Once September passed, the rainy season followed one after another. It had been raining every day lately, and the weather suddenly turned cool. Since their last conversation in the car, Xu Sui hadn’t seen Zhou Jingze again.

During the day, Xu Sui worked, and when she rested at home in the evenings, she would remember Zhou Jingze’s expression that night. After hearing what she said, his eyes, dark as rock, had momentarily dimmed, then he calmly said goodnight to her with a composed expression.

He never appeared again after that.

Xu Sui was also busy, always living earnestly. After work, she occasionally went to see band tours or drank with friends. When alone at home, she would exercise and read books—her life was fulfilling.

Last week, Xu Sui had something come up and took leave from the flight base. When she went this week, the sky was overcast, cold wind gusting, with dark clouds pressing down, seemingly indicating rain. Students on the training ground wore their training uniforms, practicing on suspension ladders and fixed bars to improve their physical fitness for high-altitude flight.

A man with an upright build had his back to Xu Sui, blowing a whistle to organize the team. His shoulders were broad, and his gesture of tapping his knuckles against a clipboard when disciplining students was very much like Zhou Jingze.

Sitting in the car, Xu Sui thought it was him and couldn’t help but look over through the car window.

Just then, the person turned around—it was a face with completely different looks and temperament.

A whistle sounded, and the formation dispersed.

A group of young people scattered like birds with a “whoosh.” Xu Sui had just found a parking spot on the open ground within the base. After getting out of the car, the gravel ground beneath her feet was wet from the previous night’s rain, rather than dusty as it would be on sunny days.

Every time Xu Sui made the long trip from the city center, she often returned covered in dust.

Several students had stopped at a faucet directly in front to wash their hands. The tap was turned on, water rushing into the basin as they chatted while washing.

“This instructor is much more lenient than Instructor Zhou. It would be great if he could keep leading us,” one male student sighed.

“Tsk, Instructor Zhou is a fucking demon instructor,” someone spat.

“Hey, I just hope he stays sick for a few more days, or he’ll torture me to death,” someone chimed in.

Xu Sui happened to be pressing her car lock when she heard their conversation and couldn’t help asking: “Your Instructor Zhou didn’t come?”

The students washing their hands turned around. Seeing it was Xu Sui, they all greeted her: “Hey, Teacher Xu, hello.”

Water was still flowing from the faucet with a gurgling sound. Someone explained: “Instructor Zhou is sick and has been taking leave these past few days.”

Xu Sui nodded and said nothing more, turning to walk toward the break room.

The sky seemed to darken even more, the wind grew stronger, the red flag on the training ground fluttered violently in the wind, and the clouds seemed ready to drip water.

A heavy rain was coming.

Xu Sui entered the classroom early, checked the multimedia equipment, and tested the courseware on her laptop. After the fifteen-minute break passed, the class bell rang and students gradually entered the classroom.

Xu Sui only needed to teach one major class per week, with a ten-minute break in between—essentially two small classes.

In this class, Xu Sui taught some first aid knowledge and invited students to demonstrate. She was lecturing seriously when an unabashed yawning sound interrupted her thoughts, followed by laughter throughout the classroom.

Her almond-shaped eyes scanned downward to see a male student named Qian Sen, who was slouching casually in his chair. When he saw Xu Sui looking at him, he wasn’t intimidated and even made a heart gesture at her.

Xu Sui had an impression of this student. She’d heard from staff that he was a rich second-generation transfer student who had studied finance in university. After graduation, on a whim, he became interested in learning to fly and came here, but he didn’t accept the management and discipline here and was a troublemaker.

“Quiet. Those who don’t want to attend class can leave,” Xu Sui’s voice was cool.

The classroom finally quieted down, and Xu Sui continued teaching. After forty minutes, the class bell rang. Students slumped over their desks while others got up to go to the corridor for air.

A group of male students sitting in the classroom inevitably discussed three things: women, alcohol, and sneakers.

These wealthy young masters loudly discussed which club they’d gotten membership cards at recently, spending hundreds of thousands in one night, and who had bought some limited edition baseball jacket.

But there was always someone who didn’t fit in with them.

Within two minutes, they came back in, shaking water off themselves and cursing: “It’s pouring outside, damn.”

“Ice-cold rain slapping brother’s face,” someone kicked the door shut.

Xu Sui was organizing documents at the podium and couldn’t help looking outside. Harsh white rain poured down like a white waterfall, fierce wind rushed over, beating against the windows and making whimpering sounds like a trapped beast.

