Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 32

Chapter 32

The stove at the entrance rumbled loudly, and the scalding hot stone pot hissed with dancing flames. The boiling, overflowing aroma filled the entire narrow storefront.

A waiter briskly cleared away a table of leftover bowls, grabbed a greasy rag, and furiously wiped down the table.

"What would the two of you like to eat?"

Ruan Sixian glanced at the menu on the wall and said, "Sweet and spicy clam glass noodles, please add extra clams."

The waiter looked toward Fu Mingyu, but his tone wasn't quite as crisp anymore. "And you?"

Fu Mingyu said faintly, "Same as her."

"Coming right up!" The waiter looked up and roared toward the stove, "Two sweet and spicy clam noodles!"

Ever since Fu Mingyu walked in, Ruan Sixian could feel the surrounding gazes gradually converging on him.

The small shop was noisy and crowded, saturated with the earthy, bustling atmosphere of everyday life, whereas Fu Mingyu possessed a noble, aloof aura and an indifferent expression that clashed completely with the setting.

He looked nothing like someone who would appear in a place like this; instead, he looked like he belonged in the art style of a movie playing on the television in the corner of the shop.

Ruan Sixian hadn't expected him to actually follow her in either.

Ten minutes ago, Ruan Sixian—caught in the act of lying, maintaining a calm expression while feeling extremely awkward inside—had stared at Fu Mingyu as he walked up to her, listening to him ask, "Didn't you already eat?"

Ruan Sixian said stiffly, "Second meal."

Fu Mingyu looked at the shop's environment and asked, "Should we go somewhere else?"

Ruan Sixian thought to herself, I've waited in line for so long, how could I possibly change venues now? Even a Michelin-starred restaurant couldn't pull her away from the spell of the clam glass noodles. "No, I want to eat right here."

After saying that, she wanted to ask teasingly, "President Fu, care to join me?"

For a dish that cost a little over a dozen yuan, how could Fu Mingyu possibly eat it?

Besides, the environment here... well, it certainly wasn't the cleanest.

Yet unexpectedly, he nodded. "Mhm, okay."

So he simply stood quietly beside Ruan Sixian for ten minutes, waiting for the shop to call their number, and then followed her inside.

Ruan Sixian felt like she had dug another hole for herself.

If she could eat this kind of food, why couldn't Fu Mingyu?

Was anyone more noble than anyone else?

However, when two steaming bowls of clam glass noodles were served, a careful sniff revealed a pungent fishiness from the clams mixed with the sharp sourness of vinegar.

Ruan Sixian saw Fu Mingyu across from her visibly frown.

As expected, he still couldn't bring himself to eat it.

Ruan Sixian directly picked up her small bowl, scooped up some broth, took a sip, and deliberately put on an expression of unbridled enjoyment.

"So delicious."

She looked at Fu Mingyu and raised an eyebrow at him. "President Fu, dig in. It's really good."

She didn't believe Fu Mingyu would actually eat this stuff.

Sure enough, although Fu Mingyu was seated, he sat a good half-meter away from the table. He took a tissue to wipe down his spoon and, mimicking Ruan Sixian's actions, scooped up half a small bowl of broth.

Yet when he lifted the bowl, he still couldn't bring himself to take a bite.

Leaving aside the cheap seasoning flavor pervading the entire bowl, what on earth was that layer of floating oil on top?

He raised his eyes and met Ruan Sixian's crafty gaze.

Putting down his bowl, he decided to change the subject.

"The company will begin its nationwide tour of flight cadet recruitment in November. Do you want to go?"

"What would I go for?"

"Presentations."

Ruan Sixian gave an "oh" and picked out a clam to eat.

"I'm just a co-pilot. Presentations are usually done by captains."

"It doesn't matter," Fu Mingyu said. "Having female pilots present will attract more female applicants."

Ruan Sixian suddenly looked up and asked, "What, do you want to recruit a few more female pilots?"

"I have never considered a pilot's gender." His gaze slowly lingered across Ruan Sixian's face with a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. "Of course, if they are female pilots like you, I wouldn't mind recruiting a few more."

Ruan Sixian chuckled. "Trying to get a head start by virtue of proximity, President Fu?"

Fu Mingyu didn't speak; he pushed a bottle from the edge of the table toward Ruan Sixian.

"What are you doing?"

"Pour some more vinegar."

