Chapter 25: Chocolate
The force with which the slipper smacked against the cabinet was not light. The sound it made startled An Yuan so badly that he shuddered and immediately backed up two steps. Looking at An Yi, he shrank his neck and swallowed.
He did not believe An Yi would actually hit him. After all, on the surface, he was still a member of the An family. An Yi had come back from the Huo family today; causing trouble would not be good for him.
But watching the other man continue to walk toward him, An Yuan suddenly understood a truth:
Sometimes, a person really should not trust himself too much.
An Yuan: “Y-you… what are you trying to do?!”
An Yi looked perfectly calm. “Give you fatherly love.”
Looking at the slipper in An Yi’s hand, An Yuan knew the other man was serious. “Stop joking around. If you’re giving me fatherly love, why are you holding a slipper?”
An Yi said, “Fatherly love is like a slap.”
An Yuan: …
Help!!!
Five minutes later, An Yuan was baring his teeth in pain as he knelt on the leather carpet, feeling a burning ache running from his butt all the way down his thighs.
What the hell kind of fatherly love was this? This was straight-up domestic violence!!!
Watching An Yi put the slipper back on, sweat from the pain had already gathered on An Yuan’s forehead. He asked, “Are you doing this on purpose to get revenge because you didn’t like what I said just now?”
An Yi turned back to look at him and shook his head. “No. I really did want to get along with you today.”
An Yuan was stunned for a moment. “Then why did you still hit me?”
This was Little Frog’s idea of politeness. An Yi said, “Because you weren’t friendly to me.”
An Yuan: …
When An Yi came today, he had not planned to settle all those messy old scores with him. Though it was hard not to feel unbalanced when he thought back on his own past and compared it to An Yuan’s, no matter how unbalanced he felt, his first twenty-three years could not be changed back. All he could do was look ahead. He believed he could go very far.
But An Yuan had kept dragging up old matters, which made him a little unhappy. Then he had gone even further and asked him to return his fatherly love. For this kind of powerless request, Little Frog had always been very accommodating.
So he took the slipper off his foot, held it in his hand, and looked at An Yuan with a bit of helplessness on his face. He really did not know what kind of fetish this was.
Honestly, there was just nothing he could do with you. Since you wanted it so badly, he might as well satisfy you.
An Yuan stayed on the floor for a long while, aching badly before he could recover. When An Yi had hit him just now, the pain had made him want to jump all over the place. Afraid that if he cried out, someone might hear and discover he and An Yi were in the music room, he had forced himself red in the face and had not let out a single sound.
If An Shaofeng found out he had come to look for An Yi, he would be in deep trouble.
An Yuan asked, “You hit me because I wasn’t friendly to you?”
An Yi walked to the door. “Didn’t you ask me for fatherly love? This is the fatherly love I experienced. You wanted it, so I returned it to you.”
The moment those words fell, it felt as though An Yuan had been thrown into an ice cellar. His whole body turned cold. All those imagined scenes he had constructed in his mind—An Yi living happily in the mountains, those fantasies he had used to console himself—shattered completely in that instant, slicing once more into the guilt and indebtedness he had always carried.
He did not want to owe An Yi. He had imagined all those things in the hope of making himself feel better, but the truth was the exact opposite.
An Yi walked out of the music room without looking back at An Yuan again.
Actually, when it came to his adoptive father, An Yi’s feelings were extremely complicated. The man had not been a good father, but he had still been the father of his first twenty-three years. In that mountain ravine, people held old-fashioned, conservative views and believed in that idea that filial sons came out from under the stick.
When he was little and playful, his adoptive father had beaten his backside with the sole of a shoe. Later, after his adoptive mother passed away, that family of three dissolved into nothing. His adoptive father’s temper grew worse and worse. He drank himself into a stupor all day, living in a confused haze, and his feelings toward An Yi grew thinner and thinner. It was as though there had not been a single day when the man was truly sober. He lived in a constant muddle. Even though they stayed under the same roof, the two of them sometimes would not exchange a single word for ten days.
After An Yi left, An Yuan stayed on the floor for a long while before finally getting up and walking to the door, twisting the handle to leave.
Who would have thought that the moment he opened it, he would find himself face to face with a tall figure standing outside.
An Yuan’s pupils shrank, and fear instantly filled his eyes. “Dad!”
An Shaofeng’s face was ashen. He stared at him coldly and immediately raised a hand to slap him.
“An Yuan, what the hell did I tell you?!”
