That evening, Xu Sui was busy taking care of Li Yang until midnight. Only when she had some free time did she check her phone and see a message from Zhou Jingze. She thought he would be angry, but he wasn’t.

【Come home early. Do you need me to pick you up?】

Perhaps not receiving a reply, he sent another message two hours later: 【Then dress warmly.】

Zhou Jingze didn’t lose his temper over this incident. As usual, he continued being her weather forecaster and chat companion every day. Over time, Xu Sui got used to it and occasionally confided some things to him.

Tuesday, overcast with rain. Xu Sui was busy in the surgery department all day. During a break, she patiently and carefully explained a patient’s condition to their family member, saying that the patient’s condition had metastasized internally and was quite serious, recommending they transfer to Ruihe Hospital, which specialized in this type of treatment.

Instead, she was pointed at and cursed out for half an hour by the family member: “Are doctors so easy to be nowadays? Just moving your lips can make money? I’ve been kicked around like a ball by you doctors so many times – one moment you tell me to go to this department for tests, the next moment to that department. You’re the most ridiculous one, telling me to transfer hospitals. Is it because you’re useless? Where did you get your medical license, you idiot! I’m going to file a complaint against you…”

Xu Sui still patiently explained to the other party, but it was still useless. Finally, the patient’s family member looked at her with contempt: “You’re just a operating machine at most, not like a doctor at all, too cold.”

Xu Sui’s hand holding the pen paused mid-writing. She lowered her eyelashes, her face a bit pale. She wanted to explain something, but in the end said nothing.

After work, a certain tense nerve in Xu Sui finally snapped, and her whole body felt relieved as she collapsed on her desk. After a while, Zhou Jingze called, and they chatted for a few sentences.

Xu Sui’s voice sounded a bit dejected. With emotions bottled up and nowhere to express them, she told him about this incident. She complained softly that the hard work itself wasn’t much, but what mattered most was that even when you did your job responsibly, you still couldn’t get the patient’s understanding, which made her feel a bit wronged.

Zhou Jingze listened quietly on the other end, switching the phone to his other hand, his voice low: “Come out.”

“Did you order takeout for me again? I’m already off work.”

Xu Sui was preparing to leave work. She put on her coat, packed her bag, and walked out of the outpatient building. As soon as she stepped outside, a biting wind hit her, making Xu Sui shiver involuntarily.

Today’s weather was rather terrible, with some light rain falling.

Just as Xu Sui was about to take out the scarf from her bag to wrap around her head and rush out, she casually looked up and saw Zhou Jingze holding a black umbrella, standing not far away waiting for her.

Zhou Jingze was wearing a black coat with a gray hooded sweatshirt underneath. He seemed to have gotten a haircut – his hair was cut short, close to his scalp, but he still had that roguish appearance. He had one hand casually tucked in his pocket, looking up at her.

Raindrops fell from the black umbrella rim, hitting the ground and blooming into small flowers. Under the black umbrella fabric, a section of his sharp, dark eyebrows was visible, his broad shoulders dyed a deep color.

In a trance, Xu Sui seemed to see that boy again.

When they were together, he would also come to pick her up in the rain like this, casually saying “I’m jealous, you need to coax me” – that boy.

Her heart skipped a beat.

“Why did you come?”

“I was on my way home when I called you,” Zhou Jingze walked up to her, looking at her with a smile, “and suddenly felt like taking a detour.”

“Want to eat noodles?” Zhou Jingze asked her.

Xu Sui nodded, but this person couldn’t stay serious for more than two seconds. He folded the umbrella, stepped up the stairs, and looked down at her, starting to tease again.

“There’s a hand warmer in my left pocket, take it yourself,” Zhou Jingze paused in his tone, saying unhurriedly, “Of course, my right hand is warmer.”

Xu Sui’s eyelashes fluttered, finally showing her first smile of the day: “I choose the left side.”

Zhou Jingze drove Xu Sui out of the main city district, and shortly after, the rain stopped. She rolled down the car window. The evening breeze after the rain was gentle and cool, brightening Xu Sui’s mood considerably.

Knowing that Xu Sui was in a bad mood, Zhou Jingze quietly drove her around for a while to get some air, finally arriving near a snack street. Gripping the steering wheel, he made a turn, did a U-turn, found a parking spot not far away, and they both got out of the car.

The snack street was on the right. Xu Sui walked in front, Zhou Jingze followed behind with his hands in his pockets. The ground was wet, and under the dim streetlights, their shadows occasionally overlapped.

The snack street was bustling. Not far away, red and blue tents were scattered on the right side, and there was an elderly vendor selling hot air balloons, standing by the roadside with strings hooked on his fingers.

