"Ma'am, just leave all this for us to clear up," the staff member said with a smile.
"O… okay." Jiang Yumeng picked up her bag.
At this point Nannan very naturally took Jiang Yumeng's hand too, and the two followed the staff member out of the lounge like true sisters.
Outside the lounge a bus was waiting.
Then this bus carried the crowd of first-class passengers to the airliner they were to board.
A flight attendant led them one by one to their first-class seats.
"These two seats are yours. If you need anything, you can press this bell." The flight attendant wanted to help Nannan stow her backpack, but Nannan declined.
The two first-class seats were adjoining and could be closed off, with two half-height doors standing there.
People walking past could not see in; it was very private.
Right beside Jiang Yumeng was the window, and she looked at the scenery outside.
She could not help growing somewhat nervous.
"First time flying; it's normal to be nervous," Nannan comforted her, looking calm herself.
Before, when she was with her mother, her mother had even taken her out to play on a private plane.
Jiang Yumeng swallowed; it was her first time flying, and who could have imagined her first flight would practically be a private jet?
Time passed little by little.
Very soon the plane took off.
Jiang Yumeng gripped her seat for dear life, looking as if she were about to die.
Who knew how long passed before the plane reached level flight.
Only then did Jiang Yumeng let out a breath of relief.
Her forehead was covered in sweat.
"I hear you're planning to apply for a starship major in the future. If you're this scared flying in a plane, how are you going to apply for a starship major?" Nannan looked at Jiang Yumeng.
Jiang Yumeng's cheeks reddened slightly, but she still said, "I'm scared now because it's my first time. Next time… next time I definitely won't be scared!"
In Jiang Yumeng's dreams was the sea of stars.
Nannan said nothing, but pressed the call bell beside her.
Very soon the flight attendant came.
"What can I get for you?" the flight attendant asked with a smile.
"I'm a bit hungry. Is there anything to eat now?" Nannan asked.
"There is; here's the menu for now. See what you'd like." The flight attendant brought out a menu.
Passengers in the other cabins could only eat at mealtimes.
But for first-class passengers, food was served around the clock,
making sure first class enjoyed the very best service.
Otherwise, with fares dozens of times pricier, how could it do to leave them dissatisfied?
"One of this, this, and this." Nannan pointed at dishes on the menu.
"These are all free too?" Jiang Yumeng looked at the food on the menu, stunned.
"Yes. These are all free. And we have a dedicated in-flight chef who makes them on the spot," the flight attendant said.
Now Jiang Yumeng was petrified.
This food was who knew how many times better than the food in the lounge.
Had she known there was so much good food to eat on the plane, how could she ever have filled her stomach in the lounge?
She could not let it go.
In the end she still ordered one dish from the menu.
Before long, the food was brought.
Looking at the steaming, delicious food,
Jiang Yumeng rubbed her belly, which felt not the least bit hungry, and still forced herself to eat.
Nannan said nothing about it, and enjoyed the food before her.
When she had eaten, she went to rest early.
This flight would last until three in the afternoon.
There were many more things she had to do afterward, so on the plane she needed to rest up.
Jiang Yumeng was somewhat nervous.
She was nervous about this first flight, and worried about her mother's condition too.
At the same time,
over at the villa,
Aunt Song brought lunch to the door and set the food on the table by the door.
She had seen the note left that morning too.
Having set down the food, she hesitated a moment,
then quietly pushed open a corner of the door after all and glanced into the room.
Under the window, Nannan could be seen sitting there writing something earnestly.
"Miss, lunch is ready," Aunt Song said softly.
Nannan turned her head to look at Aunt Song; she was not angry at Aunt Song for disturbing her.
Instead she said gently, "Thank you, Aunt Song. Just leave it at the door; once I've finished this, I'll come get it."
"All right." Aunt Song did not come into the room, and closed the door at once.
The young miss had said not to disturb her; opening the door already counted as disturbing her.
