Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Bai Yang felt as though all the air in the car had been sucked out, and this suffocating silence persisted for three full minutes.

Just as he began to feel lightheaded from lack of oxygen, someone timely rolled down the window for some fresh air.

Bai Yang thought to himself that Miss Ruan certainly had a rather sluggish reflex arc, only realizing now that her words earlier had been inappropriate, and thus opening the window simply to distract attention.

However, when Bai Yang looked through the rearview mirror, he saw that the one rolling down the window was actually his boss.

At that moment, they were speeding along the elevated highway leading to World Aviation. Nearing the airport and far from the bustling downtown, the car was moving at a brisk pace, and the fierce wind from outside whistled right into the cabin.

Ruan Suxian immediately reached up to cover her forehead.

She had casually bundled her hair up when she left home today, leaving two wispy bangs blowing wildly across her temples. If the wind kept battering her like this, she would soon look like she was parachuting into World Aviation by accident.

Fortunately, before she could say a word, Fu Mingyu rolled the window back up himself.

Ruan Suxian interpreted this brief sequence of events as Fu Mingyu letting off some steam for himself.

Well, that was fantastic—she was delighted.

Ruan Suxian used the car window as a mirror to tidy her hair, smoothing down her bangs. Just as she was about to flatten the very last stray strand of hair poking up into the air, her eyes met Fu Mingyu's reflection in the glass.

Fu Mingyu was looking right at her.

"Uncomfortable unless you throw a couple of sarcastic jabs at me?"

Ruan Suxian had no idea whether Fu Mingyu could see her expression through the car window, but she figured she delivered a rather graceful eye-roll anyway, before slowly turning around to meet his gaze head-on.

She even batted her pretty eyes.

"So sorry, President Fu. I'm just someone who speaks her mind without any malice. You won't take it to heart, right?"

When she finished speaking, Ruan Suxian was somewhat startled by herself. She had actually been trained by Fu Mingyu to unconsciously master this sort of ultimate saintly-lotus skill.

Fu Mingyu didn't answer. His gaze lingered on her face, sizing her up inch by inch.

That stare made Ruan Suxian feel a little jittery.

At that moment, she felt a slight wave of regret, wishing she hadn't talked back to Fu Mingyu so directly. While it had felt satisfying on the spot, there was no telling what kind of petty retaliation this man might cook up behind her back.

To put it on a grand scale, Fu Mingyu might slam a contract right into her face and bellow, "You're fired!" That would at least be the most straightforward outcome.

On a smaller scale, Fu Mingyu could tamper with the dispatch department, mess with her during flight scheduling, or give a heads-up to air traffic control so that her flights were always placed at the very back of the departure queue—wasting hours of her time for nothing—which was entirely possible.

When it all came down to it, Ruan Suxian felt she couldn't afford to mess with money.

Thinking of this, the imposing aura with which Ruan Suxian had been meeting Fu Mingyu's gaze diminished bit by bit, replaced by an urge to dodge his eyes.

And that split-second evasion was captured by Fu Mingyu, causing him to suddenly chuckle.

He chuckled?

Ruan Suxian was certain that what she saw wasn't an angry laugh, but rather a smile that vaguely conveyed: You really are something else.

Is he sick in the head?

Hello, are you a masochist?

Ruan Suxian took a fierce gulp of water and couldn't be bothered to deal with him.

Right on cue, the car had driven onto the main avenue, less than two hundred meters away from World Aviation's main gates.

"Please pull over and let me out," Ruan Suxian said. "I'll get off right here."

The driver didn't stop immediately, merely slowing the pace. Bai Yang, who had been holding his breath in the front passenger seat until he was nearly oxygen-deprived, finally found an opportunity to speak. "Miss Ruan? We're on the side of a major road here."

"I know, just drop me off here. The main gate ahead is too crowded; I want to avoid suspicion."

She laid a particularly heavy emphasis on the word "suspicion," making it sound less like avoiding gossip and more like avoiding a plague.

Unsure if his perception was playing tricks on him, Bai Yang turned back to look at Fu Mingyu. The latter was simply keeping his head down as he adjusted his cuffs, his expression completely detached as he remarked, "No need."

No need?

What does "no need" even mean?

It doesn't seem like we have a relationship close enough to dispense with avoiding suspicion, does it?

Without Fu Mingyu's explicit permission, the driver naturally wouldn't pull over, driving straight into World Aviation's underground parking garage instead.

At that exact moment, Ruan Suxian realized she had been overthinking things.

Fu Mingyu's designated parking space wasn't anywhere near the employee parking area at all, so there really was no need to avoid suspicion.

