Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

The most anxious person tonight was Zheng Youan.

Lying on her hotel bed, she periodically opened Ruan Suxian's WeChat chat box, then switched to open Fu Mingyu's WeChat chat box, yet hesitated without taking any further action.

Since those two were a couple, it seemed like no matter which one she confessed to, the effect would be exactly the same.

Zheng Youan had never fallen into such a predicament in her entire life, finally coming to deeply understand the true meaning of the phrase "misfortune comes from the mouth."

She had originally only wanted to fool her father to stop him from awkwardly forcing her and Fu Mingyu together. However, she never expected that Ruan Suxian would end up with Fu Mingyu, nor did she anticipate that Dong Xian's biological daughter was Ruan Suxian, and least of all that Dong Xian would casually drop the whole matter to Ruan Suxian like that.

Fate's jokes always seemed intricately linked together.

Though Zheng Youan felt Fu Mingyu wasn't all that great of a guy, forcibly tearing apart a pairing was a sin, no matter how niche that pairing might be.

Besides, the male lead of this pairing was someone you definitely did not want to mess with.

Zheng Youan rolled back and forth across the bed a few times before burying her face and frantically pounding the pillow.

Suddenly, she sat right back up, crossing her legs with her hair disheveled. After thinking back and forth, she finally sent a message to Yan'an.

[Zheng Youan]: Big Brother Yan'an, got a minute to chat?

Right now it was eleven o'clock at night; the bar music was deafening and the air was thick with smoke.

Thinking he must be drunk, Yan'an glanced at his wristwatch to confirm he hadn't lost track of time.

[Yan'an]: In the middle of the night, you're looking for me to chat?

[Zheng Youan]: I want to ask a question. Like, suppose you have a girlfriend and your relationship is great, and then someone slanders you in front of your girlfriend, claiming you're a super wild and flirty playboy. What would you do?

Yan'an thought about it and decided this question wasn't easy to answer.

Because how the hell was that slander? That was just the honest truth.

[Yan'an]: It's fine, just explain the misunderstanding clearly, right? [Grin]

[Zheng Youan]: No, I mean what would you do to the person who slandered you?

[Yan'an]: Depends if they're a guy or a girl. If it's a girl, whatever. If it's a guy, I'd kill him.

[Zheng Youan]: Then what if it were Fu Mingyu? What would he do?

[Yan'an]: Him? He's petty as hell. Doesn't matter if they're male or female, he'd kill them all.

Zheng Youan collapsed onto the bed with a whimper.

[Yan'an]: Why are you asking about him again? Still can't let go?

[Zheng Youan]: Stop joking around.

Now it's probably him who won't let go of me...

On the return flight the next day, a rainstorm unexpectedly broke out. Arriving back in Jiangcheng, the cloud cover hung extremely low, and they had to circle for nearly half an hour before finally touching down.

Fu Mingyu's monitoring updates were impeccably punctual; the moment Ruan Suxian stepped off the plane, she received a message from him.

[Fu Mingyu]: Landed?

Dragging her flight case, Ruan Suxian walked briskly.

[Ruan Suxian]: Mhm.

[Fu Mingyu]: Coming to the office to wait for me?

Ruan Suxian looked up toward the upper floors, vaguely spotting a familiar silhouette standing before that wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.

[Ruan Suxian]: Nope, heading straight home. You come over for dinner tonight.

Upon receiving the message, Fu Mingyu glanced down toward the ground floor, a faint smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

[Fu Mingyu]: You're cooking today?

[Ruan Suxian]: Mhm.

Back at his desk, Zhu Dong called him up.

Zhu Dong: "Free tonight? Want to head out for a bite together?"

In a great mood, Fu Mingyu shook his head. "Can't make it, I've got plans."

Hardly had he hung up when Ji Yan's call came in.

"I'm heading abroad on a business trip for quite a long time, come out for dinner tonight to see me off."

"Not coming," Fu Mingyu said. "Staying in to have dinner with my girlfriend tonight."

"Bring her along," Ji Yan said. "It'll be lively with a big crowd, just the two of you will be lonely."

Fu Mingyu smiled without a word. After a two-second silence, Ji Yan let out a resigned sigh. "Fine, go enjoy your two-person world then."

Over on this end, Fu Mingyu was in high spirits, doubling his work efficiency.

