Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Even if Xiang Caiping had mentioned it, even Huo Jinyao could only remain silent.
He wouldn’t show mercy to Su Peizhen, but he had no choice but to admit that their actions were somewhat unfair to Xiang Caiping.
“Alright. If you really feel sorry for her, go sit and have a chat with her when you have the spare time in the future.”
Su Qingsang didn’t speak. It seemed that this was the only way.
“As for Su Peizhen’s matter, you don’t have to worry about it.”
Even if Xiang Caiping really begged him, he wouldn’t change his mind. A person like Su Peizhen needed to be taught a lesson.
He thought of the things that Su Peizhen had done to Su Qingsang, and he didn’t want to forgive Su Peizhen in the slightest.
Su Peizhen was going to jail for sure this time.
…
Because of Qi Xiwei’s influence, the Kav Corporation had no intention of settling things out of court with Huo Yifan and Su Peizhen. They were determined to sue both Huo Yifan and Su Peizhen.
Since there was irrefutable evidence against Su Peizhen and Huo Yifan, after collecting evidence, the Public Prosecution Office had scheduled a hearing for this Saturday.
At that time, there would be a verdict against Huo Yifan and Su Peizhen. Before that, the two of them would still be imprisoned without freedom.
With the help of Huo Jinyao, the public prosecutor’s office hired a very powerful lawyer.
With him around, Huo Yifan and Su Peizhen wouldn’t be able to get out of prison easily. Huo Jinyao, who could have helped Huo Yifan, had no intention of helping Huo Yifan at all in this matter.
It didn’t matter if Huo Mingguang came to plead for mercy, or if Old Master Huo came to speak up. Huo Jinyao didn’t waver, nor did he intend to.
He was quite determined to send Huo Yifan to prison.
Huo Mingguang was very dissatisfied with Huo Jinyao’s attitude. Even Old Master Huo had some complaints about Huo Jinyao.
But everyone knew that Huo Jinyao had made up his mind. Naturally, he wouldn’t change his stance.
Moreover, things had already escalated to this point. Even if Huo Jinyao wanted to minimize the impact of the matter, it was already too late.
In the blink of an eye, there were only two days left before the court date. On this day, before he got off work, Huo Jinyao saw an unlikely figure appear in his office.
Huo Jinyao looked at Liu Tongjia, who was in front of him. After the first two seconds, his expression recovered.
However, he didn’t relax too much. There was a hint of wariness on his face, and he didn’t quite understand why she came looking for him.
Liu Tongjia didn’t miss the hint of wariness in Huo Jinyao’s eyes. She felt a chill in her heart.
It was her son in front of her, yet he was looking at her like that. She had really failed as a mother.
“Jinyao.”
“What’s the matter?”
Huo Jinyao was surprised to hear Liu Tongjia call his name so gently, baliut the wariness in his eyes deepened after his initial surprise.
He narrowed his eyes and stared at Liu Tongjia’s face. He didn’t intend to miss a single expression on her face.
It wasn’t that Liu Tongjia didn’t notice the change in Huo Jinyao’s expression. This made the words that she wanted to say suddenly feel stuck in her throat.
“Jinyao, the day after tomorrow, Yifan’s case is going to be heard, right?”
When Huo Jinyao heard Huo Yifan’s name, he suddenly felt much more relaxed, and realization dawned upon him.
He leaned back in his chair and raised his eyebrows slightly. “Mom, you’re not here to plead for Huo Yifan, are you?”
Liu Tongjia’s expression didn’t look too good. Actually, she didn’t come to look for Huo Jinyao because of Huo Yifan.
Huo Jinyao didn’t remember, but she did remember. Tomorrow, the day before the court session, was actually Huo Jinyao’s birthday.
She wanted Huo Jinyao to come home and have dinner with her. Actually, Old Master Huo had the same idea.
However, Old Master Huo was still angry. To Old Master Huo, no matter what kind of motives Huo Yifan had in the past, or what he did wrong, he could have just fought it out at home.
Yet, Huo Jinyao insisted on making such a big public fuss. Now, all hell broke loose. Everyone knew that Tianyu Group had a vice president who was not only a traitor, but also stole other people’s business secrets.
Everyone knew that such a person had appeared in the Huo family. Even brothers Huo Mingguang and Huo Mingliang were also embarrassed, not to mention Old Master Huo.
