Xu Sui changed the subject and asked: “I lost the bet fair and square. What do you want me to do?”

“Next week is Grandfather’s birthday. Come home with me.” Zhou Jingze released her, lowered his neck, and looked at her.

Xu Sui was stunned, remembering that in college he had prepared to take her home to meet his grandfather, but she had brought up the breakup. After saying this, Zhou Jingze also realized something, and both fell silent in unison.

“You mean pretend to be your girlfriend? I can do that.” Xu Sui nodded. What had originally been ambiguous and entangled became clear and well-defined because of her words.

Zhou Jingze’s eyelid twitched. That wasn’t what he meant, but only this way would Xu Sui go home with him. If that’s how it had to be, he accepted it.

The man bit his back teeth and said: “Yes, pretend.”

“Remember to buy a gift.” Xu Sui tugged at the corner of her mouth, reminding him.

That evening after returning home, Xu Sui lay in bed when Liang Shuang forwarded a news article and said: [Sui Sui, this “Yi Yi” is you, right? Zhou Jingze’s airplane was a flirtation machine. Even I’m a bit moved.]

Xu Sui clicked the link and discovered that Zhou Jingze’s sky writing confession with the airplane had made it onto hot search and had netizens talking all day.

Because the pilot was devastatingly handsome, netizens started digging up information about him. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find anything about his identity or background, only the aviation company he used to work for.

As for the name he wrote in the airplane – “Yi Yi” – it was just a nickname or pet name, making the person even more impossible to find.

Xu Sui clicked on the comments under the video, which were uniformly filled with screen-licking praise for Zhou Jingze’s looks: [This kind of roguish handsomeness, plus single eyelids, I have feelings. I think he could be the spokesperson for that new live-action CS competitive game that just came out.]

[Starting today, I’m changing husbands. Please call me Mrs. Zhou from now on.]

[He’s really hot. Where in Jingbei City can I run into him by chance?]

The bedside lamp cast warm light. Xu Sui lay in bed, staring at Liang Shuang’s comment “even I’m a bit moved.”

That was Zhou Jingze’s way. Like surging wind, blazing sun – when he liked someone, it was vigorous and earth-shattering, boldly wanting the whole world to know.

The time to accompany Zhou Jingze to his grandfather’s house arrived quickly. Zhou Jingze waited downstairs at her building half an hour early, his slender hand resting on the steering wheel. He reached out to grab cigarettes from the center console when his gaze inadvertently swept over and stopped.

Xu Sui walked over from afar. Today she wore a cream-white embroidered waist-cinching dress with a lake-blue coat over it. Her hair was done in a bun, revealing her smooth, full forehead. Fine baby hairs fell at her temples, her almond eyes were bright, and her lips were pale red.

Just like Xu Sui from their college days.

Quiet and gentle, always making people unable to resist taking another look.

The man’s Adam’s apple slowly rolled as he looked at her: “Very beautiful.”

Xu Sui didn’t notice his emotional change, taking it as ordinary praise and politely responding: “Thank you.”

The car drove slowly forward, entering an old district. The view suddenly opened up – tall plane trees were planted on both sides of the road, their canopy blocking out the sun. Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves overhead, creating dappled tree shadows on the ground.

Zhou Jingze turned left and stopped at the gate, taking out an access card from his wallet and leaning over to hand it to the guard. After the guard swiped the card, they were let through, and the car continued slowly forward.

Looking through the car window, Xu Sui discovered this was a family housing compound with a vast area and lush trees. A group of young people were playing soccer on the field, with cheers erupting from time to time.

After parking, Xu Sui was still looking around curiously, finding it novel. Her eyes darted about when someone took her hand – a broad palm pressing warmly against her palm.

Xu Sui instinctively tried to pull away, but Zhou Jingze reminded her: “We’re about to go in.”

“What, never seen a family compound before?” Zhou Jingze held her hand as they walked forward, smiling.

“You’re the one who’s never seen one. My dad used to be a firefighter and my mom a teacher. I grew up in two different family compounds.”

