“President Fu, the dispatch department just called. Some flights on the North Polar route have been urgently canceled tomorrow and they need…” Bai Yang walked in with his phone, steps hurried. By the time he stood behind Fu Mingyu, he realized the atmosphere was a bit strange, and his voice naturally lowered, “They need your signature to confirm…”

“Ruan Sixian, what do you mean?” Fu Mingyu seemed not to have heard Bai Yang’s words. He stared directly at Ruan Sixian, the long-held suspicion in his heart now confirmed, as if the answer was about to emerge, just waiting for the person in front of him to speak.

“What do you mean, what do I mean? What do you mean? What do you mean by saying I’m more interested in you? Who do you think you are?”

Ruan Sixian believed that when she said this tongue twister, her gaze was sharp and her expression cold, truly achieving disdain mixed with indifference, striking at Fu Mingyu’s pain point at the most fundamental level, and successfully igniting his anger.

Sure enough, Fu Mingyu’s gaze turned cold.

Bai Yang touched his neck, feeling the surrounding temperature instantly drop by about ten degrees.

Yan An, however, poked his head in with a questioning tone, interrupting between the two.

“What’s going on?”

How embarrassing.

Ruan Sixian felt that both she and Fu Mingyu were quite embarrassing.

“Nothing.” Tilting her head slightly, Ruan Sixian maintained her dignity, only rolling her eyes halfway, and turned to leave first.

“Let’s go, President Yan.”

“Ruan Sixian, come back here.”

The extremely cold voice laced with anger came from behind her, causing even Yan An’s footsteps to falter.

But Ruan Sixian acted as if she hadn’t heard and quickened her pace toward Yan An’s car.

Yan An’s gaze moved between Ruan Sixian’s back and Fu Mingyu’s face. After a moment’s thought, he chose to follow her.

He didn’t continue asking about the previous topic, nor did he probe Ruan Sixian’s expression, but directly opened the car door for her—this was Yan An’s practiced way of handling things.

After Ruan Sixian got in the car, she looked at Fu Mingyu through the gap beside Yan An’s body.

And completed the other half of her eye roll.

The moment their gazes connected, her curiosity surged back, and Bai Yang’s voice instantly faded in her ears.

Complex, dense memories tumbled back and forth in her mind. Some subtle recollections were emerging, but never revealed their complete form, finally stopping abruptly as she forcefully closed the door.

The morning breeze came through the leaves and into the hall, carrying a fresh post-rain scent, but Fu Mingyu felt extremely irritated. He loosened his tie and quickened his pace.

Even though Bai Yang wasn’t fully informed, he could sense that Ruan Sixian’s attitude just now was inappropriate. After thinking, he said softly, “What’s wrong with Miss Ruan? Is that how you treat a superior…”

Fu Mingyu turned to look at him, his gaze alternating between clear and obscure, his lips curling into a completely cold smile.

He’s very angry, Bai Yang felt that this time Fu Mingyu was truly furious.

After all, not everyone can show unlimited tolerance to a woman again and again.

In the car, Ruan Sixian sat upright, looking straight ahead, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t aware of Yan An’s frequent glances.

“What is it?”

Yan An made a fist and pressed it against his mouth, unable to hide his smile. “Although I don’t know what grudge you have against Fu Mingyu, it’s the first time I’ve personally seen someone give him an attitude, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.”

There was a hint of probing in Yan An’s words, but without being explicitly expressed, giving Ruan Sixian room to choose how to respond.

She naturally threw the question back.

“What grudge do you have against him?”

This person seems to make enemies everywhere.

Yan An coughed, saying vaguely, “We’re competitors, aren’t we?”

Ruan Sixian didn’t believe this. The two airlines were originally one family that split up, and even now they maintain a non-zero-sum game model, competing and cooperating to achieve mutual benefits. Everyone knew that the chairman of World Airlines and the chairman of North Airlines occasionally got together to play golf and brew kung fu tea, and even second-generation executives like Fu Mingyu and Yan An grew up together.

But Ruan Sixian didn’t believe it, and Yan An was too embarrassed to tell the truth.

Since childhood, he and Fu Mingyu never got along. He had always aspired to be a rich second-generation worthy of being written into moral education textbooks as a negative example, hanging around aimlessly all day, but due to family discipline, he never dared to do anything too outrageous, which made him feel he hardly deserved the title of “prodigal” given by his teachers.

But Fu Mingyu and his group had a completely different style from theirs, clearly distinguished.

