The next day, since Zhao Sijia lived very close to the company, she arrived early at the company, packed up her stuff at her work station, and was ready to move to the work station outside the chairman’s office on the top floor.
She felt a little depressed. On the one hand, she felt that Lou Xiao’s attitude towards Huo Wei made her uncomfortable. On the other hand, she was disappointed because Huo Ming had dissociated any relations with her. She only slept for two or three hours a night, basically watching the trend of public discussions on the Internet.
After the Huo’s clarification letter was issued, there were still many people discussing the content of the letter at the beginning, saying that the truth could not be so uninteresting. But when many people realized that they couldn’t find out more about it, they were diverted by other things. After all, Huo Ming is not a celebrity no matter how famous he is, and as for her, if she was on her own, perhaps no one would even know who she is.
So the incident ended in such a plain and simple manner. Reasonably she should be happy, but she only breathed a sigh of relief, and then she was uncontrollably depressed. She didn’t know what was going on with herself, and she scolded herself for not knowing good or bad, but she just couldn’t be happy.
People in the company started coming to work one after another, and they glanced at her a few times when they saw her. Zhao Sijia didn’t care, she quickly finished packing her things, went to the bathroom, and planning to go to the top floor after washing her hands. Unexpectedly, as she walked to the bathroom door, she heard two people inside talking about her.
“Zhao Sijia should be embarrassed to come to the company. If I were her, I must have resigned.”
“Don’t you know her? She’s so shameless and treating the mistakes she makes as fun. Last time she made a mistake in the tender document, I saw her acting innocent in front of Mr. Huo. If this had happened to someone else, even if you don’t get fired, you must get a salary deduction? As a result, Mr. Huo appointed me to help Zhao Sijia to reorganize, and he also ground some coffee with his own hands for Zhao Sijia to drink. In the end, I was the one who did all the work, and Zhao Sijia got all the credit.”
“No ordinary people have the ability like her, making connections with Mr. Huo. What’s more, is that she has also gained favor from the chairman, she is basically already stepping one foot into the Huo’s family. How can we compare to her? It’s a pity for Miss Huo, with the sister-in-law urging Mr. Huo to bullied her before she even entered the door.”
“Why do you think that she was promoted to serve as an assistant to the chairman? I have an ominous hunch that our company’s good image will sooner or later be damaged by her. But it’s good that she is leaving, we will be much more relaxed and no longer have to clean up her mess, and we don’t have to pay attention to our expressions all the time, lest she feels wronged, then Mr. Huo would think that we are leaving her out.”
“Oh you don’t say, she was a nightmare when she first came. We were just in a serious discussion and didn’t pay attention to her, then her eyes actually became red, what a drama queen. It caused Mr. Huo to admonish us. Hehe, to be honest, I have always admired Mr. Huo, but after Zhao Sijia came, my image of Mr. Huo is broken. How bad it is to have set his eyes onto someone like this”
“Miss Huo is really piteous! She was almost killed by her, poor girl.”
“Yes, I don’t believe a word of the clarifications on the Internet. Others don’t know, but how can we not? We have to pray that Mr. Huo will marry her quickly, so that she will be a housewife like the chairman’s wife, and not come to the company to give us trouble.”
“Yes, yes, that’s it, pray that she will get married soon!”
Zhao Sijia was so angry that her heart was pumping, she heard them giggling and couldn’t listen anymore. She slammed the door open and looked at them coldly, “Wang Jing, Xia Meng, what good is it for you two to say bad things about me behind my back? And I was trying to learn from you, when I had any questions, I would humbly approach you for advice. All those times you must have been laughing at me! How come your character is worthy of working at the Huo’s company?”
One of those two is Huo Ming’s secretary and the other is Huo Ming’s assistant, usually having the most contact with Zhao Sijia, and they have to deal with the things Zhao Sijia did not do well. Naturally, there would be more complaints, and they were just murmuring a few words while retouching their makeup together.
Now that they got caught, both of them had a bit of embarrassment on their faces, but they were annoyed when they heard Zhao Sijia’s last sentence.
“Zhao Sijia, have you forgotten the picture in your social media feed? Are you worthy to talk about character with us? What did we say wrong?”
Zhao Sijia angrily said: “I work hard, even if I don’t do well, I’m always improving, and I am not slacking off at work. How come I look like a mess from what you say about me? Huo Ming sometimes gets angry and tells you off, it’s me who plead for you, don’t you think it’s too ugly to repay your favor with revenge like this?”
