Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 34

Chapter 34

"Why are you starting to play on your phone?" Zheng You'an looked at Ruan Sixian with tear-filled eyes. "Can't you show me some respect?"

"…I'm just replying to a message."

Exhausted, famished, and tired all at once, Ruan Sixian swallowed back the urge to yawn, stood up, and said, "I'm going to the restroom."

"Why do you keep going to the restroom?"

Zheng You'an frowned with dissatisfaction and slumped back down to cry.

Holding her phone, Ruan Sixian fled into the restroom and messaged Fu Mingyu.

[Ruan Sixian]: Are you here yet?

[Fu Mingyu]: Mhm.

[Ruan Sixian]: Hurry up!

[Fu Mingyu]: Don't rush, just a few more minutes.

After urging him, Ruan Sixian used the restroom. Mere minutes passed, and someone seized the opportunity to make a move outside.

Looking from afar, she saw a man wearing a floral shirt and cropped skinny pants holding a drink as he walked up and leaned down in front of Zheng You'an.

"Beauty, drinking alone?"

Zheng You'an raised her head. With tear tracks still wet on her face, she looked pitiful and forlorn.

The man's heart instantly itched with desire. He sat down right beside her with total familiarity, leaned close to her ear, and said, "Hey, why is a beauty crying?"

Protected and pampered since childhood, Zheng You'an had never encountered this kind of situation. Her brain failed to process it for a second, and she stared blankly at the man across from her, his loud shirt making her eyes dizzy.

The floral-shirted man had zero resistance against a beauty wearing such an expression and reached out to put his arm around her.

Before his hand could even brush Zheng You'an's shoulder, however, someone grabbed him by the arm.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The floral-shirted man turned around and saw Ruan Sixian looking at him coldly.

Well, talk about a lucky break today—another major beauty delivered right to his doorstep.

"I'm just comforting the little beauty here." The floral-shirted man withdrew his arm with a smile, his gaze glued to Ruan Sixian's face. "Are you two together?"

Ruan Sixian had no desire to stir up trouble inside Bian Xuan's bar; she preferred using words over fists whenever possible, so she said with an even temper, "Mhm. Is there something you need here? If not, she and I are about to leave."

"Don't be like that. What's the rush, the night is still young. Why don't you stick around for a couple of drinks?" The floral-shirted man said, leaning back toward Zheng You'an. "Why is the beauty crying anyway? Heartbroken? Tell big brother all about it, and big brother will help you work through it."

Ruan Sixian sat down on the opposite sofa, folded her arms, and stated, "I'll tell you why. Earlier today, she broke the leg of a man who tried to hit on her, and now she's terrified of going to jail—scared to the point of tears."

Zheng You'an: "…?"

The smile froze on the floral-shirted man's face. After a few seconds, he forced out two dry chuckles. "Hehe, the beauty sure knows how to joke."

"I'm not joking with you." Ruan Sixian flexed both her hands. "I have quite a bit of experience in this area, which is why she came to me for advice."

With that, she tilted her head to look at the floral-shirted man. "Care to stick around and offer some advice of your own?"

If he still couldn't read between the lines after all that, he would have to be a complete idiot. The floral-shirted man bit down on his back molar, snatched up his wine glass, and beat a retreat while muttering under his breath, "What a thorny rose."

Pretending not to hear his cheesy descriptive cliché, Ruan Sixian handed a tissue to Zheng You'an.

"Wipe your face, your eyeliner is completely smudged."

Zheng You'an took the tissue, but suddenly clamped a hand over her mouth as a wave of nausea hit her.

Ruan Sixian bolted upright. "No way, you threw up over just this little bit of alcohol? And here I thought your alcohol tolerance was actually good."

With vomit surging up her throat, Zheng You'an scrambled up and bolted toward the restroom, not forgetting to throw back an explanation on her way: "I was disgusted into throwing up by that guy!"

Ruan Sixian strode after her, but ended up locked out at the doorway.

Zheng You'an had zero desire for anyone to see her vomiting—how humiliating would that be? Once inside, her absolute top priority was turning on the sink faucet at full blast to drown out the sounds of her retching.

