The rough thumb pad pressed against the corner of her lips. Xu Sui felt that entire patch of skin go numb. Coming back to her senses from his coaxing tone, Xu Sui slapped away his arm and said, “It’s my instinct to stay away from you.”

Seeing that she was about to slip away again, Zhou Jingze gently tugged on her ponytail, narrowed his eyes, his tone casual: “Where’s the disciplinary committee at your workplace?”

“?” Xu Sui.

Zhou Jingze’s fingertip hooked a strand of her black hair, his fingers twirling it, letting out a soft laugh: “I’m saying you’re being irresponsible – hit and run.”

From Zhou Jingze’s attitude, he was determined to have Xu Sui give him an explanation.

“One month,” Xu Sui thought seriously for a moment, deliberately avoiding Zhou Jingze’s gaze, shrinking her neck back in fear, “If it doesn’t work out by then, I can still change my mind.”

Zhou Jingze’s expression darkened instantly. He stared at Xu Sui lowering her head, revealing a section of her slender white neck, bit down on his back teeth, but finally his expression softened, as if he had figured something out:

“Fine, I’ll strive for permanent employment during the probation period.”

After dropping Xu Sui off at work, Zhou Jingze drove his car, turned the steering wheel, and headed toward the base.

On the road, the weather outside wasn’t very good, a bit dark, like thick ink staining white cloth. All along the way, withered grass swayed, ice crystals wrapped around yellow leaves, hanging from tree branches like amber about to fall.

The originally gloomy weather somehow looked pleasing to his eyes.

Just then, Sheng Nanzhou called. Zhou Jingze accepted the call, took his AirPods from the center console and put them in his ears, his pleasant voice rising:

“What’s up?”

“Hey, Master Zhou, what kind of talk is that? Can’t I call you when there’s nothing wrong?” Sheng Nanzhou immediately had objections.

Zhou Jingze let out a soft laugh, reached into his cigarette pack to pull out a cigarette, lowered his head to bite it.

“There’s some progress on that matter of yours. Guess who’s behind it?” Sheng Nanzhou deliberately kept him in suspense.

Zhou Jingze wouldn’t take the bait. With a “click,” the lighter opened, and an orange flame ignited.

“It’s Gao Yang.”

“I guessed as much.” Zhou Jingze exhaled a puff of grayish-white smoke, his tone indifferent.

“Not talking about that,” Zhou Jingze seemed to have something to ask him, hesitating for a moment, “Do you know how to quickly win someone back?”

Sheng Nanzhou was stunned for a second before realizing there had been progress between him and Xu Sui, and he said “win back,” grinning: “There are tons of ways to woo girls. First, call me Brother Zhou and let me hear it.”

Zhou Jingze let out a soft laugh. Just then there was traffic ahead, so he stopped, his voice low: “Alright, Sister Zhou, give me some advice.”

“? Will I ever get the chance to take advantage of you in this lifetime?” Sheng Nanzhou was quite angry, sighed and compromised: “What do girls like most? Romance, flowers, candlelit dinners, movies…”

“I’ve done the last two with her,” Zhou Jingze raised his brow bone, then thought again, “Seems like I haven’t given her flowers yet.”

“Thanks.” After saying that, Zhou Jingze hung up the phone decisively.

“Hey… aren’t you allergic to pollen?” Sheng Nanzhou only managed to shout half a sentence before hearing the cold “beep beep” sound from the other end.

Really heartless after getting what he wanted. Sheng Nanzhou felt like he’d been instantly thrown into the cold palace.

After Zhou Jingze drove to the base, he pulled out his keys and got out of the car leisurely, closing the door.

Hooking his keys on his finger, he went to the training ground to check on the trainees. They were doing physical fitness speed tests.

“Tsk, at that speed, are you going to the market to buy groceries?” Zhou Jingze suddenly appeared behind them and spoke up, teasing.

The trainees were startled and immediately shouted in unison, loud and clear:

“Good afternoon, Instructor Zhou!”

Zhou Jingze nodded, raised his hand to point at the testing poles in the distance: “Five more sets of pole-touching jumps.”

“Ah?!”

“No way? Instructor, you just glanced over casually and didn’t really understand our true capabilities.”

“Damn, again. My small frame can’t take it anymore.”

Wails arose everywhere, everyone lamenting their bad luck – how the hell did they encounter a demon just doing a test??

Just as the group was lamenting, Wu Fan ran over panting, wiping the sweat from his forehead:

“Boss, you had me searching everywhere. There’s someone waiting for you in your office for ages, says he must see you today.”

“Alright, got it.” Zhou Jingze replied.

