Chapter 360

"Dad, Mom." Luo Quan saw the couple chatting happily with another family on the cruise ship's deck.

"Dad, Aunt Luo." Gao Liang also stepped forward to greet them.

When Luo Quan and the others boarded the ship, a cocktail party was being held on the deck, and many guests chose to come out to soak up the Maldives sun.

"Uncle Eric." Augusta also greeted Eric.

"Long time no see, Augusta." Eric patted Augusta on the shoulder. "I didn't expect you to have grown so tall. You're practically a carbon copy of your father!

By the way, your dad and mom are in cabin 401 on the third floor."

"Alright, I'll go see them right now." Augusta thanked him.

With his son and daughter having arrived, Eric certainly couldn't continue chatting with his drinking buddies, so he turned his head to apologize and led the family down to the third-floor cabins.

As for the others who boarded the ship together, except for Seyfert and Fred, they also went to find their respective parents.

"I'm very good friends with Auben, the owner of this cruise ship. When boarding, I specifically asked him to save me a few rooms that were relatively close together." Eric and Luo Ni stopped at door 316.

"This is our room, and the ten rooms behind this are all vacant. You can pick for yourselves."

"Then I'll take this one." Luo Quan chose room 319, diagonally across from her parents.

"Wait a moment, I'll go in and get the room keys." Eric took a metal room card out of his pants pocket and pressed it against the device on the door.

After entering, he came back out holding seven or eight room cards, handed 319 to his daughter, and gave the remaining cards to the boys: "You choose for yourselves. After settling your luggage, find some fun on the ship... By the way, Gao Liang, did you notify everyone about the banquet attire I asked you to?"

"Ah, this..." Gao Liang's expression changed, and he immediately began to stutter. It was obvious just by looking that he had forgotten.

Eric was speechless: "Look at you, I asked you to handle such a small matter and you still forgot. The birthday banquet is tonight, and everyone must attend in formal wear. Luo Quan can still wear her mother's, but I only have two suits. Where am I supposed to find extra ones for you?"

Gao Liang scratched his head and suggested: "Can we go find Cousin Augusta?"

Fred also said: "I saw quite a few of my dad's friends on the deck just now. I'll go ask if I can borrow a set."

Eric nodded: "That's the only way."

"Daughter, come in and pick one." Luo Ni beckoned to Luo Quan.

After the two women went in, they closed the room door, leaving the few grown men in the hallway staring at each other.

Inside the room, Luo Ni rummaged through the wardrobe, while Luo Quan sat on the chair by the bed: "Mom, when did you and Dad board the ship?"

Luo Ni had her back to Luo Quan: "It's been about a week. Your dad and I have been playing in the Aegean Sea lately. He happened to hear that his friend's cruise ship was nearby, so he wanted to come aboard to play. It just so happened that his friend is about to hold a birthday banquet on the ship, so the two of us stayed."

After saying this, Luo Ni spread three evening gowns on the bed.

"These were all bought by your mother when traveling in France before. Although it was a small tailor shop deep in an alley with no fame, the clothes are truly beautiful, and they are far from being as expensive as luxury brands.

I haven't worn these three pieces, you pick one."

Luo Quan got up and walked over, seeing the three gowns: a red low-cut princess dress, a deep purple tight-fitting dress, and a blue high-slit mermaid dress.

"Mom, you're quite open-minded. You even dare to wear such a deep V-neck?" Luo Quan glanced at the red princess dress and mentally passed on it.

Luo Ni didn't care at all: "What's there not to dare to wear? At the Paris Fashion Show, there are plenty of clothes with even lower necklines than this."

"Let's go with this one." Luo Quan picked up the purple tight-fitting dress and weighed it; it was very light, the fabric was soft and smooth, and the key was that it was conservative.

Although she had taken countless swimsuit photos in the Maldives, each one more revealing than the most exposed evening gown, this didn't mean she could try bold attire for every occasion.

Wear the right clothes for the right occasion. A banquet is different from a beach. As long as it's an evening gown, no one will say you're putting on an act, no matter how conservative it is.

"There are also high heels!" Luo Ni almost forgot to prepare high heels for her daughter and hurriedly turned around to rummage through the wardrobe and pull out two pairs.

The style of the high heels was more casual; it mainly depended on whether they fit.

