Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Having dismissed Bai Yang, Ruan Suxian turned her attention back to Jiang Ziyue.

"What was that you were saying about President Fu just now?"

Jiang Ziyue was entirely baffled by the current turn of events.

Seeing the faint, gentle smile lingering at the corners of Ruan Suxian's lips and hearing her soft, unhurried tone, one would have thought she had just casually brushed off some random passerby rather than her own boss.

"N-nothing at all."

With several flight attendants urging them to hurry along, Ruan Suxian didn't press the matter further and walked away with a smile.

Noticing that Jiang Ziyue hadn't kept up, she even stopped and waited a couple of steps. "Hurry up, Manager Jiang."

Jiang Ziyue's face was practically growing stiff from forcing a fake smile all day long, and she still had to put on a show of collegial harmony with Ruan Suxian. It was genuinely exhausting.

She almost wished Ruan Suxian would come at her in high-spirited fury to pick a fight, demanding to know why she had deliberately spread rumors despite knowing the truth.

At least then she would have had her excuses prepared; casually shifting the blame onto a few former colleagues who had already left the company wouldn't have been out of the question.

Instead, Ruan Suxian chose to put on a picture of complete indifference, occasionally flashing a meaningful smile that landed like a succession of soft, demoralizing punches, threatening to spike her blood pressure through the roof.

Yet the truth was, Ruan Suxian really had no desire to interrogate Jiang Ziyue, even though Jiang Ziyue's various reactions today had essentially given her away.

Mainly, Ruan Suxian felt that making a scene was pointless. The core issue behind the rumors was that everyone mistakenly believed she had tried to seduce Fu Mingyu and, upon failing, had resigned in a fit of pique. Getting into a shouting match with Jiang Ziyue wouldn't solve that problem.

Besides, three years had passed. Staff at World Aviation had cycled through wave after wave, and hardly anyone talked about the incident anymore. She couldn't be bothered to manufacture misery for herself.

As long as these people didn't pop up right in front of her to poke and prod like the chief culprit, Fu Mingyu, she could easily brush off these hidden whispers lurking in the shadows.

Unfortunately, Ruan Suxian had underestimated her colleagues' memory spans.

Scarcely a week later, as the media reports covering the inaugural flight were published and World Aviation rolled out internal publicity, the three characters "Ruan Suxian"—as the newly minted female pilot of that milestone flight—began appearing with high frequency across various internal documents and news features. Those long-dormant rumors gradually got dug up and dusted off.

Jiang Ziyue was thrown into a panic as well. This time, she genuinely hadn't been the one to spread the gossip; it was just that certain individuals who still remembered the past affair had their memories jogged. All it took was a casual mention, and the topic quietly rippled through the cabin crew department once more.

Naturally, there was no way these conversations would ever reach Ruan Suxian's ears directly.

The only reason she sensed something was amiss was that the junior flight attendant she had befriended on the inaugural flight had hesitated mid-sentence several times while they were eating lunch together.

Ruan Suxian had cut straight to the point back then, asking point-blank if there were any fresh legends circulating about her lately.

Shocked by Ruan Suxian's bluntness, the young flight attendant stammered, "Well... people are just chatting idly, it's nothing really. Anyway, I don't believe any of it."

Fine, then. It seemed things really were as she suspected.

Ruan Suxian had treated herself to an extra slice of mousse cake that day; the generous influx of calories had worked wonders for her mood.

Unfortunately, the effects of that cake only lasted until the following morning.

With a nine o'clock flight scheduled and a pre-flight briefing set for seven, Ruan Suxian had arrived twenty minutes early to pick up the flight plan from dispatch on behalf of the captain, while the captain and copilot went to oversee refueling.

When Ruan Suxian returned to the meeting room, she hadn't even pushed the door open when she heard her own name dropped amidst a flurry of whispered gossip.

After lingering by the door to listen for a moment, she confirmed it was indeed the topic she had anticipated.

——"Is that for real? Sounds too magical to be true."

——"From what the senior cabin crew are saying, it's got all the details. It has to be true."

