Zhou Jingze leaned closer, lips approaching. Xu Sui suddenly turned her head away, her ears burning as she said: “No kiss.”

This refusal sounded particularly clear in the rainy weather.

The man ended up kissing her hair instead.

“Tsk.”

Zhou Jingze’s voice was low and husky. He stretched out his broad palm to grab her from behind, his tiger’s mouth clamping down on her pale neck. Xu Sui was forced to tilt her head back, her quiet eyes looking at him somewhat helplessly.

It was precisely these eyes that brought out the malicious, possessive instincts in the man’s heart.

He lowered his head and kissed her.

First touching her lips, then kissing her tightly closed, trembling eyelashes, her nose, before using his tongue to pry open her lips and teeth, gently sucking on her lips.

Xu Sui passively endured it, her head tilted back uncomfortably. First resisting, then urgently and uncontrollably grabbing at his clothes.

The temperature inside the car gradually rose. All around were only the sounds of the automatic windshield wipers swaying, raindrops hitting stone slabs, the slight rustling of clothes, and the sound of their kissing.

Zhou Jingze kissed her while freeing one hand to take down the hand tightly gripping his shoulder, holding it in reverse.

The two of them interlocked fingers in a torrential downpour, sharing a long kiss.

Zhou Jingze kissed her for a full three minutes before finally letting her go.

After the sudden rain stopped, Zhou Jingze drove Xu Sui home. After dropping her off, Zhou Jingze received an overseas call from Hu Qianxi on his way home.

Zhou Jingze accepted the call. Before he could speak, Hu Qianxi’s lively, energetic voice came through: “Uncle!”

“I’m here. With that momentum of yours, people who don’t know might think your uncle died.” Zhou Jingze turned the steering wheel, his tone leisurely.

Hu Qianxi laughed “hehe” twice, asking about Zhou Jingze’s recent situation. He pulled the corners of his mouth into a subtle arc, replying: “Pretty good. You’re about to have an aunt soon.”

Qianxi was so smart – she immediately understood they were on the path to reconciliation. After all, as Zhou Jingze’s relative, how could she not understand him?

All these years, the only one he had decided on was Xu Sui.

“Wow, congratulations! I knew you two would end up together eventually. She really does like you. You don’t even know back then…” Hu Qianxi said with feeling.

Zhou Jingze suddenly swerved the steering wheel, braking hard with a sharp sound that pierced the sky. His expression became stern as he confirmed again:

“What did you say?”

The other end was stunned for a moment, thinking Zhou Jingze hadn’t heard clearly, so she repeated it.

A feeling of losing and regaining, of overwhelming emotion welled up. Zhou Jingze pulled the car over to the roadside, smoked a cigarette, and finally calmed his emotions.

After a while, he spoke again: “What about you? Tell uncle how you’ve been lately?”

“Of course I’m happy and fulfilled, just a bit tired. We recently rescued an injured tricolor deer from a religious war conflict, and my little African elephant is getting closer to me – it actually learned to share food with me!” Hu Qianxi’s tone was excited, her voice rising at the end. Whenever she mentioned her little animals, she treasured each one.

“Also, also…” Hu Qianxi started by happily sharing, but gradually her voice weakened, her tone choking up: “It’s just that sometimes it… hurts so much. It’s happened several times like this, I feel like I can’t endure it anymore.”

Zhou Jingze, who had been in a leisurely posture, suddenly sat up straight upon hearing this, interrupting her with a serious tone: “Qianxi, come home.”

…

When Sheng Nanzhou received Zhou Jingze’s call, it was already past eleven at night, saying there was something and asking him to come over.

Having no choice, slave Sheng Nanzhou had to shiver and crawl out of bed, and after getting dressed, his phone “dinged” with a message from Zhou Jingze.

【Bring a box of loratadine while you’re at it.】

Sheng Nanzhou coldly replied with one word: 【Ok.】

Braving the wind and snow, Sheng Nanzhou carried a box of medicine to Zhou Jingze’s house. Upon entering, he glimpsed red marks on Zhou Jingze’s neck, plus several blood-red scratch marks.

