CF Chapter 59

Chapter 59: A strand of wet hair sticking on his collarbone.

After September, the rainy season hastily approached. During this period, it rained every day, and the weather turned cold all of a sudden. Xu Sui had never bumped into Zhou Jingze since their last conversation in the car.

When Xu Sui went to work during the day and went home to rest at night, she would think of Zhou Jingze’s expression that night. After he finished hearing what she said, his obsidian-black eyes dimmed for a moment, and then he said good night to her calmly.

He never appeared again after that.

Xu Sui was also busy and had been trying to cherish every day. After getting off work, she would occasionally go to band performances or get drinks with friends. When she’s home alone, she exercises and reads books, living a fulfilling life.

Last week, Xu Sui couldn’t go to the flight base and asked for a leave. When she went this week, the sky was bleak with gusts of chilly wind and a lump of dark clouds pressed down as if signs of rain. The trainees on the sports field wore training uniforms and were hanging on ladders and German wheels, trying to improve their physical fitness for high-altitude flight.

A slender man turned his back to Xu Sui and whistled to assemble the group. His shoulders were broad, and the action of his index finger knuckles knocking on the folder when lecturing was very similar to Zhou Jingze.

Xu Sui was sitting inside the car and thinking it was him, she couldn’t help but look through the window.

It just so happened that the other party also turned around. It was a face with a completely different appearance and temperament.

A whistle blows, and the team disbands.

A group of young people dispersed like birds and beasts with a rumble, and Xu Sui happened to find an opening parking space in the base. After getting out of the car, the gravel under the feet was wet because it had just rained the night before, instead of huge dust swirling in the air when the weather was good.

Every time Xu Sui came here from the urban area, she would often go back gray and dirty.

A few students stopped right in front to wash their hands. The faucet was turned on, and water flushed into the sink. They chatted while washing their hands.

“This instructor is much more lenient than Instructor Zhou, if only he could teach us all the time.” A boy sighed.

“Tsk, Instructor Zhou, he’s a fucking devil instructor.” Someone spat.

“Hey, I just hope he can be sick for a few more days, otherwise, my life will be tossed dead by him.” Someone echoed.

Xu Sui happened to press the car lock to lock the door, and when she heard their conversation, she couldn’t help but ask, “Your instructor Zhou didn’t come today?”

The students who were washing their hands turned around and seeing that it was Xu Sui who greeted them, they all shouted: “Hello, Teacher Xu.”

The faucet was still dripping water, and someone explained: “Instructor Zhou is sick, and he has been on leave for the past two days.”

Xu Sui nodded without saying anything. She turned around and walked towards the lounge.

The sky seemed to be getting darker, and the wind became stronger. The red flag on the sports field was waving violently in the wind, and the clouds seemed to be dripping water down.

There was going to be a heavy downpour.

Xu Sui walked into the classroom early, checked the media equipment, and tested the courseware on her notebook. After fifteen minutes of rest had passed, the class bell rang, and students entered the classroom one after another.

Xu Sui only needed to do a long lecture once a week, and with a ten-minute break in between, it was only two small period classes.

During this period, Xu Sui talked about some first-aid knowledge and invited the students to demonstrate. She was teaching the class seriously until a yawn, as if there was no one here, interrupted her. The classroom erupted into laughter.

Glancing down with a pair of almond eyes, she saw it was a boy named Qian Sen. He was leaning back on the chair idly, and seeing Xu Sui looking at him, he was not afraid and even made a heart gesture.

Xu Sui had an impression of these pairs of trainees. She heard from the staff that the rich-second generation transfer students, who majored in finance at university, came here on a whim after graduation. They were interested in learning aviation but refused to comply with the administration and discipline here and were hard to deal with.

“Quiet. Those who don’t want to come to class can leave.” Xu Sui’s voice was cold.

