Jiang Nianzhi examined her phone as she sat steadily in the makeup chair. The makeup artist was applying her eye makeup, and the two worked together in seamless synchronization, one with her eyes lowered and the other carefully painting.
However, Jiang Nianzhi’s mind was not on her makeup. She was still pondering over the woman from earlier.
Feeling somewhat uneasy, she harbored a persistent foreboding that something was about to happen.
Unable to calm her flustered heart for the moment, Jiang Nianzhi picked up the water cup beside her and took a small sip, attempting to ease her strange mood.
Her heartbeat was like a wild sheep running amok. It did not stay in one spot to beat steadily, but instead bounded across the vast grassland, running and leaping continuously. At times it bounced on all four legs, at times on two, and at times it tumbled all over the ground.
Jiang Nianzhi remained in this flustered state until the end of her scheduled work.
Because her mood was so peculiar, she asked Xiao Mei to cancel all of her booked hotel reservations and flights.
The driver then dropped her off at her main residence.
This was a private community that Jiang Nianzhi had spent a hefty sum to purchase. It featured standalone houses with private yards, offering an exceptionally high level of security and privacy.
After taking a shower, Jiang Nianzhi wrapped herself in a plush fleece pajama set and lay lazily on the sofa. Behind her was a floor-to-ceiling window three meters high, beyond which stood a pink sunset rarely seen in winter. The wall directly facing the window was mounted with a massive 150-inch television, below which a fireplace was built into the wall. Flames burned fiercely inside the fireplace, making crackling sounds of burning firewood that echoed against the audio from the television.
The crackling of the firewood combined with the howling wind outside made Jiang Nianzhi feel irresistibly sleepy.
She wrapped her blanket tightly around herself, slid lower into her cover, and lay on the couch with a tall sofa pillow tucked under her head, squinting loosely at the movie playing on the television.
The drowsy English film caused Jiang Nianzhi’s eyelids to drop repeatedly. Her head felt heavy and foggy, and she wished she could fall asleep the very next second, yet her brain kept reminding her that the movie was not over.
Even so, she forced herself to hang on.
Before long, her blinking slowed more and more until her eyes closed completely.
Jiang Nianzhi suddenly felt a chill at the soles of her feet. She rolled left and right, wrapping her blanket tighter. Suddenly, a bright light shone before her eyes. The glare was so piercing that she instinctively buried her face.
Yet for some reason, the pillow felt unusually hard this time.
Jiang Nianzhi reached out and patted her pillow forcefully, wanting to soften it up, but when her palm landed, the texture was entirely different from usual.
A sudden surge of panic from the depths of her soul made Jiang Nianzhi sit straight up from the bed. She immediately turned her head to look at her pillow.
It was a rough, hard white pillow, the kind found in every budget hotel, and something that should never have appeared in her home.
The sound of howling wind still echoed around her, but the immediate noise nearby was that of a flight attendant repeatedly asking passengers whether they preferred the beef or chicken meal.
In disbelief, Jiang Nianzhi rubbed her eyes and forced them open wide, but her surroundings remained entirely unchanged. She turned her head toward the window beside her and pulled the shade straight up.
Outside was the open sky, thousands of feet above the ground.
Unable to believe her eyes, Jiang Nianzhi pinched her arm hard.
A sharp pain radiated through her body. This was actually real. Was she truly on an airplane high up in the sky?
Unwilling to accept it, Jiang Nianzhi surveyed her surroundings once more to confirm this was not a prank.
She was currently in the first-class cabin.
A seed of doubt grew in her mind. Xiao Mei would never do something like this. Besides, had she not canceled her flight to the UK?
How could she possibly end up here?
What on earth was going on?
Jiang Nianzhi stared unblinkingly at the cabin, attempting to discover any trace of a dream or unreality.
A flight attendant walked over to her side, likely because Jiang Nianzhi was constantly craning her neck and wearing an undeniable look of panic, making it impossible to ignore her presence.
The flight attendant crouched down and looked up at Jiang Nianzhi, speaking with a polite tone and expression, “Miss Jiang, is there anything wrong? Is there something I can help you with?”
“I am a bit disoriented from sleeping. Did I board this plane on my own?”
The flight attendant possessed great professional training. Even upon hearing such a question, she showed no surprise or impatience. Instead, she nodded politely and said in a gentle voice, “Yes, that is correct, Miss Jiang. At the time, you boarded from Dongcheng Airport. I watched you walk onto the plane myself.”
The flight attendant paused briefly in her tone, as though even she was unsure whether this first-class passenger had truly boarded on her own, but her professional composure quickly suppressed that hint of doubt.
