Descent from an altitude of 10,000 meters (The Approach)Ch22 - Autumn Rain 

Chu Yirou waited anxiously at the door for a while. When Fang Hao rushed in from the heavy rain, he was soaked completely from head to toe.

“Fang Hao…” she called out to him, as if pulling Fang Hao, who seemed lost in thought, back to reality. “Do you have any other clothes to change into? You should dry off before you catch a cold.” Though Fang Hao and Chen Jiayu’s voices weren’t particularly loud in the office earlier, she caught snippets of their conversation. Seeing Fang Hao’s current state and how he was drenched from head to toe surprised her. Despite knowing him for over three years, she was taken aback to see him in such disarray and spoke cautiously. 23gFaq

“Ah, it’s fine, just give me a minute.” Fang Hao thought that the first officer, Duan, who must still be in the office, was likely shocked by his and Chen Jiayu’s actions, so he headed inside.

Originally, when Duan Jingchu saw how young Fang Hao was, he didn’t think there was any problem. Who was Chen Jiayu? This acting head of such a small control room would actually dare to talk to Chen Jiayu like this, so he was sure that this person would not be easy to mess with. His tone became very respectful: “Director Fang, I’m really sorry for causing you so much trouble just now…”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Fang Hao’s heart was already in turmoil, and Duan Jingchu’s apology didn’t seem sincere either, so he just perfunctorily replied, “No need to address me as director. I’m just standing in for someone to receive the report. That’s all.”

Duan Jingchu slowly finished writing his copy, signed it, and returned it to Fang Hao. GY9xJU

Once he had left, Fang Hao still felt somewhat dazed—what exactly had happened in those past ten minutes? He touched his shirt and pants. They were still completely soaked and felt uncomfortable against his skin as if they were cold evidence of guilt. He said some pretty harsh words, which made Chen Jiayu unhappy. Then he realized it and chased after him to explain, but Chen Jiayu seemed unwilling to engage. Moreover, the way he looked at me suddenly turned distant, as if a barrier was suddenly erected. The previous familiarity between friends and the tolerance of jokes seemed to vanish. Fang Hao thought that he really shouldn’t have spoken so harshly, but Chen Jiayu… why did he suddenly seem like a different person? Almost as if he was growing weary of his persistent inquiries?

Thankfully, he had a spare set of work attire in his locker. Changing out of his wet shirt and pants, Fang Hao reluctantly completed his late-night shift.

He was so tired that he couldn’t think straight. He needed a good sleep.

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The next day at noon, Chen Jiayu received a WeChat message from Fang Hao. It was a very simple: [Jia ge, I’ve read the report and submitted it. You should be fine.]

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.

Llr tjcv agfwyifv jr tf gfjv atf wfrrjuf. Lbcfrais, tf vlvc’a fzqfma Mjcu Ljb ab gec joafg tlw ijra cluta, cbg vlv tf fzqfma tlw ab rfa jrlvf tlr qglvf jcv mbcalcef afzalcu tlw jybea atlr wjaafg. Mjcu Ljb lr j rlwqif jcv ragjlutaobgkjgv qfgrbc. Llr jmalbc rqbxf bo bcis bcf atlcu: mbcmfgc.

Yet, despite Fang Hao’s candor, he couldn’t say the same for himself.

Chen Jiayu opened the message, staring at the chat box for a long time, noting the constant “typing” indicator on the other end. Intrigued, he kept his gaze fixed, observing the status flashing several times. After about a minute, however, no message came through. htc DJ

It seemed Fang Hao had nothing else to say.

He thought about how to reply. Say everything’s fine? That would be a lie. They had a really rough time in the rain, and it felt too significant. Confront Fang Hao directly about his last biting remark? What did he mean in the end?

That would seem like he cared too much.

Chen Jiayu even thought that if Fang Hao apologized to him, perhaps he wouldn’t be so perturbed by the earlier mockery. But from Fang Hao’s standpoint, why should he apologize if that was his true sentiment? ZJBRGY

When they first met, Fang Hao kept saying he was privileged and did not understand the controllers’ work. That was undeniably his true feeling. It was just that he, in his politeness, had monopolized their interactions and kept dragging Fang Hao out for coffee, meals, and casual chats, leaving Fang Hao little opportunity to express these sincere sentiments.

After much thought, he couldn’t find the right words, so he just left it without a reply. Maybe, that’s for the best.