With an imagination this vivid, why wasn't he writing novels?

Ruan Sixian pushed the vinegar back to its original spot. "Sorry, I never eat vinegar. Eating it makes me want to vomit."

Fu Mingyu nodded nonchalantly, still showing no intention of touching his chopsticks.

Ruan Sixian looked at him for a few seconds, took out a disinfecting wet wipe from her bag, meticulously wiped a pair of chopsticks, and handed them to Fu Mingyu.

"President Fu, eat up."

Fu Mingyu took the chopsticks, paused, and said, "I don't eat clams."

"That's easy, little Ruan at your service."

Ruan Sixian pulled his bowl over with a beaming smile and painstakingly picked out all the clams.

Even though she knew she had ill intentions, watching her fluttering, downcast eyelashes, the tiny beads of sweat on the tip of her nose, and the curved smile at the corners of her mouth, Fu Mingyu still smiled.

A few minutes later, all the clams in Fu Mingyu's bowl had migrated into Ruan Sixian's bowl.

Ruan Sixian pushed the bowl back and looked at him with a grin. "All done."

Fu Mingyu gave an "oh" and said, "I don't eat glass noodles either."

"..."

"Fu Mingyu, are you picking a fight?"

"Eating glass noodles makes me want to vomit."

"Fine, very nice."

Ruan Sixian clapped her hands in applause. "Anyone watching would think I was accompanying an emperor for a meal."

By the time Ruan Sixian finished the clam glass noodles in front of her, Fu Mingyu hadn't touched his chopsticks once.

Yet he went ahead and paid the bill before she even put down her chopsticks.

It came out to thirty-six yuan total, and Fu Mingyu handed the boss a hundred-yuan bill.

"Keep the change."

"Hehe, enjoy your meal."

The boss took the money with a beaming smile, thinking to himself that rich people really knew how to play romantic games.

Fu Mingyu turned around and beckoned to Ruan Sixian.

"Let's go."

Ruan Sixian felt a bit full and leisurely wiped her mouth before slowly standing up.

The pedestrian street at this hour was still lively, with pedestrians coming and going at a relaxed pace.

Colorful neon lights intertwined with noisy music. Girls running roadside stalls called out to customers, their drawn-out shouts slowing the passage of time.

"How much was it just now?"

Ruan Sixian asked.

"You want to pay me back?"

"Yeah."

"No need."

Fu Mingyu continued walking forward.

Ruan Sixian lagged a step behind, curling her lip at his back.

Dozens of yuan worth of clam glass noodles were made to sound by him like a full Manchu-Han imperial banquet served with supreme, nonchalant pretentiousness.

Yet the next second, she heard him say with a smile, "You're the one who said I run a pig farm."

—So how could I possibly charge you money for that?

Ruan Sixian stifled her breath on the spot.

Two seconds later, she still couldn't hold it in.

"Fu! Ming! Yu!"

Fu Mingyu turned back and said calmly, "What is it? Didn't get enough to eat?"

Ruan Sixian had no idea how she managed to restrain herself from beating Fu Mingyu to death right there on the street.

Was it her grace?

Was it her upbringing?

No, it was the rule of law in a harmonious society that held her back.

Ruan Sixian's pace quickened almost to a trot, but catching up to her was effortless for Fu Mingyu.

"Alright, I won't tease you anymore." He grabbed Ruan Sixian's wrist. "Seriously speaking, are you going on the tour recruitment drive? It kicks off on November eleventh, and the first stop is your alma mater."

Ruan Sixian was in the heat of her anger and didn't even notice that he had dropped the words "alma mater."

"Not going! On Double Eleven, I only want to use the discounts to buy your life!"

"Oh?"

Fu Mingyu's expression remained calm as ever, but the words he uttered were utterly preposterous. "You want me to hand my life over to you? A bit too fast, aren't we?"

"..."

[Ruan Sixian]: How can someone in this world be so shameless?

[Ruan Sixian]: Did Mother Nüwa have a moment of negligence and forget to sculpt a face for him?

[Ruan Sixian]: Did he accidentally forget to develop a face while he was an embryo?

As soon as Ruan Sixian sent her string of rants, Bian Xuan replied with a yawning sticker.

[Bian Xuan]: Fu Mingyu again?

Ruan Sixian's fingers, which were typing away, paused.

The edit box had just a single line written in it—"Fu Mingyu is simply an absolute idiot."

