Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
"What? He's still trying to add you on WeChat?!"
The following day at ten o'clock at night in a bar, Bian Xuan was shaking a cocktail shaker, her eyes crinkling into two crescent moons with amusement.
Ruan Sixian arched an eyebrow. "Mhm, I didn't accept it, and I even went and ranted about him on my Moments."
Clasping a table number lamp against her chest, Si Xiaozhen looked dazedly at Ruan Sixian. "Does that mean he genuinely doesn't remember you?"
Ruan Sixian let out a soft huff, grabbed a handful of popcorn, and tossed them into her mouth one by one.
"Not remembering is the normal reaction, right? Flight attendants all wear the exact same uniforms and hairstyles, and even their smiles follow a standardized rule of showing eight teeth—who could possibly tell them apart? Plus, with so many flight attendants fluttering around him every day, where would he find all that idle time?" Bian Xuan finished mixing a drink, placed it in front of Ruan Sixian, and rested her chin in her hand as she asked, "Given that you know he also lives at Monarch Residences, why aren't you looking for a new place?"
Ruan Sixian widened her eyes as if she had just heard some absurd fairy tale. "Why should I move? I've gone to work for World Airlines; wouldn't being picky about that make me overly precious? Besides, he probably doesn't stay there often—it's just close to the airport, a place to crash when things get busy. What on earth do I have to be afraid of?"
"Fine, fine." Bian Xuan gestured toward the glass on the counter and bossed Ruan Sixian around. "Take this over to table three."
Ruan Sixian clapped her hands, loaded the glasses onto a tray, and walked toward the table situated at the very edge of the bar's main hall.
At the beginning of the year, Bian Xuan had quit her job, packed up her savings accumulated over the years, and returned to Jiangcheng to fulfill her dream of opening a small bar, living out the ideal life of hosting parties whenever the mood struck.
The bar's business was only mediocre, barely managing to break even with no profit to speak of yet, which was why she hadn't even hired regular servers. Whenever business picked up, she would simply press her friends into service. Having returned to Jiangcheng for just a few days, Ruan Sixian had already been roped in to help out multiple times.
The busiest stretch was concentrated between ten and eleven o'clock. Once the other able-bodied laborers recruited by Bian Xuan arrived, Ruan Sixian and Si Xiaozhen could finally make a graceful exit.
It wasn't particularly early anymore, though. Remembering that she had a late shift the following day, Si Xiaozhen casually decided she wanted to crash at Ruan Sixian's new apartment for the night to see what a thirty-thousand-per-month rental actually looked like.
Excitedly, Si Xiaozhen dragged Ruan Sixian outside, insisting on showing off her driving skills.
The moment she spotted the four student-driver stickers plastered across the back of Si Xiaozhen's car, Ruan Sixian felt a sudden urge to back out.
"How about we just hail a cab instead?"
Dragging Ruan Sixian into the car, Si Xiaozhen shot her a look that clearly said stop talking nonsense. "Even though I can't fly a plane, driving a car is no problem at all. Don't worry, I passed both my subject two and subject three tests on the very first try."
That was what she claimed, yet all the way there, Ruan Sixian kept her grip locked on the seatbelt, her back stiffened, eyes darting in all directions to monitor every possible hazard until they finally arrived safely at the underground parking garage.
"Over there, turn left." Parking spots were tight in this complex, with the majority designated as private bays. After circling twice, Ruan Sixian finally spotted an empty space. "Take it easy; the space isn't huge, and there are lots of luxury cars around here, so make sure you don't scrape anything."
Just as she was speaking, a black sedan drove straight toward them from the opposite direction, making Si Xiaozhen's hair practically stand on end. "Another person trying to steal my spot! So annoying!"
Fixating her gaze on the parking bay, she stepped hard on the accelerator. Before Ruan Sixian could even react, Si Xiaozhen aggressively spun the steering wheel and cut straight into the spot. The maneuver was so fast that Ruan Sixian hadn't even registered their exact position before feeling a strange, grating friction ripple through the car frame.
"Did you just scrape the car parked next to us?"
Since the parking spot had been successfully secured, Si Xiaozhen finally hit the brakes and belatedly registered what she had just done.
"N-No way, right?"
Ruan Sixian immediately rolled down her passenger window and leaned out to check. Si Xiaozhen's rear bumper was jammed directly against the front corner of the adjacent vehicle, leaving the entire car angled awkwardly across the back end of the other automobile.
"You really did scrape it!"
"Ah! What do we do now?!"
As she spoke, Si Xiaozhen stomped on the gas pedal once more, forcing the car forward with brute force.
"Why on earth are you still moving?!"
Ruan Sixian was completely defeated. No wonder Si Xiaozhen had failed her very first round of flight simulator assessments; with this kind of emergency psychological composure, if she were ever allowed to pilot an actual aircraft, she would probably trigger a chain-reaction collision and make international news headlines immediately.