The slap came too suddenly. An Shaofeng had not held back at all. An Yuan staggered, nearly getting knocked right over. The cheek that had been struck swelled red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Cold sweat broke out on An Yuan in an instant. He had never imagined An Shaofeng would be standing outside the door. An Yi had only just left not long ago. From the sound of footsteps, he had clearly gone downstairs. If he had gone to complain, then when An Shaofeng came upstairs, there should have been footsteps coming up too. But An Yuan had heard nothing at all just now.
That meant An Yi had never gone to complain.
It meant An Shaofeng had been standing outside the whole time.
Panic rose in An Yuan immediately. He hurriedly steadied himself. “Dad, I didn’t mean it. I was just feeling awful. I didn’t want to owe An Yi anything.”
The veins on An Shaofeng’s forehead bulged with anger. “You didn’t want to owe him anything, you didn’t want to owe him anything—and this is what you go and say to him?!”
“I already told you this morning. All the company shares I hold are An Yi’s. They are what he deserves. Don’t you understand that?! Has a donkey kicked your damn brain in? What were you looking for him for?!”
An Shaofeng had thought his words had already been clear enough. He had never expected this brainless idiot An Yuan to go looking for An Yi anyway. A snake trying to swallow an elephant, greedy beyond measure. An Yuan did not understand what broad vision meant, and now it turned out he did not even understand this principle either!
Looking at how furious An Shaofeng was, An Yuan pressed his hands together and looked at him pleadingly. “Dad, I really didn’t mean it, I was just too scared. You favor An Yi, and he’s your biological son too. I was afraid that one day you’d just throw me out. I was wrong, I know I shouldn’t have wanted those things, and I shouldn’t have gone to look for An Yi. Dad, I was wrong. I’ll never dare do it again. I swear, from now on I’ll never go looking for An Yi again.”
If An Shaofeng truly cast aside all sentiment and kicked him out, what would he do then? An Yuan did not even dare think about it. He never should have impulsively gone to find An Yi.
A huge wave of regret swallowed him whole.
An Shaofeng had reached the end of his patience. “Go back to your room and pack your things.”
An Yuan’s legs gave out instantly, and he collapsed to the floor. “Dad, what are you doing?!”
An Shaofeng said, “Don’t you want family affection? Then you can go live for one year in the place where An Yi used to live. Someone will receive you there. You won’t be left to starve to death.”
An Yuan went dumb with shock.
Go live for a year in the place where An Yi had once lived? In that mountain ravine? Who knew what all was in that place? How was that somewhere people could survive?
An Yuan’s eyes immediately turned red. “Dad!”
An Shaofeng said, “What else do you want? I already said someone will receive you there. Is one year still not enough?!”
An Yuan still wanted to beg for mercy. He truly did not want to go. Even if someone received him there, he could not begin to imagine how he would survive in a place like that. Even if he were given ingredients, he would not know how to cook. And the people receiving him would only stop by once every couple of months to give him something to eat.
An Yuan said, “Dad, please…”
An Shaofeng flung him off. “If you don’t want this opportunity, then it won’t stop at one year!”
An Yuan hurriedly said, “I do, I do, Dad, I do.”
He did not dare linger any longer and risk provoking An Shaofeng further. He could only go back to his room and start packing.
What he owed An Yi was not some imagined version of the past. An Yi’s life had never been the happy one he had fantasized. It was only when An Shaofeng told him to go live for a year in the mountains where An Yi used to live that An Yuan finally felt true fear—and only then did he truly understand how hard An Yi’s past life had been.
But how was he supposed to endure that one year?
He did not dare think about it.
He also did not dare think about how An Yi had endured the previous twenty-three years.
—
After going downstairs, An Yi did not head to the living room. Instead, when he got to the second floor, he turned off toward the room that had once been his in the An house. He rummaged around and dug out a yellow cloth bag with sunflower patterns on it, planning to use it later when he left to hold his macho magazines.
Looking at the flowers on the cloth bag, An Yi felt very satisfied.
A macho man ought to use one with flowers on it.
Once he had the bag in hand, An Yi finally went back down to the first-floor living room.
Chen Lin and Huo Beixing were sitting on the sofa, apparently chatting very happily. Joy was written all over Huo Beixing’s exceptionally handsome face. On the coffee table in front of him sat a half-eaten green grape cake.
On the TV, In the Night Garden was thoughtfully playing.
Makka Pakka~
Upsy Daisy~
For some reason, whatever the two of them were talking about seemed to have greatly interested Huo Beixing. His eyes lit up, and he nodded with a smile, looking a bit silly and foolish.