Not that he was particularly well-behaved either—he had broken plenty of middle school rules. Whether it was his face being too deceptive or his excellent end-of-term grades, teachers always cherished him dearly. Even when he drove a sports car wearing his school uniform during winter break in his senior year and hit someone else’s car, which was photographed and reported to the school, the teacher suppressed the matter before the parents even got involved.

Of course, in Yan An’s eyes, this wasn’t a big deal. What he had always held a grudge about was that the goddess he had secretly loved for two years but never dared to approach took the initiative to get to know him, became friends for a month, and even specially invited him to her birthday party, bewitching him completely, only to end with, “Can you also bring Fu Mingyu along?”

This was too embarrassing to talk about, but Yan An had truly resented Fu Mingyu for almost ten years.

But today, he, Yan An, had his moment of triumph. Ruan Sixian had truly given him face.

Thinking of this, Yan An felt his goodwill toward Ruan Sixian increase. Looking at the uniform she wore, he sighed, “Ah, let’s not talk about Fu Mingyu. When I think about you not coming to North Airlines, I still feel regretful, but I’m a generous person and certainly hope you’ll have a bright future wherever you are.”

Ruan Sixian touched her epaulet and smiled, “Thank you.”

“What’s there to thank? When you get to the airport, there’s a surprise waiting.”

“What?”

“You’ll know soon.”

While the atmosphere in the car was harmonious, someone else was also in high spirits at the World Airlines cabin crew department.

Jiang Ziyue pulled her flight case hurriedly toward the meeting room. Her black leather flats made no loud sound on the clean floor, but this didn’t diminish her aura at all.

She quickened her pace, the smile on her face becoming more and more obvious.

Ni Tong met her halfway and walked over with a smile to greet her, “Master! Good morning, you look beautiful today.”

Jiang Ziyue stopped, her hands folded over the handle of her flight case, feet naturally in a T-stance.

“You seem free. Haven’t boarded yet?”

“The coordination meeting hasn’t started yet.” Ni Tong blinked, “You’re in such a good state today, the reporters’ cameras will all be focused on you. Remember to show more of your left side—that’s where your dimple is, it looks better.”

Having received this flattery, Jiang Ziyue said they’d talk later and strode into the elevator with her flight case.

Five flight attendants were already seated in the meeting room, each one meticulously selected with dignified features and tall figures, creating a pleasing impression even as they chatted together.

Someone saw Jiang Ziyue come in and greeted her, though not particularly warmly.

After all, the cabin crew department had so many employees, and Jiang Ziyue had just transferred from international routes to domestic routes, so she wasn’t familiar with most of the flight attendants here.

Moreover, these flight attendants had just been discussing a topic related to her—not bad things, but not exactly good things either, so they naturally fell silent.

Originally, today’s chief purser wasn’t supposed to be Jiang Ziyue, but an experienced senior purser from the domestic routes.

Jiang Ziyue herself had misunderstood this. She had only seen a corner of the candidate list at Wang Lekang’s office but mistakenly thought it had been finalized. She returned happily from Spain, checked the backend, didn’t see the ACJ31 inaugural flight assignment, and then made some indirect inquiries, only to find out that she hadn’t been selected in the end.

Although the disappointment was caused by her misunderstanding, she had already told close friends about it. Now, giving herself a mental slap, she felt resentful and had gathered a few girlfriends to vent last night.

Unexpectedly, upon returning home, she received a call from Wang Lekang saying that the originally scheduled chief purser had an acute appendicitis attack, and she was to take over.

At that moment, Jiang Ziyue had a feeling that what was meant to be hers would never escape, and even a sense that something stolen from her had been reclaimed. She immediately got up from bed and applied a wintersweet face mask.

What they were discussing in the meeting room just now was exactly this—how incredibly lucky Jiang Ziyue was.

Being a flight attendant looked like a decent profession, but how much of the bitterness inside did outsiders know? High-altitude radiation, noise impact, none of it was easy.

Career advancement was also limited, sometimes making it impossible to see a long-term plan. And being in the service industry meant constantly taking abuse. How many people had their temperaments ground down yet still couldn’t show the slightest impatience toward passengers?

So tasks like the inaugural flight of a new aircraft model, with media coverage and commemorative significance, cameras focused on taking photos for the news, were regarded as one of the few highlights in a professional career.

Suddenly having someone else snatch this opportunity, the others couldn’t exactly say they were bitter, but they silently felt sorry for the senior purser who had been originally scheduled.

Jiang Ziyue had somewhat sensed everyone’s mood but didn’t mind. She sat down openly and frankly, asking, “Have the captain and others arrived yet?”

Someone replied, “Not yet, but they should be here soon.”

