Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 30

Chapter 30

"What do you mean, what was I hesitating about?! I was just trying to figure out how best to curse you out and wake your brain up!"

Fu Mingyu chuckled. "Is that so? You're usually so eloquent with your insults, how come you froze up then?"

"I said I wasn't hesitating! Am I not allowed to run out of vocabulary once in a while?!"

Fu Mingyu's expression made it painfully clear to Ruan Xian that he didn't believe a single word of it.

Her temper completely ignited. Grabbing her bag, she started pelting Fu Mingyu with it while simultaneously kicking at his shins.

"What's with all this bottomless narcissism of yours? Who do you think you are, assuming everyone has feelings for you! The only time my heart goes pit-a-pat is when I see a stray dog, get it?!"

Retreating two steps and looking thoroughly battered, Fu Mingyu shoved her back lightly. "Alright! I get it!"

Still unsatisfied, Ruan Xian delivered one final kick straight to his shin.

"If you get it, then get the hell out of here!"

With the sky barely beginning to pale, Ruan Xian gave a sharp kick of her legs and bolted upright.

Lying flat on her back, she stared up at the ceiling, her chest still heaving heavily.

That's right!

Why didn't she just physically start hitting him last night?!

Since he wasn't going to believe a word she said anyway and was just going to stubbornly live inside his own delusional world, she should have just taught him a lesson with physical action.

Instead of just issuing a flat denial right after Fu Mingyu asked her the question last night—just like in the dream sequence, which held zero weight against someone like Fu Mingyu!

He definitely hadn't believed her denial at the time; otherwise, why would he have let go of her hand without another word, told her to get some early rest, and then turned around and walked away, completely cutting off any chance for her to defend herself further?

It infuriated her that her brilliant, razor-sharp brain always seemed to stall out precisely when she needed it most. She had spent the entire night tossing and turning in bed, mentally rehearsing a million ways she should have cursed him out, yet without a time machine to drag her back to that exact moment, all her overthinking was completely useless.

Ruan Xian abruptly sat straight up, shooting a furious glare toward the ceiling upstairs, wondering if it was still worth going up there to beat him up now.

Checking her phone, she saw it was only five in the morning. Realizing it was still far too early, she flopped back down to try and get some more sleep.

Yet the second she closed her eyes, last night's scene replayed vividly in her head.

No way, the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She needed to know if there was any way left to salvage this.

Ruan Xian sprang up in a sudden carp-leap, grabbing her phone to scroll through her contacts.

Si Xiaozhen had been on the night shift and hadn't gotten off yet, so she couldn't call her.

What about Bian Xuan? She ran a bar and frequently stayed up working until dawn before heading to bed.

She dialed the number, letting it ring all the way until it timed out without an answer.

Ruan Xian dialed a second time, then a third... until on the fifth try, the call finally went through.

An irritated roar blasted from the other end.

"SISTER!! What time is it?! Do you have any idea what time it is?! If you don't give me a genuinely life-or-death emergency right now, we are officially cutting ties forever!"

Cowering under Bian Xuan's roaring tirade, a wave of guilt washed over Ruan Xian. Her aggressive momentum instantly deflated as she covered the mouthpiece and whispered, "Oh, you were already asleep?"

"Duh! I was dead to the world after getting plastered last night!"

"Oh..."

"What is it! Spit it out!"

Ruan Xian mumbled, "Well... it's just that last night, that jerk Fu Mingyu pissed me off so bad, he—"

"Why is it always him?!"

Cutting Ruan Xian off mid-sentence, Bian Xuan groaned, "You're ruining my beauty sleep at the crack of dawn just for this guy again? What if I had brought a handsome guy home last night? How could you look me in the eye?!"

Ruan Xian had just woken up herself; her brain wasn't fully online yet, but any lingering drowsiness had completely vanished.

"Sigh, just keep me company and talk to me for a bit, I'm about to die of anger."

Rustling noises echoed from the other end of the line.

Bian Xuan sat up, took a deep breath, and forcibly regulated her mindset. "Fine, spill it."

"Sigh, so last night, Fu Mingyu..."

Before Ruan Xian could finish, Bian Xuan cut her off once more.

