Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

When Ruan Xian emerged from the elevator once more, Fu Mingyu's car had just driven out of her line of sight.

Looking in the direction where the car had departed, Ruan Xian was lost in thought for a moment.

In that minute, she calculated when she would finally have the time to get her driver's license and buy a car, so she wouldn't have to wait for a ride under such scorching sun in the future.

There was no help for it; June's temperatures had surged far too quickly, leaving no buffer time whatsoever. Jiangcheng was a veritable furnace city, and this kind of high heat would persist all the way until October.

Only the eaves of the security guard booth provided shade at the entrance, so Ruan Xian stood right there to wait for her ride.

Hardly had she settled her stance when another person materialized beside her.

At first, she merely caught a glimpse of the uniform the person was wearing and found it somewhat familiar. With a casual glance back, both of them froze for a fraction of a second.

Ni Tong dragged her flight case, locked eyes with Ruan Xian for a second, and then looked away.

After a few minutes of silence, Ruan Xian spoke first.

"Do you live here too?"

"...... No." Ni Tong's gaze drifted everywhere except at Ruan Xian. "My best friend lives here."

Ruan Xian let out an "oh" and fell silent again.

Before long, Ruan Xian's phone indicated that the ride-hailing car she booked was about to arrive, meaning she could head over to the intersection to board it.

Before leaving, she looked back at Ni Tong. "Did you manage to book a car?"

Hearing this, Ni Tong checked her phone. Given that it was the morning rush hour, she was still waiting in line with over forty people ahead of her.

"...... No."

"Let's go." Just as Ruan Xian's booked car arrived, she waved at Ni Tong. "If you keep waiting like this, you might be late again."

"...... I won't, I gave myself an extra two hours today."

"Fine then." Ruan Xian walked forward. "Then go ahead and bake in the sun."

Although the eaves could block glare, they couldn't stop ultraviolet rays.

Those of them working high-altitude jobs paid special attention to sun protection ordinarily, otherwise their skin would age very rapidly.

Ni Tong hesitated for two whole seconds between waiting in line under the blazing sun and hitching a ride with Ruan Xian, then grabbed her flight case and stealthily trailed behind.

She had checked this week's flight schedule yesterday. Coincidentally, next week featured a chartered flight carrying national team athletes to a competition, and both she and Ruan Xian happened to be rostered onto that exact flight.

Since they would have to cooperate anyway, why bother staying at a stalemate?

After getting into the car, the two of them sat at opposite ends without uttering a word.

Ruan Xian looked down at her phone, while Ni Tong covertly glanced at her several times.

Ni Tong was still harboring lingering resentment over the elevator incident from last time, but with their cooperative duty coming up in a couple of days, she figured she needed to thaw the relationship a bit in advance.

What should she say...

Ni Tong licked the corner of her lips and suddenly blurted out, "Are you really chasing President Fu?"

"......"

Ruan Xian raised her head, ignored Ni Tong entirely, and spoke directly to the driver, "Sir, please pull over by the side of the road. Someone wants to get out."

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Panicked, Ni Tong protested, "There's nothing for miles around here! How can you be like this?"

"I am just like this." Ruan Xian glanced sideways at her. "Or you can just shut your mouth."

Daring to feel angry but lacking the courage to speak up, Ni Tong hitched herself closer to the car door and thought that she shouldn't have gotten into this car in the first place.

Remaining silent all the way until they stepped out, Ni Tong hauled her flight case down, only to turn around and find that Ruan Xian had already walked a long way ahead.

"What kind of person is she..."

Grudgingly dragging her flight case, Ni Tong caught up in resentment and parted ways with Ruan Xian at the elevator bank.

Ruan Xian was on day-off leave today, but there was a mandatory safety seminar that all pilots and maintenance personnel not currently assigned to flights were required to attend.

Having their rest time occupied left many people harboring complaints, and the lecture was dry as dust. An expert babbled on for hours, and by the time they finally scraped through to the end, it was already noon, making it impossible to even catch a nap.

During the seminar, Ruan Xian had sat next to a maintenance technician and chatted in whispers, only to discover that the two of them had actually attended the same high school.

