Blossom through the Cloud - Extra Chapter 3

Extra Chapter 3

On New Year's Eve, Fu Mingyu and Ruan Suxian went to the Lake View Mansion to spend the holiday.

Residual snow still pressed down on the roadside greenery, the branches teetering under the weight, and wherever they walked, the rustling sound of falling snow could be heard.

A few red lanterns hung in the living room, and festive red window paper cuttings were pasted across the floor-to-ceiling windows. Though sparse, under the warm yellow lighting, the atmosphere of the Spring Festival rose gently all around.

By the time Fu Mingyu and Ruan Suxian arrived, the New Year's Eve dinner was already laid out on the table.

Helan Xiang had never been one to indulge in extravagance and waste when it came to food, and since the housekeeper cooking dinner had already gone home for the holidays while the others lacked culinary skills and couldn't help beyond minor prep work, she had handled everything herself. After cooking just six or seven dishes, she threw in the towel and refused to make another thing.

Though the dishes were few, they made up for it in their exquisite presentation.

During the meal, Helan Xiang glanced at Fu Chengyu and asked, "What are your plans for next year?"

Fu Chengyu rattled off a list of work plans, but Helan Xiang raised a hand to cut him off. "Who's asking about that? That girl Weiwei who used to come looking for you all the time when you were kids—remember her? Ran Yuwei. She got married last month. Look at you; out of everyone who grew up together, who else is still unmarried? Even your younger brother is married."

"I remember," Fu Chengyu smoothly bypassed the main point. "She once smashed your vase."

With that mention, Fu Chengyu achieved his objective: Helan Xiang instantly lost all desire to continue talking about the girl.

She turned her gaze to Ruan Suxian instead. "Didn't you pass your driver's license test? Do you want to buy a car now that the New Year is over?"

Holding her chopsticks, Ruan Suxian choked slightly, unsure of how to reply. Beside her, Fu Mingyu had a set of eight crab-dissection utensils arrayed in front of him. Though he appeared entirely absorbed in dismantling a crab, he let out an unmasked chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?"

Helan Xiang asked.

"Nothing. We can talk about buying a car later."

With that, Fu Mingyu turned his head and arched an eyebrow at Ruan Suxian, the amusement in his eyes still lingering, uninhibitedly punchable. "Right?"

"Oh, right," Ruan Suxian lowered her head to shovel rice into her mouth. "No need to rush."

She had indeed passed her driver's license test, but the journey had been nothing short of tortuous.

In fact, before she even signed up, several senior captains had warned her: There's no need, really, there's no need at all.

Fu Mingyu had also told her she didn't need to test; whenever she wanted to go somewhere, she could just make a call and have the driver pick her up.

However, Ruan Suxian frequently rode in Fu Mingyu's car and watched him effortlessly overtake and switch lanes amidst flowing traffic. Feeling a bit envious and wanting to show off a little, she had signed up for a driving school at the beginning of the year.

Little did she expect that it would take her nearly a full year to pass a basic passenger car driver's license test.

While having limited time to practice was one factor, the primary reason was simply that operating an automobile went against every instinct she had.

For instance, when changing lanes, she wasn't accustomed to checking the traffic flow on either the left or the right; her first instinct was simply to accelerate in a straight line and yank the steering wheel upward, making her instructor clutch his chest in sheer distress.

When encountering a red light, her instinctive reaction wasn't to hit the brake, but rather to look for a place to circle around it.

When airplanes landed and entered the tarmac, they relied on a follow-me guide vehicle, so when she learned reverse parking, she never got used to craning her neck to check the line markers; she kept wanting to find a guide car with a giant "FOLLOW ME" sign painted on it to tow the car straight in.

Furthermore, whenever she sat alone in the car without the instructor present, the absence of a front-seat passenger always made her feel profoundly unsafe.

By the day Ruan Suxian finally secured her driver's license after weathering untold trials and tribulations, the driving instructor—who had trained numerous pilots over the years—had completely run out of temper. Clenching a cigarette between his fingers, he chuckled good-naturedly and teased, "Remember this: when you go to a gas station to refuel, don't forget to actually pay."

Ruan Suxian: "......"

Well, when airplanes refueled, they just signed a paperwork log and walked away; drivers never had to shell out cash of their own, did they?

