Chapter 45: Lollipop
After letting go of him, An Yi asked curiously, “What if some things really are my fault?”
Huo Beixing said, “Then I’ll just pretend I didn’t see them.”
An Yi gave him an approving look. “Then you’re pretty smart.”
The praise immediately pulled an embarrassingly delighted smile to the corners of Huo Beixing’s mouth.
The two looked at each other for a few seconds, then burst out laughing.
Because he had just gotten into an argument and punched someone hard enough to give him a bloody nose, a few dried streaks of blood still remained on An Yi’s knuckles. He got up and went to the bathroom, intending to wash them off and change clothes before taking a nap.
After all, who could possibly refuse a nice sweet midday sleep?
Once An Yi entered the bathroom, there came a knock at the door, one knock after another without pause, as though if no one opened it, the person outside would keep knocking until the end of time.
Huo Beixing went over and opened the door, only to find Huo Zhanlin standing outside.
Seeing that it was him, Huo Zhanlin said, “Beixing, come with me for a bit.”
Huo Beixing turned back to glance at the bathroom, where An Yi still hadn’t come out yet, then shook his head. “Not going.”
Huo Zhanlin asked, “Why not?”
Huo Beixing replied, “The TV said you can’t go off with strangers.”
Huo Zhanlin’s face turned blank. “Then who am I?”
Huo Beixing answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “A stranger.”
Huo Zhanlin: ……
I’m your damn older brother!
As for the safety knowledge Huo Beixing had picked up, Huo Zhanlin’s only opinion was: better if he hadn’t learned it at all.
He forcibly swallowed back the curse that had reached his throat. Since Huo Beixing never learned the good things and only the bad, Huo Zhanlin found himself unable to swear in front of him like he would with anyone else.
“Come with me. I need to talk to you about something.” As he spoke, he took a lollipop out of his trouser pocket. “Come with me, and this is yours.”
The most advanced hunters often use the simplest hunting methods.
Also known as basic child-trafficker skills.
Sure enough, Huo Beixing’s gaze immediately landed on that lollipop.
At his current mental age, he was exactly at the stage where little snacks like this were deeply appealing.
Seeing that it was working, Huo Zhanlin moved the candy a little closer. “Well?”
Huo Beixing looked at it with some disdain. “Just one?”
Huo Zhanlin: ……
What’s going on with this kid? That’s getting a bit greedy now.
In the end, Huo Zhanlin had one of his attendants bring three more lollipops before Huo Beixing was finally willing to step out of the room—though even then, he did it with a thoroughly reluctant air, stuffing the candy into his pockets as he walked.
Watching the way the other man guarded the sweets so carefully, Huo Zhanlin found it a little funny. Outside, Huo Er had always been famous for his generosity. As long as someone pleased him, he’d give them anything they wanted. But now that he’d gone stupid, he was treating a few lollipops like treasures, tucking them away in fear of losing them.
A teasing mood rose in Huo Zhanlin. “You’ve got four lollipops now. Can’t you give one to your big brother?”
The moment he heard that, Huo Beixing was having none of it. “No. I don’t have enough to split.”
Huo Zhanlin glanced at him. “How is that not enough? There are four. Give me one, and you still have three.”
Huo Beixing clutched his pocket tightly and shook his head hard. “No. Two of these belong to my wife.”
Huo Zhanlin said, “How exactly do two of them belong to your wife?”
Huo Beixing turned to look at him. “Are you legally illiterate?”
Huo Zhanlin: ???
Huo Beixing said, “This is marital community property.”
Huo Zhanlin hadn’t expected to get a lesson out of the exchange. He spread his hands. “I didn’t know.”
Huo Beixing immediately understood. “No wonder you don’t have a wife.”
Huo Zhanlin: ……
How had this become a personal attack?
Looking at the way he kept his hand pressed over his pocket, Huo Zhanlin asked, “Then what about the other two?”
Failing to get candy was a minor death.
Huo Beixing answered with complete seriousness, “Saving them for my wife.”
Huo Zhanlin was genuinely taken aback.