When she mentioned this, the two became even angrier.
Wang Jing stepped forward, looked at her directly, and said, “You pleading? We are using you to plead? Originally, Mr. Huo was only venting a few words to us. Your so-called pleading convicted us of our mistake. He directly asked the Ministry of Human Resources to deduct our salary. We didn’t even have the chance to explain!”
Xia Meng pushed away Zhao Sijia, pulling Wang Jing to go out, ”there is nothing to say to her. She is the innocent, the good, and the beautiful, we are all scheming dog in her eyes.”
When Wang Jing was walking out she mumbled with anger, “you have no shame to say that you work hard. How much chaos has been added to us this year? You are obviously frail and helpless, but you think of yourself as an independent woman. What can she do without relying on a man? Pff! Relying on men yet wanting to be honored!”
Zhao Sijia was trembling with anger, staring deadly at their backs, her eyes were red. It just so happened that someone came over to go to the bathroom, and seeing her look like this, she hurriedly backed away for five meters and walked out quickly, as if she was afraid of getting to her nerves.
Zhao Sijia couldn’t help but shed tears, and hurriedly walked into the cubicle, locked the door, and cried, covering her mouth.
She did work hard, and who doesn’t go through a learning process? Both Huo Ming and Huo Tingwei praised that she has made great progress. This is the Huo family’s company, and the Huo family agrees with her. Why do they say that to her? If she really depends on the Huo family, why does she have to work hard? She would just be living under the family’s roof, painting her favorite painting every day. She just wanted to be independent, but she was so misunderstood.
Zhao Sijia cried for a long time until she received a call from Huo Ming. Huo Ming saw the cardboard box she had packed and knew she was here. When he asked her where she was, he heard Zhao Sijia’s swallowing voice, and immediately became anxious.
Huo Ming knocked hard on the bathroom door, and Zhao Sijia wiped away her tears and rearranged her emotions before walking out.
Huo Ming asked incomprehensibly: “What’s wrong? Why are you crying? I just saw it. No one scolds you on the internet anymore. After two days, no one will mention it again. Don’t worry.”
“It’s not because of this, I’m fine.” Zhao Sijia whispered with her head down, wanting to leave.
Huo Ming grabbed her, “What’s the matter with you? Say clearly, don’t let me guess what you are thinking every time, how would I know if you don’t tell me? Everything is solved, I don’t understand why you are still sad. “
Zhao Sijia shook his hand away, and said angrily: “Do you think I’m making a temper with you? It’s not because of you at all. Besides, we are just ordinary colleagues and ordinary friends. Why should I cry because of you? It’s because of your secretaries talking bad things about me!”
Huo Ming felt a little familiarity when he heard her say this, and after thinking about it, he felt like it was a bit like Huo Wei before. When Huo Wei quarreled with him, she would deliberately say something ironic, get angry with him, and not make sense.
He had a headache, so he decided to skip the unreasonable words and ask Wang Jing about this.
When the two of them were talking, a colleague passed by and overheard, and ran to tell Wang Jing and Xia Meng. The two of them have worked by Huo Ming’s side for more than three years, they are within reason the right-hand man of Huo Ming, but at this moment they both regretted it.
Who do they care about what happens to Zhao Sijia? She was being transferred, why count they endure it? Huo Ming knew about it now, but it’s not clear what would happen. But they also know in their hearts that it happened again, they might still be tempted to mutter, and they will mutter outside even if they didn’t in the company. Zhao Sijia has caused much trouble to them and caused them to have a salary deduction so many times. How could they resist complaining?
Soon after, Huo Ming brought Zhao Sijia back and ordered the two of them to enter.
When they saw Huo Ming’s sullen expression, they knew he was angry, and apologized to Zhao Sijia when they entered the office.
Upon seeing this, Huo Ming looked at them in silence for a long time, and said, “criticizing colleagues, questioning the decision of your boss, arguing in the company, what do you have to say?”
Wang Jing bowed her head and said, “Mr. Huo, I will definitely be cautious with my words and actions in the future. Zhao Sijia, I’m sorry, I hurt your self-esteem, I’m very sorry.”
Xia Meng also said something similar. The two understood Huo Ming’s personality, not trying to explain or talk nonsense, kept bowing ninety degrees, and repeatedly apologized to Zhao Sijia.
Huo Ming looked at Zhao Sijia, Zhao Sijia was taken aback, took a deep breath, and said: “I won’t forgive you, this was too much.”
