Lin Chu stared at the message. She typed a few words, deleted them, and repeated the process several times. In the end, she still didn’t reply.
Just then, her phone buzzed again. This time, it wasn’t a message from Zhou Chengze but a notice in the hospital’s work group.
【@Everyone, colleagues, please help share the hospital’s latest health advisory post to your Moments. Thank you for your cooperation.】
A link followed, titled “Aviation Personnel Medical Examinations: What to Know—A Must-Read for Pilots!”
Lin Chu tapped it without thinking and skimmed the contents. There was nothing unusual, just the usual information about medical examinations. The hospital had probably posted it to promote its newly opened Aviation Personnel Medical Examination Center.
She took a screenshot, added a formal caption, and posted it to her Moments.
Then she put her phone down and crawled into bed, closing her eyes. But the scenes from the examination room that day still lingered in her mind.
He had been lying on the examination bed, bare-chested, his gaze fixed on her. The probing look in his eyes wouldn’t leave her thoughts.
For some reason, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was gradually veering off course…
Meanwhile, at Jingbei International Airport, in the crew briefing room, Zhou Chengze sat in the pilot’s seat, waiting for the preflight briefing. He deliberately took out his phone and checked WeChat. His conversation with Jiang Nai had stopped an hour ago: she’d said she was home, and he’d replied, “Okay.”
His conversation with Lin Chu, on the other hand, had been waiting for a reply for nearly an hour. Still nothing.
His brows twitched slightly. Then he saw the Moments post she’d just made. He didn’t react to it.
The copilot was a young pilot named Lu Ming, who had joined the company less than a year ago. Cheerful and talkative, he was leaning back in his seat, bored. Catching sight of Zhou Chengze staring at his phone from the corner of his eye, he leaned over curiously. “Brother Cheng, what are you looking at?”
Zhou Chengze locked his screen, set the phone aside, and leaned back in his seat. He asked offhandedly, “Do you think I’m really unpleasant to be around?”
Lu Ming’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Brother Cheng, are you joking? Half the girls at the company are falling over themselves to get your attention. If you didn’t have a girlfriend, they’d all be fighting over you.”
As he spoke, he even counted them off on his fingers, as though making a serious point. “That new girl from Class Five, for one—her eyes lit up the second she saw you. And the one in Training, she always goes out of her way to talk to you. And then there’s…”
“Is that so?” Zhou Chengze replied without much feeling.
Lu Ming chuckled and leaned closer again, eager for gossip. “What’s up, Brother Cheng? Did you and Sister-in-law have a fight?”
“Have you passed your recent simulator check?” Zhou Chengze asked mildly. Then he picked up his phone again, looked at Lin Chu’s Moments for two seconds, and quietly liked her post.
Lu Ming leaned over to sneak a look. Seeing a woman’s profile picture, he asked curiously, “Who’s that?”
Zhou Chengze locked the screen and slipped the phone into his pocket. “No one.”
Lu Ming clearly didn’t believe him, but didn’t dare press further. He leaned back and went on with his preparations.
Zhou Chengze settled into his seat, gazing out at the tarmac. Several planes were taxiing in the distance, their engines rumbling dully through the glass.
Suddenly, the scene in the examination room came back to him: Lin Chu’s ears, red as could be, and the way she’d looked like a startled rabbit.
Was he really that scary?
The thought brought a faint smile to his lips. He didn’t come out of his reverie until the control tower called, and then he stopped thinking about it.
On Monday morning, Lin Chu finished her rounds and returned just before nine. When she got to the office, she saw a medical examination report on her desk.
【Jingbei Aviation Hospital Medical Examination Center】
The name on it was Zhou Chengze.
Lin Chu frowned slightly and picked it up to look through. All his results were excellent: normal heart rate and blood pressure, normal blood lipids and blood sugar, and eyesight well above standard. No wonder he was a pilot; his physical condition really was different from an ordinary person’s.
But why was the report on her desk? She turned to a colleague who was sorting medical records in the office. “Sister Wang, who brought this report over?”
Sister Wang didn’t even look up. “Oh, that? A nurse from the examination department brought it. She said she’d seen you bring a friend in for a checkup that day, so she brought it straight to you. That way, you and your friend wouldn’t have to make another trip.”
