Medical Sage

The A340-600 is currently the longest civilian aircraft in the world, four meters longer than the Boeing 747-400 and over ten meters longer than the Airbus A340-300. The flight Chen Fei chose for his trip from Shanghai to London was aboard this very giant, the airliner with the longest fuselage on the market.

The United Kingdom is an island country with a typical temperate maritime climate, shrouded almost year-round in dampness. The skies are perpetually overcast, and the rain is so constant it feels like it could make a person grow mold. This explains a common image from British television and movies: an English gentleman carrying a black umbrella that could double as a walking stick. It’s not about looking cool; as anyone who has actually been to the UK discovers, it’s just a normal response to the environment.

Because of this climate, the best seasons for travel in the United Kingdom are quite short: May to June and September to October. However, Chen Fei’s trip was in mid-December, nearing New Year’s and the Spring Festival on the traditional Chinese calendar, so any chance of sightseeing was slim to none.

But he was on business this time. His focus was on the Ashford Family, the ’Black Dragon’ Nemosin, and the items left behind by a Foundation Establishment True Person from the Ancient Huaxia Era. Those are the real priorities for this trip, so everything else is irrelevant.

Since he was traveling alone and it was his first time going from China to London, he didn’t fuss over economy versus first class. He had someone from Flying Leopard arrange an expedited travel visa, then simply bought an economy ticket himself. In truth, it was an impulse buy; he couldn’t be bothered with the hassle, and first class happened to be sold out anyway.

Even though it was an economy ticket, the flight departed in the afternoon—a comfortable time—making the fare extravagant in the eyes of an ordinary person. At over six thousand yuan, it was no wonder his countrymen were torn between the desire to travel abroad and the reluctance to actually do it. The desire came from wanting to see the world and casually showing off a one-way ticket worth six or seven thousand yuan on social media. The reluctance was because the ticket was simply too expensive, costing as much as the latest iPhone. A phone could be used for a year or two, but a plane ticket was only good for a single ride.

The A340 was a large plane with two aisles in economy class. The window sections had seats in pairs, while the center section, sandwiched between the aisles, had a block of four.

Chen Fei hadn’t been very lucky; instead of a window or aisle, he was stuck in one of the middle seats of the four-person block. Two of his neighbors were foreigners in their thirties or forties. The other, however, appeared to be a Chinese woman around twenty-four or twenty-five, who looked like she had just recently graduated and started her career.

It’s often the case that young women who have just entered the workforce are a bit shy. But when she saw a fellow countryman about her age in the same row, her beautiful eyes lit up. She immediately turned to the foreigner between her and Chen Fei and asked in English, ”Excuse me, sir, may I switch seats with you?”

”Oh, beautiful lady, of course,” the man said with a nod and a slight smile. He glanced at the woman, then at Chen Fei, apparently guessing what she was thinking.

Generally, traveling far from home brings a sense of pressure and anxiety, which is amplified when going abroad. So, on a long flight like this, meeting a peer who could chat in her native tongue would be incredibly reassuring, especially for a young woman.

If the foreigner could figure it out, then our Young Master Chen certainly could. As soon as the young woman sat down beside him, he politely struck up a conversation. ”Hello, I’m Chen Fei. Are you… traveling to the United Kingdom by yourself?”

If only Chen Fei hadn’t mentioned it. At his words, the woman’s brow furrowed, and her face fell. ”Ugh, don’t even get me started. My bestie completely screwed me over this time. I feel so bad for myself.”

”What do you mean? Do tell. I get a real kick out of hearing about other people’s ’misfortune,’ hahaha! Just kidding. What happened? Did your friend bail on you?” Chen Fei asked, his interest piqued by her teasing tone.

”Hey! What kind of thing is that to say? And here I thought you were nice… Yes, we were supposed to go to London together, but she had a last-minute emergency. The problem is, I’d already booked a non-refundable, special-rate room for her. We were supposed to be two people on a trip, and now I’m all alone. Isn’t that tragic? I’m so bummed,” the woman said, pouting gloomily.

Her expression then shifted as she managed a smile. ”Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Feng Lu. I’m from Shanghai. I saved up a year’s salary to go see the world in the United Kingdom. How about you?”

”Me? I’m also just heading to the UK for fun. I’ve been bored sitting around at home lately,” Chen Fei replied with a smile.