Students sitting by the windows hurriedly closed them, but raindrops managed to splash in anyway. One or two drops splashed onto Xu Sui’s neck—cold and refreshing.

Xu Sui’s gaze returned to the courseware on the computer screen when suddenly a voice called her. She turned around to see a student, dressed cleanly and neatly, but because of the cold weather, he wore an extremely thin jacket with only a t-shirt underneath.

He smiled shyly at Xu Sui and asked: “Teacher, about that rescue position you mentioned last time—is it left hand over right hand, pressing on the chest area?”

As he asked, he demonstrated with gestures. Xu Sui noticed his hands were dry and cracked with bloody marks. After a moment, she carefully explained it to him again.

After finishing, he thanked Xu Sui. A male student on the right whistled long and mockingly: “Yo, classmate, so serious, even knows to ask questions.”

Xu Sui’s eyes swept over, and after receiving her warning look, the other person shrugged indifferently and stopped talking. The student who had asked the question lowered his head. Originally planning to return to his seat, but to avoid conflict with them, he had to exit through the front door.

That student seemed to have a quiet, reserved personality and was even somewhat self-conscious.

Xu Sui put down her courseware and went to the restroom.

In the corridor, the male student raised his arm to block the rain slanting into the hallway and hurried to enter through the back door. But walking too hastily without paying attention, he bumped into someone’s chest and accidentally splashed muddy water from the corridor onto their shoes.

The atmosphere froze.

Qian Sen stood at the back entrance, looking down at his newly bought sneakers—limited edition, brought from America. He’d waited over a month for them, and now they bore dirty water stains.

The other person was obviously flustered, apologizing repeatedly.

After apologizing, he hunched his shoulders and was about to leave when Qian Sen suddenly grabbed his arm, staring at him with a sinister tone: “That’s it?”

The originally noisy classroom quieted down, everyone unanimously looking toward the back door. Some were watching the excitement without concern, while others showed sympathy in their eyes.

Getting on the bad side of Qian Sen, this kind of good-for-nothing rich second-generation delinquent, was indeed quite pitiful.

“What do you plan to do about my shoes?” Qian Sen asked.

The other person’s face flushed red, unaccustomed to so many people’s attention. He lowered his head and stammered: “I’m… sorry.”

Qian Sen sneered coldly, looking down at him condescendingly with contemptuous tone: “You can’t afford to compensate anyway, so how about I dirty your shoes and we call it even?”

Without waiting for his agreement, Qian Sen lifted his foot and began stepping on his shoes. This male student lowered his head, his fingers clenched into trembling fists, watching a pair of designer shoes slowly grinding and pressing down hard on his worn and shabby shoe surface.

The humiliation spread throughout his body—the enduring process was quite long.

After Qian Sen finished stepping on them, he finally let him go. The male student lowered his head, breathed a sigh of relief, and walked forward. Qian Sen brushed off the dust from his clothes and laughed with his companions:

“Heh, poor people actually think they can become pilots.”

A burst of laughter rang out, mixed with some disdain. The male student had originally walked away, but suddenly turned back, strode forward in a few steps, grabbed his collar, and despite being so thin, actually dragged the sturdy Qian Sen into the corridor and swung a punch at him with reddened eyes:

“What did you say?”

Qian Sen was stunned for a second after being hit. He turned his face, came to his senses, spat on the ground, and viciously kicked the male student: “Li Mingde, aren’t you fucking asking for it? Poor bastard.”

With each vicious punch Qian Sen threw, he said something humiliating:

“Fucking unlucky to be in the same class as someone so poor.”

“Where’d you get the tuition money? Did you steal it?”

“Someone pathetic like you can actually become a pilot?”

Upon hearing this last sentence, Li Mingde was greatly stimulated and roared: “Why can’t I? My mom said I definitely can!”

He exploded like a volcano, grabbing Qian Sen’s arm and dragging him outside. The two began fighting on the training ground. He knew people like Qian Sen cared most about face, so he dragged him into the rain and fought him desperately.

The rain was heavy, like a white waterfall, with wind strong enough to uproot trees. Xu Sui came back from the restroom and was startled to see students fighting from afar, hurriedly running over.

The class bell rang, but instead of going to class, everyone stood in the corridor watching. Those who wanted to break up the fight were powerless—the rain was too heavy and the weather too cold. Who wanted to go out and suffer?

Xu Sui stood at the corridor’s edge watching the two people wrestling and fighting in the rain curtain, extremely anxious. These two students were fighting during her class time, so she should be responsible.

After asking about the reason for their fight, her eyes sharpened. She bit her teeth and rushed out directly, with people beside her unable to stop her.