Seeing that Huo Beixing was interested, Chen Lin smiled and beckoned to a helper beside her. The helper bent down, and Chen Lin whispered some instructions into her ear. Then the helper nodded and headed straight upstairs to the third floor.
An Yi walked over. The moment Huo Beixing saw he had come back, he hurriedly scooted to one side. His gaze moved warily around An Yi for a few moments. When he did not spot that short little goblin who had wanted to shake paws with his wife earlier, the silly smile returned to his face.
Huo Beixing reached out and patted the empty spot beside him, clearly wanting An Yi to sit there.
Even though the sofa was huge. There would still have been plenty of room even if Huo Beixing had not moved.
An Yi did not refuse Huo Beixing’s goodwill. The more harmoniously the two of them got along, the less Chen Lin would worry about him.
Otherwise, with the kind of imagination Chen Lin had, who knew how many more scenes of him being tortured she would make up in her head? An Yi wanted her not to worry. After all, he was living quite well in the Huo family.
More specifically, it was embodied in the ten houses that had once hung around his neck.
They guaranteed him a lifetime of wealth and glory.
If he had known Chen Lin would worry about him like this, he would have brought the ten-house necklace with him.
After sitting down, An Yi asked what the two of them had been talking about just now.
Chen Lin smiled and said, “I asked Beixing if he wanted to see your old photos. He said yes, so I had someone go get them.”
The moment An Yi heard this, his whole body stiffened. His eyes widened slightly.
Old photos? Wouldn’t those be photos from one year ago?!
No one even had to tell him—he knew perfectly well that back then he had been black as a lump of coal. In photos, his facial features were not even all that clear. The only thing that could really be called visible was probably his teeth.
He looked like he had just come back from digging coal out in the mountains.
Chen Lin said, “Your dad always kept the album in the study on the third floor. I just asked someone to fetch it.”
The moment she finished speaking, An Yi heard footsteps. The helper was already walking back, carrying a leather-bound photo album in her hands.
For some reason, resistance rose in An Yi’s heart.
He did not want Huo Beixing to see his old photos.
When he first went to the Huo house, only Uncle Zhong had a photo of him. Uncle Zhong had said he had never shown it to Huo Beixing.
As for why he had not shown it, An Yi naturally understood very well.
Back then, he and Huo Beixing had not known each other and had never even met. Before he went stupid, Huo Beixing had passed through countless flowers—what kind of people had he not seen? Naturally he had his own aesthetic standards. If that old photo of An Yi had been shown to him, he might very well have kicked up a fuss and refused to marry him.
After all, that photo of his really could not be called handsome. At best, one could say it was barely passable—and that was still mainly referring to his teeth.
The first time An Shaofeng had taken him to a charity banquet, it had been the same. Compared with everyone else, he had looked like someone who had just come back from digging coal—without experience, narrow in outlook, utterly out of place with the whole upper-class society.
Watching the helper hand the photo album to Chen Lin, Little Frog struggled inwardly for a moment. “How about…”
Chen Lin looked at him. “What’s wrong, Yiyi?”
An Yi scratched his head. If he said not to look anymore, Chen Lin would definitely respect his choice. But the reason Chen Lin wanted Huo Beixing to see his old photos came from good intentions too. She simply wanted the two of them to get along well.
Chen Lin truly did not think there was anything wrong with An Yi’s photos from one year ago. In her eyes, even if An Yi had been black as coal, he would still be the most beautiful in the world. It was true that when she first saw him, she had indeed been shocked by just how dark he was, but very quickly that feeling had changed into heartache. And after that, the more she looked at him, the more handsome she found him. It was as if she had the buff of maternal-love filters on. Since he was her own child, no matter how she looked at him, he was beautiful.
But Huo Beixing was different.
Though he was stupid now, he was still a normal person with aesthetic standards. And considering how many partners he had had in the past, his tastes might even be sharper.
An Yi had searched online before. There were quite a few people in the entertainment industry who had been linked to Huo Beixing in gossip—popular young actors and actresses alike.
Looking at Chen Lin, An Yi did not say anything. Though he felt awkward, he still decided not to spoil her mood. “Nothing. I forgot what I was going to say.”
Chen Lin smiled at him. “Then tell Mom when you remember.”
As she spoke, she began flipping through the photo album in her hands. The first few photos were all taken in the spring of this year. By then, An Yi’s skin was already as fair as it was now. It was just that he had rarely taken photos in his earlier life, so when he looked at the camera, he seemed to be trying very hard to look cheerful, yet there was still an unmistakable shyness about him. Those grape-like eyes of his were bright and innocent.
