Chapter 12: Domineering
After getting smacked on the head, Huo Xiao froze on the spot. The cold, mocking look on his face was instantly replaced by stunned disbelief.
His youthful, handsome face practically screamed: Who am I? Where am I?
He stood there in a daze for a long time without recovering.
Looking at the dumbfounded expression on this little dummy’s face, An Yi thought: He’s probably never been hit before.
Whether in ability or academics, Huo Xiao had always been excellent. From childhood to now, no one had ever hit him. Even when his grades slipped sometimes and his parents were displeased, at most they would treat him coldly in attitude and emotion. They had never laid a hand on him, not even tapped him once with a ruler.
As for classmates or friends, with the Huo family backing him, even people who saw him as a rival would not dare provoke him lightly.
And yet this man who had suddenly appeared—his cousin’s male wife—had actually hit him on the head.
He had actually dared to hit his head!
The smartest part of his whole body!
How dare he?!
Huo Xiao’s usually steady and composed attitude began to crack. Maybe the shock of what had just happened was too great, because even his words started to stutter. “Y-you… what right do you have to hit me?!”
An Yi looked at him with an innocent face.
What was this kid even saying? Wasn’t he the one who had asked to be hit?
Looking at Huo Xiao, An Yi’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
This was bad.
The boy had been hit so hard he lost his memory.
Huo Xiao clenched his fists, his face flushing red with shame and anger. “Since I was little, no one has ever dared hit me!”
An Yi let out a long, meaningful “Ahh~” and lifted a hand to stroke his chin. “Then your childhood was a little incomplete.”
Huo Xiao: …
He had always assumed that, to some extent, everyone’s childhood came with slippers and brooms. After all, when kids reached that age where even dogs found them annoying, it would be strange if they didn’t do at least a few dog-level things.
Looking at Huo Xiao’s reddened face, An Yi—standing 182 cm tall—stepped forward and patted the shoulder of 188 cm Huo Xiao. “It’s okay. Now it’s complete. No need to thank me.”
Thank.
Thank your ass!
Huo Xiao swallowed the curse back down and glared at An Yi. “What are you to me? What right do you have to hit me?!”
An Yi shot back with a question. “What is Huo Beixing to you?”
Huo Xiao felt that was a stupid question. “He’s my cousin.”
An Yi asked, “And what generation is your cousin to you?”
Huo Xiao replied, “Obviously an elder.”
The little frog narrowed his eyes and smiled.
Eh-heh.
Looking at that mysterious grin on An Yi’s face, Huo Xiao: …
Damn it. He’d been tricked into the trap.
Since An Yi had married his cousin, then in theory he really did count as an elder too.
Actually, when An Yi smacked him just now, he did have a tiny selfish motive.
But not much.
Only about fingernail-sized.
After all, nobody liked having their efforts dismissed lightly as worthless.
He could also tell that because of the environment and privilege Huo Xiao had grown up in, he had developed that untouchable arrogance from head to toe. Sometimes he simply did not know how to respect people, and his personality was a little too impulsive. That smack had also been a warning to him. Otherwise, An Yi would not have deliberately reminded him that he was now technically his elder.
But clearly, the boy showed no signs of reflecting on himself. He was still glaring at An Yi in fury.
Huo Xiao felt that this person must have eaten the guts of a bear and leopard. Since he had schemed his way into marrying into the Huo family, there was no way he did not know what Huo Xiao’s status was. Among the younger generation, Huo Xiao was the one most valued by the Huo family. Everyone flattered him and tried to curry favor with him.
That slap just now had most likely been a moment of hot-headed impulse.
Huo Xiao glared at him. “If you’ve got the guts, hit me again.”
An Yi looked at Huo Xiao strangely.
Did this kid have some kind of special fetish?
Yikes, how perverted.
The Huo family probably carried some sort of unspeakable eighteen-plus gene in their blood. If Huo Beixing were not stupid, he would be the “walking mosaic” everyone talked about online—though even now, he still did not wear shirts at home.
And now even his cousin had this kind of novel little hobby.
