0095 In the Company of Beauty

“Dead monkey, you’ll always pick a fight with me, won’t you? Do you really think a People’s police officer can be that naive? Do you remember that in my grandfather’s generation one branch of my family emigrated and settled overseas? Today the Foreign Affairs Bureau informed me that a distant uncle of mine died, leaving two hundred thousand dollars in inheritance, and he specified that only descendants of the Jin Jihai line were to inherit. After a round of searching and verification, I somehow struck it rich.”

“The Jin Jihai line? Aren’t you called Jin Shanshan? Where is the character Hai?”
“My real name was Jin Haishan. You didn’t know that, did you?”
“I really didn’t. Turned around, your name is Shan-Hai-Jing,” Hou Rui answered, sweating.

“Dead monkey, I’m in a good mood today, I won’t argue. I’m going to claim this windfall that’s fallen from the sky. Hahaha.”
“Fine, fine—do you want me to come with you?” Hou Rui said on a whim, never imagining Jin Shanshan would take him seriously.
“Really? Great! I’m flying straight to Egypt the day after tomorrow. Then come with me if you want!”

Egypt. Africa. Jin Shanshan going there, too? Something is definitely wrong! Hou Rui’s face fell, but on the other end she still squealed with joy. “Hahaha, money to collect, and we get to travel together as a couple—this is perfect. My luck has been excellent lately.”

“Wife, I’ve got a bit of…” Hou Rui tried to make an excuse. If he traveled with Jin Shanshan, every little mission would bring even more trouble. With that little policegirl by his side, how could he quietly do any operation?

“I don’t care. Last time we still have that fox-spirit matter to settle. This time you yourself said you’d come with me. Go get your passport now. We leave the day after tomorrow.” With that she made up her mind instantly and hung up quickly, giving Hou Rui no chance to reply.

All right then. This mission is so dangerous that whether I’ll have the fortune to return is uncertain; at least I can accompany her on the way to Africa.

After a bitter smile and a shake of his head, he put down the phone. After so much had happened that night, there was no time to bother Zhou Xing. So he got back into his Forty and drove directly to school.

The next morning, Hou Rui hurried to the immigration hall beside Communication University to apply for a passport. After discreetly slipping a red envelope with one thousand yuan, he obtained, in the afternoon, his first real passport through expedited processing—expedited again and again. Looking at it, and remembering the times he had crossed borders with fake papers, he couldn’t help but feel a familiar sting of shame.

Back at school, he temporarily gave the keys to his Forty to Li Lei and Ma Siyuan for safekeeping. Whether those two would seize the chance to drive around picking up girls was none of his concern. If he didn’t come back from this Somari trip, the car could be a keepsake for them.

Then Hou Rui went to the counselor to ask for leave. He used the excuse of accompanying his girlfriend to Egypt for the inheritance and took a week off. If he needed more time later, he would take it one step at a time.

On the third morning, Hou Rui arrived alone at the departure hall by airport bus. Thirty minutes before check-in, Jin Shanshan finally showed up with Wang Si and Chen Xiangyu. After a flurry of hugs and dramatic goodbyes with her girlfriends, she boarded an EgyptAir Airbus A330 with Hou Rui.

This time she bought two economy tickets. She had planned to spend the nine-plus-hour flight savoring him, but when she and Hou Rui reached their seats, she was stunned: though the tickets were consecutive, the inexperienced Jin Shanshan had bought the two seats on opposite sides of the aisle. Hou Rui nearly choked with laughter.

“Wife, did a monkey send you out here to be funny?”
“Shut up. Not on purpose. That cursed travel agency—when I get back I’ll give them the worst review ever. I’ll write it into the family genealogy: no one in the Jin family is ever to visit that agency again.”
Jin Shanshan, half-turned in her seat, in the same breath made room for a bulky Arab man of at least two hundred and fifty jin and then swore at Hou Rui with venom.

“Wife, there’s one thing I’m not sure whether to tell you.”
“What is it? Say it quickly.”
“Actually, you can’t enter the Jin family genealogy. By custom only a wife can be entered, not a daughter. But since we’re on such good terms, I could consider putting you in the Hou family genealogy instead, hmm?”
“Damn you! Right there, too!”
Angry, Jin Shanshan stretched out and couldn’t reach him, so she tried kicking him. The aisle between them was too wide; Hou Rui only had to sidestep slightly to avoid the strike.