Lin Chu looked at the report in her hand and sighed helplessly. The more she tried to avoid any appearance of impropriety, the less she seemed able to escape it.
She’d planned to have Zhou Chengze come pick up the report himself, so they wouldn’t have to see each other again. But now it had been delivered straight to her desk. She couldn’t exactly take it back to the department, could she? That would be like openly embarrassing her colleague.
Sitting in her chair, Lin Chu turned the report over and over in her hands, reading it several times. In the end, she took out her phone and opened her conversation with Zhou Chengze.
The latest message was still the one he’d sent the previous Friday: 【Jiang Nai and I will treat you to dinner sometime.】 She hadn’t replied.
After a moment’s thought, she typed: 【Your report is ready. You can pick it up today.】
After sending it, she thought of something else and typed another message: 【Or I can give it to Nainai and let her pass it on to you.】
But before she could send it, he replied.
【Would later work?】
Just four simple words, direct and without any attempt to avoid her. If she kept making excuses, she’d only look guilty.
Lin Chu remembered that she had surgery that evening, scheduled from four to six. Afterward, she’d have to write up the operative notes, so she probably wouldn’t get off work until after seven.
She replied with one word: 【Sure.】
He didn’t respond again.
Lin Chu set her phone aside, her gaze falling involuntarily on the one-inch photo attached to the report.
In it, Zhou Chengze wore his captain’s uniform: a white shirt, a dark blue jacket, and four stripes on his shoulder boards. He looked straight ahead, his expression cool and detached. His features were sharply defined, his lips pressed together slightly; his whole bearing was distinguished and aloof.
She stared at the photo for a few seconds and suddenly felt a tightness in her chest. She quickly turned the report facedown on the desk and took a deep breath.
She couldn’t keep thinking about this. She still had work to do: three outpatients that morning and surgery that afternoon. She had no time to dwell on all this nonsense.
The evening surgery ended at 6:10, ten minutes later than planned.
Lin Chu took off her surgical gown, washed her hands, and returned to the office just before six-thirty.
She pushed the door open and had only just stepped inside when she saw Qin Qu. His hair was slicked back, and he wore what he clearly thought was a charming smile. He was leaning against her desk, holding a bouquet of flowers.
The moment Lin Chu saw him, her brows drew together involuntarily. Still, she had no choice but to greet him. “Deputy Director.”
Qin Qu’s smile widened when he saw her. He walked toward her with the flowers. “Xiaochu, I’ve been waiting for you for quite a while.”
Lin Chu instinctively took a step back to keep her distance. Her voice was polite but cool. “Deputy Director Qin, what can I do for you?”
“Nothing in particular. I just wanted to ask you out to dinner.” Qin Qu held out the flowers. “You’ve turned me down several times already. Surely you can do me the favor today?”
Lin Chu looked at the bouquet but didn’t take it. “I’m sorry, Deputy Director Qin. I have plans tonight.”
“Plans?” Qin Qu raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “Doctor Lin, you’ve used that excuse plenty of times. Every time, you say you’re busy and turn me down. Is it really so hard for me, your superior, to invite you to dinner?”
As he spoke, he took another step forward, moving closer to Lin Chu.
She could smell the strong cologne on him. It made her feel sick. When she spoke again, her tone had grown colder. “Deputy Director Qin, I really do have plans. It’s not an excuse.”
“Is that so?” Qin Qu obviously didn’t believe her. His smile gradually turned more aggressive. “Then tell me, who are you meeting? Do I know him?”
Lin Chu saw his hand reaching toward her and was about to fend him off when footsteps sounded outside the office.
A moment later, Zhou Chengze’s low voice came from the doorway. “Lin Chu.”
“Zhou Chengze!”
Lin Chu’s head snapped up. The instant she saw him, she slipped out of Qin Qu’s reach and hurried over to Zhou Chengze, giving him a look that pleaded for help.
Zhou Chengze’s brows knitted slightly. He glanced at the man in the office and, without a word, shifted to place himself between him and Lin Chu. Looking at Qin Qu, he asked coldly, “What are you trying to do?”
(End)