“I want to save them all!”
“Father.”
Huo Lin straightened up, looking over with his usual calm demeanor, his gaze steady and unruffled. “Didn’t you and Mother leave for Beigui?”
Huo Guoxun stepped out from the shadows of the corridor. “Who said that? Xiao Ran hasn’t woken up yet. We should at least let him know before we go. This morning, your mother and I went shopping for some gifts. We brought something for both of you too it’s on the living room table.”
His eyes swept over the tightly closed door, then lingered for a moment on Huo Lin’s slightly flushed cheeks, faintly marked with traces of fingers.
“The car and everything are ready. I came up to say goodbye to Ranran before leaving.”
His eldest son stood tall and composed before him, his expression steady, showing no signs of anything unusual.
As someone equally experienced in the business world, Huo Guoxun was all the more sensitive to subtle shifts in atmosphere. The more composed Huo Lin appeared, the more it stirred a faint sense of unease within him.
Huo Guoxun took half a step forward, his gaze returning to the door. “Why… are you coming out of Ranran’s room?”
Huo Lin’s expression remained unchanged. “He attended a class reunion today. I brought him back.”
Huo Guoxun took another step forward. “Then I’ll go check on him.”
Huo Lin subtly blocked the doorway, lifting his eyes. “He’s asleep.”
Under the dim corridor light, father and son’s eyes met.
“Oh… he’s asleep.” Huo Guoxun was the first to look away, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly before relaxing again.
His suspicious gaze shifted back and forth between the door and Huo Lin, his expression slightly unnatural. “Ranran seems. quite dependent on you lately?”
Huo Lin turned slightly, gesturing with a “please.” His voice remained calm. “Father, let’s talk on the balcony. It’s too close to the room here we might wake him.”
He led the way, guiding Huo Guoxun toward the open balcony at the other end of the living room.
Huo Guoxun followed, though his eyes couldn’t help but glance back once more.
Just moments ago
The image of his usually composed eldest son almost hastily rushing out of the room uncontrollably resurfaced in his mind.
Suppressing the swirling doubts in his heart, he spoke in a light tone, “I remember Ranran was like this when he was little too always clinging to you to play.”
Huo Lin had already reached the glass door of the balcony. At these words, his fingers tightened slightly around the handle.
“He’ll probably get tired of it soon.”
He pushed the door open, letting the biting winter night wind rush in first, dispersing some of the warmth indoors.
“It’s good for brothers to be close, supporting and looking out for each other. A harmonious family brings prosperity.”
Huo Guoxun strolled to the railing, standing side by side with him. Yet his gaze wasn’t fixed on the distant night view but rather turned to scrutinize this eldest son who had grown into someone impeccably guarded. The scene from earlier replayed uncontrollably in his mind.
The balcony wind carried a chill, sweeping across both their faces.
A brief silence fell between father and son, broken only by the howling of the wind.
“You’ve worked hard all these years,” Huo Guoxun suddenly said solemnly.
Huo Lin replied, “You flatter me, Father.”
Huo Guoxun chuckled softly, resting his hands on the cold railing as he suddenly reminisced, “Thinking back to when Ranran and I first met you, you were so small, so thin, but your eyes were astonishingly bright. In the blink of an eye, ten years have passed.”
Huo Lin didn’t respond, merely gazing silently at the unmelted snow in the courtyard.
“Ranran is young, with wild ideas and impulsive actions, often acting without considering the consequences never as thorough as you.” Huo Guoxun sighed, hesitating as if searching for the right words. “But you’re different, aren’t you?”
He turned his head, his gaze settling.
Huo Lin remained silent for a long time before nodding gently. “Mm.”
With this response, Huo Guoxun seemed to relax, perhaps he had truly been overthinking things.
He turned to leave but then turned back.
“A-Lin, you’re not young anymore. Is there a girl you like?”
Huo Lin: “No.”
“Really none?” Huo Guoxun observed his reaction, chuckling. “If there is, you must tell your parents. Our Huo family doesn’t believe in those outdated feudal practices like arranged marriages for business. As long as it’s someone you like, nothing else matters. Your mother often says she hopes you’ll bring someone home one day.”
Huo Lin slowly lowered his gaze. “Really, there isn’t, Father.”
