Ruan Si Xian finished buttoning up and turned around. The room’s light generously spilled over her face and hair, making her eyes shine as clear as water.

She smiled with pursed lips and beckoned to the man in front of her, “Do I look good?”

Fu Ming Yu raised his arm, his fingertips brushing past her shoulder badge, sliding to her waist, pulling her tightly into his embrace, and kissing her earlobe.

“That tickles.” Ruan Si Xian turned her face away, “What are you doing?”

“Hmm?” Fu Ming Yu nuzzled her cheek with his chin, “What do you think I want to do?”

Ruan Si Xian rested her chin on his shoulder, taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t see her face, smiling freely, “Don’t you just want to see me in uniform?”

Fu Ming Yu’s hands wandered restlessly around her waist, “Mm, and I also want to see you take off the uniform.”

Once a playful thought emerges, it grows uncontrollably.

But hearing such words whispered in her ear, Ruan Si Xian couldn’t help but blush.

She pushed Fu Ming Yu away, lowered her head, and tucked her hair behind her ears, revealing her red earlobes.

Her fingers pinched the collar of her sleeve, saying softly, “Do you want me to strip for you?”

As she spoke, she began to undo the first button.

Her fingers had barely moved when they were grasped by Fu Ming Yu, pressed against her chest, while his other hand supported the back of her head as he kissed her forcefully.

Perhaps because of the alcohol making her lightheaded, and his lack of gentleness, Ruan Si Xian lost her balance, and both of them fell toward the bed.

The night was silent, with occasional sounds of wind outside.

The ambiguous, intimate atmosphere gradually warmed in the heated room.

Fu Ming Yu propped himself up beside Ruan Si Xian’s head, kissing her tenderly, while her arms had somehow already embraced his neck, repeatedly responding to him with initiative.

He opened his eyes, his gaze hazy and misty, gently sucking on her lips, his voice low and gentle, “Are you always this proactive when you’ve been drinking?”

His fingers brushed by her face, the skin under his fingertips somewhat hot.

Ruan Si Xian lowered her eyelashes, which trembled slightly, “Maybe I’m more proactive during my period.”

“…”

The desire in Fu Ming Yu’s eyes visibly receded, his fingers frozen as if fixed in place, motionless.

He closed his eyes briefly, almost grinding his teeth as he called her name.

“Ruan—Si—Xian!”

Ruan Si Xian’s eyes curved with laughter as she hooked her arms around his neck and forcefully pulled him onto the bed, pressing him down beside her.

She rolled over, lying on her stomach, supporting her chin with her hand as she looked at him, “I already said another day, another day. You’re the one who isn’t acting like a normal person, insisting on ‘why not today instead of choosing a day.’ Is that my fault?”

Fu Ming Yu lay on his side, looking at her with half-closed eyes, reaching out to grasp her chin, “Are you trying to play me to death?”

Ruan Si Xian raised her chin righteously, “Are you even speaking human language? Who opened my wardrobe door and gave me only two choices—put it on myself or have you put it on me?”

Fu Ming Yu closed his eyes, furrowed his brows, took a breath, released her chin, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her against his chest.

Ruan Si Xian, however, wasn’t very obedient. After adjusting to a comfortable position, she said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Mm.” Fu Ming Yu’s hand moved to her waist, responding absentmindedly.

“Today I heard them say that your mother didn’t agree to your brother’s engagement with his girlfriend, and then broke them up… Hey, stop moving your hand, it tickles!” Ruan Si Xian brushed away his hand and continued, “And it made your brother so angry that he went abroad and didn’t come back for over half a year. Is that true?”

“It’s not.” Fu Ming Yu suddenly laughed, and before Ruan Si Xian could ask further, he explained, “It’s true that my mother asked them to break up, but that was because their relationship had problems—they were finding it hard to let go, entangled. She’s someone who advises separation rather than reconciliation.”

Ruan Si Xian was a bit confused by what she heard, “Advises separation rather than reconciliation?”

“Yes.” Fu Ming Yu’s fingers played with Ruan Si Xian’s hair. As he spoke about this matter, there was almost no emotional color in his voice, “She believes that if people are meant to spend a lifetime together, even if they separate for a while, they’ll eventually find their way back to each other. It gives them a chance to reflect. But if they feel more relieved after separating, then there’s no need to return to square one.”

