Huo Yao headed back to her seat and sat down.
Song Ning was about to ask her daughter who it was when she looked up to see her eldest son walking in. She instantly shut her mouth and glanced at her daughter cautiously.
Huo Yanxi and Huo Yao had been involved in a major conflict previously.
Song Ning coughed dryly before putting down her chopsticks. “Yanxi, what brings you here? Have you had dinner?”
The moment she finished her sentence, Huo Tingrui, Huo Xiang and Huo Jinyan stopped eating and all looked up at Huo Yanxi as he walked in. They reacted just like Song Ning and identical expressions appeared on their faces.
Then they automatically glanced at Huo Yao. They seemed worried that she might feel upset.
Huo Yanxi seemed to feel a little sad when he witnessed this and his throat went even drier with anxiety. After a while, he nodded to Song Ning. “Yes, I have.”
The atmosphere felt awkward and Song Ning did not know what else to say.
It was Huo Tingrui who broke the silence. “Brother Yanxi, why did you come back at this hour? Did you have something to tell us?”
Huo Yanxi did his utmost to make himself sound natural as he spoke. “Uh huh. I saw the news online about Xiang getting injured. Is it true?”
Huo Xiang’s chopsticks nearly fell from his hands.
Since Song Ning was not in the know about Huo Xiang’s situation, she immediately laughed and said, “Nope, he isn’t. Your little brother is perfectly fine.”
Huo Yanxi looked at Huo Xiang. He certainly did not seem hurt like what the rumors seemed to claim, so he could not help feeling relieved. “That’s good.”
Huo Xiang coughed before he hurriedly looked up and said, “It’s all rubbish. It will die down in a few days.”
“Sure.” Huo Yanxi did not go on probing him further.
The dining room went quiet after they ran out of conversation subjects.
Huo Yanxi suddenly felt redundant standing where he was. He inhaled deeply before he smiled forcibly. “Enjoy your dinner.”
Then he headed to the living room. On his way, he went into a daze when he spotted the trophy sitting in the display cabinet as well as the two certificates hanging on the wall.
Huo Yanxi walked over to see that one of them was for coming in champion for the National Quiz Contest while the other was for coming first in a national English oral competition.
Champion of an English oral competition…
Huo Jinyan had just walked over after finishing dinner to see his eldest son looking at the certificates in a daze. He recalled taking a video of his daughter’s contest today, so he reached for his phone.
He unlocked his device and tapped open the short video. He patted Huo Yanxi on the shoulder. “Have a look at this.”
He wanted Huo Yanxi to look at the video and see how impressive his baby sister was, instead of misjudging her blindly all the time.
Huo Yanxi lowered his eyes to watch the video.
He saw how confident and proud she appeared to be as she stood on the stage and spoke English fluently. It seemed as though she was glowing. Anyone could tell how brilliant she was.
Huo Yanxi was stunned. He suddenly recalled laughing at her pretentiousness in his heart when he saw her reading an English book a long time ago .
But look how things turned out? This video seemed to be mocking him for his foolishness.
Huo Yanxi shifted his eyes away before the video finished.
Huo Jinyan raised his hand to pat his eldest son’s shoulder. He did not go on talking. Sometimes, it was best if he figured things out on his own.
***
The next day after school, Huo Yao’s phone kept vibrating nonstop.
