Chapter 5: Meeting My Fake Father

“Back then, I really thought you were some pristine little lotus blooming in the middle of this cesspool of a wealthy family…”

Qu Qu paused, cleared her throat, then continued her rambling speech.

“A pure white lotus, untouched by worldly affairs, living only according to your own wishes.”

“You weren’t wrong.”

I casually picked up my carton of milk, absentmindedly chewing the straw until it was completely crushed.

Qu Qu rubbed her hands together and looked at me sympathetically.

“So how come you’re terrifyingly calm now? Oh, right! I almost forgot. Your parents’ graves back home nearly got dug up.”

She paused.

“Actually, it’s because that piece of land has been included in a new redevelopment project. The local authorities couldn’t get in touch with you, so they were planning to relocate the graves on their own.”

I set the empty milk carton down at the foot of the bed and answered softly.

“Mm. I know.”

“Oh my God. Anyone else would’ve lost it hearing news like that, but you don’t even blink.”

Qu Qu sighed, then got up and went to the refrigerator. She came back with grapes and watermelon.

“Even though my goddaughter hasn’t even been born yet, I still need to get everything ready for you. After all, this baby is the only person in the world who’ll share your blood.”

I looked up at the ceiling and whispered,

“I chose this road myself.”

She narrowed her eyes with a smile, her gaze filled with heartache.

“Of course. And I’ll always be here for you.”

Then Qu Qu’s eyes suddenly landed on the bottle of sleeping pills sitting on my vanity.

Her expression changed instantly.

“Holy shit! Ningning, you’re pregnant! Why are you taking sleeping pills?”

Faced with my exhausted, pleading eyes, she could only sigh helplessly. In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to confiscate the bottle.

“Could it be… that you can’t fall asleep on your own anymore unless you’re with Huo Xianchi? You actually need medication just to get through the night?”

I silently nodded.

She pursed her lips and scolded me affectionately.

“Love really does make people lose their minds. Where the hell did that valedictorian-level intelligence of yours disappear to?”

The truth was, Huo Xianchi and I had met a very long time ago.

So long ago that those earliest memories had gradually blurred with the passing years.

All I remembered was that he had once been a rebellious, arrogant young heir who was banished by his family to the countryside after making a serious mistake.

I had been too young back then to understand the brutal power struggles and ruthless purges that went on among the wealthy families of the capital.

Surrounded by vicious rumors, he was isolated and hated by the locals.

Like any rebellious teenager, Huo Xianchi had an enormous ego. Back then, he didn’t understand that if you didn’t crush a lie the moment it was born, it would snowball until it became big enough to bury a person alive.

The saying “a person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear” was sometimes nothing more than empty comfort for the powerless.

Caught in the strange and treacherous storms of the wealthy world, he had been utterly alone, prickly and defensive against the entire world.

And winning over someone like him—someone desperately pretending to be stronger than he really was—was surprisingly simple.

The secret was to go all in.

Give him a heart that was completely sincere and warm.

Fight his battles against the local bullies.

And run away with him like two reckless idiots whenever things got too bad.

So when the day finally came for Huo Xianchi to return to the capital, he defied his entire family and insisted on taking me with him.

At the time, he was still struggling to establish his own footing within the Huo family. He had no connections powerful enough to get a poor girl like me into a prestigious school.

So the solution this young master came up with was…

In the middle of the night, he dragged a few rich young masters along with him and had them kneel outside the principal’s house.

The poor old man was so terrified he nearly suffered a heart attack.

For my sake, he really had once been that childish, impulsive, and immature.

When he thought I was going to be denied an education, he hid in his room and cried silently all night.

He had even considered swallowing his pride and begging the mistress of one of the school’s major shareholders for help—a woman who happened to be the sworn enemy of his father.

But the very next day, at the opening ceremony, I appeared onstage in all my glory as the student representative, delivering the honor speech.

I had been admitted directly into one of the city’s top high schools because of my outstanding academic performance.

I had even skipped a grade, putting me two years ahead of Huo Xianchi.

He had stared at me in disbelief before laughing.

“Didn’t you always rank at the bottom of your class back home?”

I only gave him a knowing smile.

“That was a survival strategy.”

My biological younger brother was an idiot.

If I had shown how talented I really was, my parents—who favored sons over daughters—would have treated me even more harshly and beaten me even more often.

Back then, I was tiny and painfully thin. After becoming the target of my family’s abuse for no reason, I deliberately hid my abilities and willingly became Huo Xianchi’s little shadow, following him everywhere in search of protection.

He had his own controlling streak, too, and forced me to acknowledge him as my “big brother.”

But in reality, he treated me better than I could ever have imagined.

He was as attentive as a mother, as protective as an older brother, and as generous as a fairy godmother, constantly showering me with one miracle after another.

But what kind of older brother would secretly cry and burn with jealousy when another boy confessed his feelings to his little sister?

What kind of older brother would secretly press a trembling kiss to the corner of his “sister’s” lips whenever she was fast asleep?

And yet, when I finally gathered every ounce of courage I had and confessed my feelings, Huo Xianchi cruelly pushed me away, his face cold and expressionless.

