Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Ruan Sixian had a row of small spotlights placed on her bedside table, usually used to display small trinkets and aromatherapy diffusers.

This setup wasn't originally hers; Si Xiaozhen had put it together when she first moved in, feeling that her room looked too barren.

Today, after acquiring the De Havilland Comet, Ruan Sixian couldn't find a suitable spot to place it, so she cleared out that exact section to display the model.

Coincidentally, when the spotlight beamed down, it cast an oversized shadow of the aviation model directly onto the opposite wall.

Lying in bed, the moment Ruan Sixian opened her eyes, she would be greeted by that imposing airplane shadow.

This shadow haunted her just like Fu Mingyu; even if she turned off the spotlight, the streetlights outside would find a way to slip through the gaps and illuminate its silhouette.

Tossing and turning, Ruan Sixian couldn't fall asleep, so she got up and drew the curtains completely tight.

After a series of adjustments, Ruan Sixian figured she could finally get a peaceful night's sleep, but the moment she lay back down, pitch-black darkness enveloped her, heightening her senses and making them far more acute.

In the quiet of the room, that low, soft murmur—"You really are very pretty today"—echoed repeatedly in her ears.

What could it possibly mean when a man repeatedly praises a woman for being pretty? Could it simply be an appreciation of aesthetic beauty?

Originally, Ruan Sixian had only been guessing at his intentions, but tonight she was certain: Fu Mingyu had set his sights on her.

The sky was falling, the earth was splitting, and someone had officially lost their mind.

Pulling the blanket over her head to hide, Ruan Sixian found that man's WeChat notifications haunting her once again.

[Fu Mingyu]: You forgot your cake.

[Fu Mingyu]: Should I bring it down to you?

At last, Ruan Sixian understood completely.

This jerk of a man hadn't just set his sights on her; today, he had acted on sudden impulse, and right now, his hands were itching.

If he dared to pin her against a wall now, wouldn't he pin her to a bed if he actually made it inside her apartment?

It seemed that ever since that slap, this man had straightened his spine and gained plenty of confidence in his words.

Still trying to sneak into her apartment in the middle of the night—hm, he was dreaming a little too wishfully.

[Ruan Sixian]: I don't want it anymore.

[Fu Mingyu]: Shall I dispose of it then?

[Ruan Sixian]: Suit yourself, I'm going to sleep.

[Fu Mingyu]: Hold on, what time is your flight tomorrow morning?

[Ruan Sixian]: What do you want?

[Fu Mingyu]: To drop you off. -

At six o'clock the next morning, Ruan Sixian opened her eyes and reached out to flick the lamp switch. The moment the light illuminated, the shadow of the De Havilland Comet reappeared on the wall.

Staring blankly at the shadow for a moment, Ruan Sixian looked as though her consciousness had yet to fully return.

A short while later, her phone alarm rang, snapping Ruan Sixian back to reality as she mentally cursed, "Jerk."

—Harassing me even in my dreams.

Sitting up, she parted the curtains, only to find the view outside hazy and obscured.

The rain had fallen all night and showed no signs of stopping; today's flight schedule would likely suffer massive delays once again.

Even so, Ruan Sixian had to arrive at the airport on time.

After waking up, handling a simple wash-up, eating breakfast, and gathering all her gear, Ruan Sixian hauled her flight case toward the door.

Fu Mingyu was remarkably punctual; the moment Ruan Sixian opened her door, he was just about to press the doorbell.

"Did you eat breakfast?"

The instant she laid eyes on Fu Mingyu, Ruan Sixian felt as though he had transformed into a completely different person.

Standing before her impeccably dressed, he bore no resemblance to the man who had whispered so huskily against her ear the previous night.

Instead, it was Ruan Sixian who felt somewhat ill at ease, offering a brief, "Mhm."

"Let's go. It's raining today, traffic will be backed up."

"Oh."

Arriving at the ground floor lobby, Fu Mingyu's driver had already parked the car outside.

Bai Yang walked over holding an umbrella and handed it to Fu Mingyu.

Taking the umbrella, Fu Mingyu opened it and gently guided Ruan Sixian by the shoulder.

"Let's move."