When the two were still playing at sparring, an EgyptAir flight attendant came over. The big-eyed woman in a headscarf and small red cap waved at Jin Shanshan, signaling that no roughhousing was allowed on board. The little cop managed to rein in herself a little, though she still gave Hou Rui a glaring look.

About ten minutes later the economy cabin was full, and Hou Rui began to feel the plane entering the taxiing phase. The veiled attendants, after finishing the routine briefing, had already sat on little chairs in the rest area, waiting for takeoff.

“Monkey, I… I need to use the restroom.”
Hou Rui turned and saw her face was a little red; she was looking at him shyly.
“Scared is scared. Don’t say you need the restroom when you mean that.”
Hou Rui immediately saw through it. Though he teased her with his words, his body reacted instantly; with both of them stretching their arms as far as possible, their hands barely touched.

The A330’s takeoff was smooth—something Hou Rui could not say he matched. Since the aircraft had left the ground cleanly, the rest was simple. After it spent a moment climbing to a safe altitude, the veiled attendants pushed a service cart down the aisle and offered drinks and snacks in sequence.

An hour later, while Hou Rui ate peanuts and drank, Jin Shanshan sat pale, flipping through a magazine. The fearless little policegirl was getting motion sickness. It put him in a strange spot—he pitied her and found it funny. He endured it as best he could.

“Wife, does your head still hurt?”
“It hurts!”
“Is your ear still ringing?”
“It is!”
“Want to drink some water?”
“.”
“Did the anti-nausea pill do anything?”
“I think that pill was fake.”
He paused, and then thought of a perfect topic. “Wife, how about returning by boat? I’ve heard the Suez Canal is beautiful. We could take a cruise all the way back.”

To his surprise, Jin Shanshan gave him an even more aggrieved glance. Her face twitched more and she said after a while, “I get seasick too.”

Hou Rui wisely closed his mouth and kept eating his peanuts.

After three hours of flight, Jin Shanshan finally dozed off. As his own tension eased and he began nodding off in turn, he suddenly caught sight of the big-eyed flight attendant and someone else slipping, with covert, one-after-another movement, into the restroom.

Something’s happening, he thought.
His nerves suddenly snapped him awake. He looked around: most passengers were asleep or watching movies with headphones, no one paying him attention. So he quietly stood and walked toward that restroom.
Who would it be? A member of some organization? A regular terrorist? Damn, could it be that they meant to blow up the plane? Jin Shanshan is with me on this flight; neither of us is going to fly away like this!

As he walked, he kept thinking. When he reached the restroom door, he quickly glanced at the attendants’ lounge beside it and saw nobody there. Then he pressed his ear to the door, concentrating and listening closely.

“Ah, ah—push harder, baby—”
Inside, it was clearly…
His heart lurched. Frustration burst out of him as he left the door. He had nearly gone blind with nerves, only to realize this was simply a pair of animals making love in secret—more shocking to him than a terrorist carrying a bomb.

When Hou Rui stormed back to his seat, the economy cabin remained hushed and still, with only the faint sound of the engines. Everything seemed so peaceful, so normal, so he finally dared to close his eyes.

“Ah—!”
Maybe he had just drifted when a woman’s scream suddenly rang out. Instantly the entire economy cabin erupted in chaos. Many confused passengers woke in panic and stood up, asking, “What happened? What happened?”
“Who is screaming?”
“Flight attendant? Cabin crew? What is going on?”

Just as Hou Rui stayed calm and watched the situation, the front restroom door suddenly opened. The big-eyed attendant burst out, shoulder half-uncovered.

“Doctor? Who’s the doctor? Captain Kered has fainted. We can’t wake him no matter how hard we call.”
She kept pointing frantically toward the restroom while shouting, so flustered she didn’t even notice how much her chest had become exposed.

Serves him right. It must be sudden pressure.
The moment Hou Rui guessed the truth, he felt only boredom. He didn’t bother with the commotion by the restroom. Instead he tugged the blanket over Jin Shanshan again, helping the still half-asleep little cop settle in more comfortably. Judging from her condition, the motion-sickness medicine should let her sleep through most of the journey.