The classroom was quieter now, and Xu Sui continued to teach. Forty minutes later, the bell rang for the end of class. Some students lay down on the table, while others got up and went to the corridors for fresh air.

A group of male students sat in a classroom, discussing three things: women, alcohol, and sneakers.

These rich playboys were discussing loudly which clubs they signed up for a while ago, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars overnight, and who bought a premium collaboration varsity jacket.

But there were always people who didn’t fit in with them.

Within two minutes, they came in again, shook off the water on their bodies, and cursed: “It’s raining heavily, holy shit.”

“The cold rain slapped me on the face.” Someone kicked the door tightly close.

Xu Sui was sorting out the materials on the podium and couldn’t help but look out the window. The white drizzling rain was pouring down like a waterfall, and the violent wind followed, slapping the window, making a whimpering sound like a trapped animal.

The students sitting by the window hurriedly closed the window. A few raindrops fell in, and one or two splashed onto Xu Sui’s neck, making it cooler.

Xu Sui turned her gaze back to the lesson in front of the computer, and suddenly, a voice called her. Xu Sui turned around and saw it was a student dressed cleanly and tidily. But the weather was very cold, and he only wore an extremely thin coat and had short sleeves inside.

He smiled shyly at Xu Sui and asked, “Teacher, the first aid position you spoke about last time, is it to put your left hand on top of your right hand and press on the chest?”

While he was asking and gesturing, Xu Sui noticed that the skin on the back of his hand was dry and cracked, and there were blood stains. After a moment, she recovered back to her senses and told the other party carefully again.

After explaining, the other party thanked Xu Sui. A male student on the right blew a long whistle when he saw this and mocked evidently: “Yo, classmate, so serious ah, and you even know how to ask questions.”

Xu Sui glanced over, and after receiving the warning in her gaze, the other party shrugged indifferently and stopped talking. The male student who asked the question lowered his head and was about to head back to his seat but to avoid conflict with them, he had to exit through the front door.

That student seemed quiet and honest and even carried a little low self-esteem.

Xu Sui put down the courseware and went out to use the bathroom.

In the hallway, the male student raised his hand and used his arm to block the rain coming in slantly from the corridor and hurried in through the back door. Unexpectedly, he walked too hastily without paying attention and bumped into a person’s chest, accidentally splashing the muddy water in the corridor on his shoes.

The atmosphere froze.

Standing by the back door, Qian Sen looked down at his newly bought sneakers: a limited edition, shipped from the United States. He had to wait around a month, and now there were dirty splash marks.

The other party obviously panicked and kept apologizing.

After the other party apologized, he hunched his shoulders and was about to leave. But Qian Sen grabbed his arm and stared at him, and in a thick tone, “You think this is over?”

The originally noisy classroom quieted down, and they all looked towards the back door in unison. Some were watching the excitement and didn’t think it was a big deal, while others carried sympathy in their eyes.

It was really unfortunate to get into trouble with Qian Sen, an ignorant, rich second-generation scum.

“What are you going to do with my shoes?” Qian Sen asked.

The other party’s face flushed red, and uncomfortable under the gaze of so many people, he lowered his head and murmured: “I’m… sorry.”

Qian Sen sneered, looking at him from above, and said in a scornful tone, “Either way, you can’t afford it, why don’t you let me dirty your shoes and we’ll be even, how about that?”

Before he agreed, Qian Sen raised his foot and began to step on his shoes. The male student lowered his head; his fingers clenched into a fist and trembled, watching a pair of brand-name shoes slowly grind on his worn-out shoes and then stomp down on them hard.

The sense of humiliation permeated his entire body, and the time of enduring it felt lengthy.

After Qian Sen stepped on him, he was finally willing to let him go. The male student lowered his head and walked forward with a sigh of relief. Qian Sen patted the dust on his body and laughed with his companions:

“Heh, beggars are also qualified to be pilots?”