She expressionlessly deleted the line.

[Ruan Sixian]: Nope, got mad at a drama. An absolute, peerless idiot.

[Bian Xuan]: Oh, I thought it was your President Fu again.

[Ruan Sixian]: ?

[Bian Xuan]: Who else could tick you off like this?

[Ruan Sixian]: You.

[Bian Xuan]: Gotta go tend to customers, bye-bye.

Four days later, Ruan Sixian reached her flight hour limit and took her scheduled rest. She had arranged in advance with Sima Xiaozhen to visit a small town in the suburbs. Sima Xiaozhen was the most enthusiastic about this kind of thing and had booked the hotel well ahead of time.

Yet just as Ruan Sixian was getting her things ready, she received another notification from the Flight Department.

A morning briefing tomorrow, followed by training in the afternoon.

Fine, life is just life—you're born just to work.

Resignation written all over her body, Ruan Sixian headed to Century Airlines.

She yawned while greeting the colleagues she passed.

Before she could even close her mouth, the people around her suddenly quieted down.

Guided by intuition, Ruan Sixian looked over to see a group of people striding toward the elevators, led once again by Fu Mingyu.

Everyone else seemed to blur away in an instant. Ruan Sixian stared at Fu Mingyu, thinking to herself: You better not come over to provoke me, or else I truly cannot guarantee I'll maintain your dignity here at the company.

Half a minute later, the elevator doors closed, and the surrounding atmosphere loosened up again.

Good, you saved your own skin today—you better be grateful for your habit of looking straight ahead, got it?

When she arrived at the conference room, the Flight Department manager was nowhere to be seen.

Ruan Sixian sat in a seat by the window, propping her chin on her hand as she gazed into the distance outside to do some eye exercises.

That gaze happened to land right on Zheng You'an.

Ruan Sixian blinked, snapping awake a little.

Why was she here?

Sharing the exact same question was Fu Mingyu.

Standing by the window making a phone call, he had withdrawn his gaze only to catch sight of Zheng You'an standing in the hangar downstairs.

"Why is she here?"

Bo Yang stepped forward and said, "Preparations for the company's thirtieth anniversary and the World Aviation Exhibition are already underway this year. She is the photographer."

This year, Century Airlines' thirtieth anniversary coincided with the World Aviation Exhibition, so preparations were being handled jointly. Coupled with the addition of the new ACJ31 aircraft model, this event was of paramount importance. The Public Relations Department had designated a specialized team to prepare for it starting from the middle of the year. Fu Mingyu had kept a close eye on it from start to finish, only relaxing his vigilance once it entered the final wrap-up phase this month.

However, that didn't mean he was completely indifferent to the remaining promotional work.

Century Airlines had always maintained a fixed collaborative photography team that had never once submitted an unsatisfactory piece of work over the years. This ensured that Century Airlines' promotional imagery remained majestic every year, standing out brilliantly across all kinds of visual exhibitions.

After seeing the recruitment promotional photos from last time, Fu Mingyu had assumed the PR department understood very well that Zheng You'an's style wasn't suited for the aviation industry.

Yet even so, they had actually taken it upon themselves to change the photography team.

Fu Mingyu narrowed his eyes slightly, lifting a hand to unfasten the sleeve garters on his shirt and tossing them onto the desk.

With a crisp "clack," Bo Yang's brows knitted tightly together as well.

Having worked under Fu Mingyu for two years, he knew this was a sign of extreme anger.

"Call the PR department manager over here."

At six o'clock in the afternoon, Ruan Sixian walked out rubbing her shoulders after finishing her training session.

Sitting in the company for a day was genuinely more exhausting than sitting in the cockpit for a day.

Several fellow colleagues invited her to grab dinner together tonight, and she agreed, but before that, she needed to make a trip to the restroom.

The sixteenth floor housed the Flight Department. Compared to other departments, there were fewer people here, and the restroom was rarely frequented.

Ruan Sixian was looking at her phone while pushing the door open. Before she even passed the sinks, she heard an intensely furious female voice echo from one of the stalls.

"Fu! Ming! Yu! Is! Out! Of! His! Mind!"

Who was it?!

Who was it?!

Ruan Sixian pricked up her ears, dying to know who on earth it was!

Right here in Fu Mingyu's territory!

Speaking absolute, unadulterated facts!