Simultaneously, Bai Yang took Ruan Sixian's flight case and loaded it straight into the trunk.

Ruan Sixian felt something was amiss.

Wasn't this movement a bit too natural?

How did he pull it off so smoothly in one fluid motion?

And Bai Yang, isn't your situational awareness a bit too high?

Could you at least pull a shocked face? Why aren't you reacting at all when your boss is openly trying to woo a woman right in front of you?

Bai Yang had zero interest in making facial expressions.

After spending yesterday going through hell and back to move those precious aviation models from Huguang Mansions to Minchen Apartments while dodging Helan Feng's interrogation, he was utterly exhausted.

As expected, traffic on the road was snarled. Anxious about being late, Ruan Sixian checked the time repeatedly.

Bai Yang also had his mind occupied. Observing the road conditions, he instructed the driver to take an alternate route while turning around to say, "President Fu, flights might not be able to depart smoothly today. Should I send out a notice in advance?"

Fu Mingyu nodded. At the same time, remembering something, he turned his head to tell Ruan Sixian, "I need to take a trip to the United States today."

Ruan Sixian blinked.

"I'll be back in ten days."

Ruan Sixian sat completely still.

So what?

Seeing her say nothing, Fu Mingyu smiled slightly. "Just letting you know."

Why did that sound so much like reporting an itinerary?

Do friends need to report their travel itineraries to each other?

Yet Fu Mingyu wore an utterly nonchalant expression, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

Fine, if you think this is how friends behave, then so be it—even though nothing you've done from start to finish fits what friends actually do.

When they reached the entrance of Century Airlines, they were indeed ten minutes behind Ruan Sixian's estimated schedule.

The driver prepared to pull into the parking lot, but calculating that walking from there to the elevators and onward to the conference room would add several extra detours, Ruan Sixian called out a timely stop.

Bai Yang hopped out to retrieve her flight case, and taking it from him, Ruan Sixian practically jogged into the building.

Up on the second-floor glass corridor, a flight attendant watched Ruan Sixian dash inside and turned to her peers. "Hey, did you guys see that?"

"See what?"

"Ruan Sixian. Early in the morning like this, she actually stepped out of President Fu's car."

"—?"

"Let me look, let me look."

"She's already inside, but look over there—that's President Fu's car, right? I'm not seeing things?"

"What on earth is going on here?"

"Didn't rumors say that back when she was still a flight attendant..."

By noon, this juicy little piece of gossip had swept through the cabin crew department. When lunchtime arrived, accompanied by the aroma of cafeteria food, those rumors from a few years ago were dug right back up.

This time, it wasn't some ethereal, baseless speculation; people had seen it with their own eyes.

Some even claimed that this wasn't the first time Ruan Sixian had been spotted getting out of President Fu's car, having witnessed it near the Century Airlines entrance not long ago.

Ten days passed, and the gossip began taking on some rather distorted flavors.

Yet these rumors hadn't yet reached the ears of the parties involved—

—That is, unless Ruan Sixian hadn't chosen to attend a captain's birthday gathering that very evening.

On her way there, she even received a phone call from Fu Mingyu.

"Where are you?"

Ruan Sixian had already reached the restaurant entrance. "You're back?"

"Mhm, have you eaten?"

"Not yet."

"Then wait for me?"

"No thanks, I have plans."

Fu Mingyu chuckled. "You really are busy."

Following the waiter toward the private dining room, Ruan Sixian walked with a brisk, light step. "Yeah, my social calendar is no less packed than yours."

"Shall I come pick you up when it wraps up?"

Ruan Sixian's steps paused for a fraction of a second.

"I'm dining with my colleagues today."

"So?"

"Are you sure you want to come pick me up?"

"Am I someone who needs to be kept in hiding?"

Ruan Sixian was briefly left speechless.

You certainly aren't kept in hiding; you're more conspicuous than anyone else.

"Suit yourself."

"Send me the address." -

Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the private room was buzzing with lively energy.

Today's birthday host was Lin Hongji, a young captain who had worked at Century Airlines for a few years. Extremely warm and hospitable, he quickly befriended anyone he came into contact with, making connections across every single department. When organizing his birthday, he simply pulled together a massive group chat spanning the Flight Operations Department, Cabin Crew Department, Maintenance Department, and Dispatch Department.