He had assumed that if Huo Beixing refused to hand over the remaining two, it would be because he wanted to keep them for himself.
Who would’ve guessed that those two were also meant for An Yi?
“You’re not keeping any for yourself?”
Given his current mind, that should have been impossible. Back when they were children and had to split a single piece of chocolate, Huo Beixing had once used a ruler to measure it, just to make sure Huo Zhanlin didn’t get even one bite more than him.
And now? Huo Beixing wasn’t eating even one himself. He was giving them all to his wife.
An Yi really did have a bit of charm about him.
Huo Beixing nodded and advised him earnestly, “I’m not keeping any, so stop asking me for them. It’s not good.”
Huo Zhanlin said, “You’re afraid if I take them, your wife won’t have any.”
Huo Beixing shook his head. “No.”
Because even if he asked, Huo Beixing still wouldn’t give him any. His wife wouldn’t end up without them.
Huo Zhanlin asked, “Then why?”
Huo Beixing replied, “Because you look like a beggar.”
Huo Zhanlin: ……
He really shouldn’t have asked that extra question.
Huo Zhanlin led him to a conference room. The people already inside immediately bowed respectfully when they saw them enter. “President Huo.”
Huo Zhanlin waved a hand casually, telling them not to be so formal.
He brought Huo Beixing to sit in the boss’s chair, preparing to have the doctor he’d summoned conduct a check-up.
Huo Beixing had these examinations every four months, and now it was right on schedule.
In a little over two months, it would be nearly a full year since Huo Beixing and An Yi had gotten married.
Huo Zhanlin had never been a superstitious person, but when it came to Huo Beixing marrying a male spouse, he had never opposed it, never shaken his head at it. If it could make Huo Beixing recover, then anything was worth trying. After all, he couldn’t bear to watch his younger brother continue like this forever.
Though the outside world said all kinds of things about their relationship and insisted they were fire and water that could never mix, rumors were rumors precisely because they were false. They were brothers born of the same mother, blood thicker than water. Even if there had been conflicts of interest between them, it was never anything like the sibling slaughter people outside imagined.
His younger brother had always been lively and bright from childhood, exceptionally capable, and very sincere in the way he treated others. Growing up, all anyone ever did was praise him.
As for his own ability, naturally it had never compared. No matter how hard he gritted his teeth and buried himself in work, he still lagged a step behind Huo Beixing. And when exactly Huo Beixing’s reputation had begun to rot, Huo Zhanlin knew better than anyone.
It began only after he took over the company.
“Big brother, my ambitions don’t lie here.”
Huo Beixing had tossed an apple high into the air, caught it steadily, and set it casually on the desk.
“This seat is where you should be.”
That had been the first sentence Huo Beixing said to him after returning to the country. At the time, it was his first month after taking over the company. He was under huge controversy, and many of the senior shareholders refused to accept him, even voting to push him off the seat.
And Huo Beixing had been the undeniable first choice for that position.
There was no way he hadn’t known that.
Yet he had never made a move. He had only come to tell him that his position was secure now, so what exactly was there to worry about?
Only after that did the scandals surrounding Huo Beixing begin to multiply. His style of behavior started drawing more and more criticism. An undisciplined private life. A sort of reckless, arrogant freedom that should never exist in a family like theirs. All of it had sparked no end of gossip behind the scenes.
And for what?
How could Huo Zhanlin possibly not know.
It was all just to let him, his useless big brother, sit securely in that position.
The fortune-teller had said that if they found the right person according to the birth chart, Huo Beixing would recover within two years. Now nearly one year had already passed. Huo Zhanlin wanted to see how things stood. If An Yi truly was that destined person, then there had to be at least some slight sign of improvement in Huo Beixing.
The conference room had been fitted with a great deal of medical equipment for the examination. Huo Beixing was already very familiar with these things. He’d had plenty of contact with them during earlier check-ups.
Whatever the doctor told him to do, he did without complaint.
After all, once the check-up was over, he could go back.
By the time the entire process was complete, nearly two hours had passed.