——"Good lord, her life resume is insanely stacked then. To think she actually came back wearing pilot wings."

Hearing this much, Ruan Suxian was still telling herself: Forget it, they're all coworkers, and you'll inevitably get paired on the same flights from time to time.

Bear with it for a moment of calm; take a step back and watch the ocean widen.

She raised a hand, intending to knock and warn the people inside, when the conversation took another deep dive.

——"Then why on earth would she come back to World Aviation? Weren't people saying other airlines were fighting tooth and nail to recruit her?"

——"Right? Won't it be super awkward? If it were me, I wouldn't show my face at World Aviation ever again for the rest of my life."

——"Wild. Could it be that she's still obsessed with President Fu?"

——"Put that way, suddenly everything makes sense, doesn't it?"

"......?"

Now that crossed the line.

The only man she was obsessed with in this lifetime was her virtual husband on the internet, thank you very much!

The corners of Ruan Suxian's mouth pulled back into a tight smile, but her chest ached with pure irritation. Truly, like boss, like employee.

So much for biting her tongue.

Tolerate it for a moment and get ovarian cysts; take a step back and develop fibrocystic breasts.

"If you're all so curious, why not ask me directly to my face?" Pushing open the meeting room door, Ruan Suxian folded her arms, tilted her head, and flashed a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I happen to be an advocate for open communication. As long as you ask me, I'll tell you everything I know."

The group of gossips caught red-handed shrank instantly into trembling little chicks, blushing down to the roots of their ears without daring to utter a single syllable.

"As for why I chose to return to World Aviation." Ruan Suxian stepped two paces further into the room, her voice carrying clearly, "The director's office on the 18th floor of headquarters is always open if you'd like to pop by and get a clear answer."

An absolute dead silence fell over the room. Those thirty seconds dragged on as agonizingly as holding a plank position; nobody dared to even draw a heavy breath.

Ultimately, it was the lead flight attendant who sheepishly stepped in to smooth things over. "Copilot Ruan, we were just..."

"Is everyone here?"

The captain's sudden appearance cut the lead flight attendant off mid-sentence.

Coming back to his senses and sensing the somewhat off atmosphere in the room, the captain asked, "What's going on?"

The lead flight attendant stammered out a vague denial without speaking further, while Ruan Suxian offered a light smile. "Nothing at all. I just got here myself."

Though the captain looked slightly skeptical, he didn't pry further. He had long since learned better than to try unraveling the mysterious inner workings of women's minds.

On that very same day, Fu Mingyu boarded a return flight after spending nearly two weeks away on a business trip.

It was already late evening by the time he cleared the airport. Outside the car windows, neon lights flickered and the cityscape shimmered with a pristine clarity, a faint, shifting radiance bleeding through the dusk—making this the most picturesque hour of the airport expressway.

Leaning back against the seat, Fu Mingyu loosened his tie as a creeping wave of fatigue settled between his brows.

"President Fu, are we heading back to Lakeside Mansion?"

From the passenger seat, Bai Yang turned around to ask.

Without opening his eyes, Fu Mingyu massaged the bridge of his nose, bypassing a direct answer. "What time is it?"

"A quarter past nine."

After a brief pause for thought, Fu Mingyu instructed, "Let's head to Mingchen Apartments instead."

Hearing the directive, the driver naturally steered the vehicle toward Mingchen Apartments, but Bai Yang pressed on regardless. "Your phone was turned off during the meetings this morning. Madam called me to ask about you, mentioning that you haven't gone home for quite a few days."

"Mhm," Fu Mingyu replied indifferently. "It's too late tonight. I'll go back tomorrow."

The car sped toward Mingchen Apartments, decelerating as it approached the main gates.

The wave of sleepiness had abandoned Fu Mingyu for the moment. Looking out the car window, a familiar figure slowly drifted into his field of vision.

"Stop right here."

Even as he spoke, Fu Mingyu was already shrugging back into his suit jacket. "Have someone bring my luggage upstairs in a bit."

Without waiting for Bai Yang's reply, Fu Mingyu stepped out of the car.