The lightbox signs by the roadside emitted different lights, people on the street occasionally brushed past each other’s shoulders, and the aroma of barbecue wafted over from time to time.

A ground full of street life atmosphere.

Xu Sui stopped at a fruit stand, planning to get a box of cut fruit. Suddenly, a college student with a skateboard walked over. He had handsome features, wore a blue sweatshirt, and looked sunny and energetic.

Since the male student also wanted to pick fruit, Xu Sui stepped aside to make room.

Xu Sui was wearing an apricot-colored wool coat and a black narrow skirt today, looking elegant and graceful. She had her hair in a high ponytail, revealing a section of her fair, slender neck. As she bent down to pick fruit, the small pearl earrings hanging from her ears swayed back and forth, accentuating the beautiful curve of her neck and making people’s throats itch just looking at her.

Still the same as before – looked thin, but everything that attracted him was still there, nothing less.

Zhou Jingze stood not far away waiting for her, while noticing that the male student beside her was staring even more directly. His expression darkened as he casually extinguished the cigarette in his hand and walked over.

Xu Sui was using her phone to scan the QR code to pay the vendor when she suddenly felt someone pull her ponytail, directly pulling off her hair tie. In an instant, her long hair fell loose, perfectly covering her beautiful neck.

“What are you doing?”

Xu Sui immediately tried to grab her hair tie back. Zhou Jingze held the hair tie in his hand, looked down, and saw it was exactly the same one she had worn away last time.

He stepped back, stuffed it directly into his pocket, and smiled roguishly: “Returning it to its rightful owner.”

Xu Sui lunged forward but missed, glaring at him with annoyance. She really couldn’t understand him – it was just a hair tie, did this person have some kind of object fetish?

The two arrived at a noodle shop one after the other. Xu Sui found an empty table and sat down. The waiter brought tea, and Zhou Jingze stood at the ordering counter to place their order.

Xu Sui pulled out a tissue and carefully wiped the wooden table in front of her. From not far away came the sound of Zhou Jingze talking with the boss.

“Boss, two bowls of fresh shrimp noodles.” Zhou Jingze held his phone in one hand, looking at the menu posted on the opposite wall.

The boss lady’s face was flushed red from the steam. She smiled and said, “Alright, please go sit down first, it’ll be ready soon.”

“Oh, and add extra scallions and cilantro to one bowl, none for the other.” Zhou Jingze paused in his tone, emphasizing this.

Xu Sui was concentrating on wiping the table when she heard this. She lost focus for a moment, and her index finger scraped against a splinter on the wooden table. Immediately, tiny drops of blood appeared, throbbing with pain.

She lowered her eyes, pulled out a tissue to wipe away the blood, and when Zhou Jingze came to sit down, she put her hand down.

The two sat face to face eating a bowl of noodles. As long as they didn’t discuss each other’s taboo topics, their atmosphere was quite harmonious. Xu Sui ate a bit faster. She put down her chopsticks and was wiping her mouth when she heard the sound of someone hawking handmade sugar figurines outside. She immediately stood up: “You pay first, I’m going to buy sugar figurines.”

Xu Sui ran off in pursuit. Zhou Jingze was stunned for a second, then reacted and continued eating his noodles leisurely. After finishing and paying the bill, he stood up. His dark eyes swept around and noticed that Xu Sui had left in such a hurry that she’d left her phone on the table.

Zhou Jingze chuckled. Such a grown woman, yet still like a child, so careless.

He picked up Xu Sui’s phone and was about to put it in his pocket when he accidentally lit up the screen and saw a string of missed calls from an unknown number displayed from earlier that evening.

Unfortunately, it was his phone number.

Zhou Jingze ran his tongue over his back teeth, let out a cold laugh, his dark eyes showing a hint of gloom.

Very good, she didn’t even save his number.

Xu Sui finally caught up and found the old man’s stall. She picked a rabbit-shaped sugar figurine and couldn’t help taking a bite first. When she was about to scan the code to pay, she felt her pocket and discovered her phone was missing.

Just as she was getting anxious and embarrassed, a low, indifferent voice cut in: “Sir, how much?”

“8 yuan.”

Xu Sui breathed a sigh of relief. After Zhou Jingze paid, he rather roughly pulled her aside. Wearing his black coat, with his neck straight, he looked down at her from above, creating a sense of looking down from a superior position:

“Not saving my number?”

Xu Sui took her phone back: “I forgot, I’ll save it later.”

That’s what she said, but she made no move to do so.