With a “thunk,” Sheng Nanzhou’s hand struggled out of his sleeve to throw the medicine box onto the coffee table, glancing at the tragic state of his neck with a mocking tone:

“Really something, allergic for love, master of picking up girls.”

Zhou Jingze wasn’t angry either. He sat down, shook out a cigarette from the pack, put it in his mouth, and the lighter made a “click” sound as orange flames shot up, lighting it, then extinguishing.

He exhaled grayish-white smoke, his voice carrying ice chips, his tone self-satisfied: “I’m indeed better than you, you coward.”

“Hey, I rushed over in the middle of the night to bring you medicine, and now you’re cursing at me?” Sheng Nanzhou sat down across from him.

“Qianxi’s situation over there isn’t very good…” Zhou Jingze’s tone paused as he explained her recent situation.

After Zhou Jingze finished speaking, Sheng Nanzhou unexpectedly fell silent, his eyelids twitching: “I’ll go bring her back.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Sheng Nanzhou picked up his phone and booked the fastest international flight, looking at his phone while walking out. Zhou Jingze looked up at his retreating figure, raised his hand to extinguish the cigarette between his fingers in the ashtray, and said:

“If you can’t bring her back, don’t come back either.”

Sheng Nanzhou’s retreating figure paused, his voice lowered: “I know.”

After Zhou Jingze became Xu Sui’s probationary boyfriend, he truly doted on her.

Knowing she was afraid of cold and had low blood sugar, his pockets always contained heat pads and chocolate.

Occasionally when watching movies together, if Zhou Jingze had urgent matters midway, Xu Sui would urge him to leave, saying she had no problem watching the rest of the movie alone.

But Zhou Jingze would clasp her hand in reverse, his tone unhurried: “No rush, I quite want to see how it ends.”

Xu Sui fell silent. She knew Zhou Jingze was trying to put her first.

Zhou Jingze’s most fatal attraction wasn’t just his appealing appearance and personality, but also his inherent stability and meticulous, thoughtful logic.

On weekends, they had plans. Zhou Jingze said he’d take her to play by the seaside in Chengdu, with high-speed rail tickets booked for 10 AM, same-day round trip. The next day, due to exhaustion from work the previous day, Xu Sui lingered in bed for more than half an hour after waking up.

She had originally set her alarm for 7 AM, but got up at 7:40.

After washing up, when Xu Sui was halfway through applying makeup, Zhou Jingze came upstairs and knocked to enter.

They had agreed to leave at 9:30 for the high-speed rail station, and there was still half an hour before their agreed time.

Xu Sui’s tone was a bit panicked: “I’ll be ready soon.”

Zhou Jingze said nothing, sitting aside waiting for her.

Girls were more dawdling before going out. When Xu Sui finished applying makeup in a fluster, she started fretting over hair accessory matching.

She wanted to choose green, but felt it was too consistent with her earring color, so she took a black and white polka-dotted one, trying it – it seemed okay.

Xu Sui’s eyes glanced over, and she felt the blue silk ribbon wasn’t bad either.

Thus she fell into complete indecision.

Throughout, Zhou Jingze never urged her once, patiently waiting for her the entire time.

Xu Sui looked at the time – 9:40 – and was startled. She pushed Zhou Jingze’s arm toward the exit, her tone dejected: “Ah, we’re going to be late. Let’s go, I won’t wear any.”

Zhou Jingze stopped, turned back, took her hand to walk past the dressing table, pointing at the hair accessories on the table: “I think the black and white polka dots look better, but you can wear them all and try them to see the effect.”

“It’s fine, no rush.”

“Still no rush? We’re going to be late.” Xu Sui’s tone was distressed.

Zhou Jingze took the hair accessories from the dressing table one by one to help her try, his eyes showing casual indifference:

“Guessing you’d sleep in today or be late due to makeup, I already changed the tickets to 2 PM in advance.”

“So you can choose slowly. After choosing, I’ll take you for lunch, then to the high-speed rail station. The hotel’s booked too – we’ll stay there one night. This is plan B.” Zhou Jingze’s tone was gentle.

Xu Sui breathed a sigh of relief, simultaneously marveling at his thoughtfulness and care: “Good, then I’ll choose slowly.”