Huo Guoxun laughed heartily. “Old Chen, whom I often go fishing with you should call him Uncle Chen has a few nieces. I hear they’re good-looking, with pleasant temperaments, and around your age. I’ll arrange a time for you young people to meet. It’s good to make friends.”
He stroked the mustache above his lips. “As for Ranran, there’s no rush. He has high standards and a bad temper it’s unlikely any girl would take a liking to him. In a couple of years, I’ll carefully find someone suitable for him.”
“Starting a family and building a career in the end, a person’s life should always come down to having a family.”
Huo Lin’s fingers gripping the railing gradually turned white.
He suddenly looked up, something fierce struggling to break free in the depths of his eyes, his thin lips parting slightly. “Father, I”
“Alright, you go about your business. No need to see me off downstairs.” Huo Guoxun waved with a smile. “No matter how important work is, it can’t compare to your health. A-Lin, remember, you’ve never owed this family anything. Don’t always push yourself so hard. Your mother often whispers to me about you, saying you keep everything bottled up. She worries.”
The unspoken words stuck in his throat, Huo Lin fell silent. He lowered his head slightly, his voice tinged with weariness. “Mm, I know. Be careful on the road.”
“In any case,” Huo Guoxun looked at the faint red mark on his cheek, his heart softening as he sighed. “No matter what, no matter what decisions you make don’t hurt yourself.”
“As long as you know what you’re doing, we’ll always be family.”
After Huo Guoxun left, Huo Lin stood alone on the balcony and lit a cigarette.
The cold wind, carrying the chill of the night, swept over him, but he seemed oblivious.
The ember at his fingertips flickered, the ash crumbling bit by bit.
He stood there like that, silent for a long, long time.
Huo Lin’s ties to the Huo family began in the exceptionally cold winter of 2013.
That year, Huo Lin was sixteen.
After losing in the distant homeland’s internal family strife and political upheaval, he was traded like cargo, sinking deep into this underground fighting arena.
Here, there was no sunlight, only the stark, blinding floodlights overhead.
No dignity, only the cold, heavy chains on his hands and feet.
Everyone was treated like livestock, their bodies layered with old and new scars.
The rules were brutal and simple: no right or wrong, only victory or defeat.
Only by knocking down the opponent across from you could you earn a breath of air to survive.
And on that day, Huo Lin’s opponent was not human.
Across from the iron cage, a fully grown tiger paced restlessly, its amber eyes gleaming with a hungry, savage light in the dimness.
A boy stood by the cage, his face smeared with grime and blood, almost obscuring his original features.
Only a pair of deep blue eyes, like frozen lakes, calmly reflected the tiger’s outline.
There was no fear, no anger only a deathly numbness that seemed utterly incongruous with his youth.
That same year, the Huo Group in Xihai City teetered on the brink of collapse, its survival hanging by a thread.
At the helm, Huo Guoxun had reached the end of his rope.
To salvage the family’s century-old legacy and the livelihoods of thousands of employees, he had mortgaged every property and dismissed all the servants.
Zhuang Jing, worn down by days of anxiety and exhaustion, had fallen gravely ill.
Huo Guoxun had no choice but to struggle to keep the company afloat while caring for his young, frail son.
Finally, an investor responded, expressing interest in his project and inviting him for a meeting.
The address, however, was an extremely secluded location on the outskirts of the city.
Huo Guoxun was filled with suspicion, but he had no other options.
His ten year old son, Kairan, had grown especially clingy since his mother fell ill and refused to stay home alone.
With no other choice, Huo Guoxun carried the boy, who was as delicate as a porcelain doll, and set off together.
They navigated a narrow, winding passageway, turning left and right through its twists.
“Daddy… why is there such a big house underground?” Little Kairan clung to his father’s neck, his soft, long hair neatly tied back with a ribbon, his eyes wide with curiosity as he looked around.
Even as the family faced bankruptcy, Huo Guoxun and Zhuang Jing had never skimped on their son’s needs, always keeping him clean and well-dressed.
Huo Guoxun held him tighter, his heart heavy. “Are you scared, Ranran? Do you want to wait for Daddy in the car outside?”
Little Kairan shook his head immediately, his small face full of stubbornness. “I’m not scared at all!”
After passing through one last winding corridor, their view suddenly opened up, and a bizarre, underground world burst into sight without warning.
It was a massive underground casino.
The vast space was divided into different sections.
