After saying this, Jiang Cheng patted his shoulder with a roguish air, then winked at Qiu Yihe. Without waiting for Lin Chen's response, he directly withdrew his hand.
He turned around, put his arm around Chloe, and walked away.
The movement was smooth and fluid, without even a single unnecessary pause.
The wind blew across the tarmac, lifting the hem of his trench coat.
Chloe leaned against his side. A few strands of her long golden hair were tousled by the wind, and she tilted her head to smooth them back, her movements casual and natural.
Just as Jiang Cheng walked a few steps with Chloe, Zhou Yang came jogging up to follow them. A professional smile was plastered on his face, but sweat was already visible on his forehead.
"Young Master Jiang," he whispered, his tone carrying a hundred and twenty percent caution, "Um... there was a delay just now, and the takeoff window from the Tower has already passed."
After saying this, he subconsciously swallowed hard.
Taking off in this gentleman's private jet wasn't something you could just do whenever you wanted.
Every time slot was reported and coordinated in advance; if you missed it, you had to get back in line.
What did getting back in line mean?
It meant waiting.
It could be as short as an hour or two, or as long as... but could he directly tell Jiang Cheng, "You have to wait"?
He couldn't.
So he could only throw the problem out first and see how the man reacted.
Jiang Cheng's footsteps paused, and he glanced sideways at him.
There was no emotion in that look; it was just a simple glance.
"Passed?" Jiang Cheng's tone was very ordinary, as if he were asking about the weather.
Zhou Yang nodded and said with a forced smile, "Yes, um... why don't you take a seat for a moment? I'll go coordinate with the Tower and see if I can jump the queue—"
He spoke without any confidence himself.
Jump the queue?
At the Capital Airport's Business Jet Terminal, jump the queue?
Did he think this was a wet market?
But what could he do? He couldn't just say, "Please wait."
Jiang Cheng didn't say anything after listening.
Then he pulled out his phone, scrolled through it, found a number, and dialed it.
The call was connected very quickly.
Jiang Cheng spoke in his usual lazy tone, "Uncle Lin, it's me, Jiang Cheng. I'm over at the Business Jet Terminal, and the takeoff window has passed. Talk to the Tower and help me move a time slot out."
Zhou Yang couldn't hear what was said on the other end.
He only saw Jiang Cheng hum in agreement twice and then hang up.
It took less than thirty seconds from start to finish.
Zhou Yang was still dazed, waiting for Jiang Cheng's reply.
"Let's go. We take off in five minutes. It's just about enough time to walk to the boarding area..."
Seeing Jiang Cheng pocket his phone and continue walking with his arm around Chloe...
Zhou Yang stood there, his mind unable to process it.
He subconsciously looked at Jiang Cheng's back and then at the tablet in his hand.
It still showed the status as "To be coordinated."
No way, really?
He hadn't even received the news yet... Just as he thought this, a message popped up on the tablet.
[Tower Dispatch: Flight DFC6619, takeoff window reassigned. Time: xxxx. Please have the crew in position.]
Zhou Yang stared at the message, his pupils dilating slightly.
Five minutes.
It really was five minutes.
He looked up at the back that had almost reached the boarding stairs and suddenly felt that his earlier suggestion to "jump the queue" was a bit laughable.
What queue?
The man had directly rearranged the whole line.
Holy crap!!
Qiu Yihe stood there watching Jiang Cheng's back, the smile on her lips widening further.
Logically, she should be feeling worried right now.
After all, Jiang Cheng was going up against the Lin Family.
Although the Jiang Family was powerful, the Lin Family was no pushover either.
Making things so ugly wasn't good for either family.
However, Jiang Cheng's dissing of Lin Chen was partly because of her.
Although Jiang Cheng was a scumbag, it was precisely because he was a scumbag.
Even with so many women around him, he would still clash with others for her sake.
Did this mean she had a place in Jiang Cheng's heart, or that he cared about her especially... "Young Master Lin, Miss Lin. Thank you for seeing me off. I'll board the plane myself. I'll treat you to dinner next time you're in Kyoto..."
After the three of them exchanged a few forced pleasantries, Qiu Yihe immediately took a bag of luggage and boarded through the VIP gate.
As he watched Qiu Yihe's plane taxi toward the runway, the polite smile on his face could no longer be maintained.
Standing to the side, Lin Huiyin looked at her brother's face, which was so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water, and suddenly felt like laughing.
Her brother had probably never suffered such a grievance since he was a child.
Although she felt a bit bad for him, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up.
He was full of anger, yet he couldn't even bring himself to curse, "Who do you think you are?"
She used to think this was called having an upbringing.
Now she suddenly felt that it was called... being too well-disciplined.
Lin Jianwei wasn't as angry as Lin Chen.
On the contrary, she found this man named Jiang Cheng very interesting.
She was also looking into the distance.
But she wasn't looking at Qiu Yihe's plane; she was looking at the other side.
Over there, Jiang Cheng was boarding his private jet with his arm around Chloe.
The boarding stairs weren't high. Chloe went up first, and Jiang Cheng followed. Halfway up, he suddenly stopped and looked back this way.
Across most of the tarmac, his expression wasn't clear.
But Lin Jianwei knew he was smiling.
The corner of her mouth curled up again.
As a member of the Lin Family, she knew her brother's thoughts all too well.
At the dinner party last night, his eyes were almost glued to her, and today he eagerly ran over to "see her off."
He even specifically dragged her along so he wouldn't seem too abrupt.
What he was planning was clear at a glance.
But now?
Time and again, he had been ridiculed to the point of being stripped bare by Jiang Cheng right in front of her.
She should be angry.
After all, he was her own brother.
Lin Chen finally noticed her expression and frowned. "What are you laughing at?"
Lin Jianwei withdrew her gaze and said indifferently, "Nothing."
Jiang Cheng.
After silently reciting the name in her heart, she suddenly felt something was not quite right.
From the moment Jiang Cheng appeared until now, that bit of a smile on her lips seemed to have never truly disappeared... In the car on the way back.
Lin Chen sat in the back seat, looking out the window, silent.
Lin Jianwei sat beside him, also silent.
The car drove out of the airport and onto the highway.
The scenery of Kyoto flashed past the window piece by piece—prosperous, quiet, and a bit cold.
After a long time, Lin Jianwei suddenly spoke:
"Brother."
Lin Chen tilted his head to look at her.
Lin Jianwei didn't look at him, still staring out the window, her voice very light:
"Do you envy him?"
Lin Chen was taken aback. "Who?"
"Jiang Cheng."
As those two words fell into the car, the air suddenly went silent for a few seconds.
Lin Chen didn't answer.
He just looked at his sister's profile, trying to read something from her face.
Lin Jianwei finally turned her head to meet his gaze.
Her eyes were very calm, as if it were just a casual question.
But Lin Chen knew that his sister never asked "casual" questions.
He was silent for a while before saying, "Envy him for what?"
Lin Jianwei said, "That phone call just now."
Lin Chen chuckled. "You mean the thing about the flight scheduling? What their family can do, our family can do as well..."
Lin Jianwei continued, "True, I'm not saying our family can't. What I want to ask is, one phone call, and he gets the takeoff window settled in five minutes. Guess if it were you, would you have even made that call?"