On the day Ruan Suxian brought her little driver's license booklet home, Fu Mingyu was sitting on the sofa, also holding a cigarette. Glancing back as she walked through the door, he smiled and asked, "Finished testing? What kind of car do you want? I'll take you to pick one out tomorrow."

Instead of answering, Ruan Suxian collapsed face-first onto the sofa, muttering dejectedly, "On the way back, I gave it deep consideration. For the personal safety of the general public, I think I'd better stay away from driving."

Far from comforting her, Fu Mingyu laughed so hard on the sofa that ash cascaded all over the floor.

And thus, her driving career came to a swift close. Ruan Suxian abandoned all ambitions of driving herself and happily settled back into enjoying the services of a professional chauffeur.

"Buying a car can wait, but you can still practice your skills in the meantime," Helan Xiang said, holding her spoon and chopsticks. "I have a car parked over at—"

——"Ah!"

Startled by Ruan Suxian's sudden shriek, Helan Xiang dropped her spoon in fright. "What is it?! What's wrong?!"

Before she could even ask for clarification, Ruan Suxian had already dropped her chopsticks and latched onto Fu Mingyu like an octopus. Meanwhile, Doudou had sprinted out from somewhere, wagging its tail excitedly as it circled frantically around the legs of Fu Mingyu's chair.

"Go away! Go away! Get out of here!"

The more dramatic Ruan Suxian's reaction, the more excited Doudou became, lifting its paws to scramble up onto the chair.

"Aahahahaahhh!!!"

"How—how did it get out?!"

Though it was her own dog, seeing Ruan Suxian's extreme panic made Helan Xiang momentarily view the animal as some ferocious beast. "How on earth did this dog learn to open doors by itself?!"

Though struggling to contain his mirth—his brow twitching with suppressed laughter—Fu Mingyu scooped Ruan Suxian up in his arms and carried her to the side.

He raised his chin toward Fu Chengyu. "Brother, take care of this."

Fu Chengyu set down his chopsticks, grabbing Doudou's front paws to half-drag and half-pull it toward the upper floors.

Yet as he turned around, Ruan Suxian clearly caught the faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Even Fu Bolting, the normally stern and unsmiling head of the household at the dining table, twitched the corner of his lips.

Ruan Suxian: "......"

After the instigator was dragged up the stairs, Ruan Suxian spent a long while regulating her breathing before she finally realized she was still clinging to Fu Mingyu.

She hopped down in a flash, sat primly on her chair, smoothed her hair down, and pretended she hadn't noticed their amusement.

However, Fu Mingyu's continued laughing at this stage was simply crossing the line.

She turned her head, gritting her teeth as she asked, "Is it funny?"

Fu Mingyu twitched the corner of his mouth. "Not bad."

Ruan Suxian: "......"

Then you can grow old with white hair side-by-side with your dog son, because the two of us are officially done.

Following the New Year's Eve dinner, the couple stayed overnight at the Lake View Mansion.

When the clock struck midnight, the ritual of staying up to welcome the New Year was officially complete, and the family of five retreated to their respective rooms to sleep.

Emerging from her shower, Ruan Suxian glanced sideways at Fu Mingyu, who was lying in bed reading a book. She walked around to the edge of the bed, sat down with her back to him, and began smoothing body lotion over her skin.

Silence filled the room, broken only by the soft rustle of turning pages.

Having finished pampering herself, Ruan Suxian slid under the covers, leaving only the upper half of her face exposed as she looked at Fu Mingyu. Just as she was about to say something, she felt a cool sensation brushing against the back of her neck.

Reaching beneath her pillow, she pulled out a red envelope.

Ruan Suxian immediately sat up and opened the envelope to count the money. "There's still one for this year?"

*

Fu Mingyu gave a soft, indifferent "Mm."

"People would laugh if they heard about this," Ruan Suxian said with a beaming smile as she counted the bills. "I'm twenty-eight years old and I'm still getting New Year money."

Fu Mingyu reached out to wrap an arm around her shoulder, his voice low. "Every year without fail, may you be safe and sound through the ages."

Ruan Suxian echoed softly, "Safe and sound through the ages."

Year after year, may peace prevail.

As winter gave way to spring and the magnolias had yet to fully fade, summer arrived quietly.