An Yi kept watching Huo Beixing’s expression. Very soon, that black-history photo of his came into view.
An Yi felt as though his vision went dark.
Not metaphorically.
Actually dark.
In that nighttime photo, his skin was dusky black, his features relatively blurred, and he was grinning brightly with a mouthful of small white teeth showing.
The moment Huo Beixing saw it, the expression on his face paused for a second, and his peach-blossom eyes widened slightly. He stared at the An Yi in the photograph with complete concentration.
At the side, Chen Lin smiled and began explaining, like a tour guide introducing a scenic attraction to travelers. “This is Yiyi. It was taken a few days after he first came home, when his father took him to a charity banquet and someone snapped it outside the hotel. His skin was a little dark back then.”
An Yi thought to himself: A little?
The motherly-love filter had probably whitened his dark skin by who knew how many shades.
Watching how focused Huo Beixing was, An Yi pressed his lips together. His pale fingers kept picking absentmindedly at his pants.
That photo of his really was a bit…
“Chocolate.”
An Yi’s pupils shrank.
Huo Beixing’s smiling face filled his vision. He leaned a little closer to him, his peach-blossom eyes narrowing as he looked at him. “Wife, you must’ve been as sweet as chocolate back then.”
The hand An Yi had been using to fidget with his pants trembled.
Huo Beixing lifted the photo album and held it in front of An Yi. “You were just like chocolate back then.”
An Yi looked at Huo Beixing in disbelief. Rarely, a flush crept across his face. He turned his head away and ignored him, unable to speak.
Yet Huo Beixing seemed especially attached to that photo. Even after looking at it for over ten minutes, he still did not turn the page. An Yi felt his face heating up, so he stood and prepared to go to the study on the third floor. While Huo Beixing was busy staring at the photo, he could go upstairs and pack away his macho magazines.
As An Yi went up, he happened to run into An Shaofeng coming down.
An Shaofeng asked him, “You’re all downstairs looking at the photo album?”
An Yi shook his head. “No.”
Strange. Then why couldn’t he find the photo album? When he had just gone back into the study, he had seen that the place on the bookshelf where it normally sat was empty.
An Yi said, “Mom and Huo Beixing are looking at it.”
Not me.
Honest little frog.jpg
An Shaofeng: …
By the time An Shaofeng came downstairs, he heard Huo Beixing pointing at a photo and happily asking Chen Lin, “Can I have this photo?”
An Shaofeng: !
An Shaofeng strode over. The moment he lowered his head, he saw Huo Beixing pointing at An Yi’s classic masterpiece—Little White Teeth.
He had only had that single photo developed. It was the original print. When he had sent photos to the Huo family, he had used that camera to print the album copy and sent that one over as well. And now Huo Beixing wanted him to give it away?
How could that do? Absolutely not. He would never give it.
An Shaofeng spoke up from the side. “No, you can’t have it.”
Huo Beixing looked up at him, his eyes full of longing.
An Shaofeng gritted his teeth. He only had this one copy. No matter how much the other wanted it, he simply could not give it away.
He had assumed that with Huo Beixing’s current childlike mind, being refused would make him upset. But unexpectedly, Huo Beixing acted as though nothing had happened and simply said, “Okay then.”
An Shaofeng was a little surprised. He had thought there would at least be some emotional reaction. He had not expected him to be so calm. “If I don’t give it to you, will you be sad?”
Huo Beixing shook his head. “Of course not. It’s okay.”
An hour later, An Yi and Huo Beixing got into the car and left the An house.
Watching Huo Beixing’s departing figure, An Shaofeng felt deeply gratified. He had not expected that although Huo Beixing had gone stupid, he was still such an obedient and sensible child.
Even if you did not give him the photo, he would not get angry.
Though before he lost his mind, his reputation had been terrible—a frivolous playboy—now he looked a lot more pleasing to the eye.
What did all the things Huo Er had done have to do with Huo Beixing?
The moment he was told he could not have the photo, he had immediately accepted reality and even said it was fine. What a good child.
Smiling, An Shaofeng opened the album again, intending to admire once more An Yi’s god-tier masterpiece, Little White Teeth.
Who knew that when he flipped to that page, the spot where the photo of Little White Teeth had been was completely empty.
An Shaofeng: …
In an instant, his mind replayed Huo Beixing’s words after learning that he could not have Little White Teeth:
It’s okay.
