That night, I called Uncle Peter.

He was working the night shift, and I could hear the swishing sound of wipers in the background.

"Uncle Peter, have you eaten?"

"Yeah. Why are you calling all of a sudden?"

"Nothing. I was just asking."

He chuckled and didn't probe further.

Before he ended the call, he reminded me, "The day after tomorrow is your mom's death anniversary. Don't forget."

"I know."

That night, I opened up the safe.

There was a brown paper bag inside, and the tape sealing the opening had turned yellow.

There were two documents in the paper bag.

The first document was a weather assessment report signed and submitted by Zachary 20 years ago. The remarks column stated, "Not suitable for takeoff."

The second document was from the same day. It was the hourly weather observation record by the National Meteorological Department's Southon Observation Center.

"Visibility: more than six miles. Cloud ceiling: above two miles. Wind speed: five knots."

The sky was clear.

I had spent seven years getting my hands on these two documents.

One of them was retrieved from the Federal Aviation Authority, and the other one was from the National Meteorological Department.

They had never been placed side by side for a comparison.

Today, at 6:00 pm, the secretary of Zach Airways' board of directors called the Federal Aviation Administration's disciplinary inspection team.

They had filed a complaint against me, the chief examiner, for abusing my power over personal affairs.

I had been waiting for the call for a long time.

…

The next morning, Mike Zeller from the disciplinary inspection team called me. "Ethan, do you know that Zach Airways has filed a complaint against you?"

"Yeah."

"They said you didn't provide a valid written reason for denying Yasmin Sullivan's promotion."

"The reason will be posted through the system today. I'll make sure to write it properly."

"There's one more thing. Zachary is coming this afternoon."

Holding the phone, I didn't say a word.

"Do you want to leave the office for a moment?" Mike kept his voice down.

"It's fine."

…

At 2:20 pm, a black Maybach stopped in front of the Federal Aviation Administration building.

I stood in front of the window on the third floor and watched Zachary get out of the car.

It had been 20 years.

He seemed older than he did in the photo. His sideburns had turned gray, but he was still standing upright.

He wore a navy blue coat with perfect cutting. The way he walked reminded me of Uncle Peter's words.

"Your dad is really skillful, and he's also a tough guy. It's just that he's being tough for the wrong reason."

Instead of coming to me, he went straight to the office to meet the director, Henry Stone.

The door remained closed for 40 minutes.

When they came out of the office, Henry walked to the end of the corridor with Zachary.

Then, his secretary said, "Mr. Lowe, let's meet in Room 307."

When I pushed the door open, Zachary was sitting across from the long table.

Next to Jason was Wynnie Sullivan.

She was in her 40s, and she wore a pearl necklace.

I recognized her. Her photo was posted on the forum 20 years ago.

She stood beside a Cessna with a bright smile, carrying a little girl in a pink dress.

That little girl was Yasmin Sullivan.

"Have a seat." Zachary looked at me, his voice calm, as if he were looking at his subordinate.

I sat down across from him.

"Mr. Lowe, I've reviewed Yasmin's file, and there aren't any issues. Why did you reject her application for a captain upgrade?"

"I'm suspicious of her flight hours."

"Suspicious?" Zachary frowned. "The crew signed and confirmed every flight she handled. The data is complete, and she has passed the airline's internal assessment."

"The internal assessment is for the airline to decide, but I make the final decision for the Federal Aviation Administration assessment," I declared.

Zachary glanced at me. Instead of getting mad, he scrutinized me apathetically.

Wynnie, who was beside him, suddenly said, "Mr. Lowe, Yas has shown talent as a pilot since she was young. She got her license when she was 18. At 22, she has already outperformed many experienced pilots. She's made it this far through her own efforts."

Wynnie's voice was as gentle as her smile in the photo from 20 years ago.

"Ms. Sullivan, I wasn't assessing her talent. I was reviewing her record."

"Tell me, what's wrong with her record?"

"The review comments will be delivered to you through a written statement."

"I want to know it now."

Zachary raised his hand, and Wynnie held her tongue.

He took out an envelope from his pocket and slid it over.

"This is the offer letter from Zach Airways. We'd like to hire you to be the chief pilot. The annual pay is three million dollars, and you'll also be given stock options."

He leaned against the chair.

"It's too tiring for you to be in this position. You're still young, and you shouldn't limit yourself."

I pushed the envelope back to him.

"Mr. Zachary Lowe, I'm Ethan Lowe," I said.

His finger paused on the desk for a moment. "I know your name."

The corners of his lips twitched. "And I know who you are."

Zachary rose to his feet and buttoned his coat.

"Ethan, if you refuse to help, I'll opt for another way out."

With that, he left the meeting room.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away in the corridor.

When Wynnie walked past me, she paused and whispered, "Young man, you should leave yourself a way out."

After they left, I opened up the envelope.

It wasn't sealed, and there was a banker's acceptance from Zach Airways under the offer letter.

It was for three million dollars.

