Blossom through the Cloud - Extra Chapter 6
Extra Chapter 6
Other people's children started calling out "Mama" and "Dada" as early as seven or eight months old, and a little later at ten months they could already form sounds, yet Little Guangzhi had passed her first birthday and still rarely spoke. Even a family as famously unflappable as the Fu household began to grow anxious and requested a doctor's consultation.
However, the pediatrician took it all in stride. After the results for her comprehensive functional examinations came back, the doctor explained that language development in young children originates from the left-brain processing system. Some children are naturally born with a more developed right-brain; for instance, since their daughter had learned to walk relatively early, speech would naturally arrive a bit later.
The doctor's words provided immense comfort to the entire family, while also cautioning them not to assume the child understood nothing just because she was silent—saying it was useless. In reality, children absorb whatever is spoken around them, so regular verbal practice was essential.
Since the specialist had put it that way, Ruan Suxian had no reason to remain perpetually anxious; letting nature take its course meant there would eventually be a day when the child finally began speaking.
During this interim period, before the child learned how to introduce herself, Ruan Suxian and Helan Xiang issued absolute, life-or-death ultimatums forbidding Fu Mingyu from ever calling her "Guangzhi" again.
Given that the baby's legal given name was "Dingxin"—derived from the line in the Songs of Chu: "A steadfast mind brings no chaos, and broad aspirations prevent narrowness"—Fu Mingyu didn't feel too aggrieved by the change.
With the nickname "Guangzhi" discarded, Ruan Suxian christened her with a new moniker: "Little Star," which both harmonized distantly with her formal given name and commemorated that unforgettable meteor shower etched into her memory.
Whether Fu Mingyu continued calling her "Guangzhi" in private behind their backs, of course, remained anyone's guess.
The days ticked by amid a backdrop of eager anticipation for Little Star to finally start talking.
Yet when the day of her actual verbal debut finally arrived, Ruan Suxian plunged into a state of profound bewilderment.
It was an utterly ordinary morning. Having accidentally overslept a little, Ruan Suxian groggily made her way toward the nursery. Finding Little Star absent from the room, she glanced down toward the living room and spotted her daughter sitting cross-legged right in the dead center of the sofa, watching television.
Nearby, Aunt Zhang was shaking up a milk bottle while the nursery nanny was neatly folding a small scarf.
Stretching lazily as she stared at the scene, Ruan Suxian felt a wave of absolute contentment wash over her.
Yet right before her arms could drop back down, her daughter turned her head upward, flashed a sweet smile, and spoke: "Babe."
Huh?
Huhh??
Ruan Suxian's hands froze mid-air as she stared down at the eighteen-month-old toddler below, incapable of processing the moment for a long, drawn-out stretch.
Did she just speak?
What was it she actually said?
Was it "Mama"?
Ruan Suxian blinked repeatedly while the little one downstairs waved her tiny hand and cooed in a soft, sweet voice, "Babe, you awake?"
Huh?
Huhh??
If there was ever a definition of "better not to speak until you make a seismic impact," this was it.
While other infants might start off with single syllables at a few months old yet struggle to form a proper subject-verb-object sentence even past a year of age, her daughter came right out of the gate dropping a massive bombshell?
Yet just as a surge of delight washed over Ruan Suxian, a realization abruptly struck her.
That phrase sounded awfully familiar. In fact, it sounded like something she had heard just yesterday morning.
With that thought, Ruan Suxian stood paralyzed upstairs, while the two nannies nearby stared at Little Star with matching jaws dropped in utter shock.
After a long pause, Aunt Zhang asked in bewilderment, "Where on earth did she pick that up?"
The professional nursery nanny beside her cast a quiet, meaningful side-glance up toward the upper floor.
Catching that wave of telepathic implication, Ruan Suxian turned around with a deadpan expression and strode toward the bathroom.
Fu Mingyu was leaning forward with one hand braced against the vanity, chin tilted upward as he used a towel to wipe away the lingering foam along his jawline.
Having just finished showering, the warm vapor hadn't completely cleared from the bathroom yet. Beneath the warm, amber lighting, his deep, resonant voice filtered softly through the ambient sound of running water.
"Babe, you awake?"
Ruan Suxian: "......"
Her grip on her toothbrush faltered for a second as she lowered her head and kept completely silent.
"What's wrong?" Fu Mingyu turned around, leaning his back against the vanity counter with his long legs crossed, watching Ruan Suxian brush her teeth with amused curiosity. "Who pissed you off?"
"You."
"What did I do this time?"
With a toothbrush wedged firmly in her mouth, any words Ruan Suxian managed to force out depended entirely on Fu Mingyu's ability to decipher her mumbling.
