Su Peizhen was seated in a VIP room in a hotel. Sitting on her left were Huo Yifan and his brother Huo Yiyang.
On her right side, there were a few good friends of Huo Yifan and his brother. Their friendship was an interesting story, actually.
Huo Jinyao had a few close friends, including Li Junsheng, Xu Changlong, Wan Xianyang, Cheng Xianyun, and Tang Mohan.
His friend circle was almost fixed and permanent. No other people could enter it, and its members couldn’t bring anyone else into that circle easily.
However, the Li Family, Wan Family, Tang Family, and Xu Family each had more than one boy in their generation.
The cousins of those young men couldn’t get into Huo Jinyao’s friend circle, so understandably, they had become friends with Huo Yifan and Huo Yiyang and formed their social circle.
He Xuankai was present as well. After Huo Jinyao had embarrassed him previously, he found a way to become friends with Huo Yifan.
Huo Jinyao was doing well currently, but who would know when circumstances will change and he’d be brought down?
The others in the room were only there to watch the show. They would never have the guts to do anything to harm the Huo Family.
Su Peizhen raised her glass and took a sip. She acted like a graceful, well-educated rich woman.
She was wearing a small smile, but her pretty face still expressed a slight trace of sadness and worry.
Su Peizhen was spoiled and self-willed, indeed. However, in the past few months, she had changed. She was no longer that unruly rich girl.
She now had a graceful manner that she got from Li Qianxue’s devoted tutoring, and a faint sadness that normal rich girls didn’t have.
A few months ago, Su Peizhen met He Xingxian and initiated contact with an employee in Tianyu Group.
After meeting that guy, she found out something interesting about the Huo Family, by accident.
She found out that as the eldest grandson of Old Master Huo, Huo Jinyao hadn’t received the usual favors from some of his elders like he was supposed to.
She also found out that Huo Jinyao didn’t actually have a grip on the position of ‘President’ in Tianyu Group as firmly as people thought he did.
She had dug out some other things too. The more she knew, she more curious she became to find out even more about their family.
She realized that moving to Rong City had been the right decision. The life in Rong City was much more exciting than in Lin City.
“Peizhen, aren’t you gonna have some wine?”
Huo Yifan looked at Su Peizhen with a flirty look in his eyes. He had met her a few times, and he had to admit that she was his type.
“Why?” Su Peizhen asked. She raised her brows, then turned to Huo Yifan “Mr. Huo, do you think of me as one of those bar girls?”
“How is that possible?” Huo Yifan leaned toward her and put an arm around her waist. He said, “I like you, so I want to have some wine with you. Is that reason not good enough?”
“It is,” Su Peizhen said, smiling. She raised the glass, put it near Huo Yifan, and said, “To your good taste.”
Huo Yifan grinned, gently hit his glass with Su Peizhen’s, and said, “I find that I’m growing rather fond of you.”
“Thank you.” Su Peizhen emptied her glass. Then, she turned up the corners of her lips in a faint smile, proudly.
She still had her charm. Only blind people like Qiu Yanbo and Huo Jinyao would have their eyes on Su Qingsang instead of her.
Huo Yifan undoubtedly had much better taste than the others.
“Mr. Huo, how about we play an exciting game?”
Upon hearing her words, Huo Yifan, Huo Yiyang, and the others immediately fixed their eyes on her.
Su Peizhen enjoyed the attention. Huo Yifan looked at her face and held her waist with a greater grip. He asked, “how exciting will it be?”
“Let’s make a bet.”
“On what?”
“I bet that you’ll fall in love with me in a month.” Su Peizhen gently poked Huo Yifan’s chest with a finger while she said that.
She knew how to make herself look as pretty and seductive as possible.
She had practiced this exact moment in front of the mirror countless times.
Huo Yifan smiled, and so did the others. Su Peizhen lifted her body slightly and comfortably sat on his laps.
“Are you scared to bet with me?”
“We don’t need to bet.” Huo Yifan picked up her hand and kissed it. He said, “I’m already falling in love with you.”
“You are?”
“Of course,” Huo Yifan replied. “I lose. There, I have admitted it. What do you want now?”
Su Peizhen shook her head and said, “Mr. Huo, you don’t need to lie to me. You’re not in love with me.”
“How do you know? You’re not me.”
“Of course I know. When a man looks at the woman he loves, there’ll be something different in his eyes.”
Su Peizhen drew a circle on Huo Jinyao’s chest with her finger while speaking. “I don’t mind waiting. I’m confident that you’ll fall in love with me in a month.”
Looking into Su Peizhen’s engaging eyes, Huo Yifan couldn’t help but try and kiss her.
However, she stood up and quickly freed herself from his arms. She said, “Mr. Huo, I think that before you fell in love with me, we should keep our relationship a mystery.”
While speaking, she picked up her purse which was on the sofa.
“Mr. Huo, Mr. Huo, Mr. He, Mr. Wan, Mr. Tang, excuse me, but I have to go home. I hope we’ll have a chance to meet again.”
