Chapter 8: The Confrontation

“The baby she’s carrying is mine.”

I froze.

I never expected Huo Sui to walk through the door and immediately claim the child as his just to get me out of trouble.

“I’m here to take my sister-in-law home.”

Huo Sui stepped forward and positioned himself protectively beside me.

The moment Huo Xianchi heard that, he looked utterly heartbroken.

Jealousy flashed across his face, wild and uncontrollable. He bit down hard on his lip, his voice trembling as he ordered,

“You can leave after you finish your meal!”

Huo Sui frowned.

“No need. We—”

Huo Xianchi suddenly lunged forward and grabbed his brother’s arm.

“I’d rather wait on the three of you myself than make you two lift a finger to cook!”

He practically roared.

“Get inside and sit down!”

With that, he stormed into the kitchen.

After fumbling around in there for quite some time, he eventually emerged carrying eight savory dishes and a steaming bowl of vegetable soup.

“Eat!”

He glared at Huo Sui.

Huo Sui could clearly tell that his younger brother was unstable, so he didn’t dare touch his chopsticks.

Huo Xianchi immediately scooped food onto his plate with a serving spoon, piling it so high it looked like a little mountain.

“My dear big brother, have you ever eaten pea shoots?”

Huo Sui swallowed and nodded.

“I’ve had them a few times while traveling for work in Sichuan.”

“If you know what they are, then eat!”

Huo Sui cautiously took a bite of the pea shoots.

His brows immediately drew together at the tough, stringy texture.

He turned to me.

“They’re a little too old.”

I honestly agreed.

“Mm. They are a little tough.”

The moment Huo Xianchi heard that, he threw down his chopsticks and burst into tears.

“This bowl of pea shoots is old, and even you know they’re too old… sniff… sniff…”

“You ungrateful people…”

“Why are humans always like this? Always abandoning the old for the new…”

Huo Sui felt as though his dignity as a middle-aged man had just been personally attacked.

He straightened his back and shot back,

“I know you’re taking a shot at me. Yes, I’m older. I’m obviously not as young and exciting as you two.”

Huo Xianchi slapped his brother’s chopsticks away.

“If you know that, then hurry up and get lost! Make room for someone younger, you old geezer!”

Huo Sui’s face turned bright red with anger.

He opened his mouth as if he were about to argue, then thought better of it.

Huo Xianchi snatched his bowl and chopsticks away, muttering,

“Eat, eat, eat. Eat until you’ve used up every last bit of your good fortune!”

“You’re already old, yet everything makes you feel so damn wronged!”

After scolding his brother, Huo Xianchi turned around and transformed completely.

He walked over to me with a gentle expression.

“Sister-in-law, stay here tonight. Don’t go home.”

“Pregnant women need somewhere quiet to rest. I’ll take good care of you.”

Thankfully, although this second personality of his was completely unhinged, deep down he was like a timid little puppy—cowardly in a strange, almost endearing way, and not actually brave enough to do anything too outrageous.

He simply herded Huo Sui and me into the spacious living room and locked the door from the outside.

“It’s late. You two get some sleep!”

Huo Sui and I sat on the couch and stared helplessly at each other.

The night was silent and still, yet I tossed and turned for hours without falling asleep.

From the room next door came the muffled sounds of things being shuffled around and occasionally smashed, as though someone were desperately trying to contain their anger.

Perhaps the pregnancy hormones were making me restless.

In the end, I decided to get up and see what was going on.

The moment I stepped into the hallway, I saw two tall figures struggling violently in the darkness.

Were they fighting?

Huo Xianchi was using the physical strength of his second personality to gain the upper hand.

He had Huo Sui pinned firmly against the wall and snarled,

“You’re old already! Just leave the Huo family empire to your little brother!”

“I’ll take good care of Sister-in-law for you. I’ll raise the baby in her belly as my own!”

Huo Sui was being pressed so hard against the wall that he could barely breathe.

“You’re insane! You’ve completely lost your damn mind!”

Huo Xianchi roared furiously,

“You’re the useless old man!”

“I kept her hidden right under everyone’s noses for years, and not a single person in the family found out!”

“And you? You don’t have what it takes to protect her!”

“Was what happened last time not enough to wake you up?!”

“You think showing up now with that guilty look on your face, trying to make up for everything and claiming her baby as your own, is going to fix this?!”

Huo Sui was so furious he could barely speak.

“You—!”

Huo Xianchi immediately snapped back,

“You what? You useless old fossil!”

“In a few more years, you might as well stick a longevity peach on your birthday cake. Looking at your face makes me sick!”

Huo Sui desperately tried to explain.

“The baby inside her is—”

Huo Xianchi rudely cut him off, filling in the blanks himself.

“I don’t care!”

“As long as it’s a child she gives birth to, it’s mine!”

“Just close your eyes already. You can die peacefully and leave her to me!”

Huo Sui finally snapped.

“You crazy bastard! The baby inside her is your own biological child!!!”

Huo Xianchi went completely still for a second.

Then he became even more furious.

“Liar!”

“You’re a terrible man! You have absolutely no sense of responsibility!”

“You’re too cowardly to even admit your own child, so you have to make your little brother take the blame for you!”

“Do you even know how to take care of a pregnant woman?”

“Can that old body of yours even keep up with her?”

“Other than being an old man with money, what the hell are you good for?!”

Huo Sui was being choked so hard that the veins on his forehead bulged.

“Fuck! You really are a rabid dog!”

Huo Xianchi started crying again, his face crumpling with wounded misery.

“It’s all because I’m useless!”

“If I’d tried just a little harder, I would’ve dealt with that heartless old man in our family a long time ago!”

“How could I have let you suffer like this?”

Huo Sui’s expression changed dramatically.

“You… You really have lost your mind!”

“You were actually planning to take out your own father, too?!”

Click.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I reached out and switched on the hallway light.

The sudden brightness flooded the entire corridor.

Three pairs of eyes stared at one another in stunned silence.

Huo Xianchi jerked in surprise and released his grip.

Huo Sui gasped for breath, hurriedly straightening his rumpled shirt collar as he looked at me with the expression of a man who had just barely returned from the dead.