The bright overhead lights shone down intensely, making everyone’s faces appear ghastly pale.

Only now did they react, standing up one after another with exchanged glances.

Jiang Ziyue was still in a daze when Yue Chen yanked her up. She stumbled, bracing her hand on the table, her face ashen, lips gradually losing their color.

Outside the private room was exceptionally noisy, with a clamor of voices and the lingering scent of food and wine, which made the already silent atmosphere inside even more suffocating.

After a long while, no one spoke. There wasn’t even the sound of clothing rustling.

Lin Hongji still held his wine glass awkwardly, his mouth opening and closing. Finally, he uttered two words: “Mr. Fu…”

Fu Mingyu, who had been leaning over Ruan Sixian with one hand on the table, raised his eyelids at these words and gave Lin Hongji a cold look, immediately silencing him.

The air pressure in the room dropped even lower.

Ruan Sixian, who had remained silent since Fu Mingyu’s statement, suddenly grabbed her bag and stood up. With her head lowered, she pushed away Fu Mingyu’s hand and walked toward the door.

As she passed the table near the door, those who had been discussing her earlier collectively stepped back, afraid to get close to her.

But when Ruan Sixian reached the doorway, she suddenly turned back and said softly, “Captain Lin, I… I didn’t mean for your birthday to turn out like this. I’m sorry.”

Lin Hongji was almost in tears—don’t bring me into this, it really has nothing to do with me.

As Ruan Sixian walked out the door, everyone’s gazes lingered.

How had Ruan Sixian’s demeanor suddenly become so subdued? Her voice had become tiny and soft, and if they hadn’t misunderstood, weren’t her ears red?

Was she playing the vulnerable card in front of Mr. Fu?

Fu Mingyu didn’t immediately follow her out. The hand Ruan Sixian had pushed away hung at his side. He rotated his wrist, then looked up at the people at the table with inscrutable emotion in his eyes.

“Did you see that?”

No one understood what he meant by this question. It felt like someone had gripped a string in their brains, pulling it so tight that their jaws locked.

Then, with Fu Mingyu’s next sentence, the string suddenly snapped.

“So this is how you all make things more difficult for me?”

—Although there was a hint of resignation in his tone, it was more clearly a warning.

Just now, when Ruan Sixian was present, there had been some gentleness in his voice. But when he said this, his tone and expression were extraordinarily calm—a calmness devoid of warmth, like the deep sea before a storm, with undercurrents of massive waves.

Fu Mingyu left after dropping only this sentence, turning to leave.

Lin Hongji wanted to go after him to say something, but firstly, his legs wouldn’t move, and secondly, he didn’t know what to say.

The private room fell once again into a deathly silence.

What broke this standoff was a comment from the table at the far edge.

—”Ruan Sixian has such a bad temper.”

Everyone awoke as if from a dream and turned to look at Ni Tong.

Ni Tong was still in a state of shock, her eyes bewildered. “What’s going on? So it’s Mr. Fu pursuing her?”

She felt like an idiot, having once taught Ruan Sixian how to pursue men.

Once she spoke, others naturally joined in.

“Damn… I thought she was just clinging to him for a casual relationship, but it’s like this. Now what do we do…”

“What should we do? Did she hear what we were saying just now?”

“Fuck, I was hoping to be promoted to chief attendant this year. Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“Who started this unfounded rumor anyway? Spreading it everywhere without checking the facts. Now we’re all going down together.”

Amidst the commotion, Jiang Ziyue tightly pursed her lips, her nails digging into her palms, her breath escaping in thin streams.

Suddenly, Yue Chen grabbed the wine glass in front of him and smashed it on the floor with a loud “bang,” and the private room fell silent again.

Glass shards bounced onto Jiang Ziyue’s foot. She abruptly looked up, staring at Yue Chen in disbelief, her expression nearly breaking.

“Happy now?” Yue Chen’s face was flushed red, extending to his neck, with veins bulging on his forehead. “When I told you to shut up, you didn’t hear? Do you think you’re the only one with a mouth?”

Jiang Ziyue’s eyes were practically bloodshot as she shrieked, “Are you even a man?! At worst, I’ll resign. Why should I be afraid of her?!”

“You!” Yue Chen was so angry that he raised his hand, but just as it reached above his head, those around him rushed to stop him. In that instant, he regained his senses and his hand came down heavily, knocking over a nearby stool. “If you want to leave, go by yourself. Don’t fucking drag me down with you!”

Yue Chen and other pilots like him were different from Ruan Sixian.

Ruan Sixian wasn’t trained by the airline; her contract was more flexible. But pilots like Yue Chen had been selected in high school and immediately signed with the airline for targeted training. The exorbitant training costs were all covered by the airline, so their contracts were extremely rigid, with almost no possibility of changing jobs.

Even if they wanted to forcibly change jobs, the breach of contract penalty would leave them bankrupt.

Now that Jiang Ziyue had offended the boss, it was likely to implicate Yue Chen.

The company couldn’t be changed; they could only be at the mercy of others.

At the very least, all future flights might be scheduled for short routes, with several segments each day at the home base. The proportion of the most tiring takeoff and landing times would drastically increase in total flight hours.

Or a word could be said to air traffic control, and during flow control, all his flights would be delayed. He would be stuck in the cockpit, and without takeoff, there would be no hourly pay.

More severely, some pretext could be found to demote him to co-pilot, or if things got really bad, he might become a lifelong co-pilot.

The more Yue Chen thought about it, the more fearful he became. Seeing how gentle and soft-spoken Fu Mingyu had been with Ruan Sixian, he could do these things.