If you won’t give it to me, that’s okay. I can steal it.
An Shaofeng stared at the now-empty album sleeve.
Of course it fucking wasn’t okay.
Seeing the look of sudden heart pain on her husband’s face, Chen Lin stepped forward and asked, “What’s wrong?”
All she saw was An Shaofeng taking a deep breath. “B-bandit…”
That brat was a damn bandit!!!
—
By the time An Yi and Huo Beixing got home, it was already past ten at night. The moment he lay down on the bed, Little Frog immediately went off to keep his appointment with Duke Zhou. Huo Beixing lay on his side watching An Yi, silently making up his mind that tomorrow morning, there was something he absolutely had to do with his wife.
That thing was—
A good morning kiss!
Where Does the Runaway Bride Run To had just happened to air that very episode.
He had to keep up with current events. That was the only way he could win his wife’s heart as soon as possible and then have a whole litter of children with him.
Holding such beautiful hopes in his heart, Huo Beixing fell asleep. Early the next morning, the moment he woke up, he hurriedly looked to the side—
Only to find the spot next to him already empty.
This was the importance of your acting partner knowing the script.
The male lead exited the stage in loneliness. After asking Uncle Zhong, he learned that An Yi had work today and had already left early in the morning.
Uncle Zhong said, “Young Master An Yi seems to have gone to some kind of show. He left bright and early.”
He had opened his eyes and failed to see the person. The good morning kiss was ruined too. As a result, Huo Beixing’s mood was terrible from the moment the day began.
But he still had swimming class today.
So he could only wear a dark face, sling his big sports bag over his shoulder, and head out.
Because he was in a bad mood, today’s training was especially serious. Whenever Huo Beixing focused, ambition and competitiveness radiated from every part of him.
It was almost as if he were venting his emotions through exercise.
Outside the swimming center, several heads bobbed behind a flowerbed not far away.
Paparazzo No. 1: “Is your information even accurate? Is it reliable or not?!”
The lead paparazzo said, “Definitely reliable. The person who gave the tip said Huo Beixing often comes to this swimming center. Just stake it out here and we’ll be fine.”
Paparazzo No. 2: “What if we don’t get anything? We barely have any material on hand now, and our rivals just broke a love scandal about a top actress and a third-tier male celebrity.”
Paparazzo No. 3: “No matter how juicy that scoop is, can it compare to President Huo’s gossip? A headline every two months—if it’s not a romantic scandal, then it’s some ambiguous rumored affair. Tell me, who can top President Huo? If it were anyone else, it wouldn’t even hit this hard.”
Someone beside him echoed, “Exactly. I think if we get President Huo, we’ll definitely crush the competition.”
The youngest one among them, a newcomer fresh on the job, voiced his doubt. “I have a question. We’re here to catch President Huo’s romantic gossip, right? What if he comes out later without a companion?”
“……”
“……”
“……”
After a few seconds of silence, the lead paparazzo spoke.
“Someone! Shut his mouth!”
“You’re the only one who had to open it!”
“In broad daylight, why are you telling ghost stories?!”
“Hurry up and spit three times! Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!!”
Thanks to the young paparazzo’s reverse jinx, when Huo Beixing did come out, there really was not a single companion by his side.
The young paparazzo who had spoken earlier swallowed hard. “I’m calling prophet.”
“……”
Calling prophet my ass!!
Looking at Huo Beixing all alone, the group started to get a headache.
Paparazzo No. 1: “What do we do now? There’s no one beside him at all.”
Paparazzo No. 2: “If there’s no one, then we go in hard!”
Paparazzo No. 3: “How are we supposed to go in hard?!”
“Change it from a sneak shot to an interview.”
“How do we change it like that?!”
As the words fell, the lead paparazzo holding the camera took out and put on his press badge.
With a thunderous crash from the heavens, the reporter made his dazzling entrance.
“……”
Sure enough, he was worthy of being the boss. No wonder he had made it this far in the business.
The lead paparazzo beckoned to the others carrying cameras, took out a small mic from his pocket, and strode forward with a few quick steps.
To entertainment reporters and paparazzi, Huo Beixing was basically a full-level KPI. As long as they got material on him, there would never be a shortage of buzz.
His scandals in the entertainment world ranged from film emperors to top idols, from rising male stars to little actresses. Who could see it and not call him a flirt?
Not to mention his background and status—young wealthy businessman, powerful backing, rich family. The only flaw was that he was too much of a playboy. But even if he had already been photographed a lot, it still counted as explosive material. He was the leading godfather of CP shippers in the entertainment world. No one knew how many people were shipping him to the point of blissful madness.