There was a burst of laughter mixed with a bit of snorting. The male student had walked far, but this time, he suddenly turned around, stepped forward in two-three steps, and grabbed his collar. Such a thin person actually dragged the strong Qian Sen to the corridor and punched him hard. His eyes turned red:

“What did you say?”

Qian Sen was stunned for a second. He turned his face and reacted, spatting on the ground and viciously kicking the male student: “Li Mingde, aren’t you fucking one? Beggar.”

Every time Qian Sen punched him fiercely, he would say a humiliating sentence:

“It’s so fucking unlucky to be in the same class with a poor person like you.”

“Where did your tuition money come from? Stole it huh?”

“A wimp like you can still be a pilot?”

Li Mingde was greatly provoked when he heard this sentence and roared angrily: “Why not? My mother said I definitely can!”

His whole body seemed to explode, and he grabbed Qian Sen’s arm and dragged him out, and the two fought in the sports field. He knew that people like Qian Sen cared the most about dignity, so he dragged him into the rain and beat him desperately.

It rained heavily, like a white waterfall, and the wind was so strong that it uprooted some plants. Xu Sui went to the bathroom and came back. Seeing the trainees fighting from a distance, she was startled and hurried over.

When the bell rang, everyone stopped heading to class and stood in the corridor to watch. Those who wanted to stop the fight were powerless. It was raining heavily and freezing cold, so whoever wanted to go out was seeking suffering.

Xu Sui stood on the edge of the corridor and watched the two wrestling and fighting in the rain, feeling extremely anxious. These two students fought during her class, so she should be responsible.

After she asked why the two started a fight, her eyes froze; she gritted her teeth and rushed out; even the people beside her couldn’t pull her back.

Xu Sui ran out; the rain hitting her face caused pain and she had to speak intermittently: “Stop fighting.”

The sound of the rain kept pattering, and the gust sound of the wind and fighting were mixed together, so they couldn’t hear Xu Sui’s words clearly at all. The rain was heavy, and the clothes on her body became heavy and drenched. Xu Sui became ignited by the rain. She rushed forward and separated the two but unexpectedly was pushed hard by Qian Sen.

Xu Sui couldn’t support herself at the moment and fell backward uncontrollably.

She thought she would fall backward, but unexpectedly, an arm firmly caught her. A familiar and bitter breath came; a shadow cast over her head, and the sound of rain stopped.

Xu Sui raised his eyes and was startled when she saw Zhou Jingze appearing here.

Zhou Jingze stood in front of her wearing a black windbreaker and holding a black umbrella. The hair on his forehead was a little messy, and his face was a little pale. He held Xu Sui with one hand and lifted her up, so she could stand firm.

He handed her the long-handled umbrella, but Xu Sui was a little confused. Zhou Jingze directly grabbed her hand and let her hold the umbrella. With a move, his long legs stepped into the rain.

Zhou Jingze walked over, forcibly separated them, and dragged them separately into the corridor with a cold face. Li Mingde was okay; Zhou Jingze grabbed his collar with his left hand, and he could only stagger forward.

But Qian Sen was miserable. He just fought someone in the mud and rain, and he appeared awfully pitiful. Let alone all the famous brands he wore, he was so dirty now that people would believe he was like a construction worker on a construction site.

Zhou Jingze grabbed Qian Sen’s hoodie, wrapped his index finger and middle finger around the two strings on his hoodie, and pulled him forward like dragging garbage.

Qian Sen had never been so embarrassed in his life.

Zhou Jingze threw the two of them to the ground and said in a chilly voice, “Are you guys here just to fight huh? And pushing the teacher, don’t you think it’s shameful!”

“If people like you are taking the flight test, I’ll fail you on the first disciplinary examination.” Zhou Jingze said slowly, staring at the two people on the ground.

There were more and more people watching. Xu Sui closed the umbrella and stood aside. In fact, she was a little cold. The crocheted sweater on her upper body was wet, and her hair was also soaked. The water dripped into her neck, freezing to the core.