She just hadn’t seen an aeronautical engineer’s family compound. Walking inside, she could see vintage airplane models everywhere.

Outside Zhou Jingze’s grandfather’s door were two winter plum trees with petals budding on the branches. He led Xu Sui inside, where many guests had already arrived.

As soon as they entered, Xu Sui felt scrutinizing gazes from all directions, making her somewhat nervous. Zhou Jingze tightened his grip on her wrist and said:

“It’s fine. These are all family relatives and a few of Grandfather’s students.”

Zhou Jingze led her to an elderly couple, handed over the gift, and smiled: “Grandfather, happy birthday. This is Xu Sui.”

The old man shifted his gaze to her. Xu Sui hesitated for a long time, then finally smiled and said: “Grandfather, happy birthday.”

The old gentleman was 76, with white hair but still in good health. His originally dignified expression immediately broke into smiles upon hearing “Grandfather,” and he waved his hand saying:

“Good, good! You’re Yi Yi, right? I’m so happy to finally see this boy bring his girlfriend home.”

Xu Sui wondered in her heart how the old man knew her nickname and recognized her. As soon as the old gentleman spoke, various aunts surrounded them, pulling Xu Sui and asking questions enthusiastically.

“This troublemaker is so wild, yet he still found a girlfriend.”

“Girl, where are you from? How old are you this year?”

“I’ve never seen Jingze bring any girl home. You’re the first one. Are you planning to get married?”

Xu Sui was surrounded in the middle, with elders pulling at her and asking dense questions one after another. Their excessive enthusiasm left her somewhat at a loss.

Moreover, she wasn’t Zhou Jingze’s real girlfriend.

Just as she didn’t know what to do, a lazy, laughing voice cut in. Zhou Jingze tightly held her hand and said:

“Dear elders, if you keep questioning her like this and scare her away, what am I supposed to do?”

“Uncle, that’s called showing off your love!” A sweet, childish voice piped up from the crowd.

Everyone was amused by the child. Xu Sui saw Zhou Jingze also curve his lips slightly as he looked down, making her heart skip a beat.

Zhou Jingze accompanied the elderly man drinking tea and chatting with his mother’s side of the family. When occasionally mentioning his own recent situation, he glossed over it lightly.

Xu Sui sat in the living room keeping a child company watching cartoons. The little girl was called Guoguo, somewhat mischievous but sweet-talking, calling her “beautiful auntie” with every breath.

Guoguo was engrossed in the cartoon. At a crucial moment, she jumped up on the sofa, holding a cup of juice. In her excitement, she stumbled and didn’t notice, spilling the entire cup of juice on Xu Sui. Orange juice splashed across the cream-white dress, dripping wetly.

The child panicked. The housekeeper happened to be bringing up fruit and, seeing the situation, quickly set down the fruit tray, hurriedly pulled out tissues and handed them over, saying: “My little ancestor, look what you’ve done.”

Zhou Jingze heard the commotion and walked over. Seeing Xu Sui’s dress completely stained with fruit, he asked:

“What happened?”

The little girl shivered as Zhou Jingze approached, tears welling up: “Sorry, Auntie.”

Zhou Jingze frowned, about to say something more when Xu Sui looked up at him, her eyes stopping him. Her other hand patted the little girl’s head, her voice gentle:

“It’s okay, but next time you watch TV, you need to sit properly.”

“Mm.” The little girl sniffled.

Xu Sui lowered her head to continue wiping her dress, but it was useless no matter how much she wiped. The housekeeper spoke up: “Miss Xu, why don’t you go upstairs and change? Her aunt’s clothes from before going abroad are all still new.”

“Go ahead. I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.”

Xu Sui nodded and followed the housekeeper upstairs into a guest bedroom. The housekeeper opened the walk-in closet and smiled: “Miss Xu, all the clothes on this rack are new. Change first, I’ll step out. Call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you,” Xu Sui said.

When it was almost mealtime and Zhou Jingze checked the time to see she still hadn’t come down, he decided to go upstairs to call Xu Sui for dinner.

