Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 62

Chapter 62

In all her life, Helan Xiang had witnessed every grand spectacle imaginable.

She went abroad to study alone at fourteen, married and had children at twenty-five, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her husband through every storm, endured hardship, and built today's magnificent prosperity.

Yet she had never encountered a situation she felt was more difficult than the present one.

The gear known as "fate" seemed to have roared over her at breakneck speed without even tapping the brakes.

After rolling right over her, it sped away into the distance, never forgetting to blow a mouthful of exhaust fumes straight into her face.

The exhaust blurred her vision, making even the diamond necklace on Ruan Suxian's neck look like it had lost its sparkle.

"So this is your daughter too." Helan Xiang felt as though a heavy padlock had been slammed shut, locking her and Dong Xian together with zero hope of escape. "No wonder she's so pretty."

Some angles looked precisely identical to Dong Xian.

With that, she glanced back at Fu Mingyu, her eyes misting over slightly. "You really have a fantastic eye."

Fu Mingyu smiled and accepted the compliment.

The banquet hall blazed with brilliant illumination, music and the clinking of wine glasses reflecting one another in a display of sheer extravagance.

No one understood Helan Xiang's inner agony. Not a single soul.

Compared to Helan Xiang, Dong Xian was genuinely, from the bottom of her heart, happy—she hadn't seen Ruan Suxian smile at her like that in a long time.

Even though she knew Ruan Suxian was merely flashing a polite, public-facing smile.

"I didn't expect you to come today." Dong Xian stepped forward, extending a hand. "You haven't met Uncle Zheng yet, have you? He's here today too, would you like to go over and say hello?"

Hearing this, Helan Xiang—who had been drowning in self-pity just a moment ago—suddenly froze.

She raised her gaze to look at Ruan Suxian.

Yet before Ruan Suxian could utter a word, Fu Mingyu shifted slightly to block half of her face. "Auntie, let's go say hello to Uncle Yan first, and we can come over to see him later?"

Dong Xian's hand, suspended halfway in mid-air, slowly retracted as she nodded with slight hesitation. "Alright."

Every single move he made felt as though he was staking a claim of absolute ownership, deliberately isolating Ruan Suxian from her.

That subtle undercurrent was something Dong Jing naturally picked up on as well.

Giving Fu Mingyu a discreet once-over, she chimed in, "Alright then, we'll head on over first."

Only then did Ruan Suxian smile. "Mhm, we'll come over in a bit."

Dong Jing nodded, smiling as she walked away alongside Dong Xian.

Watching the two sisters depart, Helan Xiang's gaze toward Ruan Suxian took on a much heavier layer of scrutiny.

Why did it feel like Ruan Suxian's attitude toward this "mother" of hers was overly polite—polite to the point of outright alienation?

Twirling a lock of hair around her finger, Helan Xiang flicked her gaze back toward Dong Xian's retreating figure.

How many years had she known Dong Xian? She had once heard rumors that Dong Xian had a biological daughter from a previous marriage, but she had never laid eyes on her.

It was one thing for an outsider like her not to have seen her, but even Dong Xian's current husband had never laid eyes on her either—that was a bit hard to justify.

Just now, quite by accident, she seemed to have caught Ruan Suxian's face half-concealed behind Fu Mingyu's shoulder, twitching into an imperceptible pouting grimace.

Once Fu Mingyu and Ruan Suxian walked away, Helan Xiang nudged her husband's elbow.

"Don't you think something feels a bit off? It looks to me like Madame Zheng and this daughter of hers have a pretty mediocre relationship."

Fu Boyan replied flatly, "You're only just noticing?"

Dong Xian's background was something everyone present was vaguely familiar with. Since this daughter born to her former husband had never once accompanied her to public events, anyone could easily deduce what their relationship looked like.

Yet Helan Xiang's sensitivity ran a step deeper than Fu Boyan's.

Born melancholic, she excelled at spinning dramatic subplots for herself and those around her. From the brief exchange between Ruan Suxian and Dong Xian just moments ago, she could already sense that the former harbored a unilateral resistance toward the latter.

Helan Xiang suddenly injected herself with a heavy dose of psychological fortitude.

I! Am! Not! Alone!—

When Fu Mingyu brought Ruan Suxian over, Yan An was no longer standing in that spot.