Due to the large headcount, he had booked a spacious private room holding three tables, which barely managed to seat everyone.

Scheduled for seven o'clock, Ruan Sixian still hadn't arrived by six-fifty.

"What time is it? Is Ruan Sixian not coming?"

"Who knows? Probably went off on a date with President Fu."

"Listen to that sour tone of yours. So what if she's on a date?"

"Who's being sour? Just expressing admiration, that's all. It's been a few years now—talk about wearing down an iron pestle into a needle. If it were me, I wouldn't have that kind of perseverance."

"You guys talk about this with such vivid detail... Is this rumor actually true?"

"Could this possibly be fake? It's not even the first time someone's seen her walking out of Minchen Apartments."

Ni Tong had initially been happily eating popcorn at the sidelines of the gossip, but hearing that last remark, she couldn't help chiming in: "Keeping it 100 here, Ruan Sixian actually lives at Minchen herself. I've been to her place."

"She lives at Minchen? Wow, she's loaded."

Another flight attendant chimed in, "So what if Ruan Sixian chased after him first? In this day and age, women pursuing men isn't forbidden, is it?"

"True, both are unmarried adults, who chases who doesn't matter."

"Is this about who's chasing who? This is straight-up throwing herself at him."

Right at that moment, the private room door was pushed open, and Ruan Sixian walked in.

The table closest to the door instantly went dead silent, everyone lifting their heads to look over.

Roughly half the people at that table felt their hearts skip a beat.

Regardless of how Ruan Sixian managed to land Fu Mingyu, their relationship was clearly extraordinary right now. Offending her meant that a casual whisper in the boss's ear would leave them with a miserable time.

The atmosphere here turned awkward. Though the other two tables hadn't actively joined in the gossip earlier, they had caught bits and pieces of the conversation.

As today's host, Lin Hongji felt a bit uncomfortable, but he had to step in to smooth things over.

"Xiao Ruan made it! Do you want to grab a seat at our table and have a drink?"

Ruan Sixian hadn't heard a word of the preceding gossip. Seeing that table was completely packed, she asked, "Is there still room for me?"

"Yeah, squeeze in a bit and we'll make it work."

Lin Hongji led her over, and a few first officers shifted their chairs to carve out a space.

However, the feng shui of this particular table wasn't great either, as Yue Chen and Jiang Ziyue were seated directly opposite.

Though Jiang Ziyue hadn't participated in the recent gossip, she had caught wind of plenty over the past few days.

It seemed she really had underestimated Ruan Sixian—that front passenger seat really had been claimed by her.

Still, having these rumors circulating had its perks; at least Yue Chen wouldn't be staring longingly at Ruan Sixian anymore.

With Lin Hongji working hard to liven up the atmosphere, everyone pretended nothing had happened, eating, drinking, and playing drinking games, letting over two hours fly by in the blink of an eye.

After everyone was well-fed and well-soused, someone carried a cup of wine over across the table to find Ruan Sixian, first showering her with flattery about how gorgeous she looked today, then insisting on toasting her with honeyed words pouring out one after another.

The rainbow-pumping praise was deafeningly loud, though anyone with ears could tell it was pure flattery.

Normally no one would call it out, but noticing that Yue Chen kept stealing glances at Ruan Sixian because of those comments, Jiang Ziyue seized the opportunity to mimic the previous speaker's tone. "First Officer Ruan is reaping a double harvest in love and career, glowing with the joy of happy events—how could she not look pretty?"

The atmosphere that Lin Hongji had painstakingly dragged back from the brink was shattered right back to square one by Jiang Ziyue's single sentence.

Anyone could tell what she was implying.

Yue Chen frowned. "Can't the food in your mouth shut you up? If you don't know how to speak properly, keep quiet."

No matter what others said, seeing Yue Chen defend Ruan Sixian so openly caused Jiang Ziyue's temper to flare instantly. She hadn't originally intended to target Ruan Sixian; she merely wanted to warn Yue Chen against coveting a woman he shouldn't. Yet this man kept going out of his way to oppose her.

