Chapter 309: Set Sail

Hearing Chen Mo’s reply, Su Yuqing thought it made a lot of sense.

"Could you get some for me, then? I’ll just wait for you here." Su Yuqing was still a little intimidated by the unfamiliar surroundings and didn’t dare to move about. After settling onto a soft sofa, she gave Chen Mo an obedient little smile.

He watched as she glanced around, looking a little out of place.

Chen Mo smiled and nodded, then went to get her a glass of freshly squeezed juice and some small, delicate pastries.

When he returned with the food and drinks, he saw Su Yuqing looking around like a curious but cautious child. He couldn’t help but find her exceptionally cute.

"It tastes pretty average," Su Yuqing said, holding the cold orange juice and taking a few small sips.

"Anything they can provide in bulk is usually pre-made, so the quality isn’t going to be the best," Chen Mo said with a casual smile.

"Oh, I see." Su Yuqing then picked up a pastry and took a bite. To her surprise, the quality was actually quite good.

Sweets have a way of making people happy, and Su Yuqing was no exception.

Seeing the look of pure satisfaction on her face as she closed her eyes, Chen Mo felt his own mood lift as well.

After the two of them sat in the lounge enjoying their drinks and pastries, the boarding time finally arrived.

As boarding time approached, an announcement came over the speakers: "First and business class passengers on flight XX to Xiangchuan, please proceed to gate XX for priority boarding."

They arrived at the gate, showed their boarding passes, and went straight through the priority lane onto the jet bridge, bypassing the crowded terminal.

As they stepped onto the jet bridge leading to the aircraft, a flight attendant was already waiting at the door. She checked their boarding passes with a sweet smile and guided them into the cabin.

Parting the heavy curtain at the front of the cabin, they entered the first-class section, and the space opened up dramatically.

The seats were in a 1-2-1 configuration, so spacious they felt like private suites. The dark leather seats had a soft sheen and were equipped with wide armrests, large personal entertainment screens, and complex control panels.

The flight purser for the forward cabin immediately approached them, her smile warm and professional. "Mr. Chen, Miss Su, welcome aboard. Your seats are 1A and 1C. This way, please."

She guided the two to their seats and promptly offered them warm, sanitized towels and a menu of welcome drinks.

"Would you care for a drink before takeoff? We have champagne, juice, mineral water, or one of our specialty beverages."

Su Yuqing chose mineral water, while Chen Mo asked for champagne.

The flight attendant quickly returned with their drinks, accompanied by a small dish of mixed nuts.

"If you need anything during the flight, please don’t hesitate to press the call bell." Her service was attentive and detailed, yet she maintained a perfectly professional distance.

Su Yuqing gingerly settled into her own little world.

The seat was so wide it nearly enveloped her, and the leather felt soft, luxurious, and comfortable.

She curiously touched the armrest, then glanced at the enormous personal screen before her. She was a little overwhelmed, unsure of which feature to explore first.

She turned her head to look at Chen Mo in the adjacent suite, who was watching her with a smile. "You have the window seat. You can watch the view outside after we take off."

At his words, a look of anticipation immediately spread across Su Yuqing’s face.

Having never been on a plane before, she was eager to see how the scenery outside would change during takeoff.

As the remaining passengers boarded, the aircraft finally began to move slowly.

The roar of the massive engines suddenly intensified, and the aircraft began to taxi slowly along the wide runway.

Su Yuqing’s gaze was instantly captivated by the view outside her window.

Outside, the airport scenery drifted by.

The smooth, gray concrete of the tarmac sped backward. In the distance, other parked aircraft, busy luggage carts, and the figures of ground crew blurred into indistinct blocks of color as they picked up speed.

The grass along the edge of the runway became a rapidly receding green carpet.

The sensation of speed grew more intense. The roar of the engines vibrated through the air, and the fuselage began to tremble slightly.

Su Yuqing felt a powerful force pressing her back into her seat, and her heartbeat involuntarily sped up, matching the rhythm of the roaring engines.

Her expression was a mixture of nervousness and excitement for the unknown.

Just as she was getting used to the sensation, the nose of the plane suddenly lifted!

The view from her window jerked upward.

In that instant, the horizon at the end of the runway dropped away sharply. The terminal, the control tower, the familiar city skyline in the distance—all seemed to be yanked downward by an invisible hand, shrinking and sinking rapidly, revealing a strange, new aerial perspective.

The slight tremor as the wheels left the ground was clearly felt.

For a moment, Su Yuqing felt a strange sense of weightlessness, which was quickly replaced by a light, ascending sensation.

She held her breath, her eyes fixed on the familiar world outside as it rapidly shrank and fell away. It was as if she were witnessing a physical separation from her former life.

A mixture of wistful farewell and the thrill of taking flight surged through her.

The plane continued its ascent.

The scale of the landscape below changed at an astonishing speed.

Roads that had been clear moments ago were now just fine gray lines, woven into a web.

Towering buildings shrank into tiny, neat, gray-and-white squares, like scattered children’s blocks.

The city where she had lived—the place that held her laughter, tears, struggles, and every precious memory—was now rapidly flattening and becoming abstract before her eyes. It condensed into a complex mosaic of colors and lines.

The details vanished, leaving only the general layout and structure.

For the first time, Su Yuqing had such a visceral sense of the smallness of human creation compared to the vastness of nature.

An unprecedented feeling of expansiveness welled up in her chest.

The plane plunged into a layer of low-altitude clouds. Her window was instantly filled with a thick, rolling, gray-white vapor. The light grew dim and soft, and the wing of the plane appeared and disappeared in the mist.

The aircraft shuddered with a bit of light turbulence.

But soon, the engines pushed onward, and the nose tilted higher!

The gray-white wall of clouds ahead was suddenly torn asunder. In an instant, everything opened up!

Before her was a boundless, brilliant, azure sky!

Below was a vast, rolling, endless sea of clouds.

The clouds were no longer a somber gray-white. Bathed in the direct, blazing sunlight, they were a dazzling, brilliant white.

The cloud tops weren’t flat; they were like a frozen, stormy sea, forming immense mountain ranges, deep canyons, and fantastical clusters of castles. It was an incredible sight.

Gazing into the distance, the line where the sky met the sea of clouds was a perfectly clear and magnificent arc, separating pure blue from flawless white and stretching to the very edge of her vision.

The brief dimness and turbulence of passing through the clouds created a stark contrast with the absolute brilliance and splendor that followed.

This sudden visual feast was so breathtaking that Su Yuqing almost forgot to breathe.

The bright light made her squint slightly, but a smile involuntarily bloomed on her face.

The mosaic-like world below was now completely covered and cut off by this pristine sea of clouds, as if all the noise and worries of the mortal world had been left behind.

A sense of freedom and purity—of breaking free from all restraints and soaring through the heavens—instantly filled Su Yuqing’s heart.