Magic City Hongqiao Airport, Terminal 2.
Cheng Che was fully equipped with a hat, mask, and sunglasses.
He stood in a corner of the departure hall, watching Pei Jingshu check in.
Pei Jingshu wore a beige long-sleeved thin shirt with dark jeans today, and her hair was tied in a high ponytail.
As she stood at the counter and handed her passport to the staff member, she glanced back at the group of people standing behind her.
Cheng Che stood at the very front.
Behind him were Jiang Xue and Cheng Jianguo, and then Su Miaoyin.
Pei Jingshu finished the formalities and walked over, dragging her suitcase.
She didn't speak to Cheng Che first, but walked up to Jiang Xue first.
She bent down slightly and said in Chinese with South Korea accent, "Auntie, thank you for taking care of me."
Jiang Xue paused for a moment, then smiled.
She reached out and patted Pei Jingshu on the shoulder. "You're too kind, child. Send Cheche a message when you get to South Korea, don't make your aunt worry."
After listening to Cheng Che's translation, Pei Jingshu nodded and then turned to Cheng Jianguo.
She thought for a moment, unsure of what to call him, and finally just said, "Goodbye, Uncle."
Cheng Jianguo nodded, quite satisfied with the polite child.
Then came Su Miaoyin.
Pei Jingshu stopped in front of her. The two looked at each other.
Su Miaoyin was wearing a mask, but her eyes were curved, making her look very polite.
Pei Jingshu tilted her head and said "Goodbye" in Korean.
Although Su Miaoyin didn't understand, she could guess what it meant and nodded at her.
Finally, Pei Jingshu looked at Cheng Che.
She walked up to him, looked up at him, and pursed her lips.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but her gaze shifted to the side, where she saw Jiang Xue, Cheng Jianguo, and Su Miaoyin standing a few steps away.
She swallowed the words she was about to say.
Cheng Che looked down at her.
Message me when you arrive.
Pei Jingshu nodded.
Eat properly.
She nodded again.
"Next time you come to South Korea, I'll be your tour guide."
Pei Jingshu's eyes lit up.
She took half a step forward, reached out, and gently squeezed the back of his hand.
It happened quickly and gently; it receded as soon as I released it.
Then she dragged her suitcase toward the security checkpoint.
After walking a few steps, she looked back and waved to everyone.
Then he turned around and disappeared behind the security checkpoint.
Cheng Che stood there, looking in that direction for a while.
Standing next to him, Su Miaoyin felt much more relaxed.
A few hours after Pei Jingshu left, Jiang Xue finished the formalities, pulled Cheng Che aside and gave him a long lecture, then turned to look at Su Miaoyin:
" Miaoyin, come visit Spring City sometime, Auntie will cook you something delicious."
Su Miaoyin nodded vigorously. "Okay, I'll definitely go."
Cheng Che touched his nose.
Cheng Jianguo glanced back at him, his gaze lingering on Su Miaoyin for a moment before returning to his own.
In the afternoon, the group of five boarded a flight back to Capital City.
It was already evening when the plane landed at Capital City International Airport.
Cheng Che, carrying a tennis bag and dragging a suitcase, had just stepped out of the arrival passage when he heard a voice.
" Cheng Che--!"
The voices were not in unison.
Hundreds of people shouted at the same time, the sound waves overlapping one after another, reflecting back from under the dome of the arrival hall, like a wall crashing down on him.
Cheng Che looked up.
Outside the arrival gate, the crowd was densely packed together.
He estimated there were at least three or four hundred people, stretching from the exit all the way to the fence at the end of the hall.
The vast majority were young women, dressed in all sorts of clothes. Some wore the same sports jacket as him, while others held homemade banners that read "Welcome back to Beijing, Cheng Che " and "Looking forward to your first work."
Others held up his photo, which was encased in a transparent plastic case, its edges crumpled from being gripped by fingers.
Several girls in the front row jumped up excitedly, waving their hands as they did so.
Someone in the middle was taking pictures with their phone, their arm outstretched high, their body swaying from side to side with the crowd.
Someone was crying, tears streaming down their face, but a smile was spreading across their lips.
People in the back row tiptoed forward, trying to see the entrance to the passage through the gaps in the crowd in front.
" Cheng Che--! Cheng Che--! Cheng Che--!"
The shouts grew louder and louder.
People started pushing forward, and those in the front were pushed by those behind them, their bodies falling towards the railing.