Between couples on dates, often one party being late and dawdling would cause the other to lose their temper and argue, but with Zhou Jingze, this situation simply wouldn’t occur.

As a boyfriend, Zhou Jingze was indeed impeccably considerate.

After returning from Chengdu, it was a weekday. Zhou Jingze seemed to have a business trip to a neighboring city for a day. It happened to be October 17th, vaccination day for 1017. He gave Xu Sui the keys, asking her to help take the cat for vaccination.

Xu Sui hadn’t been to Amber Lane for a long time. Stepping in, many sealed memories were opened.

Upon entering, Xu Sui tentatively called “1017.” An old cat immediately darted out from the flower bed, rolling to her feet like an orange snowball.

Xu Sui squatted down to pet its head, her heart melting completely.

Xu Sui entered Zhou Jingze’s house, found the pet carrier. Master Kui, discovering it was her, wagged his tail and even enthusiastically licked her palm.

“Long time no see, you too.” Xu Sui said with a smile.

Xu Sui played with it for a while before finally carrying the cat out. Just as she walked out of the courtyard and closed the door, she ran into a young man with a crew cut who was quite tall.

Xu Sui felt he looked familiar but couldn’t remember who he was, so she nodded at him and was about to leave with the cat. But the crew-cut guy called out to her: “Hey, Sister Xu Sui.”

“How do you know me?” Xu Sui stopped, her tone puzzled.

Cheng You held a brown paper envelope, walking over: “I’m Cheng You. We’ve met before – blind date? Barbecue stand? When boss fought for you, remember? I was right there then.”

Cheng You said keywords while gesturing. Xu Sui looked at his face and gradually matched him up, nodding: “I remember. What do you need from him? He’s on a business trip, but he’ll be back tomorrow.”

“I see. The company notice came down,” Cheng You scratched his head, his tone hesitant, “Could you help me pass this to him? This matter… I’m a bit afraid to face him, and can’t imagine his expression.”

Xu Sui took the brown paper envelope. She was going to take it back, but hearing him say this, her fingers unwound the white string on top. After hesitating, she opened it to look.

White documents peeked out halfway from the envelope, the bold title conspicuous and glaring – it was Dongzhao International Airlines’ termination of employment letter for Zhou Jingze.

Her black pupils contracted violently.

She glanced at the date – it was the day Xu Sui had pushed him away and deliberately stayed with Bai Yushi. Zhou Jingze never mentioned this from beginning to end, and even after reconciling, only mentioned lightly that he had been grounded.

What exactly had she done?

Xu Sui took a breath, her throat dry: “Can you tell me why he was grounded?”

“This… I…” Cheng You spoke hesitantly, but meeting her eyes, he sighed: “I’ll tell you everything, but please don’t tell boss it was me who said it. I still want to live well.”

Cheng You said Zhou Jingze had excellent performance in the industry, first-class flying skills, naturally deeply valued by leadership. Plus his straightforward personality – proud but not conceited – colleagues got along well with him too.

In the industry, the three words “Zhou Jingze” were famous.

At the same time, Dongzhao International Airlines had another capable general named Gao Yang.

But he was slightly inferior.

When people mentioned Eastern Airlines, they first thought of Zhou Jingze, not Gao Yang.

Because no one cares about second place.

On an international flight from Shanghai to Honolulu, Zhou Jingze routinely flew TC310 international flight with his old partner Li Haoning.

The captain and co-pilot being partners required absolute trust.

Zhou Jingze was quite steady in his work. In multiple flights, almost nothing went wrong. For passenger safety, during flight operations, he personally handled all important matters, while delegating secondary matters to the co-pilot.

However, before this flight, Li Haoning suddenly invited Zhou Jingze for coffee.

Li Haoning held the scalding coffee, his face a bit pale: “My mom was diagnosed with kidney failure last month, uremia.”

Zhou Jingze had just taken a sip of coffee. Hearing this, his tongue was burned. He patted Li Haoning’s shoulder: “Whatever help you need, just say it.”

Li Haoning smiled bitterly: “I originally wanted to take annual leave to bring my mom to Honolulu to play, but now it seems impossible. Boss… on the return trip, could you let me fly the whole way, then help me take a photo? I want to send it to my mom.”

