"What a huge airport!" Yao Xinping quietly marveled, this was her first time at an airport.
"This isn’t considered big, you haven’t seen the airport in Capital City, it’s even bigger than this!" Fang Yuan casually said, she had taken a plane back to Capital City before and remembered how shocked she was when she first arrived at Capital City’s airport.
Yao Xinping silently glanced at Fang Yuan’s pink wristwatch and the clothes she was wearing. After being classmates for three years, Yao Xinping was very clear that Fang Yuan came from a wealthy family.
"It’s also my first time here, the airport is so big, so this is what airplanes look like," Xu Nianhua sincerely said. This was her first time at an airport in her life; whenever she went back to South City, she always took the train. Although the green trains were slow, sleeping in a bunk was still comfortable. You didn’t have to squeeze in a hard seat, and after a good sleep, you’d almost be home.
"Your family is in South City, right? Doesn’t South City have an airport?" Fang Yuan asked, puzzled, mainly because Xu Nianhua’s family seemed well-off, not like someone who couldn’t afford to fly.
"I haven’t paid attention to that," Xu Nianhua answered with ease, not embarrassed at all for never having flown before.
"Then next time you can take a look; when the weather’s good and you’re sitting on the plane, looking at the clouds outside is really beautiful, just like cotton candy," Fang Yuan, who liked flying, especially on clear days, felt the cloud formations like cotton candy were exceptionally beautiful.
Xu Nianhua smiled and didn’t say anything. She didn’t like flying, oh no, to be precise, she got airsick. She didn’t like the feeling the moment the plane lifted off.
The moment she boarded a plane, she felt anxious and empty as if something was about to go wrong with the plane at any moment. Thus, when she went out, especially far away, her first choice of transportation was the train. Listening to the clanking sound of trains, firstly, she didn’t get motion sickness, and secondly, it felt safer.
While Xu Nianhua and the others were chatting, the people they were there to meet had arrived – fifteen in total, a mix of men and women.
Xu Nianhua and her colleagues were assigned their tasks well in advance; Zhuo Xiaolin and Yao Xinping were responsible for the young men while Xu Nianhua and Fang Yuan took care of the young women. After all, being of similar age, it was easier to find common ground and communicate.
The group headed to their accommodation. Xu Nianhua and a few others took one car, responsible for hosting two beautiful girls, one named Lillian and the other named Ruth. They were both cheerful, and hearing Xu Nianhua and Fang Yuan greet them in French made the conversation even more casual.
This was Fang Yuan’s first time engaging in a French conversation with French people, quite different from the practice she had with classmates. Their pure French was very colloquial and fast; if she didn’t pay close attention, she would not understand what they were saying.
Xu Nianhua, with her past experience, even responded more than Fang Yuan did.
"Xu, your French is really good," Lillian, who sat right next to Xu Nianhua, sized her up. Although her clothes didn’t look very nice, and she wore long sleeves, her face looked like a delicate doll.
"You flatter me, I only know some basic French," Xu Nianhua replied in French. Although she hadn’t studied for very long, every word she pronounced was spot on. When there were words she didn’t know how to say, she switched to English.
Fortunately, Lillian’s English was very good.
Lillian was very interested in everything outside and asked all kinds of questions on the way. Whenever Xu Nianhua couldn’t reply in French, she used both languages interchangeably.