After exchanging brief pleasantries with Yan An's father, the birthday host offered a few polite remarks while casting a few quiet glances at Ruan Suxian, before being summoned away elsewhere by his wife.

Following that, Fu Mingyu led Ruan Suxian off to grab some food.

At that moment, some people might look dignified and elegant on the outside, while secretly panicking like crazy on the inside.

In front of the long buffet table, Fu Mingyu picked up a piece of cake and was just about to hand it to Ruan Suxian when she pinched him hard.

Ruan Suxian's grip was genuinely no joke, causing Fu Mingyu to frown. "What is it this time?"

"I feel like your mom doesn't really like me." Ruan Suxian threw a discreet glance toward Helan Xiang, finally voicing the thought that had been nagging her. "Didn't you feel it?"

"It's not that she doesn't like you, it's just that she doesn't usually get along very well with your mother." Fu Mingyu slowly raised his eyes. "Though their relationship isn't truly terrible either."

With that, he fed a bite of cake right to Ruan Suxian's lips.

Distracted, Ruan Suxian turned her face away and frowned. "I got the message, you're just beating around the bush to say your mother dislikes my mother, right?"

Fu Mingyu lowered his gaze, effectively conceding the point.

Ruan Suxian let out a sigh. "Then what do we do?"

"Do about what?" Fu Mingyu looked down at her with a light chuckle. "Are you my girlfriend or my mom's girlfriend?"

Right on cue, another bite of cake was nudged toward her lips. Delighted by his remark, Ruan Suxian nibbled off a small piece.

Raising his thumb, Fu Mingyu wiped away a speck of cheese clinging to the corner of her mouth, and without bothering to grab a tissue, brought his thumb to his lips and licked it clean.

Watching his unhurried movements, Ruan Suxian felt her face heating up involuntarily.

"There are so many people here, can't you act like a decent human being?"

With that, she glanced around with a guilty conscience, locking eyes with a distant Zheng Youan right when she least expected it.

Zheng Youan—who had been quietly observing the situation from afar this whole time—instantly whirled around and scurried toward the opposite side of the hall, putting on a grand performance of "I didn't see a single thing."

In reality, she was quietly exhaling a breath of relief, even harboring a wave of supportive warmth akin to a devoted shipper in a fan community.

Please flaunt your love to your heart's content, show it off however you like—as long as I see you two doing well, I can finally rest easy.

"This doesn't look like a human being? You've set your baseline expectations for my character a bit too high."

"..."

To be able to utter such words with a straight face in broad daylight made Ruan Suxian feel that her baseline estimate of his character had indeed been a tad too high.

Remaining entirely oblivious to any wrongdoing, Fu Mingyu picked up a different piece of cake and brought it to her lips.

"Have a bit more."

Ruan Suxian stared unblinkingly at him.

Fine then, let's both drop the pretense of being civilized human beings.

Opening her mouth, she leaned over and bit straight down onto Fu Mingyu's fingertips. "I'm going to the ladies' room to touch up my lipstick."

With that, she spun around and walked off.

Fu Mingyu looked down at his fingertips, where a faint set of tooth marks was clearly imprinted.

She really didn't hold back at all when biting down.

Just passing by at that moment, Yan An's father caught this little scene and offered Fu Mingyu a knowing smile.

Meanwhile, he noticed Yan An—who had just come downstairs from the second floor after changing his clothes—slowly sipping a glass of wine while paying little attention to anyone, his entire face practically screaming the words "I am in a terrible mood." Sauntering over, his father strolled up to him.

Standing side by side, the father also held a glass of wine as he casually brought up: "Fu Mingyu just brought his girlfriend over to say hello a moment ago. I heard Zhu Dong say you used to chase after her?"

Swallowing a large gulp of wine, Yan An spoke in a low, muffled voice.

"His mouth sure runs fast."

"Leave that aside for now, I need to issue a warning first."

Moving a bit further away toward a quieter corner, his father motioned for Yan An to follow. "Regarding the matter with the Zheng family that I mentioned to you yesterday, once a decision is made, you must pull your temper back no matter what and avoid stepping on their toes. As for Fu Mingyu, since she's officially his girlfriend now, you must steer clear of any thoughts about trying to poach her."

Pausing for a beat, he added, "I know your rotten habits inside and out. If you genuinely cannot control yourself, then we'll have to reconsider the arrangement with the Zheng family. Let's not make things too awkward—well, what do you think?"