I kept the envelope in a transparent bag, sealed it, and wrote the date and number on it.

Then, I raised my head and looked at the surveillance camera at the top-left corner of the meeting room. The indicator light was blinking.

…

On the third day, I saw my name on the Federal Aviation Administration website.

It was an internal notice that stated, "The chief examiner, Ethan Lowe, is suspected of violating the policy during a captain upgrade assessment. He will be suspended from his position and placed under investigation by the disciplinary inspection team."

On the same day, three airlines posted an article through the media that read, "The youngest chief examiner has been exposed for abusing his authority due to a personal grudge. A talented female pilot's upgrade to captain was unjustly denied."

There wasn't a single mention of Zachary's name in the article.

The article only mentioned that the talented female pilot had performed well, but the chief examiner denied her upgrade for no reason. It was believed that his actions stemmed from a personal grudge.

A photo of Yasmin flying a plane was attached. She was in her uniform, flashing a bright smile.

Most of the comments were similar.

"I'm siding with Yasmin! Exceptional women shouldn't be held back by those in power!"

"If it's confirmed that he holds a personal grudge against her, this matter should be properly handled!"

In the afternoon, Uncle Peter called. "Ethan, I saw online that you did a young woman wrong."

"Don't read those things."

"It wasn't me who saw them, but your aunt. She asked me if you offended someone you couldn't afford to cross."

"Uncle Peter, I did. But he deserved it."

He fell silent for a moment before he said, "As long as you know what you're doing."

But he didn't probe further.

It had been 20 years, and he had never questioned me.

He had carried Mom from the emergency room to the morgue and finally to the cemetery, without once cursing at Dad.

On the day she was buried, he squatted in front of the grave and smoked half a pack of cigarettes.

Then, he got up and promised, "Lily, don't worry. I'll raise Ethan."

The day after I was suspended from my position, someone I never expected to see came to me.

It was Yasmin.

She didn't make an appointment; instead, she waited in front of the Federal Aviation Administration building.

"Mr. Lowe, hello," she greeted. "I know nothing about what my dad did. The only thing I know is that my skills are real. I flew every hour myself."

I cast my gaze upon her. "Does he know you're here for me?"

"Nope."

"There was no QAR data corresponding to 120 flight hours in your record."

She seemed baffled and didn't get what I meant. "What?"

"The flight hours were recorded in your file and the airline's system. But there was no record for 120 flight hours in the QAR data folder. The data was uploaded at one go later."

"That's impossible. I flew every—"

"I'm not questioning if you operated the aircraft or not. I'm asking if the record was tampered with."

She clenched her fists. Her lips twitched, but she said nothing.

At last, she turned around and left.

After taking a few steps, she stopped in her tracks. "Mr. Lowe, if you're right, then those 120 hours…"

She left the rest of her words unsaid.

…

When I returned to my office, a document had just been delivered and placed on the desk.

It was a notice from the disciplinary inspection team stating, "A special review meeting will be held in three days to investigate the actions of the chief examiner, Ethan Lowe, during the captain upgrade assessment of Yasmin Sullivan."

The review would be made public. Representatives from all the airlines could attend it.

I pulled out the bottom drawer with the paper bag inside. Then, I kept it in a briefcase.

I kept a small Bluetooth speaker and a USB drive containing documents I had copied in the internal compartment of the briefcase.

There was a restored old recording in the drive.

Three years ago, a retired pilot handed the tape to me with trembling hands. "Ethan, I've been keeping this for 17 years. After giving it to you today, I can finally be at ease."

…

The review meeting was held in the meeting room on the ninth floor of the Federal Aviation Administration building.

Three people from the inspection team sat at the head table with Mike in the middle. The room was crowded with representatives from the authorities and airlines.

Zach Airways had sent seven representatives over.

Jason sat in the front row, and next to him were the general counsel and public relations manager.

Wynnie was there too, seated in a corner at the back. Meanwhile, Zachary sat at the center.

He wore a dark gray suit with Zach Airways' golden wing badge pinned to his chest.

When he saw me coming in, he swept his gaze across me.

Mike read out the items that would be reviewed.

"This meeting is being held to investigate whether the chief examiner, Ethan Lowe, exercised an improper veto and abused his authority during the captain upgrade assessment of Zach Airways' co-pilot, Yasmin Sullivan.

"Ethan Lowe, please state your reasons for rejecting the captain upgrade application."

I opened up the file.

"There was no QAR data corresponding to 120 flight hours in Yasmin's record. After retrieving the airlines' server logs, it was found that the data of these 120 hours was uploaded all at once, 48 hours before the application.

"The IP address indicated that the files were uploaded from Zach Airways' management."

I handed the printed copies of the screenshots to the disciplinary inspection team.

Mike took them, glanced at them, and arched an eyebrow.

Everyone in the room fell silent.

Jason's general counsel was the first person to stand up. "Mr. Lowe, the delay in transferring QAR data is nothing new. System migration and server maintenance could lead to bulk synchronization. You can't confirm that the data was fabricated—"