CHAPTER 1598: CHAPTER 1075: SMOKE (2)

"So how long did your only relationship last?"

Tong Dan turned her head, asking with interest.

"Five years."

"Five years?"

Tong Dan was surprised, "Did you start dating right after graduation?"

"Yeah, about a year after graduation."

"How did you meet?"

"Introduced by a friend."

Tong Dan smiled, "You’ve never met a girl on your own?"

"Miss Tong can see, I’m... a rather dull person."

Tong Dan chuckled, not commenting, "Since it lasted so long, why did you break up?"

"...She was a girl who lacked a sense of security."

Pan Yang explained simply.

Tong Dan nodded, "I see, and your job was too busy, right?"

"Who initiated the breakup? Her or you?"

"What do you think, Miss Tong?"

"With your personality, it seems unlikely you’d take the initiative to be the bad guy, right?" Tong Dan said casually.

Pan Yang glanced at her, calmly smiling, "Miss Tong guessed wrong, I was the one who initiated it."

Tong Dan was surprised, "Didn’t she cause a scene? A girl who lacks security, wouldn’t be able to withstand such a blow."

"At the time, she already had someone by her side to comfort her."

Tong Dan furrowed her brows, hesitating to speak, but out of politeness, she didn’t ask.

"It was her superior, he had been taking care of her."

Pan Yang explained proactively.

Tong Dan was speechless, glancing at him, "It’s not a made-up story, is it?"

"Miss Tong thinks I have the ability to make that up?"

True.

Tong Dan believed her judgment of people was still pretty accurate, and besides, they weren’t just passing strangers; if he were faking sincerity, it would all come out once her family asked around.

"You’re really... remarkable."

She couldn’t help but say.

Pan Yang shook his head, "When she was with me, my career was just starting. She accompanied me through the toughest times. Later, as my work got on track, I got busier, and inevitably neglected her feelings."

Such issues can’t simply be blamed on one or the other.

This is the reality of an adult’s world.

Two people being together, being mutually in love isn’t always enough.

This is also why "being suitable" is so important.

"So there’s really nothing that could be done. Even if you wanted her not to work and stay at home, things might have been worse, unless you own a company and live and work together."

"So then? Did she end up with her superior?"

Out of politeness, Tong Dan knew she shouldn’t ask such questions, as it was like rubbing salt into the wound, but from what she gathered, he didn’t seem like a fragile person.

"Earlier this year, I just attended their wedding."

Tong Dan fell silent, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Putting herself in his shoes, she knew she could never be so magnanimous.

Unable to say anything, she decided to just clink glasses.

"Clink."

She silently touched her glass to his.

"Miss Tong’s love life must be much more exciting than mine."

Pan Yang asked with a smile as he drank.

"I like making friends, not dating."

Tong Dan swallowed her drink, "Dating... is troublesome."

"I can see that Miss Tong is someone who likes to be free."

Upon hearing this, Tong Dan gave him an unusual look.

Quite perceptive, indeed.

She couldn’t help but develop a slightly better opinion of him.

"Though you’re a few years older than me, we’re from the same generation. Love and relationships are games that trouble fools. Being free on one’s own, what’s wrong with that?"

Unexpectedly, Pan Yang didn’t nod in blind agreement to please her, "Everyone has their own understanding."

"Weren’t you sad about your last relationship?" Tong Dan asked.

Pan Yang smiled, "Saying I wasn’t sad would definitely be lying to Miss Tong, but aside from the sadness, there was also happiness. Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, fear, and surprise, all these enrich the breadth of life; it’s because of these experiences that life gains texture."

Tong Dan’s semi-permanent eyebrows furrowed as she pondered, suddenly thinking of Fang Qing.

Indeed.

Everyone has different beliefs.

You find clubbing fun, but some think it’s a waste of time.

You find something unbearable, but others savor it.

"What you said makes sense."

"Tong Dan, what are you two chatting about so sneakily?"

A flight attendant’s voice rang out,

immediately afterward.

An unusual smell wafted to Tong Dan’s nose.

Turning her head, she saw Captain Lv Kaiyuan and the two copilots with a thin cigarette in their mouths, looking mesmerized and intoxicated.

The unusual smell seemed to come from those smoke clouds.

"Tong Dan, here, from Mr. Takagi."