A girl almost crashed into the guardrail, but someone nearby pulled her back.
More people raised their hands, and the phone screens looked like a dense cluster of stars.
Several airport security guards stood with their arms outstretched in front of the crowd, their expressions filled with tension.
"Don't push! Move back a little!"
"Stop pushing, you people in front!"
Su Miaoyin, who was behind Cheng Che, also stopped.
Her eyes slowly widened, and she took a half step back, grabbing Cheng Che's sleeve.
Her lips parted slightly beneath her mask, but no sound came out.
Qin Lie's expression changed.
He strode up from behind and stood next to Cheng Che, his eyes quickly scanning the size of the crowd.
"There are too many people." He lowered his voice, his tone urgent. "We don't have enough security. Don't move, I'll contact airport security for backup right away."
Cheng Che nodded.
He stood still, without moving forward.
Qin Lie took out his phone and dialed a number.
"Yes, there are at least three or four hundred people at the T3 arrival gate. We only have one staff member and two brand representatives here, which is completely insufficient. Yes, please send reinforcements immediately. Also, could you arrange a separate passage?"
Qin Lie responded twice to what was said on the other end of the phone, and then hung up.
"The airport said they'd send someone over right away. They told us to wait a bit and not to rush out."
Cheng Che looked at the crowd.
They were still shouting and pushing forward.
Someone was taking pictures of him standing at the entrance of the passageway with their phone, and someone started climbing over the railing, but a security guard next to them pulled her back.
A girl in a blue coat reached her hand over the railing, her fingers straining forward, shouting, " Cheng Che, I'll just touch it, just one touch!"
He took a deep breath.
"I'm going out to say a few words to them."
Qin Lie grabbed him. "Are you crazy? Get out now?"
"Just stand at the entrance of the passageway, not near the railing," Cheng Che said. "If they see me, they'll be quieter. We'll deal with security when they arrive."
Qin Lie looked at him, paused for a moment, and then let go of his hand.
Cheng Che handed the tennis bag to Qin Lie, took a step forward, and stood inside the line at the exit of the passage. He took off his mask.
The screams instantly rose two pitches.
The girls in the front row started pushing forward frantically, making the railing creak and groan.
One of the security guards was jostled and nearly fell.
Cheng Che raised his hand and pressed it down.
The movement was very light and natural, like telling a friend "Don't rush."
The noise from the crowd actually did subside somewhat.
The power of [ Enchantment ] quietly began to operate.
"Please don't push." His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly in the noisy hall. "Step back a little, don't fall."
The girls in the front row instinctively took a half step back.
The subsequent roar also subsided, like the tide receding.
"Thank you for coming to pick me up," he said. "I can see you now, and you can see me. Don't move yet, wait for security to arrive, then we'll proceed in an orderly fashion."
Several girls in the front row nodded vigorously.
Some people in the back row were still calling his name on tiptoe, but the atmosphere was much quieter than before.
About five minutes later, a team of airport security personnel in uniform ran in through a side door.
There were about a dozen people, forming a passageway on both sides and in front of the crowd.
A middle-aged man in a suit walked up to Qin Lie and introduced himself as the head of the airport operations department.
"Mr. Cheng, welcome back to Beijing," the person in charge said. "Security is in place. Would you like to leave directly, or perhaps have some interaction with your fans? We suggest arranging a brief autograph and photo session, with security maintaining order, and then guiding you out through a side entrance. This way, the fans can release their emotions, and it will also make it easier for us to disperse the crowd."
Qin Lie glanced at Cheng Che.
Cheng Che nodded. "Okay."
The person in charge directed security personnel to create a single passage for the crowd, allowing fans to line up in two queues.
Cheng Che walked to the railing and began signing autographs.
He signed more than a dozen names and took several photos.
Every girl in front of him was filled with an almost uncontrollable excitement. Some couldn't finish their sentences, some were just crying and laughing, and some shoved their phones into his hands, asking him to hold them up for a selfie.
A girl in a white hoodie pushed her way out of the crowd, holding a notebook in her hand, tears streaming down her face.
" Cheng Che, can I get your autograph? I've liked you ever since you were the top scorer in the college entrance Zhuangyuan..."
Cheng Che took the notebook, signed it, and then took a photo with it.
When the girl retreated with the notebook in her arms, she was trembling all over, and her companion had to support her to prevent her from falling.
