Chapter 1: The Fligh (1/2)
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Translator: DragonRider
”Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please. Flight LN 2631 will take off in twenty minutes. Please be quick to board the aircraft. Thank you for your cooperation.”
The sweet voice of an announcer emanated from a loudspeaker.
Carrying a cinerary casket containing cremains of his mother, He Zheng found his seat and sat down.
Business class was roomy with some seats unoccupied. Rather tired, He Zheng put on his headphones and vacantly looked out of the window. Unconsciously, he clasped his fingers around the lacquered wooden casket, softly tapping at it, as if it were some kind of treasure.
”Excuse me, Sir. Would you mind opening the casket and let me take a look? We're obliged by security regulations to check containers of this kind.” A stewardess walked up to He Zheng and asked politely.
He Zheng, whose train of thought was interrupted, fell in a somewhat bad mood and apathetically looked at the stewardess. The stewardess was startled. Originally, she had sort of planned to take this opportunity to accost He Zheng, since he was handsome and wearing high-end attire.
Seeing the look on his face, the stewardess was stunned, at a loss what to do next. But since she had already made the request, she would lose face in full view of many passengers if she gave up checking the casket, so she went to ask a steward for help.
The manner of the steward was not as polite as that of the stewardess. Seeing the unfriendly look on He Zheng's face, he said in a faintly threatening tone of voice, ”Sir, please be cooperative. Otherwise the plane won't be able to take off on time and it would be a waste of time for all passengers on board.”
The steward's tone was very unpleasant. Unfortunate for him, He Zheng was not a pushover. On the contrary, the harder people tried to be tough on him, the more he wanted to make them lose face.
He raised his eyes and sarcastically looked at the steward. ”Who do you think you are? You dare to order me?”
”Sir!”
Passengers nearby heard the quarrel and looked in this direction. Someone seemed to be, in an undertone, criticizing He Zheng for overreacting.
A young man, tall and thin, who was walking towards them from a certain distance away, also saw the quarrel. As a specialist in related industry, he couldn't help noticing that the lacquered wooden casket was used for containing a cinerary urn. It was a natural thing that this young man refused to open it.
Hearing other passengers' criticism, the young man kept silent.
The steward had run out of patience. ”Sir, if you don't open the casket right now. We have reason to suspect that you are carrying restricted articles with you. You'll have to come with us to undergo investigation!”
Zu Zhichong was never a busybody, but as he saw the half of the young man's face, he was briefly stunned.
Zu Zhichong waved his hand and walked towards them with a smile on his face. ”Excuse me. Excuse me. Please let me through.”
The tension which was reaching flashpoint was temporarily dissolved by this abrupt interruption. All people's gaze rested on Zu Zhichong, except for He Zheng who was one of the interested parties.
Had He Zheng looked in that direction, he would have seen that Zu Zhichong, while walking towards him, had rapidly made a series of mudras, his hands being a blur of movement, and unnoticeably given the steward and the stewardess each a slap.
Both the stewardess and the steward felt a shiver.
”He's already gone through airport security and carried it on board, so of course it's safe,” said Zu Zhichong with a big smile.
Hearing this, all lookers-on felt that his words made sense. The commotion among the crowd gradually abated.
Woodenly holding the hand of the steward, the stewardess uttered ”Sorry” and then left right away.