Sure enough, wealthy families really were different.
The little frog’s horizons were widened once again in the city, and he learned something truly incredible.
Seeing the hesitation in An Yi’s gaze, Huo Xiao let out a cold laugh, confidence returning to his face.
He knew it. There was no way the other party would—
Smack!
Huo Xiao: …
An Yi looked at him helplessly, his tone carrying a strange sort of indulgent fondness. “Honestly, I just can’t do anything with you.”
Huo Xiao pointed at him in disbelief. “Y-you… you…”
An Yi lifted his brows slightly. His features were already clean and refined, and now with that lively spark in his expression, he looked even more animated. “Want another one?”
As he spoke, he raised his hand again.
Huo Xiao took a step back.
If it had been someone else hitting him, that person never would have dared.
But if it was this guy—
this guy actually would hit him.
For a moment, Huo Xiao’s speech grew a little clumsy. His tone was half warning, half threat. “Do you know what’ll happen if that hand of yours comes down again?”
An Yi smiled brightly. “It’ll smack you so hard you’ll meow.”
Huo Xiao: !
Five minutes later, Huo Xiao emerged from the game room with his face flushed red from anger, his head buzzing with pain.
Seeing him, Zhu Shu asked An Yi, who was walking out behind him, “What’s wrong with A-Xiao? He looks like he’s about to go set off firecrackers.”
An Yi lied through his teeth without blinking. “He lost at cards.”
The reason he did not tell the truth was mainly because Huo Xiao clearly had no intention of making the matter public. If Huo Xiao had really wanted to make it impossible for An Yi to remain in the Huo family, then the moment they came out, he would have loudly announced that An Yi had hit him. But now, even though he was red with anger, he still had not said anything. Clearly he did not want others to know.
And there might also have been a tiny extra reason:
the young master did not want anyone to know he had gotten hit.
“Oh, I see.” Zhu Shu comforted him. “Don’t take it to heart. A-Xiao has had strong pride and a strong competitive streak since he was young. Whenever he feels he hasn’t done something well, he gets upset easily. I’ll talk to him later.”
An Yi replied, “It’s fine.”
I already hit him 🙂
Surely those few smacks to the head would not be something he forgot anytime soon.
Standing beside An Yi, Zhu Shu reminded him, “Straighten yourself up a little. Dinner will be served soon.”
The moment An Yi heard that, he gave a small shiver.
Eating with the entire Huo family really was a bit stressful.
After all, what could feel worse in this world than being stared at while eating?
And on top of that, because of what Little Dummy had said earlier, An Yi had now completely understood that the vast majority of the Huo family would never sincerely accept him. Even if nothing showed on the surface, it was just like An Shaofeng had told him before: the surface was one thing, the heart was another. In this kind of family, everyone knew how to hide their ambitions. Someone like Huo Xiao, who spoke his thoughts outright, was actually one of the easier kinds to deal with. What was truly frightening were the whispers and schemes that happened behind people’s backs.
Those who endured accomplished great things, no matter the field.
Similarly, just as the Huo family had thrown aside their former pride and conventions in order to bring in a male spouse, the whole family was practically a house full of people who knew how to endure and hold themselves back.
Besides that, An Yi simply did not know how to handle occasions full of status and prestige like this. He had come out of a mountain ditch. To him, things like banquets and evening receptions existed only as a vague concept:
eating at a feast.
But clearly this was nothing like just eating at a feast.
There were all kinds of banquets he had never even heard of before—coming-of-age banquets, celebration banquets, wine-tasting banquets. All completely new to him.
He had only attended such occasions twice in total, and both times he had simply pretended to be mute and invisible. But now that he had become one of the Huo family’s focal points, disappearing was no longer possible.
When dinner was about to begin, An Yi stood to one side and looked around, only to realize that Huo Beixing had still not returned after being called away for a talk.
Zhu Shu asked curiously, “What are you looking at, Xiao Yi?”
An Yi was momentarily stunned by the sudden nickname.
