In the spacious, brightly lit office, Li Xiuzhe sat in his genuine-leather office chair, staring somberly at his secretary. Not a ripple touched his voice.
“My daughter?”
“Yes. There’s a little girl in the lobby claiming to be your daughter. She looks about two or three years old. The receptionist said she looks a lot like you, so she reported it to me.”
Secretary Su repeated what the receptionist had told him, his expression equally unmoved.
The president’s family background and wealth were obvious to everyone. His looks rivaled those of any celebrity, and he had begun running a company on his own before even graduating. Now, at thirty-three, he was already someone capable of holding up an entire family.
He was also exceptionally chaste, without any of the bizarre proclivities associated with rich men.
A diamond-grade bachelor as famous throughout the capital as he was—how many people wanted to catch themselves a wealthy husband like him? Incidents like today’s happened once every three months on average.
Not only was today’s little girl’s attempt to claim him as her father no more original than the ones before it, she clearly had no brains, either.
Everyone knew that the heir to the Li Corporation was cold and heartless, always wearing an icy expression no matter whom he faced. But in reality, the president was even colder and more ruthless than outsiders imagined.
His hawk-like eyes seemed capable of seeing straight through people’s hearts. No matter what schemes they harbored, there was nowhere to hide them in front of the president. Quite a few of the women who had tried to use underhanded tricks were still sitting in prison.
So it wasn’t just women who were absent from the president’s side—even a female fly probably couldn’t get near him. How could a three-year-old daughter simply appear out of nowhere?
That was why Secretary Su showed none of the excitement the receptionist had displayed over the phone. He calmly waited for the president to issue his ruthless order.
Sure enough, when the president heard the news, he merely raised his sharp brows slightly. Aside from that, there was not the slightest hint of surprise on his face.
“Have the child thrown out.”
Secretary Su calmly acknowledged the order, then turned and left.
See? The president couldn’t even be bothered to investigate the mastermind. Poor brainless girl. She had gone to all the trouble of arranging this whole scene, yet she hadn’t even earned a glance from him. What a complete failure!
But the instant he closed the door, the president—whom he was certain would give the matter no further thought—furrowed his brows.
For certain special reasons, Li Xiuzhe found it very difficult to form close relationships with others. He had also been poisoned as a child. Although he had survived, he was unable to have children. Thus, from a very young age, he had known that he would never have children in this lifetime.
So the child downstairs could not possibly be his.
Still, if he could have had a child, it would be exactly three years old by now.
He recalled the shameless woman who had drugged his alcohol. She was the only woman with whom he had ever had an intimate encounter.
But if she had truly and unexpectedly become pregnant, then given that woman’s willingness to discard even her sense of shame for wealth and glory, how could she have waited until now to come demanding child support from him?
She should have come to blackmail him on the very day the child was born. How could she possibly have endured until the child was three?
Li Xiuzhe pressed his thin lips into a straight line, his sharp gaze growing ever colder. Whoever had arranged this, if she didn’t know enough to disappear quickly, he would show no mercy to someone who had dared to stab a knife into his heart.
After spending only a little time sorting through the matter, he cast aside his distracting thoughts and immersed himself in his work once more.
In the lobby.
Huahua sat on a sofa in the waiting area, holding the little yogurt drink the receptionist had given her. She leisurely swung her short legs as she waited for Dad to come see her.
But she had already finished sucking up all the yogurt, and Dad still had not come.
The audience was growing anxious, too.
【Why is he taking so long?!】
【Ancient times were different from now. People back then thought it was abnormal not to have children, and the rich had even more children. Maybe he simply doesn’t care about suddenly having an illegitimate daughter.】
【Boo, boo, boo! Don’t jinx it!】
【I hope something delayed him. May the universe’s unknown forces watch over Huahua.】
Huahua shifted her little bottom and tucked her legs up onto the sofa. Ignoring the intense gazes of the people coming and going, she stared fixedly toward the elevator doors with her big eyes.
Every time the elevator doors opened and closed, she hoped the person inside would be Dad.
But Dad never appeared. Instead, a tall uncle dressed in black trousers and a black shirt emerged.
Huahua tilted up her little head. Faced with a stranger, she showed none of the soft, adorable cuteness she displayed toward Mu Qingrou and small animals. Her face was simply blank with bewilderment.
She asked blankly, “Uncle, why are you blocking Huahua?”
The security guard tugged at the corners of his mouth, forcing out a somewhat ferocious smile. Trying his best to sound gentle, he said, “Little girl, this isn’t a place for you to play around, so hurry up and leave.”
An ordinary child might have been frightened into tears by the security guard’s appearance, but Huahua seemed to be missing a screw and paid no attention to it. She honestly shook her head.
“I can’t leave. Huahua has to wait here for Dad. What if Dad comes down later and can’t find me?”
