Each time, he only tested the waters a little, moving forward step by step, like a frog slowly being boiled in warm water, gradually breaking through her defenses until, without realizing it, she had thrown down her arms and armor and become hopelessly ensnared.
She gave a soft laugh. “Looks like it could be real after all. After all, you’re scheming against other people every waking moment. If you’ve overworked your brain, getting dizzy and seeing stars every now and then is perfectly normal.”
He did not refute her. He merely gave a low response and said softly,
“Maybe.”
After that, the two of them did not speak again. She leaned against the headboard and massaged the acupoints on his head while he lay on her lap with his eyes closed, quietly resting.
Everything around them was dark and still. The only sound was the rhythmic rise and fall of the waves outside the window.
After an unknown length of time, the clouds finally dispersed. The clear, profound night sky revealed itself, and a bright full moon hung high overhead. Seen from the sea, its immense size and perfect roundness were almost beyond compare, as though it were within arm’s reach, close enough to touch simply by reaching out a hand.
Tan Guhong raised her head and stared blankly for a moment before suddenly remembering that today must be the fifteenth day of the lunar month. With the moon bright and the stars sparse, she probably still would not be able to see any stars.
She lowered her head, intending to say something to Luo Jingming, but suddenly discovered that he had opened his eyes as well and was quietly looking at her.
The clear radiance of the moonlight illuminated the side of his face, making his features appear gentle and warm, his countenance soft, his dark eyes gleaming like a sky full of stars.
The two gazed at each other in silence, and for a moment, an indescribable feeling of peaceful years passed between them.
It was as though they had already been together for eight or ten years, weathered countless storms, shared bitterness and sweetness, and then, looking back suddenly, found that the moon in the sky was still the moon of this moment, and the person by their side was still the person before their eyes.
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