After getting out of the car, Ruan Suxian lowered her head to smooth out her clothes. When she looked back up, Fu Mingyu was already gone.

"?"

Walking away so fast—were those legs borrowed and he was in a rush to return them?

Fu Mingyu wasn't in a rush to return his legs; upon reaching the 16th floor, he walked straight into his office.

The administrative secretary and assistant, who had been waiting by the door all along, followed closely behind. The moment Fu Mingyu settled into his seat behind the desk, reports on the mid-to-long-term flight schedules for the month, along with flight tracking and dynamic monitoring data, were already placed before him.

Fu Mingyu picked up the topmost document, and after merely flipping through two pages, his gaze abruptly froze.

The assistant responsible for compiling and organizing the report felt her heart tighten instantly, bracing herself to call the head of the flight department, only to see Fu Mingyu put down what he was holding and look up at the administrative secretary.

"Where is the stuff I asked you to prepare last night?"

The administrative secretary immediately produced a document roughly as thick as a book and placed it in front of Fu Mingyu. "This contains all your travel information over the past two years, including flight details, hotel accommodations, and specific conference or event logs."

Seeing such a thick stack of papers, Fu Mingyu massaged the bridge of his nose. The administrative secretary added, "They have already been categorized and labeled by country and region."

Fu Mingyu nodded. "You guys can head out first."

Ruan Suxian waited in the flight department for about half an hour before tomorrow's flight crew had all arrived.

There were only two ACJ31 aircraft allocated to the Jiangcheng base, so the corresponding pilots were naturally limited as well. Including the other backup crew members, a grand total of more than ten people marched in formation through the dedicated passage to the tarmac, riding in the crew transport vehicle.

The moment they stepped out of the vehicle, a fierce, unobstructed gale swept across the vast, open tarmac. The group forged ahead against the wind, coming to a halt directly beneath the aircraft's wings.

The captains led everyone through a routine pre-flight walkaround inspection.

Truth be told, there wasn't much of anything to inspect today—the main purpose was simply to admire the stunning beauty of the brand-new aircraft.

Shortly after, they led the crew aboard and into the cockpit, repeatedly familiarizing themselves with the instrument panels and control consoles.

All of these procedures were already deeply ingrained in Ruan Suxian's mind, but the other captains and copilots had gained their qualifications through conversion training, making them far more nervous than a newcomer like Ruan Suxian. Each of them took turns running through the familiarization multiple times.

By the time all of this was finished, it was already noon. They grabbed lunch at the airport and kept busy right through the afternoon. Once all preparatory activities concluded, everyone was dismissed on the spot.

It wasn't until she returned to World Aviation that Ruan Suxian finally snapped out of her lingering excitement.

Although she had maintained a calm composure, poised behavior, and steady speech throughout the day—projecting the ideal temperament of a star trainee destined to spark a bidding war—heaven knew she had been internally shrieking with joy.

Tomorrow—tomorrow, she would officially shed her trainee status and step aboard the aircraft to embark on a three-and-a-half-month stint of back-row line training.

Of course, this training period had been shortened by World Aviation's flight department, taking into account her solid credentials and the ongoing pilot shortage.

In just three and a half months, she would be able to sit on the right-hand side of the cockpit and officially become a copilot.

If she performed well enough, perhaps in just two years, she could upgrade to captain.

Naturally, that was also the condition World Aviation had agreed upon with her when she was first hired.

Whether it was because the wind was too strong today or dust was swirling everywhere from the ground, Ruan Suxian suddenly felt a slight urge to cry.

If any of her friends had been by her side right now, she definitely would have grabbed them and spun around in circles three hundred and sixty degrees just to vent her emotions.

She was so happy that when Yan An sent a WeChat message inviting her to dinner that evening, she agreed without a moment's hesitation.

Yet a few seconds later, the implications caught up with her.

What had the two of them just been talking about earlier?

Yan An had asked her how things turned out regarding that car incident last night, and Ruan Suxian had said it was smoothly resolved while taking the opportunity to thank Yan An for his help.

Yan An had replied that it was merely a trivial favor, before "conveniently" asking if she had time to grab dinner together that evening.

No matter how she looked at it, this was clearly a deliberate date invitation.

The moment she realized this, a trace of regret crept into Ruan Suxian's heart, as she felt completely devoid of that kind of romantic interest toward Yan An.

Yet, upon second thought, both of them were single adults, the other party possessed great credentials, and their personalities were compatible—so why not give it a try and get to know each other better?

And so, Ruan Suxian obediently went to wait at the main entrance of World Aviation for Yan An to pick her up.