Ruan Sixian knocked lightly on the door. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just need to throw up for a bit."

That being the case, Ruan Sixian couldn't be bothered to crowd the tiny restroom either.

This was the exact moment Fu Mingyu arrived.

Pushing the door open, he swept his gaze around the room. Not seeing Ruan Sixian anywhere, he headed toward the bar counter.

Bian Xuan, who was in the middle of wiping down a glass, looked up and saw him. Her eyes lit up instantly, though she quickly found him looking familiar.

Tilting her head to scrutinize him closely, sudden realization dawned on her.

With Fu Mingyu showing up out of nowhere here, Bian Xuan wasn't naive enough to think he had dropped in for a casual drink; apart from coming to pick up Ruan Sixian, what else could he possibly be doing?

"President Fu?"

Fu Mingyu happened to halt right in front of the counter. "You know me?"

Of course she knew him.

Bian Xuan offered a teasing smile. "You might not know me, but I'm plenty familiar with you."

While Fu Mingyu was still trying to puzzle that out, Ruan Sixian walked over with a dark expression, fixing Bian Xuan with a death glare: "Don't you have work to do?"

Bian Xuan immediately swallowed her laughter, put on a business-like facade, and gave her glass a casual swirl. "I'm going to go tend to the customers."

With that, she scurried off happily, leaving only Fu Mingyu and Ruan Sixian standing by the bar.

He mulled over Bian Xuan's words, guessing they probably meant what he thought they meant.

So Ruan Sixian frequently talked about him in front of her friends?

His mood lifted even further. Lowering his gaze to look at her, a smile tugged at the corners of his eyes: "Did you drink?"

"No way." Ruan Sixian sniffed the air. "You're the one who smells like alcohol, aren't you?"

Fu Mingyu nodded. "Mhm, I had a business dinner tonight."

Hearing this, Ruan Sixian asked, "So you came straight from halfway through it?"

If that was truly the case, and she had disrupted Fu Mingyu's actual business, she would feel rather guilty.

After all, for her own sake, Century Airlines needed to run smoothly.

"No, I had already gone home. Why'd you call me over?"

"Oh, Zheng You'an is inside throwing up."

Fu Mingyu paused. "Zheng You'an?"

"Yeah," Ruan Sixian said. "She's been drowning her sorrows here because of you. If you don't come and haul her away, I won't be getting any sleep tonight."

Following a brief silence, Fu Mingyu's expression turned frigid step by step.

She had called him over in such a rush precisely because of Zheng You'an?

He had downed quite a bit of alcohol during the business dinner. When his driver asked where he wanted to go, he had subconsciously chosen Mingchen Apartments, which was even farther away than Huguang Mansions.

The reason was simple: he had suddenly found himself wanting to see Ruan Sixian.

Much like the countless unprompted urges popping up lately, there was no reason behind it—he just wanted to catch a glimpse of her.

Even though he knew she wouldn't give him a pleasant expression, he didn't mind at all; he even thought her occasional flashes of temper were rather amusing.

As for why he couldn't just text her back, well, since he couldn't see her in person, hearing her voice would have sufficed.

That had been Fu Mingyu's simple train of thought at the time.

So when she had told him "If you won't, then forget it," Fu Mingyu's face had darkened instantly.

Fortunately, the very next second, she had followed up with a text telling him to "come get me right now."

Sitting in the car, watching the neon lights outside the window, Fu Mingyu had worn a faint smile at the corners of his lips.

She still wanted to see me after all.

And in a place like a bar, no less.

She had been drinking, and the person she wanted to see was him.

Yet once he actually arrived here, Fu Mingyu realized reality wasn't quite what he had imagined.

He tilted his head slightly. "What happened to her?"

Unaware of Fu Mingyu's shifting expression, Ruan Sixian said with a touch of teasing sarcasm, "You're the one who drove her to tears with your own attitude, so go apologize to her yourself. I'm not helping out, I'm heading home to sleep."

