The Huo family’s ancestral home is located in the northern suburbs of District One. The estate is a heritage passed down through countless generations of the Huo family, requiring annual repairs to this day. It completely preserves an exclusively 19th-century English architectural style that is retro without feeling outdated, and understated yet luxurious. Spanning a total area of 2,500 square meters, the entire estate can be described as extravagantly lavish in District One, where every inch of land is worth a fortune.
Therefore, every time Li Mo came here, he couldn’t help but marvel at the Huo family’s wealth a level of wealth that surpassed his imagination.
If he weren’t on a mission, it would genuinely be wonderful to be the Huo family’s daughter-in-law. Perhaps then he could experience a carefree life and never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of his days.
Although he also knew that if it weren’t for the mission, he wouldn’t have married Huo Jingsi, and in this lifetime, he wouldn’t even have had the opportunity to lay eyes on the Huo estate.
Li Mo was holding a paper bag in his hand; it was a gift he had specially prepared for Huo Jingyan. After following Huo Jingsi through the front doors, he glanced upstairs and then toward the living room, hoping to figure out Huo Jingyan’s whereabouts under the guise of delivering a gift. Strangely enough, however, Huo Jingyan wasn’t secretly hiding somewhere peeking at him today.
Confused, he asked, “Huh?”
“Is the sir looking for the Second Young Miss?” An observant domestic helper noticed and asked him this, then elaborated, “The Second Young Miss said she isn’t feeling very well, so she is currently resting in her own room. She told all of us not to disturb her. If the sir has anything you need to give to the Second Young Miss, you can hand it to me, and I will pass it along to her for you.”
Li Mo looked at her. He recognized this domestic helper; her name was Xiao Ai. Because Huo Jingyan basically only ever took the initiative to speak to her alone throughout the entire Huo family a treatment not even Huo’s father and mother received, Xiao Ai could be considered the single closest person by Huo Jingyan’s side.
Precisely because Xiao Ai held this unique status compared to everyone else, she enjoyed a high position among the domestic helpers and a salary several times higher than that of ordinary staff.
The item in Li Mo’s hand was originally prepared specifically for Huo Jingyan: a black dress. It started out as a very ordinary style, but it was rendered lively and delicate by a whole circle of pearls embellished along the hemline.
He had accidentally spotted it in a shopping mall back then, and the very first moment he saw it, for some unknown reason, he thought of Huo Jingyan, so he bought it with the intention of giving it to her.
It was just that now, while the gift had indeed been delivered, his objective hadn’t been achieved. Even though deep down he still harbored no small amount of doubt and unease, he could only offer a smile, subsequently hand the item in his hand to Xiao Ai before him, and say, “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”
Xiao Ai returned a polite smile to him as well, then took the item from his hands and turned to walk upstairs.
Watching her retreating figure, Li Mo always felt that matters were not as simple as he imagined.
Meanwhile, Huo Jingsi had been summoned into the study by Huo Chengbi.
“I hear this economic conference in District Eight didn’t go very smoothly.” Huo Chengbi sat in the leather chair in front of the desk, taking a small sip of tea. “What is it? Those people are starting to find you and make demands?”
This marshal, who had once rendered monumental service to the empire, spoke with the unquestionable posture of someone in a position of power. Back on the battlefield, he was an absolute and decisive general who executed rulings without hesitation. Now occupying a high position and advancing in years, his intimidating aura remained undiminished, yet the sharpness and edge in his gaze had slowly converged, replaced by a bottomless shrewdness.
The moment Huo Jingsi brought up these matters, his anger flared. Reaching out as if immune to pain, he heavily pounded his fist against the desk and said, “I usually give them pleasant expressions too often. I really fucking want to blow a couple of people away to vent my frustration.”
“Do you dare?” Huo Chengbi glanced at the desk with a look of heartache, then said, “You’ve been in the spotlight lately, and the citizens’ calls for your support are so high right now. Seeing that the position of governor is about to fall into your hands, naturally they want to use the ballots in their hands to trade you for a few more benefits.”
This was also the reason why the District Eight economic conference that day dragged on from afternoon until evening without concluding.
The theme of the conference was actually very simple, primarily discussing matters concerning the post-disaster reconstruction of District Sixty-Nine. If it were in the past, these selfish and self-interested nobles would basically have been unwilling to attend such conferences, because such a project, plainly speaking, required them to fork over some money.
And they couldn’t give too little; giving too little would cause them to lose face. But they couldn’t give too much either, because the mere thought of this money being spent on those lowly citizens made them feel deeply unlucky from the bottom of their hearts.
Yet no matter what, however reluctant they might be, they would always shell out a little bit more or less.
Only, this time, goodness knows what had gotten into them. The moment the topic of money was raised, the entire room fell silent. When people were called upon one by one down the line, they all fobbed it off with various excuses: capital turnover wasn’t smooth, they were busy working on construction for their own jurisdictions and funds were tight…
In truth, all of these words were spoken for Huo Jingsi to hear.
After all, the affair of Li Mo personally visiting the disaster zone to help refugees had blown up tremendously. In terms of public opinion, Huo Jingsi had truly reaped both fame and fortune during this period.
Consequently, these nobles couldn’t sit still anymore. Ever since the former governor issued the Citizen Rights Protection Act, they had been worrying in their hearts that their innate noble status would vanish over time with the passage of time. Now that a new governor was about to take office, they needed to rely on the ballots in their hands to back someone who could guarantee that their noble rights would not be infringed upon.
That person was Huo Jingsi. However, Huo Jingsi wasn’t someone they had chosen of their own accord, and hindered by the Huo family’s influence, they simply had no way to manipulate him.