Making sure the miss was all right was enough; going into the room would be going too far.
The door closed.
Nannan went on writing there.
And at this point a little bug fluttered its wings and flew straight through Nannan's body.
Looking closely now, it could be seen that this Nannan was not a real person at all, but a holographic projection.
A few minutes later, a robot pushed open the door and brought the food outside in.
Ten-odd minutes more, and an empty tray was put back out,
with a note under it like the one in the morning.
At this point, in this villa, still no one had noticed the missing young miss.
Everything was as usual.
For before this, for months on end,
every weekend had been just like this.
So everyone, Aunt Song included, had long since grown used to the routine, and no one suspected anything.
Little did they know that their young miss had already flown to the Fierce Dragon Continent.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this flight will arrive at the Fierce Dragon Continent Capital International Airport in fifteen minutes; on the ground it is 23°, clear…"
The announcement sounded.
Jiang Yumeng, half asleep, woke with a start.
She had actually fallen asleep.
During the first half of the flight, she had been too nervous to sleep at all.
But in the second half, before she knew it, she had dozed off.
She looked again at the little girl beside her.
She had long since woken and packed everything away.
Compared with this little girl, she, a university student, truly fell far short.
The plane's landing was a little bumpy.
But compared with the takeoff, Jiang Yumeng was much more used to it; this time she showed no fear.
Jiang Yumeng looked through the plane window at the Fierce Dragon Kingdom outside.
At school, most of what they had learned had to do with the Fierce Dragon Kingdom.
This small continent was the heart of Dragon Star's science, culture and finance.
Back then almost every student had had one dream: in the future, to come to the Fierce Dragon Continent without fail,
and realize their life's ambitions on the Fierce Dragon Continent.
For only here could one stand at the forefront of every field on Dragon Star.
Now, truly seeing the Fierce Dragon Continent before her, seeing those soaring city buildings,
compared with the city she came from, it was utterly different.
Their city, after the rapid development of recent years, they had thought already quite good.
But compared with the cities of the Fierce Dragon Continent before her, the gap was still very large.
The plane finished landing.
The flight attendant guided Nannan and Jiang Yumeng off the plane and onto a bus.
Jiang Yumeng and Nannan were taken to the terminal.
Walking into the terminal here, one could feel an atmosphere wholly different.
There were truly a huge number of people here.
And planes were taking off and landing every moment; it was simply busy beyond words.
"I'd heard before that a lot of people come into the Fierce Dragon Kingdom every day. That's why the Fierce Dragon Kingdom has built three big international airports across its territory, and they still can't meet the need. I thought it was an exaggeration at the time. Now I see there's not the least exaggeration in it at all!" Jiang Yumeng looked at all this enviously, curiosity and admiration in her eyes.
And Nannan in fact wore the same look.
She had known of the Fierce Dragon Continent before, and seen a great deal of material on the Fierce Dragon Continent.
She had once told her mother too that she wanted to come and see the Fierce Dragon Continent during her vacation.
But her mother, who always granted her many requests, had refused her on just this one.
The reasons she gave were that she was still young, there wasn't time, and so on.
In short, one could see at a glance they were brush-offs.
They would work for fooling other little children.
But with her they did not work at all.
She guessed that on the Fierce Dragon Continent her mother surely had some secret unknown to others.
From first to last she had never known just what job or position her mother had on the Fierce Dragon Continent.
And her mother never took photos with her; she did not even know her mother's name.
When she asked, her mother only told her:
just call her Mommy.
There was also another matter treated as a secret, and that was her father, whom she had never seen.
Ever since she was old enough to understand, she had known she had no father beside her, and she had asked curiously.
But the answer her mother gave was that her father was not around for now, that he had gone to a very, very faraway place.
And usually, in TV dramas, when this kind of answer was given,
the father was most likely dead.
So she had not asked further.
But somehow she felt deep down that her father ought still to be alive, and that this was only an excuse her mother had found.
