With both hands tucked into his pockets, Lin Xun walked briskly out of the parking lot.
After crossing two intersections, he turned into the restroom of a large shopping mall, washing his blood-covered palms clean.
Blood was still seeping out.
Looking closely, he realized that the bone on his right finger had been cut open, a tear was carved into the heel of his palm, and his wrist suffered a slight sprain, making movement less flexible.
It was likely caused when Huo Xu resisted too violently just moments ago.
His pain threshold was high, so injuries of this degree meant practically nothing to him.
Lin Xun shook his hand, flexing and stretching his fingers a few times.
Throwing that flurry of wild punches had certainly let out a breath of pent-up anger, but a feud had officially been formed, and Huo Xu would definitely lay this score at Huo Tingxiao’s door.
He was bringing trouble upon Huo Tingxiao.
Lin Xun sighed, lowering his head to wash his face.
When leaving the shopping mall, he passed by a florist bursting with beautiful flowers. He turned back around, bought a small bouquet of pink lisianthuses, and quietly brought them back to the company.
Huo Tingxiao’s desk was very large, with the only decoration being a transparent glass vase beside the computer.
Its shape was a bit unusual—narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, like a hybrid of a fish tank and a flower vase.
Lin Xun arranged the purchased flowers into the bottle, sincerely hoping that if Huo Tingxiao’s gaze were to rest upon it for a brief moment, it might bring him a fleeting moment of pleasure.
As soon as the flowers were arranged, Huo Tingxiao returned.
Ding Jun followed behind, delivering a briefing; after listening, Huo Tingxiao simply let out a quiet “mm” without making any other comment. He merely paused for a second as he passed in front of Lin Xun, scanning him quickly from head to toe.
Whole and sound—looks like nothing major happened.
Huo Tingxiao sat down in his chair and asked Ding Jun: “How are things going on that end?”
“We found the person, but he’s on the cautious side. If we want to meet, the time and location have to be on his terms.”
While reporting, Ding Jun kept glancing at the glass vase next to the computer.
Who the hell puts flowers in a fish tank?
Two transparent fish that he had gone through immense effort to source were being raised inside!
The culprit was obviously standing right beside them, completely oblivious to it.
Ding Jun looked at the fish tank, then at Huo Tingxiao.
Huo Tingxiao smiled faintly: “Contact him, then. Let’s meet as soon as possible.”
“Understood.” Exercising self-restraint to avoid checking on the survival of the fish fry, Ding Jun left the office.
Huo Tingxiao reached out to stroke a petal, turning his gaze toward Lin Xun: “You bought these?”
Lin Xun nodded, looking at him with bright, dark eyes.
Yet Huo Tingxiao didn’t say whether he liked them or not, nor did he praise their beauty. He simply took out a single bloom at random, brought it to his nose for a light sniff, and set it aside.
Lin Xun lowered his eyelids, quietly retrieving a stray petal resting on the edge of the desk and cupping it tightly in his palm.
By the time Huo Tingxiao finished processing his pending tasks and the two of them headed back to the mid-mountain villa together, the sun hung precariously at the edge of the urban forest, on the verge of falling.
At the next intersection, it was another red light.
Lin Xun brought the car to a smooth stop, staring straight ahead as if fully focused.
In his peripheral vision, a spray of pink lisianthus was being held in Huo Tingxiao’s hand, its pink stamens idly toyed with from time to time.
Lin Xun gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, his palms sweating slightly.
Leaning back in the passenger seat, Huo Tingxiao’s gaze gradually shifted upward from Lin Xun’s blood-stained knuckles to the tip of his nose, where beads of sweat had formed.
After watching for a few seconds, he suddenly asked: “How did your hand get injured?”
Lin Xun’s expression instantly turned tense.
He had originally intended to confess on his own initiative to fight for “leniency in exchange for honesty,” never expecting Huo Tingxiao to be so sharp as to ask first.
Just as he was about to grab his phone to type an explanation, Huo Tingxiao tapped his forearm with the flower stem.
