Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ruan Sixian left the yacht with red eyes.

Although she was not born into a noble or powerful family, nor was she considered a favored child of heaven, she had been the school belle growing up and had never lacked suitors. Occasional rumors had floated around her before, but no one had ever humiliated her like this.

What "I'll give you a chance"? What "quite a coincidence"?

What did he take her for?

If Fu Mingyu hadn't turned on his heel and walked away immediately, if she hadn't been mindful that this was a party thrown by Bian Xuan's boss, and if she hadn't been surrounded entirely by foreigners, Ruan Sixian would have splashed her entire glass of wine right into Fu Mingyu's face on the spot.

Unfortunately, everything was mere wishful thinking now. Having missed the optimal moment, Ruan Sixian knew full well that attempting to explain anything to an idiot like Fu Mingyu was utterly futile.

Leave!

Leave immediately!

Ruan Sixian couldn't stomach this humiliation. She decided to quit Shihang, escape Fu Mingyu's domain of power, and stop staying under his company like a fool scraping by for a living.

The hotel room came equipped with a computer. Ruan Sixian opened Word and began drafting her resignation letter right away.

During this time, Si Xiaozhen called. Ruan Sixian unleashed a barrage of scolding the moment she picked up.

"And you still have the nerve to ask! Because of this whole ordeal, I've lost every bit of my dignity! I'm done, I'm resigning right this minute!"

Si Xiaozhen was left thoroughly dazed by the flames of Ruan Sixian's fury, having no idea what she had done wrong, her voice instantly choking up with tears.

"W-What happened to you? I wanted to tell you that you don't need to deliver the letter anymore—I found a new way out."

Ruan Sixian pressed her forehead, her hair tousled into a messy heap. Looking up at the four bold characters for "Resignation Application" on the computer screen, she finally calmed down.

She shouldn't vent her anger on Si Xiaozhen.

Over the phone, Ruan Sixian didn't care to ask what new way out Si Xiaozhen was talking about; her mind was completely consumed by Fu Mingyu. She patted her chest, doing her best to calmly recount the events of the past two days to Si Xiaozhen, before spending ten passionate minutes cursing Fu Mingyu, employing every derogatory word she could conjure in her mind.

After listening, Si Xiaozhen remained stunned for a long time.

"H-How could he be like that?"

"How should I know? He must be sick in the head!"

Si Xiaozhen fell silent for a moment before saying, "He might have encountered too many women like that, so he misunderstood you as well..."

"Does that mean I should just swallow my anger? I don't care, I want to resign! Right now, the mere thought of him makes it hard for me to breathe!"

The atmosphere on the other end of the computer felt extremely suffocating. After a long while, Si Xiaozhen said, "I'll resign with you. My uncle called me today, saying Commercial Aircraft Corporation..."

A unfamiliar phone ringtone suddenly rang out behind her. Ruan Sixian whipped her head around immediately and saw Jiang Ziyue standing behind her. Originally looking at her in a daze, Jiang Ziyue instantly grew flustered and anxious at the sudden ringtone, quickly lowering her head to mute her phone.

Yet that panic lasted for only a brief second. When she looked up again, Jiang Ziyue's expression had returned to normal.

"Uh..." Jiang Ziyue said, "I just opened the door; you didn't hear me."

Which meant she had heard every single word Ruan Sixian just said to Si Xiaozhen.

"I'll talk to you when I get back."

Ruan Sixian hung up the phone and turned back to look at Jiang Ziyue, not knowing what to say.

Jiang Ziyue also seemed a bit awkward. She buried her head in the bathroom to wash her hands, then came out to pack her belongings, not saying a word.

Ruan Sixian thought that since matters had already reached this point, her intention to resign could no longer be kept a secret anyway, so she didn't bother overthinking it.

However, Jiang Ziyue ultimately couldn't hold it in. As she folded clothes on the bed, she said, "Are you really going to resign? Don't be impulsive, think it over a bit more."

The words sounded sincere, but Ruan Sixian didn't detect much underlying emotion in them; it felt like a canned phrase used out of courtesy, spoken just for the sake of saying it.

So Ruan Sixian simply shook her head and said her mind was already made up.

Unsurprisingly, Jiang Ziyue didn't ask any further.

Ruan Sixian continued writing her resignation letter, the lamp by the desk burning bright until two in the morning.

The return flight took off two days later. Upon arriving in Jiangcheng, the weather was unpleasant, thick layers of fog causing many airplanes to circle in the sky above, unable to land.

It was early morning now. The nearby farmland was beginning to awaken, with farmers walking lazily along the ridge in twos and threes carrying their tools.

Traffic surged like horses and dragon-carriages on the surrounding expressways, and the traffic police directing at the airport gate were sweating profusely.

Long queues formed at the departure hall entrance, while people caught in traffic jams sprinted toward the check-in counters dragging their luggage.