A few minutes later, Yan An, coming from the North Aviation office at the airport, drove over and parked his car audaciously right at the entrance of World Aviation. He even got out personally to open the front passenger door for Ruan Suxian, gesturing for her to get in.

The car carrying Fu Mingyu and Zhu Dong slowly emerged from the parking garage, catching this harmonious scene just as it unfolded.

"Hey? Isn't that Yan An?" Zhu Dong rolled down the window and poked half his head out. "What kind of whirlwind blew him all the way over here today?"

He paused for a beat, then added, "Oh, a beauty—figures."

Zhu Dong turned his head back to look at Fu Mingyu, only to find that his gaze remained fixed on Yan An's car until it drove far away, at which point Fu Mingyu finally withdrew his gaze.

Though no words were spoken, Zhu Dong could sense that the atmosphere was off.

Remembering the afternoon gathering at the estate last week, Zhu Dong recalled Yan An mentioning that he was pursuing a female pilot at World Aviation. Initially, he had assumed Yan An was just joking, but seeing the back of the woman who had just gotten into his car, he could deduce that she must be that exact female pilot.

That made Fu Mingyu's reaction entirely logical.

Even if there weren't any explicit written rules against it, what business did a core-route pilot from World Aviation have dating the young boss of North Aviation?

If he were in Fu Mingyu's shoes, he wouldn't be happy either.

However, he was in no position to pass judgment. After all, his business was in tourism; he had come today to discuss a project with Fu Mingyu and still needed to head over to North Aviation for cooperation talks in a few days. Offending neither side was the wisest course of action, so he naturally steered the conversation elsewhere.

"Did you hear that Qin Jiamu is getting married? The invitation must have reached you by now," he said, letting out a couple of hrumphs through his nose. "This Young Master Qin really has some clever tricks up his sleeve. Knowing what his old man is most wary of, he actually pushed things this far."

Fu Mingyu didn't respond, and Zhu Dong continued his monologue. "He's been good-for-nothing his entire life, yet now that he's older, he wants to fight his sister for a piece of the pie without even checking if he has the chops for it."

"Still, I honestly didn't expect him to pull a stunt like this—openly and grandly marrying a woman whose father served time in prison and whose mother is still working as someone's mistress."

"If this pushes his face-obsessed father to the absolute limit, there's no telling—he might actually throw a bone his way just to shut him up."

"It's just pitiful for that woman, still sitting there starry-eyed, believing Qin Jiamu is standing up against his family for her sake."

"She doesn't even stop to think what kind of person Qin Jiamu really is. If Chairman Qin digs his heels in and refuses to budge, wouldn't Qin Jiamu obediently fall right back in line? Does he even have the capital to burn bridges with Chairman Qin?"

"To think of using a woman as leverage—that's a dirty trick most ordinary folks could never pull off."

Believing every word he uttered was pure gold, Zhu Dong figured that even if this piece of gossip didn't spark Fu Mingyu's desire for idle chatter, it would at least prompt him to join in mocking Qin Jiamu's low-class tactics, thereby turning the page on that little episode with Yan An earlier. Who would have thought that several minutes after he finished speaking, Fu Mingyu still hadn't made a sound?

Zhu Dong glanced sideways. "I'm talking to you. What are you spacing out about?"

Fu Mingyu gave a slight shake of his head, pressing down the turbulent thoughts in his mind.

He casually picked up a bottle of mineral water, and just as he was about to twist off the cap, something crossed his mind again.

Leaning his head back against the seat, he pinched the bridge of his nose and asked, "What's the deal when a woman inexplicably holds hostility toward me?"

What kind of out-of-nowhere question was that?

Zhu Dong leaned closer. "Did you offend her at some point?"

Fu Mingyu lifted his eyelids. "If I had offended her, would I still be in the dark about why?"

"Oh..." Zhu Dong rubbed his nose. "What kind of hostility?"

What kind of hostility?

Fu Mingyu felt it wasn't even anything major, considering that all those shady suspicions were merely his own conjectures, while Ruan Suxian had essentially just talked back to him face-to-face a few times.

"Just some sharp-tongued bickering."

Hearing that, Zhu Dong more or less understood. Without needing much thought, he immediately laughed out loud. "Some girls are just that awkward. As long as she's not coming at you with real blades and guns, what other reason could there be? She's got her eye on you, trying to grab your attention."

Fu Mingyu shot him a sidelong glance, then lowered his gaze in quiet contemplation. A few seconds later, he gave a tiny, subtle shake of his head. "She's not that kind of person."