Huo Yao and Huo Xiang left Old Mr. Yi’s restaurant after dinner. By the time they reached home, it was already past 10:00 pm.
Song Ning and Huo Jinyan had already retired to their room.
Only Huo Tingrui sat in the living room. The moment he saw them, he looked at them with a distinct look of resentment. “About time you came back.”
He sounded very angry.
Huo Yao glanced at him coolly.
Huo Tingrui was flabbergasted. “!”
How dare she give him attitude when she was the one who came home late?
“Brother Tingrui, we simply went out for dinner,” explained Huo Xiang.
Huo Tingrui scoffed sarcastically. “Does our home food taste bad?”
Huo Xiang said nothing. Based on his observation, he had a keen grasp of Huo Tingrui’s sense of dark humor and how he would secretly sabotage others when he became jealous.
“Oh yes. Xiang, what’s going on online?” Huo Tingrui stopped arguing, and a solemn look emerged on his sophisticated face.
Huo Xiang pursed his lips gently before he explained in a calm voice. “Someone slandered me.”
Huo Yao poured herself a glass of water. She leaned against the kitchen cabinet with her eyes narrowed.
Huo Tingrui frowned and said, “I already told someone to draft a legal notice, so don’t worry.”
Since he knew his little brother best. It was sheer nonsense that he would steal his bandmate’s work.
“Thanks, Brother Tingrui.”
Huo Tingrui waved his hand and asked him. “How did your song land up in his hands in the first place? Did your assistant betray you?”
Huo Xiang thought about the complete audio file that Xiang Nan had in his possession and the preliminary demo which he made just this afternoon. He suddenly exhaled deeply and said, “Nope. The song is still in my hands.”
Huo Tingrui was puzzled. “Then, where did the online version come from?”
Huo Xiang shook his head. “I don’t know, either. In reality, I only completed the song this afternoon, and no one was there at that time. However, the audio file Xiang Nan posted online yesterday is almost identical. It’s simply mind-boggling.”
Huo Tingrui frowned. “Do you mean he happened to compose an identical song?”
“Maybe. Or else, there’s no way to explain why both songs are the same.” Although Huo Xiang found it inconceivable, it was the truth.
“If they are identical, things might get tougher. But it doesn’t matter since a fake is a fake.” Huo Tingrui had never lost a case before.
If they sent the song for professional appraisal and took it apart for analysis, they were bound to find some loophole.
The process simply needed more time.
“I’m certain that Xiang Nan is incapable of writing my song. Even if he possessed the unfinished version of the song, it’s impossible for it to end up identical to mine,” said Huo Xiang firmly.
Since everyone’s songwriting style was different, it could not be easily imitated.
Huo Tingrui nodded. “I trust you.”
Huo Yao listened to them quietly. After she finished drinking water, she stood up and said, “Brother Tingrui, Brother Xiang, have an early night. I’m going upstairs.”
Huo Yao went back to her bedroom.
She turned on her laptop and typed on the keyboard rapidly. A few minutes later, Huo Yao closed her laptop. She stood up to retrieve her pajamas from her closet and walked into the bathroom.
*
A post entitled, ‘Here Is the Truth You Have Been Waiting For’, flooded all online platforms to become the top search late at night. The servers were paralyzed, and network engineers were pulled out of their beds in the middle of the night to restore them.