Only, that technician was a few grades her senior; he had already graduated by the time Ruan Xian entered her freshman year.

"Are you heading back at noon? Do you want to grab lunch together in the cafeteria?"

The technician asked as they walked out.

Ruan Xian declined, saying, "I have some matters to attend to this afternoon."

"Alright then."

Ruan Xian always walked with her eyes straight ahead. Nearing the elevators, the technician suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Wh—"

Before she could finish, Ruan Xian saw a group of people striding directly toward the elevator from the opposite side.

Leading the pack was Fu Mingyu. With one hand shoved into his pocket, his back slightly arched, and his gaze lowered to the iPad Bayang held open right before him, he walked at an unhurried pace. The seven or eight people trailing behind him all wore grim expressions.

Pulled back two paces by the technician, Ruan Xian yielded the space right outside the elevator entrance.

She watched Fu Mingyu pass right in front of her, step into the elevator, turn to face outward, and cast a cold, indifferent gaze that didn't shift in the slightest even the moment the elevator doors slid shut.

Heh, fantastic.

Ruan Xian thought: he's finally stopped making a fuss.

Exiting the World Aviation headquarters, Ruan Xian hailed a cab. Passing by a familiar flower shop on the way, she asked the driver to pull over for a moment.

Stepping out of the vehicle and walking up to the shopfront, the owner immediately greeted her, "Buying flowers?"

"Tie up a bouquet of lilies for me," Ruan Xian said. "Make sure the blooms are nice and fresh."

"All our flowers are in prime bloom."

There were pre-arranged lilies in the shop, and the owner picked out a bouquet for Ruan Xian. "That's one hundred and fifty-eight. Let's call it one-fifty."

"Deal, thanks, boss."

Taking the flowers back into the car, the driver turned his head and asked, "Visiting an old friend?"

Keeping her eyes closed, Ruan Xian hummed an affirmative.

The car drove slowly toward the outskirts.

With the mountain roads being rugged, the driver kept the speed low, bumping along for nearly an hour before reaching the destination.

Alighting from the car, Ruan Xian expertly navigated her way into the cemetery and located the specific grave.

Actually, she had already spotted a bouquet placed before the headstone from several meters away. Drawing closer, she saw it was indeed a fresh bunch of lilies.

Bending over, Ruan Xian picked up that bouquet and tossed it behind the headstone.

The instant the flowers hit the ground, several blossoms scattered across the earth.

Gazing at those flowers, Ruan Xian let out a sigh, picked them up to place them neatly back beside the headstone, and then laid the bouquet she had bought right alongside them.

Pulling a newspaper from her bag, she spread it on the ground, sat down cross-legged, and stared at the photograph on the tombstone for a long time.

In the picture, the man smiled faintly, his gaze gentle and features handsome. He shared Ruan Xian's almond-shaped eyes, high bridge of nose, and even the exact curve at the corners of his lips.

Remaining seated for quite a while, Ruan Xian finally retrieved a small box from her bag and cradled it in her palms.

"Dad, these are my epaulets."

Opening the box, she set it before the headstone.

"I've got three stripes now. In another two years, it'll be four."

After saying those few words, not knowing what else to add, Ruan Xian fell quiet again.

Several minutes later, she spoke up once more, "It's such a pity you never got to fly in an airplane. If you had held on for just a few more years, maybe you could've caught a flight I operated and let me take you abroad for a trip."

Under the blazing noon sun, even the breeze carried heat, yet within this desolate and quiet cemetery, a chilling emptiness lingered.

Dropping her head, Ruan Xian sat motionless for a long time as a few leaves fluttered down beside her feet.

Picking one up to roll between her fingers, she continued, "Dad, don't look at how massive airplanes are; once they take to the skies, they're no different from these leaves. You wouldn't know, but last week we had an aborted landing and nearly clipped a cumulonimbus cloud. Luckily the captain was skilled enough to successfully reroute, but it still damn near scared me to death—that stuff is too terrifying."

The wind stirred the weeds, producing a rustling sound.

Ruan Xian's tone grew somewhat raspy. "And the wind has been howling fiercely these past few nights, rattling right outside the window. It always makes me feel like a thief is scaling the wall, even though I'm living on the teens floor now and the neighborhood has security guards. I still catch myself thinking I'm back at our old place where burglars were always climbing through windows to steal things."