Jiang Ziyue nodded and took out the passenger list.

This flight assignment was exceptional, and not all seats were open to the public. A large portion of passengers were invited to experience it, including some traditional media personnel, some internet self-media operators, and Fu Mingyu was among them.

According to the cabin crew department, he wasn’t deliberately taking this flight; he just happened to be going to Lin City on business today, and the timing matched.

Jiang Ziyue checked the passenger list again, then pulled out the flight crew list and cabin crew list.

The phone call last night came urgently, and she was busy applying a face mask, so she had only carefully examined the passenger names. She hadn’t had time to look at the flight crew and cabin crew lists.

As her gaze just touched the information column, she already heard discussions continuing: “Huh? That female pilot is on our flight? Wasn’t she supposed to be assigned to follow a foreign captain?”

“You just found out? I knew last night, even before the follow-up list came out.”

Jiang Ziyue’s gaze paused slightly. Looking down, she only saw “Fan Mingzhi” and “Yu Yangshuo” in the crew list, both male names.

“What female pilot?”

“Haven’t you downloaded it?” a flight attendant said. “The follow-up list was updated this morning. That new female pilot is on our flight.”

As the other person pushed the list over, the discussions continued in her ears.

“This name sounds familiar…”

“I haven’t heard of her.”

“Why do I feel like I’ve heard of her?”

The voices gradually diminished with the footsteps outside. The meeting room door was pushed open, and three people in white uniforms with black epaulets appeared.

A deep male voice sounded: “Is everyone here?”

Jiang Ziyue looked toward the voice and, beside the two men, saw the person she had just met last night.

“…”

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

The silence from the other flight attendants was because they saw a female pilot whose beauty exceeded their imagination tenfold, leaving them both amazed and, as young women, filled with admiration and envy.

But another person’s silence was because she had fallen into a tremendous inner struggle.

She was at the bar last night…

How could she…

In her daze, Jiang Ziyue saw Ruan Sixian’s eyes meet hers.

In that instant, Jiang Ziyue felt as if she knew everything.

Jiang Ziyue’s face suddenly flushed red, the heat rushing straight to her brain. The hand on the table secretly curled up, her nails pinching her palm not too hard, the slight pain just enough to suppress the buzzing in her head.

She had never imagined that Ruan Sixian would appear at World Airlines, so the moment she saw her, she had already mentally pinned herself to the chopping board, as if Ruan Sixian might come over to question her at any moment.

Everyone stood up to greet them. Captain Fan waved his hand, “Everyone, please don’t be so formal, sit down.”

It was only then that Jiang Ziyue came to her senses. She wanted to stand up but saw that everyone had already sat down.

She saw Ruan Sixian take her seat, smiling, nodding at her as if to say, “Long time no see.”

What was there to say about a long time no see…

Jiang Ziyue recalled the WeChat message from last night, feeling that Ruan Sixian’s “there will be plenty of opportunities in the future” seemed to have a deeper meaning.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ziyue couldn’t even raise her head to meet Ruan Sixian’s gaze.

Ruan Sixian had no other intention; she just felt it would be strange to suddenly catch up in this setting.

Fan Mingzhi flipped through the route map a couple of times and stood up, saying, “Let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Captain Fan Mingzhi for this flight.”

Yu Yangshuo beside him continued, “I’m the First Officer Yu Yangshuo for this flight.”

As his words fell, all five flight attendants across from him fixed their gazes on Ruan Sixian.

She stood up, cleared her throat, “I’m Trainee First Officer Ruan Sixian for this flight.”

After speaking, she glanced at the five flight attendants across: “Is there something on my face?”

The one sitting at the front suppressed a smile: “No, we’re just admiring how beautiful you are.”

This comment lightened the atmosphere of the entire meeting room, with only Jiang Ziyue seeming to remain disconnected from the group.

Ruan Sixian looked over a few times, and whenever their eyes met, she would uncomfortably turn away.

What else was there to say? This expression had confirmed Ruan Sixian’s suspicions.

How boring.

Ruan Sixian leaned back in her chair, when the captain suddenly called her: “Do you have any questions?”

“Hmm?” Ruan Sixian immediately sat up straight, “I don’t.”

“Good, then let me just mention a few points to note.” The captain held a list and said word by word, “First, there will be media coverage today, so passengers will board twenty minutes early. Second, there may be turbulence one hour and five minutes after takeoff, so be prepared to give warnings. Also, if there are emergencies like a fire, report to the cockpit immediately.”

After speaking, he looked at Jiang Ziyue, but she didn’t respond.

Ruan Sixian tapped the table with her pen, “Chief Purser?”