No matter what, she would nod and say yes.
Reassuring Jiang Nianzhi, the flight attendant said softly, “It might be due to the strong cabin pressure, which can make you feel a bit groggy and cause temporary memory blanks. Would you like to have some food to feel better? We will arrive in the UK in about three hours.”
Jiang Nianzhi did not know what to do. Thinking that the flight attendant made some sense, she nodded.
She tried hard to dig through her memory for any trace of boarding this plane.
However, without a doubt, she could find nothing. She only retained the memories of the day prior to falling asleep, the cozy scene where she had returned home after a magazine shoot, washed up, rested, and lay on the couch watching TV.
She had zero memory of going to the airport or getting on a plane.
It was as if she had simply woken up on this aircraft.
Jiang Nianzhi closed her eyes and carefully pondered all her memories.
Yet she still could not figure out how she came to sit on this plane or any details leading up to it.
However, the luggage bag placed at her feet, along with her plane ticket, visa, and various toiletries inside, all proved that these were indeed her belongings.
Jiang Nianzhi even felt a wave of panic. Suspended high in the air, she had no way to resolve the situation and no security footage to check.
The airline would not issue any proof, either.
There was no internet connection on her phone. If she had traveled all this way on her own, fans or passersby would surely have taken photos of her.
Now, she could only sit there helplessly. Jiang Nianzhi took a deep breath, trying hard to steady her emotions.
She told herself that perhaps she was just overly exhausted, which caused her to have no memory of the trip.
Since the destination was the UK, she might as well rest properly. Jiang Nianzhi thought firmly that her recent schedule must have been too tiring.
It had to be.
The flight attendant pushed the food cart to her side, knocked gently on the door, and offered a soft smile. She gently slid the door open, placed the food items one by one in front of Jiang Nianzhi, and introduced them.
Looking at the familiar meal, Jiang Nianzhi actually felt a bit hungry. She turned her head to look at the cart the flight attendant had pushed over to see if there were any new dishes.
As she turned her head, it so happened that the door to the neighboring suite had not been closed yet.
It was a woman, bending over to rummage through a backpack placed on the floor. Her long hair was tied behind her head. Looking at the woman’s side profile, Jiang Nianzhi found her increasingly familiar.
Detecting the gaze, the woman turned her head to look over with a puzzled expression.
Once again, their eyes locked.
Jiang Nianzhi’s heart instantly panicked. It was her!
The woman from the film set.
Unaware of her own trembling, Jiang Nianzhi could not stop her hands on her lap from shaking. Her heart felt as though it had been shoved onto a drop tower, about to leap out of her throat at any moment.
Jiang Nianzhi felt she was being overly faint-hearted, yet she could not stop the creeping doubts in her mind.
Why was it her again?
The woman remained entirely oblivious, breaking into a faint smile toward Jiang Nianzhi as she spoke, “How come you are on this plane too? What a coincidence.”
Jiang Nianzhi nodded stiffly. She no longer knew what she should do. Her mind told her not to think ill of others, but could this really be a coincidence?
Just as she was thinking this, the woman suddenly stood up and walked over toward her.
Their seats were separated only by the aisle.
Before Jiang Nianzhi could react, the woman placed an object onto her tray table and quickly walked away.
Jiang Nianzhi looked down and saw a box of chewing gum. It was a dark blue, transparent plastic box containing several sticks of gum wrapped in dark blue foil paper.
Jiang Nianzhi felt her head throbbing with pain. What was with this woman? How could things be this coincidental?
The woman returned to her seat and pulled the door shut gently. Just as the door was about to close, she turned her head to look at Jiang Nianzhi once more.
Right at that moment, the plane broke through the cloud layer, and a ray of sunlight poured into the cabin.
The sunlight cascaded over the woman, outlining a few golden strands in her hair. She appeared to be bathing in the light, and Jiang Nianzhi could clearly see even the fine, delicate fuzz on her cheeks.
The woman pursed her rosy lips and said in a half-joking tone, “I wonder if I am just unlucky. Every time I bump into you, it happens to be when you are feeling unwell.”
Jiang Nianzhi felt a slight stir in her heart, but she kept her eyes fixed on the woman.
Having said this, the woman paused. As if making a joke, she raised her eyes to meet Jiang Nianzhi’s, the corners of her mouth curling slightly as she said, “If we never meet again, I wish you good morning, good afternoon, and good night.”
As those words fell, the woman’s door closed completely.
Jiang Nianzhi blinked, feeling a strange sensation in her heart. She wondered if it was just her imagination, but the woman’s expression just now seemed somewhat cold.
However, the headache surging through her body left her with no energy to think any further.