”’Just for fun?’ You make it sound so easy. Don’t tell me you’re one of those legendary, low-key rich heirs—you know, tall, rich, and handsome?” Feng Lu teased.

”Huh? Tall, rich, and handsome?” Chen Fei asked, a bit confused.

”Hey, you really are slow! I see you’ve got the ’tall’ part down—you must be over 1.8 meters, right? And you seem ’rich’ enough, otherwise you wouldn’t talk so casually about taking a trip to the UK. I mean, the round-trip ticket alone is over ten thousand yuan! You have no idea how much I had to hype myself up for this trip… Ahem. Anyway, you’ve got those two covered. It’s just a shame you’re not handsome enough. That’s why I said you’re just ’tall and rich.’ Get it now? Tall. And. Rich!” Feng Lu explained earnestly.

Upon hearing this, our Chen Fei, Young Master Chen, was struck speechless. So that’s what she meant. Here I am, a man of such debonair and effortless charm, and this little brat has the nerve to say I’m not handsome! This is an insult I simply cannot abide!

”I don’t think we have anything in common. You should probably go back to your seat. I’m going to sleep now,” our extremely proud Young Master Chen said with a deadpan expression.

”Ah!”

Feng Lu stared, stunned by his proud reaction, before letting out a giggle. ”You’re really something else. Fine, I’ll force myself to admit you’re handsome, alright? Handsome people don’t need sleep.”

”Handsome? That’s not good enough! I must seriously correct your flawed perspective. I’m not just handsome; I’m tall, rich, and handsome! I’ll have you know, I’m a billionaire. Believe it or not,” Chen Fei said with a very ’serious’ expression.

What a joke. I’m Chen Fei, Young Master Chen! How could a single word like ’handsome’ possibly describe me? It’s far too superficial! Not enough... nowhere near enough…

”You, a billionaire? Give me a break. If you’re a billionaire, I must be one too. Have you ever seen a billionaire squeeze into economy class with us poor folks? You’ve got some thick skin,” Feng Lu said, clearly not believing a word of his ’flowery’ talk. Besides, why would a billionaire ever fly economy?

”Tsk. In this day and age, the truth is always buried under lies. It’s so hard to speak the truth, so very hard,” Chen Fei lamented, adopting the air of an enlightened sage who had seen through all the world’s illusions, shaking his head wisely.

”PFFT. Okay, I give up! I give up, alright? Hahaha.” At this, Feng Lu couldn’t hold back any longer and burst out laughing. She had never met someone who could be so pretentious with such natural, effortless grace. The strangest part was, she didn’t even find him annoying. That was the most baffling thing of all.

After laughing for a good while, Feng Lu noticed other passengers giving her strange looks and whispering. Her face turned bright red with embarrassment. Blaming Chen Fei, she playfully tapped him a few times before adopting a serious expression. ”Alright, let’s be serious. Have you booked a hotel yet?”

”A hotel? Not yet. Why?” Chen Fei asked, shaking his head.

”You haven’t? That’s perfect! Chen Fei, you handsome hunk, I think we really hit it off. How about you do me a favor?” Feng Lu’s excitement returned, and she put on a cloying voice, batting her big, watery eyes at him.

Seeing this, a series of dark lines appeared on Young Master Chen’s forehead. ”Can you please speak normally?” he said, exasperated.

”Okay, okay, normal voice it is. It’s simple, really. Since you haven’t booked a hotel, why don’t I transfer the room I booked for my friend to you? She said she’d pay me back, but it would be much better if I could just offload it, don’t you think? Chen Fei, you handsome man, please be a dear and help me out. Even though it was a special offer, the room is actually really nice. It’s a five-star hotel! A very famous one,” Feng Lu explained, laying on a pitiful act to persuade him.

”I think you’d be great in sales,” Chen Fei said with a laugh before continuing, ”Alright, fine. Just transfer the extra room to me. How much is it? I’ll pay the original price; you don’t need to give me a discount.”

Chen Fei didn’t really care where he stayed. He was just as comfortable in a youth hostel as he was in the presidential suite of a five-star hotel. And since Feng Lu had asked, and they were getting along quite well, he saw no reason to refuse.

”Really?! That’s wonderful! Thank you so much! I knew you were a good person!” Feng Lu exclaimed, beaming with excitement. Even though she was from Shanghai and her salary was high, a special-rate room at a five-star hotel in London was still expensive. More importantly, she didn’t want her best friend to feel guilty about it, so transferring the room was the best possible outcome.