The two felt a chill down their spine but listened to what Huo Ming said: “We will deduct half a year of your bonus, and this incident will be criticized at the company’s internal announcement. If there is a next time, you will write a letter of resignation.”
The Huo’s company benefits were very good, and they were all useful people around Huo Ming, and the bonus of half a year was at least fifty thousand. With a word from Zhao Sijia, their fifty thousand was gone. In addition, there will be a public announcement within the company criticizing them. When the time comes, employees of the entire cooperation, including branches, will see the announcement. Will they still have the dignity to come to work in the future?
But because the job was very good, they couldn’t easily give up, even if they felt wronged and uncomfortable, they all accepted the conditions and left the office with a pale face. When they closed the door, they saw Zhao Sijia’s unbelievable expression, and their hearts became even more suffocated. They were punished so hard, why would Zhao Sijia still be dissatisfied? Meeting her is the luckiest thing in their lifetimes!
Zhao Sijia was indeed dissatisfied. She never thought that Huo Ming would keep people with such bad character. She frowned and asked: “Do you think such people can do a good job? Why do you still keep them in the company?”
Huo Ming patiently explained: “They have been working by my side for a long time. They cannot be dismissed casually, and if I don’t use them suddenly, many things on my side will not be taken over, and it will be a mess. They talked about you behind your back. I have already punished them. They dare not do anything to you anymore.”
When Zhao Sijia came to the office with him earlier, her heart was still warm, thinking that Huo Ming was going to avenge her, but now her heart was cold, and she said with a constrained expression: “I have to report to the chairman. If there is nothing else, Mr. Huo, I will get going.”
“Sijia, are you still angry?” Huo Ming frowned in confusion.
Zhao Sijia shook her head and said, “I’m not angry. Everything should be treated accordingly in the company. I’m going to work, and Mr. Huo should be working too.”
Zhao Sijia didn’t stop this time and left the room holding the cardboard box. She didn’t want Huo Ming to dismiss those two people, but Huo Ming only fined them money and criticized them publicly, and that made her feel like this was treated lightheartedly. Could it be that they said she was depending and relying on men, and insulting her was not a problem to Huo Ming?
Does Huo Ming think of her the same way?
Zhao Sijia remembered the clarification letter again and suddenly did not dare to think deeply, because the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable it became, and the more she couldn’t figure out what Huo Ming’s feelings were for her.
On the top floor, the people working around Huo Tingwei were much more strict than those around Huo Ming. They did not show dislike for her and would greet her when they met. But Zhao Sijia had just experienced gossips from colleagues, and at this moment, no one was trustable in her mind.
After organizing her workstation, she couldn’t resist going to the bathroom and pantry a few times and walked silently to the door to listen to what anyone said. Turned out no one talked about her.
She also sensitively discovered that they were very polite to her. There could not be any fault in this kind of politeness, but it was alienated, as if a barrier had been erected between her and them and they did not intend to break it at all, that is, they did not intend to interact with her.
Huo Tingwei saw her after the meeting and asked her to enter the office, asking her if she was adjusting well and if she encountered any difficulties.
She wanted to talk to Huo Tingwei about her discomfort, but after thinking about it, she found that there was nothing to say. If she complained and caused Huo Tingwei to punish the secretaries and special assistants, would they, like Wang Jing, think that she secretly accused them behind their backs?
She didn’t mean that, so she smiled and said that everything was fine. Huo Tingwei was relieved when he saw this. He was very busy and told the first secretary to take along Zhao Sijia, and then began to work.
The first secretary gave Zhao Sijia a small amount of work, allowing her to adapt to the rhythm of the office here. She just worked at the station for a day without much communication with anyone. Obviously, it was a good thing to be promoted to the chairman’s office, but she felt terribly uncomfortable as if nothing was right.
The company’s public announcement of criticization came out very quickly, and only employees logging into Huo’s intranet could see it. But such a wide range of criticism surprised all the employees. The people at the headquarters were alright, as they might have guessed that the reason behind the severe punishment of these two people, was Huo Ming who avenging Zhao Sijia out of anger.
People in each branch didn’t know them, so they started talking, saying that how the people around the general manager were so bad. How much gossips did it take to be criticized publicly? It was definitely the kind of people who did not want to change after teaching them repeatedly and will be fired sooner or later.