It was a rainy year, and the meteorological observatory had issued early warnings for the typhoon season. Though Jiangcheng wasn't directly on the coast, it lay squarely in the path of the storm's trajectory.

The sky was still bathed in brilliant sunshine when Ruan Suxian entered the medical examination center at noon, but by the time she stepped outside at six o'clock, a glance upward made her feel as though she had walked through the wrong door into an alternate universe.

Gale-wind howled outside the entrance of the medical center, rain poured down in sheets, roadside greenery teetered precariously, construction barricades wobbled, and waist-high potted plants had long since been toppled over in a chaotic heap.

In weather like this, an umbrella served purely a symbolic purpose; seeing a pedestrian's umbrella turned entirely inside out into the shape of a lotus pod was enough to tell Ruan Suxian she needn't bother.

While everyone standing near the entrance with her was frantically making phone calls, she stood quietly to the side, her gaze catching sight of a car slowly pulling into the driveway.

Despite the howling gale, torrential rain, and flashing lightning that made it seem as though the sky were collapsing.

The moment Fu Mingyu stepped out of the car holding an umbrella, the low-hanging black clouds that seemed to graze the earth appeared to lift instantly, clearing a patch of open sky.

Standing under the eaves, Ruan Suxian watched Fu Mingyu walk toward her step by step, feeling an inexplicable sense of grounding.

This was their third year of marriage.

Palpitating excitement was no longer the most vital answer in life; peace of mind was.

"Did you come straight from the airport?"

"Mm." Fu Mingyu wrapped one arm around her shoulder, and together they stepped out beneath a single umbrella. "Ground crew were working on aircraft mooring procedures ahead of the typhoon, so I went to take a look."

With the rain falling with such ferocious intensity, every step Ruan Suxian took felt like wading through a river. Fortunately, she was wearing strappy flat shoes, so she just treated it like splashing in puddles.

However, when she lowered her gaze, she noticed that Fu Mingyu's trousers were practically soaked through.

"Actually, you didn't need to get out of the car. It wasn't that far, I could've just walked—"

Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt the angle of the raindrops driving against her shift, accompanied by a tremendous crashing sound echoing in her ears.

Before her mind could process what was happening, she was forcefully yanked around in a new direction. Her shoe soles churned up a spray of water half a meter high, while a heavy impact slammed against Fu Mingyu's back, transferring the force to her.

Following that came a dull thud and shouts of shock from all around.

Amidst the deafening roar of the rain, Ruan Suxian heard the heavy, jarring beat of her own heart and her ragged breathing.

Workers were already rushing forward to lift the construction barricade that had collapsed onto Fu Mingyu's back, and only then did Ruan Suxian fully comprehend what had just transpired.

"Are you alright?!"

"Where did it hit you?!"

"It didn't hit your head, did it?!"

Amidst the chaotic din of voices, the shoulders Ruan Suxian held onto were trembling slightly, leaving her rooted in shock for a long moment.

"You—"

"I'm fine." Fu Mingyu loosened his grip on her and rolled his shoulder slightly. "Didn't hit my head."

With trembling lips, Ruan Suxian raised a hand as if to touch his shoulder, but stopped short, not daring to make contact.

"Are you really okay?"

With his brow furrowed deeply, Fu Mingyu let out a long breath. "I'm fine."

"No way, we're going to the hospital to check." Panicked and flustered, Ruan Suxian looked around, her focus gradually sharpening through the blurred curtain of rain. "The hospital is right here, let's go check."

"This is a medical checkup center, not a hospital." A trace of suppression, perceptible only to Ruan Suxian, lingered in Fu Mingyu's voice. "Don't panic."

"How can I not panic! Fu Mingyu, are you out of your mind, are you an idiot?!"

At the hospital, after a thorough examination, the doctor declared him uninjured aside from superficial scrapes.

"Don't we need a CT scan?" Ruan Suxian stared fixedly at the doctor. "Shouldn't we run a scan just in case?"

The doctor had initially intended to say "unnecessary," but upon meeting Ruan Suxian's gaze, hesitation took over.

"Let's do it." Fu Mingyu peeled off the jacket he had just put back on. "To give her peace of mind."

Twenty minutes later, the doctor received the data transmitted from the CT room, pushed up his glasses, and gestured for Ruan Suxian to come over and look.