"You go out and take a look at your daughter yourself."
Anyway, right now she simply lacked the courage to face the two elderly nannies downstairs.
Straightening up, Fu Mingyu leaned in close behind Ruan Suxian, resting his chin against the nape of her neck as he watched their reflections in the mirror.
"Let's hold off on that for now. Since we both happen to have free time today, want to head over to Nan'ao later?"
"!"
With her mouth too full of foam to articulate words, Ruan Suxian kicked backward and gave his shin a sharp stomp.
Utterly baffled, Fu Mingyu knitted his brows and let out a light "tsk," casually wiping the foam from the corner of her mouth with his thumb before turning around to head out.
Their daughter was sitting quietly in the living room watching cartoons.
Picking her up to tease her for a moment, Fu Mingyu positioned her with her feet planted atop his thighs while supporting her by the shoulders.
"Guangzhi, what's wrong? Did you make Mama mad?"
Just as Ruan Suxian stepped off the staircase and caught that "Guangzhi," she sprinted over with lightning speed and snatched the child straight out of Fu Mingyu's arms.
"Are you out of your mind?! I told you explicitly not to call her Guangzhi!"
Displaying not an ounce of remorse for getting caught, Fu Mingyu accepted the milk bottle handed over by the nanny, tested the temperature on his wrist, and fed his daughter while casually asking, "What's gotten into Little Star today?"
Glancing sideways at the nannies, Ruan Suxian lacked the nerve to spell it out.
"Nothing at all."
From that day onward, Little Star began speaking with increasing frequency. "Mama" and "Dada" rolled off her tongue smoothly, and whenever Ruan Suxian handed her something, she would occasionally add a polite "Thank you, Mama." Yet that opening salvo of "Babe" that had cracked open her golden lips remained a staple in her daily vocabulary.
Every now and then, she would even turn to Fu Mingyu and address him as "Big Brother."
When they were alone it was manageable, but whenever the nannies were lingering within earshot, Ruan Suxian couldn't shake off an overwhelming wave of mortification.
Good grief, it was as if she had given birth to a reincarnated parrot spirit.
Learning that his granddaughter had finally started talking, Fu Bolting rearranged his overseas return schedule in advance, arriving alongside Helan Xiang carrying massive bags filled with gifts to see their granddaughter.
Yet their timing proved unfortunate, as Little Star happened to be napping when they arrived.
Helan Xiang sat beside the crib for a prolonged stretch without getting to hear a single "Grandma" from her granddaughter, leaving her with no choice but to wander over and busy herself organizing the gifts she had brought back.
Meanwhile, after dinner, Fu Bolting strolled over to the bassinet. Just as he leaned in close to admire his granddaughter's tiny nose and mouth, her large eyes snapped wide open.
Overjoyed, Fu Bolting scooped his granddaughter up into his arms, preparing to prompt her to address him properly, only for her to preempt him by chirping out a resounding, crystal-clear "Babe."
She even threw in an adorable, native-sounding retroflex ending.
The sixty-something, stern and unsmiling titan of the aviation finance leasing industry had just been blindsided with the term "Babe," leaving his elderly face flushing somewhat red.
Helan Xiang: "......"
Ruan Suxian: "......"
The culprit behind this vocabulary casually cast a cool, detached side-glance toward them, acting as if completely oblivious to the surrounding awkward atmosphere as she stated with deadpan solemnity: "Little Star, say 'Grandpa'."
Later on, once Little Star had proficiently mastered and differentiated the correct usage of various honorific titles, she even managed to pick up simple complete sentences ahead of her peer group.
How was this discovery made?
Credit for that went entirely to young President Yan.
By then, winter had arrived, and Little Star was approaching her second birthday.
Yan An, representing the Yan family alongside Zheng You'an, dropped by with a collection of small gifts intended for the child.
While he generally held zero interest in toddlers—even nursing a mild aversion to them—watching Zheng You'an amuse herself thoroughly with the child prompted him to drift over and take a token look.
And that single glance proved fatal; his eyes were instantly glued.
Though he loathed admitting it, it turned out that a little girl inheriting Fu Mingyu's facial genetics could actually look remarkably stunning.
Eventually, growing tired of holding her after a long stretch, Zheng You'an turned around and tossed him a sideways glare. "Tired? Here, you hold her for a bit."
It made sense, considering young President Yan had never lifted a finger in his life—how could he possibly know the first thing about holding a baby?
As dusk approached and the couple prepared to head home, Yan An strolled leisurely over to Little Star, lazily twirling a wooden rattle in front of her eyes.
