Chapter 96: Arriving at Midnight, Departing at Dawn

After hanging up, Wang Guocheng could not calm his thoughts for a long while. After much deliberation, he made a decision: he would take a flight through the night to Kang City.

He called his private assistant in North City, Ding Cheng. “Book me a flight now, as fast as you can.

I want to arrive in Tong City tonight, have someone meet me at the airport, and go straight to Kang City. Also, book me a ticket back to Border City from Tong City tomorrow morning.”

Listening on the other end, Ding Cheng privately wondered whether his boss had gone mad.

“Boss, it’s almost eleven already. I’m afraid the flights are... the route from Border City to Tong City... and with such a tight turnaround, could something have happened to Miss Fan?”

With visible impatience, Wang Guocheng said, “Mind your own business. I’m leaving for the airport in twenty minutes, and I expect the flight arrangements to be settled by the time I get there. If you can’t even manage a flight, then starting tomorrow, go straight to finance and collect your final pay.”

He ended the call without the slightest hesitation, leaving Ding Cheng stunned on the other end.

Though grumbling inwardly, Ding Cheng still called the air traffic office in distant Border City from North City.

“Hello, this is KINGYI Group. Our chairman needs to take one of your airport flights to Tong City tonight. Are there still any seats left?”

The person who answered at the Border City air service desk was a girl who had graduated from university not long ago. She usually loved reading magazines on finance and fashion, and she was no stranger to KINGYI Group.

The chairman? KINGYI’s chairman. At that moment, little flowers bloomed in her heart.

“Sir, I just checked for you. Because the plane coming in from Tong Air is delayed, the return flight is scheduled to depart in half an hour. I’m not sure whether your chairman can make it in time,” the staff member at Border City said honestly.

Upon hearing this, Ding Cheng quickly said, “Please, book me a ticket from Border City to Tong City on Tong Air! I’ll pay double!”

The staff member replied politely, “Sir, we only handle ground services here. If you want to buy a ticket, you may need to call Tong Air’s booking hotline.”

Time was too urgent. Ding Cheng hurriedly hung up and dialed Tong Air’s customer service number.

“Hello. Please book me a flight tonight from Border City to Tong City. Yes, that one. All right, yes, I can pay by phone now? Good, thank you!”

Once the booking was complete, Ding Cheng sent Wang Guocheng the relevant flight information, including the return ticket from Tong City to Border City early the next morning.

When Wang Guocheng received the message, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he typed quickly on his phone: “Well done, kid. This was handled nicely. Go to finance later and collect your bonus.”

Seeing such a reply from Boss Wang Guocheng, Ding Cheng felt a tangle of emotions. He had long known that whenever he handled extra matters for Wang Guocheng, the rewards would never be absent.

The Border City air service staff, after hanging up on Ding Cheng, chattered excitedly to her colleague. “Do you know who called just now?”

Her colleague continued with her work and did not look up. “Who was it? Not some celebrity, was it?”

The air service staff smiled mysteriously. “Someone from KINGYI Group. They said their chairman is urgently flying from Border City to Tong City tonight.”

Her colleague gave an unconvinced laugh. “At this hour, could it just be a prank? Besides, KINGYI Group’s market value is so high now. How could their chairman possibly appear in our Border City?”

The air service staff said dreamily, “If I’d known being a flight attendant meant meeting so many people, I should have studied cabin service instead of air traffic service.”

On the other side, Wang Guocheng quietly packed his luggage at home. Just as he was about to leave, Wang Lifengqin called out to him.

“What are you doing, carrying luggage out so late? Don’t you have classes tomorrow?”

When Wang Guocheng started the KINGYI clothing company, he had done it without his parents in Border City knowing. So even now, his parents in Border City still had no idea he was already among the wealthy elite of the nation.

In Wang Lifengqin’s eyes, after graduating from university, Wang Guocheng had spent a few years away from home, and the rest of his life had largely followed an established plan—for instance, taking a teaching post at Border City University had also been arranged according to North City’s intentions.

But what Wang Lifengqin did not know was that during those years away, Wang Guocheng had already built his own commercial empire.

And returning to Border City to teach in no way affected his control over KINGYI Group.

When Wang Guocheng, looking exhausted, said, “A friend has something come up. I’m going out for a while,”

he ignored Wang Lifengqin’s curses from behind him and left.

Because his heart was racing back home, every moment on the plane felt like torment.

When he finally stepped off the plane, fatigued, the car waiting in Tong City was already outside the airport.

The driver was none other than Yu Xiaoyang from KINGYI Group’s Kang City branch.

Wang Guocheng kept a cold expression. Apart from saying, “Faster,” he remained silent in the car.

With Yu Xiaoyang’s excellent driving, a journey that should have taken more than two hours was cut down to less than one.

Yes, that speed was pushed to the limit.

Of course, the car incurred plenty of traffic violations along the way, and fines were unavoidable.

By the time they reached Kang City, it was already four in the morning.

Wang Guocheng walked softly to the bedside where Fan Xiaoyou lay, and seeing her sleeping quietly in the hospital bed, the heart that had been pounding in his chest finally found some reason to settle.

He Lu looked at the extraordinary man before him, and could not help feeling as though countless arrows had pierced his heart. The man in front of him was so outstanding—what could he, He Lu, possibly compare with? He let out a low sigh in his heart and walked out of the ward in despondence.

Wang Guocheng sat by Fan Xiaoyou’s bed, bent down, and kissed her forehead. “Silly girl.”

Fan Xiaoyou, still asleep, frowned and waved a hand, murmuring over and over.

“Guocheng, promise me, don’t go.

Guocheng, I love you, don’t go.

Guocheng, are you well? I miss you.

Guocheng, I love you, I love you...”

Wang Guocheng stroked Fan Xiaoyou’s face with aching tenderness and said deeply, “Xiaoyou, your brows, your eyes, your smile, your coyness—everything about you has long been branded into my heart.

Xiaoyou, I love you so deeply I can no longer pull myself free. Being able to look at you so quietly already satisfies me more than enough.

I will never leave this life of mine. Believe me. Once I have dealt with the affairs in Border City, we shall never be apart, not for even a moment.”

Wang Guocheng stayed quietly by Fan Xiaoyou’s bedside until the east began to pale with dawn. Only then did he reluctantly press a kiss to her lips.

Watching Wang Guocheng’s figure walk away in the morning light, He Lu became interested in the mysterious man before him, perhaps because of his profession.

Flowers are not flowers, mist is not mist; he comes in the middle of the night and leaves at dawn. He arrives like a spring dream, brief as can be; he departs like morning clouds, leaving no place to be found...