“Oh.”

As Ruan Si Xian was thinking this over, she felt Fu Ming Yu’s hand becoming mischievous again, so she patted his chest, “Don’t move!”

“What about your brother’s girlfriend? Oh no, I mean ex-girlfriend.”

“Not sure.”

“How can you not know?”

Fu Ming Yu glanced at her, “Why should I care so much about my brother’s ex-girlfriend?”

“Fine, then did your mother mind your brother’s ex-girlfriend’s family background or anything like that?”

Fu Ming Yu cupped her chin with his palm, “Why are you thinking about all this?”

Ruan Si Xian looked straight at him, “I’m just asking casually. Can’t I ask?”

“There’s nothing I can’t tell you.” Fu Ming Yu released his hand and calmly said, “She didn’t exactly mind. From the beginning, she didn’t have high hopes for them, but she never interfered until that last time—”

“Okay, I understand.”

Ruan Si Xian lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously playing with the buttons on his shirt, one by one, tickling Fu Ming Yu.

“Ruan Si Xian, if it’s not convenient, don’t provoke me.” Fu Ming Yu suddenly grabbed her hand, “Or are you so tired today that you still want to help me out?”

Ruan Si Xian looked up, pulled her hand away, and hit him, “Is your mind just full of lust?”

She broke free from his embrace and got up from the bed.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

Fu Ming Yu gazed at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and then also got up.

“Are you leaving?”

Ruan Si Xian asked, poking her head out before entering the bathroom.

“Hmm?”

Fu Ming Yu, holding his jacket, turned his head to look at her, smiling ambiguously, “Want me to stay and keep you company?”

Ruan Si Xian leaned against the door, her eyes bright as she looked at him. After a good while, she suddenly said, “The password is my birthday.”

As her words fell, the bathroom door closed at the same time.

Fu Ming Yu looked at the door and chuckled softly.

Nearly an hour later, Ruan Si Xian, wrapped in a bath towel with a hair-drying cap, walked out of the bathroom. As soon as she stepped out, she saw Fu Ming Yu sitting on her sofa, wearing light gray pajamas, a book in his hand.

His posture was as natural as if he were in his own home.

He looked up briefly from his book, “Finished showering?”

“Yes.” Ruan Si Xian grabbed the towel on her chest, pulling it up slightly, while examining Fu Ming Yu, “You’re quite fast.”

Fu Ming Yu put down the book, the curve of his mouth somewhere between a cold smile and teasing.

“You don’t know how fast I can be?”

“…”

Ruan Si Xian closed the door, changed into pajamas, and before entering the bathroom again, she didn’t forget to glare at him.

After drying her hair, she didn’t say anything, but went straight back to the bedroom, crawled under the covers, and turned off the lights.

Outside the window, the moonlight swayed, filtering through the thin curtains into the room.

When Fu Ming Yu came in, he didn’t turn on the light. His footsteps were very light, but Ruan Si Xian seemed to sense his presence, knowing he had entered, and closed her eyes even tighter.

The bed slowly sank on one side.

Fu Ming Yu lay down, facing Ruan Si Xian’s back.

He reached out to hold her waist, his chin resting on the top of her head.

In the darkness, the two whispered.

“Where are you flying next?”

“The day after tomorrow, still to Lin City. Why?”

“What time will you return?”

“If there’s no delay, around six o’clock.”

“Mm, let me know when you arrive. Wait for me that night.”

“…”

Ruan Si Xian uncomfortably turned her neck, grateful that the darkness hid her blush, otherwise, Fu Ming Yu might find another excuse to tease her.

“You don’t have to say it like you’re assigning homework.”

It felt as if Fu Ming Yu was telling her, “That night I’m going to sleep with you, so be prepared.”

Fu Ming Yu closed his eyes behind her head and smiled, “First, I asked you to let me know because the weather might be bad that day, so I want to know you’ve landed safely. Second, asking you to wait for me is because I want to take you out for dinner, to make up for the New Year’s Day holiday.”

His palm pressed against Ruan Si Xian’s abdomen as he slightly raised his upper body to look at her, “What homework are you talking about?”

“…I’ll let you know when I land. Go to sleep, goodnight.”