Therefore, although Old Master Huo also knew that Huo Jinyao’s birthday was coming up, he didn’t say anything. He was still angry at Huo Jinyao.
Even when Liu Tongjia was unhappy with Huo Jinyao in the past, Old Master Huo would still stand on Huo Jinyao’s side.
This time, Old Master Huo didn’t stand on Huo Jinyao’s side anymore, but Liu Tongjia was actually a little unhappy about it.
This was her son, but now he was almost deserted by everyone.
She wanted to ease the relationship between Huo Jinyao and Old Master Huo. That was why she thought of looking for Huo Jinyao and asking him to go home.
Who knew that once she opened her mouth, Huo Jinyao would misunderstand.
“I don’t want to plead for him.”
Liu Tongjia knew that Huo Jinyao didn’t like Huo Yifan. The things that brothers Huo Yifan and Huo Yiyang had done in the past few years indeed weren’t good, but she didn’t think that it was to the point of him going to jail.
“I, I just feel that he didn’t really do anything to hurt you personally. Why do you have to be so willfully ruthless towards him?”
Huo Jinyao almost laughed when he heard this.
“He really didn’t do anything to really hurt me. He was just trying to trip me up in the company, openly and secretly. He tried every means to take credit from me and tried every means to take away my position as the President.”
Liu Tongjia was at a loss for words. The atmosphere in the office dropped to freezing point again.
On this issue, Huo Jinyao was too lazy to argue with the Huo family. “Speaking of which, the accusation against him wasn’t unjustified at all. That proposal belonged to me in the first place. Instead, he didn’t even ask and directly took it to his father and grandfather to claim credit. He used this opportunity to re-enter Tianyu Group. Now that you’re all here one by one to plead for him, why don’t any of you think about how righteous he was when he stole someone else’s proposal?”
Wanting to say that she wasn’t really concerned about Huo Yifan’s ending at the moment, Liu Tongjia looked at Huo Jinyao, but Huo Jinyao didn’t give her a chance at all.
“Mom, if you have nothing else, I have to continue with my work.”
He was implying that she should leave. Liu Tongjia’s expression changed a few times. She wasn’t in a hurry to stand up, and she remained seated.
Huo Jinyao ignored her. He had already made up his mind. No matter who pleaded for mercy, he would make Huo Yifan pay the price.
To be honest, he was a little innocent. Su Peizhen had given him the proposal, and he had merely used it.
However, this was Huo Yifan’s biggest mistake. He didn’t even ask where it came from, yet he dared to show it off as a treasure?
Stupid.
Huo Jinyao signed the documents in his hands. He still had other work to do. There was a big merger to be carried out recently.
He was very busy, so busy that he had no time to care about why Liu Tongjia was sitting there and not leaving.
Liu Tongjia was sitting on pins and needles. She looked at Huo Jinyao. This was the first time she had seen Huo Jinyao handling official business.
She remembered that in her memory, the last time Huo Jinyao looked so serious, he was in school at that time.
Although he wasn’t like Huo Jinkai, who shouldered the responsibility of his family since he was young, he still had his own demands.
As a descendant of the Huo family, he was very careful to protect the Huo family’s reputation outside.
She remembered that the ranking of his exam results had never fallen from top three in the grade, and he had even gotten first place frequently.
She also remembered that he was once obsessed with video games at one time, and neglected his studies as a result. At that time, she didn’t blame him. After all, he had always known what he wanted.
Sure enough, a few days later, after he cleared all the levels, and he lost interest. She seemed to have seen him playing games after that, but she rarely saw him addicted to it.
Huo Jinyao wouldn’t care about his surroundings when he was immersed in his work. After he finished reading the proposal in his hand and writing down his own opinions, he realized that Liu Tongjia was still sitting there.
The corners of his lips curled into a mocking smile. Huo Jinyao put down the pen.
“Mom, is there anything else?”
Liu Tongjia snapped back to reality after hearing Huo Jinyao’s words. She realized that she had been sitting there for almost an hour.
She tightened her grip on the strap of her bag and looked at Huo Jinyao. “Tomorrow is your birthday. Your grandfather wants you to go home for a meal.”
His birthday? Huo Jinyao seemed to only remember it now. He narrowed his eyes and thought of something.