Passersby hurried past, and someone accidentally bumped into Xu Sui. The man naturally supported her, his large palm landing right on her waist. Xu Sui looked up at him. Zhou Jingze held her waist and pushed forward, immediately making the distance between them perfectly close.

He lowered his neck to look at her, his sharp eyes locked on her, that roguish energy coming out again as he glanced at the people coming and going around them:

“Forcing me to kiss you?”

Xu Sui’s heart suddenly contracted. She truly believed Zhou Jingze would dare to do such a thing in broad daylight in front of everyone. She immediately broke free and hurriedly said: “I’ll save it now.”

In the end, she gritted her teeth and, under Zhou Jingze’s supervision, saved the number in her contacts. Only then did the man let her go.

The two walked together toward where they’d parked. Probably because this snack street was near a university, college students could be seen everywhere around them. Xu Sui casually glanced forward and spotted a student couple not far away.

The male student wore a black sweatshirt and had a buzz cut. He was improperly trying to snatch something from his girlfriend’s hands, then leaned close to her ear and said something teasing. The girl’s face turned completely red.

Just like them in the past.

Zhou Jingze walked with one hand in his pocket. When he looked up and saw the scene before him, he also froze. He kicked a stone at his feet and suddenly spoke, his tone very warm: “About the breakup back then, the problem you mentioned – I found the answer.”

Xu Sui avoided the topic: “That’s in the past.”

Her reaction was within Zhou Jingze’s expectations. He tugged the corner of his mouth very lightly and said nothing more.

Friday brought an unexpectedly clear sunny day. Xu Sui routinely came to the flight training base to teach, but upon arrival, she found the place completely empty – not a single person around. She happened to run into Wu Fan face-to-face and asked: “Where are all the students?”

Wu Fan stopped his hurried steps and said: “The class was cancelled. Didn’t the boss tell you? Today happens to coincide with the aviation aerobatic competition.”

So what? Zhou Jingze, as the base director, didn’t even give her advance notice about rescheduling or cancelling classes, making her come for nothing. Was he deliberately playing with her?

He had clearly sent her the weather message this morning but didn’t mention this matter.

Xu Sui felt a bit angry in her heart, but she wasn’t the type to lose her temper at others without reason. She nodded: “Okay, I’ll head back then.”

“Hey, Dr. Xu, where are you going? Aren’t you going to watch the competition? It’s really fun.” Wu Fan enthusiastically invited her, emphasizing: “The boss specifically told me to make sure to bring you over.”

Xu Sui was about to wave her hand in refusal when Wu Fan gave her pleading looks, as if saying “please don’t make things difficult for us.” She had no choice but to agree.

After getting in the car, Wu Fan started the engine. The scenery along the western suburbs road was beautiful. Xu Sui rolled down the window, stuck two motion sickness patches behind her ears, and comfortably arrived at the western suburbs after the journey.

The car drove for an hour and a half to reach the Western Suburbs Nine Square Water Plaza. In all her years in Jingbei, this was her first time coming to this place.

There was an extremely wide water plaza covering a vast area, with high-rise buildings sprouting up all around. Each floor of the tall buildings had a glass mirror surface layered all the way up. Sunlight projected onto them, reflecting shimmering golden light onto the water surface.

On the north side of the water surface was a semi-circular grandstand that could accommodate nearly a thousand people, like an extra petal growing from the plaza.

Wu Fan led her to the audience seating and explained along the way: “This competition is quite fun. See the tower bridges in the water and the markers in the distance? The competition is divided into two teams. Whichever team gets more points wins, best of three rounds.”

Xu Sui nodded and chose a bright yellow chair to sit down. The weather was great today, with wind and bright sunshine. The opening even featured a helicopter water flying performance.

The sun was a bit dazzling. Xu Sui raised her hand to shade her eyes, watching carefully, and even joined in the applause with everyone else. The official competition began, divided into red and blue teams.

The pilots flew small helicopters, sometimes soaring high into the sky, then diving low down like a carp leaping through the dragon gate as they passed through the tower bridges.

Thunderous applause erupted from the surroundings, and audience members took out their phones to record videos.

The grandstand was packed, and the plaza edges were also crowded with onlookers, plus reporters following the entire live broadcast.

Xu Sui was watching intently when suddenly a figure cast a shadow beside her. Zhou Jingze sat next to her, slightly hunched over with his elbows resting on his thighs, squinting as he looked toward the two competing aircraft in the distance, his tone casual:

“Yi Yi, who are you betting on to win?”

Actually, Xu Sui didn’t understand the competition format, but this didn’t stop her from being contrary to Zhou Jingze. Since he liked red, she paused in her tone: “I’m betting on the blue team.”

