Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Luring the Snake Out of Its Hole (Part 1)

Moans came out brokenly through Huo Ming Chen’s lips. He felt like his soul was flying away, and his fingers dragged down Lu Qi’s back, leaving claw marks to stake his claim. Remembering that the other just said that he was afraid of pain, he loosened his grip, making sure that his fingernails were hidden away and turned around to kiss him furiously.

Lu Qi lifted Huo Ming Chen’s legs above his shoulders, and his eyes were like fractured pieces of light in the dark, from nothing to merging back together, shining to the point that it became frightening. Sweat was dripping down from his forehead, following the path down his throat, over his alluring Adam’s apple and then disappearing in between their connected bodies.

Feng Jie’s business was just on the rise, and Lu Qi had his own plans, taking on a bigger workload to fulfill them. Having all nighters was a new common, and when he completed the tasks for the day, he would fall over and go to sleep immediately, unable to spend any more energy to move to his bed.

The phone by the bed suddenly started vibrating. Huo Ming Chen was scared of waking up Lu Qi, so he randomly tossed on some clothes and headed out the balcony to answer the call,

“What’s up?”

He reflexively closed the door and lit up a cigarette. The fledgling mist did not have time to become smoke before it was blown away by the wind, only having the ability to show its embers in the night.

Whoever was speaking through the phone made Huo Ming Chen furiously furrow his eyebrows, and his hand unconsciously gripped the railing harder. He tilted his head back and blew out a smoke ring. After a while, his baritone voice could not hide his ruthlessness,

“Useless. You only found out now after such a big thing has happened. You should be glad that my brother was not hurt. Otherwise even if you have a thousand lives, it would not be enough to save you!”

He mashed the cigarette in his hands onto the railing as hard as he could,

“Continue your surveillance on that fucking old bastard. Tell me right away when you have any news.”

Compared to Lu Qi’s previous life, Huo Yuan Guang was more impulsive; he was just one move away from a checkmate, and his hidden fox tail had already been discovered. Right now, no matter how Lu Yuan looked at him, she could tell that he was not a good person. It made her heart beat faster from anxiety, fearing that she would become involved in the hidden fight for the rights to the inheritance. But as always, things never go her way.

At lunch time, Manager Chen came with a “clack clack clack” in her high heels to Lu Yuan’s desk and suddenly knocked on it, speaking quietly,

“Lu Yuan, come with me to my office.”

I’m fucked, Lu Yuan thought as her heart went cold. It must have been exposed that it was her who spilled the coffee onto the chairman. Now the other was coming for payback. She wondered if the business meeting with Yue Ke was ruined. If it was, please please please times infinity, don’t put that failure on her.

Manager Chen was staring at her adamantly, and so Lu Yuan could not find a good time to call Lu Qi for help. Instead she could only forcefully smile, inching slowly behind Manager Chen towards the office, hoping that delaying their arrival even a little would do something for her.

But in the office, there was already another person sitting behind the desk, and after bringing Lu Yuan in, Manager Chen left back through the door she entered from. She even closed the door softly behind her. When Lu Yuan finally saw who it was behind that desk, she could not help but take a step back in shock,

“Chairman……???”

The other would not have wanted to talk to her for no reason. Lu Yuan thought about what she saw yesterday, and her heart started beating fast like a drum. She decided she would zip her mouth and pretended she was scared out of her mind to the point of visibly shivering.

Huo Ming Cheng seeing that, gentled his voice, but the stare behind his glasses made it feel like an interrogation nonetheless,

“Don’t be scared. I didn’t call you here to punish you. I just have a few things that I wanted to ask.”

Lu Yuan quickly shook her head, face pale and eyes red, as if she was a second away from crying,

“Chairman, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean it yesterday. I just wanted to have some coffee, and I ran too quickly without looking ahead of me. You could give me ten badges of courage, and I still wouldn’t dare to bump into you.”

Neither smiling nor angry, Huo Ming Cheng continued to ask her in a voice that felt very warm,

“Do you really like to drink coffee?”

Stunned, Lu Yuan nodded her head after a moment and was so quick on her feet that you can’t find a hole in her answer,

“I like to drink black coffee, the more concentrated the better. It helps keep me awake.”

“How many bags of coffee do you usually use?”

Lu Yuan stiffened her hands. Yesterday, she added the coffee into her cup randomly; who knew how many bags she put in? She could only vaguely guess at a number,

“Probably around two to three bags.”

“Oh?”

“……could also be four or five.”

Huo Ming Cheng raised his eyebrows and then suddenly stood up. He walked up to Lu Yuan holding a suit in his hands which was obviously the one from yesterday. The coffee stains had already dried, but maybe because the coffee itself was too concentrated, there were black and hardened areas still on the shirt from the stains.