Crowded gambling tables roared with shouts, while the central arena was a scene of bloody chaos, cheers and curses mingling in the air.
Further away, on a stage, dazzling lights and shadowy figures performed indecent acts.
The scents of money, desire, and violence mixed with expensive cigars and alcohol, forming a suffocating haze of depravity.
This was no respectable place.
Huo Guoxun’s expression darkened, and he quickly raised a hand to cover his son’s eyes.
The guide who had led them there sneered at the sight and called out toward the inner room, “President Yan! The Mr. Huo you’ve been waiting for is here!”
At the center of the gambling tables, a portly middle-aged man turned at the sound President Yan.
He was surrounded by a crowd of fawning faces.
Squinting as he sized up Huo Guoxun, he cracked a smile.
“Well, Mr. Huo, we’ve finally got you here.”
Suppressing his discomfort, Huo Guoxun said firmly, “President Yan, this place is too noisy. Shall we find somewhere quieter to talk?”
President Yan glanced at him again, only then noticing the child in his arms. “Oh, you brought a little one along? Fine ”
He tossed the dice in his hand, then pulled a thick wad of cash from his bulging wallet and casually flung it into the air, sparking a scramble among the people nearby.
He tilted his chin toward the staff nearby. “Get us a private room, and bring some snacks and lollipops.”
The private room door blocked out some of the noise, but through the one-way glass, they could still overlook the hellish revelry below.
Huo Guoxun’s expression was grave as he suggested once more, “Mr. Yan, perhaps we should change locations.”
“What’s wrong?” Mr. Yan lit a cigar, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke with a half-smile. “Not impressed? Mr. Huo, this is a gold-sinking den only accessible to top-tier VIPs. The annual membership fee is this much.”
He gestured with an astonishing number. “Change locations? Well then maybe I should talk to someone else? The companies lining up for my investment could stretch from here to Paris. If you’re still clinging to that aristocratic air of superiority, Mr. Huo, I’m afraid this deal won’t happen.”
As soon as he finished speaking, several burly men beside him let out coarse, mocking laughs in unison.
Huo Guoxun’s fingers clenched, his knuckles turning white, then slowly relaxed.
He needed this money too badly.
Swallowing his humiliation, he pushed the meticulously prepared proposal across the table and began explaining the project’s advantages and prospects.
Mr. Yan crossed his legs, listening with little interest.
Just then,
An ear-splitting tiger’s roar tore through all the clamor.
The largest central cage downstairs was illuminated by a spotlight as a fierce tiger with piercing eyes and a white forehead was driven inside, letting out a menacing growl.
Even more chilling was the row of ragged, trembling teenagers huddled outside the cage, most of them sobbing softly.
Only one among them stood out.
A boy of mixed heritage, positioned in the middle of the line, was particularly conspicuous.
His face showed little expression as he quietly watched the beast in the cage. His unique deep blue eyes, under the harsh light, resembled a frozen, fathomless sea.
“Damn! We’re in luck today it’s the quarterly beast-fight!” one of Mr. Yan’s subordinates exclaimed excitedly, rubbing his hands together, clearly a regular here.
“The beast fights are a tradition here,” Mr. Yan chimed in, his interest piqued, his fleshy face quivering. His tone suddenly turned warm. “See that, Mr. Huo? This is a good omen! It means fate is on our side today, and our partnership has hope! So, when in Rome… why don’t we place a bet?”
He pointed downstairs. “Let’s wager on this round whether the human or the tiger will win. If you place a bet and win, I’ll invest in your hot potato.”
He paused deliberately, his gaze mocking. “If you lose, consider it a gesture of friendship. We can discuss the project another time.”
Huo Guoxun didn’t respond immediately, falling into an uncharacteristic silence.
Someone nearby quickly urged him, “Mr. Yan is practically handing you money! It’s obvious the tiger will win place your bet, Mr. Huo!”
Huo Guoxun’s body stiffened, his face pale with anger. He remained silent, only tightening his arms around his son in his lap, his large hand firmly covering the child’s ears.
Though Xiao Kairan couldn’t hear, his eyes could see.
Leaning against his father’s shoulder, he peered curiously through the glass at the scene below.
His gaze swept past the tear-streaked faces and finally locked directly with those icy blue eyes.
Calm, numb, yet with what seemed like a dark vortex silently churning deep within.
