He slammed the door several times, but there was no response from inside.
Huo Jinchen, who believed he had been cuckolded, was burning with rage. He wished he could tear down the door and barge in, but he simply didn’t have the strength. Instead, he pressed both hands against the door and leaned his ear close to it.
Despite being over six feet tall and inheriting the Huo family’s handsome looks, his eavesdropping posture made him look inexplicably sleazy.
Huo Jinchen didn’t care about anything else. Clenching his teeth, he strained to listen to the sounds inside.
Faintly, he could hear the hurried footsteps of a man, along with Jiang Youwan’s soft, sweet voice—a tone she had never used with him.
“It’s alright…”
The girl’s gentle, soothing voice seeped through the crack in the door. Perhaps because her voice was low, the words were drawn out and languid, sounding almost like a coquettish plea to anyone listening.
Huo Jinchen was so furious he wanted to pound on the door.
Why?!
Why was Jiang Youwan being so kind to this adulterer?!
When she spoke to him, it was always strictly businesslike. She never acted coquettish with him!
She really had moved on—this fickle, unfaithful woman!
No wonder she was so determined to break up with him!
She must have already found herself an adulterer!
Huo Jinchen’s eyes blazed with anger, but all he could do was press his hands tightly against the door, straining to catch every sound from inside.
In the hallway near the entrance, a tall, imposing young man hurried forward, cradling a slender, delicate girl in his arms. The auntie who had been busy in the kitchen also came out. Seeing Jiang Youwan suffering from morning sickness again, she felt a pang of heartache and quickly went to fetch water.
“She was doing so much better these past two days…”
She muttered to herself, wiping her hands on her apron before grabbing a cup and heading briskly toward the temperature-controlled water dispenser.
The water at 45 degrees Celsius was just right. As soon as the auntie finished pouring the water and turned around, she froze in place—
She wasn’t just any auntie hired casually from a domestic service agency. She was a senior housekeeper from Huo Linyuan’s villa.
She had been managing Huo Linyuan’s household affairs since he first returned to the country.
When it came to understanding Mr. Huo, she probably knew him better than even the people at the Huo family’s old mansion.
Over the years, Mr. Huo had been completely devoted to his career—a true workaholic. He was distant with everyone, keeping matters of romance and intimacy in a separate world. For years, there hadn’t been a single woman by his side.
When Mr. Huo first assigned her to take care of Wanwan, she was utterly shocked. But after learning that the young girl was pregnant, she began to form her own assumptions.
Half of S City was in the hands of the Huo family, and the entire Huo family was under Mr. Huo’s control.
That illegitimate child, born outside the family, might very well become Mr. Huo’s only offspring—the true heir to the Huo family in the years to come. Naturally, it needed to be cared for with the utmost caution.
After arriving at the small apartment, she performed her duties diligently and wholeheartedly. But through daily interactions, she realized that the beautiful university student wasn’t the kind of woman she had initially assumed.
She wasn’t trying to seduce Mr. Huo, nor was she scheming to get things from him.
Given her modest living conditions and Mr. Huo’s obvious favoritism toward her, she could have easily obtained anything she wanted just by asking. Yet, she never took that shortcut.
In her spare time, she would often hold her iPad and draw. It was said that a single piece took her three or four days, sometimes even longer, to complete, and she could sell it for five, six, seven, or eight hundred yuan.
The money she had worked so hard to earn over several days wasn’t even enough to buy a single button on Mr. Huo’s clothes.
They were worlds apart, living in completely different realities.
Even she herself believed that Mr. Huo had sent her here only to ensure the safe delivery of the baby in the girl’s belly, after which he would settle things with a sum of money—just like the common practice in wealthy circles—and send her away.
Until today, when Mr. Huo arrived, she had firmly held onto this belief.
But at this moment…
The middle-aged aunt wearing an apron stood holding a cup, her composure shattered by the shock in her eyes—
The always dignified and aloof Mr. Huo was kneeling on one knee, his handsome profile tense with a nervousness she had never seen before, his hand gently patting the girl’s back.
He had even taken off his wristwatch with such care, as if afraid it might hurt her.
The million-dollar watch was casually tossed on the floor, and his perfectly pressed suit trousers brushed against the ground.
Mr. Huo, who was usually so particular about cleanliness, seemed to have forgotten everything in this moment, his eyes fixed solely on the girl who was coughing violently, her hands covering her mouth as if she were fighting for her life.
“Let go, Wanwan.”
A deep voice filled the air, tinged with unmistakable urgency.
The hands that signed billion-dollar contracts now gently cupped the girl’s chin and rested on her slender, delicate back.
Even his voice was filled with tenderness, coaxing her with utmost care,
“It’s okay to spit into my hand. Don’t hold it in.”
“If something gets stuck in your windpipe, you could choke. Listen to me, Wanwan…”
Jiang Youwan shook her head repeatedly.
Her pretty face was flushed red from the intense coughing, and her eyes were misty with tears, making her look even more pitiful.
A moment later, she patted her chest. The nausea in her stomach lingered, but thanks to Huo Linyuan’s steady efforts to soothe her, the coughing had subsided considerably.
The aunt finally snapped out of her daze and hurriedly brought over the glass of water she had poured.
Huo Linyuan took the cup and rose from the floor. Sitting beside the girl, he pulled her into his embrace and carefully helped her take small sips of water.
Only when he saw her finally calm down did Huo Linyuan let out a sigh of relief.
The girl, now composed, glanced at him. Her long, thick lashes were damp with tears, and her eyes glistened, looking both pitiful and aggrieved.
Huo Linyuan gently patted her back, whispering soothingly,
“It’s alright now, Wanwan.”
The moment these words left his lips, the girl’s eyes grew even redder.
Nestled in the man’s arms, she timidly raised her delicate chin to meet his gaze, then quickly lowered her head, her eyes falling on the hand holding the cup.
His knuckles were distinct, his fingers slender and evenly proportioned. Beneath his fair skin, faint blue veins were visible. Even the way he held the crystal glass with one hand was strikingly elegant, like a flawless piece of jade carved into the most perfect work of art.
Yet this same hand had been placed beneath her mouth when she was about to vomit.
He had said it was okay to spit into his hand.
She had never been a likable girl, never received boundless affection.
Since childhood, it seemed everyone had distanced themselves from her, excluded her, ignored her, or scrutinized her.
No one had ever loved her unreservedly.
Except for Mr. Huo.
It felt as though only by his side was everything she did right, as though nothing she did mattered…
A haze rose in her eyes, blurring her already misty vision.
Even that slender, pale hand flickered in and out of sight. In that very moment, an unprecedented surge of courage welled up in her heart.
She desperately wanted to seize that hand, to hold it firmly in her own palm.
Then she would ask him why he had been so kind to her.
Ask him if, perhaps, he also liked her just a little bit?