“But when I’m looking at these stains on my clothes, the coffee concentrate could not have only been two or three bags. It’s as if you were afraid that a normal cup of coffee would not leave a stain at all.”

Huo Ming Cheng narrowed his eyes, recalling the events from yesterday night and trying to remember the details,

“Normally a person making coffee would immediately choose to use hot water. You should have been running back up from downstairs yesterday, and you used a thermos. From those facts, the coffee should not have cooled down that fast. Yet when it was splashed onto my body, the coffee was already lukewarm. I didn’t even feel a little bit burnt.”

Lu Yuan thought to herself, was it not because I was scared of ruining your face by making the water too hot, but her mouth was explaining very respectfully,

“Yesterday the floor downstairs did not have hot water, so I used warm water instead.”

Seeing that she was always shying away from the truth, Huo Ming Cheng smiled, not minding it at all and instead switched to another topic,

“Maybe you didn’t know, but yesterday Secretary Lee was in my car to go meet Yue Ke. Who would expect that during the ride to the meeting, there would be a car accident? I investigated it myself, and I found that the car was sabotaged……”

Lu Yuan, with perfect timing, presented a face of shock, unable to understand why the other was specifically telling her this. After all, she was only a lowly employee in the grand scheme of things. Huo Ming Cheng pushed up his glasses, something flashing in his eyes, hinting at a shrewdness only business people had.

“Even though I don’t know if you did it on purpose or not, you still saved my life. I’ve taken up enough of your time today, you can go back to work.”

“Thank you Chairman.”

Lu Yuan’s footsteps were light but held a bit of hesitation. Her job was introduced by Huo Ming Chen, and from that standpoint, she would naturally be standing on Huo Ming Chen’s side. And Huo Ming Cheng is his blood related brother, and the brothers’ relationship is known to be quite good. There was no reason for her to just stand by and watch the scenes play out. Afterall, it involved human lives. Who knew what nefarious and deathly schemes Huo Yuan Guang would come up with next time?

Just saying the truth here, doesn’t seem that much of a loss.

Lu Yuan walked to the door, and with her hand on the handle, she suddenly said very quietly,

“I walked down the stairs for coffee, and I happened to see Chen Lian Dong and your driver Zhang-Shu hiding by the corner of the stairway. Zhang-Shu was visibly very nervous and his face didn’t look good. Chen Lian Dong also passed Zhang-Shu an envelope. Whatever happened next I don’t know.”

And also added, “I asked already, the surveillance camera for that stairway was just coincidentally broken, and it was only fixed today. Chairman, if you want to see yesterday’s security tapes, it’s probably impossible. That’s all I know, and I hope that chairman you won’t make it difficult for me to stay here.”

She opened the door and left without even turning her head back, or she would have seen Huo Ming Cheng standing there deep in thought.

Lu Yuan secretly thought that this was such a big sticky mess and was a bit afraid that she was going to be dragged into it unwillingly by Huo Ming Cheng. Mind flying elsewhere, she accidentally bumped into someone and as she pressed her nose in pain, she took a step back. When she looked up, she discovered that it was Secretary Lee who she bumped into.

As always, dressed in a suit without wrinkles, with that never changing face that was so cold it could kill someone. She became so shocked out of her mind when she did not see any bandages on any part of his body, and she stuttered out,

“Secretary Lee?! You…… didn’t you get rushed to the hospital? Weren’t you still in operation? What…… Why are you out of the hospital already??”

Every time she sees him, she feels guilty and self conscious for absolutely no good reason. Especially right now when the other’s right shoulder had a spot on his black suit where her foundation left an imprint, that feeling was magnified.

Secretary Lee suspiciously tilted his head, looking a bit confused,

“I only received some light wounds. The one who was in a more serious condition was the driver. Who told you that I was in the operating room right now?”

Gossip, of course, should never be taken as the truth, as it will always be littered with embellishment. Lu Yuan felt embarrassed on the inside, but Secretary Lee could guess based on her visible expression a little of what she was feeling at the moment. He dusted off the suspicious white spot on his suit by his shoulder, and when he found he couldn’t wipe it away, he could only let it go.

“If you decide to continue to listen to them talk off their tongues, you might hear that I did not make it through the operation, and that my dead body is waiting to be cremated.”

“Ah?”

Lu Yuan was stunned for a second before realizing that the other was making a joke. But when she realized that, the other had already left. She couldn’t help but feel helpless and then shrug it off, feeling as if somehow she witnessed the sun rising from the west.

In the blink of an eye, he has already been back at the capital for more than half a year. When Lu Qi received a phone call from Mama Lu, he realized that his birthday had already arrived. In other words, he was one year older, which sounds both quite funny and weird.