Unable to worry about anything else, Ruan Sixian unbuckled her seatbelt and prepared to step out to inspect the damage, only for Si Xiaozhen to throw the car into reverse and try backing out instead.
She forced the car out with sheer, unadulterated friction.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Ruan Sixian felt like grabbing Si Xiaozhen by the throat. "Why are you still moving the car? With a stunt like this, the insurance company won't even cover you for full damages anymore!"
It was genuinely a miracle for passengers across the country that this woman hadn't passed her pilot examinations.
Si Xiaozhen immediately raised both hands, her heart hammering against her ribs. "Quick, go see what kind of car I hit."
Shooting her a withering glare, Ruan Sixian leaned back out of the window to look.
One look was all it took for Ruan Sixian to nearly pass out on the spot.
While she might not recognize the specific logo on the tire, she had basic common sense. Just looking at the vehicle's silhouette—the enclosed body, the streamlined fastback, the two-door two-seater layout, and that aggressively flashy matte deep-blue finish—she knew they were finished.
She turned to look at Si Xiaozhen with a gloomy gaze. "Have you prepared yourself mentally?"
"What?"
"I'd say that's a sports car worth ten times the price of your entire house."
Her eyes rolling back in horror and her scalp tingling with terror, Si Xiaozhen killed the engine, scrambled out of the car, and squeezed into the gap at the back. Seeing the massive scrape smeared across the sports car's bodywork alongside the dent on her own bumper, she nearly fainted right then and there.
"C-Can I just commit a hit-and-run?"
"Why don't you just say you want to commit suicide right now?"
Shooting her another glare, Ruan Sixian placed her hands on her hips and looked around.
At that moment, the black sedan that had tried to cut off Si Xiaozhen earlier leisurely drove past, its window rolling down so the driver could let out a gloating chuckle.
Ruan Sixian glared at him. Unfazed, the driver tapped his brakes and called out, "Hey beauty, do you have any idea what kind of car that is? Bugatti Chiron 110 Ans Edition. There's only a single one in the entire city of Jiangcheng."
This time, Si Xiaozhen was genuinely on the verge of fainting. Clinging to the car door with trembling legs, she stammered, "I'm done for. I'm completely ruined."
"Don't panic yet. Call your insurance company."
Frowning deeply, Ruan Sixian paced back and forth in place. "How are we supposed to contact the owner..."
She glanced at Si Xiaozhen and, seeing her hands shaking too violently as she dialed her phone to be of any use, decided not to rely on her.
A luxury sports car that was one of a kind in all of Jiangcheng...
Ruan Sixian suddenly thought of someone. There was a chance he might actually know.
Stepping aside, she snapped a photo of the car body alongside the license plate and messaged it to Yan Ang.
[President Yan, a friend of mine's car had a little mishap in my residential parking garage. By any chance, do you know who owns this vehicle?]
The moment she sent it, Ruan Sixian harbored a sliver of wishful thinking—what if this car actually belonged to Yan Ang?
Based on their interactions so far, he seemed like an easygoing person; perhaps the situation wouldn't be too difficult to resolve.
Within minutes, Yan Ang called her directly, his tone carrying an unmistakable hint of schadenfreude.
"You guys actually went and crashed this car?"
Hearing those words, Ruan Sixian knew she had overthought it; this definitely wasn't Yan Ang's car.
"Mhm, a friend of mine had a little accident while trying to park."
Ruan Sixian heard Yan Ang chuckle, and there was something distinctly bizarre about the sound.
"I actually do know whose car that is. I tried to buy one myself back then, but missed out."
Pausing for a second, he added, "Your friend has incredible luck."
An ominous premonition suddenly washed over Ruan Sixian, sending a chill straight down her spine.
"Then, President Yan, could you help me get in touch with the owner?"
Yan Ang let out another chuckle before speaking slowly, "Sure thing. He probably hasn't gone to sleep yet. I'll give him a call, and he should be down here in a flash."
"Thanks."
Hanging up the phone, Ruan Sixian turned to look at Si Xiaozhen and felt that the person standing before her was already half-dead.
"What did the insurance company say?"
Trembling as she ended the call, Si Xiaozhen spoke with a hoarse voice, "They said they'll be right over. B-But... they said since our car was moved out of position, they can't offer full compensation. They might only cover seventy percent."
Right, the person in front of her was now completely, thoroughly dead.
"A-And your end?"
What use was panic at this point? Ruan Sixian glanced once more at the scratch on the Bugatti and sighed. "The owner is on his way down right now."
Her eyes reddening with panic, Si Xiaozhen grabbed Ruan Sixian's arm. "What do I do?"
Ruan Sixian patted her shoulder. "Relax, it's just paint damage. It shouldn't be enough to bankrupt you. Let's wait until the owner arrives before figuring it out."