"Why is it always him, sis!" Bian Xuan let out a heavy, exasperated sigh, kicking her legs to shove the duvet away. "You've brought him up way too many times lately. My ears are about to grow calluses."

Ruan Xian blinked in genuine surprise. "Really?"

"You think not?" Bian Xuan sat up cross-legged. "Look, let me break it down for you. Even though I've never met the guy, at this point, I feel like I've known him for a decade. Next time, you might as well invite him out for drinks on my tab; we're practically old buddies anyway."

When Ruan Xian remained silent, Bian Xuan pressed on. "Just think about it yourself. You're someone who practically never posts on your Moments. Yet in the few months since you've been back, every single post you've put up has been about him."

Ruan Xian muttered, "Does that even count? I was complaining about him every single time."

Bian Xuan retorted, "Well, I don't see you complaining about anyone else! Here, let me pull up your feed and read them back to you right now."

As she talked, she actually opened her social media app. "The one bitching about WeChat friend requests was about him, and you ended up adding him anyway. The wild dog post was about him. That song recommendation was about him. Oh, and the breakfast post wasn't about him, but out of the grand total of four updates you've posted, three of them were about him."

Ruan Xian: "..."

That breakfast post had actually been intended for him to see.

Bian Xuan advised, "Here's my suggestion: just quit your job. Set yourself free, and set him free, too. Stop driving yourself to an early grave with high blood pressure every single day, okay?"

Ruan Xian let out a huffy "Hmph." "I just finished my OE transition period, how am I supposed to just quit now?"

Through the phone speaker, Bian Xuan massaged her temples in wordless defeat.

All remaining traces of sleepiness were entirely gone now. What had she done in a past life to deserve a friend like this?

"Fine, spill it. What exactly happened last night? I have to hear this."

Instead, Ruan Xian fell silent.

She suddenly felt like she was running dangerously low on confidence.

"Never mind, go back to sleep."

"..." Bian Xuan felt her breath hitch. "Ruan Xian, I swear we are breaking up as friends sooner rather than later!"

Ending the call, Ruan Xian stared at her screen, navigated to her profile, and began deleting her recent months of social media posts one by one.

Yet the moment she finished deleting them, a sudden wave of regret washed over her.

Why did she have to go and act like she had a guilty conscience?!

Was there an undo button for this?

If there was any definition of misfortunes never coming singly, it was illustrated perfectly when Ruan Xian crawled back into bed trying to catch up on sleep, only for her phone to ring with an incoming call from the Flight Department.

It was right then that Ruan Xian truly empathized with how Bian Xuan had felt just moments prior.

A call at this hour definitely meant bad news—most likely a sudden schedule disruption requiring a last-minute backup first officer.

Thus, exhaustion or not, Ruan Xian didn't dare sleep in. Bounding energetically out of bed, she grabbed her phone while sprinting toward the bathroom.

Before she even stepped out of her bedroom, however, the voice on the other end instructed her to head over to World Aviation again this afternoon because Zheng You'an needed to reshoot a handful of photographs.

Ruan Xian: "..."

She slumped right back down onto the edge of the mattress. "Why? What happened? Was something wrong with the shots?"

The Flight Department representative explained, "Ms. Zheng felt that the facial expressions in the outdoor shots looked a bit unnatural, so she wants to do a quick retake. It'll just take the afternoon, it won't eat up too much of your time."

Ruan Xian wanted nothing more than to refuse outright, but the Flight Department chimed in, "Ms. Zheng is an absolute perfectionist when it comes to her craft, so..."

"Is this really necessary?" Ruan Xian gazed out at the morning sunlight streaming through the window and sighed. "I don't think I can do any better this time around, just swap me out for someone else."

Swapping her out was obviously out of the question.

After sweet-talking and cajoling her back and forth, the Flight Department finally managed to wear Ruan Xian down and secure her agreement, tossing in a few sympathetic complaints of their own.

They were tearing their hair out over Zheng You'an's impossibly high standards, too, but their hands were tied. Knowing she was the daughter of the partner company's chairman and that Fu Mingyu had personally approved her involvement, they naturally had to bend over backward to accommodate her requests.