As the dense fog dispersed, airplanes descended slowly one after another, guided by busy ground crews to park precisely in their designated spots.

Everything remained the same at Jiangcheng International Airport, and Hengshi Aviation's headquarters, situated right beside the airport, was just as bustling as ever.

Glamorous flight attendants wheeled their flight cases, weaving back and forth between Shihang and the airport amidst chatter and laughter. Every day was like this, yet the topics they endlessly discussed were always the same old stories.

That was until a week later, when everyone heard that Ruan Sixian from Cabin Division Four had resigned.

Supposedly, she left very decisively, without even waiting out the one-month handover period. She paid a sum for breach of contract, forfeited her year-end bonus, and moved out of the flight crew dormitory that very day.

Leaving along with her was her good bestie, Si Xiaozhen.

However, everyone's attention was centered on Ruan Sixian.

She was young and beautiful. Just a few months ago, she had appeared in Shihang's magazine publication, becoming the cover crew member and taking the spotlight by storm. Privately, people jokingly called her the "Flower of Shihang," and quite a few captains, both single and taken, frequently expressed interest in her.

Her career was also in an upward phase with excellent flight performance. Wang Lekang had always appreciated her, even offering an exception to promote her to purser to retain her when she submitted her resignation, yet she still left.

The HR process was finalized very quickly.

Fu Mingyu's secretary mentioned offhandedly, "That Ruan Sixian resigned."

Fu Mingyu flipped through the files on his desk. "Who is Ruan Sixian?"

"It's the one..." The secretary cleared his throat, "The flight attendant who brought you coffee three times on the plane."

Fu Mingyu's movements didn't pause for even a second; the file, half an inch thick, left him no spare time to bother with such matters.

However, a moment later, he still let out a light laugh.

"Because she went to the hotel that day only to come up empty-handed, so she couldn't handle the shock?"

The secretary shrugged; presumably so.

Who knew.

At any rate, Fu Mingyu usually saw far too many women like that, and he didn't even know what this flight attendant's name was.

Besides, Fu Mingyu had consumed alcohol that day; had it not been for that, Ruan Sixian likely would have been fired directly by Wang Lekang.

Fu Mingyu said nothing more, gesturing for the secretary to leave.

Just then, Special Assistant Hu knocked on the door and walked in holding a stack of files.

"The final version of the ACJ31 procurement contract is out. I've reviewed it three times; take another look on your end."

The file was placed in front of Fu Mingyu's desk, fully twice as thick as the previous stack.

After all, aircraft procurement was no small-time transaction; it directly impacted the future development of Hengshi Aviation.

Precisely because of the massive procurement plan for the ACJ31—this newly independently developed passenger aircraft that would gradually dominate Hengshi Aviation's fleet in the future—the demand for pilots of other aircraft models would be significantly reduced. That was why Fu Mingyu decided to cancel the "Soaring Plan" for internal pilot recruitment.

With fleet reform looming, Hengshi Aviation's top management was kept busy beyond belief, and the three characters of "Ruan Sixian," much like her face, existed in Fu Mingyu's mind for only a fleeting moment.

Transient as a passing cloud, leaving no trace behind.

That did not mean, however, that others were uninterested in Ruan Sixian's departure.

Some said she had jumped ship because Northern Airlines offered better terms.

Yet that made no sense; she was merely a flight attendant, hardly worth headhunting.

Some said she had been proposed to and resigned to become a full-time housewife.

Others said she had changed careers altogether.

Opinions varied with no one knowing for sure. People asked her the reason over WeChat, to which she replied that she wanted a change of environment, but no one believed her.

Who would leave in such a hurry just to change environments?

That was until a few days later, when someone spotted Ruan Sixian dining with Captain Yue at London's famous glass restaurant.

Everyone concluded she must have gotten together with Captain Yue, which was why she had been so impatient to head to the UK.

However, this seemingly logical theory was shattered almost immediately, and the true reason finally began to circulate.

It turned out that Ruan Sixian had attempted to seduce President Fu on the plane, and after failing, she pestered him relentlessly in London until President Fu became thoroughly sick of the harassment.

Committing such an act right when the Cabin Department was cracking down heavily on "improper conduct," Ruan Sixian was truly stubborn, acting arrogant on account of her beauty, only for him to buy none of it.

Therefore, she submitted her resignation before getting fired herself, just to save face.

Everyone believed this version because it came from the cabin crew who served alongside her that day, complete with specific details and high credibility.

Some sighed that if Ruan Sixian had kept her ambitions a bit lower and settled for a young captain making a million a year—allowing her to even work on her boyfriend's flights—it would still be vastly better than average, something so many people envied without ever attaining. Why did she have her eyes glued strictly on the status of a wealthy tycoon's wife?

Yet gossip was just gossip. Everyone was so busy with work and making a living that after a few weeks, only the people in Cabin Division Four occasionally brought up the matter.

A few more weeks passed, and only those who were relatively close to Ruan Sixian would speak of it.

