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Chapter 30.1: Making one’s heart race.
After the group left, Zhou Jingze acted like nothing had happened and took Xu Sui upstairs to the second cafeteria. Sheng Nanzhou and Da Liu ordered twice the typical servings since Zhou Jingze was treating them.
Zhou Jingze leaned back on the blue seat and was playing games on his phone until he heard a sound, glancing at the two in front of him and giving a very light sneer:
“Really great.”
“Hai, aren’t these benefits all because of Sister Xu.” Da Liu replied while sitting down.
Xu Sui’s ears turned slightly warm and said quickly, “No.”
The group sat down one after another and started to eat. After a few chats, the topic still turned to the bet. While stuffing ribs into his mouth, Da Liu said: “The pilot technical assessment next month is the exam at the end of the term right? I heard that city reporters will be coming to do a special issue; they really know how to choose the day.”
Thinking of that slender Gao Yang, whose gloomy and usually doesn’t like to talk, Shen Nanzhou got annoyed and sneered: “This scholar, no matter how hard he tries, he won’t catch up with you. You were the first in the last simulator flight exam and English theory test. The instructors probably praised you all the time that he remembered you.”
Zhou Jingze frowned slightly as he didn’t have the slightest memory: “I don’t remember.”
“As soon as you mentioned this, I remembered that no matter if it was competitions or exams, he was always ranked behind Master Zhou. Except for this basketball game,” Da Liu hit his head fiercely before changing the subject, “Brother, are you confident?”
Zhou Jingze was too lazy to act in this show with Da Liu; he unscrewed the cap of the cold water bottle and took a sip, and his eyes sharpened. He glanced at Xu Sui who was on the opposite side, finding that she had barely touched the food in front of her. Xu Sui’s dark eyelashes were drooping as she was poking at the rice with chopsticks, with no idea what she was thinking.
“Not spicy enough?” Zhou Jingze raised his eyebrows and guessed.
Xu Sui shook her head. She was also thinking about the bet. She couldn’t imagine someone as prideful as Zhou Jingze running around admitting defeat. Wouldn’t that shatter his self-esteem?
“Why don’t you just forget about that bet, what if you lose?” Xu Sui said in a worried tone.
Zhou Jingze twisted the bottle cap back and smiled casually with a hint of arrogance: “I won’t lose.”
After Xu Sui returned to school, she told Hu Xixi about this. Once the eldest miss heard about this, she was so angry that she slapped the table: “That Li Sen is insane, Sui Sui, are you injured?”
On the way back, Xu Sui bought skittles from the convenience store and handed them to Hu Xixi while replying, “I’m fine, but Zhou Jingze’s bet—”
“It’s fine, he knows what he’s doing.” Hu Xixi waved her hand.
She opened the bag of the Skittles and took a bite, sweet and sour, and said again: “But Sui Sui, I really feel like my Uncle likes you. Otherwise, why does he always take special care of you?”
“Xu Sui’s heart jumped, but she continued to deny it: “Because he’s a good person.”
That’s how he has been since high school. He’s upright and kind, respecting everyone. Moreover, he comes from an excellent family– an outstanding guy.
Xu Sui’s self-denial and sensitivity in relationships made Hu Xixi sigh. She looked at Xu Sui and said, “Why don’t you give it a try, how about confessing to him? You said that he’s very good. How long are you going hide your crush silently to yourself?”
“I wouldn’t dare to.” Xu Sui’s eyes were timid.
“How about a bet? If he wins, you confess,” Hu Xixi suggested. “Try it, maybe you can end your three-year crush.”
Xu Sui was silent for a long time and finally nodded: “Okay.”
Even after taking a night shower, Xu Sui was still worried about what happened during the day. She sent a message and asked: 【Flying competition, aren’t you claustrophobic? 】
Two minutes later, the screen lights up, and ZJZ replies: 【Who told you that I have claustrophobia? 】
Xu Sui hesitated for a while and then said: 【High school, I heard what they said. 】
After what seemed like a long time, ZJZ replied: 【 Not really claustrophobia, only slightly, but to be more precise, fear of dark and confined spaces. The competition is during the day.】
As Xu Sui was about to reply when Zhou Jingze sent another message:
【Don’t worry. 】
Xu Sui finally let out a sigh of relief. She put her phone aside and sat at the desk with her half-wet hair. She proceeded to turn on the lamp and took out a diary with a letter in it from the drawer.
There were some traces on the letter paper that looked outdated. Xu Sui held onto a corner of the letter and looked at it for a long time. This was written since she started secretly liking Zhou Jingze, and she always fantasizes about handing it to him one day.
But she never dared to hand it out.
Up until now, Xu Sui occasionally scribbled and wrote letters on the stationery. Although in this day and age, writing a letter to confess to someone has become old-fashioned.
How is it? Is it time to confess?
Place the bet just this once?
——
The day of the competition was slowly advancing. Since these days are the final week for the assessment of Beihang Flight Academy, when Xu Sui and the others are in class, they often hear the roaring sound above their heads. The plane dragged its tail over the roof and rushed towards the cloudy sky.