Ruan Xian let out a soft, dry scoff. "Got it. I'm heading out now."

Fortunately, today's temperatures weren't quite as blistering as the day before.

Donning her uniform once more, Ruan Xian arrived at the World Aviation gates to find the other pilots summoned for the reshoot looking equally exasperated.

——"I swear to God I'm so jealous of Old Zhang. He's flying a route today and dodged a bullet."

——"I'm at my wit's end. Here I was bright and early, getting ready to go fishing with my girlfriend, and now she's pissed off at me instead."

——"Hey, do all art school grads operate on this same level of insanity?"

Ruan Xian silently thought to herself: Yes, they do.

With Zheng You'an being this meticulous and high-strung, she was probably heavily influenced by Dong Xian.

Dong Xian used to be exactly the same way, plagued by what looked like clinical perfectionism; if a canvas contained a single microscopic flaw that nobody else could even spot under a magnifying glass, she would toss the whole thing out and start from scratch.

Dragging their feet with heavy, reluctant steps, the group marched inside.

Luckily, today even the makeup artist was terrified of triggering another round of modifications from Zheng You'an, so she poured twelve thousand percent of her effort into the job and got it approved on the very first try.

Zheng You'an offered a curt nod, sweeping her gaze across the pilots as if wanting to say something, before her mouth twitched open and closed, ultimately telling them she needed to go set up her equipment outside first.

A short while later, Zheng You'an's assistant strolled into the studio carrying trays of iced beverages.

The morning air was steadily growing warmer, though the sun hadn't reached its blinding peak yet.

Waiting until the makeup artist finished smoothing down her hair, Ruan Xian grabbed one of the iced coffees provided by Zheng You'an and headed out toward the tarmac.

The outdoor production gear was already fully assembled, with Zheng You'an standing behind the camera rig tweaking settings.

She wasn't alone, either; another figure stood right beside her.

Squinting her eyes against the glare, Ruan Xian recognized him as Fu Mingyu.

He sure had plenty of free time on his hands lately.

Ruan Xian walked past them.

Though her destination wasn't Fu Mingyu.

Passing right by the pair, she tossed her unopened iced coffee directly into a nearby recycling bin. As she spun around, she caught Fu Mingyu watching her.

"You're here?"

The tone of his voice made it sound as though they were close, intimate acquaintances.

Considering they had just had a massive blowout the night before, it was ridiculous.

Giving him a strange look, Ruan Xian turned her back on him and walked over to the lighting reflector panels.

She hadn't taken two steps, however, when she heard Zheng You'an complain from behind her, "Take a look at these, these shots just don't look right."

Who could possibly look good in thirty-eight-degree heat, sis?

As if that wasn't enough, she then heard Fu Mingyu agree, "They really don't look very good."

Ruan Xian: "..."

Her hand instinctively rose to touch her face.

Were they really that bad? Yesterday she had stood in front of the mirror for ages after getting made up, and she thought she looked fantastic!

Muttering to herself and pondering this injustice, Ruan Xian kept walking without turning back, entirely missing the subtle shift in expression that crossed Zheng You'an's face upon hearing Fu Mingyu's comment.

Snapping the LCD screen shut, Zheng You'an straightened up and called out, "Let's get started."

Ruan Xian stepped into her designated spot from the day before.

Every time she glanced toward the lens, she noticed Fu Mingyu standing right next to Zheng You'an, his gaze drifting across the open space to lock onto her from afar.

Fu Mingyu genuinely felt the previous photos fell short—they didn't capture Ruan Xian's natural aura at all, looking far worse than a few casual candid shots.

Just like right now: standing beneath the aircraft in full pilot uniform, her flight cap tucked under her arm, head turned slightly in profile as she looked off to the side. That single casual glance captured infinitely more life than any of those stiffly forced promotional smiles.

Seemingly sensing his gaze lingering fixedly on her, Ruan Xian turned her head, shot him a fierce glare of pure annoyance, and then huffily averted her eyes.

A low, quiet chuckle escaped Fu Mingyu's throat.

"What are you laughing at?" Zheng You'an asked abruptly. "Is something wrong with the setup?"