Ruan Suxian wasn't lagging behind either. Without even changing her clothes, she dashed to the supermarket to pick up some ingredients, meticulously deliberating over every single item and seasoning before finally emerging an hour later.

Back home, she changed into a fresh outfit, carried her bags into the kitchen, and went to work with emotionless, decisive chops. The chicken's head and body on the cutting board separated cleanly, rolling straight down onto the floor.

She didn't cook very often; usually, she just boiled some noodles or instant dumplings for herself, occasionally consulting a recipe if she wanted to tackle something slightly more complex.

Yet today everything went surprisingly smooth. With each stroke of the blade, the meat was sliced neatly, evenly, and with uniform thickness, looking deeply satisfying.

Perhaps this was what it meant to cook with love.

At seven in the evening, the doorbell rang.

Dressed in a form-fitting brown sweater and simple jeans, with an apron tied around her neck and her hair gathered in a neat bundle at the back, Ruan Suxian appeared right there at the doorway.

Fu Mingyu thought she looked exceptionally gentle today.

"You just got back today, aren't you tired? Why bother cooking?"

He asked.

"Not tired." Ruan Suxian raised an eyebrow, smiling as she said, "Isn't this to bring you a huge gift?"

This was her huge gift?

Fu Mingyu felt a slight pang of disappointment.

And here he thought it was something else.

She pulled Fu Mingyu inside, having him sit down on the sofa.

"Wait right here, it'll be ready in a minute."

Seeing Ruan Suxian act like this felt a bit unusual to Fu Mingyu.

"Need any help?"

"Nope."

Ruan Suxian retreated to the kitchen, executing a swift sequence of nimble operations before quickly serving up three dishes.

Zaozhuang Spicy Chicken, Chopped Pepper Fish Head, and Boiled Pork Slices in Chili Oil.

Looking at the finished spread before her, Ruan Suxian herself felt a bit shaken.

Sure enough, if a person doesn't push themselves, they never realize just how brilliant they can be.

Yet once Fu Mingyu took his seat at the table and faced the sea of blazing red, a look of perplexity crossed his face.

Seated across from him, Ruan Suxian handed him the very first pair of chopsticks.

"Try it, I just learned how to make these."

Clutching his chopsticks and hesitating for a moment, Fu Mingyu sampled a piece of the boiled pork slices, remaining entirely silent.

"Not good?"

Ruan Suxian asked.

"No." Fu Mingyu said, "It's fine."

Ruan Suxian hummed, then pointed at the chopped pepper fish head. "Try this one next."

Though Fu Mingyu wasn't a fan of spicy food, he possessed a profound awareness of needing to save face for his girlfriend. Taking a bite, he nodded and said, "Not bad."

Ruan Suxian pointed next to the Zaozhuang Spicy Chicken. "And this one?"

Just looking at this dish made it somewhat intimidating to even attempt eating.

At that moment, Ruan Suxian stood up to pour a glass of water. Thinking it was for him, Fu Mingyu reached out to take it, but Ruan Suxian cradled the cup and turned slightly aside. "What are you doing? You haven't tried this dish yet."

It was only a dish cooked personally by his girlfriend; there was no reason not to eat it.

Displaying immense sportsmanship, Fu Mingyu took a bite.

"How is it?" Ruan Suxian asked again.

"Acceptable." With a calm expression, Fu Mingyu finished speaking and promptly set his chopsticks down.

"Then keep eating."

As Ruan Suxian said this, her posture heavily implied, "If you don't finish eating today, it means you don't really love me."

If that was the case, then her "huge gift" truly carried a rather heavy flavor profile.

Finally sensing that something was off with Ruan Suxian, Fu Mingyu lifted his gaze. Without asking any further questions, he continued to display exemplary sportsmanship by tasting her culinary creations.

Bite after bite, his throat felt as though it had been scorched by fire, and sweat began to subtly bead across his back.

Yet his expression remained composed, eating with refined manners while maintaining a steady pace, quickly reducing the food on the plates by a third.

This battle-ready posture almost convinced even Ruan Suxian that these dishes were genuinely decent.

Am I really here just for you to appreciate fine cuisine?

Feeling as though she had thrown a punch into a pile of cotton, Ruan Suxian angrily picked up her chopsticks to try a bite herself.

Eating too quickly, before she could even taste any other flavors, a wave of pure, scorching heat surged straight from her mouth into her brain, instantly causing her eyes to well up with tears.

