Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Ruan Sixian found herself actually blushing a little at being addressed as "little sister."

Yet Fu Mingyu seemed completely oblivious to anything being amiss.

A man of his age still playing the big brother and little sister game—was he not embarrassed at all?

Ruan Sixian said nothing, but abruptly quickened her pace.

The early autumn breeze lacked any real gentleness, carrying a crisp, biting chill as it brushed against her face. Every now and then, her shoes crunched over a scattering of fallen leaves, the "rustle" sound magnified infinitely by the silence stretching between the two of them.

Before long, Ruan Sixian suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

Fu Mingyu chuckled with an unrepentant air: "You weren't looking at me, so how did you know I was looking at you?"

Ruan Sixian: "..."

That actually sounded distressingly logical.

Ruan Sixian shot him a glare. "I'm not walking anymore. Get in the car."

Yet once she had climbed into the vehicle and settled into her seat, Ruan Sixian still had the lingering sensation that Fu Mingyu was watching her.

"What on earth are you looking at?"

Having been called out, Fu Mingyu finally stopped staring at her. Shifting his gaze toward the road ahead, he replied with breezy detachment: "I was just wondering how long you plan to keep blushing."

As if her entire disguise had been ripped away, Ruan Sixian bristled instantly, every quilling standing on end.

"Are the two holes under your eyebrows just there for breathing?"

"..."

Ruan Sixian's righteous and ferocious attitude made Fu Mingyu briefly wonder if he truly was the blind one here.

The atmosphere inside the car plummeted abruptly once more.

Suddenly, Ruan Sixian's phone chimed with a text notification.

She pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and after a moment of hesitation, rejected the call.

Less than half a minute later, it rang again; she declined it once more.

When it started vibrating for a third time, she muted the ringer entirely and left it alone, though she couldn't stop a muttered complaint from slipping past her lips: "So damn annoying."

Noticing her actions, Fu Mingyu asked, "Who is it?"

Ruan Sixian had no desire to explain, dismissing it casually: "It's nothing."

The more perfunctory her answer, the more suspicious Fu Mingyu grew. His gaze swept back and forth over her a few times, as if sensing something hidden beneath the surface.

"Is that an ex-boyfriend calling?"

Ruan Sixian felt this man's mental wiring was slightly malfunctioning. Where on earth did he sniff out an ex-boyfriend from this?

"What, do your ex-girlfriends make fatal, non-stop sequential calls to you when they have nothing better to do?"

Fu Mingyu let out a dry laugh, choosing not to pick up her bait as he turned his head to look out the window.

For the remainder of the drive, neither of them spoke another word.

The caller was, in fact, Dong Xian.

Ever since learning Ruan Sixian's residential address on the day of his birthday party, Dong Xian had actually come by once to wait for her, though the two hadn't crossed paths because Ruan Sixian happened to catch a ride back with Xiao Xiaozhen that day.

And since she kept calling incessantly today, she was probably lurking around the entrance again.

Sure enough, as the car pulled up outside the gates of Mingchen Residence, Ruan Sixian spotted that familiar Porsche.

The setting sun cast a blinding glare off its highly polished bodywork.

Fortunately, she had ridden back in Fu Mingyu's car today; otherwise, stepping out of a regular taxi right at the entrance would have guaranteed an awkward face-to-face encounter.

She glanced sideways at Fu Mingyu. He was paying zero attention to the outside world, staring fixedly at the car window while seemingly lost in thought.

Once the car stopped downstairs, Ruan Sixian pulled the door handle and announced, "I'm heading up."

Fu Mingyu gave a flat, emotionless "Mm."

Ruan Sixian shut the door. Before she even had a chance to step onto the walkway, the car lurched forward, pulling away to execute a U-turn.

Left standing in a cloud of exhaust fumes, Ruan Sixian stared after Fu Mingyu's departing vehicle with a profoundly bewildered expression—

Unlocking her front door, Ruan Sixian walked in to find Xiao Xiaozhen sitting on the sofa, nearly scaring her half out of her mortal coil.