Luo Quan is currently 175cm tall, while her mother is only 170cm. Generally, taller people have larger feet; she didn't know if they would pinch.

Luo Quan tried them on, and fortunately, there was no discomfort; they fit just right.

Luo Ni put the other clothes back into the wardrobe and said: "You didn't bring cosmetics, did you? Do you want to come here to put on some makeup tonight?"

Luo Quan laughed: "With your daughter's appearance, why would I need that stuff?"

Luo Ni curled her lips: "Look at how smug you are. When you were one or two years old, you were as ugly as a monkey. It was your mother who raised you to be this beautiful."

Even though it was her own daughter, Luo Ni's tone at this moment was still a bit sour.

Luo Quan hurriedly comforted her: "Yes, yes, I inherited it from you. No matter how beautiful I am, I can't be more beautiful than you."

Luo Ni's mouth turned up: "That's more like it."

After getting the clothes, Luo Quan returned to her room to settle her luggage.

The cruise ship's cabin wasn't very large, but the decor was pleasing to the eye. On the outside of the room, one could see a small circular window, and outside was the sea level rapidly receding backward.

Unlike the turquoise water on the shores of the Maldives, the seawater Luo Quan saw at this moment was deep blue, appearing even more quiet and mysterious. This heavy color blocked all exploration by the naked eye; no one knew what kind of things were hidden beneath this monotonous sea level.

Perhaps that's how thalassophobia comes about, Luo Quan thought to herself.

She didn't have thalassophobia, nor did she have any experience of drowning, but seeing this bottomless ocean made her feel uneasy.

After watching for a while, Luo Quan pulled the curtains, took a few pieces of clothing out of her suitcase, and put them in the wardrobe.

This cruise ship doesn't pass through China, so she would stay on the ship for at most three days before leaving.

After tidying up, Luo Quan lay back on the bed and started being a "salted fish" again.

She had been running around everywhere in the Maldives these past few days and basically hadn't taken a nap at noon. Now that she finally had some free time, it was time to make up for what she had missed.

After playing on her phone for half an hour, Gao Liang and the others didn't come to knock on the door, and she didn't know where they had gone to play. Luo Quan set an alarm and then fell asleep.

When she woke up again, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon.

Luo Quan rubbed her eyes and went to the bathroom to wash her face.

Looking at herself in the mirror, her skin tone didn't seem to have changed much from before.

The girls who went to the Maldives with her these past few days, although they all applied sunscreen before going out, their skin tones had changed more or less after a few days. It seemed only she couldn't see any problems.

"As expected of the 'thick skin' gifted by the system." Luo Quan grabbed her own cheeks. Even though they felt smooth and soft, the system said her face was hard enough to withstand sandstorms, which was simply unscientific.

But then again, the system itself is unscientific.

"Knock, knock, knock!" A knocking sound came from outside.

"Daughter, get ready to change clothes, the banquet is about to start."

It was her mother's voice. Luo Quan poked her head out of the bathroom and shouted outside: "Okay, right away!"

"It's time to harvest young men's hearts again." Luo Quan reached out and brushed her hair back, took off the T-shirt and jeans she was wearing, and changed her underwear into a black tube top and leggings.

Although what she said sounded like a bad woman about to start attracting bees and butterflies, the previous banquets had indeed left many young men lovesick and unable to eat or sleep.

But attracting so much attention really wasn't her intention. She had been low-key enough, trying her best to hide in the corner every time she attended such occasions, but her radiance was simply too strong to be covered up no matter where she went.

After changing into the evening gown, Luo Quan took a small white leather bag out of her suitcase.

She bought this at a souvenir shop on Jita Island. Usually, when she buys bags, they are backpacks; she had never bought this kind of small women's handbag before.

However, she had attended so many occasions in evening gowns before, and because she didn't have this kind of bag, she was holding a mobile phone in her hand every time she appeared on camera, which looked very awkward.

This time, while shopping at the souvenir shop with Wen Xia and the others, she saw this exquisitely shaped handbag and bought one out of necessity.

But while this bag was beautiful, it was a bit expensive. A "three-no" product (no trademark, no quality inspection) cost her 1,200 yuan. If Wen Xia and the others hadn't told her not to be so stingy, she would have been ready to buy one on Taobao back home.

