"Oh, sure!" Chen Yubei agreed with a grin.

But Shen Yushu pricked up her ears for a long while and still could not make out what Wei Zhao and Feng Xiaoxiao were saying in the seats across the aisle. Were the two of them not even speaking?

Wei Zhao narrowed his eyes and feigned sleep. After Feng Xiaoxiao had said a few things and found him paying her no attention, she had no choice but to fall silent herself. "Brother Arrow?" Shen Yushu wasn't afraid that Feng Xiaoxiao would overhear the way she addressed Wei Zhao; the girl already knew about the two of them, and if she had any mind to spread it she would have done so long ago, not waited until now.

"Hm?" Wei Zhao opened his eyes and looked at Shen Yushu in puzzlement.

"Nothing." Shen Yushu had taken him for asleep and been on the point of waking him, so that she could listen to him talk with Feng Xiaoxiao. Now that he was awake, she had nothing to say after all.

"?" Wei Zhao gave Shen Yushu a baffled look and shook his head.

"Wei Zhao, are you hungry? I've got biscuits here." Seeing that Wei Zhao had stopped pretending to be asleep, Feng Xiaoxiao asked hurriedly.

"Go ahead, eat them yourself," Wei Zhao replied flatly, and turned his gaze out of the window.

Feng Xiaoxiao pursed her lips. What was that supposed to mean? The moment Shen Yushu called him, he answered; when she herself spoke to him he couldn't be bothered. "Hey, how much do they pay you?"

"Pay me who, what now?" Wei Zhao started.

"Aren't you their errand boy and bodyguard both? How much do they shell out to you every month?" Feng Xiaoxiao asked.

"Tens of thousands," Wei Zhao said vaguely.

"Tens of thousands?!" Feng Xiaoxiao's jaw dropped. How could anyone make so much? Her family might be mad about money, yet her own pocket money came to only ten thousand a month. She had been about to ask how much Gu Mengyao paid Wei Zhao, and to offer him double to work for her instead, but now the words would not come; all she could manage, through gritted teeth, was: "Braggart!"

"Hmph." Wei Zhao had more or less guessed what she was thinking. "My working for her father as a flunky is only a bit part."

"Oh..." Feng Xiaoxiao nodded. If it was Gu Pengzhan, then he might well spend that kind of money; it wasn't impossible after all.

"Feng Xiaoxiao, if you want to learn to drive, I don't have any time to spare just now. So you don't need to follow me around every day—it won't do you any good." Having opened his mouth, Wei Zhao decided he might as well make himself perfectly clear.

"That's fine—I don't need you to teach me. I just want your influence to seep into me without either of us noticing," Feng Xiaoxiao said. "That way I'll grow more and more like you."

"..." Wei Zhao was stupefied. What kind of idiotic theory was this? Influence without either of them noticing? He was rendered briefly speechless. "Suit yourself, then."

Knowing there was no reasoning with Feng Xiaoxiao, Wei Zhao couldn't be bothered to waste another word. Let her tag along if she liked—after a few days she'd probably get sick of it herself.

"Wonderful!" Delighted that Wei Zhao had agreed, Feng Xiaoxiao's eyes narrowed into crescents. "Here, have a biscuit."

Wei Zhao took the biscuit and set it carelessly on the tray table in front of him.

"I heard them," Shen Yushu said to Gu Mengyao in a low voice.

"So what did they say?" Gu Mengyao asked.

"Feng Xiaoxiao wants Brother Arrow to teach her to drive—that's why she trails after him every day," Shen Yushu said.

"Is that so? Then let her be." Learning that Feng Xiaoxiao was merely looking for Wei Zhao to teach her to drive, Gu Mengyao naturally lost all interest.

Gao Xiaofu's face had been growing worse and worse, and at last he could hold it no longer. "Brother Liang, I can't take it. I'm going to be sick!"

