Strange changes occurred, and other security guards quickly surrounded them, sizing up Jian Jing, who was being aggressive.
On Jian Jing's side, she also attracted the support and attention of other passengers.
The fashionable female executive, the Hollywood celebrity couple, the honeymooners, and other VIP passengers taking this flight, all cast their attentive gazes over.
Jian Jing said, "I'm willing to cooperate with security, but do you have the authority to pull a gun on me?"
"Jingjing, don't waste words with her," Kang President said coldly. "Just call the consulate directly and have them handle this. I'd like to see your country dare to make transnational arrests of foreigners."
The Hollywood celebrities finally understood what was going on. Unable to distinguish between Asian people, they had assumed the female guard was a local. Now hearing that she was foreign too, they immediately spoke up, "You don't have the right to search our luggage."
"People who don't know any better would think you were a colony," Jian Jing struck back precisely.
Now the security guard had no choice but to stand up. He decisively chose to defend the country's reputation: "Misunderstanding. This lady has nothing to do with our work."
"Is that so?" Jian Jing asked.
The other staff looked at each other and echoed one after another: "That's right."
"We are an independent country."
"We're just doing this for safety, not searching luggage."
But Jian Jing did not let up, asking again: "Then why don't you arrest her for pointing a gun at me? Or does your country have the freedom to carry guns?"
Hearing the news, the arriving security guards looked at their batons, not daring to step forward or back down.
The two sides were at an impasse.
"I've already called the consulate," Kang President said.
"This is a misunderstanding," the other guard pressed down the hand of his colleague holding the gun, pretending that nothing had happened. "She doesn't understand English and thought you were provoking her."
Jian Jing sneered. "What did you say, provoking? Who's provoking who?"
"No, what I mean is, she misunderstood." The guard made a placating gesture. "Please continue with security."
Jian Jing scoffed disdainfully. She unzipped her bag and dumped everything out on the table.
Power banks, lipstick, tissues, hydrating spray, sheet masks, earphones, beef jerky, preserved plums... Everything was just small, scattered items.
She stared at the female guard and said slowly, "Are you deaf or just blind?"
The guard was furious. "You--!"
Her colleague held her arm tightly.
"Go to hell," Jian Jing scooped her things back into her bag, then slapped it shut and flipped a middle finger. "Bastard."
She stomped angrily up the boarding bridge, the steel plates under her feet booming with each step.
However, as soon as she was out of sight of the crowd, the angry expression disappeared without a trace.
She looked back towards the boarding gate.
The man dressed as a business elite turned his face slightly and gave a faint smile.
Jian Jing left without looking back.
Behind her, the passengers surged like a tide onto the steel bird.
Just like countless other takeoffs, the passengers busied themselves finding their seats, the flight attendants checked luggage, and the captain followed the commands from the control tower to prepare for takeoff.
Jian Jing closed her eyes.
The plane rumbled, taxied, and took off.
Finally, they had smoothly left this land.
She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, her shoulders relaxing.
"Weren't you afraid she would really shoot?" Kang Mu Cheng asked.
"She wouldn't dare," Jian Jing said.
He suppressed his anxiety. "What if the gun went off by accident?"
She paused, then said frankly, "I didn't think that far. There's always danger, the probability of a misfire is only slightly higher than a plane crash, not much more likely than a car accident."
"Jingjing," Kang Mu Cheng took a deep breath, trying to reason with her. "There are some dangers we can't avoid, but some we can steer clear of. If you keep this up, something will happen sooner or later."
Jian Jing pressed her lips tightly together.
Kang Mu Cheng wanted to say more, but Kang President beside them cleared his throat. "Mu Cheng."
"Mom, I..." He wanted to say something, but Kang President didn't give him the chance.
She yanked over her son. "Come over here and sit by me."
Kang Mu Cheng looked at Jian Jing, who had turned her head away ignoring him, then at his insistent mother. He could only break off the conversation and sit in the seat next to his mother.
Jian Jing flicked the privacy screen shut with a snap and turned on the "Do Not Disturb" sign.
Kang Mu Cheng sighed helplessly, slumping back in his chair.
"Why are you bullying Jingjing?" Kang Lei asked. "Aren't you ashamed to bully a young girl like that?"
Kang Mu Cheng explained, "I didn't mean to reprimand her. I'm just worried...what if that woman had really fired her gun just now?"
In that brief few minutes of confrontation, his heart rate had shot up to at least 150. He couldn't hear what they were saying at all, only remembered breaking out in a cold sweat, terrified that the other would hurt her at the slightest provocation.
That feeling of fright even exceeded what he had felt in Paris.
At least back then, the thugs weren't targeting her specifically, weren't pointing a gun at her head.
"I really..." He knitted his brows, his chest aching slightly, reminding him of the anxiety from before. "This is not the first time. If this continues, what if one day..."
It was rare for Kang Mu Cheng to be at a loss for words, not knowing how to express himself. "Can she really defuse danger every time?"
Kang President looked thoughtful as she regarded her son. "Do you feel like, since Jingjing has no parents, you're responsible for caring for her, worrying about her, and advising her?"
He asked back, "Shouldn't I?"
"That will only have the opposite effect," Kang Lei said calmly. "I can see Jingjing has tolerated you again and again. Don't squander her feelings for you, Mu Cheng."
Kang Mu Cheng fell silent.
"The year I first started my business, I was cheated," Kang Lei said, unexpectedly bringing up a completely unrelated memory from the past instead of commenting further on their relationship.