The two stood anxiously in the parking garage for five full minutes before finally hearing footsteps echoing from a distance.
Si Xiaozhen's barely stabilized composure instantly shattered all over again. "He's here, he's here!"
As the figure strode closer, Si Xiaozhen squeezed Ruan Sixian's arm so tightly she nearly felt her bones crack.
"Calm down. If he sees you like this—" Ruan Sixian looked up to get a clear look at the person approaching, and the words froze dead in her throat.
"What the hell..."
Clueless about what was happening, Si Xiaozhen rubbed her eyes. She saw a man wearing a crisp white shirt and tailored trousers with an exceptionally striking physique. Even from a distance, she could feel an overwhelmingly intimidating aura radiating off him. Before he had even uttered a single word, she felt ready to dig her own grave right there.
"Ruanruan, what do we do?"
"Shut up."
The moment those words dropped, Fu Mingyu happened to look over. His gaze landed on Ruan Sixian's face, and his footsteps paused for a fraction of a second.
Then, instead of slowing down, he began walking over even faster.
Don't come over, don't come over...
Ruan Sixian wondered what kind of terrible luck she possessed—the only Bugatti in all of Jiangcheng had been struck by them, and the only Fu Mingyu in the entire world had to be the one she provoked.
"You two crashed the car?"
Even in this situation, appearance-obsessed Si Xiaozhen was momentarily stunned by the man's stunning looks. "Handsome, I... I didn't mean to... I..."
Fu Mingyu turned to inspect the damage to the vehicle, casting a casual glance before his gaze finally settled back on Ruan Sixian.
The oppressive impatience he usually carried had completely vanished. Right now, acting as though it wasn't even his own supercar that had just been sideswiped, a faint smile played at the corner of his lips. "What a coincidence."
Here it comes again, he's at it again!
A coincidence my foot, what a wonderful coincidence indeed...
"It's no coincidence," Ruan Sixian said glumly. "Who goes out of their way to pick a car to crash into? Even if they did, they wouldn't pick yours."
Fu Mingyu took a couple of steps back to examine Si Xiaozhen's car. "You even put four student driver stickers on it."
Mortified and terrified, Si Xiaozhen felt her entire face burning as if set on fire. "I... I'll pay for the damages... I..."
"It's fine," Fu Mingyu said. "You don't need to pay."
???
Not just Si Xiaozhen, even Ruan Sixian found it hard to believe those words had actually come out of Fu Mingyu's mouth.
Hello? Are you really Fu Mingyu?
Did someone hijack your soul or something?
"Did you call the insurance company?"
Fu Mingyu asked again.
Si Xiaozhen shook her head frantically, paused, and then nodded frantically. "I-I called them. D-Do I really not have to pay?"
Reaching out to touch the scratch along his car's body, Fu Mingyu checked his fingertips and remarked, "It's minor. Even if you had to pay, you couldn't afford it."
Si Xiaozhen's face flushed even deeper red; Fu Mingyu's blunt statement only heightened her sense of guilt.
Meanwhile, Ruan Sixian, who was rolling her eyes furiously off to the side, was unexpectedly dragged into the conversation. "Miss Ruan has a high annual salary; she might actually be able to afford it."
???
What does this have to do with me?
I wasn't even the one driving!
Utterly bewildered, Si Xiaozhen looked between Fu Mingyu and Ruan Sixian. "You two know each other?"
Ruan Sixian remained silent. Fu Mingyu seemed lost in thought for a moment, his gaze sweeping lightly over Ruan Sixian before he said, "If there's nothing else, I'll head out first."
Just like that?
Ruan Sixian and Si Xiaozhen stared in shock as Fu Mingyu turned and walked away, taking a moment to process what had just happened.
"Are all rich people this easygoing?" Si Xiaozhen muttered in a daze. "Turns out things written in romance novels actually exist."
Ruan Sixian still felt something was profoundly wrong, tracking Fu Mingyu's retreating back until he disappeared into the elevator lobby.
"Ruanruan, do you know him?"
Ruan Sixian shot her a chilly look. "I know him. I even used to deliver messages to him for you."
"................"
For the next hour while waiting for the insurance agents to arrive, Si Xiaozhen remained locked in a state of multiple personality disorder.
One moment she'd say: "I think he's actually a really nice guy, super amiable. His car got scraped up like this and he didn't even get mad."
The next moment she'd flip and say: "No wait, this isn't right. Why would a guy like him let me off the hook so easily? Shouldn't he think I scraped his car on purpose just to get his attention?"
Switching back and forth between those two theories, Ruan Sixian finally reached her limit. "Shut up!"
Si Xiaozhen obediently shrank back into silence.
Just when Ruan Sixian's mood had finally started to improve, the insurance agent arrived and insisted that the opposing car owner needed to be present for confirmation.