The young master walked upstairs leisurely with his hands in his pockets, coming to the second room on the left on the second floor.

Zhou Jingze stopped at the door, curled his fingers and knocked on the door, making tapping sounds.

Xu Sui was still changing clothes inside. Most clothes in the closet were rather eye-catching colors. She had finally picked out something simple, only to discover this dress was too difficult to put on.

Thinking it was Housekeeper Zhang, she said: “Come in, the door’s unlocked.”

“Click” – the door opened. Xu Sui was still struggling with the dress. She had worn a cross-strap bra today, and this black velvet dress had both ties and clasps. The underwear straps had gotten tangled with the dress straps, and she couldn’t untangle them no matter how she tried.

“Aunt Zhang, could you help me untie this?” Xu Sui’s voice carried helplessness.

Zhou Jingze leaned against the doorframe, his dark eyes fixed on the woman’s back, his breathing gradually becoming heated.

It was 11:30 AM. Large amounts of light poured in, casting on her back and creating a jade-like transparent quality, pure yet alluring.

She was too thin. Her butterfly shoulder blades protruded, and the spine in between extended downward, hidden by the black velvet dress, tantalizing and full of imagination.

Xu Sui wore the black velvet long dress with the back zipper half-pulled. She reached back to pull at the straps, causing the sleeves to slip loosely and hang half off her arms. Her round, fair shoulders were quite dazzling.

She stood barefoot on the carpet, her calves slender. The black velvet swayed, looking both holy and tempting to violate.

Zhou Jingze felt his throat go dry. She was his addiction.

Just one look and he had a reaction.

Xu Sui noticed the silence behind her and was about to turn around when a familiar tobacco scent drifted over.

Zhou Jingze’s hand gripped her shoulder strap, his fingertips occasionally touching her back skin – cool and bone-chilling. These obvious sensory stimulations made her heart tremble.

“Why is it you?” Xu Sui frowned.

She wanted to turn around and push Zhou Jingze away when she suddenly remembered the tattoo on her ribs and instinctively covered it with her hand.

“Get out!” Xu Sui said.

Zhou Jingze chewed on a mint candy, his tongue pressing the candy around his mouth. His hand untying the dress straps paused, he looked up, then pulled tight. Xu Sui fell backward, her back immediately against his chest.

“Where did you get the habit of not locking the door when changing clothes? If someone else had come in,” Zhou Jingze paused, lowering his voice and leaning close, hot breath brushing her ear, “wouldn’t you be asking for trouble?”

With him leaning so close, Xu Sui’s ear felt itchy and numb. She tried to dodge aside.

She wanted to push him out but was afraid he’d see the tattoo.

For a full five minutes, Xu Sui felt like a fish on a cutting board, pinned by Zhou Jingze. He was too close, his movements unhurried, and she could feel every inch of his breathing wandering across her back, making her shrink involuntarily.

Like dense electric currents passing through, Xu Sui couldn’t move.

Finally, the straps were untangled. Zhou Jingze lifted his hand and zipped up the back of her dress.

Xu Sui breathed a sigh of relief – finally safe. She immediately put on her shoes.

The young master leaned against the sofa armrest, his eyelids half-lowered, lips curved in a smile, looking like he was waiting to be thanked.

Having gained her freedom, Xu Sui turned around and the first thing she did was walk straight to Zhou Jingze.

The man looked up, their eyes meeting. Xu Sui smiled at him.

Zhou Jingze was stunned, his heart moved. Before he could react, Xu Sui stepped hard on his foot with force, then ran away like a wisp of smoke.

“Hiss.”

Zhou Jingze watched her retreating figure and followed at a leisurely pace.

He realized that after years apart, Xu Sui was no longer that soft, docile little cat, but had become a cat that occasionally showed her little fangs to bite people.

The two went downstairs one after the other, Zhou Jingze following behind.

It was exactly mealtime. Zhou Jingze’s grandfather and grandmother enthusiastically served her food, afraid of being neglectful. Xu Sui felt embarrassed sitting at the table.

