The Saint Sti cruise ship
Jiang Xuning leaned against the window, enjoying her rare days of freedom.
“Ah, this little sea breeze feels so refreshing. From now on, it’ll be nothing but good days.”
The moment she finished sighing, she turned her head and saw her aunt, Lin Zhao.
“Why is she here too?! I can’t let her see me.”
Jiang Xuning had tricked her scumbag father and slipped out. She had already successfully transferred the enormous fortune her mother had left her.
She had boarded an overseas cruise ship, while her scumbag father and stepmother back home probably still thought she was competing somewhere in another province.
She had never expected her aunt, Lin Zhao, to be vacationing on this cruise ship too. If Lin Zhao saw her and told her scumbag father, she would be in trouble.
Jiang Xuning couldn’t return to her room. Lin Zhao was standing along the only route back.
She turned and stepped onto the stairs. The top deck was usually off-limits, but today no one stopped her. Jiang Xuning didn’t think too much about it and simply went up.
Jiang Xuning had originally only intended to stay in the corridor for a while, but then she suddenly heard footsteps coming from the staircase.
“No way…”
In her panic, she opened the room beside her and hurried inside.
“Phew…”
Jiang Xuning had only just relaxed when she looked up and tensed again.
Someone was sitting on the sofa.
Loose strands of hair fell over his sharply defined brows. His nose was straight and his lips thin, while his eyes were keen and deep as a pool. Two buttons of his shirt were undone, and the smooth lines of his chest beneath faintly revealed his collarbones.
His expression was detached, the tips of his brows slightly raised. His thin lips parted faintly. He appeared languid and carefree, yet possessed an air of disdain for all beneath the heavens.
“Miss, this appears to be my room.”
At the sound of his voice, Jiang Xuning came back to herself, the tips of her ears turning cherry red.
“I’m sorry. Someone outside is chasing me. Please, could you let me hide here for a while?”
Jiang Xuning clasped her hands together in supplication. Her voice was as soft as though it had been steeped in honey, with a faintly pitiful tremor.
Calisto watched the little girl who had barged in with great interest. His first thought was that she was truly beautiful.
It was a face more than capable of making anyone’s heart flutter.
Her features were so gentle that they were without the slightest flaw, especially those clear, lustrous eyes. Even Calisto couldn’t help but soften when he looked at them.
There was also an indescribable, alluring sweetness about her that stirred the soul.
“All right. Sit wherever you like.”
Tonight’s plan had been to capture a traitor. He had never expected to catch a little kitten instead.
“Thank you! My name is Jiang Xuning. May I ask your name?”
This man was so kind, and he was so handsome too.
Jiang Xuning’s eyes sparkled like a handful of scattered stars had fallen into them, making Calisto’s heart tremble.
Calisto chuckled softly. “You can call me by my Z Country name, Xie Chi.”
“You’re from Z Country too?” Jiang Xuning asked in delighted surprise.
“My mother is.”
“Then that counts for you too. What a coincidence.” Jiang Xuning felt even closer to this Mr. Xie.
In the several months since she had gone abroad, Xie Chi was the first person from Z Country she had encountered.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Anything is fine. Thank you.”
While he went to get the drinks, a subordinate reported the situation to Calisto.
“BOSS, Barliet has been captured. The surveillance footage shows that the young lady did indeed see someone and hurried upstairs. The information we’ve checked so far is clean.”
“Barliet doesn’t need to be kept alive. And I want to know everything about her before dawn.”
“Yes.”
Before long, Calisto returned carrying water and liquor.
“I don’t have any beverages here, only water and alcohol. This liquor isn’t very strong, though. You can try some.”
At the mention of alcohol, Jiang Xuning’s eyes lit up. She had always played the obedient daughter in front of her scumbag father and had never drunk before. She absolutely had to try some today.
“Can I try this liquor?”
A little shouldn’t hurt, right?
Seeing the adorable, expectant look in Jiang Xuning’s eyes, Calisto couldn’t help curving his lips. Then, as though he had thought of something, the smile at the corners of his mouth widened slightly.
The last person who had drunk alcohol poured by him had had their bones reduced to ash.
Jiang Xuning took a sip. “It’s sweet. It’s so good.”
Her eyes brightened even more.
Watching her, Calisto’s hand curled involuntarily, and his gaze deepened.
He suddenly felt like pinching her cheeks.
