Blossom through the Cloud - Extra Chapter 1

Extra Chapter 1

Early in the morning, the first hint of light had just begun to bleed into the horizon as the alarm clock on the bedside table chimed with a melodious and lingering tone.

After a brief flurry of rustling movements, Ruan Suxian sleepily opened her eyes, rubbed her forehead, got up and walked over to the window, parting a crack in the curtains to look outside.

The sky was frighteningly overcast, heavy, dark clouds hanging so low they seemed to press right down against the rooftop.

It looked like another day destined for flight delays.

Suddenly, the sound of shifting clothing came from behind her.

"You're awake?"

Ruan Suxian turned back. "Don't you want to sleep a little longer?"

Fu Mingyu pulled back the covers to get out of bed and said, "I'll drive you to the airport."

"No need, no need."

Ruan Suxian hurried over in two or three steps and pushed Fu Mingyu back onto the bed. "You came back so late last night, and you have nothing special to do today. Sleep in a bit more, the driver can just drop me off."

Fu Mingyu had never been one to linger in bed, but he sat at the bedside for a moment watching Ruan Suxian finish getting dressed before getting up to join her in the bathroom anyway.

"Are you going to see Zhu Dong and the others this afternoon?"

Ruan Suxian spoke as she brushed her teeth, mumbling through foam, "Don't go drinking."

"Mm."

Fu Mingyu used a towel to wipe away a bit of foam that had landed on her chest, saying, "I won't drink. I'll be back right after dinner."

"Mm."

Ruan Suxian spat out the foam and said thickly, "I'd better find you already home by the time I get back, and you better have showered and changed clothes—don't let me smell any alcohol."

With that, she rinsed her mouth and hurried downstairs.

When Fu Mingyu strolled leisurely down the stairs a while later, Ruan Suxian was already seated and eating breakfast.

The dining room chandelier cast a warm, bright glow, fresh flowers newly arranged in a vase bloomed lushly, and freshly ground soy milk filled the air with a rich aroma. If one didn't look out the window, it felt like the sun was shining brilliantly outside.

"I'm going to be late."

Ten minutes later, Ruan Suxian stood up as the housekeeper handed her her pilot's cap and flight case.

"Have a safe flight."

Fu Mingyu stood up to straighten her collar, planting a light kiss on her forehead. "Give me a call when you land."

"Got it." Ruan Suxian hoisted her flight case, tucked her cap under her arm, and walked out of the dining room before turning back with a helpless laugh. "Flights will probably be delayed today. If I'm back late, don't wait up for me—get some rest early."

After she left, the housekeeper came over to clear the dishes and remarked casually, "Madame really has gotten softer and gentler lately."

Fu Mingyu looked at an aviation magazine, smiling without a word.

Had she grown softer?

Maybe just a little bit.

Especially at night.

After lunch, Fu Mingyu's phone buzzed several times in succession.

Ten minutes prior, the military news channel had released information on a brand new fighter jet. Aside from aviation news apps, his WeChat group chats had suddenly exploded as well.

Fu Mingyu walked into the living room and turned on the international news channel just in time to catch the broadcast of the test flight.

While watching, he began buttoning his shirt cuffs.

The television screen was broadcasting live from the test flight site, with the anchor interviewing relevant experts and providing detailed analysis of the situation.

The housekeeper brought over a freshly pressed coat. With his attention entirely fixed on the television, Fu Mingyu took the coat and swung it backward over his shoulder. Perhaps using a bit too much force, he felt the hem of his coat graze against something nearby.

Immediately afterward, the sound of shattering ceramic echoed from behind him.

Fu Mingyu didn't pay it any mind at first, his thoughts still hooked on the news segment.

It wasn't until he slipped his arms into the coat that he belatedly realized something was amiss.

The volume of the television seemed to drop suddenly. Turning around, he saw the housekeeper already sweeping up shards of porcelain on the floor.

"Oh dear, please be careful, make sure not to step on any!"

Fu Mingyu lowered his eyes to stare at the fragments, his brow suddenly twitching.

Oh no.

Ruan Suxian wasn't the most dexterous person, and meticulous handcrafts were generally beyond her everyday scope.

Yet this coffee mug was one she had spent four separate trips to a pottery studio painstakingly crafting, finally succeeding on her last try just to give to him as a gift.

She had told him that since he already had everything he could possibly need, she wanted to give him something bearing her own sincere effort so that he would think of her every time he drank water.

And right now, he felt as though he were looking at pieces of his own head scattered all over the floor in shards.

Inside the private dining room, a European-style fireplace crackled with warm flames, filling the room with a cozy heat.

It should have been a leisurely, relaxed atmosphere, yet the expressions of two men in the room were decidedly sour.

"Seriously, what is wrong with the two of you?"

Zhu Dong tossed his cards down in a huff, looking utterly disgruntled. "We finally get some free time to play cards, and before we've even settled the scores, why do both of you look like you just lost a few million?"

Yan An threw down his cards, his face dark as he kept silent.

Unlike Zhu Dong's annoyance, Ji Yan wasn't nearly as agitated; holding his teacup, he chimed in cheerfully, "His wife ran off again, how could he possibly be happy?"