He realized he might have a slight liking for Fang Hao, but that was all. Such aimless impulses would eventually fade. Perhaps the landing light incident was meant to happen. If Fang Hao viewed him this way from the beginning, they couldn’t continue pretending to be close friends or expecting more, especially from his end alone. Now that it happened, they should let it run its course and take it as it is. Maybe they would gradually drift apart. Hope, he realized, was the most frightening thing of all.

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On Fang Hao’s side, after sending the message, he didn’t think much about it. He felt that he had been under a lot of pressure last night and wasn’t in a good state. Chen Jiayu seemed to be suffering from having such a careless first officer. Both of them had their own problems and were nursing grievances about different things, and it seemed like a simple misunderstanding that could be resolved with a clear conversation.

Although Chen Jiayu seemed distant in the heavy rain, it was probably because he was still upset at the time. A little time to cool off would probably help. Fang Hao hoped so, which is why this message was also a signal of him seeking reconciliation.

Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

But even after an hour, there was no reply. He thought maybe Chen Jiayu was flying. Half a day passed with still no response, and Fang Hao started to feel unsure. This matter seemed more serious than he had thought.

A day passed, then two, until Fang Hao encountered Chen Jiayu in the wave channel during an approach in Beijing. However, Chen Jiayu never replied to that message. qndIvu

All the previous care and attentiveness seemed to have disappeared overnight. It was as if Chen Jiayu had forgotten about their rapport entirely. Fang Hao was so busy spinning like a top during approach that he had hardly any time to dwell on this. Still, whenever he did, it felt quite uncomfortable and weighed heavily on his mind.

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A week later, when Chen Jiayu flew from Hangzhou to Beijing, the number of planes arriving was low. Chen Jiayu cited having only forty minutes of fuel left. Fang Hao promptly instructed him to skip all procedures and gave him priority clearance to land directly on Runway 17 Left. This was the best treatment, and the radio was filled with envious murmurs at that time. However, half an hour later, Fang Hao watched as Chen Jiayu and his co-pilot, Yue Dachao, walked down from the plane, chatting and laughing, without even glancing in Fang Hao’s direction.

At that time, Chu Yirou and Fang Hao were sitting in Koza having coffee. Chu Yirou also noticed Chen Jiayu walking past like a breeze, then glanced at Fang Hao, who seemed in such a sad state and asked, “That night…what happened? Why did Jia ge forget to turn on the landing lights?” 6Qqi7M

Fang Hao replied, “He wasn’t the pilot flying. The co-pilot was.” Just thinking about that person made him angry. If it weren’t for Duan Jingchu’s negligence, reciting the checklist steps but not executing them, there would have been no tower incident. He had planned to ask Chen Jiayu how the flight to Hong Kong went to show concern as a friend. There was no way they would have gotten into such a situation and reached this point of discord.

Chu Yirou could see the situation and asked him, “Did you two have a fight?”

Fang Hao sighed and said, “I criticized his first officer that day. He doesn’t even know how to do a checklist? We exchanged some words. Maybe I spoke too harshly and made him angry.”

Chu Yirou felt a bit guilty. “Sorry, I didn’t expect it to be so troublesome.” ewAsHn

Fang Hao reassured her, “You did nothing wrong. It’s not your fault, really.” He paused and said, “If we don’t report or penalize such things, he’ll make the same mistake again next time, and it might not just be about a landing light.”

Chu Yirou tentatively suggested, “Then why don’t you text him?”

Fang Hao sighed and said, “I texted him the next day, but he never responded.” He rubbed his temples and added quietly, “Maybe he’s just busy.”

Although he knew that replying to a text only takes a second or two, and even just sending a ‘Hmm’ would acknowledge that he had received the message. It wasn’t that difficult. The only reason for not replying was not wanting to. But Fang Hao figured that it was probably normal for Chen Jiayu to ignore him. After all, he had been the one eager to reconcile, which now seemed unusual. fKnhum

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Translator notes: I’m half and half about translating the word “ge” to “brother” or not. “Ge” sounds a bit more intimate. XD While “Brother Jia” just sounds awkward to me… :/ Maybe that’s just me? Let me know what you think. 🙂

Chen Jiayu: brooding, drama. Fang Hao doesn’t like me (T_T)

Fang Hao: we just need a clear conversation. Nothing special happened. Why is he like this?

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