Milady's Fine Gentleman

The guests were having mixed feelings. Soon they will return to their individual realities called life. At The Great Adventurer, they were in a dreamland, where no problems arise. It will surely be a memory of a lifetime.

The Great Adventurer arrived at the anchorage area of Tianjin port at around six in the morning. The guests were expected to disembark around eight in the morning. Soon after, The Great Adventurer was berthed and secured at the pier, and the gangway was let down. One by one, the pa.s.sengers left the cruise s.h.i.+p with smiles on their faces.

After a good one hour, the gangway was pulled up again, the ropes were untied, and The Great Adventurer sailed away with only the crew on board.

The guests had each dispersed at the pier and went to their separate ways. Some stayed at the pier and took more pictures for souvenir. Some ate at the nearby restaurants.

Chen Linyun and Xue Jinxu were among those who stayed behind. They were currently having their breakfast at one of the seaside restaurants.

They were sweet as ever. They fed each other with the bite-sized nosh. Xue Jinxu was wiping the side of Chen Linyun"s mouth with a napkin when they heard shrieks from the outside.

"AAAAHHHH!!!!"

"The cruise s.h.i.+p capsized!"

"Everyone look!"

"Somebody help them!"

"Oh G.o.d! Oh G.o.d!"

People were frantic but could not do anything except to watch the incident unfold, because they were on land, and the s.h.i.+p that capsized was a little far away from the sh.o.r.e.

The s.h.i.+p that had capsized, was none other than The Great Adventurer. Her right side had become the new ground.

Tugboats from the sh.o.r.e had rushed towards The Great Adventurer. They were from the port authorities.

The bystanders, not being able to help, were now trying to capture this emergency incident with their cameras to alert the internet about the incident.

The Chen couple who was oblivious before, had left the restaurant after hurriedly settling their bill. Both of them had bewildered expressions on their faces, eyes almost popping from their sockets. Hand-in-hand they ran towards the pier where most on-lookers were gathered.

Xue Jinxu hurriedly called the PR Head, Director Xiao Ye. "There"s a situation in Tianjin port. One of cruise s.h.i.+ps, The Great Adventurer, capsized! I"m here at the vicinity, control the news! There were a lot of on-lookers, it is broad daylight. There might already be news about it in the internet!"

Director Xiao Ye was still sleepy when he answered the phone. It was a Sat.u.r.day, and he was planning to sleep in. The moment he heard the COO"s critical tone, and the content of her call, all remaining sleepiness had totally vanished in his system. He was on high alert. It was indeed an emergency!

"Yes Big Miss, will alert my team as well. I shall send updates. I"ll be on the move now." He ended the call, and as advised, he steered his own team. This was indeed big news. It might be hard for them to control. If it was only the media concerned, it would be easy, but they were talking about myriads of private citizens which had access to the internet! The scope was simply too big.

Xue Jinxu also gave the Safety Head and the Technical Marine Head their respective calls and had requested for reinforcements and for further investigation on the source.

She was trembling all over. Her hands were shaking, that it was so difficult for her to even find the numbers of the department heads she called earlier in her phone. She felt like throwing up all the food that they had just eaten. However, the crisis was not over yet. She had to hang on.

Lastly she called Miss Yan, her secretary. "Miss Yan. Convene all the department heads this afternoon. We will have an emergency meeting. Agenda is the capsizing of The Great Adventurer. You got it?"

Her secretary acknowledged her instructions. She ended the call after that.

Chen Linyun had been with her, beside her all this time. He could not wait to open his laptop to do all he could to screen the news. He knew that the PR Team was already doing it, but that"s also what he could do to help. Well, there"s one more thing, which only he could probably accomplish – and that is to be the strength of this woman beside him.

He held her waist to steady her. She might collapse any minute. Her tremors were growing worse by the second. She, the COO and princess of the largest s.h.i.+pping company in Beijing, had just witnessed the keeling over of one of their cruise s.h.i.+ps – The Great Adventurer, which she had disembarked from just over an hour ago! She could not believe her eyes at all. After making all the calls, she could not utter any words, she could only cup her mouth with both her hands, her eyes still widened with shock.

Chen Linyun dragged her slowly and carefully out of the pier. They headed towards the port"s office to talk about the incident with the authorities. He did the talking. The officers had estimated that the righting [1] of The Great Adventurer will take at most five to ten hours. Their office had also received update from their radio communication that they have saved almost thirty crew and personnel. Without the guests, the total number that was left on the s.h.i.+p was about a hundred. Therefore there were seventy more people to be rescued.

After a long time of speechlessness, Xu Jinxu asked, "How about the Captain, had he been traced?" Her face was too ghastly pale as if devoid of blood. She"s becoming dizzy too.

Chen Linyun talked some sense into her. "Hey, Jinxu…" He was holding both her hands, and gently squeezing them to make her more relaxed. "Let"s leave first alright? We can get updates through phone." He was extremely worried about her. She had a direct relation towards the incident. It had some personal emotional burden on her. Even while waiting, any update or lack of it thereof would only worsen her condition. She was a healthy person, but the shock had been taking its toll on her. It was slowly showing on her façade.

"Butler Lee will arrive shortly to fetch us." Chen Linyun"s face was crumpled with too much worry, but he could not lose it himself, for the sake of his wife. He squeezed her arm then wrapped her warmly in his embrace. He sighed. The lady had stopped responding to him.

[1] righting is to restore a capsized vessel to upright position