The sun in the Strait of Malacca made the deck hot. Lin Aotian's leather shoes squeaked as they stepped on the rusty gangway. Zhou Mingxuan followed behind in a floral shirt. The sound of his flip-flops hitting his ankles was particularly harsh in the quiet harbor. He was holding a bag of unfinished bubble tea in his hand, and the pearls sank to the bottom of the cup like a string of black tears.
"Aotian," Zhou Mingxuan suddenly spoke, stirring the ice with a straw, "You dragged me from the Zhou board meeting to this broken dock just to see the broken ship that my father sank that year?" He kicked the cable at his feet, startling a few seagulls. "If I had brought Su Qing here earlier, she would definitely be able to take photos of this broken place in an Instagram-style way."
Lin Aotian ignored him and his eyes fell on the rusty hull. The five words "Donghai Mingzhu" were already blurred, but in the corner of the ship's side, he found the same dragon pattern mark as in his mother's logbook. As his fingertips stroked the uneven marks, he suddenly remembered what Su Qing said in the kitchen of the old house last night: "I checked the information. This ship was not carrying goods. It was your mother who smuggled goods from the Donghai clan... freedom." The phone vibrated in his trouser pocket. It was Su Qing's location, showing that she had passed customs. Lin Aotian curled his lips, remembering how she blocked the bedroom door with a suitcase this morning: "Don't try to get rid of me. Zhou Mingxuan said that the durian candy in Malacca is particularly delicious." He wore his old windbreaker over his coral fleece pajamas, like a little animal stealing adult clothes. "Mr. Lin," the port manager said in English with a strong Malay accent, "the ship of your clan has been anchored for three days. According to regulations..." "Let your boss come to see me." Lin Aotian interrupted him and glanced at the jade pendant on his chest - exactly the same as the one Tang Wei's father wore back then. Zhou Mingxuan suddenly leaned in and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "That grandson just called the dock office and said he would contact the Southeast Asian consortium to get you."
The sea breeze suddenly turned strong, and the salty moisture rushed into the collar. Lin Aotian looked at the yacht approaching in the distance. A middle-aged man wearing sunglasses stood on the deck. He was the representative of the consortium that canceled the cooperation three days ago. He suddenly chuckled and took out his mother's logbook from his pocket. The yellowed pages flipped in the wind, revealing the dried freesia flowers sandwiched in it.
"Patriarch Lin is so impressive," the representative of the consortium said as he extended his hand, the ruby cufflinks on his cuffs gleaming faintly, "I heard that you played house in Zhou's Group, and even gave the financial seal to your father-in-law?"
"Compared to your tax game in the Cayman Islands," Lin Aotian held the other's hand and deliberately increased the force, "My nostalgia is not enough." He suddenly let go of his hand and pointed to the wreckage of the "East China Pearl", "Twenty years ago, my mother was on this ship and distributed the shipping rights of the East China Lin Group to eighteen ports in Southeast Asia - including the three you are using now."
The representative's face suddenly changed. Zhou Mingxuan took the opportunity to raise his mobile phone, and on the screen was a surveillance video of the consortium's cargo ship illegally discharging in the Strait of Malacca: "How about sending this to the International Maritime Organization?" He shook the milk tea, "Anyway, I'm too idle recently, so I can learn from Su Qing to shoot some environmental documentaries."
The atmosphere at the port seemed to be thrown into ice. Lin Aotian turned and walked towards the end of the pier. Su Qing's white figure was walking over with two large bags of durian candies. The hem of her windbreaker was lifted by the sea breeze, revealing the coral fleece pajamas she hadn't changed into. He suddenly held his forehead with a headache - he really shouldn't have let her catch the early flight in her pajamas.
"Souvenirs for you!" Su Qing ran over breathlessly and stuffed a bag of durian candy into Zhou Mingxuan's arms, "Don't be so sullen, I met an old lady at the airport, she said that the Dragon King of Malacca is very protective and specializes in beating up bad guys who bully others." She suddenly approached Lin Aotian and whispered: "Actually, I'm afraid that you and Zhou Mingxuan will fight, and no one will help me carry my luggage."
The consortium representative paused on Su Qing's jade bracelet, and suddenly remembered what Tang Wei said: "The only one who can make Lin Aotian show his weakness is the woman with the broken bracelet." He suddenly chuckled and took out a document: "Since Patriarch Lin is so sentimental, why not transfer another 10% of the shares of Malacca Port as a gift to this lady?"