"Why are you here?"

Xiao Xiaozhen had been frantically trying to place a phone call, and only lowered her hand in relief upon seeing Ruan Sixian standing right in front of her completely unharmed.

"What is wrong with you? I've been calling you nonstop and you wouldn't pick up—I thought something terrible had happened to you."

"Oh," Ruan Sixian replied while kicking off her shoes, "my phone was on silent, I didn't notice."

"You scared the life out of me."

Xiao Xiaozhen pointed toward the refrigerator. "I noticed blueberries were on sale at the supermarket today, so I bought a bunch extra. I've already washed them and put them in the fridge for you."

With a dissatisfied frown, she added, "Good thing I have your apartment password, otherwise your fridge would probably be growing mold and you wouldn't even know."

"I haven't been cooking at home lately anyway."

Ruan Sixian headed into her bedroom to change clothes, and Xiao Xiaozhen trailed right behind her, intending to chat, only for her eyes to instantly lock onto the model airplane sitting on the bedside table.

Xiao Xiaozhen dropped to her knees on the mattress to grab it.

"Be careful!" Ruan Sixian was mid-undress and lunged forward to swat at Xiao Xiaozhen's hand. "It's heavy, don't drop it."

Ignoring the warning, Xiao Xiaozhen cradled the model airplane with starry eyes, inspecting it closely. "Is this a British-made de Havilland Comet? It's so exquisitely detailed. Where did you buy it? Must have cost a fortune, right?"

"Didn't cost anything." Ruan Sixian turned back to finish changing, her back to Xiao Xiaozhen as she muttered softly, "It was a gift."

Awestruck by the fine craftsmanship of the model, Xiao Xiaozhen turned it over and over in her hands several times before blinking up to ask, "Who gave it to you?"

From the look in her eyes, Ruan Sixian had a strong hunch that Xiao Xiaozhen had already pieced the puzzle together, yet she stubbornly hoped otherwise and deflected: "A friend."

"Does this 'friend' happen to have a last name starting with Fu?"

"?"

Catching the blend of shock and suppressed guilt across Ruan Sixian's face, Xiao Xiaozhen knew instantly that her guess was spot on.

"His name is literally engraved right here on the wing. Who are you trying to fool?"

That was a detail Ruan Sixian genuinely hadn't noticed. She reached out, took the model airplane back, flipped it upside down, and finally spotted the three letters "FMY" stamped neatly beneath the wing.

That rotten scumbag—gifting her an aircraft model stamped with his own initials was peak shamelessness.

Setting the model down briskly, Ruan Sixian walked out of the bedroom, with Xiao Xiaozhen hot on her heels. "What is going on here?"

"What do you mean, what is going on?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You're not a teenager anymore, what are you blushing for?"

Walking faster and faster, Ruan Sixian yanked open the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. Staring straight ahead with a deadpan expression, she declared, "Request denied: subject currently in outer space, just disembarked from a spaceship, zero signal."

Xiao Xiaozhen scoffed: "You're no fun at all. So, did you sleep with him yet?"

"..."

Ruan Sixian nearly choked to death on her water.

"What is wrong with your brain?"

"Well, why else would you be dodging and sneaking around like this?"

Leaning back against the refrigerator, Xiao Xiaozhen appraised Ruan Sixian. Since she already had her answer, she decided to drop the interrogation. "I honestly find this whole thing pretty magical. Bian Xuan told me last time that you slapped him at a bar, and yet he didn't murder you on the spot? Is he actually pursuing you now?"

Ruan Sixian offered no verbal confirmation, but her silence spoke volumes.

That only piqued Xiao Xiaozhen's curiosity further. "Wait, what's his deal anyway? Didn't you used to despise him?"

Ruan Sixian muttered into her bottle, "I do despise him."