Standing to one side, Huo Zhanlin listened as the doctor gave the report. “Has anything changed?”
The doctor answered, “Yes. Young Master Beixing’s mental age has increased by one year.”
Huo Zhanlin’s heart lifted. “Is that a sign of improvement?”
The doctor replied, “No. It’s because one year has passed since Young Master Beixing was eight, so now he is nine.”
Huo Zhanlin: ……
Listening to him speak was like listening to him speak.
If the hospital weren’t owned by the family, he’d already have filed a complaint.
After hearing it, Huo Zhanlin’s expression turned unpleasant. “Not even a trace of improvement?”
The doctor could only shake his head helplessly. “For the time being, there are absolutely no signs of improvement in Young Master Beixing. As for the future… it’s hard to say.”
Huo Zhanlin frowned.
Could it be that they had chosen the wrong person for the marriage all along?
Watching Huo Beixing in the corner carefully counting his lollipops to make sure none had been lost, Huo Zhanlin lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. If they really had chosen the wrong person, then that would be a problem.
Still, no one could say for certain. If another year passed and there was still no sign of improvement, then this marriage was absolutely ending. It was written clearly in black and white in the marriage agreement. The only problem was Huo Beixing—he probably wouldn’t be willing.
Huo Zhanlin walked over to him, considered his wording for a moment, then said, “Beixing.”
Huo Beixing looked up at him. “Hm?”
Huo Zhanlin asked, “Is your wife good?”
Huo Beixing nodded immediately. “Of course he’s good.”
The goodness of his wife was beyond imagination.
Huo Zhanlin carefully began, “Since your wife is so good, then what if we got you another one too?”
Huo Beixing shook his head at once. “No.”
Huo Zhanlin said, “If a wife is good, then wouldn’t getting two be even better?”
Huo Beixing looked at him with contempt. “Wouldn’t that make me a scumbag?”
He wasn’t that kind of rotten, unchaste cabbage.
Huo Zhanlin: ……
That did, in fact, sound correct.
It looked as if Huo Beixing had not the slightest intention of divorcing.
Huo Zhanlin sighed.
If, in the future, Huo Beixing really didn’t want a divorce, then it seemed they’d have to start from An Yi’s side instead.
Still, he couldn’t help feeling curious. After all, Huo Beixing’s private life had once been ridiculously colorful, and Huo Zhanlin didn’t know whether any of it had ever been fake play turned real. But no matter what had been true and what had been false, beautiful people had never been lacking around him.
An Yi was good-looking, but not in a way that stunned at first glance—his was a face that grew on you the longer you looked. Huo Beixing had already seen countless beautiful people. Huo Zhanlin didn’t understand why he was now this stubbornly attached to An Yi.
So he asked directly, “Why do you like your wife?”
Huo Beixing answered, “I don’t know. But the first time I saw my wife, I liked him.”
Huo Zhanlin understood.
Suddenly Huo Beixing had an inspiration. “This is probably what they call hitting the mark in one strike.”
Huo Zhanlin: ……
That’s called love at first sight, damn it!
Now that the check-up was over and he’d heard the report, Huo Beixing was gradually losing patience. He’d stayed here so long, and his wife must surely be lonely in the room alone. He needed to hurry back.
Since the examination was done, Huo Zhanlin didn’t stop him. He only felt troubled over how to make the two divorce after another year. As for Miss Li’s side, that would actually be easier to handle, because Miss Li had fallen for the philanderer Huo Er at first sight years ago—two or three years by now.
When Huo Beixing got back to the room, he went to look for his lonely wife. Pushing open the bedroom door, he found that lonely wife bundled in the blanket, dead asleep on the bed.
Sleeping so deeply it was practically drunken oblivion.
There wasn’t the slightest sign of loneliness anywhere.
Huo Beixing walked in softly on light feet, carefully set the lollipops down by the bedside, doing his best not to make any noise, then crept back out like a thief and quietly shut the door behind him.
He wasn’t sleepy yet, and wanted to find something to do to pass the time.