“Alright,” Zhou Jingze nodded, unwrapped a candy and threw it in his mouth, “Let’s make a bet. If I win, you agree to one thing for me. How about it?”

Xu Sui looked at him. Zhou Jingze raised his eyebrows, pinching the candy wrapper between his fingers: “Don’t worry, it’ll be something reasonable.”

“Fine, but if you lose, this whole thing about you pursuing me is over.” As soon as Xu Sui said this, she immediately took the dominant position.

Zhou Jingze’s eyelid twitched as he stared at her intently, finally lowering his head and tugging the corner of his mouth: “I won’t lose.”

If he lost this time, he’d cripple his own hands. What kind of pilot would he be for the rest of his life?

Zhou Jingze stayed beside her for only a short while before leaving. Because of this bet, Xu Sui began watching the competition seriously. Looking out, the blue aircraft was like a spaceship in the sky, flexibly winding around the tower bridges, and finally performed an aerial spin.

The red aircraft was also impressive, but its movements were somewhat fierce. Xu Sui watched, worried it might crash into the bridge markers, but each time the red aircraft nimbly dodged them.

The final score was 1:1, a tie.

In the third round, the crowd suddenly burst into cheers. Xu Sui squinted and looked over to see Zhou Jingze appear in her line of sight wearing a red and white flight suit. His features were sharp and dark, his neck straight, and he looked dashing and handsome overall. The golden thread embroidered small aircraft on his left shoulder gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.

He held a black helmet in his left hand and put on a microphone with his other hand. His slender fingers tapped the mic to test communication. When everything was ready, he stepped into the cockpit.

Seeing a handsome guy arrive for the crucial match, the media all turned their cameras toward him. Zhou Jingze himself remained composed. Amid the crowd’s attention, he suddenly turned back, his gaze shooting straight toward the audience area, his eyes locked on Xu Sui.

Before making this bet, Xu Sui had no idea Zhou Jingze would take the field at the crucial moment. He had clearly tricked her into betting – this was cheating.

Xu Sui’s gaze was caught by his. Unlike when she was easily embarrassed in college, now she sat in the stands, curved her middle finger, waved it at him, and smiled.

Meaning she was wishing for his defeat.

Zhou Jingze froze, then broke into a roguish grin.

The aircraft was red and white, with G-350 engraved on the fuselage. The nose slowly lifted and soon spiraled straight up into the sky.

The G-350 that Zhou Jingze piloted circled leisurely in the air. Just as everyone was about to focus their attention on the blue aircraft…

The red helicopter suddenly dove down, skimmed the water surface, went straight through the tower bridge, barely stirring up any splash on the water.

The aircraft Zhou Jingze piloted was just like the man himself – steady with a hint of rebellious energy. From far away, that aircraft looked like a red dragonfly, very nimbly leaping, circling around the tower in ascent, side-flying.

He completed every maneuver beautifully.

Xu Sui counted the points. Sure enough, the red team won.

Xu Sui sat in the stands, looking dejected as she propped her chin up, lowering her eyes, tapping her cheek with her finger, daydreaming about what Zhou Jingze would make her do after losing.

Suddenly, the audience area erupted in cheers and screams. A girl sitting on her right was extremely excited: “Wow, is this a confession? It’s so romantic!”

Someone chimed in: “Yes, but what did G-350 write in the sky, a dash?”

Xu Sui’s eyelids suddenly trembled. She slowly looked up. The sunlight was brilliant, the sky clear and blue, the weather so perfect it seemed like the whole world was making way for him. She saw that red aircraft trailing smoke in the sky, writing intermittently.

Not the number 1 from 1234, nor the dash commonly written in language tests.

It was “Yi Yi.”

It was her nickname Yi Yi, the Yi meaning “only one.”

The originally calm depths of Xu Sui’s heart were once again stirred up with waves, her heartbeat uncontrollably accelerating, like electric currents densely coursing through her. Xu Sui remembered the night before last, when they encountered that young couple. He had said:

“About the breakup back then, the problem you mentioned – I found the answer.”

Zhou Jingze was telling her that she was his only one.

Everyone in the audience stood up, applauding, and some people took photos to post on social media. Among all the excited voices, Xu Sui quietly picked up her bag and slipped away from the scene unnoticed.

Xu Sui planned to leave through the side door. Seeing a restroom around the corner, she went in to wash her hands. When she came out, she was drying her hands with a tissue while heading toward the side exit.

Looking down, she saw a pair of shiny leather shoes in front of her.

Xu Sui turned to run, but the man grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. He lowered his neck to look at her, and it was unclear whose breathing was irregular:

“What are you running from, hmm? Don’t tell me you don’t feel anything.”