"Right, exactly, which is why this makes zero sense. If someone you hate also hates you back, that's completely normal—it means you're birds of a feather. But when someone you hate likes you, that means—"

"It means he has exceptional taste."

"..."

Xiao Xiaozhen found herself completely unable to counter that watertight logic.

Since Ruan Sixian remained as tight-lipped as a locked jar, the topic naturally fizzled out. As they shifted to discussing their upcoming days off, Ruan Sixian mentioned wanting to explore nearby towns, while Xiao Xiaozhen announced she had to make a trip to Lincheng.

"My university is having its anniversary celebration, and everyone's organizing a class reunion on the side. I have to go."

Mentioning university reminded Ruan Sixian of a call yesterday from a publicity department colleague asking if she'd participate in the upcoming campus recruitment roadshow—using the exact same rationale Fu Mingyu had cited: having female pilots present would attract a much larger turnout of female applicants.

Ruan Sixian actually had the free time, but she simply wanted to laze around her apartment during her break rather than travel anywhere, so she had declined.

However, the plot took an unexpected twist the very next day during her flight rotation.

The flight operations department had once again assigned an instructor to accompany Ruan Sixian on her shift.

Chatting and laughing, Ruan Sixian and her instructor boarded the aircraft. Once all the passengers were seated, the cabin crew closed the doors accordingly.

At that moment, the voice of the ground maintenance engineer suddenly crackedle-spat through Ruan Sixian's headset, causing her expression to instantly shift.

Exchanging a tense glance with her instructor, the two immediately instructed the cabin crew to reopen the doors and disembarked...

Down beside the aircraft engine, several ground crew members were scattered across the tarmac, bent double as they searched the ground intently.

One of the mechanics slowly opened his palm to reveal two coins resting in the center.

Ruan Sixian nearly passed out on the spot.

This was a modern, scientifically enlightened society—which absolute moron was out here tossing ancient coins like a fountain wish?!

Just moments prior, during routine pre-flight inspections, maintenance had discovered two coins scattered directly beneath the aircraft engine, sending the entire ground crew into a state of high-alert panic as they initiated a thorough search.

This wasn't the first time such an incident had occurred, and everyone loathed dealing with it.

After broadcasting an announcement through the cabin speakers to question the passengers, no one came forward to confess.

Left with no choice, the flight crew split their efforts between searching for any additional stray coins and pulling up the closed-circuit surveillance footage.

The video playback revealed a middle-aged male passenger who, while boarding the cabin earlier, had taken advantage of a momentary blind spot when the air marshal and flight attendants weren't looking to flick several coins straight toward the fuselage.

Since the security footage couldn't clearly capture the exact number of coins thrown, the cabin crew had no choice but to summon the passenger back out.

The middle-aged man was dressed in a slick outfit, complete with an oversized pair of dark sunglasses that he stubbornly refused to take off even after being escorted out.

He readily admitted to tossing the coins, claiming a total of four had been thrown.

The instructor standing nearby let out a dry, furious laugh, completely stripped of any desire to speak.

Ruan Sixian felt as though visible steam was venting from the top of her head, and she was pretty sure the air puffing from her nostrils was scorching white.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing her voice to remain level.

"Why on earth did you toss coins?"

The sunglasses-wearing man showed not a shred of remorse, answering with supreme entitlement: "To pray for blessings."

Ruan Sixian knew it was going to be a brain-dead excuse right off the bat.

"What kind of blessings are you praying for? Were you dissatisfied with security clearance, or did this tarmac happen to look like a koi pond to you?"

Anyone could hear the thinly veiled fury vibrating in Ruan Sixian's tone, but the man remained utterly oblivious. After lingering on the spot for a few seconds, he turned to the air marshal standing behind him and complained: "The main thing is... I just saw through the boarding bridge that the pilot was a woman driver, and I honestly don't feel safe. Female drivers are notoriously unreliable."

"..."

What the actual hell—a female driver.