Xu Sui ran out, the rain hitting her face painfully, causing her speech to be choppy: “Stop fighting.”

The rain pattered non-stop, wind and fighting sounds mixed together—they couldn’t hear Xu Sui clearly at all. The rain was heavy, making clothes heavy and soaked. Xu Sui was getting angry from being drenched and rushed forward to separate the two, but was pushed hard by Qian Sen.

Xu Sui momentarily couldn’t support herself and fell backward out of control.

Just when she thought she’d fall badly, an arm firmly caught her. A familiar, sharp scent rushed over, a shadow fell overhead, and the rain stopped.

Xu Sui looked up to see Zhou Jingze appearing here, her eyes showing a moment of shock.

Zhou Jingze wore a black windbreaker and held a black umbrella, standing in front of her. His forehead hair was somewhat disheveled and his face was a bit pale. He lifted Xu Sui up with one arm, steadying her.

He handed her the long-handled umbrella. Xu Sui was somewhat dazed. Zhou Jingze directly grabbed her hand, making her hold the umbrella. As he moved, his long legs stepped into the rain.

Zhou Jingze walked over, forcibly separated them, grabbed each person respectively, and with a cold face dragged them into the corridor. Li Mingde was better off—Zhou Jingze grabbed his collar with his left hand, and he could only stumble forward.

Qian Sen had it worse. Having just fought with someone in muddy rain, he was extremely disheveled. Never mind that he wore designer clothes—now he was so dirty that people would believe he dressed like a construction worker.

Zhou Jingze grabbed Qian Sen’s hood, his index and middle fingers wrapping around the hood’s two strings, dragging him forward like dragging garbage.

Qian Sen had never been this embarrassed in his life.

Zhou Jingze threw both people to the ground, his voice ice-cold: “Did you come here just to fight? Huh? Even pushing teachers—aren’t you ashamed!”

“Acting like this and still wanting to be pilots? I’ll fail you in the first discipline assessment,” Zhou Jingze stared at the two on the ground, speaking slowly.

More and more onlookers gathered. Xu Sui closed the umbrella and stood aside. She was actually a bit cold—her upper body’s crochet sweater was wet and her hair was soaked through, water droplets trickling into her neck, ice-cold.

Zhou Jingze looked at them and asked: “Who speaks first?”

The two lying on the ground struggled to stand up successively, neither speaking. The watching students also didn’t dare make a sound. Suddenly, Zhou Jingze’s phone in his upper pocket made a “ding” sound, indicating a WeChat message.

Zhou Jingze took out his phone to look—a student had sent him a video. Zhou Jingze wasn’t intimidated by anyone and directly put it on speaker. Who was bullying whom was very obvious.

The expression on his face gradually changed.

Zhou Jingze’s shoulders were dark with moisture, water droplets from his brow bone falling. Someone nearby handed him a pack of tissues. Zhou Jingze took them and with an examining gaze, slowly walked to Li Mingde.

Throughout, Li Mingde kept his head down, huddled together, dirty all over. He was very afraid of being punished by the instructor and regretted his impulsive fighting.

After all, if the instructor favored Qian Sen, his future flying career wouldn’t go smoothly.

Trembling like this, just as Li Mingde was hesitating whether to apologize first, Zhou Jingze stood in front of him, suddenly half-squatted down, tore open the wet wipe package, still had a cigarette in his mouth, and in full view of everyone, methodically wiped Li Mingde’s trouser legs.

The scene caused an uproar.

Li Mingde immediately stepped back, his neck flushed red: “Instructor Zhou, I… I’m fine, you don’t need to.”

“Stand still, why so much nonsense,” Zhou Jingze’s voice was muffled.

Two tissues immediately became dirty and black. Zhou Jingze pinched a corner of the tissue and suddenly spoke:

“Qian Sen, apologize.”

This was the first time Qian Sen had been beaten so embarrassingly. It would be good if he didn’t settle accounts with Li Mingde, and now apologize! He had just taken off his jacket and threw it on the trash can, his tone defiant: “Why should I? He hit me first! If anyone should apologize, it’s him—”

With a “smack,” the black tissue was hurled at his clothes with swift force, the gray mark adding another stain to the already filthy clothing.

“Because I’m your fucking instructor! I’ve seen plenty of rich second-generation like you, relying on your family’s little influence, taking shortcuts and muddling through,” Zhou Jingze walked over with hands in his pockets, looking at him, his tone slow and mocking, “In the end, you can’t do anything.”

