Chapter 62: Bastard
Under Huo Beixing’s stare, the lawyer felt as though he were sitting on pins and needles. He pulled out a little pink handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his face.
Seeing the movement, An Yi asked, “Is it a bit warm? Do you need the air conditioning turned on?”
“No need, Mr. An, you’re too kind. It’s already autumn. I just sweat easily.”
In truth, his whole body felt ice-cold.
An Yi looked at the pink handkerchief. “Your handkerchief is pretty distinctive.”
The lawyer replied, “Right? My wife gave it to me.”
Huo Beixing looked at him expressionlessly.
You’re using the pink handkerchief your wife gave you to wipe your sweat, and then you come here to persuade him and his wife to get divorced.
Aren’t you the least bit guilty?!
Lawyer: ……
The last time he came here was to draw up their marriage agreement. The process had been twisted and disastrous, bringing him the first major Waterloo of his career. After going back to the law firm, he had half-given up on life for an entire week. And today he came to draw up a divorce agreement, only to gaze into the future and realize, damn it, it was still going to be twisted and disastrous.
What karmic sin was this.
He glanced up at Huo Beixing. That dark face looked as though it wanted to throw him out this very instant.
To keep the man from doing anything offensive, he coughed lightly and stressed once more, “I am a lawyer.”
I know the law very well, and I also know a few legal loopholes.
You’d better not touch me, kid.
Yet Huo Beixing remained unmoved.
Heaven knew he never would have imagined that the thing An Yi wanted him to agree to was consulting a divorce lawyer.
Seeing that Huo Beixing was full of hostility toward the lawyer, An Yi gave the lawyer a friendly smile. “Sorry, we’ll excuse ourselves for a moment.”
With that, he got up and pulled Huo Beixing into the music room on the first floor.
An Yi said, “Huo Beixing, you can’t look at guests like that. That’s rude.”
“I know.”
“Then why were you looking at him like that?”
With a sour face, Huo Beixing said, “Knowingly committing the offense.”
An Yi: ……
He could even use idioms now.
Although he had previously said he would support everything, when it came to divorce, Huo Beixing absolutely refused to accept it. At the same time, he grew deeply uneasy over the fact that An Yi had brought in a lawyer for divorce consultation.
“Wife, why did you bring me to see a divorce lawyer?”
An Yi lied with his eyes open. “Aren’t you a big child now? Big children all have to face these things.”
Once you grow up, you get divorced.
Also known as: the price of maturity.
“I don’t want to. Wife, make that lawyer leave.”
Huo Beixing started acting shamelessly, completely forgetting his previous declaration of support.
Anyway, he’d never said it. And if you remembered that he had, then clearly you remembered wrong.
An Yi said, “How can that work? He only just got here.”
Huo Beixing replied, “He doesn’t have to leave.”
An Yi nodded. “Now that’s more like it.”
Then Huo Beixing rolled his shoulders and arms. “I’ll throw him out.”
An Yi: !
You brute!
Little Frog hopped right in front of him and blocked his path, afraid he’d really act on impulse. “Do you know what kind of person he is? He’s a lawyer. If you throw him out today, then tomorrow…”
“Tomorrow he’ll be in the hospital.”
An Yi: ……
A true outlaw, what a man.
Naturally, Huo Beixing would never knowingly break the law. It was just that right now, anger had gotten to his head, and all he wanted was for An Yi to send the divorce lawyer away.
Lowering his head like a heartbroken big dog, he said, “Wife, don’t you love me anymore? Why do you want to divorce me? Aren’t we doing just fine together?”
Actually, aside from the very beginning, the two of them had always gotten along quite harmoniously over the past year and more. There had been no mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts. Although there had been a few father-in-law and son-in-law conflicts, those had all been resolved too.
An Yi didn’t know how to answer.
“Wife, why aren’t you saying anything?”
Little Frog: ……
Stop asking. I still haven’t thought of an answer.
An Yi brushed it aside. “In any case, let’s consult first.”
Standing there with his arms folded, Huo Beixing said, “I need a reason.”
An Yi replied, “We already paid.”
Huo Beixing: ……
In the end, Huo Beixing walked back out with An Yi, his face dark as coal.
When the lawyer saw the two of them return, he very consciously avoided Huo Beixing’s gaze and focused mainly on An Yi.
An Yi asked about the divorce process and the expiration date of the agreement they had originally signed when they got married.
The lawyer said, “The agreement expires next April. At that time, I’ll come one month in advance to handle the procedures and formalities for the two of you. Of course, ninety-five percent of the conditions during the divorce process are mandatory contents of the marriage agreement. Can the two of you accept that?”
An Yi replied, “I can.”
Huo Beixing snapped, “I can’t!”
Divorce in March next year? That meant they only had four or five months left.
Yesterday they’d kissed. Today they were talking divorce.
Who could stand that?!
The lawyer asked, “Mr. Huo, what exactly do you object to?”
Huo Beixing answered, “I refuse to become a second-marriage man.”
An Yi: ……
Lawyer: ……
After the consultation was finished and it was agreed that the formal divorce agreement would be drafted in March, the lawyer packed up at lightning speed, rushed to the entryway in three quick strides, and said, “Looking forward to working with you both again next time.”
Then he turned and bolted out the door as though if he was one second slower, he would lose his job on the spot.
Huo Beixing sat on the sofa while An Yi handed him an apple.
“Have a little fruit.”
He didn’t take it.
“Are you angry?”
“Mm.” Huo Beixing made one sound to show his dissatisfaction.
An Yi said, “Divorce is a very common thing. You just need to take it in stride.”
Anyone hearing that would think An Yi wasn’t one of the two people in question at all.
Looking at the calm An Yi, Huo Beixing asked, “You can take it in stride?”