How could Xu Sui feel comfortable with this? She hurriedly tried to stop them: “Grandfather, today is your birthday. Don’t serve me food. If there’s anything I want to eat, I can reach it myself. If not, I can ask him to help me.”

After speaking, she quietly nudged his arm. Zhou Jingze looked up from his phone and said: “Right, don’t trouble yourselves. I’m here after all.”

The elderly finally put down their chopsticks. Everyone shifted their attention to Zhou Jingze’s grandfather, toasting and offering birthday wishes, congratulating him on his 76th birthday.

During the meal, Zhou Jingze received a text from an unknown number. He opened it: [Hi, I’m Bai Jiajia. Do you still remember me? The one who likes watching games like you do. I happen to have tickets to a Manchester United match. Want to go together?]

Zhou Jingze stared at the message for a long time before remembering who this person was. He raised his eyebrows and typed a reply:

[Forgot to mention, the person who likes Manchester United is Xu Sui. If you don’t mind, you could sell me both tickets so I can take her to watch.]

After sending the message, Bai Jiajia never replied again, even after they finished eating.

After the meal, some people left while relatives stayed to make up a mahjong table.

In the afternoon, Zhou Jingze was ordered by his grandfather to repair the garden frame that had been damaged by dogs a few days ago. A group of children excitedly followed Zhou Jingze to the garden with toy shovels.

Only grandfather and Xu Sui remained in the living room, as grandmother had also gone to play mahjong.

Around three in the afternoon, the weather was beautiful with bright indoor lighting. Sunlight slanted in, warming everyone.

“Yi Yi, where is your family from?” Grandfather asked with a smile, leaning on his cane.

“Liying, in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area,” Xu Sui answered.

“The south – that’s a good place,” the old gentleman said.

“What other family do you have? What do they do?”

Xu Sui lowered her eyelashes and tugged at the corner of her mouth: “My father was a firefighter who died in an accident during a mission when I was in middle school. My mother is a teacher, and I have a grandmother at home.”

Listening to this, the old gentleman’s heart ached for this child. He comforted her: “Good child, if you don’t mind this old man, come eat here often. Grandfather will teach you Chinese chess, and your grandmother knows flower arranging – she can teach you too.”

“Alright.” Xu Sui curved her lips.

Warmth filled her heart. She felt that Zhou Jingze’s family were all very good people.

“Look at my brain – how about playing a game of Chinese chess with me?” The old gentleman tapped the ground with his cane. “I need to go upstairs to get my glasses.”

“I’ll help you.” Xu Sui stood up.

Xu Sui carefully helped Zhou Jingze’s grandfather upstairs and into the study. The old gentleman rummaged around and only found one pair of glasses. He said: “Child, I’ll keep looking here. Could you help grandfather check Jingze’s room for a chess set? He sometimes takes it to play – it’s in the innermost room.”

“Okay.” Xu Sui nodded.

Xu Sui walked out to the innermost room on the balcony. She placed her hand on the door handle, turned it, pushed the door open and walked in.

Zhou Jingze’s room matched his personal style perfectly – cool tones but comfortable. The bedsheets were hemp gray with an aviation magazine thrown on the nightstand.

A soft sofa, carpet, projector hanging on the wall, a row of aircraft models on a low cabinet. In the corner sat a brown cello.

Xu Sui walked around carefully looking for the chess set but couldn’t find it anywhere.

Her gaze inadvertently swept over and spotted a chess set placed in the corner of the sofa.

Xu Sui was always meticulous. She sat down and opened the board to check if any pieces were missing. After searching for a while, she found two pieces stuck in the gap beside the sofa.

She reached up to get them, but another piece dropped with a “pop” and fell into a deeper crevice.

Xu Sui had to bend down, pressing her cheek against the sofa, struggling to reach into the gap to grab it.

After fumbling for a while, Xu Sui finally grasped the piece and slowly got up. Accidentally, she bumped into a map stuck to the sofa wall.

With a “clang,” magnets fell down. Xu Sui picked up the magnets to stick them back and noticed the map had several cities marked in red and blue.