Zhou Jingze looked at them and asked, “Who will speak first?”

The two people lying on the ground struggled to stand up one after another. Both didn’t speak. The onlookers didn’t dare to say anything, but suddenly, Zhou Jingze’s phone in his jacket pocket made a “ding”, indicating that a WeChat message had come in.

Zhou Jingze took out his phone and looked at it. A student sent him a video. Zhou Jingze was not afraid of anyone and directly played the video. It was obvious who was bullying others.

The expression on his face slowly changed.

The color on Zhou Jingze’s shoulders darkened; water dripped from his brow bones, and someone next to him handed him a pack of tissues. Zhou Jingze took it and walked slowly in front of Li Mingde with a scrutinizing gaze.

During the entire time, Li Mingde kept his head down. He huddled up in a shrink, and his body was dirty. He was very afraid of being punished by the instructor and regretted his impulsive fight.

After all, if the instructor favors Qian Sen, it would be difficult for him to fly in the future.

Trembling with fear, when Li Mingde was hesitating whether to apologize first, Zhou Jingze stood in front of him and suddenly squatted down, opening a pack of wet wipes, and with a cigarette in his mouth, he wiped the bottom of Li Mingde’s trousers slowly under the watchful eyes.

There was an uproar.

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

“I told you to stand still, what nonsense.” Zhou Jingze’s voice was obscure.

The two wipes immediately became dirty and black. Zhou Jingze held the corner of the wet wipes and said suddenly:

“Qian Sen, apologize.”

It was the first time Qian Sen was beaten so embarrassingly. It was already good that he didn’t settle the score with Li Mingde, but apologize! He just took off his coat, threw it in the trash can, and said in a dissatisfied tone: “Why, he hit me first! If apologize, he should—”

With a “pa”, the black wipes hit his clothes with a sudden force, and the gray marks added another mark to the already dirty clothes.

“Because I’m your instructor! I’ve seen a lot of rich second-generation like you, relying on the power of your family and taking shortcuts to mess around.” Zhou Jingze walked up to him with his hands in his pockets, looking at him, and said with a slow tone and sneered, “In the end, can’t do anything.”

The originally quiet scene gradually became louder, and someone said, “Yea, Qian Sen, apologize to him. Is it still not enough that you usually bully Li Mingde?”

“There’s nothing wrong with apologizing, you did something wrong in the first place.” Someone in the crowd shouted.

Someone also joked, “Yeah, if you act like this, who would dare to be on your plane? If I were a passenger, I would definitely write a letter to sue you!”

…

There were more and more voices from the crowd denouncing Qian Sen. Zhou Jingze glanced at the expression on Qian Sen’s face. He was angry and humiliated as if trying to endure something.

He did not expect any sincere repentance from this man.

Zhou Jingze withdrew his gaze from him. He turned around and was about to walk away holding Xu Sui’s wrist, but she had already frozen to the side. The rain outside was still pouring, and it hadn’t stopped.

He was leading Xu Sui and was about to leave when an explosive voice sounded behind him, his tone extremely mocking: “Aren’t you just an instructor? Oh, no, you are just an instructor.”

Zhou Jingze turned his head and looked at him straight. The noisy crowd stopped abruptly, and the atmosphere froze.

He didn’t speak, and the expression on his face remained unchanged. But only Xu Sui felt he was holding onto her wrist tighter and tighter as if he was suppressing something.

Qian Sen walked in front of him, bowed his head, and smiled. In front of everyone, his face was contorted with rage and bitterness; his tone was full of disdain, and every word was penetrating, like a machete stabbing a person’s hidden scar that had just scabbed:

“Instructor Zhou, your matter has been spread around in the class. I heard you may never be able to fly a plane again, and you can only live on this mountain for the rest of your life! But I have a bright future and a happy life.”