Fu Mingyu handed her the glass of water. She snatched it immediately, gulping down two mouthfuls before the burning sensation subsided slightly, still standing there with her mouth half-open, panting heavily.

Fu Mingyu watched her with amused composure, his eyebrows slightly arched, wearing an expression that carried a distinct hint of mockery.

"Put less chili next time, especially since you can't handle spicy food yourself."

With a formidable aura, Ruan Suxian slammed the cup back down on the table. "Didn't you say you liked spicy food?"

Fu Mingyu raised his eyes to look at her. "Who told you I liked spicy food?"

Glancing at the dishes on the table, he added, "My dietary habits lean toward light flavors. This isn't the first time you've eaten with me, didn't you know?"

Ruan Suxian sneered. "Well, you sure looked like you loved those hot girls yesterday."

That single "pretty" had almost driven her to absolute fury.

Fu Mingyu narrowed his eyes, racking his brain to recall.

He had spent almost the entire day yesterday stuck in the office, with even his meals brought in by restaurant staff. Aside from Bai Yang and a few middle managers who were already at the age of needing hair transplants or wearing toupees, where on earth would any hot girls have come from?

"When did I see any?"

Ruan Suxian narrowed her eyes dangerously.

Playing dumb, huh? Still playing dumb?

If he was this good at acting dumb, why didn't he just legally change his species to a plastic bag?

Amidst the silence, Fu Mingyu finally dug up some scattered memories. "Are you talking about that photo from yesterday?"

Taking his time pulling out his phone to locate the image, his attention this time wasn't fixed on Ruan Suxian's feet. Glancing toward the upper right corner, sure enough, four or five bikini-clad women were striking sultry poses in the background.

Ruan Suxian stared at him with an expression that screamed, "Let's see how you talk your way out of this."

Lowering his gaze to the phone screen, Fu Mingyu drawled leisurely, "They were pretty good-looking."

Ruan Suxian took a deep breath. "You—"

"However, I was referring to your feet." ?

Ruan Suxian pulled out her own phone to check, and sure enough, her little feet had accidentally wandered into the frame.

"No, who told you to look at my feet?" Ruan Suxian demanded. "What are you, a foot fetishist?"

Putting his phone down and picking up his chopsticks, Fu Mingyu replied calmly, "I wouldn't go as far as a foot fetishist. But if it's you, I might be a lot more than just that."

"..."

How on earth did he manage to speak such lines with such serene casualness, as if he were merely commenting that "the weather is nice today"?

Exhaling a breath, Ruan Suxian felt her cheeks burning hot—whether from the extreme spiciness of the meal or his overly flirtatious remarks, she couldn't tell.

At any rate, she was in no state to hold a normal conversation with him right now.

Taking a sip of water, Ruan Suxian asked very solemnly, "Did you sleep well last night?"

Fu Mingyu put down his chopsticks, poured himself a glass of water, took a sip, moved over to sit right beside Ruan Suxian, and said, "If you have something to say, just spit it out."

Ruan Suxian thought about it. Fine, I'll spit it out.

"I was super annoyed yesterday." She looked at Fu Mingyu. "Because, you see, I heard some gossip about you yesterday."

"Oh?" Fu Mingyu said flatly, "What kind of gossip?"

"Well, people were saying you're quite the playboy, that the moment you go abroad you throw off all restraints, indulging in the charms of hot foreign women—oh, and maybe even taking someone away with you for a wild romantic fling."

Hearing such accusations tossed right into his face, Fu Mingyu didn't seem particularly perturbed, simply lifting his chin slightly. "Go on."

Thinking to herself how he could remain so completely unfazed, Ruan Suxian asked, "Don't you have anything to say?"

Fu Mingyu: "I wanted to hear you finish first."

"I don't know the specifics either," Ruan Suxian said. "I was just wondering yesterday if it was true. After all, the person who told me isn't the type to sling baseless mud."

Ruan Suxian stopped talking, waiting for Fu Mingyu's response.

Staring unblinkingly right at him, her heart felt suspended mid-air.

She had thought she could bring up this question with absolute calm and rationality, but that wasn't the case at all.

Ruan Suxian discovered that she was actually quite nervous—at least, she now realized she cared far more about this man than she had ever imagined.

As for Fu Mingyu, wondering just whose toes he must have stepped on recently to have such wild rumors fabricated about him, it didn't take much effort to deduce who he might have run into yesterday.