"See? There's really nothing wrong."

"Oh."

When they stepped out through the hospital doors, the rain had lessened considerably, pattering softly against the heavy, sterile atmosphere unique to hospitals.

Ruan Suxian interlaced her fingers tightly with Fu Mingyu's, speaking in a slightly testy tone. "You're lucky today—that panel wasn't made of reinforced steel, otherwise someone would have had to push your wheelchair for the rest of your life."

"That wouldn't be too bad."

Ruan Suxian closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. When she opened them again, she glared fiercely at him.

"I'm not joking with you."

"Mm." Fu Mingyu casually stretched his shoulder. "Got it, let's go home."

Despite receiving the doctor's definitive assurance, lingering fright still gripped Ruan Suxian's heart.

Every time she replayed that split second in her mind, fear was eclipsed by an overwhelming wave of heartache.

Sitting in the car, she lowered her head and buried her face in her hands, taking deep breaths to steady her emotions.

"You really scared me to death."

"I—"

Fu Mingyu opened his mouth to comfort her, but she cut him off. "You're thirty-two this year—that's the age when people are most prone to sudden mishaps. Don't ever do something like that again."

Fu Mingyu: "......"

"You're a university graduate with a major in physics, stop being so superstitious!"

Burying her face to rub her eyes, Ruan Suxian then grabbed his hand tightly.

"Did you hear me? No more stunts like that."

Fu Mingyu gave her no comforting affirmation.

"No one can predict accidents like that."

If there's a next time, I'd still do it.

Catching the unspoken subtext behind his silence, Ruan Suxian's knuckles turned white with tension, yet no words came out; all speech was suppressed to the depths of her chest by the swelling ache roiling within her.

Perhaps it was her own superstition, but looking back across the expanse of a long life, this year was undeniably the one that filled her with the most bone-deep terror.

In October, Fu Mingyu led senior executives from the marketing department on a journey to Country N to sign a major midday contract.

On the third afternoon after his departure, early autumn breezes brought refreshing crispness beneath high, clear skies.

On a tranquil afternoon, Ruan Suxian sat on the sofa reading a magazine while variety show clips played on television. The soft fibers of the rug fluttered gently in the breeze, brushing against her toes.

As she turned a page, her gaze flicked casually to the television screen, where the news ticker displayed a breaking headline: "At 2:03 PM this afternoon, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Country N..."

Two seconds later, the magazine slipped from Ruan Suxian's fingers, her mind instantly going blank.

By the time Ruan Suxian rushed to the Xihang Building, Helan Xiang, Fu Bolting, and Fu Chengyu had already arrived.

Seeing Ruan Suxian, Fu Chengyu spoke up immediately.

"Don't worry, the embassy has already confirmed that no Chinese nationals were among the victims."

Ruan Suxian had already seen that news report on her way over, but the absence of fatalities didn't mean there were no injuries.

Remaining silent, she quietly seated herself to the side, her gaze locked rigidly onto the floor, her face devoid of color.

People hurried back and forth all around, footsteps echoing urgently while telephone rings chimed in overlapping waves, making the atmosphere feel as tense as the disaster zone itself.

At six-thirty in the evening, over four hours after the earthquake struck, news came out of Country N confirming that ground conditions were temporarily stable, and a previously scheduled Xihang flight originating from Country N had commenced check-in.

However, the remaining seats on that day's flight were extremely limited, and they were all prioritized for elderly, weak, sick, and disabled passengers from subsequent flights.

Throughout those four-plus hours, communication networks in Country N remained down, leaving Ruan Suxian unable to even hear Fu Mingyu's voice.

Helan Xiang walked over with a cup of hot water and sat down beside Ruan Suxian.

"Drink some water." She patted Ruan Suxian's back. "Look at you, your clothes are soaked through with sweat."

Ruan Suxian tilted her head back and finished the entire glass of water, yet her throat remained parched.

"Mom..."

"It'll be fine, they already said there were no casualties." Clutching the fabric of her skirt, Helan Xiang maintained a composed expression. "Rest easy."

At nine o'clock in the evening, a temporarily dispatched passenger aircraft from Jiangcheng stood on standby, preparing to fly to the capital of Country N to retrieve stranded passengers.

