The sunlight was quietly spilling over the entire dining hall as the servants noiselessly served one exquisite dish after another. A man in a charcoal-gray suit was sitting still on a high solid-wood chair, reading a newspaper. The silhouettes cast by the sunlight and the pool water outside the floor-to-ceiling windows all served as silent backdrops, making his tall and slender figure look as straight and picturesque even when he was sitting quietly.
Only his thick black eyebrows and eyes were always calm yet with an unwavering sharpness.
Su Mi stood at the entrance of the dining hall. After clasping her hands together for a moment, she walked gently to his back.
It had been a month, and her gunshot wound had healed for the most part. During this month, she had lived a quiet and uneventful life in the Shang Residence. Shang Zheng seldom came back home during the day, and she had even been under the illusion of a stable life.
Unfortunately, she couldn't get lost in this illusion.
According to the servants, today was Shang Zheng's two-day monthly vacation. She came down during lunchtime and, sure enough, saw him there.
He must have sensed that she was standing beside him. However, he didn't even look up and continued reading the newspaper.
Although Su Mi could now speak the local dialect quite fluently, she could recognize only a few written characters and couldn't find a common topic to start a conversation. But in her impression, every time she was docile and frail, Shang Zheng wouldn't make things too difficult for her. So she took a step forward, crouched down in front of his long legs, and stretched out her hands to gently massage his knees.
Only then did Shang Zheng put the newspaper on the table and look at her with a piercing gaze.
She kept her eyes on her nose and her nose on her heart, as if massaging his legs was the most important thing for her.
Finally, one of her hands was easily grasped by his large hand. Only then did she look up at him with a submissive smile and said, "Sir."
"When did you start arranging your own tasks?" His voice was cold, and his eyes were intimidating.
"I..." She quickly changed the topic, her voice gentle. "Sir looks a bit tired."
Shang Zheng stared at her. "You don't need to do this."
"Then what should I do?" She asked almost immediately.
Shang Zheng released her hand and let his gaze slide over her small figure huddled at his feet.
"Gain some more weight." He picked up the newspaper again.
"Gain some more weight... And then?" She felt like she was going crazy. It had been a month already, and even if it was a death sentence, this process was taking far too long.
Shang Zheng threw the newspaper aside and suddenly grabbed her hand and stood up. His tall figure instantly stood like a solid wall in front of her.
"Generally speaking..." He enunciated each word clearly. "A too-frail woman in my hands has only one use."
But at that moment, Assistant Mu's figure appeared at the door. "Sir..."
Shang Zheng dropped Su Mi's hand and strode out.
After leaving the dining hall, Su Mi went back to her room and sat blankly in front of the computer.
Shang Zheng's words made her heart sink again. Could she still not escape the fate of being treated like a commodity?
She grabbed the clothes by the bedside and threw them hard at the wall. She sat down and thrust her ten fingers into her long hair, burying her head in thought for a long time, yet still feeling at a loss.
She numbly looked up at the paper-thin computer screen on the wall and muttered two words: "Earth."
On the wall, the blue cursor flashed rapidly. This planet had computers, the Internet, and search engines, which were much more advanced than the technology in her memory.
The search results came out quickly. A cold male voice replied quietly: "Sorry, madam. There are no search records for 'Earth'. Please reconfirm the input keywords."
She let out two hollow laughs and slumped straight onto the bed like a corpse.
A few more days passed like this while waiting for the verdict. You Mo-nian, however, came to visit two or three times.
It wasn't hard to imagine that Shang Zheng must have known of his visits but never showed up or interfered. You Mo-nian no longer mentioned rescuing her. Each time he just stayed for a short while and then left. Instead, he sent some expensive, novel, and interesting items – as if he was teasing her like a little girl.
One afternoon, this kind of life was interrupted by the sound of a plane's engine.
Su Mi leaned on the window, looking at the huge object that had suddenly appeared in the garden. It was clearly a fighter jet, about the size of a small cottage, with a black fuselage and a sleek design, like a silent goshawk perching there. Only the various-sized shells carried by the fuselage glinted with a dull light in the sunlight, which was quite intimidating.
However, what was even more intimidating was that after Assistant Mu signed for the plane, he stood in the garden and shouted to Su Mi.
"Miss Su, come down. This is a gift from Sir."
Su Mi was stunned.
A plane?
Shang Zheng had given her a plane, and a fighter jet at that?
With the help of Assistant Mu, she walked into the narrow but extremely metallic and cold cabin. The all-liquid-crystal driving control panel was shining brightly, and the huge all-leather driving seat was thick and imposing.
The various equipment inside the plane wasn't brand new, and even the smell of engine oil wafted over, making Su Mi suddenly sense that this plane had experienced thrilling interstellar battles.
"Cheetah No. 9 Fighter Jet, equipped with super-strong firepower. The nuclear power can enable continuous flight for 108 hours, and the superluminal jump engine can perform six consecutive jumps..." Assistant Mu stroked the dark-gray driving control lever and joked, "Miss Su, flying this plane, you can almost fly to any place you want to go."
Fly to any place you want to go?
Su Mi could hardly believe her ears. She stared at Assistant Mu until he couldn't help but touch his own face. "What's wrong?"
Su Mi was in turmoil inside.
She slowly walked to the driving seat and sat down. Although she knew nothing about flying a plane, when she stepped on the thrust pedal beneath her feet and held the control lever, she suddenly felt like crying.
Could she believe in fairy tales? Could she believe that she had encountered a benefactor?