Furthermore, the overall situation was now crystal clear. If Li Mo could successfully resolve the disaster in District Sixty-Nine with Huo Jingsi’s assistance, then the flow of the ballots in the citizens’ hands would become thoroughly explicit. Once that happened, basically no one else would be able to usurp Huo Jingsi’s position.
Coupled with the influence of Huo Jingsi’s father and mother, the position of governor could be described as being as easy to take as reaching into a pocket.
Yet right now, the most crucial and core point to resolving the problem of District Sixty-Nine was money.
At the same time, this money couldn’t simply be plain money. If it were strictly about money, the Huo family could directly pull out the funds needed for the reconstruction of District Sixty-Nine themselves, but they couldn’t do that. Because doing so would only represent Huo Jingsi alone, representing other nobles’ dissatisfaction with safeguarding citizens’ rights.
In a distorted sense, doing this would feel as though they were telling everyone that the Huo family was begging the citizens for the ballots in their hands, standing utterly isolated and helpless. Even if he were made governor, it would be difficult to guarantee whether the implementation of safeguarding citizens’ rights would encounter any obstructions.
Therefore, this money had to come out of the pockets of these nobles at the very least, it needed to demonstrate that they were quite happy to contribute to the post-disaster reconstruction of District Sixty-Nine.
And the attitude of these upper-echelon imperial nobles toward District Sixty-Nine at this particular juncture was precisely their attitude toward Huo Jingsi.
Yet forcing them to cough up money was no easy task either.
People are inherently self-serving animals, especially since they were all well aware that Huo Jingsi needed their assistance; taking advantage of this moment to put forward the conditions they desired couldn’t be better.
So right now, just as Huo Chengbi had said, they wanted to use the ballots in their hands to “trade for some benefits” from Huo Jingsi.
Sitting in the conference hall at that time, if not for the sake of the greater picture, Huo Jingsi genuinely wanted to pull out a gun and blow a few people away to vent the anger burning in his heart.
Coincidentally, a minor episode had occurred at that very moment.
Back then, Huo Jingsi was struggling to hold back his facial expression, trying to make it look somewhat amicable, when adjutant Liu beside him suddenly stepped in from outside with a tightly drawn, dead-serious expression.
Instantly, the entire hall quieted down, all gazes converging onto Adjutant Liu.
Huo Jingsi thought something else had happened outside, right up until Liu Shun leaned in to whisper to him, saying, “Director, the Madam has sent a message. Would you like to reply now?”
Right then and there, Huo Jingsi had the urge to blow him away first. But hampered by the fact that everyone’s eyes were fixed on the two of them, he could only suppress the joy bubbling in his heart, maintain the same stern expression, and low-voicedly instruct him: “He must have gone home. Use my phone to tell him to rest early and not to wait up for me.”
Even so, Huo Jingsi had to admit that this timely message from Li Mo pacified his mood to a very large extent.
At the very least, his urge to kill people wasn’t quite as heavy at that moment.
Returning to the Huo family study.
“I just can’t do it right now, not that I don’t dare.” Huo Jingsi lowered his head to rotate his wrist. “After tonight’s banquet, everything will be handled.”
“Mm.” Huo Chengbi deeply appreciated the confidence on Huo Jingsi and trusted that, apart from occasionally being hot-tempered, he possessed the capability, so he shifted the topic. “You and Xiao Mo, are you both doing well?”
“Everything is fine.”
Mentioning his spouse, a few traces of tenderness bloomed across Huo Jingsi’s face.
“That’s good.” Huo Chengbi nodded. Although Li Mo and Huo Jingsi had initially entered into a contract marriage, through three years of getting along, he was extremely satisfied with this daughter-in-law of his who, despite humble civilian origins, carried himself without being either servile or overbearing.
Especially regarding the matter of Huo Jingsi running for governor, Li Mo worked tirelessly and even visited the disaster area in person, which not only helped Huo Jingsi win the support of the common people, but for three years running as a day, without feeling any inferiority about his civilian status, he had constantly dedicated himself to charitable welfare undertakings. His gentle, mild-mannered external image had also earned a wealth of stellar reputation for the Huo family.
He was a thoroughly exceptional supportive spouse.
“Once things stabilize in a bit, you and Xiao Mo can consider having children,” Huo Chengbi said, setting down the teacup in his hand.
“It’s about time.” Huo Jingsi distinctly perceived that there was more to Huo Chengbi’s words. After all, his father had never once inquired about children before, and he knew that Huo Chengbi’s previous attitude toward Li Mo leaned more toward utilization rather than affection; this remark showed that he had indeed accepted Li Mo as his daughter-in-law.
“I originally planned to hold another wedding with him after getting through this period,” Huo Jingsi stated. “Even if you disagreed, it wouldn’t matter.”
Hearing this, Huo Chengbi’s usually stern face couldn’t help but crack into a chuckle. “I wonder who it was back then when asked to marry him, you refused, insisting on signing some kind of prenuptial agreement before you’d tie the knot. Now you love him so much you can’t bear to let go.”
Huo Jingsi crossed his arms, leaning sideways against the bookshelf, too lazy to talk back to him.
“Still, the most important thing is to see what the other person thinks.” Huo Chengbi could tell that his son had developed genuine feelings for Li Mo. “If he’s willing, that couldn’t be better. But if he isn’t, don’t force him either. Also, if you two don’t want to raise kids yourselves in the future, or find it inconvenient, you can bring them over to the old estate to be raised. Your mother loves children so much she’d be thrilled.”
Having said that, he waved his hand, not waiting for Huo Jingsi to reply, as though simply issuing a notice and signaling to Huo Jingsi that he could leave once he understood.
Stepping out from the study, Huo Jingsi felt his mood grow exceedingly pleasant.
After all, from quite a long time ago, he had already been preparing to propose to Li Mo all over again.
And for the rest of his life to come, he would likewise earnestly love this person.