“Sầm Ninh, I only see you as my little sister, and you actually want to be my wife? Ridiculous.”

Once again, I found myself traveling on business with Huo Xianchi in my capacity as his secretary.

He sat in the car, staring straight ahead, then suddenly spoke.

“I’ve seen what that other personality did to you.”

“What did you see?”

My voice was barely above a whisper. I forced myself to keep my heart from racing.

His tone carried a trace of irritation.

“I saw him crawl to your feet and humble himself, apologizing just because he accidentally bit you.”

“And what else?”

I didn’t even realize how seductive and provocative my voice had become.

Huo Xianchi ground his teeth, the tips of his ears turning red.

“Shen Tangyuan, do you really have to describe every humiliating thing I did? Can’t you help yourself?”

He looked both mortified and insanely jealous, exactly like a proud fox who couldn’t get the grapes and had decided they must be sour anyway.

“Who’d want to do something that pathetic?”

He desperately tried to salvage what remained of his dignity.

“Oh.”

I nodded indifferently and turned to look out the window.

What exactly had he seen?

That second personality was nothing more than a well-behaved little puppy who loved curling up against his master’s lap to be petted. When he did something wrong, he’d obediently face the wall and reflect on his mistakes.

After sitting in silence for a while to let his temper cool, Huo Xianchi tossed a catalog of luxury jewelry designs into my lap.

“Help me pick out a few.”

He cleared his throat.

“Don’t misunderstand. They’re gifts for my fiancée.”

I took the catalog and flipped through a few pages before calmly asking,

“Miss Song? But isn’t her place already a little too cramped to fit any more jewelry?”

He frowned, completely missing my meaning.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.”

I immediately backed off. I had no intention of exposing the fact that Song Min had moved her lover’s belongings into his apartment.

“You should probably ask Miss Song directly, Mr. Huo. Besides, I’m leaving soon. It doesn’t feel quite appropriate for me to be choosing wedding gifts for my boss’s fiancée.”

Huo Xianchi looked away, his voice casual but strangely stiff.

“No need. She’s busy. She isn’t answering her phone.”

He paused before adding,

“As long as she doesn’t hate it, anything you pick is fine.”

The car stopped outside a bustling shopping mall.

Huo Xianchi raised an eyebrow.

“We’re not going straight home today? What are you doing here?”

Right then, a handsome young man standing in the main lobby spotted me and waved enthusiastically.

“Sister Ning! Over here!”

I unbuckled my seat belt and stepped out of the car.

Before closing the door, I turned back and smiled at Huo Xianchi.

“I’m here for a blind date. Goodbye, Mr. Huo.”

The truth was, I had no intention of taking the blind date seriously.

But all the way into the mall, I could feel a cold, razor-sharp gaze fixed on my back.

It was like the stare of a venomous snake, following me without letting go.

I went with the young man to the restaurant we had reserved.

Once we were seated, I smiled frankly at him.

“I’m sorry. My best friend practically forced me to come. I just wanted to be honest so I wouldn’t waste your time.”

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I caught a glimpse of Huo Xianchi’s familiar car speeding past.

Then, to my surprise, it suddenly made a U-turn and pulled over by the curb.

The young man across from me looked at me, clearly reluctant to give up.

“Sister Ning, what about me? What do you think of me? Couldn’t we at least try getting to know each other?”

I gently rested a hand over my still-flat stomach and casually dropped a bombshell.

“Would you like to be the father of the baby I’m carrying?”

He froze instantly.

The color drained from his face, and after an agonizingly long silence, he finally stammered,

“Um… could I go home and discuss this with my parents first?”

“Forget it. I was joking.”

I burst out laughing and stood up.

The young man visibly breathed a sigh of relief, though the disappointment on his face was impossible to miss.

After sitting there for a little while longer, he awkwardly excused himself and left.

When I walked out of the mall, Huo Xianchi’s car was still parked on the corner exactly as I’d expected.

As I passed by, the window slowly lowered, revealing the gloomy face of the man inside.

“Mr. Huo? Why are you still here—”

For once, he was strangely polite.

“Secretary Shen, I need you to help me straighten up my house.”

The look in his eyes made me feel inexplicably uneasy.

It was the kind of feeling you got when a predator was watching its prey from inside a trap.

But when I looked again, that dangerous glint was already gone.

Huo Xianchi was still leaning lazily against the leather seat, carrying himself with his usual arrogance.

“Is that a work request?”

“Yes, Secretary Shen.”

I opened the door and got into the car.

Neither of us said another word during the entire drive.

It turned out that the custom-made adult toys and restraints I had returned the other day had been sent straight to this new villa of his.

I couldn’t help thinking that Huo Xianchi really knew how to live.

People said a sly fox had three burrows.

Huo Xianchi probably had ten.

Fortunately, there were already several housekeepers here to handle the heavy lifting.

All I really had to do was stand to the side and direct them, deciding where everything should go.

“Mr. Huo, where should I put these custom-made things?”

I pointed toward the box containing the high-end leather restraints.

Huo Xianchi didn’t even bother to look at it.

He simply sprawled half-lazily across the enormous sofa like a man without a single bone in his body, his eyes seemingly bored yet firmly fixed on my retreating figure.