Could she think that Director Shang Zheng, who held sway over Hope City and was notorious for his evil deeds, had actually taken pity on her, a weak woman? She had pretended to be crazy and said she wanted to fly, and he had really given her a plane?
She really hoped she could believe that there would be a Prince Charming in this world, even though he was clearly cold-hearted and unfeeling.
"Sir will come back later and will talk to Miss Su." Assistant Mu said softly.
"Talk about what?" Her voice was a bit shaky.
"Details are not something I can easily disclose." Assistant Mu chuckled. "A deal."
However, that night, Shang Zheng didn't come back. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen for the next half a month. He just left Su Mi to look at that huge fighter jet every day, and her uneasiness grew day by day.
A few days later, when Assistant Mu came back to the Shang Residence to pick up some documents and saw Su Mi, he remembered and said with a laugh, "Sir has gone to another planet for a meeting. He'll be back in a few days. I'll also be heading over there today."
Su Mi had been in the Shang Residence for so long and had seldom heard of Shang Zheng attending interplanetary meetings. He didn't seem to care much about networking and friendships. For many meetings, he would ask Assistant Mu or the deputy director to attend on his behalf. But this time, he had been gone for so long.
However, Assistant Mu was quite meticulous. He arranged for a military police officer who had once served in the air force to teach her flying skills every day.
The military police officer was Luo Xiru, a middle-aged man in his forties. He had a stocky appearance and a simple and rough way of speaking. Probably thinking of Su Mi as some noble lady's daughter, he taught her rather reluctantly, muttering complaints.
However, Su Mi was extremely serious about learning. She carefully remembered all the key points he mumbled in confusion. The next day, regardless of his annoyance, she would ask various questions. Sometimes she even stayed overnight on the plane to familiarize herself with the plane's components. With such determination, in ten days, she had actually learned the basic operations of the plane quite well.
This made Luo Xiru look at her with new eyes. He wasn't a professional teacher but a rough and tough soldier. On the fifth day, he took Su Mi up in the air and flew around Hope City for a big circle. On the sixth day, he let Su Mi fly on her own. Although the flight was bumpy all the way and she almost hit a lighthouse, after helping Su Mi land vertically at the Shang Residence, he gave Su Mi a thumbs-up.
"You learn faster than men. Except for the fact that your foot strength is too weak and you don't press the pedals very well sometimes, you can complete all the other basic movements." Luo Xiru praised. "You really should join the air force!"
Su Mi smiled. Actually, when she first got in touch with the plane, she was a bit surprised to find that she had a strange sense of familiarity with these unfamiliar things. When her hand touched the cold parts, it was like touching one vivid, imprisoned soul after another. And when she actually started flying the plane, an inexplicable sense of stability welled up in her heart.
This was strange. Although she used to be a student with a national defense orientation, she was no different from an ordinary college student. She hadn't received any professional training during her school days. Where did this sense of familiarity come from? Was it really a natural talent?
Moreover, these days, she only slept a few hours each day because she wanted to seize the opportunity to change her fate. She didn't tell Luo Xiru about this.
She took out a delicate holographic remote-controlled toy from under the seat. "Brother Luo, this is for your son."
Luo Xiru was a bit shocked by this somewhat expensive gift and quickly declined. Su Mi forced it into his hands, saying that he had worked too hard teaching her. Luo Xiru happily accepted it.
"Brother, can we fly outside the atmosphere tomorrow?" Su Mi looked at him eagerly. "Looking down on the Hope Planet from space must be really beautiful!"
"That won't work. This plane hasn't got a flight license."
"Just for a small circle." Su Mi pleaded.
"Okay!" Luo Xiru gritted his teeth and agreed. "I'll wear my military police badge. Hopefully, no one will check."
Su Mi smiled happily. "Brother Luo, thank you! I'm so lucky to have you as my teacher!"
Luo Xiru laughed heartily. Sitting beside him, Su Mi slowly lowered her face, and her fingers unconsciously clenched into a fist in her pocket.
On the twentieth day of Shang Zheng's business trip, according to Assistant Mu, it was the day before his expected return.
On this day, Su Mi should have stayed obediently in the Shang Residence to welcome the master, although the extremely busy Shang Zheng might not necessarily summon her.
The black Cheetah fighter jet was quietly hovering in the pitch-black space, with the twinkling stars like pieces of broken jade adorning the celestial curtain.
Su Mi, dressed in a gray spacesuit and wearing an oxygen mask, was sitting on the driving chair, pushing the driving lever bit by bit. Luo Xiru, sitting on the co-pilot chair, nodded. "Okay, Su Mi. We've gone a bit too far from the atmosphere. It's time to go back. Do you still remember the landing operation process?"
Su Mi nodded. "Yes. Brother Luo, did Sister-in-law like the meal vouchers I gave you and her yesterday?"
When Luo Xiru heard this, his face immediately lit up. "She loved them! She was overjoyed! After so many years, I've never taken her to such a high-class restaurant. Your sister-in-law said..."
Luo Xiru's words came buzzing through the mask, and Su Mi smiled and nodded as she listened. But in her mind, other voices were ringing.
"Generally speaking, women have only one use for me."
"This is a gift from Sir, a plane."
"Sir will come back and talk to Miss about a deal."
"Su Mi, last month Shang Zheng sent a girl similar to you to the young director of the Zhou Group who deals in arms... Half a month later, the girl's body was carried out of the Zhou Residence... I heard that the young director of the Zhou Group was very satisfied with Shang Zheng's taste and asked for more women... Su Mi, take care."