“You live so far away from home, remember to take care of yourself, to take care of your sister. When you come back for the holidays, Mom will make up for missing your birthday, make you some of your favourite dishes, let you be together with your family.”

The closer you are, the less there is to keep babbling on about, and so with a few more minutes into the conversation, Lu Qi ended the call. In the next second however, he picked up another call, this time from Lu Yuan,

“Ah-Qi, Happy Birthday~”

Her voice was full of laughter.

“I already ordered a cake. Pick me up after work at 7. We’ll go out for a celebration dinner. After all, it is your first birthday since coming to the capital.”

Lu Qi helplessly smiled,

“No need for the cake. You won’t eat it because you’re on a diet, and I don’t like sweets. It’s a waste to buy one.”

“No no, the proper procedures must be followed. I’ve decided already. I still have things to do, I’ll talk to you later, bye~”

Work was just beginning to pick up, and she has become quite busy, wholly dedicating herself to her new job. Because of this, Lu Qi usually doesn’t receive any phone calls from Lu Yuan.

Huo Ming Chen was walking behind him, holding a glass of water in his hands. He unintentionally heard the conversation between the siblings and stopped walking to hook his arms around Lu Qi’s neck,

“Your birthday’s today.”

A statement, not a question.

Huo Ming Chen looks like he does not care for the world, but to those who he holds dear to his heart, he is more willing to care about them than others. The statement he just said made it hard to tell if he just found out today or had already known beforehand.

Lu Qi grabbed the glass of water that Huo Ming Chen was holding to take a sip, his eyes still focused on the computer screen. He offhandedly hummed an acknowledgement,

“Tonight I’m going out for dinner with Lu Yuan. I’ll be back a bit late.”

As he finished saying that, he felt the hold around his neck tighten and then after a moment Huo Ming Chen loosened his grasp,

“……Alright, come back soon.”

Huo Ming Chen was surprisingly not making a fuss, which made Lu Qi turn around in confusion. He was immediately glared at for his reaction,

“What are you looking at? You are going to eat dinner with your sister, not a random woman outside. I’m not that selfish.”

Lu Qi thought secretly, weren’t you? In his last life, he wanted no one else but him to see Lu Qi, but……

“You’re not planning on giving me anything?”

According to Huo Ming Chen’s personality, he would at least do or give something for show no matter what. For him to not even say a word of blessing, that doesn’t seem like him.

Huo Ming Chen crossed his legs as he sat on the bed, holding his arms up by his elbows and stared at the tv screen. Sounding like he was laughing but showing no expression of it, he gave a ‘hmph’ sound,

“I’ll give you a red pocket if you’d take it.”

Sitting by the computer desk, Lu Qi did not turn around, and so Huo Ming Chen could not see the smile on his face. The mouse was clicked a few times before Huo Ming Chen heard him say leisurely,

“A gift of money is distasteful.”

But Lu Qi was a person who desired such distasteful things, so only the heavens would know how much that sentence went against his desire.

Hearing this, Huo Ming Chen looked up at him,

“And who gave you that computer?” Please forgive him for not knowing what to give Lu Qi, as he would not accept items that were too expensive.

“Even more distasteful.”

Lu Qi’s leg moved, and the chair swiveled around. He crossed his fingers and laid them on his stomach. Sitting upright and watching Huo Ming Chen, his posture made him as elegant as a handsome prince. He thought about it and then said,

“Why not gift yourself to me?”

The words were sudden, and it sounded like some sort of confession. It made Huo Ming Chen feel like his heart had stopped, and his body stiffened. Unsure if it was shock or excitement, his eyes locked onto Lu Qi, not daring to miss a single movement, feeling as if that should not have come out of Lu Qi’s mouth.

A second later, and the truth matched his assumption,

“Help me do the laundry, cook for me, maybe also dust the room, mop the floors, the sort of things that I don’t need to pay you for.”

Huo Ming Chen threw a pillow at him with force,

“Dream on! Daydreaming in the middle of the night!”

Lu Qi caught the pillow and threw it back. He stood up and grabbed his coat, planning to run away after starting that fire,

“It’s almost time. I’m going to go pick up Lu Yuan.”

Huo Ming Chen was so angry he punched the pillow, successfully turning from an adult to a 3 year old child. After Lu Qi left, the room became deafeningly silent, and he sat by himself on the bed for a while. Then he got up and went to open the refrigerator, revealing a cake resting inside.

Huo Ming Chen held the fridge door open, thinking in his heart that he was not the right type of person for romantic gestures. He carried the air of someone who believed that his assumption was right and cut an oddly shaped piece out of the cake for himself.

Since Lu Qi’s not eating it, he will eat it himself!

