Capital Airport

Capital Airport is the setting for a departure scene in which the excitement of Xinxin’s first flight is abruptly overshadowed by Margaret’s sighting of the Mongolian Kidnapper. The encounter makes the busy terminal a place of uncertainty: the crowd briefly conceals a face linked to danger, then swallows it again before Margaret can act.

Departure and First Flight

In the new departure hall, Xinxin is dazzled by its size, the crowds, and the lights reflected in shiny surfaces. She has never flown before and eagerly anticipates boarding. Margaret asks Mei Yuan to stay with her while she checks them in; Xinxin’s small case can travel as hand luggage, and Margaret has only her briefcase.

Before departure, Margaret goes to the shopping area to buy Xinxin mints for take-off and landing, concerned that the change in pressure might affect the girl’s ears. The ordinary preparation gives way to alarm while Margaret waits in another queue, her attention wandering across the concourse.

The Sighting

Across the mall, Margaret recognizes the Mongolian Kidnapper: his flat features, long greasy hair, scarred lip, and yellow protruding teeth recall the man she saw on a dark night at The Bund. A tour group led by a guide in a yellow baseball cap, carrying a blue flag, passes between them. When it clears, the man has disappeared.

Margaret abandons the queue and searches the concourse, looking from side to side, but cannot find him. She cannot explain how he could be in Beijing, yet the remembered face seems unmistakable. Her confidence in what she saw is shadowed by a moment of doubt; meanwhile, her heart pounds, her breathing turns fast and shallow, and her mouth goes dry.

Aftermath and Narrative Significance

Xinxin’s voice and hand bring Margaret back to the people beside her. Mei Yuan and the girl look at her curiously, and Mei Yuan asks whether she is all right. The scene ends without confirming where the Mongolian Kidnapper went or what he intended. Instead, the airport’s crowded openness sharpens the threat: Margaret has seen him, but the flow of travelers has made him impossible to pursue.

The scene also sets Xinxin’s childlike anticipation of travel against Margaret’s bodily fear. A practical errand for mints becomes an encounter with a danger Margaret thought belonged to another place and time, leaving the departure suspended between the promise of a first flight and the return of an unresolved menace.