"Sigh, never mind all that. You wouldn't even know what a cumulonimbus cloud is." Rubbing her eyes, Ruan Xian fished a book out of her bag. "Let me read you some poetry."

Blown loose by the wind, a sheet of sacrificial mourning paper left behind by someone else's visiting descendants drifted onto Ruan Xian. Completely oblivious to it, she continued reading aloud in a soft, raspy voice that echoed intermittently through the cemetery.

Behind her, the wind refused to die down and the trees refused to rest. The clouds in the sky gathered and scattered, while the blazing sun gradually reined in its glare, driven by the passage of time to sink quietly behind the western mountains.

When the clock pointed to seven o'clock, the entire afternoon had slipped away. Two elderly groundskeepers holding brooms wandered around, their cloth shoes padding across the grass with sounds clearly audible in the quiet.

Meanwhile, at the Jiangcheng State Banquet Hotel, starlight and moonbeams intertwined and reflected off one another. Outside the dark-gold doors, four attendants in swallowtail coats stood in a row, white-gloved hands lifting in unison to usher guests into an interior glittering with golden splendor.

The indoor halls were brilliantly illuminated, with fresh pale pink lilies everywhere—wrapped around pillars, blooming in clusters on tables, or crowding around pastry displays. The room was a riot of color, accompanied by the endless, lingering strains of cellos and pianos. The conversational murmur of guests blended together without disorder, creating a wonderfully harmonious ambiance.

A black Bentley pulled up slowly to the entrance, and two attendants immediately stepped forward to pull open the left and right doors respectively.

Fu Mingyu alighted first, waiting briefly for He Lanxiang to emerge from the other side. She hooked her arm through his forearm and, guided by the swallowtail attendants, walked inside.

Before her foot even crossed the threshold, He Lanxiang's gaze swept the room to lock onto today's protagonist.

She let out a soft hrumph. "I knew it. She's dressed in plain colors again today, standing there looking all delicate and frail while exerting minimal effort to make my full makeup look like a peacock's display."

Raising a hand to steady her up the steps, Fu Mingyu didn't look at the person in He Lanxiang's crosshairs.

Lifting the hem of her lake-blue haute couture fishtail gown, He Lanxiang walked forward with graceful steps.

The appearance of the mother-son duo immediately drew the attention of various guests, and the hosts naturally caught sight of them as well.

Watching Dong Xian walk toward her, He Lanxiang murmured under her breath, "She didn't even bother putting on lipstick today. Honestly, it looks more like her own wedding anniversary than mine."

Staring straight ahead, Fu Mingyu replied in a low voice, "If you dislike her so much, don't attend her banquets in the future."

"That won't do; my art gallery still needs to collaborate with her."

With that, changing her expression as if donning a mask, He Lanxiang greeted her with a radiant smile. "Mrs. Zheng! This dress of yours is simply gorgeous today!"

Seeing this, Fu Mingyu rubbed the bridge of his nose and stepped forward to follow.

After exchanging pleasantries with He Lanxiang, Dong Xian turned her gaze to Fu Mingyu standing nearby. "I received the necklace you sent. I love it very much; thank you for the trouble."

"What trouble could he possibly have gone to?" He Lanxiang chimed in. "I picked the whole thing out. What does he know about these things?"

Nodding beside them, Fu Mingyu corroborated his biological mother's claim.

Once the greetings concluded, He Lanxiang and Fu Mingyu had entirely different social circles, naturally prompting them to split up.

An attendant carrying a tray passed right by Fu Mingyu. He picked up a glass, turned to look back, and caught sight of Dong Xian standing shoulder-to-shoulder with He Lanxiang. For a fleeting second, his mind blanked.

Focusing his gaze, he traced the silhouette of another person from Dong Xian's profile, ripples spreading across his heart before ultimately dissolving into a wave of vexation.

That annoyance surfaced frequently these days—whenever he closed his eyes to rest, or whenever he dined alone—elusive and intangible, irritating him far more than this sweltering weather.