Having said that, Zhou Jingze turned around to stare at the group of young people in blue training uniforms in front of him, his tongue pressing against his left cheek, smiling carelessly:

“You little rascals, train well.”

After speaking, Zhou Jingze strode away with his long legs, walking leisurely toward the office.

“Yes, Instructor!”

“Yessir!”

The group of trainees breathed a sigh of relief, cheering with raised arms, completely different from their earlier battle-ready appearance.

Zhou Jingze thought it was some old friend visiting. He put his hands in his pockets, walking with a subtle smile on his lips. When he entered the office door and caught sight of who was sitting on the sofa, the smile on his face disappeared completely.

The person sitting on the sofa immediately stood up awkwardly upon seeing Zhou Jingze, his expression submissive.

It was Li Haoning, his old partner who had fought alongside him for many years, and also the co-pilot who had falsely accused and framed him.

“Long time no see.” Zhou Jingze’s voice was calm.

Li Haoning was stunned for a second. He thought Zhou Jingze would at least rush over and beat him up, but instead the man could calmly greet him.

“Boss, I came to find you today to apologize. I’m… sorry.” Li Haoning choked up as he spoke, rubbing his reddened eyes, “Go ahead and hit me, or curse me out however you want.”

Zhou Jingze didn’t speak. He accepted Li Haoning’s apology, but that didn’t mean he would forgive Li Haoning.

There was no heating in the office, only an old standing air conditioner making humming sounds. A deathly silence.

Li Haoning couldn’t breathe in the deathly silence and said: “Boss, I… really had no choice. My mom went into the ICU twice.”

After all this time, Li Haoning had never dared to see him, and had been restless every day, unable to sleep at night.

He had wronged Zhou Jingze.

Whatever the mistakes, they were all his fault.

He wanted to come apologize to give himself some peace of mind.

Zhou Jingze opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of ice water, his index finger sliding open the cap with a “pop,” which happened to fall into the trash can.

He tilted his head back, his Adam’s apple rolling slowly as he drank a large gulp of ice water, swallowing the crushed ice along with it. In the middle of winter, it felt like his throat contained very cold mint ice cubes.

“I’m not flying anymore. Take good care of your mother.” Zhou Jingze patted Li Haoning’s shoulder, his tone gentle.

In the end, he didn’t blame him or show resentment, even telling Li Haoning to take care of his family, but this also ended the conversation.

Li Haoning stared at his departing figure, his heart sinking like it weighed a thousand pounds.

While Xu Sui was working at the hospital, Zhou Jingze sent a message asking what time she got off work. She replied after 6.

Zhou Jingze replied: 【Little liar.】

Xu Sui’s cheeks warmed, remembering how she had lied that morning about having to work overtime.

After 6, Xu Sui finished her work and came out with several colleagues.

From afar, she spotted Zhou Jingze at a glance.

This man was quite conspicuous, having parked his car directly at the hospital entrance.

Winter days grew dark quickly. Only half the dusk remained. His shoulders were broad and upright, thick brows, thin lips, with half blue tones and half warm red behind him.

It seemed like he’d been waiting there for a long time.

Zhou Jingze leaned lazily against the car. He was cupping his hands around a flame, his skin cold and pale, a section of his brow bone sharp and prominent. Then wisps of white smoke drifted up through his fingers.

Today he wore a black hooded drawstring windbreaker, adding a touch of youthful air.

Seeing Xu Sui come out, he immediately extinguished his cigarette and walked forward.

Her colleagues standing nearby had long since noticed the exceptionally distinguished man in the distance, but his eyes were locked on Xu Sui from beginning to end.

Seeing this, a colleague gossipily nudged her arm and asked: “Dr. Xu, he’s here to pick you up, right? So handsome, so manly.”

“What should I do? I’m almost thirty but still fall for this roguish handsome type.” Another colleague sighed.

Xu Sui felt a bit embarrassed by their questions and casually deflected: “That’s the taxi driver I called.”

“Who’d believe that? A taxi with a G-Wagon and consecutive license plates – how come I can never get one!” The colleague saw right through her.

Xu Sui couldn’t handle her colleagues’ burning gossip fire. Seeing Zhou Jingze about to reach them, she walked over and grabbed his sleeve, immediately heading toward the car, turning back with a smile:

“I have something to do, leaving first.”

Zhou Jingze looked down at Xu Sui grabbing his sleeve, her fingers pale and striking against the thick black fabric.

Xu Sui was walking forward concentratedly when she suddenly felt warmth approaching. Broad fingers pressed against her palm, warm coverage, calloused fingers threading through her five fingers, then interlocking. Her heart trembled.

It became him holding her hand firmly.

Even though it wasn’t their first time holding hands, why did her heart still race with that long-lost flutter?