“The light changed. Drive.”
Amidst the impatient honking of the vehicles behind them, Lin Xun suffered a rare crack in his composure. He stepped hard on the gas, and in under two seconds, the roaring supercar left the car behind far in its dust.
The buildings on both sides receded rapidly, and a crimson sunset painted the edge of the horizon. Huo Tingxiao raised the convertible roof. Thanks to last night’s heavy rain, the temperature of the summer evening breeze had dropped, feeling exceptionally comfortable against the skin.
Lin Xun’s hair fluttered wildly in the wind, but he had no mind to care, so much so that when the car pulled into the villa’s underground garage, a small tuft of bedhead was still sticking up on top of his head.
His light gray hair color made his locks look exceptionally soft—one glance was enough to tell it would feel great to touch.
Huo Tingxiao wanted to test out the feel.
However, the moment his hand reached out, Lin Xun tilted his head and dodged it.
Huo Tingxiao knitted his brows slightly, his hand coming to a stop five centimeters away from the tips of Lin Xun’s hair.
The two locked eyes—and aside from silence, there was only more silence.
Two seconds later, Lin Xun finally realized what he had just missed.
A flash of fluster surged through the depths of his eyes.
He had been zoning out just now, drafting a mental script for the Huo Xu matter; when his peripheral vision caught a dark shadow approaching, he had subconsciously dodged out of instinct.
He really hadn’t done it on purpose.
Trying to lean his head back over now was already too late. Huo Tingxiao withdrew his hand, opened the door, and stepped out of the car.
Lin Xun hurriedly gave chase.
Before he could take more than a few steps, Huo Tingxiao received a call from Ding Jun. No matter what the other party said, he remained silent, offering only a brief “understood” right before entering the elevator.
Lin Xun silently pressed the button to close the elevator doors.
Out of nowhere, he heard Huo Tingxiao ask him from behind: “Are you very afraid of me?”
Lin Xun turned his head back in a daze.
Huo Tingxiao held that single stem of pink lisianthus he had brought out from the office; snapping off the overly long stem, he raised his hand and slipped the flower into the breast pocket of Lin Xun’s black shirt.
“Don’t be afraid of me.”
The elevator came to a stop on the ground floor. The two walked into the living room one after the other. Upon reaching the sofa, Huo Tingxiao turned back to the little tail following behind him and said: “Wait here for me a moment.”
Lin Xun stood frozen on the spot, lowering his head to gaze at the stem of lisianthus in his breast pocket, his nose prickling with a sudden pang.
In a short while, Huo Tingxiao returned, carrying a medical kit in his hand.
“Come over and sit down.”
Huo Tingxiao tilted his chin up at him. “Hand.”
Lin Xun reflexively wanted to pull his hand back once more, but under the man’s quiet, steady gaze, he silently extended it forward and held it out to him.
As the disinfectant alcohol sprayed onto the split skin, a sharp, stinging sensation darted around like an electric current.
Huo Tingxiao’s hands were so warm, so large, and the firm grip around his wrist threw Lin Xun’s heart into utter disarray.
His pulse began to race uncontrollably, pounding fiercely against his skin and clearly transmitting his accelerated heart rate to Huo Tingxiao in real time.
Huo Tingxiao glanced up at him.
That casual, indifferent look was practically an aphrodisiac.
Flustered, Lin Xun lowered his head and quietly adjusted his sitting posture, no longer daring to stare directly at Huo Tingxiao.
Huo Tingxiao wrapped the bandage around Lin Xun’s injured right hand layer by layer, winding it tight and secure.
Only yesterday, this person’s face had been scratched open by Xiao Ran’s handbag, and today his knuckles were cracked, his palm sliced open, and his wrist sprained from beating up Huo Xu.
Yet Lin Xun seemed completely indifferent to these injuries and pain.
Just what kind of experiences did it take to make a person immune to pain, treating injuries like a mundane, everyday occurrence?
Huo Tingxiao finally tied the bandage.