“It’s my birthday? Is it because my grandfather wants me to go home for my birthday, or is it because he wants to try again tomorrow so that I can change my words and let Huo Yifan go?”
“Huo Jinyao.” Liu Tongjia was finally a little angry. “What do you think of your family? It’s your birthday, and grandfather cares about you. What’s wrong with letting you go home for a meal?”
“Nothing much. I just wanted to confirm it with you guys. After all, it seems like you guys aren’t too happy to see me now. No matter what, it’s been so many years since I celebrated my birthday, and it’s the same this year, but it doesn’t matter.”
Speaking of which, ever since that incident when he was 12, Liu Tongjia hadn’t been very concerned about him.
Over the past ten years, she hadn’t said anything about specially celebrating his birthday. Every year on his birthday, Grandpa would ask Auntie Wang to cook a bowl of noodles for him to wish him longevity.
As for Huo Mingguang and Liu Tongjia, in their hearts, they wouldn’t even think about which day was his birthday.
On the other hand, his childhood friends would gather with him every year to celebrate his birthday together.
Liu Tongjia felt as if her heart had been lightly stabbed by something because of his words. After all these years, she admitted that she had neglected Huo Jinyao.
She had always thought that Huo Jinyao didn’t care.
Because of Liu Tongjia’s expression, Huo Jinyao was even more convinced that they wanted him to go home because they wanted him to save Huo Yifan.
His expression didn’t look good, and a call came at that moment.
“President Huo, you have a meeting with president An of the An Corporation in five minutes. President An is here now.”
“Ask him to wait in the conference room. I’ll be there right away.”
Huo Jinyao hung up the call and stood up. He looked at Liu Tongjia, who was still sitting there motionlessly, and his expression was very calm.
“Please tell grandpa that I’ve been very busy recently. I’ll see how things go tomorrow. If I don’t have time, I won’t go back.”
He put the documents on the table aside, picked up one of the documents, and walked out.
As he walked past Liu Tongjia, he said in an extremely nonchalant tone.
“If you don’t really want to celebrate my birthday, then don’t pretend to be like that. You obviously don’t want to see me, so why force yourself? I feel tired for you.”
Ever since Liu Tongjia drugged Zhang Yichen, Huo Jinyao was no longer willing to even maintain the pretense of cordiality with Liu Tongjia.
She clearly didn’t like him and clearly loathed him, yet she still came to see him for another person. That made Huo Jinyao even more annoyed.
Perhaps Liu Tongjia preferred to let Huo Yifan be her son. Who knew?
Liu Tongjia felt as if she had been stabbed by Huo Jinyao. She held the spot where her heart was, and was unable to recover from the pain for a long time.
She suddenly thought of what Huo Jinyao said that night.
He said, “After all these years, would you rather it had been me who died that year?”
He also said, “Actually, to be honest. I would rather it had been me who died that year as well.”
That night, she kept dreaming of Huo Jinyao interrogating her with those two sentences. Now, it was even more so. One voice after another kept echoing in her mind.
Liu Tongjia’s body went limp in the chair. Her entire heart felt as if it had been pricked by a needle.
…
When Huo Jinyao entered the house, he could smell the aroma of food in the air.
Upon hearing the sound of him entering the house, Su Qingsang poked her head out of the kitchen. “You’re back? Wash your hands. You’ll be able to eat soon.”
Huo Jinyao put down the car keys, changed his shoes, and entered the house. He realized that it was Su Qingsang who was cooking.
“Why are you cooking? Where’s Auntie Yu?”
“I’m giving Auntie Yu the day off.” Su Qingsang scooped up the dishes and placed them on the kitchen counter. “Alright, go wash your hands and get ready to eat.”
“Why did you think of cooking yourself?” Huo Jinyao wrapped his arms around her waist and noticed that her forehead was covered in sweat.
When Huo Jinyao left the house this morning, Su Qingsang told him to come home early. He knew what day it was, but he pretended not to know.
“Why do you think?”
Su Qingsang kept him in suspense. She patted his arm and told him to let go. She signaled him to wash his hands quickly. She picked up the plate of dishes and walked out.
Huo Jinyao came out after washing his hands. He glanced at the table with six dishes and soup in the middle. It was too much for just two people.