Pushed past the absolute limit of anger, Ruan Sixian experienced a strange, preternatural calm. She didn't utter another word, merely giving a sharp hand gesture to the air marshal.

The marshal immediately placed a call to the airport police. The sunglasses-wearing man instantly flipped out: "Why are you calling the cops?! What did I even do? What are you people trying to pull?"

A mechanic sneered in his direction: "Not only are you going down to the station, but since we have to dismantle the entire engine to inspect it internally, you can sit tight and wait to foot the bill. Don't worry, it's not even that expensive—just tens of thousands of yuan."

Without waiting for another word, the air marshal grabbed him by the arms and hauled him away, the man's frantic protests gradually fading down the enclosed boarding bridge.

The remaining two missing coins couldn't be located on the tarmac surface, so the mechanics had to feed a micro-camera probe deep inside the jet engine casing to spot them.

Because the foreign objects had lodged themselves dangerously deep within the turbine core, dismantling major engine components was the only viable course of action.

Even the seasoned mechanics couldn't stop themselves from cursing aloud: "Damn it, looks like we're pulling an all-nighter again tonight."

Naturally, the flight had to be canceled.

As the passengers grumbled and filed off the plane, Fu Mingyu arrived on the scene.

He circled the aircraft once before stepping right up to the engine cowling, a heavy frown knitting his brows together.

After listening to the mechanics brief him on the situation, he leaned down to look through the monitor displaying the micro-camera's feed, and Ruan Sixian instinctively leaned in beside him to check the screen.

The two of them stood shoulder-to-shoulder, extremely close. Ruan Sixian failed to realize that if she shifted even an inch, her cheek would brush right against Fu Mingyu's jawline.

"Do you think nine years of compulsory education completely bypassed some people's brains?" Ruan Sixian watched the grainy video feed of the two coins, imagining the catastrophic destruction they would cause once the engine spooled up, feeling a tight ache in her chest. "If this thing had actually taken off, the results would have been unimaginably gruesome."

Fu Mingyu slowly maneuvered the camera probe deeper, his voice low: "You've got a lot of empathy to spare."

Ruan Sixian: "Duh, how could I not feel bad?"

Fu Mingyu offered a light chuckle: "Is this your family's airline that you're shedding so many tears over it?"

Ruan Sixian: "...Are you a walking question-mark generator? Why are you always so eager to play devil's advocate?"

Fu Mingyu said nothing more. While withdrawing the camera probe, he tapped Ruan Sixian lightly on the head with his index finger.

"Flight's canceled. Go back and get some rest."

Ruan Sixian straightened up. When she turned her head, she found an entire line of personnel standing behind them, staring intently in their direction.

No wonder it had felt so quiet around them—

Naturally, Ruan Sixian didn't actually head back to rest right away.

The police had arrived and were currently taking statements, requiring Ruan Sixian's presence.

Throughout the entire questioning session, however, the sunglasses-wearing man did nothing but harp on his paranoia about "female drivers" justifying his coin toss.

Female driver, female driver, female driver... Ruan Sixian couldn't bear to listen to another syllable, abruptly standing up and walking out.

Returning to the World Airlines headquarters, Ruan Sixian dragged her flight case at a furious pace, her storming demeanor instantly scaring off any colleagues who had been thinking of approaching her with questions.

As it happened, a few female colleagues from the publicity department were heading downstairs for lunch when they ran into Ruan Sixian in the elevator lobby and waved a greeting.

"Xiao Ruan, just landed?"

"Not quite," Ruan Sixian replied tersely, "the flight was canceled."

Flight cancellations were a routine occurrence, so the seasoned colleagues didn't press further, shifting smoothly to another topic.

"Isn't this peak season for campus recruitment? The lecture hall at Jiashi University was fully booked, so they relocated us to the grand auditorium instead. I checked their LED screen dimensions—the aspect ratio is completely off, I've got to rebuild the entire slide deck from scratch."