And on this trip here, she was looking not only for her mother, but also to find out whether that father she had never met was dead or alive:
whether he was dead,
or whether for some reason he had had no choice but to leave mother and daughter,
or else whether the man was simply a scumbag who had abandoned his wife and daughter.
If that was the case, Nannan would give this scumbag a beating, and then cut off all ties of father and daughter with him.
She would take care of her mother!
With such thoughts in mind,
Nannan and Jiang Yumeng walked out of this airport and stood outside the Fierce Dragon Continent's capital airport.
They looked at the wide roads outside, the traffic coming and going, and the ride-hail cars and taxis waiting in line there.
"Where are we going now?" Jiang Yumeng looked at Nannan.
Nannan transferred the final payment to Jiang Yumeng outright.
Then, shouldering her backpack, she said, "Your job is done; now you can choose to buy a ticket back. Or you can choose to stay here a few more days."
With that, Nannan turned and walked off on her own.
She left Jiang Yumeng utterly baffled.
That was it?
It really was purely a flight companion?
Jiang Yumeng watched Nannan's departing figure; she stayed where she was, and for a moment did not even know what to do next.
Go back?
She could book the next flight back too,
and get to the hospital just in time to look after her mother.
But her father had said he had already gone to the hospital and told her not to worry.
As for the Fierce Dragon Kingdom before her, though it was the place she had always wanted to come,
so long as she studied well from now on, she would surely have the chance to come again on her own strength.
Jiang Yumeng looked around once, took a deep breath, and was about to turn and walk back into the airport,
to buy a ticket and go home.
But just at this moment, a hand caught the hem of her clothes.
"Big sister, why are you still here? Didn't you say we'd take a taxi to find Mommy?" Nannan's sweet baby voice came.
Jiang Yumeng looked down in surprise at the little girl who had come back to her side at who knew what moment.
And behind the little girl followed a woman, and behind her a taxi with its door open.
"So she's with you. I thought she was some lost child; I was about to call the police. You, as the big sister, really: bringing your little sister out, how can you not keep an eye on her? Though in our Fierce Dragon Kingdom child-snatching has nearly vanished, a child this small still needs watching. Hurry and get in." The woman driver let out a breath of relief and went back to her taxi.
Jiang Yumeng understood at once why the little girl had come back to find her.
So she had nearly been reported by the woman driver and sent to the peace bureau.
"You keep following me; I'll pay you ten thousand a day. In the meantime, I'll cover all the costs. This society is such a nuisance. Can't a little kid go out on her own?" Nannan muttered, somewhat put out.
She had already planned everything that came after.
But who could have known that the woman driver would be so warmhearted, and, seeing a little child taking a car alone, care about her so much,
and even want to call the police for her?
She could only lie and say she was with the big sister standing in a daze over there.
Hence this little scene now.
"Mm." Jiang Yumeng did not refuse.
Rather, she was somewhat relieved.
In fact in her heart she had been somewhat worried about Nannan too, but the two were employer and employed; if the girl did not let her follow, she had no reason to follow.
Nannan and Jiang Yumeng got into the taxi.
The woman driver asked warmly where they wanted to go.
Jiang Yumeng was taken aback, and at this point a slip of paper was pressed into Jiang Yumeng's hand.
Nannan had slipped it to her quietly.
Jiang Yumeng opened it and looked; written on it was an address.
"Ma'am, please take us to this place." Jiang Yumeng handed over the paper with the address.
The woman driver looked: "Over by University City, then."
Having looked at the address, the woman driver started the car at once and set off.
On the way, the woman driver asked a question or two now and then too.
Jiang Yumeng naturally used Nannan's earlier reason:
that they had come here on vacation to find their parents,
that their parents worked in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom and, not having gone home for a long time, had specially had them come over on their own.
A reason like this, most people would not doubt either.
Nannan sat in the car, her gaze resting on the city outside.
This city was to her both strange and familiar.