Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Ruan Sixian stood up and walked toward Fu Mingyu.

With her tall stature and long legs, the distance of two or three meters only required a few strides, yet she walked with deliberate slowness.

The few people behind her simply assumed she was feeling shy, watching her back with amused and interested expressions.

Only Fu Mingyu, seated on the sofa, clearly caught the look in Ruan Sixian's eyes.

She stared straight at him, her made-up eyelids revealing tiny, glittering flakes under the dim lighting that caught a faint golden sheen, shimmering in tandem with the sparkle in her eyes.

She looked stunning, but far from gentle.

When she drew close and leaned down, their eyes met, their gazes clashing in an instantaneous flash.

Ruan Sixian's look seemed to say, If you dare pull any cheap tricks today, you'll find yourself stranded on a thatched boat tomorrow.

A moment later, Fu Mingyu raised his arm, spreading the chips flat across his palm.

"Go ahead."

Ruan Sixian smiled as she scooped the chips from his hand, saying, "Thanks, President Fu. I'd feel bad taking this for nothing, so if I lose, just deduct it from my bonus."

Fu Mingyu shot her a sideways glance and gave a soft chuckle.

After spinning around in circles, it was still his money footing the bill.

Ruan Sixian turned around with the chips in hand. "Let's keep going. It's still early, and there's no telling who will have the last laugh."

"..."

The rest of the group instantly wore expressions of gleeful schadenfreude, casting sidelong glances back and forth toward Fu Mingyu.

They had initially assumed that the "friend" Fu Mingyu brought along practically came with a missing prefix, but alas, it looked like they were still a long way off.

Once she sat down and touched the tiles, Ruan Sixian abruptly called for a timeout.

"Hold on, I need to use the restroom."

She stood up and pointed a finger at Fu Mingyu. "Don't touch my tiles, wait until I get back."

The private suite came equipped with a private restroom. The moment Ruan Sixian shut the door behind her, Zhu Dong and Ji Yan chuckled knowingly as they looked at Fu Mingyu.

See that?

She's clearly not buying your act.

Of everyone present, only Yan An let out a genuine, audible laugh—though it was a frigid, mocking sneer.

He finished sorting his tiles, turned to Fu Mingyu, and asked, "President Fu, see? This is the real perk of being wealthy, isn't it?"

Ignoring him, Fu Mingyu stood up, transferred the remaining chips from the tray onto Ruan Sixian's side of the table, and retreated back to the sofa.

In mahjong, breaking the rhythm halfway through a session is often considered bad luck.

For instance, after Ruan Sixian returned from the restroom, everyone half-suspected she had gone to swap out a brand-new pair of hands.

Over the span of an hour, she orchestrated a textbook "defying the wind and turning the tables" narrative right in front of everyone.

She operated like a ruthless, unfeeling capital harvesting machine, scoring win after win with cold, decisive efficiency from start to finish.

Every single time she collected her winnings with that sharp, money-hungry gleam in her eyes, Zhu Dong and Ji Yan even harbored a vague, creeping suspicion that she was taking personal revenge.

Once the game wrapped up and Ruan Sixian tallied her accounts, she announced triumphantly, "Won every single chip right back."

Fu Mingyu raised an eyebrow slightly and offered, "Impressive."

The moment the words dropped, an awkward silence settled over the room.

Neither Zhu Dong nor Ji Yan had anticipated things escalating to this conclusion, and Zhu Dong's girlfriend even felt a lingering prick of guilt, realizing her supposed assistance earlier might have actually backfired spectacularly.

Everyone stood up and headed together toward the restaurant.

Zhu Dong asked Zheng You'an if she wanted to join them, and she didn't refuse.

She was simply growing more and more bewildered.

On the way to the restaurant, she tilted her head and whispered to Yan An, "What on earth is going on between those two?"

Yan An kept his neck crooked toward his phone screen. "Exactly what it looks like."

"What is it supposed to look like?"

Yan An raised his gaze toward Fu Mingyu walking ahead and said coldly, "When have you ever seen Fu Mingyu bring a woman out to play cards and just let her drop chips however she pleases?"

That single sentence shattered every shred of lingering confusion, laying the reality bare for Zheng You'an.

She stared in absolute disbelief at the two figures walking shoulder-to-shoulder ahead.