Still, this was a public setting; she could afford to lose anyone's face except her own man's, so her spearhead pivoted right back toward Ruan Sixian.

"I might not be great with words, but honest advice is hard to swallow. Xiao Ruan, we've been colleagues for so many years, so I still want to remind you—the higher a man climbs in status, the harder he is to hold onto. Don't get careless and end up empty-handed in the end. Have you heard about that girl we knew previously? She got pregnant and was set to marry the young master of an iron and steel conglomerate, but what happened? In the end, the wedding fell through, and now who dares to step up and take over a woman with a child?"

The room temperature plummeted to freezing, leaving even Lin Hongji clueless as to how to salvage the situation.

Ruan Sixian had initially been wondering what nonsense those few were chattering about, but now that Jiang Ziyue had laid it out this bluntly, she would have to be an idiot not to understand.

Right at that moment, her phone vibrated again with another message from Fu Mingyu.

[Fu Mingyu]: I've arrived. How much longer?

Typing at lightning speed, she replied: Please don't come up, lest people start assuming I'm seducing you : )

Sending off that message, she tossed her phone aside and raised her eyes to look straight at Jiang Ziyue.

"Sister Jiang, if you have something to say, spit it out."

Averting her face, Jiang Ziyue muttered with a cynical sneer, "Do I need to spell it out for you to understand?"

"Understand what? That I'm seducing President Fu?"

Just as Jiang Ziyue opened her mouth to retort, Yue Chen slammed his palm down hard against the table.

"Enough! If you've got nothing better to do, go home. Someone's trying to celebrate a birthday here, what garbage are you spewing?"

"Why are you yelling at me? What is your deal, Yue Chen?" Throwing all concerns about saving face out the window, Jiang Ziyue snapped—once was enough for him to shield her, but twice? "Don't forget you're a man about to get married! Who the hell are you defending here?"

Hold on, why are you two starting a domestic dispute?

We haven't even finished clearing up my topic yet?

"If you want to argue, take it home. Let's get things straight right here," Ruan Sixian stated. "Sister Jiang, years ago you went around flapping your gums claiming I was seducing President Fu. Why are you still refusing to let it go now that you're getting married? I'd love to know why you're so utterly obsessed with my private life."

Hearing this, Yue Chen stared at Jiang Ziyue in shock. "You were the one spreading that?"

"What kind of look is that supposed to be?"

Regardless of what Ruan Sixian said, what always triggered Jiang Ziyue's fury was Yue Chen's actions. "So I said it, so what? Aren't people seeing the facts with their own eyes now?"

"What facts?"

The private room door was pushed open abruptly. The table closest to the door went dead silent in an instant, followed immediately by complete, breathless quiet across the entire room.

Every single head turned toward the entrance.

No one had the slightest clue why Fu Mingyu would suddenly appear here.

Standing right in the doorway with a composed expression, his calm gaze swept across the occupants inside, revealing no hint of emotion.

Yet usually, an unreadable expression was the most terrifying kind.

Hearts pounded wildly against ribs. Ni Tong lost her grip on her bowl of popcorn, sending it crashing to the floor where it shattered into a million pieces.

Fu Mingyu's gaze ultimately settled on Ruan Sixian. Rather than anger, his look carried a heavy trace of exasperation.

The situation he had painstakingly stabilized with a slap was likely about to be churned into chaos by this group of people all over again.

Aware that Fu Mingyu had arrived, Ruan Sixian wasn't all that shocked; she was simply in a foul mood and didn't even bother sparing him a glance.

The air inside was so still a pin drop could be heard. Fu Mingyu's footsteps echoed with magnified intensity, closing in step by step in a manner that made everyone's heart race with dread, terrified he might stop right in front of them.

Instead, Fu Mingyu walked straight up to Ruan Sixian and extended a hand toward her.

"Are you done eating? I'll take you home."

Nursing her simmering anger, Ruan Sixian swatted his hand away.

Withdrawing his hand, Fu Mingyu leaned down slightly and asked, "Did they say you were seducing me?"

A cold smirk tugged at Ruan Sixian's lips, and she ignored him entirely.

"Did you forget to tell them that I'm the one pursuing you?"