"Nothing at all." Fu Mingyu turned back to look at her, the lingering amusement still tugging at the corners of his lips. "Carry on, I'm just observing."

Nodding, Zheng You'an signaled the start.

When Ruan Xian turned her head back around, she caught Fu Mingyu still smiling as he chatted with Zheng You'an.

Still laughing, acting all carefree and pleasant—anyone would think they were the ones baking under the scorching sun!

The irritation building inside Ruan Xian reached a boiling point, rendering her smiling expression utterly rigid.

Peeking out from behind the camera rig, Zheng You'an prompted, "Can you relax your facial muscles a bit? The smile looks way too unnatural right now."

Ruan Xian genuinely tried to loosen up, but it was completely useless.

She shot another sharp glance in Fu Mingyu's direction.

He looked relaxed enough.

"If you make him leave, my expression will naturally relax."

"..."

Zheng You'an choked slightly on her words, turning a hesitant, questioning gaze toward Fu Mingyu. "Was she talking about you?"

Ignoring the question entirely, Fu Mingyu simply offered Ruan Xian one final look before turning around and walking away.

The other pilots standing nearby murmured quietly among themselves: "Having President Fu standing over there watching us made me tense up the entire time, too."

"Yeah, but none of us had the guts to actually say it out loud."

Their profound admiration was written all over their faces.

Meanwhile, Zheng You'an lingered behind the camera, studying Ruan Xian with a long, evaluating look.

After a brief moment of silent contemplation, she didn't say a word and simply continued the shoot.

By the time the photo session finally wrapped up, it was well past midday.

Skipping the staff canteen with the other pilots, Ruan Xian decided to head straight home for lunch.

Fu Mingyu's car was parked right outside the World Aviation gates.

Catching sight of it from a distance, Ruan Xian slowed her pace for a fraction of a second before intentionally veering off to give it a wide berth.

She was in no mood to deal with Fu Mingyu today.

Unfortunately, there was only one main exit. She hadn't taken more than a few steps past the gates before that familiar car smoothly rolled up alongside her.

Rolling down the passenger window, a wave of cool air spilled out onto the pavement.

"Have you eaten?"

Ignoring him entirely, Ruan Xian kept walking.

The car simply matched her pace, crawling along beside her.

With an exasperated sigh, Ruan Xian came to a halt. "Why are you following me?"

Maintaining his impassive expression, Fu Mingyu stepped out of the vehicle, walked around the door, and pulled it open.

"Get in, I'll drive you."

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

Lifting his wrist to check his watch, Fu Mingyu replied, "I actually don't, which is why you need to get in the car right now."

"No thanks."

Ignoring him completely, Ruan Xian resumed her march forward.

Unyielding, Fu Mingyu closed the door and trailed slowly behind her at a walking pace, calling out over her shoulder, "It's scorching out here. You're seriously planning to walk all the way back in this heat?"

"I can hail a cab."

"It's peak hour."

"Then I'll wait."

"Why are you being so stubborn?" Fu Mingyu pressed. "If Yan An can give you a lift when your paths cross, why can't I?"

Ruan Xian: "..."

That argument was so bizarrely twisted she didn't even know how to begin refuting it.

"Are you in a bad mood today or something?"

Halting in her tracks, Ruan Xian turned around to face him from three paces away.

"Duh. If you know I'm in a bad mood, stop provoking me."

"When did I provoke you? I didn't even speak to you all morning."

Ruan Xian drew a long, ragged breath. "Your very existence standing over there breathing is enough to piss me off."

With that, she spun around and kept walking.

Yet she could still feel Fu Mingyu tailing her every step.

Spinning back around, Ruan Xian demanded, "What is your deal now? I already told you last night, I have zero feelings for you."

Fu Mingyu nodded. "I know."

If you know, stop harassing me!

Before she could voice the thought, Fu Mingyu added, "Then what are you mad at me for today?"

?

That's right.

What was she mad at him for today?

Stunned for a second, Ruan Xian looked up and caught the faint, teasing glint in Fu Mingyu's eyes, causing the realization to hit her like a lightning bolt.

This jerk was deliberately baiting her!