Later still... the name "Ruan Sixian" existed only in Hengshi Aviation's archive room where expired periodicals were stored.

Year after year, the paddy fields beside the airport ripened three times, and a large swath of land was developed and expanded into runways.

Hengshi Aviation underwent staff turn-over. Occasionally, when pursers and captains chatted, the name "Ruan Sixian" would pop up, leaving the younger flight attendants completely bewildered—who were they talking about?

Later, after three years had turned, even the pursers rarely mentioned Ruan Sixian anymore.

Ruan Sixian had left at the peak of her prominence, never expecting that a beautiful reputation, much like foam, would dissolve so quickly into the tide.

Over these three years, many changes occurred within Hengshi Aviation.

The chairman gradually relinquished power, now overseeing only the affairs of Hengshi Financial Aircraft Leasing Company. Of the chairman's two sons, the elder one held charge over the operations department while handling overseas business. The younger President Fu, Fu Mingyu, had grown his wings to full strength; back then, the chairman had specially dispatched Special Assistant Hu—who enjoyed vice-president treatment—to assist Fu Mingyu, but that was no longer necessary. Special Assistant Hu returned to his original position, while Fu Mingyu single-handedly held power over all operational support departments, currently serving as Chief Operations Officer.

There was minor gossip as well, such as how the engagement between the chairman's eldest son, the elder President Fu, and his fiancée had fallen through.

Fu Mingyu's secretary made a leap to become General Manager of the North Africa Branch, while a new, handsome male secretary took his place.

Additionally, Jiang Ziyue from the Cabin Department got together with Captain Yue, who had been transferred back to the Jiangcheng base, the two of them glued together as sweet as honey every day.

New batches of recruits entered the Cabin Department one after another, each as gorgeous as a flower, giving rise to a new "Flower of Shihang" who graced the internal magazine cover with her striking beauty. Passengers who flipped through it found her unforgettable, leaving male employees within the company restless with anticipation.

It seemed no one remembered the person named Ruan Sixian anymore.

A year later, Ruan Sixian was brought up once again only because someone saw this new "Flower of Shihang" and suddenly remarked, "I feel like this Ni Tong bears a slight resemblance to Ruan Sixian."

Others disagreed. "What slight resemblance? At best, she's a budget version of Ruan Sixian."

When Ni Tong learned of this statement, she was extremely unhappy and ran over to ask Jiang Ziyue.

"Mentor, who is Ruan Sixian?"

"Her..." Jiang Ziyue raised an eyebrow and let out a light snort, not continuing further.

Ni Tong pestered her with questions. "A former colleague?"

Jiang Ziyue affirmed it, so Ni Tong said, "Everyone says I look a bit like her. Do you have a photo? I want to take a look."

She just wanted to see on what grounds she was considered the "budget version."

Jiang Ziyue said, "Where do you look like her? You're better looking than she is."

Ni Tong was still displeased after hearing this, because the person who called her a "budget version of Ruan Sixian" was a captain.

In this regard, she cared much more about men's evaluations.

"Let me see a photo, just a quick look."

Jiang Ziyue had no choice but to check Ruan Sixian's WeChat, finding, as she always did whenever she tapped into it, the single line: "Moments are visible for the last three days only," with zero content displayed.

So she said, "What is there to compare between you and her? Do you also want to resign in disgrace just like she did?"

Ni Tong blinked her eyes. "What do you mean?"

Jiang Ziyue shook her head, recounting the events of three years ago in an exceptionally emotional tone.

After listening, Ni Tong almost doubled over with laughter.

"Really? Overestimating herself way too much, wasn't she?"

Jiang Ziyue raised an eyebrow. "Tell me about it."

Yet this didn't bring Ni Tong much comfort; she remained thoroughly disgusted by the five words "budget version of Ruan Sixian," thinking that if she had come three years earlier, she definitely would have competed with her to see who was superior.

Unfortunately, Ni Tong now felt utterly powerless—much like a new flame could never compete with a deceased ex-lover, she had no way to compare herself against someone who was no longer with the company.

Fortunately, no one paid attention to that statement for long. Ni Tong was exceptionally promoted to purser, earning the favor of her superiors, so no one brought up the "budget" comparison anymore.

What captured everyone's utmost attention at present was that the new ACJ31 passenger aircraft was about to be delivered.

The first batch of independently developed passenger aircraft from Commercial Aircraft Corporation made its grand entrance, with orders covering major domestic airlines nationwide.

This meant that industry giants like Airbus and Boeing faced a massive challenge.

It also meant that the ruler of the high-altitude skies in the future might be usurped.

Hengshi Aviation stood ready in full gear with a completely refreshed atmosphere. A brand-new dedicated runway was completed, and the Sixth Flight Division was established, preparing to welcome the arrival of the brand-new ACJ31 aircraft model.

--- And simultaneously preparing to welcome the arrival of the ACJ31 pilots.