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Yan An sneered. "What do you mean 'ran off'? She went abroad for some creative inspiration—it's called work. How does it turn into 'running off' in your mouth?"

Ji Yan chuckled with a look that suggested he didn't want to dignify Yan An with an argument, though he couldn't help muttering underneath his breath, "Well, your friend's wife sure loves her work. She's out seeking inspiration three hundred and sixty days out of the year."

"What about you?" Ji Yan turned his head to look at Fu Mingyu. "What's wrong with you today?"

Zhu Dong fiddled with his phone, replying to his wife's messages while nonchalantly tossing out, "Fighting again, I suppose. Probably got kicked out of the house today. Like I said, a wife like that is more than the average guy can handle."

Fu Mingyu gave him a cool sideways glance. "Talk nonsense again and we'll see. We're getting along great, she's flying today."

"Empty room, wife in the sky," Zhu Dong observed. "Sounds like someone's feeling lonely."

Fu Mingyu couldn't be bothered to engage with Zhu Dong, but after finishing a text reply, he took an interest and offered advice with the air of a veteran survivor of a decade-long romance. "Let me tell you guys, you can never argue logic with women. The more you talk, the more fired up they get!"

Judging by his tone, Zhu Dong seemed intent on imparting the wisdom he had accumulated through years of battling his own wife.

Although the two married men beside him maintained poker faces, their ears had already perked up in secret.

At that moment, the sharp click of high heels echoed from the corridor, followed by the private room door swinging open.

Even before anyone appeared, the acute observational instincts Zhu Dong had honed over the years prevented him from misinterpreting the signs.

After a two-second pause, Yan An lost his patience first.

"Are you going to spit it out or what?"

By this point, the hairs on the back of Zhu Dong's neck were standing on end, even as his expression maintained an air of breezy, albeit poorly acted, sincerity.

"Just get down on your knees and beg your wife for forgiveness, isn't that all it takes?!"

"......"

"......"

The flight really had been delayed today.

By the time she handled flow-control waits on the return leg, it was already close to 11 PM when Ruan Suxian stepped off the plane.

To her surprise, Fu Mingyu had actually come to pick her up anyway.

Descending the airstair, she jogged over pulling her flight case.

"Didn't I tell you not to bother coming?" She slipped her arm through Fu Mingyu's. "It's so late, you should've gotten some rest."

"It's fine." Fu Mingyu took her flight case and tucked her scarf more securely around her neck. "Tired?"

"A little, waited forever today."

The flight crew trailing behind them gazed on with unconcealed envy.

President Fu was always so gentle and considerate.

Returning home, Ruan Suxian went upstairs to change clothes. When she came back down, she found Fu Mingyu busy in the kitchen.

"What are you making?" Ruan Suxian asked, walking over leisurely with her hands clasped behind her back. "Chicken soup?"

"The housekeeper stewed chicken soup earlier, saved a portion for your midnight snack."

Without turning around, Fu Mingyu rolled up his sleeves and methodically retrieved cooking utensils. "Porridge or noodles?"

"Noodles." Ruan Suxian wrapped her arms around Fu Mingyu's waist from behind. "Aww, my husband is the best."

Fu Mingyu smiled faintly. "Remember that attitude later."

Don't flip the script and pretend you don't know me in a bit.

Ruan Suxian stood on her tiptoes, resting her chin against his shoulder. "Definitely."

What could possibly be better than eating a midnight snack personally cooked by your husband on a freezing winter night?

Ruan Suxian hadn't been particularly hungry to begin with, but once she caught that mouth-watering aroma, she couldn't resist finishing every single bite.

She even found herself harboring a slight craving for more soup.

However, the incident from a few days prior where a captain was grounded for exceeding weight limits remained fresh in her mind, so no matter how tempted she felt, she had to keep her appetite in check.

"Sleepy?"

Fu Mingyu asked, "Shall I go draw your bath?"

Ruan Suxian had been pacing around the living room to walk off her meal, but at the mention of the word "bath," her steps abruptly halted. She instinctively reached up to smooth her hair, trying to block the faint blush creeping across her cheeks.

She knew it—feeding her late at night was never done with innocent intentions.

"Um... I checked yesterday, we ran out of that stuff at home, maybe we can wait until tomorrow—"

"I was simply asking—purely and innocently—if you wanted to take a bath." Fu Mingyu looked at her with an earnest expression. "No hidden meanings."

"Oh, I didn't mean anything else either. I just meant we're out of body lotion... Well, bath time it is, people have to bathe after all. If there's no lotion, so be it."

Steamy mist filled the bathroom, the soothingly hot water melting away the fatigue of the day.

As Ruan Suxian stepped out of the bathtub wrapped loosely in a bath towel, Fu Mingyu happened to push open the door and walk straight over without making a sound.

Startled to find a living human being standing right in front of her, Ruan Suxian let out a squeak of fright. Her foot slipped on the wet tiles, and as she began to pitch backward toward the tub, Fu Mingyu's reflexes kicked in instantly as he swooped in to haul her back.