Fu Mingyu was well aware of how he had "driven Zheng You'an to tears," but right now, he didn't care to deal with that mess in the slightest.

So Ruan Sixian had called him over in such a frantic hurry not because she wanted to see him, but merely to have him clean up Zheng You'an's mess. Her tone was so detached, as if he were an entirely insignificant bystander who didn't care in the slightest how he related to other women, and even actively pushed him toward them.

He suddenly felt like he had made a complete fool of himself.

"I've driven plenty of women to tears. If everyone who brings trouble upon themselves expects an apology from me, am I supposed to apologize to every single one of them?"

The moment those words left his mouth, he suddenly realized something was off.

When he looked back at Ruan Sixian, her expression had indeed shifted.

Fu Mingyu frowned, regretting his words instantly, and softened his tone: "That's not what I meant."

Ruan Sixian glared at him. "Does the word 'apologize' simply not exist in President Fu's dictionary?"

Fu Mingyu had to admit that part of what Ruan Sixian said was true.

Ever since reaching adulthood, he had rarely made missteps. Dictated by his status and social standing, offering an apology was an even rarer occurrence for him.

Yet over the past few months, ever since she re-entered his thoughts, he had considered apologizing on several occasions. Every time he saw Ruan Sixian glaring at him with hostility, however, the words caught in his throat.

Only now did Fu Mingyu realize that that incident had remained a lingering thorn in her heart all along; if they didn't lay everything out in the open, it would turn into a lifelong knot in her mind.

"I'm apologizing to you right now," he suddenly said, almost without a second thought.

Ruan Sixian didn't process it for a fraction of a second. She only saw him lower his head slightly, locking eyes with her as if trying to convey something profound.

"It was my fault for misunderstanding you back then."

"You..." Ruan Sixian looked somewhat incredulous. "You remembered?"

"Mhm," he continued. "Can you forgive me? If not, name your terms, and I'll agree to whatever is in my power."

Ruan Sixian froze in place, feeling a bit at a loss.

She had imagined countless scenarios where this jerk Fu Mingyu humbled himself to apologize to her, after which she would swing around and walk away with absolute cool detachment.

Yet when this day genuinely arrived, her emotions felt entirely different from what she had pictured; there was none of that long-awaited sweet revenge feeling.

Thinking back carefully, it seemed to be because she hadn't dwelt on past events for a very long time.

Still, every time she ran into Fu Mingyu lately, she would instinctively pick fights and cross swords with him, yet she knew full well it wasn't out of lingering anger over the past.

It was more like a subconscious, childish impulse—just like a grade-schooler.

"Don't just stand there and stay quiet," Fu Mingyu's voice sounded right beside her ear. "What do you want me to do to let you vent your anger?"

His words only made Ruan Sixian feel even more chaotic inside.

Because she realized she had actually stopped being mad at him ages ago, damn it—admitting to that would mean losing all her pride!

Right on cue, Zheng You'an emerged from the restroom.

Ruan Sixian frowned and said, "Take Zheng You'an home first. She drank too much and threw up in the bathroom."

Weighing heavily under a heavy burden, Fu Mingyu let out a sigh, turned around, and walked toward Zheng You'an. -

When they dragged Zheng You'an over to the car door and tried shoving her inside, she put up a fierce struggle.

"Hey! Stop manhandling me! I can go back by myself, my driver is coming to pick me up!"

With her refusing to get in, Fu Mingyu couldn't force her either, so he could only state in a deep voice, "Behave yourself and stop adding to my headaches."

"Who's adding to your headaches? Fu Mingyu, let me tell you, I have never suffered this kind of grievance in all my life!" She swung her arm out, cutting a wide arc right in front of Fu Mingyu. "From this day on, Zheng You'an and you are completely through! You walk your broad path, and I'll cross my single-plank bridge! No wait—you walk the single-plank bridge, and I'll take the broad path! In short! We're having nothing to do with each other from now on!"

Fu Mingyu felt profoundly irritated and had no desire to exchange another word with a drunk, so he signaled the driver to handle her.