Little Star tracked the movement of the rattle with her pupils for a few rotations, sparking a flicker of genuine interest in Yan An. Bending his noble back, he grabbed her tiny hand, closed her fingers around the rubber mallet, and tried to guide her in playing a game of whack-a-mole.
Remaining perfectly quiet, Little Star allowed Yan An to manipulate her movements, though her face remained completely devoid of excitement.
Satisfied with playing the game himself, Yan An abandoned the console, grabbed an electronic puppy toy, flipped the power switch to let it scurry across the floor, and prepared to set Little Star down to ride it.
Sporting the gentlest smile he had ever directed toward a child, he scooped her up with both hands and lifted her into the air. "Should Uncle take you for a horsie ride?"
Little Star flailed her arms happily in mid-air. Delighted by the reaction, Yan An moved to set her down atop the mechanical puppy.
Yet before he could even release his grip, Little Star opened her mouth.
"Are you out of your mind~"
Yan An: "......?"
The sweet, milky infant vocal timbre did nothing to cushion the lethal blow of that sentence. Watching Yan An's pupils dilate in seismic shock, Zheng You'an could literally see his nascent fondness for children evaporating at a visible rate.
Yan An finally woke up to reality: Fu Mingyu's child was destined to be his child's nemesis, and the gears of fate had been welded firmly shut.
"You guys..." Zheng You'an turned back to stare in stunned disbelief at the couple. "What on earth are you teaching her at home?!"
Hearing the commotion from where he stood, Fu Mingyu naturally caught what happened. Frowning slightly and sparing Ruan Suxian a pointed look, he stepped forward, scooped Little Star up into his arms, and walked over to another corner.
"You cannot say things like that ever again," he lectured the child softly once seated.
After Yan An and his wife departed, Ruan Suxian lingered in place for quite a while, engulfed in a cold sweat of nervous self-reflection.
Nibbling absentmindedly on her finger, she squatted down in front of Fu Mingyu and Little Star, offering a thoroughly unconvincing defense: "Little Star, you mustn't say things like that anymore, you little parrot."
Having already undergone her lecture, Little Star was busy playing with a toy and paid zero attention to Ruan Suxian's words.
Lifting her gaze to cast a guilty, sideways peek at Fu Mingyu, she stammered, "I only slipped up and said that to you once yesterday; I had no idea she'd pick it up this fast."
Following that up with a self-administered vow, she promised, "I won't say it anymore."
"If you want to say it, you're free to." Twirling the rattle to entertain Little Star while keeping his peripheral vision locked on Ruan Suxian, Fu Mingyu replied, "Just make sure you don't say it in front of Guangzhi."
"You really do seem to enjoy getting cursed at..." Halfway through her sentence, Ruan Suxian stalled, her eyes widening. "Fu! Ming! Yu! You called her Guangzhi again! You have—"
Lifting his gaze to sweep a glance her way, Fu Mingyu cut off whatever she was about to say. Drawing a deep breath, Ruan Suxian looked up at him and finished her thought: "...You have lost your mind."
With one seated and one squatting—one smiling while the other scowled in deep frustration—Ruan Suxian cut a thoroughly pitiful figure.
Letting out a dry, sarcastic laugh, Ruan Suxian retorted, "I see how it is. You men really are eternal elementary schoolers; seeing me get pissed off brings you sheer joy."
Leaning forward, Fu Mingyu extended an index finger to lightly brush the tip of Ruan Suxian's nose.
"Don't smile like that, or Little Star's going to pick it up next."
"Then how am I supposed to smile?" Ruan Suxian pulled her lips back into an exaggerated, wide grin. "Like this?"
With a lingering trace of amusement dancing in his eyes, Fu Mingyu reached out, hauled her up into his arms, and pulled her flush against his chest, murmuring softly, "Why are you so adorable?"
Ruan Suxian peeked through a narrow slit between her eyelids to check on her daughter.
Though asking this felt utterly ridiculous, she still lowered her voice to ask, "Am I more adorable, or is your daughter more adorable?"
"You are," Fu Mingyu replied instantly. "You're the mother of the adorable one..."
"Hush! Stop talking!" Ruan Suxian slammed a hand over Fu Mingyu's chin. "Otherwise Little Star's going to pick up this dirty line next."
Fu Mingyu: "......"
Ever since that day, Ruan Suxian strictly refrained from uttering any remarks carrying negative emotional undercurrents in front of her daughter.
She established a personal code of conduct: whenever she felt the urge to say "Are you out of your mind?", she substituted it with "Are you doing alright?"
Whenever she wanted to say "You absolute freak," she swapped it out for "Is everything alright with you?"
Even to prevent Little Star from learning to address Fu Mingyu directly by his full name, whenever emotional turbulence struck, her term of address for him morphed into a deeply gritted-teeth—"Respected Husband."
