Descent from an altitude of 10,000 meters (The Approach)Ch12 - Propriety

Usually, Chen Jiayu’s mood wasn’t great before visiting his mother. Hospitals weren’t his favorite places. He disliked the strong smell of disinfectant, and the air that was filled with a sense of solemnity and despair bothered him. However, today, his flight was ahead of schedule, and he smoothed his way through to a quick landing, so his mood was good. He even hummed a tune as he drove to the hospital.

But as soon as he took out his phone, that good mood evaporated. atg76

A notification from WeChat popped up with an icon of someone he hadn’t been in contact with for a long time. In truth, he didn’t want to open it, but the message content left him no choice.

It was from Yan Yu.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Jia, I heard Aunty is in the hospital?”

Over the years, she had developed the habit of calling him “Jia” since they both have the character “Yu” in their names. dRHG2n

A short while later, she sent another message: “My dad is also getting a health check there, and we want to visit Aunty on the way.”

Chen Jiayu instantly felt irritated. He and Yan Yu hadn’t been in contact for over half a year. The last time they spoke was when his mother was first diagnosed, and Yan Yu had called to comfort him. When they were together, Yan Yu was the type who was pampered by her own parents. She had never shown any initiative in caring about his parents.

Now that they had broken up, her sudden desire to visit his mother was suspicious. He was not a naive fool. Chen Jiayu initially wanted to ignore the message, but when he thought about how Yan Yu was the type to create a storm out of nothing – she truly lived up to the name given to her by her parents.
He didn’t want her to meet his mother and potentially cause any trouble.

He had no choice but to quickly reply: “Let’s talk on the phone.”

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Within minutes, Yan Yu’s call came in.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Jiayu asked directly without even a greeting.

Yan Yu’s tone was very gentle and slow as she said, “I’m at the San Hospital accompanying my dad for a check-up, and I thought since you mentioned your mom was here too, I’d ask you.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Chen Jiayu frowned: “…Is Uncle Yan okay?” 6ctlgd

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His words had an underlying meaning, and Yan Yu could certainly read between the lines. m1VEJq

Finally, she said: “Alright, I just wanted to talk about what happened back then.”

Chen Jiayu sighed, thinking it was about the same old topic again. He felt like he had gone over it many times, and the two of them had already discussed it thoroughly. “What’s on your mind now?”

Yan Yu said, “Back then… did you mind Luo Kaiyuan? When I met him, we had already broken up for two months. We only got together half a year later.”

Chen Jiayu had a rough idea of what she meant. “Did you break up with Luo Kaiyuan?” Yan Yu had always had no shortage of admirers, and Chen Jiayu had noticed that she seemed to have a bit of a romantic disposition. sn7 UY

It was clear to him why she was reaching out to him now.

Yan Yu confirmed, “Yes.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Chen Jiayu said, “We’ve already broken up, and it wasn’t because of Luo Kaiyuan. I never suspected anything between you two… we just weren’t compatible. You should understand that better than I do.”

Yan Yu, realizing she couldn’t argue with him, sighed and softened her tone, “Yes, you’re right. I just… I just miss you. I know I shouldn’t have called you, but I just…” bho4d

Her voice was trembling as she spoke. There was something she wanted to say but didn’t dare to – You treated me the best, better than anyone else. This was the truth, but saying it out loud would be too embarrassing.

Chen Jiayu felt quite uncomfortable. He had always been more inclined to be accommodating when met with a soft approach, and now, seeing Yan Yu choked up, he didn’t want to press the matter further. After all, when they broke up, he had suggested an amicable separation and offered to help if she ever needed it. Now, it seemed like Yan Yu did “need help” and had come to him. It was reasonable from her perspective.

In the past, Yan Yu worked as a flight attendant in the same company as him. To be honest, Yan Yu wasn’t the most beautiful among them; there were plenty of other flight attendants who were more attractive than her. However, Yan Yu had a rather cold personality and a model-like face, which made her come across as aloof. Chen Jiayu found her quite interesting. He pursued Yan Yu for over half a year before they got together.

But after they started dating, he noticed that Yan Yu seemed to have changed. She often nitpicked over trivial matters. In her eyes, Chen Jiayu had to be the perfect boyfriend, presentable in public, filial at home, and responsible for house chores during his days off. He had to cook at home, pay for meals when dining out, come home every day when flying domestic routes, and buy her cosmetics when flying international routes. Er6ByQ

At first, Chen Jiayu thought it was reasonable to go the extra mile to make her happy. None of his previous exes had ever criticized him for not being good enough in any way. However, he realized that their relationship dynamic had been wrong from the start. He had always been the one giving, and Yan Yu had always been the one taking. It suddenly dawned on Chen Jiayu that he had spent the first half of his life trying to “exceed expectations,” caring about what his parents and partners thought of him, striving to do better than what they expected. It wasn’t Yan Yu’s fault; she had just trapped him in her own peculiar mindset, and he had gone along with it.

