Chapter 97

Zhao Tong smiled with a restrained air, feeling inside his suit and pulling out two business cards, handing one to each of them. Xu Yan politely accepted the card with both hands, while Zhu Youxiang merely glanced at it coldly and turned away, showing no intention of taking it. Her cold and proud demeanor made it seem as if the person in front of her didn't even exist.

Embarrassed in public, Zhao Tong's face turned red instantly. He was both ashamed and angry, but since the other party was a beautiful girl he coveted, he couldn't really lash out. He didn't know whether to take back the card or keep offering it.

Seeing Zhao Tong still awkwardly holding out the card, Xu Yan secretly found it amusing. He tried to smooth things over, "Mr. Zhao, my friend has a bit of a temper, don't take it to heart. You know, girls... well, we two are together, so one card is enough."

Having been through many business situations, Zhao Tong was used to awkward moments. This humiliation wasn't too much for him, especially since the other party was a beautiful girl. Girls are naturally entitled to be capricious, and it wouldn't be very gentlemanly to argue with them.

With the step down provided by Xu Yan, Zhao Tong smoothly followed, self-deprecatingly saying, "Hehe, I'm being too vulgar. Miss Zhu is so extraordinary and pure, using such vulgar things to introduce myself is indeed disrespectful. No wonder you're angry, Miss Zhu."

Xu Yan picked up Zhao Tong's card and glanced at it. Most of the text was in English, with a small line of Chinese at the bottom corner: "DDI Group China Southwest Branch General Manager's Senior Assistant, Planning Department Executive Director, Zhao Tong."

Xu Yan looked at it, smacked his lips, and exchanged a glance with Zhu Youxiang. Zhu Youxiang curled her lip in disdain, and both of them saw the amusement in each other's eyes—this Mr. Zhao was so full of himself, his superiority complex was almost bursting. They had thought he was some great figure, but it turned out he was just an assistant in a foreign company.

Of course, to the average person, being a young assistant to a foreign company's general manager was quite an achievement, but it was just a high-level white-collar job. Xu Yan and Zhu Youxiang, though young, had experienced thrilling events—Zhu Youxiang, with her noble status and extensive travels, had a much broader perspective, and even Xu Yan, a commoner, had befriended true nobles like Wen Xiu and experienced life-and-death adventures. They had a much broader perspective and didn't care much for ordinary white-collar workers.

Of course, Xu Yan wouldn't say what he was thinking. He politely said, "Mr. Zhao is truly impressive, to become a general manager's assistant and director at such a young age, you are truly a rising star!"

Mr. Zhao, a man with many experiences, sensed that the young couple in front of him didn't really respect him. This was a very unusual experience for him.

Usually, when he met naive college students, as soon as he revealed his identity as a foreign company executive, threw in a few English phrases, and talked about his business trips to the U.S. and his experiences in the company, the inexperienced college students would be immediately intimidated, worshiping him with admiration in their eyes. But these two in front of him were not at all cute, and they didn't show any admiration at all. Couldn't they at least show some admiration?

Although he was embarrassed, Zhao Tong didn't give up—Zhu Youxiang was just too beautiful. Not only was she beautiful, but her demeanor was captivating. Her every move and smile exuded elegance and a classical charm, making her very attractive. Zhao Tong had observed her for a long time and noticed that she rarely smiled, always with a serious expression and slightly furrowed brows, which added to her beauty and charm. Despite knowing she had a boy with her, he couldn't help but approach and try to get to know her.

Zhao Tong was still thinking about how to change the topic to continue the conversation when Zhu Youxiang suddenly stood up, frowning, "So noisy! We were chatting here, but this boring person is disturbing us—Sir, let's go!"

Without waiting for Xu Yan to react, Zhu Youxiang got up and walked to another row of seats. Xu Yan then realized and smiled apologetically at Zhao Tong, getting up to follow Zhu Youxiang.

Watching them leave, Zhao Tong was stunned. They had clearly shown they disliked him. Zhao Tong, though tempted by her beauty, was still a high-level white-collar worker with manners, not a persistent thug. Chasing after them would be against his self-proclaimed gentlemanly demeanor, so he could only watch them leave, not daring to follow.

Seeing that Zhao Tong didn't follow, Zhu Youxiang curled her lip in disdain, "Such a lecher, so boring, why did you even bother with him, Sir?"

Xu Yan was pleased by Zhu Youxiang's disdain for Mr. Zhao. He said insincerely, "Xuan Yun, you don't know, on Earth, when a man sees a girl he likes, he is encouraged to approach her. Those who dare to approach the one they like are called brave."

Zhu Youxiang frowned slightly, "Brave?"

She shook her head, speaking seriously, "Sir, I cannot agree. In my view, only those who fight for their country and face strong enemies without yielding deserve to be called brave. These lechers... they just have thick skin. How can they be called brave? If such people are called 'brave,' what about the brave soldiers who die for their country?"

Xu Yan was taken aback, "That's true, but..."