The arrangement with the Zheng family had already been settled yesterday, and Yan An had mentally prepared himself for it through all sorts of psychological gymnastics. Yet at a time like this, his own father wasn't even treating him like a human being—this was simply going too far.

Before he could voice a retort, however, a voice rang out beside them.

"Uncle, you've got the wrong target."

Walking up from behind with a glass of wine that was nearly empty, Fu Mingyu spoke up. "What Yan An thinks doesn't matter. What matters is that Ruan Suxian belongs to me."

Swirling the wine in his glass, Fu Mingyu flicked his gaze toward Yan An. "It's useless for anyone else to harbor wild ideas."

Yan An: "..."

What the hell.

I didn't even say a single word—Meanwhile, following the directional signs, Ruan Suxian was making her way toward the restroom.

The main banquet hall didn't contain any restrooms; reaching them required navigating through a quiet, secluded corridor.

The floor was lined with soft carpeting that swallowed every trace of footsteps.

Yet the design of the corridor seemed to amplify certain murmurs.

Ruan Suxian slowed her pace because she distinctly heard people talking about her.

A section of the corridor to her front left branched out into a lounge area for guests, and from a distance, a distinct plume of cigarette smoke drifted over.

"Who on earth is that chick? I've literally never heard of her before."

"Isn't she that female pilot from World Aviation's official Weibo post a while back? Word is she used to be a flight attendant?"

"No way? Another flight attendant?"

"Why would I lie? Go ask anyone at World Aviation, they all know."

"Seriously, another flight attendant? Didn't his older brother get engaged to a flight attendant before? Looks like those two brothers both share the exact same taste."

"Her figure isn't bad though, and her skin is so fair—who wouldn't like that?"

"What's the use of being pretty? She'll never get past that family's gate."

The preceding voices belonged to two men chatting idly, but suddenly a woman's voice cut straight into the conversation.

"I heard that back when the eldest son got engaged, the mother said if she didn't approve, she absolutely wouldn't approve. Apparently, she just looked down on the girl's background, and her attitude was even more resolute than Chairman Fu's. In the end, the wedding fell through, and the son was so furious he stayed overseas for over half a year without coming home. The woman would rather not see her son than back down an inch—that's how iron-willed her attitude is."

"True. Who is Madame Fu? Back when Chairman Fu got into that car accident and lay hanging by a thread in the hospital for months while both kids were still in school, she was the one holding down the fort, tearing down several ambitious shareholders at World Aviation who were trying to stir up trouble. It's just that these past few years she stepped back from worldly affairs to dabble in art, which doesn't mean she's stopped sticking her nose into family matters."

"Did you guys see the necklace hanging around her neck, though? Mr. Lester gifted it to Madame Fu just a few days ago, and Madame Fu loved it to pieces—now she's handed it right over to her. Chances are, that's Madame Fu's explicit statement of approval."

Ruan Suxian reached up to tap the pendant of the necklace resting against her chest.

Fu Mingyu snatched this away from his mother?

That sounded entirely like something he would pull.

"Pfft—you're being way too naive. There's only one such necklace in the entire world, but knockoffs are everywhere. What jewelry store doesn't carry an exact replica nowadays? Walk down the street and out of ten women, nine will have the matching dupe."

"Madame Fu is probably sneering on the inside right now: What kind of nobody, where did some little bitch wearing a counterfeit item get the audacity to come prancing around in front of me."

"So yeah, trying to clear Madame Fu's hurdle is harder than ascending to heaven."

"Well, it's not like there's zero foolproof way around it."

"Oh?"

"Knock her up with a bun in the oven right away. Madame Fu is getting up there in years and dying to bounce grandchildren on her knee—she might just give her nod of approval then."

The group burst into loud laughter.

Ruan Suxian narrowed her eyes, feeling that the reek of cigarette smoke had suddenly turned rather choking.

Lowering her head to straighten her dress, she gave her hair a couple of fluffs, slowly lifted her gaze, and cast an icy stare down that direction.

Yet before she could take a step forward, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Ruan Suxian turned around to find that Helan Xiang had somehow materialized right behind her.

The weather outside was freezing, so Helan Xiang had draped a tasseled shawl over her shoulders as she stepped out.

Tugging the shawl upward with a flick of her hand, she lifted her chin and strode purposefully toward the smoking area, the tassels on her shawl swaying with the imposing momentum of a grand army sweeping across the realm.