The Shanghai-Honolulu return flight, with control handed to Li Haoning, wasn’t in Zhou Jingze’s plans.

Normally, of four flights, one could be delegated to the co-pilot, but the Shanghai-Honolulu return was at the wrong time – midnight when pilots were most fatigued. Plus different air traffic control requirements for each route, he worried Li Haoning might not handle it.

“Boss, don’t worry, I definitely won’t drag you down.” Li Haoning emphasized, his expression pleading.

“I can let you fly,” Zhou Jingze thought for a moment, raising his eyes to look at him, his gaze sharp, “it’s not about dragging me down – remember you’re carrying passengers’ lives on your shoulders.”

“Understood.” Li Haoning promised.

“Alright.”

On the Honolulu return segment, Li Haoning looked at Zhou Jingze cautiously.

Zhou Jingze in the captain’s seat said in a low voice: “Li Haoning, you take control.”

“Roger.” Li Haoning immediately broke into a smile.

After all checks were completed, the plane took off normally, slowly flying steadily above the sky.

Li Haoning’s palms and forehead broke into a layer of sweat.

Zhou Jingze thought he was nervous and laughingly wiped his forehead with tissues.

At 3 AM, everything was normal when the radar screen suddenly failed, half turning white.

Before anyone could react, Li Haoning deviated from the flight path, turning right.

A fatal operational error.

Due to radar failure and weather conditions, the plane began shaking violently.

Then, a passenger who had just exited the restroom fell due to severe cabin turbulence and had an epileptic seizure.

The passenger cabin erupted in chaos – children crying, passengers calling for help anxiously, mixed with flight attendants’ comforting voices.

Zhou Jingze sat in the cockpit as the plane shook violently, nearly throwing him out. He gripped the armrest tightly, his eagle eyes calm. What would be the consequences if the situation became serious?

Engine fire, fuselage damage and crash, lives of everyone on the plane…

He dared not think further.

Thunder suddenly struck on the left. Checking the screen, he finally saw the left wing had entered a cumulonimbus cloud.

He quickly thought, staying calm. Since the captain and co-pilot had the same control instruments, there was a mutual balancing relationship.

So Zhou Jingze could only remind him: “Control flight speed, push the stick right.”

As soon as he spoke, Li Haoning was still confused. Zhou Jingze noticed something was wrong with him, momentarily unable to determine if his expression showed regret or panic.

He sternly reminded: “I have!”

Zhou Jingze was taking control himself.

When the captain issued this command, the co-pilot had to yield. Li Haoning came to his senses as if waking from a dream, his face pale.

Zhou Jingze had no time to consider his emotions. While desperately stabilizing speed, he pulled the control stick right.

The fuselage kept shaking. Li Haoning’s head hit the panel, leaving a bruise.

Amidst lightning and thunder, Zhou Jingze remained calm-faced and composed, pulling the control stick to leave the cumulonimbus cloud.

At the critical moment, the left wing scraped past the cumulonimbus cloud and left.

The fuselage began returning to stability, the chaos gradually quieted. Zhou Jingze heavily exhaled, his back covered in dense sweat.

Survival after disaster.

This flight accident ultimately resulted in two passenger injuries.

Afterward, the company gave Zhou Jingze and Li Haoning serious temporary grounding punishment and immediately handled emergency PR within the company.

Zhou Jingze was, after all, the company’s capable general, and the fault wasn’t his. Just when everyone thought this matter shouldn’t cause big problems.

Media began extensively reporting Zhou Jingze’s flight accident errors. According to colleague revelations, they said his personality was arrogant, that delegating tasks to the co-pilot this time was also habitual shirking of responsibility, only wanting to enjoy results. They embellished stories about him despising illness, disregarding pilot discipline codes, having a chaotic private life, etc.

For a time, Dongzhao International Airlines received hundreds and thousands of complaint letters daily.

Not only that, marketing accounts deliberately manufactured guided public opinion and abuse.

Online, overwhelming criticism flooded toward Zhou Jingze like a tide.

Some even camped outside the airline company, throwing water bottles at him and cursing him to be hit by cars when going out.

For a time, the eagle fell from its pedestal.

