Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 52

Chapter 52

That day's replacement flight took off at three o'clock in the afternoon, using an allocated Airbus 330.

Although the passengers were still full of complaints, their emotions gradually subsided after receiving corresponding financial compensation.

As for the troublesome passenger, his complaint naturally went nowhere, and he was taken away by the police for intentional assault.

The burns on Ruan Suxian's neck were nothing major, but boiling water was involved, so shedding a layer of skin was unavoidable.

Fortunately, these past few days happened to coincide with her reaching the upper limit of her quarterly flight hours, leaving her with several days of rest to properly recover from her burns at home, otherwise it would have eaten into her flight hour quota.

However, taking time off to recover from injuries did not mean she could just lie in bed all day.

Faced with a dense schedule of various exams, simulator training, and type-rating re-examinations, Ruan Suxian practically had to sit at her desk in a state of meditation.

She was busy, but her boyfriend was even busier than her. After dealing with the troublesome passenger yesterday, he took a phone call and flew straight to Fudu.

Flying, flying, flying—flying every day, spending the whole day on airplanes. He might as well become a pilot himself.

Ruan Suxian poked her book twice with a pen, propped her chin with her other hand, flipped two pages, and found her thoughts drifting back to yesterday afternoon.

She was starting to feel that something was a bit off.

Take Fu Mingyu for instance; when it came to action, he was indeed quite efficient, and the things he did while pursuing her were quite up to par.

A man as busy as he was could still carve out time to send her home, share a meal, and call to chat about random things.

Yet he just couldn't bring it out to say "I like you."

It wasn't that Ruan Suxian was deliberately obsessing over this single point, but she just found it somewhat strange.

Realistically speaking, her introduction and development with Fu Mingyu had been rather winding.

Given the extent to which she had repeatedly trampled over Fu Mingyu's boundaries and acted wildly, shouldn't a normal man be furious and hopping mad?

Could it be that CEOs genuinely preferred this type of woman—"so fresh and unpretentious that she actually dares to defy me"?

Fine, Ruan Suxian figured that at this point, she shouldn't be obsessing over whether her boyfriend actually liked her or not.

If he didn't like you, would he be chasing you?

If he didn't like you, would he pin you down and kiss you?

Yet without hearing him say those words in person, Ruan Suxian sometimes felt a lack of solid confidence when doing certain things.

For instance, she was currently a bit bored and wanted to send him a message.

Nothing particular, just casual chatting.

Yet she couldn't naturally go and harass him the way other people might—encountering a minor issue like losing a few extra strands of hair and rambling about it for two sentences—because that sort of behavior was supported by a mutual understanding of hearts.

Whereas for her, sending a message to Fu Mingyu still required finding an excuse.

The more Ruan Suxian thought about it, the more she felt she was a bit thick-skinned in a dense way, agreeing to be someone's girlfriend in a hazy daze.

She even reasonably suspected that Fu Mingyu was simply exhausted and bored by work, looking for a woman to keep him company and cure his loneliness.

Otherwise, the moment she tugged on his tie yesterday, he wouldn't have looked like he couldn't handle it anymore.

If Boyang hadn't knocked on the door and walked in halfway through, there was no telling what kind of daylight debauchery he might have committed.

--Stop right there.

She couldn't let her thoughts wander any further.

Ruan Suxian adjusted her sitting posture, casting those messy thoughts aside.

You're already his girlfriend; if this lady wants to text, she'll text. If he dares not reply to my messages, he can just wait to kneel on the flight instrument panel.

Thinking of this, Ruan Suxian grabbed her phone and sent Fu Mingyu a message.

[Ruan Suxian]: Boyfriend.

Fu Mingyu, who was far away in Fudu attending an aviation exhibition, surprisingly replied very quickly.

[Fu Mingyu]: Hmm?

Ruan Suxian tapped her finger on the screen, pondering what to say so she would look breezy rather than desperately searching for things to talk about.

[Ruan Suxian]: What are you doing?

[Fu Mingyu]: Missed me?

Ruan Suxian: "......"

A CEO's confidence is truly dialed all the way up.

[Ruan Suxian]: Not really, just wanted to ask when the quarterly bonus is actually going to be paid out.

Fu Mingyu didn't reply immediately. A few minutes later, Ruan Suxian received a bank transfer notification message.

[Fu Mingyu]: Is this enough?

Looking at the message, Ruan Suxian felt an indescribable emotion.

It is genuinely difficult for modern-day fake couples to have normal communication. Did she really look like a woman who could be easily bought off by money?

[Ruan Suxian]: I'm not asking you for money, nor am I short on cash.

[Fu Mingyu]: So you missed me then?

Ruan Suxian: "......"

This logic, this train of thought.

[Ruan Suxian]: Your logic is too amazing for me to comprehend. Go have a chat with Einstein instead.