Speaking of which, was she being stingy? It was clearly being industrious and thrifty! Those spendthrift women were willing to spend 300 dollars on a plain seashell necklace. She could pick up a basket of these on the beach of Jita Island in one afternoon!

After complaining about her wasteful friends, Luo Quan put her phone and room card into the handbag.

She looked in the mirror before going out and felt that she had more temperament than when she was holding a mobile phone before.

Speaking of which, since she started practicing yoga, her physique had improved quite a bit.

When she was still a "salted fish" before, she was lazy all day long. Although she didn't have a hunched back, she always looked loose and sloppy overall, which was one of the reasons why the media said her temperament was like a village girl.

However, after practicing yoga for a period of time, her spirit and energy had improved a lot, and the most significant feature was that her physique was more graceful than before.

In other words, she was more feminine than before.

Luo Quan suddenly shivered when she thought of this term.

This appearance was basically enough; there was no need to continue further, lest she really become a bad woman.

Opening the door, Luo Quan happened to bump into Gao Liang and the others. The three brothers were in crisp suits, but they were all adjusting parts of their suits; it seemed they weren't truly a good fit.

"Yo, where did you borrow the clothes from?" Luo Quan asked with a smile.

"Asked Butler Rodel for them. They look good, but they don't fit." Gao Liang said with a bitter face, tugging at his sleeves.

Seyfert pried at his collar: "It's more than just not fitting; I feel like I'm going to be strangled to death by this suit!"

Luo Quan mocked: "You guys were bragging about how good your figures were before. Look at Fred, why isn't he having as much trouble as you guys?"

The latter puffed out his chest with a calm expression.

Gao Liang sneered: "Look at him, can he even speak?"

Luo Quan looked at Fred suspiciously. The latter maintained his original posture, but his complexion seemed to be deeper than before.

Seyfert raised his finger and poked Fred in the ribs.

Fred immediately lost control, and his uncontrolled abdomen immediately bulged out.

"Ah, the waist of this suit is too tight!" Fred gasped for air; it turned out he had been sucking in his stomach and holding his breath the whole time.

Luo Quan had black lines on her face; she was truly defeated by these three clowns:

"Are you saying you spent the whole afternoon just borrowing clothes? Didn't you know to ask Butler Rodel to alter them for you?"

Gao Liang shook his head: "We just borrowed the clothes, where would we have time to alter them?"

Luo Quan was surprised: "Then what did you do all afternoon?"

Fred was helpless: "We were originally going to the deck to borrow clothes, but when we were wandering around the ship, we happened to pass by the casino Rodel mentioned. Seyfert insisted on going in to play a couple of hands, and then we went in.

Gao Liang and I got some chips and played around, neither winning nor losing. As for Seyfert..."

"And then?" Luo Quan laughed, basically having already guessed the ending.

Seyfert confessed voluntarily: "I had already won over a million in chips, and I wanted to press my luck and win big before stopping. As a result, my luck was bad, and I lost all the chips I had won in one go.

I couldn't swallow my anger, so I exchanged another million in chips, intending to win back my capital, but I lost again..."

Gao Liang shook his head helplessly: "If we hadn't dragged him away, he probably would have lost even more."

"Win back your capital?" Luo Quan was stunned, "The 100,000 in chips you got were a gift from the host, where did you get the capital?"

Seyfert was very embarrassed at this moment: "I was just desperate because I lost. At the time, I couldn't think about much; I just wanted to win back everything I had lost. Who knew this thing was a bottomless pit?

But I've basically figured out the techniques of those few people. After the banquet ends tonight, I'll definitely be able to win back my capital!"

"You're going back again!" Luo Quan wanted to scold him, "How many millions do you have to lose? Those are all billionaires with billions in assets. Losing a million is just a drop in the bucket for them. What is this million of yours? How much is your annual salary?"

Seyfert smiled shyly: "This million was my pocket money for a week in the past."

Luo Quan was speechless for a moment. In her anxiety, she forgot that the net worth of these three might be even more impressive than ordinary billionaires, and they all had even richer fathers. Losing a million really didn't count for much.

Even if they really lost 100 million, at most, their old man would pay the bill and then scold them a couple of times.

After analyzing the specific situation, it suddenly didn't seem so serious anymore.

"I forgot you guys are rich kids. Consider me meddling." Luo Quan waved her hand, too lazy to persuade them with words like "cherish life, stay away from gambling."