Xu Yan wanted to explain but realized he had no real explanation. When did our society become like this? Patriots who sacrifice for their country are often seen as cannon fodder and foolish, and those who dedicate themselves to the country are no longer respected, but seen as foolish and rigid. Instead, society has become extremely feminine and trivial, with people constantly discussing love affairs, celebrities, and entertainment, rarely caring about national affairs.

Yes, when did our society become like this? More shockingly, almost the entire society considers this normal, and those with Zhu Youxiang's thoughts are often seen as odd—yet, Zhu Youxiang's thoughts are clearly correct!

Thinking about this, Xu Yan felt a bit heavy-hearted. But he wasn't a sociologist or a public intellectual, so he didn't know how to explain these phenomena to Zhu Youxiang. He changed the topic and asked why Zhu Youxiang wanted to buy a passenger plane.

Zhu Youxiang smiled, "I see that this aircraft can carry people to the sky, traveling thousands of miles in an instant, which is indeed very convenient and fast. I want to introduce this to the Ming Dynasty. But since you say it is so expensive, I have to think carefully."

Zhu Youxiang said this casually, but Xu Yan listened with intent. He asked, "Xuan Yun, are you going back to the Ming Dynasty?"

"Of course. I will definitely go back in the future."

"Xuan Yun, after knowing you for so long, I still don't know how you came to our Earth?"

At this moment, Xu Yan saw a clear hesitation on Zhu Youxiang's face. She smiled apologetically at Xu Yan and remained silent. Xu Yan then remembered, "I understand—this is the secret you can't tell, right?"

Zhu Youxiang smiled apologetically, "Yes, I'm very sorry, Sir."

They chatted for a while, and the announcement for boarding came. They boarded the plane.

On the return trip, Xu Yan and Zhu Youxiang couldn't enjoy the flight as much as they did on the way there. On the way there, they were on a chartered flight, and the plane was empty, allowing them to choose any seat. But on the return trip, they had to sit in the designated seats in the economy class. When they arrived at their seats, they were stunned to see that the person sitting there was none other than Mr. Zhao Tong.

Seeing the two standing in front of him with their boarding passes, looking at a loss, Zhao Tong put down his financial newspaper, feeling secretly pleased—two poor students, don't they know that money can do wonders? How would two poor college students know the power of a high-level executive's connections? It only took a call to a friend at the airport to find out their seat numbers.

He pretended to be delighted to see old acquaintances, "Ah, Xiao Xu, Xiao Zhu, what a coincidence! We meet again! You're sitting here too? Come, come, sit down!"

Xu Yan glanced at Zhu Youxiang, then at Zhao Tong, and smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to respond—just a moment ago, they had embarrassed him, and now they were sitting together, which was awkward for everyone.

Fortunately, Mr. Zhao, with his high emotional intelligence, closed the newspaper and asked, "Are you sitting here too? What seats do you prefer, window or aisle?"

Xu Yan glanced at Zhu Youxiang and said, "I don't mind, but she might prefer the window seat."

"Of course—ladies first!"

Thus, Mr. Zhao, showing his gentlemanly demeanor, stood up and offered the window seat to Zhu Youxiang with a polite gesture. Zhu Youxiang, despite her pride, couldn't be rude, so she slightly bowed and walked in to sit by the window. Xu Yan sat in the middle, and Mr. Zhao sat by the aisle.

Xu Yan and Zhu Youxiang were prepared to endure Mr. Zhao's chatter for the hour-long flight, but to their surprise, perhaps due to the previous embarrassment, Mr. Zhao remained silent for the first few minutes, just reading his financial newspaper.

Xu Yan, unable to bear the silence, initiated the conversation, "Mr. Zhao, are you on a business trip to Jin Cheng?"

"Um." Zhao Tong closed the newspaper and answered calmly, "There's a big project, and I need to go there to finalize it for the company."—Zhao Tong had learned from his previous failure. He realized that his previous approach was too showy and eager, which had repelled the girl. He wouldn't make the same mistake again, even though he was still eager inside, he maintained a calm and composed demeanor, the kind expected of a high-level white-collar worker. He believed that his successful person's demeanor would be very attractive to these inexperienced college students.

Indeed, Xu Yan asked, "Mr. Zhao, forgive our ignorance, but what does DDI Company do?"

Zhao Tong casually replied, "Our company has a wide range of businesses, mainly in petrochemicals and raw material manufacturing, as well as real estate, finance, and chemical industries. This time, we're going to Jin Cheng to finalize a contract with the local petrochemical plant for its refining and upgrading. Our Southwest Branch is responsible for planning and technical guidance, and the contract involves over 3 billion yuan. Our main competitor is the British company BP, which is also a strong petrochemical company."

Xu Yan whistled in admiration. Even he, who was naive, knew that investments in petrochemicals, real estate, and finance were significant. Not to mention operating in multiple fields. It seemed that DDI Company was indeed a Fortune 500 company.

Since Xu Yan's major was in business management, a field that required both theory and practice, he humbly asked Zhao Tong some questions about his studies, such as what knowledge college students should focus on when entering the workforce and some questions about corporate culture.

"Mr. Zhao, many of my classmates are confused about this. As business management students, what areas should we focus on? Some say we should add a second major, while others think it's unnecessary because companies might see us as too diverse and prefer specialists. What do you think, Mr. Zhao?"