Setting down her phone, she propped up her chin and sighed, her mood hanging somewhere in the middle, leaving an unnamable aftertaste.

She tried reading a book, but Fu Mingyu's face kept hovering back and forth before her eyes like an unshakeable ghost.

Two minutes later, Fu Mingyu sent a photo.

[Fu Mingyu]: I am here.

Ruan Suxian glanced at it casually. The photo was a corner of the aviation exhibition center hall, shot from a very casual angle, with the frame mostly filled with various model aircraft.

However, catching sight of the upper right corner, Ruan Suxian stared closely and zoomed in.

[Ruan Suxian]: Is that a Cessna 172 in the upper right?

Fu Mingyu hadn't originally paid attention to that single-engine, four-seat piston-powered small general aviation aircraft. Seeing this message from Ruan Suxian, he walked over to take a look.

[Fu Mingyu]: Yeah.

[Ruan Suxian]: My First Solo was flown in this.

First Solo refers to a flight student's exam where they leave the instructor behind and operate an airplane entirely alone for the first time.

Ruan Suxian would never forget that day. She piloted that Cessna 172 across the wheat fields and green shade of the training ground, following the surging drifting clouds, chasing a flock of migrating geese all the way.

After entering the airline, what she faced instead were rigid, strictly observed SOPs and standard phraseology. The memory of that solo flight thus appeared especially vivid, especially since it might be one of the few solo experiences in Ruan Suxian's lifetime.

The Cessna 172, nicknamed the "Skyhawk," was hailed as the world's most successful general aviation aircraft and the most popular small private plane. Precisely because of this, not many people paid much attention to it at this aviation exhibition.

Fu Mingyu hadn't invested much attention into it either, but right now, he stared at it for a full several minutes.

In his mind's eye, an image emerged of Ruan Suxian soaring through the clouds during her solo flight.

Turning around to spot the Diamond DA50 Super Star nearby, Fu Mingyu suddenly called out to Boyang.

Boyang stepped forward, "What is it?"

Fu Mingyu pointed to the Diamond DA50 Super Star nearby and gave him a few instructions.

Boyang nodded in acknowledgement, though he felt completely baffled inwardly.

He had seen men buying diamonds, jewelry, and luxury bags for women, but this was the very first time he had seen someone buying an airplane.

[Fu Mingyu]: I'm going to grab lunch.

Fine then.

Ruan Suxian thought, this must be what a fake couple is like. She eagerly texted him, and he only replied with twenty characters in total.

Capping her annoyance, she got up to change clothes and prepare to go out.

She had previously promised Dong Jing she would visit her at the hospital when free. Having been busy recently, she finally found some time today.

This winter loved to bring rain, often waking up to a gloomy, overcast sky.

Ruan Suxian threw on a trench coat and went out, buying a bouquet of carnations at the flower shop near the hospital entrance.

She had called Dong Jing in advance and knew she only had a hired caregiver accompanying her today.

Entering the hospital room, Auntie, the caregiver, poured Ruan Suxian a glass of water and stepped outside.

Dong Jing was close to discharge, her spirits much improved. Coupled with the fact that she and Ruan Suxian had indeed rarely met over the years, she pulled Ruan Suxian in for a long chat.

Asking first how she became a flight student back then, and then inquiring about her current work benefits and remuneration, more than an hour passed before they knew it.

This ought to have been a relaxed conversation.

--Unless Zheng You'an hadn't suddenly appeared.

When the ward door was knocked twice, Ruan Suxian looked back and saw Zheng You'an standing at the entrance, feeling momentarily stunned.

Zheng You'an was even more stunned than her.

Standing at the doorway for two full seconds, she backed out to check the room number again.

Only upon seeing Dong Jing lying on the hospital bed did she confirm she hadn't entered the wrong room.

Compared to Zheng You'an's astonishment, Ruan Suxian was far more composed, though somewhat unsure of how to start speaking.

Dong Jing hadn't expected Zheng You'an to show up abruptly either, but thankfully, there was no bad blood between the youngsters. She beckoned to Zheng You'an, "You'an is here? What are you standing at the door for, come on in."

Zheng You'an walked in mechanically like a robot, looking Ruan Suxian up and down. "You..."

Dong Jing glanced at Ruan Suxian and said, "This is Ruanruan, the one I mentioned to you before. Strictly speaking... you can call her elder sister."

Zheng You'an: "...Elder sister?"

Dong Jing hadn't bluntly said "this is your mother's biological daughter," but Zheng You'an understood.

Precisely because she understood, she became even dizzier.

Ruan Suxian didn't know what to say, so she simply let her stare.

Zheng You'an sat with her mouth half-open, at a complete loss for words.

Wait, why was she the only one who was shocked?

It took Zheng You'an nearly ten minutes to digest this fact, and she felt that Ruan Suxian must have known about their relationship all along, leaving her as the only one kept in the dark.