"You've got it easy, look at us poster designers—we've got it way worse. Yunhe University's lecture hall ran out of capacity, so they pushed our schedule up by two whole days. My posters aren't even printed yet, I'm going to be pulling an all-nighter tonight."

Hearing the mention of Yunhe University, another colleague turned back to ask Ruan Sixian: "Xiao Ruan, aren't you going to join the recruitment roadshow? It's your alma mater, going back there to rep the company would look pretty prestigious, wouldn't it?"

They were talking about World Airlines' annual flight academy promotional tour, visiting major universities to recruit enrolled undergraduates for the cadet pilot training pipeline.

Ruan Sixian had previously stated she didn't want to go, but hearing her colleagues bring it up again—with the sunglasses-wearing man's grating words about "female drivers" still ringing fresh in her ears—a wave of stubborn defiance welled up inside her, and she agreed on the spot.

Let's recruit an entire fleet of female pilots and fill the skies with them, until bigots like him are too terrified to ever step foot on an airplane again—

When the day of the recruitment presentation actually arrived, however, a flutter of nerves still seized Ruan Sixian's stomach.

Having majored in basic physics during her university years, she rarely had opportunities for public speaking, and facing a sea of black, densely packed heads in the auditorium made her heart hammer against her ribs.

As she stepped onto the stage gripping the microphone, the male students in the hall instantly erupted into excited chatter, with several pulling out their phones to snap pictures.

Ruan Sixian cleared her throat, preparing to begin her speech, when she spotted Fu Mingyu walking in through the back doors.

Earlier that noon, Fu Mingyu had mentioned having a free afternoon and offered to pick her up once the presentation wrapped up.

Ruan Sixian couldn't fathom what there was to pick her up for; the company routinely provided dispatch vehicles. Coming to fetch her personally—did he want to openly flaunt special treatment, or was he trying to cement the "Fu family brand" badge even deeper onto her back?

Picking her up was one thing, but she hadn't expected him to actually walk inside the hall.

From across the room, Ruan Sixian shot him a subtle, hidden glare.

Fu Mingyu caught the eye-roll, but his expression remained entirely unruffled as he quietly took his spot in a back corner to watch her.

Following her brief overview of the training pipeline, the floor was opened up for student Q&A.

The male students were exceptionally enthusiastic. The initial questions were reasonably professional before rapidly veering off the rails.

"Senior sister, are you single?"

That question sparked a ripple of commotion across the rows. Ruan Sixian cleared her throat and answered concisely and clearly: "Yes."

The moment those words left her mouth, Ruan Sixian instinctively glanced toward Fu Mingyu.

He had one hand shoved casually into his pants pocket, gazing across the distance from afar. The harsh overhead lighting cut across his features, making his expression unreadable.

Another student piped up right after: "Then senior sister, do you consider dating younger guys?"

Ruan Sixian: "..."

Faced with another wave of giggles and whistles, Ruan Sixian replied with a straight face: "I don't like younger guys."

The student asking was ultimately just enthusiastic rather than malicious, offering a sheepish chuckle amidst the surrounding laughter: "Ah, so you prefer older guys..."

Time was limited, bringing the recruitment presentation to a close.

The final segment involved collecting on-site resumes and fielding direct inquiries, leaving Ruan Sixian and her team instantly swarmed by students with no room to move.

Catching a glimpse of Fu Mingyu stepping forward along the side aisle toward the front rows, she watched as he pointed toward the front entrance, signaling that he would wait for her out there.

Roughly twenty minutes later, the students finally dispersed.

While her publicity colleagues packed up equipment, Ruan Sixian was getting ready to head out when someone called her name.

"Ruan Sixian?"

The voice sounded somewhat uncertain until Ruan Sixian turned around, causing the young man's face to light up with genuine delight as he hurried over.

"It really is you! I was staring from the back rows for a long time wondering if I was just seeing things."