How does it feel to be underestimated by your own students? Xu Sui didn’t dare to look at Zhou Jingze’s reaction beside her but felt his body was tense like a bow as if it could be broken at any time.

She felt that the scar might have never healed.

It’s just that he was hiding it.

A strong and swift wind came through the hall, and Xu Sui felt her eyes sting. Seeing what Qian Sen wanted to say, she stopped him and said, “Stop talking!”

The atmosphere was stale. The pressure on Zhou Jingze’s body was really low. His dark eyebrows suppressed hostility and strong emotions, but just when the students thought that Zhou Jingze was about to get angry, including Xu Sui, who thought he would even hit someone.

After all, when he was young, Zhou Jingze had a frivolous and arrogant personality. He never acted like a prey, with sharp angles on every side, and fighting was usual when he was high-spirited.

But he didn’t.

Zhou Jingze looked profoundly at Qian Sen and then spoke after a while with a hoarse voice:

“Until you’re up to my level, then, you can say that.”

After he finished speaking, he withdrew his gaze from Qian Sen’s face, embraced Xu Sui, and with a face that had no trace of ripples, he pushed aside the crowd and left.

The sky was very dark with a cast of gray. His back was tall and straight, broken by the dim light but silent, without any trace of daylight.

In the instructor’s dormitory, a key with iron embroidery was inserted into the hole, twisted vigorously, and kicked hard by someone’s foot to open it. As soon as he entered the door, Zhou Jingze picked up the remote control on the low cabinet and pressed it several times. The old-fashioned air conditioner started to run slowly, blowing out hot air.

Xu Sui looked around. There was a bunk bed; the top was empty, and there was only a pillow and a thin blanket on the bottom bunk. A desk was right across from it, a beige wardrobe, a water boiler, and nothing else.

“You’re sleeping here?”

“Sometimes.” Zhou Jingze responded casually.

He was tinkering with the broken air conditioner and arbitrarily answered without seeing her expression. He lowered his head, met Xu Sui’s gaze, and raised his eyebrows; in a helpless tone, “I just came here during my lunch break.”

But this was nothing.

He had already become used to it.

Xu Sui’s face was pale from the cold, and her lips were a little purple. Zhou Jingze asked her to sit on the bed. He opened the closet and took out several coats of his to bundle her up tightly.

He strode into the bathroom, grabbed the shower head on the wall wanting to test the water temperature, and raised his hand to turn on the switch. Water poured on the back of his hand, and Zhou Jingze cursed in a low voice, “Fuck”.

The water turned out to be fucking cold.

Zhou Jingze took out the bucket and wash basin in the bathroom. He used a water boiler and filled it with cold water, heating it up and then pouring it in. He glanced at Xu Sui: “Hold on a bit more.”

Xu Sui shook her head and said, “It’s okay.”

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

Zhou Jingze went out, stood in the corridor, and smoked a cigarette. He closed his eyes and looked at the rain outside, which seemed to be a little lighter. After smoking a cigarette, he entered the dorm. His body was also very wet, and he planned to change clothes and go out.

He took out a set of clothes from the closet, and when he was about to change, he glanced to the left, and his line of sight froze. The bathroom door was made of frosted glass, and Xu Sui’s undressing could be seen clearly.

Xu Suidan was wearing a bralette, and it seemed to be stuck when she tried to take off her high-waisted jeans. She pulled a bit, and the jeans fell, revealing her two long straight legs.

Her long hair was draped over her shoulders, and her arms were bent going around to the back. With a “click”, the hooks on her bralette were unfastened, round, and covered by half the shadow of the door.

Zhou Jingze’s mouth felt parched from looking. His stomach tightened, and he immediately retracted his gaze. He couldn’t continue watching and hurriedly changed his clothes before running out again.

…

Xu Sui always takes a long time showering. She felt much better after a hot shower, and her body felt warmer. After finishing, she walked out and saw that the dorm was empty, and there was no one there.