Her heart was beating so fast it might leap from her chest. Xu Sui didn’t look at him, unnaturally gazing ahead, while Zhou Jingze remained composed, also not looking at her.

Zhou Jingze’s hand kept holding hers, never letting go.

After getting in the car, Zhou Jingze tapped the navigation, entered an address, and occasionally turned to chat with her, asking about her day.

The car moved forward slowly. Xu Sui sat in the passenger seat, talking about the patients she encountered today and what she ate in the cafeteria.

Very mundane daily life, but Zhou Jingze listened attentively.

Xu Sui was telling him about an optimistic patient who performed comedy in the ward today when a fresh yellow-green color appeared before her eyes.

“Picked up on the way.” Zhou Jingze drove looking straight ahead, suddenly handing her a bouquet of flowers.

After handing them over, he raised his hand to rub his neck – it was a bit itchy.

Xu Sui froze, taking them. In her memory, this seemed to be the first time he’d given her flowers.

She remembered when they were together before, when they went out to eat and there were guys giving flowers to their girlfriends at restaurants – clearly very romantic, but Zhou Jingze had commented: “Empty gestures.”

Now, to make her happy, he was learning to give flowers.

It was a bouquet of ping pong chrysanthemums, three green ones and two yellow ones, like snowballs. Xu Sui took them and lowered her head to touch them with her nose tip.

She really liked green.

“Thank you.”

Girls were happiest receiving flowers, regardless of who gave them, because flowers had a magical power to naturally please people.

After Zhou Jingze took Xu Sui to dinner, he drove her toward Shilu Mountain.

“Where are we going?” Xu Sui asked.

“To see the stars. I made a reservation.” Zhou Jingze said with his palm resting on the steering wheel.

The car drove halfway up the mountain. As soon as Xu Sui got out, mountain wind blew over. Zhou Jingze strode over, holding a blanket, shaking it out and wrapping it around her chest like covering a small animal, not very skillfully.

His light tobacco scent drifted over, his fingers occasionally touching her neck, bringing a slight trembling sensation. Looking up, Zhou Jingze was looking down at her.

As if electric current ran through her.

Xu Sui turned her face away, looking away first.

Zhou Jingze let out a soft laugh, taking her hand to walk forward.

Just as they had ten more minutes to walk to the observatory, the sky suddenly rumbled with thunder.

The sky that had still shown faint light was now thick black, like spilled ink.

Suddenly, heavy rain poured down, and passersby ran back.

Zhou Jingze immediately started to take off his jacket. Xu Sui stopped him, saying: “There’s the small blanket.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the rain fell more densely, hitting people cold and icy. Seeing this, Zhou Jingze immediately embraced Xu Sui back to the car.

On the way, the rain grew heavier. The parts of their clothes that got wet became like water-soaked sponges, gradually getting heavier.

By the time they got back to the car, both were somewhat soaked. Zhou Jingze, having sheltered her, had his entire jacket wet.

He simply took off his jacket, turned the car’s heating to maximum, and leaned over to get a clean towel from the back seat to hand to Xu Sui.

Xu Sui’s shoulders and hair were wet, with a strand of hair dripping water down her chest.

The rain grew heavier and heavier. They couldn’t leave for a while, so they sat waiting for it to stop.

Zhou Jingze pulled out tissues to wipe the water from his face, shook the water droplets from his hair. Glancing over, Xu Sui was still holding that bouquet of ping pong chrysanthemums, the corners of her lips unconsciously curving upward.

Because the car windows were tightly closed and the heating was circulating, the pollen scent gradually reached Zhou Jingze’s nose. He couldn’t help but sneeze, his eyes becoming a bit watery.

Xu Sui was happily looking at her flowers when a hand with distinct knuckles reached over and took the flowers from her hands.

Zhou Jingze took the dry towel from her hands, leaned over, and carefully dried Xu Sui’s hair.

The rain grew heavier, wind beating against the windows, raindrops like broken pearls sticking to the car window and sliding down.

The two were very close. Zhou Jingze smelled her unique faint milky fragrance.

Water drops from Xu Sui’s hair fell onto his wrist, flowing backward down his firm arm into his chest.

A cool, stimulating sensation.

Looking up, Xu Sui noticed Zhou Jingze still had water on his brow bone and cheeks that hadn’t been wiped clean.

So she unconsciously raised her hand to touch his cheek, then his nose, then slowly to his prominent brow bone, gently wiping away the raindrops.

Such a soft touch.

Zhou Jingze paused in drying her hair, suddenly gripping her arm tightly. Xu Sui was forced to look at him.

The suppressed emotions in his eyes were restraining something. His voice was low and deep, yet clear despite the sound of heavy rain, asking:

“A kiss?”