The originally quiet scene gradually became noisy. Someone said: “Yeah, Qian Sen, just apologize. Haven’t you bullied Li Mingde enough usually?”

“An apology is nothing—you were wrong in the first place,” someone shouted from the crowd.

Someone also took the opportunity to joke: “Yeah, acting like this, who would dare fly on a plane you pilot? If I were a passenger, I’d definitely write a complaint letter!”

…

More and more voices condemning Qian Sen arose from the crowd. Zhou Jingze glanced at Qian Sen’s expression—angry and humiliated, as if desperately suppressing something.

He didn’t expect this person to have any intention of reforming.

Zhou Jingze withdrew his gaze from him, turned around, grabbed the wrist of Xu Sui, who had been freezing on the side, and was about to leave. The rain outside was still falling with no sign of stopping, slanting in and hitting faces painfully and ice-cold.

He was leading Xu Sui away when an explosive voice erupted behind them, the tone incredibly mocking: “Aren’t you just an instructor? Oh wait, you’re only just an instructor now.”

Zhou Jingze turned back, his gaze looking straight at him. The originally noisy crowd fell silent, the atmosphere freezing.

He hadn’t spoken, his facial expression unchanged, but only Xu Sui felt the hand gripping her wrist tighten repeatedly, as if suppressing something extremely.

Qian Sen walked in front of him, lowered his head and smiled, then in front of everyone, his face twisted with anger, his tone contemptuous, each word piercing the heart like a curved blade stabbing directly at a person’s hidden, barely healed scar:

“Instructor Zhou, your situation has spread throughout the class. I heard you might never be able to fly planes again and will be stuck in these mountains for life! While I have a bright future and a carefree life.”

What did it feel like to be looked down upon by your own student? Xu Sui didn’t dare look at Zhou Jingze’s reaction beside her, only feeling his body tense like a bow, as if it might snap at any moment.

She felt that perhaps this scar had never healed properly.

He had just hidden it.

A fierce, swift wind swept through the corridor. Xu Sui felt her eyes stinging from the wind. Just as Qian Sen was about to say more, she spoke up to stop him: “Stop talking!”

The atmosphere was at a standstill. Zhou Jingze’s aura was extremely low, his dark brows and eyes carrying hostility and heavy emotions. Just when the students thought Zhou Jingze would explode, including Xu Sui thinking he might even hit someone—

After all, when young, Zhou Jingze had a reckless and proud personality, never playing the trapped beast, every side was sharp-angled, and fighting was common when he was high-spirited.

But he didn’t.

Zhou Jingze just looked deeply at Qian Sen for a long moment before speaking, his voice somewhat hoarse:

“When you reach my level, then come say these words.”

After speaking, he withdrew his gaze from Qian Sen’s face, put his arm around Xu Sui, and with an unperturbed expression, pushed through the crowd and left.

The sky was very dark, a sheet of gray. His tall, straight figure was fragmented by the dim light—silent, with not a trace of dawn visible.

In the instructor’s dormitory, a rusty key was inserted into the lock, twisted hard, then kicked forcefully with a foot before it opened. Upon entering, Zhou Jingze grabbed the remote control from the low cabinet and pressed it several times before the old air conditioner slowly started running, sluggishly blowing warm air.

Xu Sui looked around—it was still bunk beds. The top was empty, the bottom had only a pillow and thin blanket. Directly opposite was a desk, a beige wardrobe, an electric kettle, and nothing else.

“You sleep here?”

“Occasionally,” Zhou Jingze replied nonchalantly.

He was fiddling with the broken air conditioner, answering casually without seeing her expression. Looking down and meeting Xu Sui’s gaze, he raised his brow bone with a helpless tone: “I just come here to rest during lunch breaks.”

And this wasn’t a big deal anyway.

He was used to it.

Xu Sui was frozen pale, her lips slightly purple. Zhou Jingze had her sit on the bed, opened the wardrobe, and took out several coats to wrap her up tightly.

He strode into the bathroom, yanked down the hot water heater showerhead from the wall, wanting to test the water temperature. He raised his hand to turn on the switch, water pouring onto his hand, and Zhou Jingze cursed quietly.

This fucking water was actually cold.

Zhou Jingze grabbed the bucket and basin from the bathroom, then used the electric kettle to boil cold water and poured it in. He glanced at Xu Sui: “Bear with it.”

Xu Sui shook her head: “It’s fine.”

The water finally heated up. Zhou Jingze found an unused dry towel for her. Xu Sui trembled as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door with a “bang.”