Around a month before the Hong Kong incident, he began to feel that something was off. Yan Yu brought up the topic of marriage, and for the first time since they started dating, Chen Jiayu refused her.

After the Hong Kong incident, with red eyes, Yan Yu brought it up again. This time, Chen Jiayu rejected her for the second time.

It’s only much later, after reading a detailed news report on CA Flight 416, he realized that many couples who had faced life-threatening situations together and miraculously survived usually ended up with two possible outcomes. They either got married and pledged to stay together forever or they broke up, recognizing the brevity of life and the incompatibility between them, and sought true love elsewhere. pUjafV

Chen Jiayu realized that he and Yan Yu were the latter.

—-

Fang Hao and Gu Chun agreed to have a meal next to his house, and in the end, Gu Chun was the one who chose the place because Fang Hao claimed he couldn’t decide.

Gu Chun insisted on treating him, while Fang Hao insisted on splitting the bill. In fact, he knew there was more to Gu Chun’s offer than met the eye – if Gu Chun treated him this time, then the next meal would be on him. Ss2iEg

Gu Chun, being a kind-hearted person, expressed concern, “I looked into your industry the other day. I heard air traffic controllers don’t earn a lot, and the work is quite demanding.”

It might have come across as impolite if someone else had said this, but Gu Chun was being very courteous. Fang Hao smiled and didn’t mind, saying, “Well, I can afford this meal.” He was surprised that Gu Chun had taken the time to learn more about what air traffic controllers do.

Unable to convince him otherwise, Gu Chun let him split the bill.

After dinner, they arrived at Fang Hao’s home, and Gu Chun looked around before saying, “Your place is really nice, very cozy.” mJdXs1

Fang Hao’s apartment was located near Daxing Airport, and it was relatively spacious. Over the past year, he had added some improvements to the apartment, including hanging a map on the wall. He had a fondness for maps, even though his job involved dealing with radar maps all the time. He could never get tired of them. In recent months, he has also developed some of his black-and-white photos. There is a cabinet for photos with his parents and younger brother, while another showcased the aircraft models he collected. The room exuded a warm and inviting feel. Most of the furniture was thrifted from second-hand stores, with a slight vintage look. People will call it mid-century modern.

Gu Chun noticed the aircraft models featuring various civil airliners and found them interesting. ” You collect these?”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Fang Hao replied, “Yes, I started in college. Later on, due to my job, I’ve been able to collect more and more.”

Gu Chun found it fascinating and picked up a DC-9 model, then an EMR-15. “Are these passenger planes? I’ve never seen such small planes at the airport.” eLjNzA

Fang Hao explained, “Within China, there is high domestic traffic, so you’ll mostly see 737s taking off. In the United States, many regional routes use smaller planes. I even once flew in a 7-seater plane,” he said, pointing to the nearby models. “You must travel frequently, right? You must have flown many of the these: 737, 747, 777, 787, and also Airbus A320, A330…”

Gu Chun was captivated by Fang Hao’s focused demeanor. While Fang Hao looked at the airplane models, Gu Chun observed his profile. His facial features might not be particularly stunning- with sharp eyebrows, single eyelids, upturned eye corners, a small nose, and thin lips. Each part looks ordinary when viewed individually, but when combined, they create a very pleasing appearance that is easy on the eyes, attractive and comfortable to look at.

They watched half of a European art film in the living room, a slow and gentle film filled with youthful desire, and watched the second half in Fang Hao’s bedroom.

That night, Gu Chun noticed that Fang Hao didn’t seem inclined to keep him, so he said his goodbyes and went home. Gu Chun sighed as he sat in his car. It was exactly 11:00 PM. He had always been mindful of boundaries. HBmqMG

Fang Hao watched him drive away from the window and sighed as well. He could tell that Gu Chun was interested in him, but he hadn’t felt a spark of attraction himself.

---

Translator notes:

严雨 (Yan Yu) : Yan is a surname, but can also mean “strict, rigorous, or severe” and Yu means rain. Put together, it can be translated as “demanding rain” or “severe rain” .

The translator pop-up notes are not working for me. I don’t know why. TT____TT Anyway, here is the second update of the week. Enjoy! C78Uo4