Female employees at the company always got off work in groups of three or five. Lu Yuan was an attractive woman and came into the company through some connections which more or less caused the other female colleagues to feel some sort of jealousy towards her. And so Lu Yuan always came and left alone.

But today was different. When Lu Yuan walked out of the entrance doors, there was a tall, lean and handsome man waiting for her. She was not acting like she usually did, walking out with that calm collected face of hers but instead was smiling and running up to hug the other’s arm, looking very intimate.

Some female colleague saw that and was shocked,

“Is that Lu Yuan’s boyfriend? Looks quite handsome. No wonder why she won’t accept Guo Kang.”

“The two of them look quite good today. I thought she came into the company to hook up with a well off man. So she actually already had a boyfriend.”

Lu Qi’s ears were sharp and hearing those words, couldn’t help but look behind her,

“They seemed to have misunderstood.”

“Let it be a misunderstanding. Gets rid of those stinky men trying to get close to me every day. Each one of them are disgusting perverts. If they don’t look at my face, they are looking at my breasts.”

Lu Yuan seriously looked down on those pursuers.

“Right, where are we going for dinner? We should also go pick up the cake at the bakery.”

“I’m not hungry. I’ll send you home after we get the cake. Cross out the candle blowing too.”

Lu Qi asked for the address and decided to take a taxi. Lu Yuan sat in the taxi, a bit unhappy and said as she pouted,

“But that’s too basic. Once a year you know.”

Lu Qi has never cared about that tradition,

“I believe that I’ll live for many more years. There will be many more chances down the line.”

Lu Yuan could not help but laugh out mockingly,

“Wow, great inspirational words. Alright, not talking about what you want, at least I get to keep the money and save it for an extra meal. I wonder if your future wife would be able to reel in your terrible personality.”

Lu Qi laughed, shadows and lights flashing by his face through the window, adding a deep meaning to his look. He did not answer the question and only said with a smile,

“First the career, then the home. No woman is willing to marry a poor man.”

They went to grab the cake, and then he sent Lu Yuan home. The two of them simply blew the candle, and the birthday was considered celebrated. Huo Ming Chen did not think that Lu Qi would come back so early, and so the table still had two bites left from a slice of cake, with the frosting being poked into a mindless mess.

Lu Qi took off his shoes in the entryway and furrowed his eyebrows, coughing twice. He leaned on the door, looking like he was trying not to smile as he stared at Huo Ming Chen,

“Eating cake…… why didn’t you get me one?”

Huo Ming Chen almost choked to death, but seeing him, the corners of his mouth tugged up automatically. The feeling of surprise and happiness rose up inside him,

“Why the fuck are you back so early?!”

Lu Qi caught Huo Ming Chen’s body as he flew up from the chair and pinched his waist. He lowered his tone beside Huo Ming Chen’s ear,

“Maybe…… I should have found a hot 36D woman outside and then come back after spending a night with her?”

“If you don’t want to be castrated, get that out of your mind right now.”

Huo Ming Chen tugged on his shirt collar and dragged the other inside. He grabbed the rest of the cake from the refrigerator and placed it on the coffee table. Twisting and turning his body, he unwillingly said,

“You came back late, so the cake’s missing a piece. Just eat it like that.”

And then patted his pockets and grabbed a lighter to light up the candles on top of the cake. When Huo Ming Chen was small, his grandfather and his brother were always busy. So every year on his birthday, he would just receive a bunch of money, and then he’d go hang out with his friends at the bar, drinking and fooling around all night. So he doesn’t really have any experience on how to actually celebrate a birthday with someone else.

After lighting the candles, Huo Ming Chen remembered that he should turn off the lights and stood up to turn them off. The candles were not as bright as the lights above their heads, but in the dark, it gave off a very warm and intimate feeling. Sitting by the cake, Lu Qi’s cold calm face seemed to have become more gentle.

Huo Ming Chen said with a sincere attitude,

“Lu Qi, happy birthday, make your wish.”

He stood by the light switch, and his entire person was almost swallowed up in darkness. He couldn’t see Huo Ming Chen’s face, but Lu Qi smiled, bringing all the warmth in the world into this moment, into him,

“How many wishes can I make?”

Huo Ming Chen generously allowed,

“As many wishes as you want. I bought the cake, so what I said is the truth!”

Lu Qi silently closed his eyes to make his wish. Three seconds later, he blew out the candles with one breath and Huo Ming Chen turned on the lights. The room shone brightly like a picture of white flashed before their eyes. He noisily sat opposite of Lu Qi and asked in interest,

“What did you wish for? Say it out loud.”

Lu Qi raised his eyebrows and used a knife to cut the cake into perfectly sliced pieces. His fingers were long and thin, too good looking to be real,

“Would it come true if I say it out loud? Normally people don’t say it.”

