In the spacious and luxurious living room, more than a dozen people had gathered at some point. They were dressed in professional attire, each wearing name tags from top luxury brands on their chests. Behind each person stood rows of mobile clothing racks filled with the latest seasonal fashion.
In addition to the clothes, the coffee table and sofas were covered with various limited-edition bags, shoes, and dazzling high-end jewelry.
The entire living room had practically transformed into a miniature top-tier fashion show.
Seeing Huo Jingmo come downstairs, the group of people bowed in unison and greeted, “Good day, Mr. Huo, Mrs. Huo.”
Huo Jingmo led the girl to the center of the living room and sat down on a single-seater sofa. He released her hand and slightly lifted his chin, gesturing toward the dazzling array of goods before them.
“See if there’s anything you like,” the man said gently. “Keep whatever you like.”
Several brand representatives immediately stepped forward, their attitudes extremely respectful.
“Mrs. Huo, this is our brand’s main collection for early autumn this season. It’s made from top-quality Italian silk…”
“Mrs. Huo, this crocodile leather handbag is a global limited edition. Currently, there’s only one in the country…”
Lin Nianxi was surrounded in the middle, feeling somewhat overwhelmed as she looked at the exquisite clothes and bags. She reached out and touched the nearest dress—the fabric was soft, smooth, and had an excellent texture.
Instinctively, she flipped over the tag to take a look.
A long string of numbers came into view.
Six digits.
Lin Nianxi turned her head and looked at Huo Jingmo, who was sitting on the sofa, and whispered, “These are too expensive.”
Huo Jingmo raised an eyebrow slightly. He stood up, strode over to her with his long legs, and placed his broad palm on her slender shoulder.
The man lowered his head, his thin lips close to her ear.
“Mrs. Huo,” his deep voice carried a hint of temptation and an irresistible authority. “You need to get used to these things.”
Lin Nianxi’s ears flushed.
The man’s presence enveloped her completely, giving her an unprecedented sense of confidence.
“Then… I’ll pick a few items.”
Following her own preferences, she selected a few youthful-style dresses in fresh, simple colors, several sets of comfortable loungewear, and two pairs of flat Mary Jane shoes adorned with tiny diamonds.
“That’s all,” Lin Nianxi pointed to the items she had chosen.
Huo Jingmo glanced at the clothes she had picked and turned his gaze to the butler.
“Keep all the items Mrs. Huo chose, including the same styles in different colors,” Huo Jingmo said calmly. “For the rest, have each brand send the latest seasonal items in Mrs. Huo’s size and style to the walk-in closet.”
“Yes, sir,” the butler immediately arranged for the staff to proceed.
Lin Nianxi quickly waved her hands. “There’s no need for so many. I won’t be able to wear them all…”
“If you can’t wear them all, just keep them to look at,” Huo Jingmo ruffled her hair. “I hope Mrs. Huo can wear beautiful new clothes every day of the year.”
Soon, the clothes, shoes, hats, and bags were sorted and neatly carried by the servants into the massive walk-in closet next to the master bedroom.
The brand representatives also left one by one, and the living room returned to its quiet state.
Chen Ming walked in from outside, carrying an exquisite paper bag.
“Mr. Huo, Mrs. Huo,” Chen Ming approached the sofa and handed the paper bag to Lin Nianxi. “Mrs. Huo, your phone.”
Lin Nianxi was taken aback for a moment before accepting it.
It was her old phone, the one with the shattered screen and dented casing that had been thrown out by the Lin family’s butler.
“Mr. Huo had someone repair the motherboard of the old phone, and all the data inside is intact,” Chen Ming explained respectfully. “You can transfer the data directly to the new phone.”
Lin Nianxi looked at the battered old phone, her eyes growing warm.
She had saved up for a long time to buy it. It held photos of her and her grandmother, as well as various documents from her university days. When the butler threw it out of the car window last night, she thought she would never get these things back.
She never expected that he would notice even such a small detail and send someone to retrieve it from the roadside.
Lin Nianxi looked up, her dark almond-shaped eyes glistening with tears. She gazed at the man sitting beside her, her voice soft and thick with emotion.
“Husband, thank you.”
This time, the word “husband” sounded more natural and sweeter than ever before.
Huo Jingmo’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. He reached out, his rough thumb gently brushing the faint redness at the corner of her eye.
“No need to be so polite with me,” he said, withdrawing his hand and glancing at his wristwatch. “I have to go to the office. I’ll be back to have dinner with you tonight.”
“Okay,” Lin Nianxi nodded obediently.
Huo Jingmo stood up, fastening the button of his suit jacket with one hand. He took his phone from his pocket, unlocked the screen, and pulled up a QR code.
“Add me on WeChat,” the man said. “Contact me anytime if you need anything.”
