âDonât you believe me?â
âI do.â
Su Peizhen examined Huo Yifanâs face closely. He was good-looking and more importantly, she liked the hunger and ambition in his eyes.
âBut, I feel that youâll very likely become mine by the end.â
âIs that so? Letâs wait and see then.â Huo Yifan was growing more and more attracted to Su Peizhen.
âSure.â
Su Peizhen smiled brightly. She was so excited about what was to happen.
âSu Qingsang, all you need to do is rely on the Huo family. Is that it? Iâm going to show you that youâre not the only one who can marry into the Huo family. I can do that too,â she thought.
She wondered what the Huo family would be like with them both in it.
âIâm looking forward to that day.â
...
âAchoo!â
Su Qingsang sneezed. She was currently seated in the living room, spending time on Weibo, and had just finished eating dinner.
âAre you feeling unwell?â Sitting by her side, Huo Jinyao raised his head to look at her and asked, âDid you catch a cold?â
âI donât think so,â Su Qingsang said as she rubbed her nose. She didnât know what had made her sneeze.
âNo? I think you may have caught a cold from before when you were looking after me.â
Huo Jinyao looked at Su Qingsangâs face. No sign of illness was visible. Nonetheless he continued, âMaybe you should take the day off tomorrow and rest at home.â
âDonât be so dramatic.â Su Qingsang glanced at him and added, âI think it must be because my mom is missing me. Iâll call her later. Iâm fine. Why should I take a day off?â
Seeing the concern in Huo Jinyaoâs eyes, Su Qingsangâs face grew serious and she went on to say, âDonât always treat me like Iâm a china doll. Iâm strong. Remember how the last time you got ill, I spent days looking after you? And sleeping in the same bed as you? But nothing happened to me. Right?ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Huo Jinyao abruptly leaned toward her to ask, âDarling, are you claiming credit?â
âAm I not allowed to do that?â
Su Qingsang raised her brows as she joked with him.
She hadnât asked Huo Jinyao any questions about Liu Tongjia since the last time. Huo Jinyao didnât want to discuss it, and she knew better than to push him.
She hadnât talked to Old Master Huo about that either, because another possibility had occurred to her.
What if what Liu Tongjia had said really had happened?
Why had Huo Jinyao been suffering nightmares after all these years? He had only been twelve when the accident happened after all.
It was understandable that he might have done or said something wrong under that kind of duress if only to try and save his own life, wasnât it?
Maybe Old Master Huo knew about the truth. Perhaps he just didnât want to lose another grandson. He had already lost one grandson, and a granddaughter.
Su Qingsang thought it through, and with those concerns, sheâd decided not to ask any questions about what had happened in the past.
She believed that no matter what kind of choices Huo Jinyao had made in that situation, it was understandable and it could be forgiven. He was just a child back then, after all.
She understood Liu Tongjiaâs obsessions as well. So she decided not to dig any further into it.
As she looked at Huo Jinyao, she stopped thinking about it. She told herself that she would never bring it up, no matter what happened.
Huo Jinyao never mentioned it either.
Without talking about the past, the two of them somehow grew even closer.
Huo Jinyao put his mouth near Su Qingsangâs ear and whispered, âSo darling, how exactly do you want me to thank you?â
Feeling his breath on her neck, Su Qingsang twitched away.
Honestly, she could never resist it when Huo Jinyao moved to seduce her. Especially when he whispered to her in that sexy voice of his.
âGet away from me.â
âI donât think thatâs likely to happen.â Huo Jinyao put an arm around her waist and said, âIâm so lucky to have such a wonderful wife. Iâm going to make sure I stay as close to her as possible. What do you think of that?â
Su Qingsangâs face reddened. She put both hands against Huo Jinyaoâs chest and chided, âYou havenât gotten over your cold yet.â
âYouâre not worried that I might infect you, are you?â Huo Jinyao said teased, and he kissed her on the lips.
In response to his jesting attitude, Su Qingsang couldnât help but bite his lip.
That only aroused the man. Huo Jinyao lifted her into his lap.
âDarling, I refuse to be blamed for this.â
Saying so, he carried Su Qingsang straight to the bedroom.
...
Later, as Su Qingsang sat in the car, she was feeling flustered. She had no idea what was causing her to feel that way. Reflexively, she pressed a hand to her heart.
âWhatâs wrong? Are you feeling unwell?â
While driving, Huo Jinyao had noticed the sudden change in Su Qingsangâs expression. They were just about to arrive at his familyâs house.
He increased his speed and drove into the parking lot behind the house. After stopping the car, he turned to her in concern.
âItâs not what we joked about earlier, is it? Are you...â He worried that he might have passed her his cold.
âNo,â Su Qingsang shook her head slightly and confessed, âI donât know why, but Iâm a little flustered.â
âFlustered?â
âYeah, like something is about to happen.â
The feeling was incredibly strange. She looked at Huo Jinyao and asked, âDo you think something bad might be about to happen?â
âWhat could possibly happen?â
He had already fired Ding Qing. The people who currently worked for him were all trustworthy.