Learning from his previous mistake, Zhao Tong was more restrained and patiently answered, "Xiao Xu, you're a business management student, right? From my experience, studying economics alone can be quite abstract and disconnected from reality. Many of my colleagues in the company who studied economics also have a more practical second major or degree, such as accounting, finance, or production management.

I've talked to our HR, and from their perspective, unless it's a very high-level technical position, for general administrative roles, the company prefers cross-disciplinary talents. First, such employees have a broader knowledge base and can adapt to more roles, making it easier to allocate resources.

Second, regarding the question of whether a broad and shallow knowledge base or a deep and specialized one is better... to be honest, Xiao Xu, 90% of what you learn in college will be useless in the real world. The knowledge you learn in school is too theoretical and lacks practical application. For a comprehensive economics major, what you learn in school, whether deep or shallow, doesn't matter much to companies. They mainly consider the overall quality of the candidate. Even if your second major isn't directly useful, the company often sees it as a sign of initiative and a broader knowledge base, which can be a plus in interviews.

Especially, you should focus on improving your English. I know college students struggle with English, but it's essential, especially in foreign companies where most executives are foreigners and most business is conducted internationally. You have to communicate in English, and poor English skills can make it hard to adapt. But don't think it's too difficult—just listen and speak more. Watch more foreign TV shows and movies, and your skills will improve in a year or two."

As they chatted, the plane took off. Zhu Youxiang quietly looked out the window, seemingly oblivious to their conversation, calm like a statue. Her reaction disappointed Zhao Tong—he had put so much effort into chatting with Xu Yan to attract her attention, but her lack of response made him feel like he was hitting a wall, and he lost his enthusiasm—without her interest, chatting with this boy was boring.

He casually asked, "Xiao Xu, is this Xiao Zhu your girlfriend?"

Zhu Youxiang, his girlfriend?

Xu Yan smiled bitterly, glanced at Zhu Youxiang, and shook his head, "Miss Zhu is not my girlfriend. We're just friends, traveling together." He noticed that as he spoke, Zhu Youxiang's head moved slightly but she didn't turn around.

Hearing that Xu Yan and Zhu Youxiang were not a couple, Zhao Tong felt a great relief—actually, he had already guessed. If a man approached his girlfriend like this, he would likely be angry or even furious, but Xu Yan's reaction was calm—these two were probably not a couple.

So, he still had a chance?

Thinking of this, Zhao Tong perked up. Seeing Zhu Youxiang's elegant and indifferent demeanor, he guessed she was a highbrow or artistic girl. What topics could he use to attract her—literature, music, or fashion and cosmetics?

While Zhao Tong was thinking, a commotion came from the front of the plane, with a man shouting and a woman screaming. The sound of a fight and cries for help echoed: "Help! Someone's killing!"

Hearing the commotion, Xu Yan and other passengers stood up to look, but they only saw the backs of others' heads—everyone was standing to look, and nothing was visible.

The passengers started to chatter, "What's happening? What's going on?"

"It sounds like a fight in the first-class cabin!"

"Bad luck, really bad luck! Why can't people just talk things out? We're in the air, and they're still causing trouble!"

"Oh, the flight attendants are going!"

On a plane, the attitude of the onlookers is different from on the ground. If a fight happened on the ground, people would often cheer and encourage the fight to get more intense. But on a plane, no one wants any uncontrolled chaos at 10,000 meters. Everyone hopes the flight attendants will quickly calm the situation.

"Really a lack of manners, really embarrassing," Zhao Tong sighed, "These first-class passengers, who should have some status, causing such a scene. The quality of Chinese people... sigh... our wallets have grown, but our manners haven't."

He lamented the quality of the Chinese people, implying that he was of high quality, and glanced at Zhu Youxiang, hoping for a response.

Zhu Youxiang remained calm and composed.

Two flight attendants and a male flight attendant hurried from the back of the plane to the first-class cabin, clearly rushing to handle the situation. Xu Yan watched them quickly enter the first-class cabin and sat back down, shaking his head and smiling, "I never thought I'd encounter a fight on a plane—by the way, I saw on TV that there are air marshals on flights. I wonder if that's true?"

Zhao Tong shook his head dismissively, "That's what they say on TV. In theory, there should be, but in all the flights I've taken, I've never seen an air marshal. Think about it, with thousands of flights taking off and landing every day in our country, how many air marshals could there be? Any issues are usually handled by the flight attendants... they can handle minor disputes like arguments and fights."

Before he finished, a series of loud bangs came from the front, followed by a scream and a woman's frantic cry for help: "Help! Someone's gone mad! He's biting people... let go... help, everyone, come help!" The voice was clearly one of the flight attendants who had just gone in.

"The passenger has gone mad?!"

Hearing the flight attendant's panicked cry, Xu Yan's face changed. He and Zhu Youxiang exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

Xu Yan muttered, "This can't be a coincidence, right? My luck isn't that bad, is it?" As he spoke, his hand reached for the seatbelt buckle on his stomach, and he asked Zhu Youxiang, "The Cicada Wing Sword... has it given any warning?" (To be continued)