The room had excellent soundproofing—no matter how loud it got outside, the person inside wouldn’t hear a thing. So Huo Beixing picked up his housewife hobby once more and began watching a romantic, bloody melodramatic Mary Sue drama.
Where Does the Runaway Bride Escape To
The moment the television turned on, he was greeted by an incredibly intense scene.
The heroine slammed a divorce agreement down onto the coffee table and declared with complete resolve, “I can’t go on living with you anymore. I want a divorce!”
The male lead shot to his feet in anger. “Why? Didn’t you say I was the one you liked most, that you’d only ever be with me in this lifetime?!”
The heroine lifted her face to the sky at a forty-five-degree angle. “That was all in the past. I don’t love you anymore now.”
Comrade Huo Dabao was full of question marks. He muttered, “Why?”
The male lead echoed, “Why?”
The heroine stepped forward. “Before, I was with you because I liked your young body, your strong arms, and your face. But no matter how much you like something, one day you’ll grow tired of looking at it. And you won’t stay twenty forever. So I want a divorce. I want to go and find happiness again!”
The man cried out and grabbed the hem of her dress. “No! Even if you divorce me, your future partner still won’t stay twenty forever either. You’ll get tired of looking at them too!”
The heroine mercilessly yanked her dress away. “Then I’ll just keep finding twenty-year-olds and replace them more often.”
That little bit of trouble, she could still endure.
Male lead: ……
The male lead lunged at her legs. “No! How can I live without you? Give me one more chance. I’ll go get cosmetic procedures done! I’ll preserve my youth forever!!!”
The heroine said, “But I’m already not interested in you anymore. I’m tired of you. What do we do now?”
It wasn’t just the male lead who had taken a heavy blow. Huo Dabao on the sofa had also been struck by lightning.
Why did his wife like him? Why had his wife married him?
Because his wife valued the fact that he was young and strong, just like how the heroine had liked the male lead because he was young and powerful.
Today, the heroine had gotten tired of the male lead. One day, his wife would grow tired of him too.
No!
Huo Beixing instantly felt a sense of crisis. He absolutely would not allow something like that.
He didn’t want to divorce his wife, and he didn’t want to become a rotten cabbage.
Just then, the heroine remembered old feelings. “But I can give you one chance.”
Huo Beixing focused completely. “What chance?”
The male lead asked, “What chance?”
The heroine said, “Go dig out some new charm in yourself and make me fall in love with you all over again.”
Huo Beixing: !
So that was it.
His wife hadn’t gotten tired of him yet—but what if one day his wife suddenly did? Since his wife liked him right now, what would happen if he learned how to radiate new charm?
His wife would like him even more!
Huo Beixing had grasped the true meaning of it.
Luckily, Huo Dabao was a rich man, which meant he could unlock episodes early when watching dramas. Eager beyond measure, he tapped straight into the next episode, determined to learn something from it.
Sure enough, in the next episode, the male lead discovered his new charm and successfully reunited with the heroine.
The male lead pinched the heroine’s chin in one sharp move. “Woman, I am frigid by nature…”
His new charm lay in a torrent of verbal output. By the end of it, the heroine joyfully wrapped her arms around his neck and declared she wanted to spend her whole life with him.
Huo Beixing’s eyes blazed with insight.
This way, he too could spend his whole life with his wife.
An hour later, An Yi woke from sleep. The moment his eyes opened, there came a pa! as the door burst open from outside. Huo Beixing strode in on long legs.
In one move, he flung the blanket off Little Frog and, copying the male lead’s action from the drama, grabbed An Yi by the chin.
Just like that, Little Frog’s cheek meat was pinched into a tiny chick face.
A little dazed, An Yi said, “Huo—”
But Huo Beixing wouldn’t let him speak. He cut in first. “Wife, I have something to say.”
Then he leaned in close, imitating the hero from the television with complete seriousness.
“Man, I am frigid by nature.”
An Yi: ?
An Yi: !
Author’s Note:
An Yi: I have frigidity, I want a divorce!
Huo Dabao: I’m a divorced man now (crying)