Those eyes seemed keenly aware of the gaze directed at them and stared back unflinchingly.
Across the chaos and noise, two people from entirely different worlds met each other’s eyes.
Xiao Kairan froze.
He tilted his head, wanting to take a closer look, but was already carried out of the private room by Huo Guoxun.
The door slammed shut behind them.
From inside came a disdainful sneer
“Tch, acting all high and mighty.”
“What a buzzkill. Come on, let’s keep playing.”
Huo Kairan’s little face puffed up with anger as he looked up and asked, “Dad, were they cursing you?”
Huo Guoxun gave a bitter smile. “It’s nothing, Ranran. Let’s go back.”
Huo Kairan asked, “They didn’t want to invest in us?”
Huo Guoxun replied, “It’s that we didn’t want to accept their investment.”
Little Kairan didn’t fully understand, but he nodded firmly. “Mm! Dad is right!”
When they had arrived, someone had guided them, but now as they left, no one paid them any attention ignored and dismissed.
Father and son had to rely on their memory to find the exit through the maze-like corridors.
Just as they were about to step onto the stairs leading to the surface
BANG!
The deafening sound of an iron cage gate being yanked open, accompanied by even more frenzied cheers and screams, erupted from the main hall behind them.
A worker casually kicked one of the row of teenagers hard, sending him stumbling into the tiger’s cage.
Huo Kairan’s eyes suddenly widened. “Dad, why is that big brother being locked in a cage to fight a tiger?”
He struggled to get down from his father’s arms. “I want to save him!”
“Ranran, it’s too dangerous. You can’t save him.”
Huo Guoxun shook his head helplessly. To build such a large underground arena in the city, the investment behind this place was unimaginable, and the forces backing it even more so.
“I can! I run really fast!” Little Kairan’s gaze locked onto a point downstairs the control lever for the cage door, which he had noticed earlier in the private room, was held by a man in a blue uniform.
“I want to save all of them!”
Before the words had fully left his mouth, taking advantage of Huo Guoxun’s distraction, Huo Kairan slipped from his arms like a nimble little fish and dashed down the stairs.
“Ranran!”
The starving tiger growled lowly as it closed in on the frail figure in the cage, drool dripping from its jaws.
Everyone was anticipating the bloody spectacle.
But no one expected that, just as the hungry tiger was about to pounce on the boy, a child dressed as if he had stepped out of a fairy tale charged at astonishing speed to the control panel. Under the stunned gaze of the blue-uniformed man, he leaped up with all his might, using the full weight of his body to slam down the red control lever.
“Big brother, run!”
The massive iron cage collapsed on all sides with a thunderous crash.
Freedom came too suddenly.
The tiger paused, then was drawn by the child’s clear shout. Its amber eyes instantly locked onto the small figure.
ROAR
A foul, bloody wind rushed toward him. Never having faced such primal danger before, Huo Kairan was frozen in place by the terrifying aura, his little face turning deathly pale.
At the critical moment, a dark figure shot over from nearby.
A large hand, covered in thick calluses and scars, suddenly seized Huo Kairan’s delicate wrist, yanking him forcefully and pulling him securely into a hard embrace that smelled of blood.
Him?
Without any hesitation, gripping Huo Kairan tightly, he turned and sprinted toward the narrow stairs leading to the upper levels of the building the opposite direction from the exit.
The cold wind cut like knives, flooding their lungs.
Huo Kairan was jolted violently, the boy’s frantic heartbeat and ragged breaths loud in his ears. As he stared at the beastly shadow closing in behind them, his legs turned to jelly. Gasping between sobs, he choked out, ” I can’t run anymore..”
The boy seemed not to understand, his pace never faltering.
Tears welling in his eyes, Huo Kairan stumbled through the words again.
Only then did the boy seem to grasp his meaning, skidding to an abrupt halt mid-sprint.
The next moment, Huo Kairan felt his body go weightless, the world spinning
He was flung over the boy’s shoulder like a sack of sand, held steady.
The maneuver only made the boy run faster. He charged up the spiraling staircase, pushing with all his might toward the highest point of the building.
The entire underground casino had erupted into chaos.
A tiger had broken loose. People fled in terror, tables and chairs overturned, screams and cries merging into a cacophony of doom.
Until bang several crisp gunshots pierced the turmoil.