“Steamed sea bass, braised pork ribs, beer duck, braised pork meatballs…”
Huo Jinyao looked at Su Qingsang with admiration in his eyes. “Not bad. They look very appetizing.”
Su Qingsang scooped a bowl of soup for Huo Jinyao and placed it in front of him. “Wrong. Not only does it look appetizing, but the taste is also quite appetizing.”
Huo Jinyao looked at the soup in his hands. “Is this Cordyceps sinensis?”
“Yes.” Su Qingsang nodded. “It’s authentic Cordyceps sinensis. I asked Auntie Yu to buy a pheasant specifically. It was stewed in the afternoon. Try It.”
Huo Jinyao took a sip and nodded. “Yes, it’s very fibromyalgia.”
“Not bad, right? I only put two pieces of ginger to enhance the flavor. I didn’t put any MSG at all.”
Su Qingsang looked at Huo Jinyao, as if she was boasting. “How is it? My cooking is pretty good, right?”
“Yes, not bad. But it’s just the two of us. Isn’t it too much of a waste to have so many dishes?”
“It’s not a waste. It’s a special day.”
Su Qingsang smiled. Huo Jinyao finished the soup and looked at her with a smile. “What special day?”
“What do you think?” Su Qingsang smiled and scooped a bowl of soup for herself. Upon seeing that Huo Jinyao’s bowl was empty, she took it and scooped some rice for him.
“I’ll do it myself.”
“No, you’re the boss today, so I’ll do it.”
Su Qingsang smiled and placed the bowl in front of him. “Birthday boy, happy birthday.”
Huo Jinyao smiled. “I thought you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know before.” Su Qingsang blinked.
Speaking of which, they had just gotten married last year on Huo Jinyao’s birthday.
At that time, Su Qingsang only wanted to find a man to spend the day with. Therefore, she didn’t care about Huo Jinyao’s birthday at all, not to mention their wedding anniversary.
She didn’t expect that one day, she would have such deep feelings for Huo Jinyao.
Once there were feelings, there would be genuine affection in her heart. She would use her heart to understand everything about this man, whether it was his preferences or his mood.
When the two of them returned from Rong City that day, Su Qingsang saw Huo Jinyao’s birth date and immediately noted it down.
Today, she deliberately left work more than an hour earlier in order to prepare these dishes.
“But it’s not like the past anymore. I almost died on my wedding anniversary and didn’t celebrate it properly. I just happened to use your birthday to celebrate our wedding anniversary on one hand and your birthday on the other.”
Huo Jinyao suddenly leaned over and kissed her on the corner of her lips after she finished speaking.
“Thank you, honey.”
Su Qingsang smiled and was about to speak when the doorbell rang. She froze for a moment. She didn’t quite understand who would come at this time.
She glanced at Huo Jinyao and took the lead to open the door.
The person standing outside the door stunned Su Qingsang. She was stunned for a few seconds before she remembered to call out.
“Auntie?”
Why was she here?
Liu Tongjia stood at the door with a big box in her hand. It looked like a birthday cake.
She seemed to be a little uncomfortable. When she saw that the person who opened the door was Su Qingsang, the discomfort on her face became even more obvious.
“You, um, is Jinyao here?”
“Yes.” Su Qingsang glanced at the cake box in Liu Tongjia’s hand and thought to herself, could it be what she thought it was?
She took a step back and looked in the direction of the dining room. “Jinyao, your mother is here.”
“Auntie, come in.”
As she spoke, Su Qingsang took a step back and gestured for Liu Tongjia to come in.
Just as Liu Tongjia entered, Huo Jinyao came out.
The mother and son looked at each other, and Huo Jinyao froze. “Mother?”
Liu Tongjia stood there awkwardly. In fact, when she asked Huo Jinyao to come home yesterday, he refused.
Last night, she didn’t sleep well and tossed and turned for a long time. Today, she had also struggled for a long time, but in the end, she decided to come over.
When she passed by the cake shop, she remembered that she hadn’t celebrated Huo Jinyao’s birthday since he was 12 years old, and she began to feel guilty again. Without thinking, she bought a cake and came over just like that.
When she arrived, she realized that her actions were a little out of place.
The three of them stood together in the living room like three pillars. Liu Tongjia should have wished Huo Jinyao a happy birthday.