Half of Lin Xun’s palm along with his wrist were wrapped in bandages, bundled up even more tightly than when he had suffered a bone fracture.
Clumsily picking up his phone, he typed as fast as he could to confess the trouble he had caused that day: I ran into Huo Xu on my way back. I couldn’t hold back, so I beat him up.
Huo Tingxiao let out an “mm,” waiting for what was to follow.
Lin Xun continued typing: I covered my face, so it wasn’t caught on surveillance, but he knows it was me.
Huo Tingxiao: “Oh.”
With a face full of remorse, Lin Xun typed an apology: I was too impulsive. I’m sorry for causing you trouble.
Huo Tingxiao wasn’t particularly interested in Huo Xu’s situation; he was far more eager to know what Lin Xun had actually gone through six years ago.
How had he ended up unable to speak?
“Besides Huo Xu, is there anything else you want to say to me?”
Lin Xun tightened his grip on his phone, writing, deleting, and editing: My throat was injured once. Whenever I try to speak, I feel a psychological pain and can’t catch my breath, which is why I went to see a psychologist today.
Huo Tingxiao’s eyes darkened slightly.
A throat injury?
Could Lin Xun have become mute because of him?
After a long pause, he asked: “Does it have anything to do with the scar on your neck?”
Lin Xun shook his head instantly. He wanted to type more, but his fingertips trembled uncontrollably, pressing the wrong letters several times.
Huo Tingxiao held down his fingers: “We’ll talk about it when you’re mentally prepared.”
The warmth radiating from his fingertips quickly calmed Lin Xun down.
Before Huo Tingxiao could withdraw his hand, Lin Xun swiftly squeezed back against his fingertips, greedily holding on for one extra second before letting go.
“As for Huo Xu, so what if you beat him up?”
Huo Tingxiao pulled the topic back to the issue Lin Xun cared most about right now. “I’ve been wanting to give him a beating myself for a long time.”
Especially after Huo Xu had come over to raise such a scene last night, there was even less reason to show any mercy.
Lin Xun asked hesitantly: But I hit him pretty hard. He won’t let it slide.
Huo Tingxiao smiled: “As long as you didn’t kill him, it doesn’t count as too hard.”
Hearing this, most of Lin Xun’s guilt dissolved. He reflected on the course of events and typed: Then… I should have prepared more thoroughly before making my move.
Huo Tingxiao’s smile deepened: “Thorough in what way?”
Lin Xun thought about it and wrote: At least avoid surveillance, make sure he wouldn’t see me, and pull a sack over his head to beat him up.
Huo Tingxiao shook his head and said: “In reality, it makes no difference. Even if the person who beat him today were a total stranger unrelated to either of us, Huo Xu would still lay this score at my door.”
Between him and Huo Xu—and indeed the rest of the Huo family—it had long been a tangled mess of bad blood. Having a bit more or a bit less hatred no longer mattered.
He had made complete preparations before returning to the Alliance and returning to the Huo family.
“In short, this is a minor matter, and there’s no need for you to say sorry,” Huo Tingxiao said. “Instead, I should be the one thanking you.”
Thanking me?
Confusion showed in Lin Xun’s eyes.
Huo Tingxiao reached out to stroke the bruise on his cheekbone, his tone light yet sincere: “Thank you for protecting me.”
Lin Xun’s eyelashes fluttered softly.
Even his breathing grew cautious, terrified that his breath might disrupt the air between them.
Huo Tingxiao took the opportunity to raise his hand, running his long, slender fingers through Lin Xun’s hair.
Who would have thought that someone who fought so recklessly would have hair that felt even softer to the touch than imagined?
It made one unable to resist messing it up even further.
Lin Xun obediently allowed Huo Tingxiao to knead and ruffle his hair.
His pair of eyes looked glistening wet, the outer corners tinged with a flush of red.
Huo Tingxiao flicked his fingers lightly against the space between his brows and said: “Go change into something casual, and accompany me on a trip to the Downtown area later.”