Weren't all men supposed to be heartless bastards? How come someone was out here feasting better than anyone else?!

How could a person like this even exist?

Could this be some modern tactical maneuver designed to drive away romantic rivals?

Yan An shot her a side-glance, noting her shattered expression and the way her pace had slowed to a crawl.

Recalling her past entanglements with Fu Mingyu, coupled with her stubborn insistence on trailing along today, Yan An instantly diagnosed her psychological state.

"Unhappy?"

Zheng You'an forced the corners of her mouth upward. "Why would I be unhappy?"

It just felt like a bitter taste of betrayal, that was all.

Yan An narrowed his eyes. "Well, I'm unhappy. Damn it."

Having spent an entire afternoon playing cards, while not physically grueling, it was certainly a mental workout. The atmosphere at the dinner table proved far more relaxed.

Realizing that the dynamic between Fu Mingyu and Ruan Sixian didn't match their initial assumptions, the group refrained from teasing the two further.

Listening to them chat idly about work matters, Ruan Sixian kept entirely out of the conversation and focused single-mindedly on her meal.

Even so, she could still feel the occasional death glare shooting over from Zheng You'an.

Ruan Sixian genuinely felt a prickle of guilt under that piercing stare and simply pretended not to notice.

However, right as she reached out to snag a piece of braised pig's trotter, that freezing gaze from across the table locked onto her with such intensity that her appetite evaporated instantly.

Just as she set her chopsticks down, Zheng You'an propped her chin in her hand, fixed her with a stare, and piped up, "What's wrong? Is this trotter not to your liking? I thought you were eating quite happily just a moment ago."

Ruan Sixian cast a weighty, heavy glance back across the table. "It's fine. I'm full."

Beside her, Fu Mingyu glanced sideways at her. "Not eating anymore?"

Ruan Sixian squeezed out a strained smile. "No thanks, I'm good."

Noticing the tension, Ji Yan signaled the attendant to bring over some post-meal coconut bird's nest dessert for Ruan Sixian.

Being the eldest among them, he had naturally played the role of the big brother taking care of everyone since childhood. Seeing that Ruan Sixian had finished eating and remembering that Yan An had barely uttered a word all day while drinking in gloomy silence, Ji Yan changed the subject. "Oh right, Yan An, how are things going with that female pilot from Air Everbright? Did you manage to win her over?"

Ruan Sixian nearly choked to death on a mouthful of expensive coconut bird's nest.

Fu Mingyu cast a quiet, steady look at Ji Yan, who remained completely oblivious to any subtext.

Having missed the birthday gathering hosted by Zhu Dong's girlfriend, he had zero inkling of the prior drama and was genuinely inquiring about his friend's romantic prospects.

"What's that about?" Zheng You'an asked casually, "You actually chased a female pilot from Air Everbright?"

Hearing the question raised, Zhu Dong didn't think much of it—such topics didn't require awkward avoidance, though he felt a pang of pity opening up old wounds for Yan An, so he stepped in to answer for him, "Ancient history, let's drop it."

Being abruptly dragged into the spotlight left Yan An thoroughly exasperated. He gulped down a large swallow of alcohol and pretended to be completely sloshed and unresponsive.

Reality, however, was eager to teach Ruan Sixian a harsh lesson: easy money didn't come without a price.

The moment Zhu Dong's voice trailed off, his girlfriend chimed in with another innocent inquiry: "By the way, Miss Ruan, which airline do you fly for?"

Ruan Sixian: "..."

It was her first time in life experiencing such profound embarrassment over stating her occupation.

"Um... I work for Air Everbright."

"What's your role?"

Zheng You_an suddenly blinked, beating everyone else to the punch with an eager reply: "She's a female pilot at Air Everbright, of course."

"..."

The atmosphere at the table froze solid at Zheng You'an's declaration.

Several gazes snapped collectively toward Ruan Sixian and Fu Mingyu.

Covering her mouth, she let out a sharp "Ah," ripping away the thin veil of pretense hanging in the air.

Ruan Sixian offered a rigid, awkward smile, while her hand underneath the table drove her fingernails viciously into Fu Mingyu's thigh.

Fu Mingyu pinned her hand in place with his own, his expression remaining completely unruffled as he shifted his gaze to Zheng You'an.

"That's right. She's the pilot I went through great lengths to recruit. Any issues?"