The main reason was that he had a face so handsome it seemed crafted by the heavens themselves. Combined with his status and background, with that top-of-the-food-chain golden-son aura, there was simply no substitute for him in the entire entertainment industry.
Even though he was not an entertainer himself, his traffic was shockingly high, and as for his fans, there was no need to mention them.
Ask why?
It was simply the charm of a bad man.
At that moment, Huo Beixing came out of the swimming center wearing a dark face. His black hair was slicked back. Half his chin was hidden in the collar of his black athletic jacket. His peach-blossom eyes carried both flirtation and violence. Tall and straight-backed, with shoulders as broad as the Pacific Ocean pushing up the tracksuit like a perfect clothes hanger, he had a large sports bag slung over his back. When he saw the paparazzi suddenly swarming in front of him, his sharp brows frowned slightly, and a wildness radiated off him.
He was in a terrible mood right now and had no time for them.
Besides, he did not know them at all.
Huo Beixing was giving off low-pressure bad vibes, and when the paparazzi saw him frown, they were so frightened they took a step back. They did not dare provoke him. After all, they did not have that kind of nerve, nor that kind of background.
But the scoop still had to be dug out. Since there was no companion beside him, they would just ask directly.
Though it was a very risky move, in order to get an explosive story and secure months of glory and riches afterward, even if they were scared, they still had to press forward.
After all, the bold ones feast, and the timid ones starve.
“President Huo, could you briefly talk about your recent life?”
“President Huo, is there anything new you’d like to share with everyone lately?”
“President Huo, you haven’t shown yourself for a long time. Could you greet everyone?”
The cluster of people in front of him made Huo Beixing even more irritated. Because he was tall, when he moved, none of them dared block him, so they could only move along with him, asking one question after another, hoping to dig out some material so they could return to the company in triumph.
The driver, who had come down from the car to pick up Huo Beixing, saw this scene and hurriedly rushed over.
The driver stepped forward to block the paparazzi and reporters. “Sorry, we’re not accepting interviews.”
After all, Huo Beixing becoming stupid was something only insiders knew. No one was spreading it outside. If it were reported now that Huo Beixing had gone stupid, that would be a disaster.
“We’re just asking a few questions. Many people are concerned about President Huo’s life.”
Driver: …
Concerned about what?
He had so much money. Since when did he need other people’s concern?!
You’re concerned about President Huo?
What you’re really concerned about is President Huo’s companions, okay?!
Don’t think I can’t tell.
The paparazzi refused to give up. No one wanted to miss the opportunity.
“President Huo, could you just answer a little?”
“President Huo, President Huo…”
Huo Beixing ignored them completely and continued walking forward with a black face.
“President Huo, is there anyone you like lately?!”
Huo Beixing stopped in his tracks. The driver behind him did a flash-step to avoid crashing into him.
Huo Beixing turned back to look at the young paparazzo who had asked the question. “What did you say?”
Seeing Huo Beixing’s strikingly handsome yet violent face, the young paparazzo suddenly did not dare speak. Had he asked the wrong thing? Had he said something he should not have?
He swallowed nervously, unable to get the words out.
The lead paparazzo quickly pulled him behind himself. “President Huo, sorry. He’s new. He doesn’t know the rules. We’re really sorry.”
Though they were paparazzi, right now they were publicly posing as legitimate reporters. Since Huo Beixing was constantly surrounded by romantic gossip, asking a question like that so directly basically announced that they were here to pry into his private life, so it would not be good to offend him too openly.
Huo Beixing, however, kept staring at that young paparazzo and repeated once more, “What did you just say?!”
That sentence alone practically felt like being sent straight to hell.
Seeing that he could not hide, the paparazzo let his inner dog-head tears fall. He had not expected to lose his job on the very first days after entering the profession.
In the end, the young paparazzo could only stiffen his scalp and say, “President Huo, is there anyone you like lately?”
After finishing the question, he slowly closed his eyes.
He died peacefully. Do not miss him. Goodbye did not need to take long—only until the next life.
Huo Beixing said, “Yes.”
The young paparazzo froze. “What?”
Not just him—everyone else was stunned too. No one had expected him to actually answer.
Then Huo Beixing raised a hand, pulled out his wallet from his pocket, opened it, and held the god-tier masterpiece Little White Teeth up toward the camera.
Smiling brightly, canine teeth showing, he proudly said,
“Well? Pretty, right? Just like chocolate.”