Jiang Ziyue suddenly came to and opened her mouth, but faced with Ruan Sixian’s gaze, she couldn’t speak for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” the captain asked. “Is there a problem?”

“No, no.” Jiang Ziyue immediately stood up, inhaled, pulled in her stomach, and said, “I just have two points. One is the hot and cold water ratio should be 3:7, pay attention to the temperature to prevent passengers from scalding. The other is to monitor passengers changing seats randomly to avoid imbalance in the aircraft’s load.”

“Good, what about you?” The captain turned to ask Ruan Sixian and Yu Yangshuo.

Yu Yangshuo shook his head. Ruan Sixian twirled her pen, tilted her head, and said, “I’ll add something off-topic.”

Everyone in the meeting room looked at her, especially those flight attendants, smiling as brightly as flowers.

“Today’s situation is special with media coverage, so everyone should be careful with their words.” Ruan Sixian looked over at Jiang Ziyue. “If you don’t know what to say, it’s best to remain silent, understand?”

Jiang Ziyue just looked at Ruan Sixian, her palms hot, but still displaying a professional smile.

“Yes, understood.”

“Good.” The captain stood up. “Let’s go.”

Everyone rose efficiently. Ruan Sixian followed behind the captain, with several flight attendants coming over to chat with her. Ruan Sixian responded with a sentence, then turned to see Jiang Ziyue walking at the very back.

Ruan Sixian fell back a step and tilted her head to look at her. “Sister Jiang?”

Jiang Ziyue stopped in response, maintaining a two-meter distance from Ruan Sixian. “What?”

Just as Ruan Sixian was about to say something, a small exclamation rose from the front. She looked up to see a man in a suit carrying a large bouquet of fiery red roses striding toward them.

The red blooms, estimated at over a hundred roses, covered half the man’s body and naturally attracted everyone’s attention in the area.

The man walked directly toward Ruan Sixian under their watchful eyes.

“Miss Ruan, your flowers.”

Receiving such a bouquet so suddenly, Ruan Sixian took a moment to react, finally remembering the “surprise” Yan An had mentioned in the car earlier.

This was indeed quite a surprise.

Ruan Sixian smiled stiffly, accepted the flowers, and found the card inside. Sure enough, it was from Yan An, wishing her a successful first flight.

“Thank you.”

The man was a World Airlines front desk receptionist and left after delivering the flowers.

Holding such a bouquet, under the envious gazes of everyone, Ruan Sixian wasn’t sure what to do.

She couldn’t take the flowers onto the plane.

As she was looking around for a place to deal with the flowers, the door of the International Conference Room of the Flight Department across opened from inside. Two women in professional attire pushed the doors and stood outside. Fu Mingyu walked out briskly, followed by Bai Yang and over a dozen meeting participants.

The group looked solemn, with two or three middle-level managers upset, giving the impression they had been reprimanded in the meeting.

That serious atmosphere infected Ruan Sixian’s side, and the flight attendants behind her also fell silent.

When Fu Mingyu’s gaze swept over, they pulled their flight cases and silently detoured, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.

Half of Ruan Sixian’s face was blocked by the flowers, with only her eyes staring directly at Fu Mingyu.

The surroundings were as silent as if someone had pressed a mute button.

Thus, Fu Mingyu’s footsteps were strangely amplified. He walked step by step toward Ruan Sixian, and stood in front of her, his eyes lowering to scan the bouquet of roses, the corners of his mouth curling into a slight arc.

That curve made Ruan Sixian feel particularly irritated.

What’s wrong with me receiving a bouquet? Wherever I, Ruan Sixian, go, I’m loved by everyone, even CEOs fall for me. Why are you standing there with that sarcastic smile?

I haven’t even settled the score for what you said this morning, and now you’re giving me a cold smirk?

“Do you need something?”

Ruan Sixian asked.

Fu Mingyu, as if finding the bouquet an eyesore, pushed it aside to reveal Ruan Sixian’s entire face.

“After returning from the flight, you’d better explain to me what you meant by your words this morning.”

Ruan Sixian looked into his eyes, seemingly seeing a look that said, “If you can’t give me a proper explanation, you’re finished.”

What?

So, big boss, you want me to review the mess you created yourself?

Ruan Sixian also mimicked his expression, curling her lips. “Who knows when we’ll return? Weather is unpredictable.”

Fu Mingyu, accustomed to giving orders rather than negotiating, clearly didn’t have time for an extended conversation. Before boarding, he still had a large batch of MEL\CDL item lists awaiting his review.

“I can wait for you.”