The beast was slain.
As the dust settled, Huo Guoxun frantically pushed through the panicked crowd and found the two children huddled together at a stairwell landing.
Little Kairan clung tightly to the boy’s neck, while the boy himself was tensed like a coiled spring, shielding the child, his eyes alert and scanning their surroundings.
Seeing his son unharmed, and meeting the boy’s calm yet unmistakably shaken blue eyes in his pale face, Huo Guoxun’s heart churned with turmoil.
Call the police? It meant irrevocably offending Boss Yan and potentially the vast network behind him the Huo family might face utter ruin.
Not call? How could his conscience bear it?
What of this child, and the others trafficked here?
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and made the choice of a lifetime.
When he opened them again, a long-dormant sense of valor and responsibility inherited from Huo ancestors blended with a father’s pride, surging within him.
He smiled, pulled out his phone, and with a sense of release, dialed those three digits.
The wail of sirens tore through the night sky over the outskirts.
The massive underground casino was completely shut down, its operators arrested.
Beyond the gambling halls, dozens of trafficked victims were rescued from the fighting rings and dance floors.
Investigations revealed most had registered identities and traceable backgrounds, allowing them to gradually return to their families.
All except the blue-eyed boy.
He had no identity, no known origins. He answered no questions, only observed everything with those silent, deep-pool eyes.
Medical exams showed long-term malnutrition and numerous scars, yet his vocal cords were fine he simply refused to speak.
Faced with police inquiries about placement, Huo Guoxun looked at his youngest son, who was clutching the boy’s sleeve and beaming up at him.
Finally, he stepped forward, crouched down to meet the boy’s deep blue eyes, and said gently yet solemnly, “If you have nowhere to go would you like to come home with us?”
The boy’s long lashes fluttered. His gaze slowly shifted to Huo Guoxun’s outstretched hand, then to the little angel behind him held by Zhuang Jing, who was waving eagerly in his direction.
After a long pause, he gave an exceedingly slow, single nod.
The Huo family adopted him.
They named him Huo Lin.
The price the Huo family paid for this act was immense.
They had disturbed deeply entrenched interests. Open attacks and hidden schemes followed in relentless succession.
The already precarious Huo Group, caught in a crossfire from multiple sides, slid irrevocably toward the brink of bankruptcy.
Surprisingly, Huo Guoxun, who had always valued a leisurely life, found his innate fighting spirit thoroughly ignited.
He refused to accept defeat or resign himself to fate.
After applying for police protection, he remained in Xihai, supporting the last breath of the group with astonishing tenacity. Maneuvering among various forces, he managed to carve out a faint glimmer of hope for the Huo family in the midst of desperate circumstances.
Meanwhile, Zhuang Jing, whose health had improved, took the two children abroad to lay low for the time being.
Huo Guoxun and Zhuang Jing were, at their core, optimistic hedonists who firmly believed that “since you’re alive, you should live well.”
Even during their most financially strained times, they never let their days be clouded by gloom.
With a limited budget, Zhuang Jing rented an old apartment with a small garden, concocted nutritious meals in creative ways every day, and kept the children neat and tidy.
She could make over a dozen long-distance calls to Huo Guoxun in a single day, sharing every detail of their lives. This shared hardship, in fact, deepened their marital bond more than ever, akin to the honeymoon phase.
“Don’t worry, we’re all fine. Xiao Ran really loves the apple tree in the yard. The new doctor’s medicine is working well; he hardly coughed at all this winter. A-Ling has started school. His teacher praised him for being exceptionally smart, quick to grasp things. He must have attended school before.”
On the other end of the line, little Huo Kairan was sprawled on the carpet, engrossed in playing with a newly bought set of Disney princess stickers.
Meanwhile, Huo Ling sat at a desk not far away, his back ramrod straight, meticulously doing his homework.
The dim yellow light of the desk lamp fell on his youthful yet overly solemn profile, always shrouded in an inescapable gravity.
Huo Kairan was full of curiosity about him.
He secretly observed for a while, then clutching a shiny sticker, he inched toward Huo Ling bit by bit, like a cautious little kitten.
Just as his small hand was about to touch Huo Ling’s back
The boy’s tense spine twisted with lightning speed, as if triggered by a spring-loaded mechanism.