However, she felt strange about it since she hadn’t celebrated his birthday for so many years.
When Huo Jinyao saw the box in her hand, he furrowed his brows slightly and stood there without saying a word.
“Jinyao?” Su Qingsang looked at Huo Jinyao and then at Liu Tongjia. When she realized that neither of them wanted to speak, she had no choice but to break the silence.
“Auntie, have you eaten yet?”
“No,” Liu Tongjia responded to Su Qingsang with rare gentleness. She hadn’t eaten. She had intended to return to the old mansion after delivering the cake.
Su Qingsang was flattered by her attitude.
“Since Auntie hasn’t eaten, let’s eat together.”
“Huh?” Liu Tongjia was stunned by Su Qingsang’s words. She didn’t expect her to make such a suggestion.
“I made the dishes. If Auntie doesn’t mind, let’s eat together.”
“Okay.”
Liu Tongjia followed Su Qingsang into the dining room. Su Qingsang glanced at Huo Jinyao as she walked past him, and gestured for him to follow her.
Huo Jinyao didn’t move at first, but in the end, he followed the two of them into the dining room.
There was no one else in the room. Liu Tongjia glanced at the table. They were all very common dishes. She couldn’t help but look at Huo Jinyao again. Did he usually eat these?
“Auntie, put this down first.” Su Qingsang pointed at the box in Liu Tongjia’s hand.
The dining table was very big, and there was still room for it. Liu Tongjia came back to her senses, and a look of discomfort appeared on her face again.
She put down the cake box, then Su Qingsang went inside, and brought out a set of cutlery for her.
She first served Liu Tongjia a bowl of soup. “Auntie, have a bowl of soup first. It’s good for your digestion.”
“Thank you.”
Su Qingsang was shocked by her expression of gratitude. Was she still the same Liu Tongjia?
In Su Qingsang’s mind, Liu Tongjia had always been condescending, yet she was saying thank you to her now?
Su Qingsang was so shocked that she almost fell to the ground. She couldn’t help but look at Huo Jinyao.
Huo Jinyao, on the other hand, acted very normally. He carried his rice bowl and ate by himself.
Su Qingsang couldn’t figure out what Liu Tongjia was up to. After sitting down, she couldn’t help but give Huo Jinyao a kick. When Huo Jinyao looked up, she gave him a silent look to ask him what Liu Tongjia’s intentions were.
Huo Jinyao also gave Su Qingsang a look to express that Su Qingsang didn’t need to care about Liu Tongjia.
How could she not care? She was still her mother-in-law, right? She came over to celebrate his birthday out of kindness, and he was just going to treat her coldly?
How did she know that she was doing this out of kindness? Maybe she has ulterior motives?
She’s your mother.
Is that so? She’s my mother, and also someone else’s aunt.
Su Qingsang gave up on making eye contact with Huo Jinyao. She smiled awkwardly when she realized that Liu Tongjia had been looking at them the whole time.
“Auntie, do you want me to help you get some rice?”
“No.” Liu Tongjia shook her head. “I’ll do it myself.”
After she refused, the atmosphere became awkward again. Su Qingsang ate in silence, and so did Huo Jinyao.
Liu Tongjia was a little uncomfortable, but she forced herself to ignore the discomfort.
After tasting a few mouthfuls of the dishes on the table, she glanced at Su Qingsang and asked, “Did you cook all these dishes?”
“Yes.” Su Qingsang nodded. She was flattered by Liu Tongjia’s words and said, “I’m not good at cooking, so sorry for making a fool of myself.”
Before Liu Tongjia could say anything, Huo Jinyao spoke first.
He had already finished a bowl of rice and was about to add a second bowl when Liu Tongjia’s question made him glance at her.
“If you don’t like it, you can go back to the Huo family and let Auntie Wang and Auntie Zhou cook for you. If you want to find fault with it, there’s no need. After all, these dishes weren’t made for you to eat.”
These words were too harshly blunt. Su Qingsang couldn’t help but want to kick Huo Jinyao.
“That’s the truth.” Huo Jinyao didn’t think that he was wrong. Liu Tongjia came uninvited. He didn’t invite her.
Liu Tongjia’s face paled. She sat there with a bowl in her hand, but she didn’t know whether to eat or not. She just sat there and stared at Huo Jinyao dazedly.
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