Picking up his phone, he began scrolling through his contacts list.

"What are you doing?" Ruan Suxian asked.

"Zheng Youan is the source, right?" Fu Mingyu said. "I'm going to call her to verify. I'd love to ask precisely when she supposedly witnessed this."

Seeing that he had already located Zheng Youan's number and was about to hit dial, Ruan Suxian lunged forward to snatch his phone away. "Hey! Don't!"

Instead, Fu Mingyu raised his arm up high and put the call on speaker, letting Zheng Youan's ringing tone echo out.

"Don't call, seriously don't call!" Pouncing onto him and wrapping her arms around his torso to wrestle the phone away, Ruan Suxian hissed, "Hang it up right now!"

Using his free arm, Fu Mingyu smoothly looped it around her waist and pressed her securely against his chest.

Ruan Suxian lifted her head, locking eyes with him as his deep, resonant voice sounded right beside her ear.

"You trust me that little?"

Their breaths suddenly tangled together. Ruan Suxian abruptly halted her struggle, her hands slowly sliding down to rest upon his shoulders.

"It's not really that I don't trust you." Averting her gaze, she murmured in a low voice, "With how... incredibly good you are at kissing, having a moderate suspicion that you're a player is pretty normal."

"Hmm?" Fu Mingyu arched an eyebrow. "What did you say?"

Unsure whether he genuinely hadn't heard or was just pretending, Ruan Suxian seized the chance when he was distracted to suddenly reach out and hang up the call.

"Any woman would get mad hearing stuff like that." Ruan Suxian twisted a fold of his shirt around her fingers, saying, "I just wanted to hear your explanation."

Putting the phone down leisurely and holding her with his other hand, Fu Mingyu enunciated every single syllable with absolute clarity: "None of that happened. I never did any such thing."

Ruan Suxian lowered her eyes to ponder this for a moment, then gave a tiny nod.

Fine, as long as it didn't happen.

Yet Fu Mingyu wanted to push the matter further: "Is she talking about that time we went to Spain together?"

Realizing this matter couldn't be kept from Fu Mingyu anyway, Ruan Suxian stopped playing coy.

"Mhm."

Pinching her cheek, Fu Mingyu lowered his voice. "My head was entirely full of you back then, how could I possibly look at any other woman?"

Heard at first glance, that sounded remarkably sweet.

However—

Ruan Suxian gave his shoulder a light punch. "Stop spouting sweet-talk. What relationship were we even in back then for your head to be full of me?"

Finishing her sentence, she noticed Fu Mingyu staring straight at her, seeming to realize something.

"Really?"

Fu Mingyu hooked his hand around her waist, pulling her a fraction closer.

"Really."

A warm, swelling sensation bloomed inside Ruan Suxian's chest. "You've been... since back then?"

"No," Fu Mingyu said. "Even earlier than that."

"Huh? Then when?"

"The very first time I saw you."

The words fell, and the air suddenly went still.

Their eyes locked onto one another in a moment of slight awkwardness.

"No," Fu Mingyu corrected himself. "I mean, the first time we met this year."

"..."

"Maybe you didn't notice me, but I saw you in the terminal lobby."

"..."

Actually, Fu Mingyu hadn't even thought about this question himself.

It was simply that when Ruan Suxian asked, this answer bubbled up out of his subconscious—unfiltered by thought, the most direct truth his heart could give.

Though if things hadn't turned out that way, given his usual temperament, Ruan Suxian probably would have been driven up a wall by him eight hundred times over by now.

So that's how it was.

The corners of Ruan Suxian's lips curved upward. "So you were plotting against me from such an early stage. You've got some serious patience."

"Only just realizing how much patience I have?" Fu Mingyu said. "Am I not still holding back right now?"

His tone carried a faintly mischievous edge. As Ruan Suxian lowered her head as if waking from a dream, she suddenly realized she was still sitting squarely in his lap, her waist circled by his arms.

Averting her face, she tried to stand up, but his grip locked her in place.

"And you?"

Staring right at him, Ruan Suxian kept quiet.

Fu Mingyu: "Mhm?"

Ruan Suxian knew what question he was asking.

-- When did you fall in love with me?

Yet Ruan Suxian genuinely didn't know.

The only chronological milestone in her feelings she could pinpoint was the day she agreed to be his girlfriend.