Lin Nianxi opened her old phone, scanned the code, and added Huo Jingmo on WeChat.
Huo Jingmo’s WeChat profile picture was a vast, snow-covered mountain.
His username was HJM.
This style indeed matched his aloof, untouchable persona.
Lin Nianxi tapped to add him as a friend.
Huo Jingmo’s phone vibrated. He glanced down.
Her profile picture was a cute pink Hello Kitty, and her username was four characters: Milk Candy Xiao Xi.
A faint trace of amusement flickered in the depths of the man’s eyes.
Her WeChat was as adorable as she was.
He tapped to accept the request.
“I’m leaving,” Huo Jingmo said, putting his phone back in his pocket and turning to walk toward the door.
“Mhm,” Lin Nianxi watched him leave.
The Maybach slowly drove away from the estate.
Lin Nianxi sat back on the sofa, took out a data cable, connected her old and new phones, and began transferring the data.
Switching phones was a hassle—she needed to log into various accounts on the new device.
She tapped the one-click phone transfer function and waited patiently.
The transfer took some time. With nothing else to do, Lin Nianxi picked up both phones and walked into the walk-in closet.
Her closet was over 100 square meters, already neatly organized. From hats to clothes, shoes to bags, accessories were all matched in complete sets.
Lin Nianxi was dazzled by the sight.
As a child, she had always envied Lin Xuewei for having a large walk-in closet filled with so many beautiful dresses. Now, she had one too.
No girl could dislike such a large, beautiful walk-in closet.
Just standing in such an exquisite space lifted Lin Nianxi’s spirits.
She tried on the beautiful new clothes one by one, buzzing around the closet like a little bee.
When she grew tired from trying on clothes, she checked her phone and found that everything from the old phone had been transferred to the new one.
Satisfied, Lin Nianxi sat on the sofa and played with her new phone.
The new phone felt great to the touch, responded quickly, and didn’t lag at all. She held it up and took a selfie.
This photo turned out so beautiful, the quality was amazing!
It was so much better than her old small phone!
Her old phone took blurry photos with poor resolution, so she rarely took pictures.
Now she had discovered the joy of photography.
Lin Nianxi was filled with delight.
Happily, she took selfies—front view, side view—snapping over a dozen photos in one go. Each one looked beautiful, perfect for posting.
Looking at her photos in the album, Lin Nianxi grew fonder and fonder of them.
She really was a pretty and adorable little girl.
She was almost falling in love with herself.
Lin Nianxi selected the best photo and sent it to Huo Jingmo on WeChat.
Milk Candy Nianxi: [Thank you, hubby, for buying me the phone. I love it.]
She added a sticker of a kitten blowing hearts.
At the same time, inside the CEO’s office of the Huo Group, the atmosphere was tense, the pressure palpable.
Huo Group Headquarters, top-floor conference room number one.
Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the bustling CBD skyline of Jing City stretched out. The air conditioning was cranked high, but the chill in the room felt even colder.
On either side of the massive oval conference table, over a dozen executives in tailored suits sat rigidly. No one dared to breathe too loudly; the air was thick with suffocating tension.
Huo Jingmo sat at the head of the table.
The man wore an impeccably tailored dark black bespoke suit, his tie perfectly knotted. He leaned back in a black leather swivel chair, a custom Montblanc pen held between his cold, pale, slender fingers.
His sharp, handsome features showed no expression, his deep, dark eyes exuding an aloof indifference that seemed to look down upon the world.
“Is this the risk assessment report your M&A department spent three sleepless nights working on?”
His voice was low, icy, not loud, yet it struck clearly in everyone’s ears.
Thud.
A thick document was casually tossed onto the table, sliding half a meter before stopping right in front of the M&A director.
The M&A director, a middle-aged man in his forties, was drenched in cold sweat. He scrambled to his feet, hands trembling so much he could barely hold the file.
“Mr. Huo… we verified the data in this report three times. The main issue is that the other company concealed some overseas debts…”
“Did I hire you with a million-dollar annual salary to listen to other people’s stories?” Huo Jingmo lifted his gaze, eyes sharp as knives. “Failing to uncover hidden risks is your incompetence. Redo it. I want a flawless report on my desk by 8 a.m. tomorrow. Otherwise, go straight to HR for your severance.”
The M&A director turned pale, nodding repeatedly. “Yes, Mr. Huo. I’ll redo it immediately.”
The conference room fell into dead silence.
The other executives kept their eyes downcast, their dress shirts soaked with cold sweat on their backs. Mr. Huo’s mood today seemed even worse than usual. No one wanted to be the next target.
Just as the tension reached a pin-drop silence—
Ding-dong—
A crisp WeChat notification tone abruptly rang out in the conference room.