Blue-circled cities were departure points, red-circled cities were destinations, connected by lines in between.

And there were countless red lines on it.

Xu Sui discovered that all these departure cities uniformly pointed to three destinations: Hong Kong, Jingbei, and Nanjiang.

Nanjiang was the city where she had done her graduate studies. An uncertain suspicion slowly formed in her heart. Xu Sui’s emotions were indescribable – she just felt her breathing grow heavy as she stared at the map.

A voice came from the doorway asking: “Yi Yi, did you find the chess set?”

“I found it,” Xu Sui turned back, her voice somewhat hoarse. “Grandfather, do you know what this is?”

Grandfather walked in with his cane and sat on the sofa. He glanced at it and smiled: “To be honest, I’m not too clear either. Child, aren’t you curious why I recognized you at first sight?”

“Why?” Xu Sui felt her throat somewhat uncomfortable.

The afternoon sunlight was beautiful. Zhou Jingze’s grandfather sat there talking with Xu Sui. His words were somewhat disjointed, but Xu Sui still caught some key points.

“I remember when he was in college, he suddenly said one day that he wanted to bring a girl home for me to see,” grandfather recalled. “He said, ‘Grandfather, that girl is called Yi Yi. She’s very well-behaved and kind. I like her very much.'”

Zhou Jingze leaned in the doorway, no longer carrying that reckless air. He lowered his dark eyelashes and spoke seriously, unconsciously smiling when thinking of Xu Sui:

“Being with her, I thought about the future for the first time.”

When the old man thought he could meet Xu Sui, on his great-grandson’s birthday, Zhou Jingze never came home all night. The food and longevity noodles on the table went untouched.

He seemed to have forgotten his own birthday.

“When you two broke up, this child went crazy. He’d always been disciplined and rule-abiding, but for several days straight he was drinking heavily, locking himself in his room and not coming out. He wouldn’t go to class and was extremely dejected. Even Housekeeper Zhang didn’t dare approach his room,” grandfather paused and sighed. “At that time, if I hadn’t managed him, no one would have.”

“Later, when he finally came out and his mood improved a bit, he’d play Chinese chess with me and accompany me to plant trees in the garden. When I saw his condition was mostly better – that he could eat normally, would go out, and had picked up his dropped courses again – I thought it was over. But who could have imagined that one day—”

On a very ordinary afternoon, Zhou Jingze brought his cat and German Shepherd to grandfather’s house for dinner. After eating, he took them out to sunbathe. 1017 had been lying on its back by his feet sunbathing when it spotted a butterfly flying over. It jumped onto the flower frame to play and soon disappeared.

Grandfather held pruning shears, bent over looking for the cat for a while without finding it. Seeing Zhou Jingze sitting on the bench in a daze, he asked: “Where’s the cat?”

Zhou Jingze sat on the bench in the courtyard. Wild grass spread at his feet, nearly submerging the rust-covered chair. He looked up straight ahead, his dark eyelashes somewhat wet, eyes red, voice hoarse:

“Grandfather, I lost her.”

As a child, Zhou Jingze had been locked in the basement, suffering beatings and abuse from his father, crying constantly. Later, when he discovered crying couldn’t solve anything, he never cried again.

This was the first time the old man had seen Zhou Jingze’s eyes turn red.

Grandfather looked at the girl before him and continued: “Later I didn’t know much. He went to America for training, then graduated and flew all over the world. But he often came back. When I asked why he kept coming back, he’d say it was just a matter of the plane making a turn. Every time he came back, he’d go straight to his room. Now I see he was working on this map.”

Following Zhou Jingze’s grandfather’s gesture, Xu Sui looked at the map again. Her hands secretly clenched into fists, nearly deforming her dress hem, but she still couldn’t hold back. Tears dropped one by one onto the floor, her vision blurring.

On the map, all these years, countless blue dots leading to three cities, marking numerous round trips.

Los Angeles—Hong Kong, distance approximately 11,600 kilometers, 16-hour flight.

