Late

  "Are you packed?" he asked.

  She looked up at him and nodded.

  Lu Yiheng pulled her hand and walked out, she let him lead the way, without asking any questions. He walked very fast, Nie Zhiyan almost had to jog to keep up with his pace, but he didn't slow down at all. She remained silent, following his footsteps quietly.

  Lu Yiheng got into the taxi and started making a phone call.

  "What time is your flight?"

  The answer from him was at 4 am, "I've already booked two temporary tickets for you, I'll wait for you both at the airport."

  Lu Yiheng said thank you and hung up the phone, then dialed another string of numbers.

  The phone on that side was always busy, and he dialed several times before getting through. After the call was connected, Lu Yiheng asked directly: "Cheng Dong, what's the situation now?"

  "Cheng Dong on the other end of the phone was already sweating profusely and said anxiously, 'Still in emergency rescue, how about you? Where are you now?'"

  "The four o'clock flight is still in Beijing." He hung up the phone, looking a bit tired, and held Nie Zhiyan's hand, turning to ask her: "Are you sleepy? Do you want to take a nap? I'll call you when it's time."

  She just looked at him, then turned her hand over and grasped his tightly, shaking her head stiffly.

  Her hands were cold to the bone, he held them in his palms and blew warm air on them, finally even slightly curling up the corners of his lips, not knowing if he was smiling or not, softly comforting her: "Xiang Xiang, it's nothing, don't worry."

  She softly murmured an "uh-huh" and then fell silent.

  Arriving at the airport, it was already 3:40 in the morning. Lu Yiheng took the ticket from Qiyun's hand and didn't even have time to say a few more words before pulling Nie Zhiyan quickly towards security check.

  As soon as the plane landed, Lu Yiheng opened his mobile phone and found that there were more than a dozen missed calls inside, all of which were made by high school classmates. Nie Zhiyan's mobile phone also had many missed calls, from the same group of people.

  Nie Zhiyan wanted to return the call, but Lu Yiheng pressed down her hand and said, "I'll make the call."

  She nodded.

  Lu Yiheng pulled her along as he walked and made a phone call at the same time. The call was to Du Hang, but Cheng Dong's phone was unreachable.

  After hanging up, Lu Yiheng didn't even have time to ask anything before Du Hang said: "Yiheng, don't rush, it's already too late."

  Then Lu Yiheng suddenly stopped and didn't move anymore.

  He looked at Nie Zhiyan, and she also looked at him. They stood in the passageway where travelers came and went, as if frozen in time. All around them were the cacophonous sounds of people talking, announcements reminding passengers to board, and the footsteps of pedestrians rushing by, all mixed together in a chaotic mess.

  It's too noisy, really too noisy.

  A traveler carrying a suitcase accidentally bumped into Nie Zhiyan, and Nie Zhiyan slightly turned his head to look over. That one glance was as cold as ice shards.

  The passenger was startled by her gaze and hastily apologized before quickly dragging his luggage away.

  Then Nie Zhiyan suddenly started coughing violently.

  Her cough came suddenly and without warning, she leaned on the railing and kept coughing, as if she was going to cough up her lungs.

  Even tears were coughed up.

  Lu Yiheng suddenly pulled her over and pressed her tightly into his own arms, holding her very tightly.

  She was still coughing, but her coughs gradually grew fainter and turned into sobs.

  Passersby couldn't help but cast a curious glance at them, guessing that the couple was reluctant to part ways. Airports are often places of sorrowful goodbyes.