He managed to catch her, but the bath towel wrapped around her body slipped loose and fell straight to the floor.

The temperature in the bathroom was already high, but it felt like it spiked another few degrees in that single second.

Holding her by the waist, Fu Mingyu kept his lips pressed into a tight line as his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Why don't you announce yourself when you walk in?!"

Catching the look in his eyes, Ruan Suxian scrambled to snatch the towel off the floor and wrap it around herself again. "Trying to scare me to death so you can remarry?"

Watching her scurry toward the vanity pressing a hand over her chest while muttering under her breath, Fu Mingyu helplessly curled the corners of his lips in a smile. He followed right behind her, catching their reflection in the mirror as he said, "Where is there anything I haven't seen? Where haven't I touched? We've even ki—"

"Shut up." Ruan Suxian secured the knot of her towel and shoved him toward the door. "Out, I need to dry my hair."

"I'll help."

Taking the hair dryer from her first, Fu Mingyu meticulously helped dry her hair.

The hair dryer was a quiet model, generating very little noise.

Ruan Suxian lowered her head, tapping her fingers against the countertop with a faint smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"I think you're acting a bit different today."

Fu Mingyu paused his hands for a fraction of a second. "How am I different? Aren't I the same every day?"

"I don't know, just a hunch," Ruan Suxian said. "A woman's intuition is always accurate."

Fu Mingyu: "......"

A woman's intuition was terrifying as hell.

"Nothing of the sort," Fu Mingyu ruffled her hair. "It's getting late, let's turn in."

"But after finishing my bath, I don't feel all that sleepy anymore. I want to go watch a bit more TV in the living room."

"No, time for bed."

"I'm on leave tomorrow."

"Even on leave you need to rest early, it's almost midnight."

After a brief standoff, Ruan Suxian suddenly raised her chin, locking eyes with Fu Mingyu through the mirror.

Sure enough, something was off. He was way too invested in rushing her to bed.

"Like I said, I checked last night, we're completely out of that stuff."

"Hm?"

Fu Mingyu stared straight at her, and the thought he had managed to suppress earlier flared up with a vengeance.

Setting the hair dryer down, he wrapped his arm around Ruan Suxian's waist, seamlessly sliding the bath towel downward as his voice dropped an octave. "I bought some today."

"......"

Then what was with all that act-acting you just pulled?!

With the towel hanging loosely around her, Ruan Suxian found herself pinned against the bathroom vanity as he caught her chin, planting kisses along her jawline from behind.

The mirror fogged up once more, clouding the view with the entwined silhouettes of two figures consumed by passion.

A long while later, the heavy atmosphere in the bathroom grew suffocating. Ruan Suxian clutched Fu Mingyu's shoulders, her brows furrowing tightly. "Not here, the floor is way too slippery."

Before the words finished fading, she was swept off her feet into a bridal carry.

Even though the house had no close neighbors, the fact that she was being carried out entirely unclad beneath her lost towel still made Ruan Suxian feel a bit self-conscious, causing her to bury her face deep in his chest.

As Fu Mingyu passed through the second-floor living room, his glance swept past a cabinet on the side where a box containing porcelain shards sat tucked away.

Outside the window, the night was thick, and the moon had quietly crept up at some point, casting a few slivers of light into the room and dissipating some of the heavy dampness in the air.

Lying against Fu Mingyu's chest, Ruan Suxian rested for a long moment before murmuring, "What time is it?"

"Two."

"I want to take another shower."

"Mm." Hearing this, Fu Mingyu scooped her up again.

"I'll go by myself."

Ruan Suxian broke free of his arms. "You go use the other bathroom."

Based on past experience, staying in the same bathroom under these circumstances meant her day off tomorrow was officially forfeit.

So without giving Fu Mingyu a chance to reply, Ruan Suxian threw on a pajama robe and hopped off the bed.

Fu Mingyu sat up and reached out to flip on the lamp.

The instant illumination flooded the room, he heard Ruan Suxian shouting his name loudly from outside.

"......"

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Fu Mingyu took a deep breath, got out of bed, and padded over.

Leaning against the doorframe looking like he hadn't fully woken up yet, he asked, "What is it?"

"What's going on here?" Ruan Suxian pointed at the box. "Why is it smashed? Who broke it?"

Before Fu Mingyu could respond, she added, "Aunt Zhang is the most careful person alive. Did you break it? How could you be so clumsy?"

Just as Fu Mingyu opened his mouth, she glared at him wide-eyed. "So that's why you were in such a rush earlier! Fu! Ming!Yu! Have you just lived long enough to want out?!"

Facing the rapid-fire interrogation like a machine gun, Fu Mingyu let out a measured breath and said, "Doudou came over today."

Ruan Suxian: "......"

She stared at the fragments inside the box, then looked back at Fu Mingyu twice, before snapping the box shut with a sharp clack and turning back toward the bathroom. "Oh, never mind then, I'll just make a new one another day."

Watching her retreating back, just as Fu Mingyu was about to tell her he'd accompany her next time, he heard her mutter: "I can't very well go picking a fight with a dog, can I?"

Fu Mingyu: "......"

"Oh."