Zurich—Nanjiang, distance 9,002 kilometers, 10-hour flight.

Berlin—Jingbei, distance 8,984 kilometers, 18-hour flight.

…

These flight paths passed through Europe, the Caspian Sea, the Middle East, and Asia, but all led to the same places.

Hong Kong was his destination. Jingbei was his destination. Nanjiang was also his destination.

Wherever Xu Sui was, that was his destination.

Xu Sui stood there quietly crying alone, her eyes and nose tip all red. Grandfather didn’t blame her, only saying: “This child of our family suffered a lot when he was young, which may have caused some personality defects. He doesn’t know how to express himself or how to love. Please be patient with him.”

…

Later, when Xu Sui played chess with grandfather, her emotions gradually recovered. Before going downstairs to leave, she specifically went to the bathroom to wash her face and only came out after seeing in the mirror that she looked better.

Zhou Jingze returned from the back garden carrying a toolbox, two children following behind him. Guoguo walked in happily and threw herself into the old man’s arms, tilting her head to show everyone the little flower by her ear, her tone somewhat proud: “Uncle put this little flower on me. He said it’s because I’m pretty.”

Xu Sui smiled. This morning the child had been scared to death of him, but in just a short while, Zhou Jingze had won a little girl’s heart.

After Zhou Jingze washed his hands and waited for Xu Sui to get ready, he put his arm around her shoulder to leave. Grandmother suddenly called out to Xu Sui, handing her a brocade box, her tone gentle:

“Yi Yi, grandmother is so happy to meet you. Since it’s our first meeting and grandmother doesn’t have any gifts for you, this was left by his mother. It’s nothing valuable…”

Xu Sui opened the brocade box and saw a jade bracelet in excellent condition, emerald green and lustrous. This was hardly something “not valuable” – she was startled and quickly pushed it back, saying: “It’s too precious. I can’t accept it.”

“Child, take it!”

Xu Sui felt the two elderly people were truly wonderful. If they knew she wasn’t Zhou Jingze’s girlfriend, how disappointed would they be? Thinking of this, she still waved her hand in refusal, but when she looked up and met the expectant eyes of both elderly people, she couldn’t say the words of refusal.

She ultimately accepted the gift.

Zhou Jingze drove Xu Sui home. Along the way, he noticed she was completely off, lost in thought, not knowing what she was thinking about.

“Unhappy?” Zhou Jingze reached out and pinched her face.

Xu Sui batted his hand away: “No.”

Zhou Jingze turned the steering wheel and glanced at her, noticing her eyes were swollen. His brow furrowed, his voice low: “You cried?”

“No, I stayed up late the night before.” Xu Sui lowered her eyelashes in explanation.

Zhou Jingze pondered for a moment. Seeing she was unhappy, he checked the time and coaxed gently: “Want to get something to eat then?”

“I’m not hungry.” Xu Sui shook her head, hesitated for a moment, then took out the brocade box from her bag and handed it to him, taking a breath: “Find time to return the bracelet to grandmother…”

The car was moving slowly forward when suddenly there was a sharp braking sound. Xu Sui was thrown forward uncontrollably. Zhou Jingze gripped the steering wheel and pulled the car to the side of the road.

The car fell silent. In the dead quiet, Zhou Jingze spoke, his voice heavy: “Why?”

“It’s too precious, and it’s only our first meeting…” Xu Sui’s voice was somewhat hoarse.

Zhou Jingze’s jawline tightened, the angle sharp, his eyes locked on her: “I told you, what I like, they will like too.”

The atmosphere was tense. Xu Sui only felt her throat was terribly dry. She had many things she wanted to say but didn’t know where to start.

Zhou Jingze felt an indescribable sense of powerlessness in his heart. In his irritation, he wanted to reach for cigarettes from the center console, then gave up remembering something.

Finally, he rolled down the window, letting in a large gust of wind. At sunset, the dusk presented a thick, dusky yellow color. After a long while, he looked straight ahead. The wind was loud, fragmenting his voice as he spoke slowly:

“If you don’t want it, just throw it away.”