Whether Little Star would grow up uttering inappropriate things remained to be seen, but to outsiders, the married couple presented a textbook definition of mutual respect resembling guests.
Aside from self-imposed linguistic constraints, Ruan Suxian also laid down a strict mandate for Fu Mingyu.
"You aren't allowed to say 'Oh,' you aren't allowed to say 'Mmm,' no 'tsking' allowed, no 'whatever' allowed—that kind of vagueness gives me decision fatigue. And you're forbidden from just nodding without speaking."
Pausing to catch her breath, Ruan Suxian appended, "If you genuinely have nothing left to say, just tell me 'Wife, I love you,' understand?"
Gazing intently at him, Ruan Suxian waited for him to reply with a compliant "Fine."
After a brief beat, the man opposite her complied: "Wife, I love you."
Ruan Suxian: "......"
Fine, whatever.
The episode regarding Little Star's parrot-like mimicking temporarily drew to a close, and she never repeated any profanities or curses.
Nonetheless, regarding her overall education, Fu Mingyu and Ruan Suxian adopted a remarkably relaxed philosophy, generally letting her explore whatever caught her fancy until she reached past three years of age and was finally enrolled in an early-learning development class.
Since it marked the child's very first time leaving the family unit to spend half a day in an unfamiliar environment, a worried Ruan Suxian and Fu Mingyu cleared their schedules specifically to escort her there themselves.
Yet throughout the entire journey, the little girl remained completely tearless and fuss-free; even when the teacher scooped her up to carry her inside, she turned around to flash them a cheerful smile and wave goodbye.
"Goodbye, Mama and Dada~"
While a sensible child was undoubtedly a blessing, watching her go left Ruan Suxian with a strange, bittersweet ache in her chest.
"Do you think she's going to just up and leave one day without looking back?"
With their child now past three years old, Fu Mingyu had thoroughly settled into his role as a seasoned parent. Clasping Ruan Suxian's hand while gazing into the children's classroom, he murmured, "Children will always have lives of their own. The one who stays by your side forever is me."
A month later, Little Star brought home her very first family homework assignment.
The teacher had distributed a illustrated picture book to every student, instructing them to take it home and learn to identify "mountains, rivers, and streams."
In the picture book, the mountains were colored green, the water blue, and the clouds white.
After casually flipping through two pages, Little Star promptly began dozing off.
They always said you could tell a child's future potential by age three; Ruan Suxian felt as though she could already foresee her daughter's bleak academic prospects as a chronically failing student.
That simply wouldn't do.
Flipping the book back open, she pointed directly at the illustrations and coaxed, "Come on, let's review this with Mama again."
"This is a mountain..."
"Mountain," Little Star repeated obediently, while simultaneously pointing faster than Ruan Suxian toward the river and white clouds depicted on the page. "River, cloud."
Ruan Suxian: "......"
Not only did this child share her father's appearance, she had inherited his stubborn temperament right down to the root.
"Star, let's stop looking at books," Fu Mingyu said, scooping her up into his arms. "Let's go look at real mountains and rivers."
"Yay! Let's go!"
Fu Mingyu cast a sideways look at Ruan Suxian with a raised brow.
Having spent years living side by side, how could Ruan Suxian possibly fail to read his underlying intent?
At that moment, her restlessness outstripped even Little Star's.
Two hours later, the family of three materialized at the Nan'ao General Airport.
That Diamond Star aircraft had been maintained in pristine condition; though they hadn't visited it for months, not a single speck of dust had settled on its surface.
"Star, climb on up." Seated in the pilot's seat, Ruan Suxian beckoned toward Little Star. "Mama's going to help you finish your homework."
The spacious co-pilot seating area accommodated Fu Mingyu and Little Star with absolute perfection.
The aircraft lifted off from the runway threshold, soaring across the open plains and climbing steadily into the sky.
Below the flight path, maple groves blazed like roaring fire, staining the mountain ranges in crimson shades; mist billowed upward as gathering rosy clouds rolled across the sunlit airspace, catching a golden, radiant sheen; while the clear lake shimmered like ten thousand acres of polished lapis lazuli, rippling with bright, dazzling emerald light.
Pressing her face against the window glass, Little Star gazed downward at the boundless, panoramic vista stretching for thousands of miles.
Mountains weren't just green; they could blaze with fiery red.
Clouds weren't confined to a single shade of white—otherwise, why would they be called colorful "cloud-tints"?
Even winding rivers didn't necessarily run strictly blue.
For the very first time, a look of unadulterated excitement lit up Little Star's face as she let out a long gasp of sheer awe.
"Wow..."