Later events proved that indeed, this was the case.

When Ruan Suxian said she had matters to attend to and needed to leave first, Zheng You'an chased her out into the hospital corridor, grabbed her, and asked, "Did you know all along?"

Ruan Suxian nodded helplessly in admission.

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"You didn't ask me either."

Zheng You'an: "......"

She felt she would sooner or later be played to death by Ruan Suxian.

"Wait, why do you have so many schemes up your sleeve? Were you even intentional about that whole thing with Fu Mingyu just to make me give up on him?"

Ruan Suxian's spine nearly twisted from her brain's bizarre logic connection: "Are you overthinking this?"

"Wasn't it you who said he was arrogant, self-important, and conceited?"

"Wasn't it you who said something was wrong with his brain?"

"Wasn't it you who said he was riddled with flaws?"

Ruan Suxian couldn't deny a single word; every single statement was entirely true.

Zheng You'an posed her final question: "Then just how much do you have to like him to overlook so many flaws and end up together with him?"

Ruan Suxian: "Don't talk about my boyfriend like that."

Zheng You'an: "...?"

She almost passed out from anger on the spot. They wouldn't even need an ambulance; she'd be rolled straight to the second-floor emergency room.

Actually, Ruan Suxian had been completely derailed by Zheng You'an's final question.

Prior to this, she had never even considered whether she liked Fu Mingyu; she felt she had constantly been led around by him and ended up together in a daze.

So what Zheng You'an said today actually made Ruan Suxian clearly determine that she seemed, more or less, to like Fu Mingyu.

Otherwise, how could things have progressed to today?

The problem was that Ruan Suxian herself didn't even know what she liked about him.

Was it just that he was a bit handsome, had a decent temper, a gentle personality, and owned a few too many airplanes... well, that actually sounded pretty good.

After cycling through all those random thoughts in her mind, Ruan Suxian's mood inexplicably brightened, and that hazy, fog-like train of thought gradually cleared up.

She simply liked him—liked that he was handsome, good-tempered, gentle, and had plenty of airplanes.

--As long as he wasn't being narcissistic.

That evening after returning home, Ruan Suxian didn't look at books anymore; she opened her iPad and pulled up a variety show to watch.

It was the current season's hottest male idol survival show featuring 101 handsome guys, which kept Ruan Suxian so thoroughly entertained that she completely forgot all about Fu Mingyu.

Meanwhile, at the Hongyi Club in Fudu.

Fu Mingyu held a glass of wine, mingling among the crowd.

Having missed dinner time, his stomach felt somewhat uncomfortable, and glass after glass of wine sliding down only intensified the discomfort.

Tonight's cocktail party was private in nature. He hadn't originally planned to attend, but running into an old acquaintance at the aviation exhibition meant that as the Fudu host, his polite pleasantries were thick enough that it felt awkward to refuse.

However, the Fu family had never expanded their territory into this region, so most attendees at the banquet weren't working partners. Fu Mingyu finding an excuse to sit in the lounge area wasn't considered impolite.

Surrounded by the hum of classical music and dazzled by the rustling silk and brilliant dresses before his eyes, Fu Mingyu closed his eyes briefly, pulled out his phone, and sent Ruan Suxian a message.

[Fu Mingyu]: I'll be back tomorrow noon. Want to join me for a meal?

After waiting over ten minutes, she finally replied with a simple "Oh."

She really was quite cold.

[Fu Mingyu]: What are you doing?

[Ruan Suxian]: Picking some oppas.

[Fu Mingyu]: ?

Ruan Suxian sent him six or seven photos.

[Ruan Suxian]: I'm picking these oppas.

[Fu Mingyu]: How old are you, how old are they? Do you have the nerve to call them oppa?

[Ruan Suxian]: ......What do you know, this is a universal endearing term.

Fu Mingyu chuckled, then watched as she sent another photo.

[Ruan Suxian]: How is this one? He looks a bit like you.

[Fu Mingyu]: Then you should pick him.

[Ruan Suxian]: Never mind, he looks too much like you, no fun. I want to pick someone different.

[Fu Mingyu]: Just how many oppas are you planning to pick?

Glancing down at his phone, Fu Mingyu didn't notice someone approaching him.

[Ruan Suxian]: What do you know? More friends mean more paths, more oppas mean more homes.

"Mingyu?"

An uncertain voice sounded from above him.

Fu Mingyu looked up to see a woman in a long black dress standing before him with a beaming smile.

"I heard you were coming, but I looked around earlier and couldn't find you anywhere. Turns out you came to hide over here." Li Zhihuai said as she handed him a glass of wine. "Long time no see."

Fu Mingyu stood up, accepted the drink she offered, and nodded. "Long time no see."

At the same time, his phone chimed once more.

[Ruan Suxian]: As long as you swap out oppas fast enough, sadness doesn't exist, only love :)