Straight to the Clouds [The 1980s]

My next book is a Hong Kong-style story set in the 1990s, *When the Grapes Ripen [1990s]*. Please add it to your collection! The blurb is below this one ↓

[A slow-blooming story about a shy, withdrawn heroine, a cast of pilots, and equal parts plot and romance. Not for readers who only want career development.]

…

“Many years later, I thought again of the afternoon I entered the world of this book.

It was 1978. When I woke up, my mouth tasted like soap. My late predecessor’s aunt was making snide remarks:

‘An orphan dependent on other people, and you still dream of flying?’

I reached into the pocket sewn into my clothes and pulled out a crumpled admission notice from the Air Force Flight Academy.

Back then, I had no idea that so many stories that would make me laugh and cry were about to begin right there.

I met two guys.

One was Fu Yijian, the boy I’d been betrothed to as a child before I called off the engagement. Whenever I was near him, I had incredible luck: finding money, winning prizes, and barely passing exams by the skin of my teeth.

The other was Gu Yunzheng, Fu Yijian’s sworn enemy. Whenever I was near him, it was like I’d been cursed: extra drills, accidents, and even a parachute landing in the middle of nowhere.

Back then, I always felt the plot might swallow me up at any moment. The System said I was a cannon-fodder character who’d wandered into the story. As long as I didn’t interfere with the two male leads’ main plotlines, I could do whatever I wanted.

I decided to change my fate.

In that era, it was almost impossible for a woman to fly a fighter jet.

But I refused to believe that.

The first time I got off the spin chair, I threw up so badly I could barely stand. So I practiced walking backward and doing handstands every day, forcing my vestibular system to adapt. The old propeller planes broke down all the time. At first, I was so scared I couldn’t make a sound. Later, I treated every flight like a free roller-coaster ride.

I was the only woman in my class to make it all the way to the fighter-jet stage.

During a night flight, heavy fog threw me off course and my instruments failed. It was Gu Yunzheng’s voice over the radio that guided me through the clouds.

During an exercise, another plane collided with mine. I handled the emergency calmly, and by the time I landed, my wings were scraped nearly flat. After that battle, people in the combat unit started saying, ‘If you can’t outfly Ling Weiyue, there’s no shame in it.’

On my journey as a pilot, I met the best comrades and lost the friends I loved most. Little by little, I learned how to take off, and gradually, how to say goodbye.

Looking back now, I realize Heaven has treated me well.

It made me take another look at myself and discover potential I never knew I had. It let me experience the beauty and sincerity of friendship, and taste every flavor of love: sweetness, bitterness, and everything in between.”

From the flight log of the Republic’s first female fighter-jet division commander.

[A Little Scene]

Ling Weiyue accepted the honor of being named the first female fighter-jet division commander. A reporter smiled and asked how she and her husband, who also served in the Air Force, acted around each other in private.

She thought for a moment, then smiled.

“My husband and I hug every morning before we leave the house. We never know if it might be our last hug.”

Below the stage, two men in military uniforms both smiled slightly, their eyes meeting briefly across the room.

Fu Yijian: “I never would’ve guessed you were like this in private.”

Gu Yunzheng: “There’s a lot you don’t know.”

…

*Blurb written on May 14, 2026, and saved as a screenshot.

Note:

1. This story takes place in a fictional setting and is entirely made up. Anything that seems implausible is part of the author’s worldbuilding.

2. [Important!] Career, romance, friendship, and family will all get their share of the story. Not for readers who only want career development.

3. The heroine’s story is about growth. She isn’t a saint, a superhero, or Godzilla, so please let her grow stronger at her own pace.

4. The author is a complete novice, but will carefully research the subject. Everything serves the story.

5. She is expected to start flying after around thirty chapters. The early chapters focus on theoretical studies at the flight academy.

6. Gu Yunzheng is the male lead in the romance.

7. Please do not offer unsolicited writing advice.

*The volume title is taken from the song “The Undying Clumsy Bird.”

[Upcoming Book] A wealthy family business-warfare story. Please add it to your collection!

Business battles in the 1990s | Wealthy-family melodrama | Two strong leads playing cat and mouse | Hong Kong drama | Reunion after a breakup

In 1980s and 1990s Hong Kong, Putao, newly arrived from the mainland and with poor Cantonese, is cornered at school and called a “Mainland girl.”

She learned early that tears, shed at just the right moment, could be a knife that killed.

A child who knows how to cry gets the candy.

Zhou Ziheng is the son of Xiao Ting, the woman Putao’s father has always loved. He rarely even looks at her, and when he does, his gaze is cold and indifferent.

But she cries for him anyway, her tears falling like pear blossoms in the rain. She cries until he protects her from bullies and teaches her Cantonese. She cries until he’s convinced she’s a clinging vine that will wither and die without him.

When she was nineteen, she threw intimate photos in front of Xiao Ting. It earned her a stinging slap from her father, and gave her the blade she needed to sever ties with her old family for good.

Later, Putao stopped seeing men as enemies who gave her wounds. She saw them only as ladders she could climb.

She started out as an order clerk pedaling her bicycle between factories, then fought her way through a sea of men, specializing in toys for girls.

In the end, a toy company of her own rose up against the sea breeze of Hong Kong.

When the Putao family fell into infighting and her cousin copied one of her hit products, she sued the Putao company.

Outside the courthouse, Zhou Ziheng leaned down to whisper, “Putao, you cried so convincingly back then. You made a fool of me.”

She smiled. “So I acted that well? You actually believed me?”

He thought she was a pawn he could manipulate at will, never realizing he had long since fallen into her trap.

And the wine Putao had made was no longer waiting for anyone to come and taste it.

Theme: Bloom in adversity and soar into the skies.