Huo Ming Chen snorted,

“If you don’t say it, then it’s even more likely that it won’t come true. When I was small, I wished to become a monster and destroy the world. Isn’t it still like that now; it’s just lies adults tell children.”

Lu Qi had laughed too many times today. He couldn’t cut the cake anymore and could only hold his stomach, leaning back on his chair and laughing until he had no more air to breathe,

“Your wishes when you were small were quite special, quite unique.”

“Stop changing the topic,”

Huo Ming Chen sat on Lu Qi’s legs and tightly held onto his shoulders,

“Quick, tell me, what did you wish for?”

Lu Qi covered his eyes with the back of his hand and wiggled out three fingers, shrewdly saying,

“I wished for three things.”

Huo Ming Chen continued to probe,

“Which three? Say it out loud. Maybe I will be generous enough to help you bring them to life.”

“The first one, I want to become a monster. The second one, I want to destroy the world. The third one, for you to also become a monster……”

As he said that, the more he made himself laugh. Huo Ming Chen could hear that he was teasing him and did not get angry. After waiting until Lu Qi stopped laughing, he said,

“For real, I’m really happy today.”

Lu Qi looked up at him,

“Even more than me, the birthday boy?”

“I don’t know, probably.”

Huo Ming Chen lowered his head, holding Lu Qi’s face and wanting to say something, but he couldn’t really find the words for it. No words came to mind, and so he just decided to kiss.

He knew that Lu Qi deliberately came back early but would not say it. These kinds of things have happened a lot of times, some that Huo Ming Chen knew about, some he didn’t. But what he knows, is that this person is really, really, really good to him, so good that it makes whatever he’s putting into this relationship that much smaller, that much lesser.

There would not be another person like him in this world……

The chair started to rock, one beat at a time, an indescribable action happening on top. Somehow they ended up on the bed, and their clothes flung onto the cake at the coffee table, making the frosting go all over the floor, but no one had the time to care about it.

Lu Qi made three wishes, each one more childish than the one before, so he would never tell Huo Ming Chen in this lifetime.

The first wish, he wished that he would be wealthy in his next life.

The second wish, he wished that he would still meet Huo Ming Chen.

The third wish……

Let the other become his kept man.

All in all, the actions of a man who could be considered poor, handsome and not reliable.

Notes:
So… if you got a message that said I posted Chp 25 before this chapter was up… I can only apologize that I was in a state of confusion from terrible sleeping schedules and accidentally pressed the wrong date. Yes… I’m very sorry to those who may have surprised and thought I accidentally published another chapter at the wrong time again… ｡ﾟ･（>﹏<）･ﾟ｡ Sorry for the trouble!!

Chapter 25: Luring the Snake Out of Its Hole (Part 2)

It has been half a month since the car accident. Zhang-Shu, the driver, had obtained the most serious injuries, and he was still lying in the ICU, waiting for the most dangerous period to pass. His family situation was like that of the average commoner, and his son had a gambling problem, owing quite a lot of money to loan sharks, which meant that their family had no extra money to pay for him to stay at the hospital.

After Zhang-Shu got in the accident, his son and daughter-in-law ran away and hid as far as they could. It was only due to Huo Ming Cheng covering his hospital fees that he was able to receive care.

After Huo Yuan Guang discovered that fact, he first hinted quietly and then urged outright for Huo Ming Cheng to stop doing that.

“It’s just a driver. It’s enough to give some money. If he stays unconscious for the rest of his life, you are going to have to take care for him until the very end. The Huo family business has too many employees for that. If you care for one but not another, there are going to be some disgruntled voices.”

As of now, whenever Huo Ming Cheng sees his uncle, he could only feel a teeth shattering cold take over his body. Zhang-Shu is an important witness to Huo Yuan Guang’s assassination plan, so no matter what, Huo Ming Cheng will not let him die. His mouth slowly showed a faint smile as he said,

“Uncle, like you said, it is about human lives after all. Zhang-Shu has been with me for so long, and he is quite old. If I don’t care for him, who should I care for?”

Huo Yuan Guang sighed and then lowered his eyes, unwilling to speak anymore. His eyes looked murky, making what he was thinking inside indiscernible to others. After Huo Ming Cheng left, Chen Lian Dong quietly walked in and respectfully said,

“Vice Chairman.”

Huo Yuan Guang suddenly opened his eyes wide, and a brillance flashed in them,

“How it is, are they still willing to sell?”

Chen Lian Dong hesitated before shaking his head,

“They are not happy about the price. They want it to be higher.”

“Hmph!”

Huo Yuan Guang suddenly stood up and, using his cane, stomped with one foot. Like an enraged lion, he started prowling back and forth in front of Chen Lian Dong,

“What kind of thing are they? They don’t fear that they’ll be bloated to death?”