The person was Xie Yu, Ruan Sixian's direct senior back in university who had stayed on for a master's degree through a recommended admission track and was now pursuing his PhD.

The two hadn't crossed paths since graduation, which explained why Xie Yu had only found her vaguely familiar while watching from the back rows earlier.

"Are you a captain now? That's incredible!"

Ruan Sixian waved her hands frantically while a blush crept up her neck: "No, no, I'm just a first officer."

"Weren't you headed into cabin crew training back then? How did you end up in the cockpit?"

Starting from that point, Xie Yu's curiosity snowballed, leading to a non-stop stream of catching up that effortlessly swallowed twenty minutes of their time.

It wasn't until the publicity team finished packing everything up and offered Ruan Sixian a pointed reminder that she snapped back to reality.

"I should probably head out."

"Sure, go handle your work."

Before parting ways, Xie Yu proactively offered to exchange contact info, prompting the two to add each other on WeChat and trade phone numbers.

Gripping her phone as she walked toward the front entrance, Ruan Sixian felt a strange, springy lightness in her steps.

As she walked, she caught herself reaching up to touch her cheek.

Did I sound collected enough while talking to him? I didn't act overly excited, right?

This was Xie Yu they were talking about—the absolute campus legend back in their undergrad days. When the university's online forum was on the verge of fading into obscurity, he single-handedly revived its traffic metrics, complete with a dedicated appreciation thread filled entirely with his photos.

Reaching the front entrance, Ruan Sixian hurriedly updated her contact notes for Xie Yu's number, giving Fu Mingyu a light nudge with her forearm.

"Let's go."

Fu Mingyu lowered his gaze to glance at her phone screen before walking straight ahead without a word.

Yunhe University enforced strict visitor access rules, meaning only official institutional vehicles were permitted to drive inside campus grounds. Because Fu Mingyu's trip to pick up Ruan Sixian was a private matter, his car was parked outside the main gates.

The two walked side by side toward the exit, Ruan Sixian taking in the sights along the way and marveling at how much the campus had transformed over the years.

Walking beside her, Fu Mingyu dropped a casual question out of nowhere: "Who was that just now?"

"Huh?" Ruan Sixian blinked, momentarily blanking. "Who?"

"The guy you were talking to."

"Oh, Brother Yu? An old senior from my college days."

Fu Mingyu remarked offhand: "Pretty handsome."

"That he certainly is," Ruan Sixian agreed. "He was the universally acknowledged campus crush back then. No idea if anyone's managed to outshine him since, but when I was a student he was the biggest name on campus—and on top of that, he was a genius academic who won national scholarships every single year, plus star player on the basketball team. As if that wasn't enough, his singing voice was incredible; every campus arts festival closed with him as the grand finale. The moment he stepped on stage back then, the screaming from the crowd could practically deafen you."

Fu Mingyu flicked his eyelids upward, offering no comment.

Ruan Sixian continued her self-absorbed reminiscing: "I heard later on that a major talent agency wanted to sign him. I actually thought he was going to debut as an entertainment star, but instead he kept right on studying and poured his entire soul into particle accelerator research."

She glanced around their surroundings. "Having spent so many years wandering around this campus, heaven knows how many generations of young girls' hearts he harvested."

Pulling out his phone to check a notification, Fu Mingyu tossed out another question: "Did he harvest yours too?"

Ruan Sixian stiffened instantly, blurting out defensively: "Don't talk nonsense."

Her eyes darted away, her tone reeking of transparent overcompensation.

She had, in fact, harbored a tiny, microscopic crush on Xie Yu back in the day.

Who with a normal aesthetic wouldn't?

Unfortunately, the man had a girlfriend he'd been dating since high school who regularly popped onto campus to keep tabs on him. What could Ruan Sixian possibly do? She hadn't even dared to add him on QQ.

Years had passed, and the campus crush was still a campus crush—having avoided the curse of academic hair-loss, Ruan Sixian felt a bizarre sense of emotional vindication.