“Of course.”
“Divorcing me doesn’t make you sad at all? Doesn’t make you angry?”
An Yi pressed his lips together.
Faced with Huo Beixing’s questioning, he couldn’t quite describe the taste in his heart. In any case, it didn’t feel good. But there was no helping it. One day they would have to divorce anyway. It was better to prepare mentally in advance and let go sooner, so it might hurt a little less.
“Don’t be angry.”
“I’m not angry because of the divorce.”
An Yi was puzzled. “Then what are you angry about?”
Huo Beixing said, “Because you don’t like me. You don’t love me. You told me before that you loved me. And I only don’t want to divorce because I like you, because I love you.”
He laid it all out clearly, but in An Yi’s eyes he was just a fool, and who would take a fool’s words seriously?
Afraid he wouldn’t be able to control his emotions, Huo Beixing grabbed his sports bag and headed out.
Thinking the man was about to run away from home, An Yi hurriedly stood up.
Huo Beixing turned his head. “Don’t follow me.”
Then he strode out.
“Huo Beixing…”
Fifteen minutes later—
Huo Beixing stood behind the tree across from the front gate of the house, looking at the tightly shut door.
“……”
Well, damn.
No one actually chased after him.
Only after Uncle Zhong informed An Yi that someone had already been sent to follow Huo Beixing did An Yi finally relax.
Since Huo Beixing didn’t know where else to go, he simply went straight to the company.
The assistants and secretaries, seeing him return, hurried to contact the business executives scheduled to discuss projects with them. But after noticing a certain high-ranking name at the top, they quietly canceled the rest of the partner meetings.
This particular big boss was their own boss’s childhood friend and very close to him. Recently he was about to get married. Not long ago he had even sent over a wedding invitation and left word that if President Huo came back, he should be told at once—he had something to discuss with him.
The assistant stood beside the desk and reported the work. “President Huo, President Yan will be coming by later.”
Without lifting his eyelids, Huo Beixing asked, “What’s he coming for?”
“President Yan said he had something to discuss with you face to face. Oh, right.” The assistant took out the wedding invitation Yan Guancang’s secretary had sent over. “President Yan is planning to hold his wedding at the end of the year. This is the invitation he sent.”
The moment he saw the wedding invitation in the assistant’s hand, Huo Beixing’s temper exploded.
Wedding?!
He was about to get divorced!!!
Human joys and sorrows truly could not understand one another.
Once the assistant left, Huo Beixing lit a cigarette and sat on the leather sofa in the office, staring absentmindedly at the cluster of buildings outside the window.
Before long, the office door opened and shut, and footsteps approached from afar.
The man who entered had broad shoulders, long legs, and an imposing presence. Though his looks were excellent, his face was very much one that screamed domestic violence. All of his handsomeness was overwhelmed by sheer menace.
It was the kind of face where you felt that if you looked at him one time too many, the next second you’d get punched.
Incredibly difficult to mess with.
Most people’s first impression of him was basically: Damn, this guy’s a bastard.
Yet he wore an expensive suit, and his status was self-evident. It was hard not to think he must have done plenty of illegal things and then used money and power to smooth them over.
Yan Guancang walked in and immediately noticed the cigarette in Huo Beixing’s hand.
“So you’re better?”
As he spoke, his expression grew a little complicated.
Huo Beixing looked up at him, gave a low acknowledgment, and then offered him a cigarette.
Yan Guancang didn’t take it. “Quit.”
“How rare.”
Yan Guancang sat down across from him. “Nothing rare about it. People change.”
That line hit the mine with pinpoint accuracy.
Huo Beixing said coldly, “What did you come for?”
“Nothing.”
“My assistant said you’ve had something to talk to me about for a month now.”
On Yan Guancang’s domestic-violence face, a trace of guilty expression appeared with great rarity, and he turned his head away to avoid Huo Beixing’s gaze.
Huo Beixing narrowed his peach blossom eyes and connected the scene in front of him with the wedding invitation.
Then he said coldly, “You bastard, don’t tell me you came to ask me to be your flower boy.”
Yan Guancang: ……
He’d guessed right.
He still remembered it—back when Qingyao got married, he had been tricked over there and used as the flower boy. Given Yan Guancang’s bastardly nature, of course he would do it.
“I saw that Qingyao’s marriage turned out pretty happy, and I figured you played a part in that, so I thought I’d have you do it again.” Yan Guancang’s expression didn’t change. There wasn’t a shred of guilt in it. “But now it’s not happening.”
And you still have the nerve to say that.
Huo Beixing shut his eyes in headache. Looking at Yan Guancang’s expression, the man simply said directly, “Did your wife run away?”
Number one in the friend circle for venomous words.
Huo Beixing snapped, “Watch your mouth. What makes you say my wife ran away?”
“Because you’ve got the face of a man whose wife ran away.”
Huo Beixing: ……
You… you’re far too accurate at reading people.
Then Huo Beixing fixed his gaze on him, and the more he looked, the more indignant he became. Yan Guancang was famously bad-tempered and sharp-tongued in their circle. So why did he get to have a wife? Why didn’t his wife run away?
And when Yan Guancang had been in love, Huo Beixing himself had been fully stupid.
“How did you get a wife?” He intended to study a few techniques.
Yan Guancang replied, “Had someone calculate it. It was in my fate.”
Huo Beixing: ……
“Then why did Assistant Su choose you?”
Yan Guancang answered, “Had someone calculate it. I bring husband luck.”
In summary: good fate.
For a moment, Huo Beixing didn’t know why such a bastard was even his childhood friend.
“Your wife liked you and was willing to marry you, so there had to be a reason, right?”
The very next second, Yan Guancang raised a hand and pointed at his chest beneath the suit fabric.
A big chest was a man’s finest dowry.