Ruan Suxian was inside Fu Mingyu's office changing into her uniform.

In the empty office, Helan Xiang paced back and forth before finally stopping at the doorway of the rest area, rapping lightly on the door.

"Why don't you let someone else go instead? I'm worried..."

Ruan Suxian opened the door, her uniform already neatly donned.

"Mom, I need to see for myself that he's safe."

"We've already confirmed it—his name isn't on the casualty list, he has to be safe right now."

Ruan Suxian shook her head stubbornly, her eyes unwavering. "I need to see him with my own eyes."

"You..." Helan Xiang clenched her fists for a moment before letting them drop. "Go on then, go find him, but you must be careful and keep yourself safe."

Helan Xiang's worry was well-founded. Normally, passenger flights operating such routes utilized a dual-captain configuration; however, due to the extraordinary circumstances, the flight crew would feature five captains flying simultaneously, every single one of whom possessed extensive high-altitude flight experience.

In the aviation community, an unwritten rule stated that "plateaus have no night flights."

Plateau routes referred to flight paths over regions with elevations exceeding 1,500 meters, while areas above 2,438 meters were designated as high-plateau routes—demanding pilot qualifications several orders of magnitude higher than ordinary routes.

Flying from Jiangcheng to the capital of Country N required not only crossing the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which averaged an altitude of 4,000 meters, but also soaring past Mount Everest, the world's highest peak at 8,844 meters.

The difficulty of navigating this route ranked at the absolute apex of high-plateau flying.

Due to extreme hazard, this route had never once recorded a night flight in its history.

At nine-thirty in the evening, the flight crew assembled, and led by the pilot-in-command, the queue of captains boarded the aircraft in sequence.

Helan Xiang followed them all the way to the boarding stairs, still gripping Ruan Suxian's hand in parting instruction. "Please, you must prioritize your safety. High-plateau night flying doesn't allow a single second of distraction."

"Mm," Ruan Suxian nodded. "Mom, don't worry, I'll bring him back home safely with me."

Before stepping through the cabin door, Ruan Suxian paused to gaze upward at the thick, heavy drapery of the night sky.

The moon was bright and stars sparse; the night sky stretched out boundless and infinite.

Even across a four-thousand-meter plateau and past the nine-thousand-meter peak of Everest, flying through a high-plateau night, I am coming to find you.

Three and a half hours later, the aircraft touched down at the capital airport of Country N.

The tarmac of the airport, situated far from the city center, lay in absolute silence, though the heavy wind seemed to carry the distant cries of mourning from the ruins.

Ruan Suxian was the only captain who stepped out of the cockpit.

While the flight attendants busied themselves inside the cabin, she stood by the doorway looking out toward the terminal building.

Down below the wing, a local ground crew member stood with his hands clasped behind his back, pacing in a circle with a seemingly cheerful disposition as he babbled a long stream of words at Ruan Suxian.

Not understanding a single syllable, Ruan Suxian stared ahead unblinking. "My husband's this country, I'm here pick him up."

Whether the ground worker understood her or not, he continued gesturing wildly with his hands as he spoke.

How much time passed she couldn't be sure; waves of people trickled out of the airport terminal before Ruan Suxian finally caught sight of a familiar figure emerging from the exit.

Fu Mingyu had no idea which flight crew had been dispatched for today's mission.

At that moment, his sole desire was to get home as quickly as possible.

Someone was waiting for him there—someone who was likely burning with anxiety and losing sleep over worry.

Walking briskly toward the tarmac, Bai Yang and the others trailing behind him mirrored his anxious urgency, their footsteps heavy.

As they approached the boarding stairs, Fu Mingyu's strides abruptly halted.

He raised his head and saw the person standing at the cabin threshold.

At first, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him; beneath the dim, hazy veil of night, her face seemed almost unreal, her eyes shimmering with a layer of moisture.

Until she spoke.

The surrounding wind howled in silence, dust choked the air, and the harrowing fortune of surviving death intertwined with the despair of utter ruin across the nation's atmosphere, weaving a dense web that enveloped everyone and pressed down until breathing felt suffocated.

Yet her voice shattered that web in an instant.

For the very first time, Fu Mingyu heard a trace of aggrieved vulnerability in her choked voice.

"Husband, I'm here to take you home."