Before she knew it, Jiang Xuning had downed two or three glasses. Her ears and cheeks had turned bright red.
He hadn’t expected the little girl to have such a low tolerance. Now that he knew, he still didn’t stop her from drinking.
Jiang Xiaojiao seemed to be thoroughly drunk. Her cheeks were flushed, and her gaze had grown somewhat unfocused.
“Miss Jiang, are you all right?”
Looking at the little girl’s adorable, flushed cheeks, he brushed them with his finger.
“I’m not Miss Jiang.”
Jiang Xuning caught the hand beside her face and rubbed her chin against it. With great solemnity, she said, “I’m not Miss Jiang. I’m actually a Maine Coon.”
After saying this, she leaned forward and let out a meow beside Calisto’s ear.
Calisto’s pupils contracted. He hadn’t expected things to develop this way. The gaze he directed at the little person in his arms gradually deepened.
He couldn’t help sighing softly. “Such a well-behaved little kitten.”
“You have to do it like this~”
Jiang Xuning reached out and gently scratched beneath his chin. “You have to do this to a little kitten.”
Calisto was stunned for a moment before he covered his forehead and laughed softly. He had never expected that one day, a drunk little girl would tease him until he was aroused.
The key was that she was doing all of it unconsciously. Of the two of them, he was the only one suffering.
Calisto reached out and scratched beneath Jiang Xuning’s chin. “Like this, Little Kitty?”
“Mhm!”
Jiang Xuning’s expression looked exactly like that of a real kitten enjoying being scratched.
“I’m a little sleepy.” Jiang Xuning lay against his shoulder, her voice soft.
“Then sleep.”
He held Jiang Xuning a little tighter, looking at her with a deep gaze touched by amusement.
This bold girl still had no idea whose arms she was lying in.
It seemed that he had fallen in love at first sight with this little girl who had accidentally barged in.
At first, he had only been somewhat interested. Now, he genuinely wanted to keep this adorable girl—who had tugged at his heartstrings so many times in a single night—by his side.
Jiang Xuning was placed on the bed. As he watched her wrapped in the blanket he had pulled over her, a sense of satisfaction rose in Calisto’s heart.
When she woke tomorrow morning, she ought to carry his scent on her, shouldn’t she?
He would accept this unexpected delight from tonight.
He kissed the back of Jiang Xuning’s hand, as solemnly as though he were performing some sort of ritual.
“Since you’ve barged in, you’re not allowed to leave.”
In the living room, Calisto held the detailed information about Jiang Xuning that his subordinate had just delivered.
His finger rubbed over her photograph.
“What a poor little girl.”
Jiang Xuning had taken her mother’s surname. Her parents had gone from being campus sweethearts to entering marriage together.
The two of them had founded a business together and built an enormous company. But later, Jiang Xuning’s father, Lin Ye, had cheated on her mother.
He thought he had concealed it perfectly, but Jiang Hong knew everything clearly.
She had not thrown a fit or exposed him. In front of Lin Ye, she remained the same virtuous and gentle wife.
But behind his back, she had been making quiet arrangements. The portion that belonged to her, she intended to leave to her daughter. No one else could dream of laying a finger on it.
The hardships of starting a business in the early days had left irreversible damage to Jiang Hong’s health.
She knew that she didn’t have much time left, so before she departed, she had to leave her daughter a safeguard.
After Jiang Hong passed away, Jiang Xuning spent some time successfully transferring the assets before coming abroad.
She had boarded the Saint Sti three days ago. Last night, the person she had hidden from was her aunt in name.
“I don’t want to see that woman on the Saint Sti.”
Poor little kitten. I’ll give her a small welcoming gift first.
“Yes.”
Molu’an accepted the order.
That woman certainly wasn’t the young lady currently sleeping in the BOSS’s bed. It was the one named Lin Zhao.
After finishing the information, Calisto returned to the bedroom. Jiang Xuning was curled into a ball on the bed, her little face flushed as she slept.
He really wanted to sleep beside her and pull her into his arms, but for the sake of their long-term future, he had to endure it.
“It’s all right. We have plenty of time ahead of us.”
“Sweet dreams, baby.”
If anyone saw Calisto as he was now, they would probably be utterly dumbfounded.
Was this really the same living devil who held absolute power, acted decisively and ruthlessly, and could change the global situation with a single word?