"Hold it a little longer! We'll be there any minute!" Zhong Yongliang wanted to throw up as well, though he was handling it better than Gao Xiaofu. He flew often on trips and had ridden in small regional jets before—better than this, but not by much.

"I can't, I really can't!" Gao Xiaofu suddenly bellowed. "Flight attendant, open a window—I'm going to throw up!"

The outburst drew stares from the classmates ahead. Zhong Yongliang felt his face catch fire—so damn humiliating! He wished he could kick Gao Xiaofu clean out of the plane. "This is an airplane, not a car! The windows are sealed, they don't open!"

"Then what am I supposed to do? It's coming up!" Gao Xiaofu cried in a panic.

"Clamp down on it! Hold on a while and it'll pass," Zhong Yongliang snapped.

"Blergh—" Gao Xiaofu felt it surge up and clapped a hand over his mouth. He held it in for a moment and at last let out a long breath. "Phew..."

"Held it in?" Seeing that Gao Xiaofu was no longer about to vomit, Zhong Yongliang breathed a sigh of relief.

"I threw up—threw up into my mouth, and then I swallowed it back down," Gao Xiaofu said.

"Ah? Blergh—" Zhong Yongliang's stomach lurched. Swallowed it back down? How revolting was that? He had been able to hold on before, but after that he could stand it no longer; he opened his mouth to heave—only to look up and see the whole class watching the spectacle with Gao Xiaoxiu at center stage, and Shen Yushu had turned around too. For an instant he was caught in a bind. Yet whatever was in his stomach had already reached his throat, and there was no holding it back now. Steeling himself, Zhong Yongliang had no choice but to do exactly as Gao Xiaofu had done: throw up into his own mouth, and swallow it down again.

Wait - I typed Gao Xiaoxiu by mistake; correct to Gao Xiaofu.

"Ah? Blergh—" Zhong Yongliang's stomach lurched. Swallowed it back down? How revolting was that? He had been able to hold on before, but after that he could stand it no longer; he opened his mouth to heave—only to look up and see the whole class watching the spectacle with Gao Xiaofu as the star, and Shen Yushu had turned around as well. For an instant he was caught in a bind. Yet whatever was in his stomach had already reached his throat, and there was no holding it back now. Steeling himself, Zhong Yongliang had no choice but to do exactly as Gao Xiaofu had done: throw up into his own mouth, and swallow it down again.

"Burp—" Zhong Yongliang let rip with a thunderous belch, then waved at Shen Yushu, his face all smiles. "See? I'm perfectly fine. Gao Xiaofu's just weak!"

Seeing that nobody had noticed a thing, Zhong Yongliang finally relaxed. He really was the clever one: even though he had swallowed his own sick back down, at least no one had caught on.

"Brother Liang, my stomach's hurting—I've got the runs," Gao Xiaofu said a moment later.

"What is it with you—first you're about to throw up, now you've got the runs?" Zhong Yongliang was losing his patience.

"Brother Liang, you can't blame me for this. I didn't throw it out, I swallowed it back down—so naturally it has to come out the other end," Gao Xiaofu said meekly.

"There's a lavatory up front—go yourself," Zhong Yongliang said, helpless.

Gao Xiaofu bolted for the lavatory, taking two strides where another man would have taken three. Zhong Yongliang rather regretted letting Gao Xiaofu sit at the back of the cabin with him—it did terrible damage to his own sagacious image.

No... why did his own gut feel so queasy all of a sudden? Zhong Yongliang started. He had swallowed his own vomit back down too—was he going to have the runs as well?

At the thought he jumped to his feet and raced for the lavatory. He reached the door and only then remembered that Gao Xiaofu was still inside. He began hammering on it. "Xiaofu, hurry up!"

"Brother Liang, what's the..." Gao Xiaofu asked weakly.

"I need the lavatory too—hurry up!" Zhong Yongliang urged in a panic—the chapter first posted on the Second-Generation Fishman fan forum.

"Hey, I'm right in the middle of going..." Gao Xiaofu replied.