Zhou Jingze suddenly understood something – the internet could praise you unstintingly, or kill a person with the most vicious language.

What disappointed Zhou Jingze most was that the person he considered a life-and-death brother accused him immediately afterward, saying he was instructed by Zhou Jingze to operate this flight.

Because the regulation was such – all flight safety responsibility lay with the captain; if the co-pilot made errors, the captain bore full responsibility.

Zhou Jingze was thus exiled, reduced to an ordinary flight training instructor, the kind despised and mocked by trainees.

Later, Li Haoning coming to confess was something Zhou Jingze hadn’t expected.

Because Zhou Jingze had used his salary savings to compensate the two injured passengers on the plane, plus an anonymous amount sent to Li Haoning’s mother.

This happened before Li Haoning accused him.

After Li Haoning learned of this, his conscience was uneasy. He came crying to Zhou Jingze to admit his mistake, his eyes reddening:

“I was instructed by Gao Yang. He said if he brought you down, he’d cover all my mom’s treatment costs and get her… the best doctors.”

Zhou Jingze was silent for a long while, then grabbed him by the collar and threw a punch, staring at him viciously:

“Your mother is a life, but the passengers’ lives on the plane aren’t lives?”

Before Zhou Jingze left, he looked at him deeply:

“Don’t joke with lives.”

Gao Yang could act in this matter and secretly prevent Zhou Jingze from returning to flight status, attacking him through every means, because he had some power behind him.

Since university, he’d been compared to Zhou Jingze, eternally second place, crushed all the way. After graduation, they both worked at the same company, always suppressed by Zhou Jingze.

Seeds of jealousy began sprouting very early, gradually becoming twisted, finally becoming a wildly growing vine.

Xu Sui was completely stunned. Was Gao Yang that tall, thin male student who had basketball and airplane competitions with Zhou Jingze in university?

Back then, whether he won at basketball or lost at flying, external evaluations still said Gao Yang was always beneath Zhou Jingze.

“Thank you.” Xu Sui forced a smile and left carrying the cat.

She was afraid if she didn’t leave, she couldn’t control her emotions.

That evening, Xu Sui drank glass after glass of alcohol at the pub. When Liang Shuang arrived, she had already drunk half a dozen beers.

While drinking, Xu Sui told Liang Shuang about what had happened between her and Zhou Jingze during this time, about what he had endured.

So he had suffered so much.

As Xu Sui spoke, suddenly a crystal-clear teardrop fell into her wine glass. Her eyes instantly reddened. She sniffled, her voice choking:

“Didn’t you ask me before why I still cared so much about him after breaking up?”

Xu Sui tilted her head back to drink, beer foam choking her nostrils, her throat sour:

“I… just felt that someone like him, who would pick up stray cats on the road and care for them for life, who would tell noodle shop aunties ‘thank you for your hard work,’ someone so sincere and kind, such a good person.”

“Should have a smooth path ahead, going smoothly all the way.”

Instead of like now, often silently smoking, trapped in that dusty base, using devil-may-care smiles to mask disappointment, yet never again able to do what he loved.

Liang Shuang held her hand, softly comforting: “I understand.”

Across from the bar was a VIP booth. People danced wildly on the dance floor, electronic music nearly piercing eardrums.

A man in casual wear sitting in the middle of the booth had been staring at Xu Sui since she entered.

He raised his hand to call a server, whispering a few words.

Soon, a glass of Jägermeister was delivered to Xu Sui. The server holding the tray said: “This is from that gentleman over there.”

Xu Sui turned to look. The man showed a gentle smile, even raising his glass to toast her from afar.

She squinted over. After confirming who the other person was, she jumped down from the high stool, took the Jägermeister, crossed through crowds of people, and walked toward that man.

Life was not only full of narrow encounters everywhere, but some people’s inherent bad nature never changed.

Xu Sui walked up to the man. Li Sen beside him saw Xu Sui and mocked: “Oh, old classmate, long time no see.”

“Where’s your boyfriend? He’s just a broken base instructor now, should be quite free.” Li Sen laughed mockingly, even turning to tell people nearby, “Hey, you guys don’t know, right? Our industry’s awesome Captain Zhou, Zhou Jingze, can’t fly anymore – he’s become a stray dog.”