He turned to leave but heard a sentence from behind.

“Then you might need to borrow another five hundred years from heaven.”

“…”

The air in the corridor seemed instantly depleted of oxygen. Even Jiang Ziyue, who had been silently eavesdropping, quietly retreated to a corner.

This time, Fu Mingyu turned back to look at Ruan Sixian, his eyes narrowing.

There was nothing left to guess. Ruan Sixian harbored hostility toward him, or rather, deep malice.

He pressed his tongue against his lower jaw, smiled, and nodded, then walked forward.

This expression made Bai Yang interpret it as saying, “If I let you run wild this time, I might as well have not taken so many shares in this company.”

Silently lighting a candle in his heart for Ruan Sixian, Bai Yang followed Fu Mingyu and said softly, “We’ve just had HR pull Ruan Sixian’s resume, but her experience only goes back to her career at Commercial Aircraft. I’ve already contacted Commercial Aircraft, but since it’s considered private, we need to negotiate a bit. They’ll send over her resume in half an hour.”

The person beside him didn’t even offer a cold smile.

In his heart, Bai Yang had already dug a grave for Ruan Sixian.

She was too confrontational. Not just with Fu Mingyu—even if it were him, he would put someone who repeatedly challenged his temper on a death list.

He glanced at Fu Mingyu’s profile; his gloomy expression was even worse than during the meeting earlier.

In his year and a half here, Bai Yang had never seen Fu Mingyu so angry.

Half an hour later, the meeting at the Maintenance Department concluded. The dedicated crew vehicle was already waiting downstairs to take Fu Mingyu, Bai Yang, and two assistants to the terminal.

In the car, Bai Yang handed over the resume he had just received.

He looked it over first, and when he turned to the second page, his heart skipped a beat, filled with confusion.

But this wasn’t his problem to solve. After pondering, he said, “President Fu, Ruan Sixian…”

Before Bai Yang could finish, Fu Mingyu took the resume, impatiently opened the first page, and scanned it briefly, his expression unchanged.

Until he reached the second page under “Previous Professional Experience,” his gaze paused.

The car stopped immediately. Bai Yang spoke again: “President Fu, shall we board first?”

Fu Mingyu slowly moved his gaze from “World Airlines Jiangcheng Headquarters Cabin Crew Department Four” and looked up toward the jetway.

Behind the transparent plastic walls, three uniformed figures at the cabin entrance were faintly visible.

Three years ago…

Fu Mingyu strode toward the jetway and instructed Bai Yang to call his former secretary, who was now in North Africa.

Some clues were gradually emerging in his mind, but they seemed too dramatic, and Fu Mingyu couldn’t be certain.

By the time the call connected to North Africa, Fu Mingyu had already entered the jetway.

In less than twenty meters, Ruan Sixian stood beside the captain, standing straight, smiling, her gaze slowly moving to him.

Fu Mingyu heard his former secretary’s voice.

“Ruan Sixian? I remember her. I have a deep impression of her.”

“She appeared several times three years ago when we went to London to acquire W.T. Airport.”

“She delivered coffee a few times. Do you remember?”

Fu Mingyu suddenly looked up, his footsteps continuing, but his gaze carrying a hint of realization.

The voice in his ear continued.

“Later, she also appeared at Alvin’s private yacht party. Didn’t you give her a room card then?”

“She resigned the day after that. I mentioned it to you.”

“As for other things… the only thing I remember is that before I was transferred to North Africa, I was organizing your work emails and found that Ruan Sixian had sent you more than ten emails during that period, all about the Flying Plan.”

“I saw she was so sincere, so I pulled up her information. That year, she had already passed the Flying Plan assessment and was the best candidate at the time.”

As the former secretary explained, Fu Mingyu had gradually walked to within less than two meters of the cabin entrance.

“It wasn’t a big deal originally, and I never mentioned it again, but I felt at the time that perhaps not just you, President Fu, but even I had misunderstood that girl.”

“Perhaps she had no other intentions; she simply wanted to be a pilot.”

As the words fell, Fu Mingyu was standing in front of Ruan Sixian.

There was less than half a step between them.

Fu Mingyu seemed to hear the wind blowing in his ears, carrying away the captain’s greeting, leaving only one person in his sight.

She stood tall, her uniform impeccable, the two epaulets on her shoulders particularly eye-catching.

She curled her lips, smiling brightly: “President Fu, welcome aboard. Trainee First Officer Ruan Sixian at your service for this flight.”

After a long moment, a strange atmosphere floated in the air.

Ruan Sixian looked up to see Fu Mingyu opening his mouth.

“…Oh.”