Early summer nights were exceptionally well-suited for leisurely strolls. At this hour, the residential complex was populated by plenty of elderly residents walking about with children, alongside people walking their dogs.

Dragging her flight case behind her, Ruan Suxian walked with extreme caution, keeping her eyes peeled to steer clear of any dogs along the path.

Even so, there was no speeding up her pace.

Her flight today had operated four full route legs, keeping her airborne continuously from eight in the morning straight through to eight at night.

Back when she worked as cabin crew, she had always envied the pilots upfront who got to sit down for the entire journey.

Only after experiencing that seat for herself did she realize that physical stamina was secondary—maintaining 100% laser focus for the entire flight was truly killer.

Fortunately, a few clusters of gardenias were blooming by the roadside, their fragrance swept up by the evening breeze in faint, lingering wisps that managed to dissipate a fraction of her fatigue.

Just as Ruan Suxian reached the steps of her building, she noticed her shoelace had untied.

Squatting down to tie it and standing right back up to haul her flight case, she found someone had beaten her to it.

Fu Mingyu hoisted her flight case, strode up the steps in two or three long strides, and turned back to look at her.

"Just got off a flight?"

Ruan Suxian wasn't feeling particularly conversational, so she offered a mild "Mhm" as a token response.

Inwardly, she was still churning with annoyance over the morning's incident, feeling like she had just received a masterclass in how "the fish rots from the head down."

Three whole years later, this man could still casually drop remarks like, "I think she has a thing for me."

And his subordinates, knowing absolutely nothing, could chime in with, "She's still obsessed with President Fu."

Did World Aviation run its airplanes on pure imagination?

Brooding over this, Ruan Suxian was already exerting maximum self-control over her temper before reaching out to grab her flight case back.

Instead, Fu Mingyu kept hold of it.

"I'll carry it for you."

"Do I not have hands?"

"......"

A profound sense of helplessness welled up from the bottom of Fu Mingyu's heart, though it refused to go down or come up, leaving him choked with unadulterated frustration.

To top it all off, the person standing right in front of him reached out to snatch the flight case, waving a pale, slender hand back and forth right before his eyes.

It was genuinely aggravating.

Reaching out, Fu Mingyu grabbed the hand swaying before him. "Ruan..."

The tactile sensation against his palm felt somewhat unusual, causing the remaining two words to stall in his throat.

Startled for a second, he ran his thumb lightly across her palm just to confirm it.

A thin yet distinct layer of calluses.

Lately, his mind had frequently conjured up the memory of the first time he ever met her. The more often it happened, the sharper and more vivid those details had become.

She was undeniably gorgeous, wearing a form-fitting cabin crew uniform that highlighted her graceful, curvaceous figure and flawless complexion—anyone looking at her would instantly take her for a delicate, pampered beauty.

Calluses of all things had no business existing on the palms of her hands.

During the brief second Fu Mingyu was lost in thought, Ruan Suxian jerked her hand back violently, wiped her palm against her clothes, and stared at him as if looking at a total pervert.

"What do you think you're doing?! Let me tell you, if you try getting handsy again, I'll slap you with a workplace sexual harassment charge even if you are the boss!"

With that, she took a couple of hurried steps backward.

"......"

Fu Mingyu genuinely ran out of words.

Getting handsy?!

Sexual harassment?!

A stifled ball of foul air swelled in his chest as he lowered his voice. "Ruan Suxian."

He ground out the three syllables with heavy, palpable intensity, practically gnashing his teeth.

Ruan Suxian raised her chin to meet his gaze.

With less than half a meter separating them, their eyes mirrored one another—a tableau that ought to have looked picturesque, though the atmosphere around them was thick enough with gunpowder to ignite at a spark.

"Stop challenging my temper over and over again."

Challenging your temper?

Ruan Suxian was so angry she laughed out loud.

Just who was challenging whose temper here?

"Are you done talking?"

Burying her rage, Ruan Suxian let her tone flip to something breezy and casual. "If you're finished, go carve that line on your tombstone."