Chapter 81 — Annoying Flight Companion

*****

"Ladies and gentlemen, Gaoyi Airlines welcomes you to City A. The local time is 11 o' clock. For your safety and the safety of those around you, please remain seated with your seat belt fastened and keep the aisles clear until we are parked at the gate. Thank you for flying with us."

The passengers heaved a sigh of relief. There had been quite a bit of turbulence during the flight and everyone was happy to have arrived safely.

Pei Yueran heaved a sigh of relief as well, but her relief had nothing to do with fear from the turbulence and everything to do with the handsome stranger that happened to be her "companion" on the flight.

From the minute she walked to her seat on the plane, he had been trying to make conversation. She replied politely at first, then she became increasingly colder as his own enthusiasm skyrocketed.

He wanted to talk about everything —from work to her hobbies to discussions about the economy and even about religion. After more than thirty minutes of politely showing her disinterest, she bluntly told him she was tired and raised her divider up.

Gao Tinghua sighed in regret. How was he so boring? Was he so lacking in charm that the lady didn't even want to talk to him?

For the rest of the flight, he tried to read a book while glancing at the divider frequently, as if willing it to come down suddenly.

Unfortunately, it never did.

Giving up on the book that he didn't even remember what the title was, he took out his sketchbook and pencil. He closed his eyes to capture the image in his mind in one frame, then began to draw.

In less than five minutes, the general outline of a lady with long hair could be seen on the paper. He then took out a pack of colored pencils and began to fill in the finer details — brown eyes, red lips, light brown hair with rose gold highlights.

He grinned, enjoying this sudden burst of artistic inspiration. He looked over to her side, his eyes meeting the divider. The lady was adamant about not talking to him again.

When the plane touched down, Pei Yueran waited until the air hostess came to knock gently on the divider before she got ready to leave.

She pulled down the divider and got up....only to meet the eyes of her seat partner, the man from earlier.

"Did you enjoy your flight?" Gao Tinghua asked.

Pei Yueran tried to conceal her eye roll but she didn't succeed. Gao Tinghua smiled helplessly when he saw her little action.

"Can you at least tell me your name before you go? I'm Gao Tinghua by the way."

Pei Yueran was not the least bit interested in knowing his name, but she politely responded, "Pei Yueran", before walking briskly towards the exit.

Some moments after she left, the pilot came by, accompanied by two air hostesses. They bowed obsequiously.

"First Young Master, it was a pleasure to have you aboard today. I hope you enjoyed your trip with us?"

Gao Tinghua, who had regained his normal arrogant expression nodded and waved them off indifferently. They retreated with smiles.

He sat there, full of thought. Pei Yueran right? She was hiding her feistiness underneath a veneer of politeness. He had to find out more about her.

She had successfully aroused his curiosity.

He made a call. "Find out about a lady called Pei Yueran for me. She's tall—about 170cm and beautiful. I'm waiting."

His assistant, who was the one he called: "???"

He almost wanted to cry. He was an assistant for crying out loud, not a private detective. And what kind of clues were these? 170cm and beautiful? Half of the young women in the country with that name could probably fit this criteria!

Sigh, the plight of personal assistants!

"I'll send you a sketch. Make it quick!"

The assistant relaxed. Thankfully, First Young Master's drawings were very reliable.

******

Pei Yueran took a taxi to Director Zhou's apartment, where they were already waiting for her.

Han Yichen was the first to call out, "Mum!" Pei Yueran ran to him and enveloped him in a warm hug. Director Zhou gave them a moment before going forward.

Looking at the way they were all laughing and hugging each other, one would think they had been apart for years. It had barely been six months.

Director Zhou kept turning Pei Yueran this way and that, as if she was looking for injuries.

"Mum, I'm all healed and very fine now. See!" She said, raising her hands and doing slight movements as evidence. She then hugged her, "Thank you so much for your care Mum."

"Nonsense. Of course I will care about my Baobei. I'm so happy to see you, alive and well." Director Zhou said with tears in her eyes. Only she knew how awful she felt when she first heard about the attack.

Pei Yueran pulled Han Yichen closer and they all hugged each other.

Director Zhou started looking around. Finding it strange, Pei Yueran asked what she was looking for.

"Where's my future son-in-law? Didn't he come with you?"

Future son-in-law? "No he didn't."

"Why not?"

Pei Yueran sighed, before explaining, "I convinced him not to. But he sent his greetings and gifts."

Director Zhou could sense the unspoken words not included in this reply. "Let's talk about this later. Come in, come in. How was your trip?"

"Fine Mum, but I'm so hungry." She directed the driver to drop her luggage at the entrance.

"Great, because I have prepared lunch already, all your favorites."

"You're the best!"

Lunch was sumptuous indeed. Director Zhou had outdone herself with the spread. Kung Pao chicken, Mapo tofu, sliced fish in hot chili oil and Dandan noodles were specially made for Pei Yueran. Han Yichen, who wasn't really a fan of spicy food, ate vegetable fried rice, sweet and sour pork, lotus root meatballs and drank a bowl of hot chicken soup.

It was an intimate affair with general conversation among the three of them. To be precise, Han Yichen hardly said anything, but that wasn't strange. He was always like that.

After eating and clearing up, Han Yichen went upstairs to his room. He already knew they were not leaving immediately, so there was no hurry. Director Zhou and Pei Yueran sat down to talk.

"So tell me why he didn't come."

"Mum!" Pei Yueran mock-whined, before settling down to update her mum on how things stood. She really wanted to share the news with her anyway.

"....so that's it. We're officially in a relationship now, and it's been amazing." Pei Yueran said, her eyes shining.

Director Zhou slapped her thigh in excitement. "Good news, finally! This is wonderful! I knew I wasn't wrong to buy that wedding dress!"

Pei Yueran: "???"