She looked out subconsciously and found Zhou Jingze standing in the corridor outside the door. He was wearing a black parka jacket, with thin and broad shoulders, and was smoking a cigarette with one hand.

The rain got lighter and fell in a straight line, blurring in the distance. He was smoking a cigarette, and the blue-white smoke rolled out from his thin lips. He narrowed his eyes and stared straight ahead with a careless expression, unclear what he was thinking.

For some reason, Xu Sui always felt that his figure carried a kind of lonely defeat.

After the cigarette was burned out, Zhou Jingze was about to put it out and throw it in the trash can when he tilted his head and saw Xu Sui, who had just finished showering. The cigarette made a “Zi” and was extinguished.

Zhou Jingze walked towards her, looked at Xu Sui’s wet hair, and said, “I’ll get you a hair dryer.”

Xu Sui pointed to the wound on his brow bone and at the corner of his mouth and said, “You should treat your wounds first.”

It should be that when he was trying to stop the fight just now, he got hit twice in the face.

Zhou Jingze was opening the closet to find the hair dryer and was startled when he heard this before smiling: “En.”

Xu Sui took over the white hair dryer, slid the switch on, and the hair dryer made a buzzing sound. She began to blow dry her hair while Zhou Jingze found a medicine box from under the bed. He sat by the bed, picked up his phone to use as a mirror, and began to treat his wounds.

Xu Sui was drying her hair with a hair dryer in her right hand. She saw Zhou Jingze fiercely and carelessly applying medicine to his face and couldn’t stand it anymore. With a “pa”, she turned off the hair dryer switch and looked at him: “Let me do it.”

Zhou Jingze handed her the medicine. Xu Sui took it and helped him apply the ointment. As a doctor, Xu Sui was undoubtedly professional and skilled in applying medicine. She dipped a cotton swab in an iodine solution, lightly tapped the wound on his brow bone, and then moved to the corner of his lips.

There were only two breathing sounds in the room, and Xu Sui was applying the ointment seriously. Zhou Jingze looked down at the woman in front of him. She was wearing his gray sweater but because the sleeves were too long, she had to roll them up twice, revealing her white lotus-like arms.

Rain slanted in from outside the window, Xu Sui was wearing large men’s slippers, and her clean toes curled up. Zhou Jingze’s throat was itchy for a while, and emotions surged in his eyes for a moment.

Xu Sui raised her eyes inadvertently and collided with his gaze in mid-air.

Her eyes were still clear and quiet, and her lips were light red, but her demeanor carried a natural charm.

It seemed that any movement from her, or even a look in her eyes, could cause his breathing to be uneven. Obviously did nothing, but she hooked out his sexual desire.

Looking at each other like a tangled net, he was willing to fall into this trap.

Xu Sui took the initiative to look away, handed him the medicine, and said, “Finished applying.”

Zhou Jingze reached out to grab the medicine but instead grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms. Xu Sui’s elbow rested on his chest, and the two of them were so close that it was hard to tell whose heart was beating so fast.

The rain outside became heavy again, and Xu Sui’s hair draped on her back, half dry and half wet. Water droplets fell slightly along the hair, and the floor was wet.

Xu Sui had a strand of wet hair sticking on his collarbone, but he still held her hand tightly and wouldn’t let go. The thumb of his other hand brushed her forehead, tucking the strand of hair behind her ear, remaining gentle.

The room was dimly lit, and the hot wind from the old-fashioned air conditioner made people feel dizzy. Xu Sui raised her eyes and was flustered by his burning gaze. The two were so close that they only had each other in their eyes.

It seems that everything was forgotten.

Zhou Jingze tilted his head about to kiss her. Xu Sui watched him slowly lean in; he caressed her cheeks with his thumb and at the critical moment of 0.01 meters.

When their lips were about to touch.

Xu Sui turned her head and dodged it.

In the end, he kissed her right ear, and his lips touched the small red mole on it.