Chen Lian Dong had a bitter face as he said,

“Then are we still buying?”

Huo Yuan Guang sharpened his glare on him, viciousness unhidden,

“Buy, why wouldn’t we buy? If we don’t buy, how are we to fight?”

His hand grabbed a pack of cigarettes from his pockets, lit one up and heavily inhaled a breath. Much like an addict, his face became hazy and delirious as he smoked, and threw the cane in his hands away,

“Whatever the price they want, give it to them. If it’s not enough, take it from the company funds. It doesn’t matter anyway. Huang Yi’s construction project has been handed over to me by that stupid idiot Huo Ming Cheng. Today, no matter how much they’ve swallowed, I will make them retch it all back up with even more to pay me back!”

And then pointed out,

“Go see how that driver is doing. He’s already so old, lying in the hospital is such a difficult and painful thing for him, why not just go die cleanly.”

On the surface the Huo family business seemed calm and functional; however, underneath that façade was actually a murky and convoluted pool. Thinking that his father was too old for this, Huo Ming Cheng did not want to involve him in this fight. He even lied and coaxed the other to travel and take a vacation outside the country. He also made sure that Huo Ming Chen was back home.

“These few days, the company seems to be having some problems, and my brother wants me to go back home. I’ll try to sort everything out and come back earlier.”

Huo Ming Chen was very reluctant to leave and became the definition of a sticky milk candy; no matter how much you pull, you cannot pull it off. Lu Qi helped him pack and then sent the other downstairs like he usually did. You could not tell what his emotions are on the surface as he said,

“It’s no big deal if you come back later, I won’t let you wear a green hat.”

“Do you have to make me stomp in anger to be happy?”

Huo Ming Chen kissed him before getting in the car. He didn’t even go five feet before seeing in the rear view mirror that that person was still standing at the same spot where they said goodbye. He suddenly felt the urge to throw everything to the wind and go back.

Today was a sunny day, and the storm clouds were disappearing off in the distance, revealing a sun that had not been seen for a long time. As the warm rays cast over the car, Huo Ming Chen could not help but close his eyes.

He knows, he doesn’t want to hide like this anymore.

When this thought started to pop up, its origins had already disappeared into the wind. Huo Ming Chen was clearly aware that, to him, Lu Qi was not a fling, not a make do partner that could be thrown away at any time. For the rest of his life, he would not be able to find someone who could replace him. Huo Ming Chen could no longer treat another person like he did Lu Qi.

There are some things that are obvious, so obvious that the answer would naturally have already appeared in his mind. However, it is not the right time to put everything on the table as the family business has too many things popping up and getting in the way. Huo Ming Chen had too many thoughts on his mind, and out of necessity, he could only push those thoughts down for now.

Zhang-Shu had worked in the Huo family for more than ten years. If he was more honest, he probably could have lived in luxury for the latter years of his life. But he had a terrible son. Not only did his son owe a lot of money to loan sharks, he even ran over a person while driving a work truck. The astronomical amount of money that he needed to pay back for the damages and the human life he took was so high that even after bankrupting all of his accounts, their family could not pay it back.

Making a split second decision when presented with the chance, Zhang-Shu accepted Chen Lian Dong’s money and sabotaged the chairman’s car. Now he’s lying in the hospital, becoming a paralyzed man, halfway to death. This was his karma.

Separated by the crystal glass of the ward, he could faintly hear the racket outside. A man and a woman crying and screaming. Both holding onto each other while stubbornly sitting in the hallway of the hospital. No matter how hard the security guards tried to pull them away, it was an impossible task because of their struggling and yelling.

“Ah, my poor father! I know president Huo is kind hearted, but he’s so old now, he’s been through too much, I only want to take care of my father at home, is that a crime??! Oh everyone please, give me a reason, is this a crime?!”

One of the hospital staff said,

“The patient has just finished his operation. It is not at all a good time to move him. The notification letter also has not been passed down yet, so he still has that hope……”

“Fuck that hope!”

The man cut her off, snot and tears coming out of him as he dragged the nurse towards the window and pointing,

“You let my dad wake up! You make him wake up?! Would you be happy to be stuck full of tubes lying there all day? Everyday? Does that not burn up money? Can our small commoner family pay for this??”

The nurse backed away from his snot filled runny nose and spittle and quietly said,

“This is the private hospital of President Huo. You don’t have to worry about the fees for now, he will pay……”

Hearing this, the woman who was originally sitting on the ground, hugging the chairs by the walls started banging on the chair, yelling in accented mandarin, as if she didn’t know much of it,

“Pay?! Pay what?!! If he pays, then we don’t have to return it?! If you can’t save him, that old man is going to die and leave a buttload of debt for us to carry. He’s already lived enough of his life, this is our father, if we say to heal then you heal. If we say we don’t want to heal, then don’t heal. We want to bring our father home now. If you don’t let us, we will call the police! Let the police be the judges!”