There were many groups among employees, from various departments, various branches, branches, and headquarters, etc., and the personal connections were even more complicated. Wang Jing and Xia Meng soon learned what others thought of them, and their faces were pale when they worked in the company.
Since Zhao Sijia joined the company, the workload of the two of them had increased sharply. It didn’t matter that they didn’t get bonuses for doing so much, but they had been deducted several times because of Zhao Sijia. This time the bonus was deducted for half a year, which was a shame in front of the entire group of employees. This was definitely a huge blow to their future careers. Even if they left the Huo’s to apply for other companies, those companies would know about this and would have opinions on them.
They were not rewarded for their hard work, and they were punished so severely for a few extra words. The two cried secretly for half a day, hating Zhao Sijia to death.
There were colleagues who had a good relationship with them in private, and they asked quietly about the ins and outs. They didn’t know whether to blame them for talking or pity them. But this way, one by one in private, and within a few days, many employees in the headquarters knew the inside story. At the same time, they all knew that they can’t talk about Zhao Sijia, and occasionally they use “the who” to refer to her, and they rarely mention her.
Zhao Sijia had become an unspeakable existence in Huo’s headquarters. She herself didn’t notice it at all, but everyone else had kept a distance with her, maintaining only the superficial politeness and “respect”. Who dares to mess with the young mistress in the future.
Huo Wei did not have an employee number at Huo’s, but she had no trouble entering the company’s intranet. She also went to various employee groups every day to see what the news were in the company. From the gossips that she occasionally found using pronouns, she guessed that Zhao Sijia’s situation was exactly the same as she had previously expected.
The workplace was not an easy place, especially in large groups, everyone was polite and decent on the surface, and what everyone was thinking was not what Zhao Sijia can see.
After reading the original text three times, she had understood that this is a spoiled article. Huo Ming was responsible for being handsome, cool, pretending, and spoiling the heroine; Lou Xiao was responsible for assisting and helping the heroine; Huo Tingwei was responsible for affirming and matching the two protagonists as a senior family member; Huo Wei and Cui Jing were responsible for accepting the faults and wrongs.
As the heroine, Zhao Sijia only needed to be responsible for happiness, being tolerated, loved, and taken care of. Every time she caused trouble, receiving tolerance and forgiveness was a sweet plot to highlight their care for her.
She insisted on working only to represent her inner strength and independence, although she did not do well, it also represented that she had such a thought. After Huo Ming and her ended up happily, she would be relieved and she no longer insisted on doing the work she didn’t like, but concentrated on painting, and learned from the master painter hired by the Huo family. Day after day, she finally painted a work that was pretty well.
This was the job she finally found suitable for her, and it was also the job she loved.
Such a spoiled heroine did not need to be strong. So Huo Wei knew her weakness, instead of being hard-headed with her, she only needed to go with the rhythm, dig a pit for her, which she would fall in and couldn’t get up. Maybe give her some time, and she would let the Huo family father and son discover her needs and meet her needs. But will Huo Wei give her time? Of course not.
Since you couldn’t get up on your own, just stay in the pit and enjoy the “gift” she repaid her.
Huo Wei had been painting these past few days and was almost done. She originally lived in the Huo’s villa, but Cui Jing listed the property list of the Huo’s family and found that Huo Tingwei had given Zhao Sijia a four-hundred-square-meter duplex apartment, at the front of the two buildings with the best locations, he also reserved a limited edition car with a total value of almost 100 million![Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]
Not to mention that Huo Tingwei and Huo Ming had given Zhao Sijia so many gifts, jadeite, jewelry, diamond necklace, and various brand-name clothing, all of which cost a lot of money. This went far beyond the treatment of taking care of a friend’s daughter. The most important thing was that Huo Wei had no property at all, and the difference in treatment was too obvious.
Cui Jing questioned Huo Tingwei, and Huo Tingwei actually said that he intended Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia to get married, but the two quarreled again. Cui Jing didn’t understand Huo Tingwei’s foolish behavior. Huo Tingwei could not explain to her that he wanted to make up for the daughter of his beloved, let alone tell her that he wanted to use Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia’s marriage to complete the love he had missed.
So in the eyes of Cui Jing, Huo Tingwei’s kindness to Zhao Sijia was unreasonable and inexplicable. At most, he supported his son’s love. In Huo Tingwei’s eyes, she was petty and persistent in quarreling about little things.
Cui Jing did not agree with this marriage. Of course Huo Ming was on Huo Tingwei’s side. The father and son made Cui Jing angry and sad.