He knew very well what a man could do for a woman he loved.

Especially when that man was in a high position with power and influence, there was too much he could do.

If Yue Chen could think of these possibilities, how could the other pilots not? They all began to worry about their careers.

At this moment, Ni Tong broke the deadlock again.

First, she joined in the apprehension, then calmed down and said, “It should be fine…right?”

All eyes turned to her. The spotlight was too bright, and she took a step back, trembling as she said, “I had… you know… some unpleasantness with her before, but she didn’t do anything to… to me…”

Was Ruan Sixian the focus now?

The focus was Mr. Fu!

No one bothered with Ni Tong and returned to worrying about their futures.

Meanwhile, the situation on the other side wasn’t looking good either.

When Fu Mingyu walked out, Ruan Sixian was walking rapidly away, clutching her bag.

“Ruan Sixian.”

Fu Mingyu called out once from behind. Seeing that she didn’t stop, he took two or three long strides and grabbed her wrist.

“You…”

Before he could finish, Fu Mingyu’s voice halted.

He lowered his head to look at Ruan Sixian’s face.

Ruan Sixian kept her head down. When she noticed his movement, she violently shook off his hand and continued walking.

Dog of a man.

Stinking dog of a man.

After mentally cursing a few times, Ruan Sixian’s wrist was seized again.

She turned and struggled, “Let go of me.”

Unable to free herself, she could only look up and glare at him.

“I’ll handle this,” Fu Mingyu said. “There won’t be any more rumors like this in the future. Will you calm down first?”

She continued to glare at Fu Mingyu without speaking.

What was on her mind wasn’t that issue at all.

Fu Mingyu: “Get in the car first. I’ll take you home. It’s going to rain soon.”

After saying this, he looked back. The driver had been slowly following them with the car and was now parked at the curb where they stood.

Taking advantage of his distraction, Ruan Sixian freed her hand and slapped him on the back.

Fu Mingyu assumed she was still angry about the rumors. He turned and gripped her shoulders, saying seriously, “I said, I would give you an explanation for this matter.”

In the streetlight, Fu Mingyu could now see that Ruan Sixian’s face was as red as a ripe apple, with the blush faintly extending down to her fair neck.

They stood there staring at each other, neither speaking first.

After about ten seconds, Ruan Sixian suddenly gave his shoulder another slap.

The force wasn’t heavy, but it wasn’t light either—it carried emotion.

Fu Mingyu frowned, taking a deep breath, feeling his patience gradually eroding.

“Say something,” he lowered his eyelids. “Do you need to slap me one more time to feel better?”

Ruan Sixian clenched her fist.

Although she didn’t know how she looked right now, she felt as if everything above her neck was enveloped in self-generated heat.

In short, she felt her face must be completely red.

“Give me your face.”

Fu Mingyu naturally wouldn’t offer his face.

He just looked at Ruan Sixian, his pitch-black eyes inscrutable.

After another moment of silent staring, just like before, Ruan Sixian suddenly reached out, her palm touching Fu Mingyu’s cheek, pushing his face to the side.

“Why did you have to say those things there?!”

After dropping these words, she immediately walked toward the curb quickly opened the car door, and got in.

This “slap” felt like a cat’s paw—soft and gentle.

With the warmth of Ruan Sixian’s palm still lingering on his cheek, Fu Mingyu brushed his hand over it and saw Ruan Sixian’s faint profile through the car window.

A moment later, he lowered his head and smiled, then turned to get into the car.

The driver silently drove toward Mingchen.

The back seat was spacious. Fu Mingyu crossed his legs and unbuttoned his cuffs, glancing sideways at Ruan Sixian.

Ruan Sixian was squeezed into the far corner, facing the window, but she noticed Fu Mingyu looking at her in the reflection.

“What’s wrong?”

?!

How dare you ask?!

Ruan Sixian wanted nothing more than to kick him out of the car.

Do you think I won’t feel embarrassed just because I usually seem so fierce?

Suddenly saying “Didn’t you tell them that I’m the one pursuing you?” in front of so many people, all colleagues—is that something a decent person would do?

Although she knew Fu Mingyu was interested in her, saying such things in private was one thing, but announcing it publicly was like a grand declaration of love.

What woman wouldn’t be embarrassed?!

Ever since Fu Mingyu had said those words in the private room, Ruan Sixian’s chest had swelled with emotion, and her entire face had started to heat up.

She hadn’t felt this emotional even when arguing with Jiang Ziyue.

And this dog of a man was perfectly composed, asking her “What’s wrong?” as if nothing had happened.

After taking a deep breath, Ruan Sixian calmed down. Just as she was about to speak calmly, he spoke again: “I was serious about what I said today.”

Ruan Sixian: “…”

Although there was a whole empty seat between them, Ruan Sixian felt as if the space around her was extremely cramped, with Fu Mingyu’s presence surrounding her.

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Fu Mingyu tilted his head to look at her blushing face, finding it amusing. “Does that mean you agree?”

“Agree? Don’t be so confident.” Ruan Sixian lifted her chin as if she’d heard a joke, snorting coldly. “Just try it. If you succeed in pursuing me, I’ll take your surname.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Ruan Sixian suddenly choked, her mind buzzing numbly.

The driver in the front suddenly coughed, though it wasn’t clear if he was laughing at her.

Damn…

Ruan Sixian closed her eyes in regret.

Had her brain been fried today, or had her wits all hidden out of embarrassment? How could she say something so stupid?

She had successfully added another layer of embarrassment for herself.

“You’re right. If I succeed, of course…”

“Fu Mingyu, shut up!”