"Back then my accounts had not a penny, I owed debts to several relatives. Then that bastard ran off with the money. I was so angry and regretful, somehow I was blinded and believed his lies, ending up in that awful situation. I'll be honest with you, son, I really felt I had reached the end of my rope."
Though it had happened decades ago, Kang Lei still sighed with emotion as she recalled it.
"At that time, I thought, even if I have to die, I'll drag that bastard down with me, I can't let him get away. I went through great pains to find his address, and the next day I took a cleaver straight to his family home."
Kang Mu Cheng: "..."
"The bastard played dumb with me, said he didn't have a penny, and killing him wouldn't get me anything. To tell the truth, when I went I still hoped I could intimidate him into giving back at least some money. Who knew when I got there, other than a ragged bed, he didn't even have a TV, I certainly wasn't going to take it out on his 80 year old mother.
"I was completely disheartened. I just put the cleaver right against his neck and told him, either the money or your life, since I owed a mountain of debts anyway, at least I wouldn't go to jail if I jumped off a building after taking him with me."
Kang President pulled up the corners of her lips in a smile. "Then guess what happened?"
"He paid you back," Kang Mu Cheng said.
"That's right, he got scared and called his mistress to bring money over." Kang President laughed but continued, "I've told you this story before, but you don't know, actually after you were born something similar happened again."
Kang Mu Cheng looked surprised.
"Someone from the company embezzled money and ran off," she said. "It was right after I had given birth to you. I had a difficult labor, was inexplicably irritable all the time, couldn't concentrate, and couldn't handle a lot of matters, so I handed them over to subordinates. I was wrong to think that he was a long-time employee who wouldn't stab me in the back after I treated him well. In the end, the human heart truly is hard to fathom..."
She shook her head, not dwelling on it further, simply saying, "As soon as I heard about it, I saw red. Little Nie said he thought I was having a stroke from how the blood rushed to my head, and his own legs went soft from fear. But am I that kind of person? My first thought was to kill that bastard."
Kang Mu Cheng: "..."
"But I didn't go," Kang Lei pivoted, asking her son, "Do you know why?"
He said, "Uncle Nie stopped you."
"Bullshit, as if he could've!" Kang President scoffed. She looked at her son, eyes brimming with soft radiance. "It was because of you."
"You were this small." She gestured the size of a baby. "Just a few months old. If I didn't carry you, you wouldn't sleep. Tell me, how could I go pick a fight with someone?"
Kang Mu Cheng was stunned.
Kang Lei said, "You feel responsible for taking good care of Jingjing. Even if she resents you, as long as she's alright, it's worth it. Isn't that right? Have you considered how Jingjing herself feels?"
"I don't know what she is thinking anymore," he said self-deprecatingly.
"Yes, you can't understand, because you haven't lost everything like her," Kang Lei said incisively, "But I can understand her feelings - with her parents gone, no matter how good you are to her, you have your own life, she only cares about herself, others don't need her that much, so what's wrong with her doing some things she likes?"
Kang Mu Cheng was silent.
"No matter how many times you say it's dangerous, it's no use at all, she's not afraid of danger or death," the mother said pitifully, looking at her son, sincerely saying, "Mu Cheng, you got it wrong. The only way to stop someone from taking risks is to make them not want to themselves, do you understand?"
Without attachments there is no fear, only when there is someone in your heart that you care about, will you be afraid to die.
Kang Mu Cheng understood this reasoning.
So he felt bitter inside.
The ups and downs before boarding the plane, but the flight was calmly smooth, no thunderstorms, no air currents, and landed in his homeland very smoothly.
Jian Jing felt very tired.
Perhaps it was because the two events were too close together,
Or looking for a was especially draining, when she got off the plane, her whole being was listless.
With low spirits, vigilance was naturally not very high either.
It wasn't until Kang Mu Cheng beside her suddenly stopped that she noticed something wrong.
A bright bunch of red roses appeared before her eyes.
An extremely large bouquet, much larger than a washbasin, probably the ninety-nine rose package. Straight to her, blocking her entire view, the rich fragrance rushed to her face, dewdrops glistening.
Jian Jing: "???"
First reaction: So fresh.
Second reaction: It is indeed roses, not peonies.
Third reaction: Who did this?
She looked up and saw Zong Xunmei's smile.
People around started taking out their phones to take pictures, girls suppressed their excitement, all kinds of onlookers, whispering to each other: "Is this a proposal?"
"Ah, this man is so handsome, like a celebrity."
"God, so blissful."
Jian Jing: "..."
She looked up at him with difficulty: "What are you doing?"
"Expressing my gratitude," he opened his arms and gave her a solid hug, his lips touched her cheek, "Thank you."
Jian Jing rolled her eyes: "It wasn't for you."
"That's exactly why I'm most grateful," he released her, smiling, "I owe you another favor."
Jian Jing looked at him and laughed: "A bunch of roses is your sincerity? I have no lack of men sending me flowers."
Zong Ye smiled helplessly.
"Ok, I see," he magically took out a greeting card, still in the shape of a rabbit. He put the card in the flowers, smiled, "I'll be ready anytime within three days."
Jian Jing couldn't restrain her curiosity and reached for the greeting card, but he immediately took hold of her fingers.
He lifted her hand and kissed the back lightly, smiling, "I'll wait for you."
The author has something to say: The event is over, now to get to the fun stuff~~
When it comes to flirtatious actions, Zong Ye still has the most flair~~