“Really thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, hahaha!”

After speaking, the crowd burst into laughter mixed with contempt, superiority, and disdain.

Xu Sui never reacted at all.

Gao Yang in the middle booth seat hadn’t spoken, but slowly revealed a smug smile.

Seeing this, Xu Sui didn’t hesitate to splash the glass of alcohol over, wine-red liquid drenching him from head to toe.

Originally well-dressed, Gao Yang’s smile stopped abruptly, his white shirt streaked red and gray, his hair becoming strands due to red wine, dripping wet.

“Are you fucking crazy?”

Li Hao immediately stood up, about to grab her.

Xu Sui wasn’t afraid either, her eyes fierce, showing fearlessness.

Gao Yang spoke: “Let her go.”

Li Hao released his grip. Xu Sui looked at this group of people, only feeling disgusted. She stared at Gao Yang and cursed the most vicious profanity of her life, so angry her breathing was unsteady:

“You son of a bitch eunuch!”

When Liang Shuang rushed over, this sentence had just finished. She pulled Xu Sui’s hand, constantly apologizing: “Sorry, she’s been drinking.”

Li Hao’s expression darkened. Gao Yang waved his hand, thinking forget it – Zhou Jingze couldn’t make a comeback anyway.

At midnight, Zhou Jingze had just gotten off the high-speed train when he received Liang Shuang’s call. He immediately drove to the bar where they were.

The night was quiet; when people spoke, their breath formed white mist.

Liang Shuang supported Xu Sui standing under a streetlight. Soon, Zhou Jingze appeared. He took Xu Sui from Liang Shuang’s hands.

The parking lot was some distance from them. Zhou Jingze carried Xu Sui on his back, his hands holding her legs, bouncing her up.

Drunkenly intoxicated, Xu Sui suddenly raised her hand to slap Zhou Jingze:

“Why did you come back?”

“I missed you, so I came back early.” Zhou Jingze smiled.

Xu Sui burped “oh” and her eyes were confused, long eyelashes blinking. She began a string of cursing and profanity.

Zhou Jingze found her impoverished vocabulary of curses amusing. Not knowing who she was cursing, from beginning to end she only cursed things like “eunuch” and “villains eating instant noodles without forks.”

“Hey, let me tell you a secret,” Xu Sui suddenly pinched his ear, hot breath brushing over it.

Zhou Jingze’s body instantly stiffened. He steadied his breathing and asked: “What secret?”

“It’s that you can definitely fly planes again,” Xu Sui said softly, then murmured again,

“Definitely can.”

What answered Xu Sui was a long silence.

Seeing no response, Xu Sui boldly grabbed his collar, asking fiercely:

“Don’t you believe me?”

Zhou Jingze laughed lowly. He wouldn’t argue with a drunk person for now, saying carelessly:

“I believe you.”

Zhou Jingze continued carrying her forward. Near the parking lot, a moon happened to appear.

Xu Sui’s arms unconsciously wrapped around his, saying seriously:

“I’ll always stay with you.”

At the same time, scalding tears slid from the corners of her eyes, flowing into Zhou Jingze’s neck, burning his heart.

His entire body trembled, freezing and not daring to move, until even breathing came from behind.

Zhou Jingze’s lips curved slightly, thinking he hadn’t loved the wrong person – his girl knew to feel sorry for him.

Who knew the next day, hungover Xu Sui completely denied “I’ll always stay with you.”

No matter how Zhou Jingze tried various ways to verify, he couldn’t pry open her mouth.

Xu Sui pretended to drink water calmly, using the water to cover her face: “Just drunk talk.”

She didn’t want to recall that out-of-control version of herself from last night.

A magnetic, low chuckle sounded above her head. Zhou Jingze took away her cup, leaned down to look at her, asking:

“Is that so? Then explain to me why the cat is called 1017.”

Xu Sui froze, remembering some things. Originally encountering a stray cat in the back garden, deciding on this name was her secret, later only Hu Qianxi knew.

1017, the first day she saw Zhou Jingze again in university, October 17, 2010.

From then on, her life became bright as sunshine.