Zhu Shu smiled and said, “Calling you by your full name feels a little too distant. After all, you’ve married Beixing now, so you’re part of the family too. I wanted to call you something more casual, so you could feel more at ease.”
An Yi did not reject her kindness. It was only a form of address, and she seemed sincerely well-intentioned toward him. “Dinner’s about to start, but Huo Beixing still hasn’t come back.”
Zhu Shu replied, “Who knows how long the old master plans to keep talking to him. There’s no need to wait for him.”
The little frog sank into thought.
Then should I leave half a bowl of rice for him, or not?
But the worst-case scenario never happened.
Perhaps Zhu Shu could tell that An Yi did not really know how to deal with occasions like this. Since Old Master Huo was not here, although the people of Zhu Shu’s generation were curious about him, none of them took the initiative to come forward. Because once they did, it would seem like taking a stand—either trying to win him over or mock him. Who knew whether Huo Er might someday rise again? The smart thing to do was not to block off one’s own road too completely.
Seeing that no one spoke up, Zhu Shu quietly said to An Yi, “There are younger people here too, but most of them will only talk about company or business matters. You’d be bored staying here, and you wouldn’t really have anything to talk about with them anyway. Why don’t you go eat over at A-Xiao’s table instead?”
Huo Xiao’s side was not exactly a children’s table. Most of the people there were between seventeen and twenty-one, around the same age range as An Yi.
An Yi did not refuse. There really was an invisible kind of pressure here. Over there, at least, there was a little dummy he already knew.
So Zhu Shu personally took An Yi over, then left.
When Huo Xiao saw An Yi arrive, though his expression was not exactly pleasant, he still naturally let him take the seat next to him.
The moment An Yi sat down, he became the center of attention without surprise.
The young men and women in the full bloom of youth kept glancing at An Yi, looking at the new male wife Huo Beixing had married.
The meal was served course by course. After An Yi sat down, a servant at his side brought him a sweet soup. After everyone had finished that, steak was served next.
There were no chopsticks on the table—only knives and forks.
Looking at the utensils, An Yi felt troubled.
He was not good with knives and forks. After embarrassing himself at the charity banquet before, he had secretly tried to learn so that An Shaofeng would not be laughed at again because of him. But his self-study had ended in failure.
Chen Lin had not forced him to learn either. Later, when they ate at the An household, the family used chopsticks nine times out of ten. The only time a fork ever really came into play was when eating cake.
An Yi watched the way Huo Xiao moved beside him and imitated him, picking up the knife and fork. Then he began cutting into his steak with complete seriousness, deeply focused.
Scrape—
A sharp, grating sound cut through the air.
He had not held the knife firmly. He had also not found the proper point to apply force while cutting the steak, so the blade instantly scraped across the plate with a piercing sound.
For a moment, the air froze.
Several pairs of eyes landed on An Yi.
An Yi looked up. “Sorry.”
“Pfft…”
“Hahahahaha—”
Several boys and girls burst out laughing at him.
“You don’t know how to use a knife and fork?”
Someone looked at An Yi with mocking amusement.
“Well, he knows a little. At least he didn’t hold them backwards.”
These young masters and misses, who had been born with golden spoons in their mouths, instantly found a sense of superiority in An Yi. There were some who did not laugh, but they also did not say anything, since there was no need to get involved.
One of the boys sneered. “Want someone to get you a pair of chopsticks?”
Hearing that, Huo Xiao’s expression darkened somewhat.
Although he did not like An Yi, the man had still married Huo Beixing. No matter what, it was not these people’s place to laugh at him.
His gaze turned cold as he looked at the few mocking faces across the table, just about to speak—
when the tabletop suddenly shook.
The plates jingled softly from the force.
An Yi only felt a shadow fall over him from above.
Huo Beixing’s tall body was standing behind him. Leaning down, both arms braced against the table in front of An Yi, he loomed over him like a lion sheltering its own, enclosing An Yi beneath him.
“What are you laughing at?”
The few of them froze. Their smiles stiffened on their faces.