A rough, powerful hand reflexively shot out, precisely clamping around Huo Kairan’s delicate neck, and instinctively pinned the entire small body down onto the carpet.
At first, Huo Kairan giggled, thinking Huo Ling was playing with him, and reached out for a hug.
However, the grip around his neck didn’t loosen; instead, it slowly tightened.
Those deep blue eyes now churned with an unfamiliar, chilling ferocity.
Breathing became difficult. Huo Kairan’s slender, pale fingers feebly clawed at the slightly veined back of Huo Ling’s hand, letting out a whimper like a small animal. “Ge… ge?”
Huo Ling’s pupils abruptly contracted, focused, and he saw the child beneath him his flushed little face and the glaring red marks on that slender neck.
As if scalded, he jerked his hand away as if shocked.
“Sorry” He opened his mouth, forcing out the three words in extremely stiff, halting Chinese.
This was the first complete Chinese sentence he had learned since being adopted by the Huo family, aside from his name.
Little Kairan scrambled up, covered his neck, glanced at him, then turned around angrily, presenting the back of his head, ignoring him.
Huo Ling stood there, somewhat at a loss.
He watched the small back for a moment in silence, then walked over to stand in front of Huo Kairan. In his flat, uninflected tone, he repeated word by word, “Sorry.”
Huo Kairan twisted his little body away.
Huo Ling shifted his steps, facing him again, and repeated, “Sorry.”
Like a machine programmed for a single task, he strictly, persistently, within one hour, faced him and uttered a full sixty “sorry”.
Finally, Huo Kairan put his hands on his hips, turned around, and glared up at him with his little face.
Looking at Huo Ling’s expressionless yet somehow stubborn face, a mischievous grin suddenly spread across his own.
He picked up the scattered princess stickers from the carpet
Belle, Cinderella, Snow White.
Standing on tiptoe, he carefully stuck them one by one onto Huo Lin’s handsome, expressionless face, decorating him beautifully.
“Alright, I forgive you!” he announced, his voice crisp and clear.
Huo Lin, now adorned with a face full of glittering princess stickers, froze.
In his deep blue eyes, the frozen surface of a lake seemed to crack with an almost imperceptible sound, splitting open a tiny fissure.
“Ranran, why are you bullying your brother again?”
Zhuang Jing peeked out from the kitchen, unable to hold back her laughter.
Huo Kairan stuck his tongue out at his mother, then giggled and scampered away, filling the entire house with his joyful laughter.
That laughter seemed to pierce through the long passage of time, still faintly echoing in Huo Lin’s cold ears even now.
If the story had only stopped there, it would have been fine.
Unfortunately, too many things happened afterward.
It was a debt of gratitude Huo Lin could never repay, a sin he could never atone for.
A burning pain at his fingertips pulled him back from the scalding memories.
Another cigarette had burned down to the filter.
Beneath his feet lay nearly half a pack’s worth of cigarette butts.
The cold night wind cut through his thin clothes, but he didn’t even notice.
Huo Guoxun. just how much had he discovered?
Huo Lin would have preferred it if his father had stormed out at that moment, grabbed him by the collar, landed a hard punch, and cursed him for being ungrateful and worse than an animal.
At least that would have been straightforward, at least it would have been clear.
But he didn’t.
He just looked at him with concern, saying, “We will always be family.”
That forgiveness only made Huo Lin feel even more ashamed.
His heart, steeped in darkness for too long, had actually conceived a filthy thought coveting their cherished treasure.
Gratitude, sin, and affection intertwined, making this man, who had always been rational, clear-headed, and decisive, feel utterly powerless for the first time.
“I apologize for what happened yesterday.”
The next morning, Huo Kairan opened his door, his entire body aching and weak, only to find Huo Lin’s tall, straight figure standing right outside.
“Huh?” Huo Kairan was instantly confused.
What had he done yesterday?
His memory became fragmented after pouring wine over Jiang Xu’s head, leaving only a few blurry scenes.
Oh no, did I accidentally spill the beans about the true and fake young master situation?
Huo Kairan felt a pang of guilt.
It had already been exhausting enough to act obedient and sweet in front of Huo Lin these past few days, and then a few glasses of wine had completely stripped away his facade.
If Huo Lin had seen his ruthless, fierce side when dealing with Jiang Xu yesterday, would he think he was vicious and hypocritical?