On the other side, watching a young woman walking gracefully toward Dong Xian, He Lanxiang smiled. "It's been so long since I last saw You'an. She wasn't around at the last art exhibition either. Where off to?"

With Zheng You'an holding her arm, Dong Xian let out a fond, clicking sigh. "She's grown up and won't stay put at home, running off everywhere all day long. During the last exhibition, she went off sketching in Australia with her teacher and only came back yesterday."

"That's how children are once they grow up." Pointing to Fu Mingyu ahead, He Lanxiang said, "Take that one of mine for example. You won't catch him spending a few days at home all year round. Look at him now—he's flying off to Spain for a business trip next week, and goodness knows how long he'll be gone."

Hearing this, Zheng You'an asked, "Is he going to Spain next week?"

"That's right, why?"

Zheng You'an pressed her lips together without answering. Dong Xian glanced up at Fu Mingyu and said, "You'an is heading to Spain next week too. But this time she isn't sticking with her teacher; she's going alone, and there's no stopping her."

"That's wonderful." He Lanxiang looked Zheng You'an up and down, thinking to herself that since her son flew everywhere every day, there was nothing to stop anyway. Out loud, however, she said, "You'an studies photography, so traveling all over the world comes with the territory. You'll get used to it."

Dong Xian sighed, "She's a girl after all, and I've never let her travel such a long distance entirely on her own before, so I'm always worried."

Lacking a daughter, He Lanxiang couldn't empathize with Dong Xian's state of mind and merely offered perfunctory comfort. "There's nothing to worry about. Wherever she goes, there will be drivers to pick her up and drop her off—it's completely safe."

With the conversation reaching this point, Dong Xian casually inquired, "How is Fu Mingyu traveling?"

This time, Fu Mingyu was inspecting the situation at the Spanish business division. With a large entourage, he would naturally be taking a private jet.

Hearing this, Dong Xian suggested tagging Zheng You'an along for the ride so she could set her mind at ease.

It wasn't a major matter to begin with, so regardless of what He Lanxiang actually thought, she had to agree on the spot.

Her only lingering worry afterward was that Fu Mingyu might be displeased and blame her for acting on her own accord.

Yet when Fu Mingyu learned of the arrangement, he didn't exhibit any particular emotion.

Bringing along one more person was merely like bringing an extra piece of luggage; he simply wouldn't waste a single shred of mental energy on such a triviality.

On the dawn of Wednesday in the second week, Ruan Xian dragged her flight case forward with large strides, the entire flight crew moving at a brisk pace.

Because it was a chartered flight, they needed to board at the business aviation terminal. Although there were no random passengers on the route, the distance was much farther.

Leading the cabin crew, Ni Tong struggled a bit to keep up and muttered in the back, "Why are they walking so fast..."

Unexpectedly, Ruan Xian overheard the comment, turned her head to look at her, and asked, "Are your legs short?"

Hearing that, Ni Tong widened her eyes. "I'm one meter seven without shoes, okay!"

"I'm one meter seven too," Ruan Xian said. "How come I'm so much faster than you? You tell me if your legs aren't short."

Unable to refute and struck speechless with anger, Ni Tong could only pull at the corners of her mouth in a stiff smile.

Her expression actually ended up amusing Ruan Xian. Slowing her pace to walk beside her, Ruan Xian unconsciously slipped back into the teasing habit she had picked up from a bunch of guys in flight school: "Have you ever measured your proportions? Do your legs even measure a hundred centimeters?"

"I'm a hundred and ten!"

"No way, I'd guess ninety-five at most."

Turning her head away to roll her eyes, Ni Tong couldn't be bothered to dignify that with a response.

Having had her fun, Ruan Xian stopped teasing her.

As the group rounded a corner, they suddenly saw seven or eight people walking toward them from the opposite direction.

Though still ten-odd meters apart, Ruan Xian recognized the person at the very front as Fu Mingyu from afar.

That aura of 'the whole world exists beneath my feet and I am supreme'—who else could it possibly be besides him?

The only unusual detail was that he had a woman trailing alongside him.

Dressed in a nude-pink dress with her long hair flowing and a white woven sunhat perched on her head, she looked entirely like someone heading out for a leisurely vacation.