Huo Beixing had appeared so suddenly, his expression displeased, his peach blossom eyes dangerous as he looked at them. For a moment, they almost forgot that he was now supposed to be stupid.
One person spoke up. “Brother Beixing, it’s because the male wife you married doesn’t know how to use a knife and fork, so we laughed.”
Huo Beixing lowered his head and looked at An Yi. “Then teach him. What’s so funny about that?”
An Yi’s pupils trembled.
Huo Beixing ignored the others entirely. Taking An Yi’s hand, he began teaching him how to use the knife and fork.
He had just come back and immediately seen people laughing at his wife. And all because his wife did not know how to use a knife and fork?
What was there to laugh at?
It was not funny at all.
His wife could not even eat properly, and they were still laughing.
An Yi let Huo Beixing guide his movements, completely unprepared for him to answer like that just now.
Once the steak had been cut into small pieces, Huo Beixing guided An Yi’s hand to spear one of them with the fork.
For a moment, An Yi was touched.
Little Huo, you really are a good child.
And then Huo Beixing lifted the fork and fed it into his own mouth.
Huo Beixing said, “Wife, it tastes alright.”
An Yi: …
Are you allergic to romance?
After Huo Beixing arrived, the mocking laughter did not appear again.
After the meal, the two of them did not leave the Huo family immediately. An Yi sat in a single armchair while Huo Beixing was pulled away to talk again. The content of the conversation was extremely shallow, since his current mental condition was what it was.
As he waited, An Yi’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier. He glanced at the time. It was already almost eleven at night.
Family banquets in wealthy households were really exhausting.
When the banquet finally ended and it was time to leave, Huo Beixing came to find An Yi. At that moment, An Yi was dozing hazily in the chair. Hearing that the banquet was over, he forced his eyes open and prepared to go home with him.
When they got outside the front doors, many people were standing under the covered corridor, waiting for servants or drivers to bring umbrellas. It was raining outside, and the night air carried a richer scent of damp soil.
The rain was not light. Small puddles had formed on the ground, and with autumn approaching, the temperature at night had dropped too.
Huo Beixing led the still-groggy An Yi outside, saw everyone waiting under the corridor, then looked at the path ahead.
“Wife, are we going home?”
An Yi nodded. “Yeah.”
Seeing how sleepy An Yi was, and noticing that the pebbled path ahead had puddles and muddy spots, Huo Beixing bent down and lifted An Yi onto his back.
Huo Beixing’s shoulders were broad. Still half asleep, An Yi thought it was like those mornings when the other man carried him off to breakfast, so he instinctively snuggled his face into the other’s shoulder.
The sight shocked quite a few people around them.
What was this supposed to be?!
What kind of improper conduct was this!
Wealthy families always cared about status and etiquette. Something like carrying another person on one’s back in broad public view was the sort of thing no one would ever do. They felt it was beneath their status.
Even if Huo Beixing was stupid now, it still broke all the rules.
And yet there were also some women casting envious looks over.
Most of them were wearing high heels, and it was already hard enough to walk on rainy, slippery paths. Being carried on someone’s back like that was naturally impossible. Seeing Huo Beixing show that kind of care, they could not help but feel a little envious in their hearts.
Their own men were not even as good as a fool.
But then again, it made sense. Even before becoming stupid, Huo Beixing had been famous as a wandering playboy. Sweet talk and romantic gestures came to him as naturally as breathing. He was especially skilled at coaxing people. Otherwise, there would not have been so many who knew perfectly well how much of a flirt he was and still insisted on being with him. As a lover, no one was more suitable than him.
Nearby, Huo Zhanlin stood under an umbrella and watched, not joining the conversation.
Huo Beixing also knew he should say goodbye before leaving. Carrying An Yi on his back, he smiled and said, “We’re leaving.”
Then, as soon as the words fell, he snatched the umbrella from Huo Zhanlin’s hand and walked straight into the curtain of rain.
Huo Zhanlin: ???
Author’s Note:
Huo Beixing: I’m leaving.
Huo Zhanlin: Don’t you dare come back again.