After all, compared to aging beauties, balding geniuses were equally tragic sights to behold.

The sweet-scented osmanthus trees of Yunhe University were in full bloom, clusters of golden blossoms shimmering under the setting sun like scattered gold dust, looking utterly charming.

With Fu Mingyu keeping silent the entire walk, Ruan Sixian naturally stopped talking to herself, and they finished the trek to the main gates in silence.

Since it was late afternoon class hours, foot traffic was sparse, though the snack street outside the gates was bustling with vendors setting up shop.

Catching the familiar aroma of spicy stir-fried rice noodles with clams, Ruan Sixian felt her mouth water.

The absolute best clams and rice noodles were right here outside Yunhe University's gates; she had craved them for years, though never enough to make a dedicated trip just to eat them.

Now that she was already standing right here, however, the temptation proved too strong to resist.

"Hold on." Ruan Sixian halted Fu Mingyu in his tracks. "I want to get some stir-fried clam noodles."

Fu Mingyu looked up from his phone screen, offered no objections, and simply turned to walk toward the small eatery.

The shop's layout remained identical to how she remembered it—cramped, narrow, and perpetually crowded with barely enough room for a handful of tables.

Noticing Fu Mingyu constantly tapping away at his phone as if swamped with urgent matters, Ruan Sixian suggested, "Why don't you head back first? I can take the company shuttle later."

Fu Mingyu pulled out a chair, wiped the surface down with a napkin, and stated, "There's no need."

Fine then.

Ruan Sixian ordered a spicy bowl of clam noodles and asked if Fu Mingyu wanted any, but he claimed he wasn't hungry.

Left with no alternative, Ruan Sixian buried her head and ate by herself.

Throughout the meal, Fu Mingyu kept his eyes glued to his phone screen, maintaining a blank expression without uttering a single word.

Halfway through her bowl, Ruan Sixian asked, "Do you want to taste some? I'll pick out the clams for you."

Fu Mingyu didn't lift his eyes from his phone: "No need."

"..."

Alright then.

If you didn't want to come along, why bother showing up just to act like you're being held hostage, making it look like I'm forcing you at gunpoint?

Ruan Sixian found Fu Mingyu's attitude profoundly grating, killing a large chunk of her appetite.

She grabbed a napkin, wiped her mouth, and announced, "I'm done. Let's go."

Hearing this, Fu Mingyu dropped a hundred-yuan bill onto the table and stood up immediately.

Ruan Sixian stared at his retreating back, blinking in bewilderment.

Is this man genuinely suffering from some sort of psychological affliction?—

Long after they got back into the car, neither of them spoke.

As the car rolled past the campus speed bumps and merged onto the main highway, Ruan Sixian glanced at the dashboard speedometer and asked with an icy deadpan: "Are you in a rush today?"

Gripping the steering wheel, Fu Mingyu replied indifferently: "Not really."

"If you're not in a rush, why are you driving so fast?"

"Fast? It's fine. Not as fast as a particle accelerator, anyway."

"..."

You're comparing a four-wheel sedan to an atomic collider? Why don't you race your own passenger jet for altitude next?

Too lazy to engage with him, Ruan Sixian tugged uncomfortably at her seatbelt, which was pressing awkwardly against her waist, right as her phone began to ring.

Pulling out the device—

"..."

Dong Xian was calling again.

Ruan Sixian had zero desire to answer. Just as she moved to decline the call, she felt the vehicle violently jerk off course.

Turning her head, she saw Fu Mingyu pull the car over to the side of the road, unbuckle his seatbelt, and push the door open to step outside.

"Answer it if you want to. I'll wait outside."

The car door slammed shut with a sharp bang, while her phone automatically disconnected the incoming call due to the lack of an answered response.

The cramped interior of the car plunged into an eerie, suffocating silence.

Ruan Sixian looked through the window at Fu Mingyu's solitary figure standing by the roadside, blinking in pure, unadulterated confusion.