This year’s Spring Festival came early. After the New Year’s Day holiday, many universities had finished their exams and started their vacations. Jiang City had many out-of-town students who gradually began to return home, causing another small peak in flight traffic.

“Delays every day!”

In the first-class waiting lounge, a man paced anxiously, “They can’t even give a definite time for takeoff!”

Outside, low clouds covered the sky. It was barely six o’clock, yet darker than usual seven or eight o’clock, as if foretelling the arrival of a heavy rain.

Such weather made passengers affected by flight delays even more anxious.

A woman sitting behind was holding a makeup mirror. Though she was also irritated, she wasn’t as agitated as her brother.

“What’s the use of complaining here?”

The woman rolled her eyes, “If you’ve got the guts, go complain in that big building over there, and make them arrange a flight for you right away.”

The man turned back to glare at the woman, “What else can you do besides sitting here making sarcastic remarks?”

These two were among the four people who had been in the smoking area during Yan An’s father’s birthday banquet.

The woman, named Jin Ya, and the man, Jin Xuan, were cousins who had both been in bad moods these past few days, and neither was willing to back down in verbal exchanges.

“How am I as skilled with words as you? If you had controlled your mouth that day and not babbled on, would we have gotten ourselves into so much trouble?”

Jin Xuan put his hands on his hips and laughed coldly, “Me and my mouth? I saw you chiming in pretty smoothly.”

Jin Ya put away her mirror, not bothering to look at him, “If you hadn’t started by discussing someone’s girlfriend, would others have brought it up for no reason?”

Seeing him silent, Jin Ya mocked further, “It’s just because you thought she was pretty, but no matter how pretty she is, she’s not yours. You brought trouble on yourself, and you dragged all of us down with you.”

“Pretty, yes, isn’t that all it is?”

Jin Xuan stiffened his neck, talking while laughing coldly, “Has he seen few beautiful women? The way he protects this one, what does she have besides a pretty face?”

As his words fell, the announcement suddenly sounded, indicating boarding.

Jin Ya, “Alright, let’s go. This is their territory, so stop running your mouth!”

World Airlines Building, 16th floor, Operations Director’s office.

Fu Ming Yu was concentrating on his computer when his brow suddenly twitched, and he turned to look outside.

Outside, a torrential rain had started at some point, with dark clouds and howling winds.

He stood up, walked to the window, and checked his watch, his eyes showing subtle worry.

He returned to his seat, and opened the flight operations status monitor to check the situation as he usually did.

After the page opened, an alarming red message popped up.

Before he could read it clearly, Bai Yang next to him changed his expression, looking at his phone screen, and said, “Mr. Fu, SH29345 has squawked 7700 emergency code, and the ground emergency plan is now being activated.”

Fu Ming Yu seemed disbelieving, turning to look at his computer screen.

After seeing the red text clearly, he suddenly stood up and walked out without even taking his jacket.

Jin Ya and Jin Xuan boarded the shuttle bus, thinking they could board the plane smoothly, but the vehicle stopped halfway and wouldn’t move.

After more than ten minutes, Jin Xuan became agitated again.

Jin Xuan leaned against the window. In the heavy rain, he could only vaguely see the ground crew in raincoats rushing about.

“Damn it!” Jin Xuan pounded on the car door, “Can we even fly today?!”

Seeing him making such a fuss, a female passenger on the bus couldn’t stand it anymore, glared at him, and said disapprovingly, “Haven’t you seen the flight app notification? An aircraft has squawked the 7700 emergency code and is about to land here.”

The driver turned around to add, “All other aircraft in the air are making way, so of course we can’t move either.”

The female passenger stood on tiptoe to look outside, “I wonder if they can land successfully. I heard the captain became incapacitated in flight, and the first officer took over. Plus, there’s strong wind and heavy rain here…”

On the World Airlines crew vehicle heading toward the apron, Bai Yang stood behind Fu Ming Yu, saying gravely, “The tailwind on the main runway is too strong for landing, but the cloud ceiling is too low to switch to the opposite direction. Airport control has directed the use of the southwest-facing secondary runway. The aircraft will need to circle the east bank of Yun Xing Bend, entering from Lin Gun City toward Shi Lan direction, but this way, the aircraft will be fully exposed to the massive influence of crosswinds from the left side.”

Through the curtain of rain, Fu Ming Yu saw ambulances and fire trucks rushing by, heading toward the runway.