Su Qing's smile suddenly froze. Lin Aotian looked at her hand holding the bag of durian candy tightly, her knuckles turned white due to the force, and suddenly remembered the scene of her breaking the bracelet at the engagement banquet three years ago. He took the document, tore it in half and threw it into the sea: "Your gift should be left to the Dragon King."
The sea breeze lifted Su Qing's hair. She suddenly took out her mobile phone and flipped through a photo: "Do you know what this is?" On the screen was a hand-drawn map from her mother's logbook. Each port was marked with the word "arrogance". "Twenty years ago, when Ms. Lin Xueli gave these ports to her friends, she said a sentence -" She looked at the representative's suddenly frightened face, "'The real trade route is paved with trust, not conspiracy.'"
The representative's sunglasses fell to the ground, revealing the panic in his eyes. Zhou Mingxuan whistled and kicked the rope at his feet: "Why don't you get out of here? Didn't you see that the Dragon King's woman was angry?" He suddenly approached Su Qing and whispered: "But the way you tore the document just now really looked like the tigress who snatched my last piece of cake in college."
As dusk drifted into the port, Su Qing squatted beside the "Donghai Pearl" and traced the blurred dragon pattern with her fingers. Lin Aotian sat beside her, his suit pants covered with rust, but he was too lazy to move. Zhou Mingxuan lay on the deck, making a "V" sign to the sky, with the camera of his mobile phone pointed at the two of them.
"Do you know why I had to come?" Su Qing suddenly spoke, her fingertips running over the broken jade bracelet on his wrist, "Uncle Zhou said that your mother wrote you a letter on this ship that she never sent." She took out a yellowed paper from her pocket, "I found it in the safe of the Zhou family's old house."
The handwriting on the letter was stained by the sea water, but it was still clear: "Aotian, if you see this letter, your mother may be gone. Don't hate your second uncle, he is just afraid of the power of the dragon. Remember, true strength is not crushing, but letting the person you love eat a piece of scallion pancake in your shadow with peace of mind."
Lin Aotian's throat suddenly tightened. Su Qing leaned on his shoulder, the sweetness of the durian candy mixed with the saltiness of the sea breeze, just like the unfinished osmanthus cake she stuffed into him on the day of his mother's funeral. Zhou Mingxuan suddenly sat up, holding up his phone and yelling: "Hey! Can you two stop being so annoying? I'm hungry!" When the three of them sat down at a stall near the dock, Su Qing suddenly pointed at a cargo ship in the distance and laughed: "Look! There's a freesia painted on the bow of that ship, just like the one on my hairpin!" Lin Aotian looked in the direction of her finger, and the faintly visible pattern on the hull was exactly the mark in his mother's logbook.
The phone vibrated, and Chen Mo sent a message: "The Southeast Asian consortium formally apologized and requested to restart cooperation." Lin Aotian chuckled and replied: "Let them learn to respect people first." He looked at Su Qing who was bargaining with the boss. She was holding up a durian candy, trying to get the boss to give her two more skewers of satay.
Zhou Mingxuan suddenly leaned in, his mouth full of satay: "Aotian, you look like a real person now, not a puppet in the family tree." He shook his phone, "I just sent your photos to the family group, the title is "The Dragon King's Daily Love."
The sea breeze brought the noise of the night market, and the stall owner's radio played old Chinese songs. Lin Aotian looked at Su Qing's shining eyes and suddenly realized that the so-called Dragon Royal Business Journey was never a lonely journey. When the dragon scales are stained with the fireworks of the world, when the dragon's roar is mixed with the laughter of the lover, even if you dive into the deep sea, you can hear the sound of flowers blooming.
On the cargo ship late at night, Su Qing fell asleep holding the logbook, with satay sauce still stained on the corners of her mouth. Lin Aotian gently opened the diary and wrote on the last page: "Mom, I finally understand that what you said about 'dragon walking on shallow shoals' is not to bow your head, but to see the road under your feet clearly - the road with Su Qing, Zhou Mingxuan, scallion pancakes and durian candy."
The lighthouse of the port flickered in the distance, like the night light that his mother left for him. Lin Aotian touched the jade bracelet on Su Qing's wrist, and the golden dragon pattern glowed slightly in the night. He suddenly chuckled. It turned out that the real strength is to allow oneself to be imperfect, to allow oneself to fight against the rules of the whole world for a piece of scallion pancake and a smile.