The match held between Zhou Jingze and Gao Yang that day caused a sensation in the entire academy. Beihang has always been open and free, so the instructors and air traffic controllers were not surprised when they heard the students’ bets.
There were several instructors, a reporter, and a photographer standing at the Beihang Airport. Instructor Zhang and the air traffic controller looked at each other and smiled: “Interesting, they have the young and frivolous energy we used to have.”
“Reporter Song, there happened to be a competition today that you have something to write about,” Instructor Zhang laughed happily. Then he turned to look at the controller and said, “Old Gu, let’s make a bet. Who do you think will win?”
“Of course, it’s my student, Zhou Jingze,” the air traffic controller said.
“Then I’ll bet Gao Yang. This kid is not bad, he’s working hard.”
Before the start of the game, a group of people came to the control room. Zhou Jingze greeted the teacher in advance, and since Old Gu likes him, he allowed Xu Sui and Hu Xixi to come to the control center and watch the competition.
In the display, Zhou Jingze is wearing a black trouser and a sky blue flight suit with a flight logo embroidered in golden thread on his shoulders. Under the hat is a pair of dark, sharp eyes, a straight head and neck, and a relaxed smile on his cold face– he appeared dashing and handsome.
This was the first time Xu Sui saw Zhou Jingze wearing a formal flight suit across the screen, she was staring, and her heart was pounding.
The pilot and the instructor walked into the cockpit of the plane together. The moment Zhou Jingze sat down, he quickly scanned and checked the equipment in the cockpit.
“I don’t think you’re nervous at all.” The instructor smiled.
Zhou Jingze bit onto a marker pen, lowered his forehead, and strapped the kneeboard to his right thigh, twitching the corner of his mouth: “All pretend.”
“…” Instructor.
At first, Zhou Jingze was a little nervous, but when the plane started to shake and then slowly rise, his nervousness dissipated a little.
The instructors outside the screen watched Gao Yang take off first. This test flight route isn’t long, flying from the center of Beijing Beichen to Tongguang, Mocheng, and then returning on the same route.
Gao Yang’s plane is T-789018, and Zhou Jingze’s is passenger plane G-588017. The two planes flew into the sky one after another. After the plane took off smoothly and without shaking, Aupi (autopilot) started.
Zhou Jingze breathed a sigh of relief. While looking at the data on the instrument panel, he recorded it on a folder placed on his lap with ten lines at a glance. Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long, and the plane suffered a technical failure halfway through.
The instrument panel shows that the temperature of the No. 3 engine oil was too high, and a warning message appeared on the dashboard, the flashing message reminding Zhou Jingze. He was unlucky today, the plane had an unexpected breakdown.
The warning message was striking and glaring, reminding Zhou Jingze that the problem needed to be solved as soon as possible. The instructors and supervisors didn’t expect such a low probability of engine failure to be encountered by Zhou Jingze.
Xu Sui stood there with sweaty palms, secretly praying that Zhou Jingze would resolve it smoothly.
The display returned, and the co-pilot instructor asked, “Do you need help?”
Zhou Jingze shook his head and raised his hand choosing to turn off the generator. His deep voice was calm: “To reduce the load on the generator, so the temperature of the lubricating oil lowers, shut down one of the generators.”
The resulting dashboard still displays the warning message.
“What about now?” The co-pilot’s instructor asked.
“Turn off the engine.” Zhou Jing curled his tongue slightly, his direct and smooth voice rolling out from his throat.
His reaction was pretty quick.
The air traffic controller in front of the screen showed the admiration and involuntarily shouted: “Excellent!” Xu Sui, who was standing at the back, couldn’t help but smile.
The clouds outside the window drifted past them. The instructor didn’t give Zhou Jingze a thumbs up but pointed his fist at him with his arms crossed. Zhou Jingze was stunned for a moment before curving his thin lips upward and bumping the instructor’s fist.
When returning, the plane passed through the clouds, flying above the desert city. Under the blue sky lies an endless desert— large pieces of red and brown, like a mosaic, flowed like a rainbow under the light.
At this time, it was 5:59 AM. Zhou Jingze was flying the plane, crossing the Beijing-31 route and passing the desert. He looked out inadvertently and was stunned.
A red-orange sun was slowly rising, tearing a hole and sprinkling thousands of golden light on the ground; the fog gradually dissipated as the sun was closer than usual.
Zhou Jingze seemed to feel its heat, watching it gradually transition from orange to golden, like an entirely new universe forming.
Thousand rays of lights, short but brilliant.
“Teacher, can you help me take a picture of the sunrise outside the cabin?” Zhou Jingze asked.
The teacher glanced out the window, turned his head, and joked, “Why, you never saw the sunrise?”
“Well, it’s the first time.” Zhou Jingze smiled.
It turned out to be like what Xu Sui said— the sunrise is no worse than the sunset, and by waiting just a little bit, there’s always better scenery.
This was the first sunrise he encountered in a plane.