The subtext was crystal clear, and his tone carried an unyielding, protective finality that left Zheng You'an utterly lost for words.

The excruciating dinner finally ground to a halt when Yan An slumped forward, face flushing bright red before collapsing face-first onto the table with a dull thud.

The entire meal wrapped up under a collective layer of forced, strained smiles.

Stepping out of the main lobby, a sharp gust of wind caught Ruan Sixian off guard, making her feel as though she had just been jolted back to life.

Meanwhile, Bian Xuan and Si Xiaozhen pinged the group chat asking how her day went, prompting her to drop a single, weary verdict:

Earning money isn't easy, everyone better start saving up.

Inside the car, Ruan Sixian and Fu Mingyu occupied opposite sides of the backseat, a metaphorical DMZ drawn right down the middle between them.

She stared out the car window in gloomy silence, refusing to utter a word.

She never should have let herself get momentarily bewitched into agreeing to Fu Mingyu's invitation. What else could she have done with her time instead of willingly walking into a live-action thriller of social purgatory?

Catching Ruan Sixian's miserable expression in the window's reflection, Fu Mingyu asked, "Tired?"

"Ten times."

"What?"

Ruan Sixian snapped her head around to glare at him. "Ten times the quarterly bonus!"

"That expensive?"

Expensive?!

Ruan Sixian felt a strong urge to crack open his skull on the spot.

She hadn't actually planned on shaking him down for real cash; she was merely trying to convey how catastrophic her psychological trauma had been today, scaling it by a factor of ten against her quarterly bonus.

And he had the audacity to call it expensive?!

Ruan Sixian deeply suspected that his immense wealth was entirely accumulated through extreme stinginess.

Deciding the penny-pincher wasn't worth another word, she turned her face back to watch the passing streetlights.

Half a minute later, Ruan Sixian's phone buzzed with a notification.

Pulling it out, she saw a digital transfer message courtesy of Fu Mingyu.

It matched her hyperbolic ten-fold quarterly bonus right down to the last digit.

[Fu Mingyu]: Thank you for your hard work today, Miss Ruan.

After instantly rejecting the transfer and sending it right back, Ruan Sixian furiously hammered out a reply.

[Ruan Sixian]: Well, seeing as President Fu is feeling so generous, I'll generously give you a zero-percent discount then.

[Fu Mingyu]: In that case, can Miss Ruan turn around and talk to me in person now?

Lifting her gaze, Ruan Sixian saw her own reflection overlaid atop Fu Mingyu's in the car window, catching the unmistakable trace of a smile playing on his lips.

A sudden flutter of panic squeezed her chest, making her feel as though turning around would plunge her straight into some inescapable abyss.

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

Firing off those words, she rested her forehead against the cool glass and slammed her eyes shut.

Because Warner Manor sat atop the western mountain range, the winding highway necessitated a slow descent, resulting in a vehicle speed that possessed maximum hypnotic efficiency.

Ten minutes later, Ruan Sixian was fast asleep, her head beginning to bob lazily back and forth following the rhythm of the winding curves.

Suddenly, a wave of warmth shifted closer.

In her haze of semiconsciousness, she instinctively gravitated toward the heat source, her head leaning sideways to pillage comfort right against the shoulder of the person beside her.

Fu Mingyu slid his hand carefully into the gap between her back and the seat cushion, anchoring her securely in his embrace so she would no longer sway with the motion of the ride.

As the car rolled off the mountain slopes and re-entered the glittering neon sprawl of the city below.

Fu Mingyu lowered his gaze, realizing her face was mere inches from his own. The multicolored neon flashes filtering through the window played across Ruan Sixian's features like scattered glittering sequins.

He caught the faint, citrusy trace of her scent, while a few loose strands of her hair brushed softly against his neck, sending a pleasant tickle across his skin.

Driven by some primal, instinctive urge he couldn't quite name, by the time he registered his own actions, his lips had already brushed gently against her forehead.

It was nothing more than a featherlight touch of a kiss, yet it inexplicably carried the guilty thrill of a stolen treasure.

Realizing what he had just done, Fu Mingyu let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

He raised his head, looking out the window to shake off the lingering absurdity of his own thoughts.

Yet he never noticed that the person resting safely in his arms remained entirely devoid of the frantic, drumming heartbeat he half-expected to find.