Ruan Xian curled the corners of her lips in a scornful twitch.

Traveling with a woman and bringing a whole crowd along—didn't he find lightbulbs annoying?

And here she thought he'd been terribly busy lately since she hadn't even caught a glimpse of his shadow; turns out he was busy escorting a woman. No wonder he had looked a bit haggard recently; looks like he really was hollowed out.

As the two parties drew closer and their lines of sight intersected, Ruan Xian nonchalantly averted her gaze, pretending not to notice while a mocking smile twitched at the corner of her mouth.

Unfortunately, the captain leading the front halted to greet Fu Mingyu, leaving Ruan Xian with no choice but to stop as well.

The split second she looked toward Fu Mingyu, her peripheral vision caught sight of Zheng You'an standing right beside him.

Her expression instantly froze, and the arc at the corner of her lips slowly collapsed.

Zheng You'an was extremely slender, wearing a glowing pink diamond pendant hung against her delicate neck that made her skin appear even fairer and more tender. The slim legs beneath her dress stepped into a pair of slender high heels, radiating a delicate, fragile beauty—a quintessential princess raised in the palm of someone's hand.

Ruan Xian's gaze flickered. Biting her lips tightly to suppress the sour ache rising in her chest, she tried to look away, yet found herself uncontrollably drawn back to glance at her.

In truth, this was her very first time seeing Zheng You'an in the flesh.

Previously, she had only occasionally snooped through her social media page to peek at her everyday life.

With that slight sensation of voyeurism, Ruan Xian had always buried this dark, murky corner of her heart deep down.

She had merely wanted to see whether the mother who abandoned her to play mother to someone else was doing a good job.

As it turned out, she always did a stellar job.

Zheng You'an must have accepted Dong Xian long ago and received all the maternal love she herself had lacked.

Watching her post photos of overseas travels, photos with family pets, and pictures from birthday banquets allowed Ruan Xian to recognize her instantly upon this first meeting today.

Ruan Xian had zoned out for slightly too long; even Zheng You'an sensed that her gaze had lingered fixedly upon her, causing the other woman to step back involuntarily.

Fu Mingyu, who had been exchanging brief pleasantries with the captain, seemed to sense something. He looked toward Ruan Xian, locking right onto her hastily averted gaze.

Yet the moment their eyes crossed, he still caught sight of the complex emotions swirling within Ruan Xian's eyes.

After a few closing remarks, the two groups went their separate ways toward their respective boarding gates.

Walking a few steps away, Fu Mingyu suddenly glanced back, only to find that Ruan Xian, whose posture was always upright, now carried a somewhat lonely silhouette in her retreat.

"What's wrong?"

Zheng You'an asked.

"Nothing." Fu Mingyu turned back around and resumed walking.

Once aboard the aircraft and climbing into the high skies, they maintained steady level flight.

The employees traveling to Spain all tended to their respective duties, keeping busy throughout the flight.

The only idle person was Fu Mingyu.

Though a stack of materials lay before him, he hadn't managed to absorb a single page.

His mind remained fixated on the look Ruan Xian had given Zheng You'an just moments ago.

And on her retreating back.

Suddenly, a strain of music from beside him broke Fu Mingyu's train of thought.

Covering her iPad, Zheng You'an apologized, "So sorry, my headphones weren't plugged in properly."

Fu Mingyu's gaze swept across her face.

A moment later, the implication suddenly dawned on him.

The stagnant stuffiness trapped in his chest for days instantly vanished into thin air.

After a short pause, he picked up his phone and forwarded a news article to Ruan Xian.

At that moment, Ruan Xian's flight had yet to take off.

The news was a heavy rainstorm warning for the destination Ruan Xian was about to land at.

A few minutes later.

[Ruan Xian]: ?

[Fu Mingyu]: Remember to bring an umbrella.

[Ruan Xian]: ......

[Ruan Xian]: President Fu, taking your girlfriend out while still finding time to care for me—isn't that a bit inappropriate?

Seeing this message, Fu Mingyu finally had his inner suspicions confirmed.

A light hrumph escaped his nose as the corners of his lips curved upward into a smile.