The security guard glanced awkwardly at the tiny little girl, but Secretary Su’s orders could not be disobeyed. He had no choice but to act forcefully: he picked her up and strode toward the entrance.
Huahua was so startled at being suddenly picked up by a stranger that she forgot how to speak for a moment. By the time she recovered, she was already standing at the main entrance. The big, burly uncle had turned around and gone back inside, closing the doors behind him.
Huahua hurried forward a few steps and pressed herself against the glass door, tapping on it.
“Uncle, you can’t do this. Dad is coming down soon. Hurry and let me in.”
The security guard pretended not to hear her. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead and refused to look down at her.
Huahua rolled her eyes around and cleverly tried to slip inside with the flow of people entering and leaving, but the nasty uncle quickly carried her back out again.
After this happened several times, Huahua still stubbornly tried to get back inside. Suddenly, she heard a familiar, soft voice behind her.
“Did you come to take me home, meow?”
Huahua turned around and saw the little white cat she had encountered across the street yesterday sitting upright behind her, its head tilted as it looked at her.
Huahua happily greeted the little white cat first, then shook her head.
“Huahua still doesn’t have money to raise you. I came to find Dad today, but the nasty uncle won’t let Huahua inside.”
Faced with a familiar cat, the more she spoke, the more aggrieved she became. She was worried that Dad would come down and not be able to find her, and a layer of tears immediately clouded her big eyes.
The little white cat came over and rubbed against the human cub who made it feel exceptionally close and whom it couldn’t help wanting to approach. Its green cat eyes glanced at the closed glass doors. Then it meowed twice at Huahua, turned around, and walked away.
“Come with me, meow. I’ll take you inside, meow!”
The moment Huahua heard that, she asked nothing and hurried after the little white cat.
When the security guard saw that the little girl had been lured away by the cat, he breathed a sigh of relief. He reported the situation into the radio on his chest, then continued standing guard at the entrance.
The audience also breathed a sigh of relief.
【As expected of a superpower—what a twist!】
【Huahua is amazing, and the little white cat is amazing too!】
Huahua followed the little white cat all the way around to the underground parking garage behind the company.
After making several turns, the little white cat stopped in front of an elevator and said, “This is the place, meow. The two-legged creature who feeds me comes in and out through here, meow. The other two-legged creatures don’t dare come here, meow. This is my home too, meow.”
Huahua spotted a lovely little cat bed in the corner of the elevator lobby. That must be the little white cat’s home.
Huahua praised it, “Baibai, your home is so pretty.”
“That’s right, meow. It suddenly appeared this winter, meow. I like it very much, meow.”
Huahua rose onto her tiptoes, but still couldn’t reach the elevator button. She lowered her head and looked at her good friend, the little white cat.
The little white cat understood at once. It immediately leaped up and pressed the button for the upper floors.
The elevator arrived shortly afterward. The little white cat entered with Huahua as if it knew the place by heart. There was only one button inside. The cat repeated what it had done before, leaping up and striking the button with its paw. The elevator began to rise.
Huahua clapped her little hands. “Wow! You’re amazing! Are you coming with me too?”
The little white cat licked its paw.
“Meow, my two-legged creature is very capable, meow. I’ll have him help you find your dad, meow.”
Huahua crouched down and hugged the little white cat, rubbing her little cheek against it again and again.
“Thank you, Maomao.”
“Meow~”
“Ding~~”
The elevator doors opened, and Huahua followed the little white cat out with a soft patter of footsteps.
Everyone at their workstations jolted when they heard the sound of the president’s private elevator. Every person became visibly busier than they had been a second earlier.
They pretended to turn around casually, preparing to greet the president, and then stared in shock at a tiny little girl and a small white cat swaggering through the office.
Everyone: ???
They were so stunned and confused that, for a moment, no one thought to stop the two little fellows.
Huahua had no attention to spare for the reactions of the workers around her. Her tiny heart was beating incredibly fast.
She was about to meet Dad! She was a little nervous. Dad should like her, right?
Ahead of her, the little white cat followed the scent of its two-legged creature and led Huahua to a door, where it stopped.
“The two-legged creature is inside, meow.”
Huahua straightened her overalls, then raised her little hand and knocked on the door. A clear male voice with a metallic quality soon came from inside.
“Come in.”
Huahua twisted the doorknob open and immediately saw a handsome man seated behind a large office desk.
The man’s face matched the photograph Mommy had shown her. There was no mistake—he was her handsome dad!
The audience collectively cried out:
【Huahua, that’s him! Go, go, go!】
Huahua set her two short legs in motion and scampered toward him as fast as she could. When she drew close, she happily threw open her little arms and hugged the man around the leg.
“Dad!”
The employee who had come to stop her at the doorway was so shocked that his jaw nearly hit the floor.