The woman’s struggling was like that of a crazy woman; she looked malnourished and gaunt, but it was like she was born to scream and fight, making it hard for the security guards to go near her. Whoever came near her, she would grab their clothes and yell loudly that they were sexually assaulting her.

Huo Ming Chen, hidden away from view in a corner, saw all this play out in front of his eyes. He scowled and asked the head physician of the hospital,

“Who are they?”

“The man is the patient’s son. The woman is the patient’s daughter-in-law. They’ve been making this kind of scene for the entire afternoon now, enforcing that they want to bring him home to care for him.”

Huo Ming Chen coldly smiled and mockingly said,

“Today we let them go, tomorrow we pick up his body. Neither early nor late, to come running out at this specific timing……”

He whispered something into the head physician’s ear and signaled for the other to go out there and pacify the situation. The head physician looked reluctant, saying,

“But the chairman won’t let……”

“You do what I say. I’ll take the blame.”

Zhang Zhi Qiang was just struggling with the security guards when he suddenly saw an older man in a white coat walk over. The other man signaled for the security guards to let him go and then introduced himself,

“Hello Mr. Zhang, I am the patient’s main doctor. The situation right now is like this. Senior Zhang has just finished his operation, and it is not a good time to move him. If something happens today, we cannot escape responsibility. How about this? You patiently wait for one week, so when his vitals have stabilized, you can bring him home. The hospital fees won’t need to be covered by you……”

Zhang Zhi Qiang snorted after hearing that,

“I don’t care what you are fucking going on about! I want to get my father out of the hospital today!”

The head physician of the hospital shook his head helplessly,

“I apologize, but if you move the patient right now, his life would be in danger. Based on that fact, we cannot keep ourselves from taking responsibility. If you are so adamant on this, maybe we should let the police come deal with this issue.”

Doing as he said, he signaled to another staff member to call the police. Seeing this, Zhang Zhi Qiang became frantic and stopped wailing, trying to stop them.

“Ah ah ah, I haven’t committed a crime, why are you calling the police, what are you calling police for! He is my father, how could I not feel concerned for him?”

He gritted his teeth and slapped his leg,

“Like you say then, seven days, seven days oh, seven days later, I will pick up my father. Try to stop us then!”

He dragged the woman on the floor to leave after saying that, but the woman was still hesitating,

“Ack, we just leave then? Father is not coming with us though.”

“Come fucking what you dumb woman, shut up and go home!”

Seeing the two of them drag themselves out of the hospital doors, Huo Ming Chen signaled with his eyes, and immediately someone secretly followed them out. The private hospital was situated outside the city center, and it was not easy to hail a taxi. But not too far away, Zhang Zhi Qiang and his wife went into a black car that had parked close by.

Chen Lian Dong was sitting inside the car and seeing their faces, knew it did not work out. He angrily yelled,

“You can’t even get an old man out! Were you gone for so long because you were out eating a meal?”

Zhang Zhi Qiang ducked his head in fear and was no longer that aggressive yelling man in the hospital. He quickly tried to appease Chen Lian Dong,

“This this this! This isn’t on me! I cried like I was going to commit suicide as soon as I got inside. I used every trick, but they won’t let me take that old man out. But they couldn’t do anything to me and backed down in the end. They said they just need to wait for him to stabilize a bit. Seven days later they will let me pick him up.”

Chen Lian Dong said,

“How do you know that they’re not fooling you?”

“How could they? It would be useless to keep that old man alive, right? Perhaps not even seven days later, he would have already died.”

Zhang Zhi Qiang did not seem to have fully realized that the man lying in the hospital bed was his own blood related father. The woman beside him secretly poked him hard and then glanced at Chen Lian Dong. Zhang Zhi Qiang received the message and paused before shamelessly asking,

“You can see…… that I did my job here, that money……”

He fidgeted his hands nervously. Seeing him like this, Chen Lian Dong wanted to just slap him in the face and kick him out of the car,

“You can’t even remember the proper things, but things regarding money you can remember so well!”

Zhang Zhi Qiang smiled, showing off his teeth that were stained yellow from constant smoking.

“That’s only because life’s been forcing my hand. I owe too much money outside, and they’re after my life everywhere. Look at me, I can’t even care too much about my own father. You can see how difficult of a life I’m living.”

His wife kept agreeing on the side,

“Yes, yes. We have not eaten a full meal these few days.”