She had never had much demand for romance to begin with. When Yan'an entered the picture she thought he was okay, but after interacting with him she discovered it wasn't what she expected either, making her attitude even more indifferent.

Furthermore, ever since her parents divorced, she believed that a couple who had spent over a dozen years together and even raised a child could still shatter and break apart in an instant, watching all those years wash away down the drain.

Even more so, a romance unsupported by a marriage certificate felt far too ephemeral—not even as substantial as the tiny increments of flight time ticking upward in her logbook.

Yet Fu Mingyu was an exceptionally bizarre existence. When he asked her in the parking lot that day if she was just speaking in a fit of anger, a fiercely strong impulse had suddenly sprouted in her mind to take a gamble and try things out with this man.

For reasons unknown, Fu Mingyu possessed a strange, magnetic pull over her.

Clearly, in the beginning, he had managed to piss her off until her fur stood on end every single day, acting just like two magnets of the same polarity pushing each other away.

Yet at some unknown point, he had quietly flipped his orientation, pulling her close to him without needing any external force at all.

Fu Mingyu was still waiting for her reply, watching her with unblinking eyes.

Ruan Suxian's fingers slowly curled inward, her fingertips burning hot.

Lowering her head, she leaned close to his ear and whispered softly, "I don't know."

Pausing for a second, she added, "Anyway, I like you quite a bit right now."

After speaking, she felt rather guilty toward her boyfriend—how could she fail to answer even a question like this?

So, almost as a form of compensation, she pressed a soft kiss against his earlobe.

The man's shoulder gave a slight twitch, accompanied by the sound of him drawing in a sharp breath.

Ruan Suxian discovered that his earlobe was remarkably soft—much softer than she had imagined, making it terribly tempting to give it a nibble.

Thinking it and doing it were the same thing.

She really did give it a gentle nip, but the hand supporting her waist suddenly tightened, pressing their bodies tightly together.

"Are your ears really that sensitive?" Ruan Suxian raised a hand, her fingertips tracing a circle around his Adam's apple. "What about here?"

Fu Mingyu abruptly caught her hand, furrowing his brow as he looked down at her. His gaze was terrifyingly dark, and his voice carried a faint warning edge, "Ruan Suxian, if you want to finish this meal properly tonight, stop messing with me."

"..."

I, Ruan Suxian, despise being threatened more than anything else in this lifetime!

Wrenching her hand free from Fu Mingyu's grip, she buried her face forward and kissed his Adam's apple instead.

He tilted his head back involuntarily, his long neck tightening as a fine, warm shiver rippled through his entire body.

"Hiss—"

He suddenly cupped the back of her head, forcing her face up as he captured her lips in a kiss.

Ruan Suxian closed her eyes, sinking completely into his kiss while maintaining a sliver of sobriety, acutely aware that something felt drastically wrong where her thigh pressed against him.

Right at that moment, the phone Fu Mingyu had left on the table suddenly began to ring, its melody sounding exceptionally jarring under the circumstances.

Neither of them paid it any mind, and the ringtone automatically stopped on its own.

Yet a few moments later, it started up again.

Frowning, Ruan Suxian pushed him away. "Your phone is ringing."

Panting heavily, Fu Mingyu stared at her for a couple of seconds before finally reaching out to grab the phone.

Glancing sideways at the screen, the caller ID displayed: "Zheng Youan."

Under normal circumstances, Fu Mingyu would have rejected the call outright.

However, thinking of today's events, he turned back to look at Ruan Suxian. "Want to listen in?"

Knowing what he meant, Ruan Suxian thought it over and shook her head.

There was no need anymore.

Fu Mingyu swiped to reject the call directly, then switched his phone to silent mode.

The two of them locked eyes once more, the atmosphere instantly spiking to an even hotter temperature.

Ruan Suxian could clearly perceive that his physical reaction was growing increasingly intense.

Her heart leaped wildly in her chest, her breathing turning rapid and shallow.

Fu Mingyu closed his eyes for a brief second as his reason slowly unraveled.

Screw reason, she's my girlfriend.

When he opened his eyes again, his gaze toward Ruan Suxian was blazing hot. Leaning in close to her ear, he opened his mouth as if intending to say something.

Yet the words stalled right in his throat as reality hit him.

Her place definitely wouldn't have anything they needed.

With that realization, he caught her hand and pressed a kiss to her fingertips.

"Babe, help me out?"