Huo Yifan had initiated a pretty lucrative project recently, and the contract was about to be signed. He was almost acting like he was now the big boss in the company.
While he was the vice-president of the company now, he seemed to overshadow even Huo Jinyao, who was the actual president.
Huo Jinyao knew exactly what was going on but hadnât said a word about it. The winner would be the one who got the last laugh.
Nothing else mattered.
Su Qingsang had called Li Qianxue yesterday. The business was taking a turn for the better. Li Qianxue hadnât mentioned any concerns.
âNothing. Maybe Iâm just overthinking things. Letâs go.â
Su Qingsang opened the car door as she spoke and the two of them walked into the house together.
Soon after they had entered the house, a Bugatti Veyron pulled into the driveway. The car belonged to Huo Yifan.
The entire family had shown up. Huo Mingguang, Huo Mingliang, Huo Mingmei, and their all families were already in the house.
Su Qingsang and Huo Jinyao werenât the first ones to arrive. By the time they had come in, the others were already seated on the sofa.
Huo Mingmei gave Su Qingsang a fake smile when she saw her. An obvious look of scorn flashed across her eyes but was tamped down after Old Master Huo glared a warning at her.
Wei Simeng and Wei Sihai would not take the initiative to make friends with Su Qingsang. They were closer to Huo Manzi. Specifically, they had taken the side of Huo Mingliang.
Huo Mingliang, his wife Nian Chunya, and their son Huo Yiyang were seated across from them.
Su Qingsang looked at their family but didnât see Huo Yifan. She didnât give much thought to that.
Not all family members could be present for every family meeting.
Su Qingsang greeted her elders one after another. As always, she faced Liu Tongjia with a neutral look.
Liu Tongjia didnât like her and Su Qingsang refused to suck up to her.
Surprisingly, Liu Tongjia didnât act as sourly as she had the last few times theyâd met. However, Su Qingsang could tell that she was even unhappier than usual.
She was sitting there, a sullen look on her face as though something terrible had happened to her. Nian Chunya had been trying to talk to her the whole time, but she seemed not to hear her at all.
Huo Mingguang and Liu Tongjia were seated together, but they were about half an arm away from each other. That had never happened before.
Was their marriage in trouble?
She turned to look at Huo Jinyao quizzically. Huo Jinyao responded to her glance, signaling for her to ignore it.
Liu Tongjia was unhappy, as a matter of course. After all, her plans had been ruined.
Ding Qing had been fired and now she had no one else to do the grunt work for her.
She had never given a thought to running the company herself, and so had never inserted her own people into its offices before. She could not ask Huo Miangguang to carry out the plan for her. Even if he had been willing to do something to hurt Huo Jinyao, he would still take the big picture into consideration first.
Huo Jinyao hadnât done much. All he had done was send someone to partially reveal Qiao Hongâs case to Huo Mingguang.
Huo Mingguang loved Liu Tongjia deeply and had been very tolerant toward her, so much so that he never even tried to stop her from hurting Huo Jinyao.
However that didnât mean he would stand by and watch as Liu Tongjia acted so ridiculously. She had made no plans for Qiao Hong to sell the confidential data, even though he had made a threat to Huo Jinyao that he would do so. Nevertheless, unforeseen things could happen. What if Qiao Hong turned out to be unreliable? What if he decided to sell that data to a rival company?
This time Huo Mingguang refused to help Liu Tongjia. He lost his temper in front of her and it took a great effort to control his anger.
Huo Mingguang wasnât planning on forgiving her so easily.
The others around them could sense the tense atmosphere between the two.
Su Qingsang decided not to overthink it, as Huo Jinyao had indicated she should just ignore it.
The two of them sat down near Old Master Huo. The seat next to Old Master Huo was empty; it was being saved for Huo Jinyao.
He and Su Qingsang took the seats next to Old Master Huo. The others were accustomed to it but unlike them, Huo Manzi had obvious jealousy in her eyes.
Huo Jinyao wasnât Old Master Huoâs only grandchild, so why did Old Master Huo love him and him alone?
Huo Manzi believed that her two brothers had contributed to the company just as much as Huo Jinyao had.
Huo Jinyao had long since gotten used to the way his family always looked at him. He talked to Old Master Huo, ignoring the others.
Su Qingsang sat next to him, occasionally joining in the conversation.
Before long Mr. Cheng came in to inform people that Huo Yifan had arrived.
Huo Yifan had shown up later than usual.
Su Qingsang had not formed a good impression of him. She was seated near the door, so upon hearing Mr. Chengâs words, she politely turned to face the entrance.
âIâm sorry Iâm late,â Huo Yifan apologized with a smirk.
âI apologize, I should have come earlier, but today is a special day. I have someone I want Grandpa to meet. I went to pick her up and that cost me some extra time on the road. Grandpa, please forgive me.â
He had been holding someoneâs hand and shielding her with his body. Then he led her into the living room.
At first Su Qingsang wasnât able to get a good look at the other person.
âYou want me to meet someone?â Old Master Huoâs curiosity was aroused. He glanced at Huo Yifan and asked, âIs she your girlfriend? The one you talked about last time?â