"Send her back. Give me a call once she's safely inside her house, and don't let her out along the way."

"Don't pretend you care about me! Let me tell you, I know you don't like me at all. Did you think I liked you that much either? Do you think everyone in the world is obsessed with you? Keep dreaming! Plenty of people can't stand you!"

That sentence—"Plenty of people can't stand you"—hit Fu Mingyu like a needle, jabbing sharply into his heart.

Ignoring Zheng You'an entirely, Fu Mingyu turned around and walked straight back.

Meanwhile, Ruan Sixian sat at the edge of the bar, propping her chin on her hand as she zoned out.

Of all times, that was precisely when the floral-shirted guy from earlier walked over, holding a rose he must have bought from somewhere, and thrust it toward Ruan Sixian without warning.

"Beauty, did your friend leave? Sitting at the bar all by yourself?"

Ruan Sixian didn't even spare him a glance, stating coldly, "Get lost. Don't annoy me."

With that, she picked up her glass of orange juice to take a sip, but the floral-shirted man abruptly snatched her glass away, baring a mouthful of yellow teeth as he grinned. "When you're feeling annoyed, you've got to drink alcohol. How about I treat you to our house specialty, the Sunset Boulevard?"

Ruan Sixian took a deep breath and turned her head to glare at him.

The floral-shirted man hopped onto the adjacent bar stool. Catching sight of Ruan Sixian's fair, slender fingers, an itch seized him, and he reached out to grope them.

"I can't stand seeing a beauty fret. Come on, since kindred spirits need a thousand cups of wine, let's toast each other first?"

Lowering her eyes to look at the plump, greasy hand resting on the back of hers and continuously rubbing against her skin, Ruan Sixian felt her last shred of patience collapse to the verge of breaking.

"I'll warn you one last time. I don't want to cause trouble for my friend, but if you harass me again, don't blame me for being impolite."

Pulling her hand back, she cast a pointed glance down at the floral-shirted man's beer belly, sneering, "If we actually throw hands, you are definitely no match for me. Wanna test that?"

Naturally, the floral-shirted man didn't believe a mere woman could do anything to him, so he laughed cheerfully and reached to wrap his arm around her shoulder. "Oh? Really? Are we throwing hands? Where are we throwing them?"

Right at that moment, Bian Xuan walked over as well. Taking in the scene, her face immediately turned icy. "Sir, please show some respect, or else I'm calling the police."

In the end, the floral-shirted man was threatened away by a stony-faced Bian Xuan.

Ruan Sixian turned back around and resumed propping up her chin to zone out.

"What's wrong?" Seeing that Fu Mingyu was gone, Bian Xuan asked, "Did he leave?"

"Mhm. I had him take Zheng You'an home."

"Leaving him to send another woman home—you really have the nerve."

Ruan Sixian clicked her tongue. Just as she was about to retort to Bian Xuan, a hand suddenly shot out and patted her shoulder once again.

"Are you annoying or what?!"

Before she finished speaking, whoever was behind her still showed no signs of leaving. The hand on her shoulder lifted, only to grab her wrist instead.

Ruan Sixian completely lost her restraint. Thinking to herself: Did I spend all that time practicing fifty-kilo arm presses for nothing? Did I do pull-ups for nothing? If I don't teach you how to behave, you'll never learn that you can't just harass any woman you please!

Gauging her strength for a single second, she whirled around and delivered a slap straight across his face.

With a loud "crack," the sound echoed throughout the entire bar.

Bian Xuan's glass instantly slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor as she stared dumbfounded at the scene unfolding before her.

Meanwhile, Ruan Sixian froze in place, her mouth slightly parted. Her palm was still stinging with a burning sensation that lingered intensely.

Ruan Sixian was entirely dazed, her mind buzzing with white noise so loudly that she even forgot to blink.

Fu Mingyu kept his lips pressed tightly together, his dark, deep eyes locked onto Ruan Sixian.

A distinct red palm print was slowly blooming across his fair cheek, stretching all the way down to his jawline.

"Did that let you vent your anger?"