After AFK for five years, I returned to be number one in the entire server.

Su Nian received a notification for an event: the Canglu Law Young Scholars Maritime Forum.

The event was hosted by the Canglu Law Research Association, and the speaker was Zhou Yanqing.

He is a true titan in the field of law. It is a big deal for Ningchuan University to be able to invite him to give a lecture once a year, but this time it was a closed-door forum at sea that lasted for a whole day and two nights.

The notice clearly states that boarding will take place at Ningchuan Port at 6 PM on Friday, the ship will depart that night, return to port on Saturday night, and is expected to arrive on Sunday morning.

With limited spots available, the Law School of Ningchuan University has allocated a portion of the places, open to senior undergraduates and graduate students. Applicants are required to submit an article related to "emerging rights".

Su Nian happened to have a course paper that was mostly completed, which she originally intended to submit to the college journal.

Over the next few days, she devoted all her spare time to this paper.

Unsurprisingly, she passed the review.

She then contacted Lin Ye: "Are you free on Saturday?"

Lin Ye's reply came a few minutes later: "What is it?"

"I'm going to attend a maritime forum, it'll last one day and two nights, and I need to find someone to accompany me."

In a completely unfamiliar place, and having to leave port, this was her first time participating in this kind of exchange meeting. Having a player by her side to protect her would certainly make her feel safer.

Lin didn't think much of it and agreed.

Students are allowed to bring others on board for this event, but the organizers will not cover the extra cost, so Su Nian plans to pay for Lin Ye's ticket herself.

Lin had already told Shen Yi that Su Nian was her cousin.

After receiving confirmation from Su Nian, Lin also informed Shen Yi about the matter.

Evening, Ningchuan Port.

Su Nian stood in the square outside the boarding gate, carrying a small dark blue suitcase.

She was wearing a long trench coat over a white top, and her hair was pinned behind her ear with a silver hair clip.

The sea breeze blew in from the direction of the harbor, carrying the unique scent of the ocean and the deep roar of diesel engines.

She glanced down at her phone; the screen displayed a message Lin Ye had sent not long ago: "Arrived."

She looked up and saw Lin Ye walking towards her from the other end of the square. He was wearing a black casual jacket and had a backpack slung over one shoulder.

Su Nian took out two tickets from her trench coat pocket: one was her conference pass, and the other was a regular passenger ticket.

She handed him the regular ticket: "The organizers have arranged for all attendees to be on the eighth floor, while regular passengers are on the sixth floor."

Lin took the ticket, and the two walked side by side toward the boarding gate.

The Jinlan was much larger than Su Nian had imagined. It had a white hull, twelve decks, and neatly arranged round cabin windows on both sides of the ship. The whole ship looked like a tall building lying on its side.

The queue to board the ship was very long, mostly students dragging suitcases. They were chatting in twos and threes, some taking pictures with their phones, and some shouting their classmates' names.

Su Nian and Lin Ye were in the middle of the line. In front of them was a group of international students from Japan, who were discussing a paper published by Zhou Yanqing two years ago in accented Chinese, occasionally blurting out "Ashiba".

The boarding line moved very slowly, advancing only a small section every few minutes.

When it was their turn, the ticket inspector scanned their tickets and let them through.

The gangway was long and gently sloping, with the handrails on both sides feeling cold from the sea breeze.

Su Nian's room was on the eighth floor, near the bow of the ship, so the two went to her room first.

It wasn't a big room; there was a single bed with white sheets, and a small desk and chair by the porthole.

"Let me go check on you."

The layout of the room on the sixth floor was similar to Su Nian's, except that the windows were ordinary squares and there were no forum meeting manuals on the table.

Su Nian glanced at the time: "I have something to do on my end, so I need to go check in first. You can explore the ship on your own, and contact me if you have any questions."

Su Nian turned and left the room.

Lin sat by the bed for a while, then went up to the tenth-floor deck.

The sky had completely darkened, and there was nothing on the sea except for the white waves stirred up by the ship's movement.

Lin walked to the railing and placed his hands on it. In the distance, the lights of Ningchuan had turned into a thin strip of light, embedded at the junction of the sea and the sky, like an ember that was about to go out.

About forty minutes passed.

"one person?"

The sound came from the right.

Lin turned his head. The speaker was a girl, around twenty years old, wearing a long sundress that clung to her body in the sea breeze, outlining her beautiful curves.

Her hair was dyed a very deep, dark burgundy color; at first glance, it looked black.

She was holding a cocktail she had brought from the bar, with a slice of lemon on the rim.

Lin didn't look at her and continued to admire the sea.

"I'm alone too," she said, her tone somewhat ambiguous. "It seems like the law school is having some kind of event on the ship today. I'm from the business school, and I came up here with some friends."

She took a sip of her drink, the lemon slice brushing against her lips. She smiled. "You're from Ningda University too, right? Lin Ye? I often see you in the cafeteria with a pretty girl. Is she your girlfriend?"

The sea breeze blew her tank top down a little, revealing a small patch of skin on her shoulder.

She didn't pull it; instead, she looked up and tidied her wind-blown hair.

These things exposed a small section of skin on the inside of her wrist to the light; it was very white, and you could see the pale blue veins.

"Having a girlfriend isn't a big deal. I have a boyfriend too, but he didn't come. Who knows what happened out here on the high seas?"

She has striking features, with broad eyes and full lips. Her smile has a languid quality and is quite aggressive.

"I live on the fifth floor, 522," she said. "I won't lock the door tonight."

After saying that, she left, her white skirt swaying in the light before disappearing into the cabin door on the other side of the deck.

About ten seconds later, another set of footsteps came from behind.

"You're watching so intently, what's on the sea?"

Su Nian walked to his side, put her hands in her trench coat pockets, and looked at the sea like he did.

"I told you when we went to the movies that you'd never find a girlfriend, but it seems I was wrong. You're quite lucky with women," Su Nian teased.

Lin also glanced at her.

Su Nian ignored Lin Ye's silence and said, "But that girl's level isn't suitable for you. Giving away your room number on the first conversation with a stranger—if you actually go, you'll probably get dumped very quickly."

"You might even catch some weird diseases, so you'll have to be careful when choosing a girlfriend in the future."

Lin looked at her again; she probably hadn't heard what the girl had said earlier.

"I'll tell you a secret, but don't tell anyone else."

"What secret?"

"I have a girlfriend."

Su Nian's hand paused on her hair for a moment, then lowered it.

"She's from the School of Chinese Language and Literature, her name is Shen Yi."