"Why do we need him here? He already said we don't have to pay."
Dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, the insurance agent was in a rather sour mood. "Company policy. Without the other party's signature, we can't close the case."
Si Xiaozhen shot a pitiful, pleading look at Ruan Sixian.
Fine, I guess I brought this upon myself.
Ruan Sixian turned around and sent another message to Yan Ang. After waiting ten minutes with no reply, she figured he must have fallen asleep.
She then tried reaching out to Bo Yang. After messaging him and receiving no response for a few minutes, she checked his Moments and saw that he had shared a song an hour ago accompanied by the caption "Goodnight."
Whatever.
Turning around and catching Si Xiaozhen's lethal, begging gaze once more, Ruan Sixian took a deep breath, navigated to her friend request page, and hit accept.
[The insurance personnel on President Fu's end require your confirmation. If you haven't fallen asleep yet, would you mind coming downstairs for a moment?]
Ruan Sixian didn't even want to bother adding punctuation marks, yet Fu Mingyu replied almost instantaneously.
[So you actually knew it was me all along.]
Wow, this guy really is unbelievable.
Expressionless, Ruan Sixian copied and pasted his previous sentence twice.
[The insurance personnel on President Fu's end require your confirmation. If you haven't fallen asleep yet, would you mind coming downstairs for a moment?]
[The insurance personnel on President Fu's end require your confirmation. If you haven't fallen asleep yet, would you mind coming downstairs for a moment?]
[Alright, coming right down. Don't rush.]
???
Who is rushing?!
Five minutes later, Fu Mingyu reappeared in the parking garage. Ruan Sixian was already seated in the passenger side of Si Xiaozhen's car with the doors securely locked.
Upon seeing the owner of the Bugatti, the insurance agent's attitude noticeably improved. Meanwhile, a sheepishly bashful Si Xiaozhen stood awkwardly to the side signing the paperwork, nodding submissively and sneaking occasional sideways glances at Fu Mingyu.
Caring nothing for their interaction, Ruan Sixian pulled out her phone to practice test questions.
A moment later, the car door suddenly popped open, and a subtle wave of cool fir-needle fragrance rushed into the vehicle on a draft of displaced air.
She looked up in astonishment at Fu Mingyu. "What are you doing getting in here?"
Fu Mingyu pulled the door shut, hit the engine start button, turned his head to look at Ruan Sixian, and said, "The insurance guys want to move the car away, so I'm helping her back it out."
"Do they not have hands?"
"Because the cars are parked too close together, they don't dare."
"..."
Fine. You own a Bugatti, you're the boss.
Ruan Sixian immediately reached for the door handle. "Then let me out first."
The moment the words left her mouth, a sharp click echoed through the cabin.
All four doors were locked from the driver's side.
"What are you doing?"
Resting his left hand on the steering wheel and his right hand braced against the passenger seat, Fu Mingyu leaned in close, his sideways posture caging Ruan Sixian in with nowhere to run.
With an undisguised, probing intensity, his gaze lingered across Ruan Sixian's face. "Miss Ruan, do you happen to have some kind of issue with me?"
The confined space was practically saturated with his scent. In the dim lighting of the underground garage, even his voice carried a deeper, huskier resonance.
Ruan Sixian shrank back toward the car door. "Not at all. How could I possibly have an issue with President Fu?"
"Is that so? Wasn't your Moments post from last night aimed at cursing me out?"
Well, at least you have some self-awareness.
"Which post?"
Without speaking, Fu Mingyu raised his eyelids slightly, his look clearly communicating: Don't play dumb with me.
"Oh, that one? I just meant there are tons of guys adding me every day, and it gets really annoying."
Anyway, I am simply refusing to admit it.
Ruan Sixian had no idea whether Fu Mingyu believed her or not; he didn't press the matter further, merely holding her gaze with a deep, unreadable expression.
Their eyes locked, neither willing to yield an inch.
Just as a strange, suffocating tension began to ripple through the car, Fu Mingyu suddenly spun his steering wheel with his left hand and backed the car straight out without even glancing at the mirrors, his eyes never leaving Ruan Sixian for a single second.
Holy shit.
Ruan Sixian froze completely in place.
Did you really have to flex like a lunatic right now?
Back home, Si Xiaozhen went off to take a shower while Ruan Sixian changed into comfortable clothes and flopped onto the sofa, still feeling like something was fundamentally wrong with everything that had happened.
Si Xiaozhen was the one who crashed the car, yet she was the one who ended up adding him on WeChat and doing all the heavy lifting.
How did she end up feeling like she had just been played?
The more she thought about it, the more irritated she grew. Picking up her phone, she posted a brand-new update to her Moments.
[There's a stray dog running loose in this wretched residential complex, and I'm terrified [crying] [crying] [crying]]