Su Qingsang first heard the heavy breathing in the room before waking up fully.
She raised her head. She couldn’t see Huo Jinyao’s face in the darkness but could feel that he was breathing hard.
When she raised a hand to turn on the light, she found Huo Jinyao’s forehead covered in sweat.
She had never seen him like that before.
“Jinyao? Huo Jinyao?”
He didn’t respond to her. His eyebrows were knitted into a deep frown, and his cheeks were strangely red. More and more sweat formed on his forehead.
Su Qingsang could tell that Huo Jinyao was stuck in a very bad nightmare at the moment.
She patted his cheek with her palm. Huo Jinyao paused briefly but soon furrowed his eyebrows again.
“Huo Jinyao?” Su Qingsang called his name again, finding him showing no sign of waking up at all.
She leaned towards him, held his face with both hands and kissed his lips hard.
At first, Huo Jinyao’s body tightened. However, slowly, he relaxed and stopped sweating. Then he finally woke up.
He was stunned for a moment as he opened his eyes to find what Su Qingsang was doing to him.
“Are you awake?”
It was the very first time Su Qingsang saw Huo Jinyao like that. She was really worried. “Are you okay?”
Huo Jinyao blinked his eyes, thinking about the nightmare he was having. “Did I scare you?” he asked Su Qingsang as he put his arms around her.
“No,” replied Su Qingsang. She was still worried about him. She propped up her own body and looked at his face. His forehead was still moist, so she reached out, fetched the tissue from the nightstand to wipe the sweat off his forehead.
Huo Jinyao didn’t interrupt her movement. He looked at her pretty face which was so close to him, then abruptly turned around and lay on top of her.
Next, he lowered his head to kiss her lips more deeply, not as gently as the way she had kissed him before.
His kiss was passionate, aggressive and long.
For a long time, Su Qingsang hadn’t seen Huo Jinyao burst into a passion like that.
She closed her eyes and let him do whatever he wanted, feeling him fill her body and merge as one with her.
He was never so crazy. She responded to him by putting her arms around his waist and allowing him to free himself even further.
When it was over, both of them were sweating profusely. Su Qingsang didn’t go for a shower immediately, though.
He was still lying on her, while her hands were still on his back.
“Are you okay now?”
Su Qingsang sounded a little worried. Huo Jinyao stayed silent and buried his head in Su Qingsang’s neck.
She sensed his breath blow across her neck, which made her feel slightly itchy and hot.
He wasn’t saying anything, and she didn’t urge him to. Without thinking much, she gently stroked his sweaty back with both hands.
Slowly, she patted his back as if comforting a child.
Huo Jinyao closed his eyes, took a deep breath and said, “I’m fine.”
What could possibly happen to him? It was all in the past already. He wasn’t a child anymore. He had grown up.
Su Qingsang moved her lips slightly, wanting to ask him what on earth had happened and what he had dreamt about.
But in the end, she asked no questions. All she did was gently pat his back until she grew tired and fell asleep.
After that, Huo Jinyao propped up his body. He looked at her cheeks which had grown scarlet because of what had happened earlier.
He dropped his head and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.
Then, he carefully turned around and held her in his arms. He found a more comfortable posture for her to have a better sleep.
He stopped thinking about that nightmare and the ferocious face that had appeared. For the rest of the night, he didn’t dream again.
Su Qingsang observed Huo Jinyao for the next few nights. She didn’t find him having a nightmare again.
Of course, she might have fallen asleep and missed Huo Jinyao’s nightmare. After all, she slept well most of the time. She had no way of knowing about it even if he did have a nightmare again because she slept rather deeply almost every night.
But ever since that night, Su Qingsang never asked Huo Jinyao another question about the nightmare he had.
After returning to the apartment in town, Huo Jinyao became very busy. The number of times he attended work dinners recently had grown three times more than before.
He sometimes invited Su Qingsang to go with him, but Su Qingsang didn’t like work dinners most of the time. Huo Jinyao never forced her. If she refused to go, he would invite Yang Wenchang.
Su Qingsang was still curious about Huo Jinyao’s nightmare. She had a hunch that it had something to do with Liu Tongjia.
Why did Liu Tongjia not like Huo Jinyao? Why did Huo Jinyao have that nightmare? She believed that the two things had to be connected.
Huo Mingguang and his wife must know the answer, but they would never tell it to Su Qingsang.
Su Qingsang thought of someone who might give her the answer—Old Master Huo. Perhaps, she could talk to him about it on Friday when she returned to the family house again.
…
Su Qingsang and Huo Jinyao were surprised when they walked into the living room.
Old Master Huo wasn’t there, and neither was Huo Mingguang. Huo Mingmei, Huo Mingliang and their families who would usually be there, were absent as well.
Sitting on the sofa, were Liu Tongjia, Li Wanyu, and He Xuanyao.
He Xuanyao was a very smart girl. She was well aware that Huo Jinyao didn’t like her. He had given her a cold-shoulder a few times before.
However, she was tempted by what Liu Tongjia had said. She couldn’t help but want to come into the Huo Family to earn an opportunity for herself. Still, she was worried that Huo Jinyao might embarrass her like he did the last time.
Therefore, she invited Li Wanyu along with her. Li Wanyu was Li Junsheng’s sister and her cousin. They had a good relationship.
More importantly, Huo Jinyao and Li Junsheng were good friends. Huo Jinyao might not respect her but he certainly did respect Li Junsheng.
Nevertheless, that was only what He Xuanyao believed. Huo Jinyao would surely show respect to Li Junsheng indeed, as long as Li Wanyu didn’t try to cause any trouble.
“Jinyao.”
Li Wanyu stood up when she saw Huo Jinyao. She had no special feelings for Huo Jinyao and only saw him as a big brother.
She knew that he was married, but not to Xu Ruoli or He Xuanyao. That made her feel a little uncomfortable.
In her eyes, only the rich girls from Rong City were good enough for Huo Jinyao. Su Qingsang was someone who showed up in Huo Jinyao’s life suddenly. Who could tell what kind of person she was?
She had turned Huo Jinyao into her husband so effortlessly.
He Xuanyao used to visit the Huo Family very often. Everyone knew that Liu Tongjia liked her and wanted to be her mother-in-law. However, in the end, a girl from another city ended up marrying Huo Jinyao, turning He Xuanyao into a joke in Rong City.
So this time, when He Xuanyao told her about what Liu Tongjia wanted and invited her to come to the Huo Family house together, she agreed without even thinking twice.
Last time, Huo Jinyao had embarrassed He Xuanyao and herself in front of Su Qingsang. Ever since, they had both been looking forward to a chance to watch Su Qingsang fall into embarrassment.
With that thought, Li Wanyu couldn’t fully conceal her attitude when she looked at Su Qingsang.
‘She probably doesn’t know how much Liu Tongjia hates her yet, she thought to herself. ‘Maybe she thought that as long as she married Huo Jinyao, she’ll always be the daughter-in-law of the Huo Family.’
‘How naive.’