She waved at those people and walked away elegantly in her heels.
Huo Yifan almost stood up to follow behind her. Looking at his brother, Huo Yiyang narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “bro, do you like her so much?”
“She’s hot, isn’t she?”
“Why do I feel that she doesn’t look like a good person?” Huo Yiyang was smart. Which guy in his friend circle wasn’t smart?
Su Peizhen had suddenly shown up one day and after a few meetings, she somehow managed to enter his friend circle. She clearly had an ulterior motive.
Huo Yiyang knew how that happened, step by step. However, as he thought back at it, he felt surprised.
“Not a good person?” Huo Yifan grinned and turned to look at him. “Are you a good person?”
“Bro.”
Huo Yifan picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and said, “don’t worry. I do know that she’s not a good person.”
He could guess that Su Peizhen wanted something from him. But, so what if she did want something?
Conquering a woman like that would bring him a strong sense of accomplishment, wouldn’t it?
He couldn’t wait to see Su Peizhen submit herself to him.
…
The atmosphere in the office was still tense. Yang Wenchang looked at Huo Jinyao and struggled.
Ding Qing had made contact with someone recently, so Yang Wenchang easily found out who she was working for.
He had recorded her conversation with that person, but he didn’t want Huo Jinyao to hear it.
“Who has Ding Qing been in contact with?”
Yang Wenchang stayed motionless. He didn’t know how he should give his report to Huo Jinyao. He never had to struggle like this ever since he started working for Huo Jinyao.
“President Huo.”
Huo Jinyao raised his head to look at him. Yang Wenchang had his lips pressed tightly together, looking very ill.
He even had a guilty look on his face when he looked into Huo Jinyao’s sharp eyes. That kind of look hardly appeared on his face.
He had been working for Huo Jinyao for about eight years.
During that time, he even got married and became a father. He was born into a happy family, with only a few members. He had met his wife in college and then married her.
He used to envy Huo Jinyao. The man was born in a very wealthy family and was destined to be at the top of the business circle. He was undoubtedly a winner, and his life would certainly be perfect.
After spending all these years working with him, Yang Wenchang learned today that he had been wrong all this while.
Being rich and having a high social status did not guarantee happiness. Huo Jinyao had been unhappy most of the time since he became the president of Tianyu Group.
“President Huo, since Ding Qing is unreliable, we should simply fire her. It doesn’t matter who she works for. As long as she no longer works here, she won’t be able to cause any further damages.”
Huo Jinyao narrowed his eyes. He looked at the assistant who had always been a calm and composed person, now suddenly appearing to be a little nervous.
“Give me the report.”
“President Huo…”
“Give it to me.”
Huo Jinyao stared at him. His eyes seemed to burn through the Yang Wenchang.
Yang Wenchang lowered his head and said, “It’s already in your mailbox.”
Yang Wenchang’s attitude was abnormal. He seemed to be afraid of something, trying to desperately avoid the issue.
Huo Jinyao didn’t look at him again but opened the e-mail that came with two audio files attached.
It was a recording of the conversation between Ding Qing and that person.
Yang Wenchang made a small step forward, seemingly attempting to stop him. But in the end, he stepped back.
The recording was played. The voice which came from it sounded so familiar to Huo Jinyao.
Huo Jinyao didn’t need to read the report to find out who that voice belonged to.
He had heard that voice all the time, ever since he had been a baby.
He had completely no expression on his face. After listening to the first recording quietly, he played the other.
There were only two recordings, with the same voices, and similar content.
Under the audio files, was the factual text organized by Yang Wenchang. At the moment, Yang Wenchang was looking at Huo Jinyao with concern and pity.
Huo Jinyao stayed perfectly expressionless. He raised his eyes and looked at Yang Wenchang. Not even a trace of emotion could be detected from his eyes.
“Go out.”
“President Huo.”
“I said go out.”
Yang Wenchang dropped his eyelids. At last, he lowered his head, turned, and left.
After he left, Huo Jinyao abruptly picked up the laptop and threw it at the wall.
The very thin laptop broke into pieces against the concrete wall.
That wasn’t enough for Huo Jinyao. He threw away the files, file folders, paperweight, pen, and everything else on his desk.
When there was nothing else left on the desk, he grabbed a photo frame.
Before throwing it out, he saw Su Qingsang’s picture and paused. Then, he slowly put the photo frame back on top of his desk.
He looked at the picture, at Su Qingsang’s gentle smile.
He closed his eyes and threw himself into his chair.
…
“Jinyao?”
Su Qingsang had a short nightshift tonight, so she came home late. She arrived home to find the food still on the table, untouched.
She called Huo Jinyao, but the call wasn’t answered. She called Ms. Yu and learned that Huo Jinyao hadn’t eaten his dinner yet.
She went into the bedroom and found Huo Jinyao showering in the bathroom.
“Jinyao?”