About twenty minutes after the signing took place, the person in charge leaned close to Qin Lie's ear and whispered something.
Qin Lie walked to Cheng Che's side and said in a low voice, "It's almost done. The side door is ready."
Cheng Che nodded.
He took half a step back and raised his hand towards the crowd.
The crowd quieted down a bit. The girls in the front row looked up at him, while those in the back stood on tiptoe to peer forward.
"Thank you for picking me up today," he said, his tone casual as if chatting with a friend. "I saw it and I remembered. But don't come next time, it's such a long way, and it's cold. I can't just travel online."
Someone below chuckled.
"Alright, go back now." He waved to the crowd. "Be careful on the road. If you have time, watch more games and listen to more music. Winning a few more games on the field is much more worthwhile than you standing here waiting for me."
Someone else shouted, " Cheng Che!"
He nodded in that direction, then turned and walked toward the side door.
Qin Lie and his staff stood guard on either side of him, while Su Miaoyin followed behind, wearing a mask, her head down, and walking much faster than usual.
The fans were still shouting, but their voices were much quieter than before.
Security personnel cleared a path ahead, and the crowd parted in the middle to make way. No one chased after them.
Cheng Che walked out through the side door and got into a black van that was already waiting at the door.
The moment the car door closed, the outside noise was shut out, as if someone had pressed a mute button.
The group settled into the van.
Cheng Che leaned back in his chair, his chest still heaving.
He glanced at Su Miaoyin.
Su Miaoyin took off her mask and let out a long breath. Her face showed an expression of relief, as if she had just escaped a disaster.
"It scared me to death," she said. "The way those girls looked at you was like they wanted to eat you alive. I was standing behind you, and I felt like if they knew I was on the same flight as you, they'd tear me apart."
Cheng Che smiled.
He turned to look at Qin Lie.
Why are there fans greeting people at the airport?
Qin Lie glanced at him in the rearview mirror and said with a smile:
"Don't you know how popular you are now? Before you entered the entertainment industry, they didn't want to bother you. Now that you're in the entertainment industry, of course they have to give you entertainment industry treatment."
He paused, then said:
"Luckily it's the Capital City, only a few hundred people. If there were thousands, you wouldn't be able to handle it."
Cheng Che leaned back in his chair, looking out the window.
The streetlights in Capital City receded one by one, and the traffic flowed like a slowly moving river in the night.
He recalled what the fans had been shouting. Some were holding banners that read "Welcome back to Beijing," and some knew he was returning from Magic City. It was public knowledge that he played in Magic City, but he had never publicly announced his return flight or arrival time.
" Old Qin."
"Um?"
How did they know I was on flight today?
Qin Lie glanced at him in the rearview mirror, paused for a moment, and then his expression changed.
You didn't tell anyone, did you?
"No."
Qin Lie paused for a moment.
"The itinerary was booked through Wilson. But only myself, two Wilson staff members, Su Miaoyin, and your parents knew your flight information. Your parents couldn't have told you, and neither could Su Miaoyin. As for the people at Wilson... I'll check later."
Cheng Che nodded.
"And the airport," he said. "Check-in records and arrival information can only be accessed through the airline's internal system."
Qin Lie's expression darkened.
He pulled the car over to the side of the road, took out his phone, and dialed a number.
"Hello, it's me. There were three or four hundred fans picking up Cheng Che at the T3 arrival gate today. Cheng Che's flight information hasn't been released to the public. Could you check if someone leaked it? If it's an internal airport issue, we'll take legal action. Write a lawyer's letter and sue whoever they want."
Qin Lie responded twice to what was said on the other end of the phone, and then hung up.
"I'll have the legal department follow up," he said. "This kind of thing can't be tolerated. Today it was just picking them up at the airport, but next time it could be sasaeng fans following their car or stalking them at their hotel, that would be a real problem."
Cheng Che nodded.
Su Miaoyin, who was listening nearby, also changed her expression.
She recalled how the girls were frantically pushing and shoving forward at the airport earlier.
If they knew which hotel Cheng Che was staying at, which car he was in, and which route he was taking, it wouldn't just be a matter of picking him up from the airport.
She glanced at Cheng Che.
Cheng Che leaned back in his chair, eyes closed, his expression calm.
But his fingers tapped lightly on his knees, a little faster than usual.
The van restarted and headed towards Peking University.