A flight attendant stood up, holding a few thin cigarettes, identical to those Captain Lv Kaiyuan and the others were smoking,

not only the men, but even Zhang Lin had lit up. She had been smoking since her school days and was considered a habitual smoker, yet at this moment, she seemed dazed, her eyes vacant, perhaps due to drinking too much.

"I don’t want it."

Tong Dan refused. There’s no need to keep up the act all the time.

"Tong Dan, this is good stuff, Mr. Pan, have a try too."

Captain Lv Kaiyuan hollered, slightly different from usual, extremely excited.

At this moment, everyone had joined in smoking.

The distinct aroma grew more intense.

"Tong Dan, catch."

Tong Dan could only take the two cigarettes, but it was just a stalling tactic, with no intention of actually smoking, yet she found everyone was watching her.

"Light it up, no lighter? Give her a light."

A lighter was handed over.

"He doesn’t smoke."

Tong Dan used Pan Yang as an excuse.

"No problem, let him try, he might like it. Tong Dan, you brought Mr. Pan tonight, isn’t it to become friends with everyone? Smoke this, and we’re all friends."

Captain Lv Kaiyuan was clearly somewhat incoherent, his speech slurred, illogical.

"Tong Dan, this was specially prepared for us by Mr. Takagi. If you don’t smoke it, isn’t it disrespectful to Mr. Takagi?"

The copilot joined in the teasing.

That Mr. Takagi leisurely observed the Shenzhou flight attendant.

"Miss Tong, give it to me."

Pan Yang spoke up, wanting to take the cigarette, not wanting to ruin their colleagues’ relationship.

Even if one is not a smoker, smoking a cigarette is nothing; nicotine isn’t so powerful that one cigarette can cause addiction.

"You can’t smoke it!"

Tong Dan swiftly dodged, her expression serious.

She knew Pan Yang was likely a traditional kind of elite white-collar worker, mostly focused on work, but she was different.

Pan Yang didn’t know what this was, but she did!

It wasn’t just any cigarette; it was marijuana!

"Tong Dan, what do you mean by this?"

The copilot looked unhappy.

"You guys have fun, we’re leaving."

Tong Dan tried to leave with Pan Yang directly.

She invited him over just to solve her own troubles, not to harm him.

"Tong Dan!"

Seeing this, the emotions simmering inside finally couldn’t hold back; under the combined effects of ’nicotine’ and alcohol, Captain Lv Kaiyuan slammed the table, causing the cups and dishes to clatter.

Fortunately, the rest were in a state of daze, their nervous systems numbed, not frightened.

"Are you treating everyone as not friends? Everyone is here to help you, and you just leave?"

As the captain, which flight attendant in the company didn’t greet him with sweet words and smiles, except for Tong Dan, who was always lukewarm, pretending to be ignorant, how could he not feel aggrieved, not feel indignant?

"I’ll cover tonight’s bill."

After saying that, Tong Dan directly snapped the two ’cigarettes’ and threw them to the ground, "Remember, the day after tomorrow you still have to fly back."

Captain Lv’s eyes grew increasingly terrifying, as if ready to devour someone, "Takagi-kun, don’t let them leave!"

Why do they say you shouldn’t touch certain things.

They can block out reason.

A conflict between colleagues doesn’t matter, but discarding someone’s ’gift’ was indeed wrong of Tong Dan.

With just a glance from Mr. Takagi, several burly men in black silently blocked the way of Tong Dan and Pan Yang,

while the rest of the flight attendants wore strange expressions, not only unhurried but slouched around laughing.

"Run!"

Tong Dan was indeed bold, trying to shove away the men blocking the way, but ended up facing the harsh reality, having her arm easily grasped by them.

"Let go of Miss Tong!"

At moments like this, a man’s true nature is shown. Pan Yang did not cower by the sidelines; instead, he stepped forward to rescue Tong Dan, showing good character, yet overestimating his strength, and soon found himself in the same predicament as Tong Dan, his shoulders held firmly by two men, unable to move.

At this moment.

Tong Dan’s strengths were fully revealed; though in a hugely disadvantageous position, she neither cursed nor loudly cried for help, instead quickly calmed down.

"Alright, let us go, we won’t leave."

What can you do if you can’t leave?

What else can you do?

You simply don’t leave.

The key is to assess the situation, to be flexible and adaptable.