Could it be that something even worse happened afterward?
He tried hard to recall, but could only grasp a few scattered images: swaying lights, scorching breaths…
Huo Lin’s gaze fell on his face, slowly drifted downward, then shifted away as if burned, his voice low and slightly hoarse. “If you can’t accept it I can leave.”
Huo Kairan quickly interrupted, “I accept! I accept!”
Just kidding, the real young master is about to return. I absolutely cannot lose this powerful ally!
Huo Lin’s eyes darkened. After a few seconds, he gave a self-mocking tug at the corner of his mouth. “For his sake you would actually go this far.”
“Hmm?” Huo Kairan blinked.
Huo Lin today seemed a bit off.
“Did you not sleep well?” he asked, noticing the faint dark circles under the other’s eyes.
Huo Lin took a deep breath. “Tell me, what exactly do you want me to help him with?”
Huo Kairan scratched his head. “Who are we talking about?”
Huo Lin practically squeezed the name out from between his teeth. “The one surnamed Gao.”
“Oh, that matter.” Huo Kairan vaguely remembered overhearing the conversation between Huo Lin and Gao Chaoguang yesterday.
He had indeed wanted to speak up and plead for leniency at the time, but he was too drunk to form words—could it be that he had brought it up again later in his dazed state?
Probably so…
“Brother, please don’t cancel his internship opportunity. The messy stuff between him and me… is my own business. It has nothing to do with his work abilities. Besides, I was a bit impulsive yesterday after drinking. Maybe… he didn’t actually mean it that way.”
Suddenly learning that a friend he once considered fairly close had feelings for him and that friend being a man was quite a shock.
Coupled with Jiang Xu’s filthy words, he had let his emotions get the better of him in the moment.
But Gao Chaoguang’s past help toward him wasn’t fake.
One thing should be kept separate from another. He couldn’t repay kindness with ingratitude.
Huo Lin’s deep blue eyes churned with undercurrents as he gazed intently at him.
So it was just for such a trivial matter.
That he could go to such lengths.
His gaze involuntarily fell on those still-rosy lips, lingering there for a long while before he finally responded in a low voice, “Mm, I understand.”
“Then… thank you?” Huo Kairan felt that Huo Lin was unusually agreeable today, which actually made him a bit uneasy.
He raised his hand and waved. “Brother, come home early tonight, okay?”
The figure stepping out of the entryway paused slightly but did not turn back.
“What are you thinking about?”
Song Shiwei waved a hand in front of Huo Kairan’s eyes, then gently tapped the little white snake coiled on his shoulder.
The young master was staring blankly out the window, not even his most treasured Xiao Bai able to lift his spirits. His eyes held a trace of confusion.
Huo Kairan tilted his head. “I was thinking my brother seemed a bit strange today. Is he angry because I drank?”
“He didn’t even try to control me much. When I said I wanted to come play with Xiao Bai, he actually agreed.”
Song Shiwei nodded thoughtfully. “Possibly. Besides, you just recovered from your illness and immediately ran out to drink.”
Huo Kairan let out a long sigh, scratching his hair in frustration. “What should I do He also saw me acting all fierce and aggressive toward Jiang Xu.”
“It’s over everything’s ruined. All my efforts these past few days were in vain.” He propped his cheeks with both hands, his face full of regret.
Song Shiwei chuckled softly. “In vain? I feel like your relationship has improved a lot.”
Huo Kairan turned to him. “Really?”
Song Shiwei nodded. “For example you used to only call him by his full name. Now you call him ‘brother’ quite naturally.”
Huo Kairan’s shoulders slumped. “And his attitude toward me?”
Song Shiwei suddenly recalled that moment in the back garden, when he had raised his hand to ruffle Huo Kairan’s hair, that intensely oppressive gaze
“His attitude toward you is not ordinary.”
“What does ‘not ordinary’ mean?” Huo Kairan leaned in anxiously, pressing for an answer.
As Song Shiwei drew closer, a glint of white light flashed across the lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses, and he suddenly noticed
The young man’s fair, jade-like complexion made his lips appear unusually red, the Cupid’s bow slightly swollen and glistening with an indescribable moist sheen, as if they had been repeatedly pressed and rubbed, exuding a nearly irresistible allure.
He suddenly caught his breath, his voice lowering:
“Ranran, what happened to your lips?”