Zhou Jingze went out and stood in the corridor smoking a cigarette, lifting his eyes to look at the rain outside—it seemed lighter. After finishing the cigarette, he went back inside, also soaking wet, planning to change clothes.

He took out a set of clothes from the wardrobe and was about to change when he glanced toward the left side, his gaze freezing. The bathroom door was frosted glass—Xu Sui’s silhouette undressing could be seen clearly.

Xu Sui, wearing only a bra, seemed to have trouble taking off her high-waisted jeans. She tugged at them, the jeans came off, revealing two slender, straight legs.

Her long hair fell behind her, her arms bent around to the back, and with a “click,” the bra clasp opened, the curves half-hidden by the door’s shadow.

Zhou Jingze watched with dry mouth and tight lower abdomen, immediately averting his gaze. He couldn’t watch anymore. After hurriedly changing clothes, he ran out again.

…

Xu Sui always took long showers. After a hot bath, she felt much better, her body warm and cozy. After washing, she came out to find the dormitory empty.

She instinctively looked outside and saw Zhou Jingze standing in the corridor outside the door. He wore a black parka, his shoulders thin and broad, smoking with one hand.

The rain had lessened somewhat, falling in straight lines, the distance blurry. He smoked, pale blue smoke rolling from his thin lips, squinting straight ahead with a nonchalant expression, not knowing what he was thinking.

For some reason, Xu Sui felt his silhouette carried a kind of lonely defeat.

After the cigarette burned out, Zhou Jingze extinguished it and was about to throw it in the nearby trash can when he turned his head and saw the freshly bathed Xu Sui. The cigarette butt made a “hiss” sound as it died out.

Zhou Jingze walked toward her, looking at Xu Sui’s wet hair: “I’ll get you a hair dryer.”

Xu Sui pointed to the cuts on his brow bone and corner of his mouth: “You should treat your wounds.”

They must be from when he broke up the fight earlier—he’d taken a couple hits to the face.

Zhou Jingze was opening the wardrobe looking for a hair dryer. Hearing this, he paused and smiled: “Mm.”

Xu Sui took the white hair dryer, slid the switch up, and the dryer made a humming sound as it blew her hair. Zhou Jingze found a medicine box from under the bed, sat on the bedside, and used his phone as a mirror to treat his wounds.

Xu Sui held the hair dryer in her right hand, drying her hair, when she saw Zhou Jingze roughly and carelessly applying medicine to his face. Unable to bear watching, she pressed the dryer’s switch with a “click” and looked at him: “Let me do it.”

Zhou Jingze handed her the medicine. Xu Sui took it and applied medicine to his wounds. As a doctor, Xu Sui was undoubtedly professional and skilled at treating wounds. She dipped a cotton swab in iodine and gently dabbed his brow bone wound, then moved to his lip corner.

Only the breathing of two people could be heard in the room. Xu Sui applied the medicine seriously. Zhou Jingze looked down at the woman before him, wearing his gray hoodie with sleeves so long she had to roll them up twice, revealing lotus-root-like white arms.

Rain slanted in through the window. Xu Sui wore oversized men’s slippers, her clean toes curling up slightly. Zhou Jingze felt his throat itch, emotions surging in his eyes momentarily.

Xu Sui inadvertently looked up, their gazes colliding in mid-air.

Her eyes remained clear and calm, her lips light red, but her expression carried a naturally alluring quality.

She seemed able to make his breathing erratic with any casual movement, even just a glance. Without doing anything, she had aroused his physical desire.

Their gaze met like an entangling net—he willingly fell into the trap.

Xu Sui was first to look away, handing him the medicine: “Done.”

Zhou Jingze reached for the medicine but grabbed her hand instead, pulling her toward him. Xu Sui’s elbow pressed against his chest, the two very close, unable to distinguish whose rapid heartbeat it was.

The rain outside grew dense again. Xu Sui’s hair hung behind her, half-dry, water droplets falling from the ends, wetting the floor.

Xu Sui had a strand of wet hair clinging to his collarbone. He still gripped her hand tightly, his other hand’s thumb brushing her forehead, hooking the stray hair behind her head, still gentle.

The indoor lighting was dim, the old air conditioner’s warm air making heads dizzy. Xu Sui looked up, her heart panicking under his burning gaze. They were too close—so close their eyes held only each other.

As if everything was forgotten.

Zhou Jingze tilted his head and leaned down to kiss her. Xu Sui watched him slowly approach, his thumb caressing her cheek, at that critical 0.01-meter moment.

When their lips were about to touch.

Xu Sui turned her head away, avoiding him.

He ended up kissing her right ear, his lips touching the small red mole there.