Chen Lian Dong didn’t want to spare them another glance as it would be a waste of his time. He took an envelope out of his pockets and threw it out. Coldly threatening,

“Keep your mouth shut. You don’t need to be taught what to do huh.”

Zhang Zhi Qiang hurriedly ripped open the envelope, and inside was a thick pad of bills. He licked his hands to count the money and didn’t even lift his head as he said,

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. When I get that old man, I can promise you that he will immediately get buried six feet under. Won’t get in your way at all.”

Chen Lian Dong drove away from the hospital for a while and then left them on a public road before leaving. Who could have known that the moment he left, the couple was immediately forced into another car.

At the hospital, things seemed to have calmed down. The nurse started to clean up the broken vases and equipment, and her voice was quiet with a tone of disgust as she said,

“What kind of people are they? Their own father is lying in the hospital, and it’s been so long and they haven’t even looked at him. Today they finally come, and they want to get him out. How laughable, as if they are afraid the elderly man cannot die fast enough.”

“If I were his father, I’d be angered into consciousness and then brutally slap that disobedient son twice!”

“Puh puh puh what am I blindly saying? The elderly man is still lying inside and hasn’t passed away yet……”

As she said that, she subconsciously looked over, and through the viewing window, she saw the old man’s hand move a little. She thought she was seeing things, but when she looked closely again, the man’s hand moved again.

“Doctor Lin!”

The nurse hurriedly rushed to find the man’s operating doctor,

“Doctor Lin! The man who the chairman said we need to take special care of seems to have signs of awakening!”

“What, he’s awake?”

Hearing the news, Huo Ming Cheng’s normally emotionless face showed some relief, and he ordered,

“It doesn’t matter if he can’t talk now. Just make sure he stays alive, make sure you take care of him. If there are random people who want to get him out of the hospital, ignore them.”

He hung up the phone and he started to stroke his fingers together in a circular motion, making up his mind in his heart. He walked out of the office, and as he walked through the hallway, his eyes caught a familiar silhouette and his footsteps changed paths.

“Lu Yuan,”

Huo Ming Cheng faintly recalled that that was supposed to be her name, but when the person called lifted her head in response and saw that the person calling her was Huo Ming Cheng, she furrowed her eyebrows, and her face showed an easily understood expression —

And what do you want now?

Huo Ming Cheng couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw those words on her face. After he called her out, he reached up to push up his glasses,

“Zhang-Shu went to the hospital a couple days ago, and today they passed on the news that he’s awake now. Secretary Lee has some things to do, so you come help me buy some gifts to see Zhang-Shu in the hospital.”

If there was no Secretary Lee, there are still other assistants available. Why come find her specifically?

The surrounding colleagues were watching and so Lu Yuan could only nod her head,

“Ok, I’ll be there in a bit.”

After Huo Ming Cheng left, Lu Yuan went back to her seat, and all around her, it buzzed with activity like oil splashing into a hot pan. Some female colleagues said as if they just ate vinegar,1

“Ah-Yuan, you seem close to the chairman. What did he call you for? I normally don’t see him this approachable.”

“Yeah yeah, too bad you already have a boyfriend. Otherwise, you’re so pretty, and your body is attractive too. Perhaps you could have hooked a wealthy man! Quick quick quick, did the chairman just ask you to have dinner with him?”

Lu Yuan loudly knocked the documents in her hand against the table, emotionlessly saying,

“Don’t misunderstand. Zhang-Shu is healing in the hospital, and he just woke up today. Secretary Lee had something he needed to do right now, and the chairman wanted me to buy some gifts to go see Zhang-Shu.”

Hearing this, everyone tsked,

“Oh it was Zhang-Shu. I thought he passed away from the car accident. Can’t believe that he’s got quite the luck. After all that, he can still be fine and wake up.”

“A comatose patient can wake up, why can’t Zhang-Shu? He’s normally pretty nice, an honest man. He helped me move stuff before.”

It was lunch time right now, and so when gossiping like this, no one was afraid of getting caught. Hearing all the buzz, Huo Yuan Guang who was walking by with his cane unintentionally stopped,

“What did you all just say?”

He normally looked approachable with his smiling face, and so the female colleagues were not that afraid of him. Hearing this, someone quickly answered,

“It’s the chairman’s driver. Zhang-Shu. We heard that he just woke up today and his body is already halfway to healing. We were just saying that he has quite the luck. Indeed, large luck means a long life.”

At this time, the embellishment caused by gossiping can easily be shown here. After she finished talking, Huo Yuan Guang’s face changed slightly and discreetly exchanged glances with Chen Lian Dong.

Huo Ming Cheng had not walked far away and was standing in the darkness, hidden from view. Seeing all this play out in front of his eyes, he smiled a restrained and refined smile.

The snake is about to leave its hole……