Huo Wei saw that she was also suffering at home, so she just coquettishly said to her: “Mom, let’s go to another place to live for a while? Our home is too far away from Lou Xiao’s home. Lou Xiao is the chairman of Yunxiao Group and he is very busy. We can’t paint together at such a distance. Besides, we are not happy at home, so we might as well go outside to relax, so as not to see them angry every day.”
Cui Jing loved her, especially when both her husband and son made her angry, she loved her even more. Cui Jing asked for help and directly bought the villa near Lou Xiao’s house at a large price and put it under Huo Wei’s name.
Usually, no one would sell such a good villa, but Cui Jing had her status there, and the other party sold it to her as a favor, and Cui Jing would naturally want to find a way to return it in the future. The villa was well decorated, they told someone to clean it up and moved in with some simple belongings.
Huo Tingwei was very annoyed by his wife and daughter’s noisy behavior, and he ignored them after he called once and they refused to go back. Of course Cui Jing and Huo Wei didn’t bother to care about him either.
Huo Wei painted at home during the day, and when Lou Xiao came home from work, Cui Jing asked him to come over for dinner. Lou Xiao liked the warm atmosphere between the mother and daughter. He agreed without hesitation and started to finish work quickly every day, trying to avoid socializing and rushing back before dinner to eat with them.
If it was still early after the meal, they would paint together for a while, so even if Lou Xiao went to work every day, the progress of painting her portrait was still very fast, and the painting was almost finished in a few days, and developed good feelings for her steadily, to 55 points.
Huo Wei was not idle either. She learned from the flaws and unsatisfactory initial works and found well-known painters to point out the deficiencies in color. The progress was very fast, and now she was almost finished painting the picture of the rainforest fire.
Cui Jing was obsessed with buying things for her. The men in the family didn’t care for her, so she cared for her as a mother. Cui Jing not only transferred the four houses under her name to Huo Wei but also went to the auction to bid on several valuable jewelry for Huo Wei. It had been spread in the circle recently that Cui Jing loved her daughter very much, and that her daughter was also very caring. The relationship between mother and daughter was very good.
And Cui Jing liked to compliment her daughter in front of her friends. If there was nothing else to praise, she would praise her for her rapid progress in her painting and her excellent painting. Huo Wei hadn’t finished painting, yet many people in the circle knew that she was painting a particularly good painting.
Some people didn’t believe it, and naturally, some were curious, they were all waiting until she finished painting to see what masterpiece she could paint.
Huo Wei didn’t rush to show them. She drew the last stroke and completed the rainforest fire painting. After looking at it for a long time, she nodded in satisfaction.
When there was no one around, she said to the system silently: [What was I doing before? How do I know so many things? Isn’t drawing and being a hacker and studying ai contradictory? 】
[Host, no contradiction, hacking and studying ai may be your knowledge in this field. In terms of drawing, you are obviously not good at drawing works of art but good at drawing drawings. Designing the shape of ai requires drawings. ]
Huo Wei touched her chin, thinking, and said: [So I may be technical talents. However, I am still learning things very quickly. I can see that my painting has improved a lot in the past few days. ]
This made Huo Wei very satisfied. There were a lot of waste drafts in her studio, and in the end, she finished this one. Comparing the original draft together with the current finished product, no one would believe that they were painted by one person.
The system said: [Your IQ is higher than that of ordinary people. Learning fast is the basic ability. I hope that you can make good use of this ability to complete the task as soon as possible. 】
Huo Wei laughed, 【What’s the hurry? This is called sharpening a knife and not delaying the work of cutting wood, when the knife is sharp, then it is naturally more effective in cutting wood with half the effort. I know it in my heart, wait and see. Speaking of which, you didn’t help me much. 】
【Host, you drew the impression value at the beginning, so now I can only provide you with the impression value. When you draw other rewards in the future, the system can provide more comprehensive and better help. Such as encyclopedia, GPS, mind reading, space, protective shield, and so on. ]
Huo Wei did not speak, but the system seemed to guess her thoughts and said: [ in this world even with a simple task, there will be difficult and dangerous task appearing in the future. The reward system is very important, which can help the host greatly, please complete the task seriously. ]
Huo Wei was actually curious about those interesting rewards, laughing, and said: [I have been taking the task seriously, tomorrow I go to the company, it’s time to come face to face with them. ]
There was the sound of a car outside, soon Cui Jing took Lou Xiao to the studio. When they knocked on the door, Huo Wei also heard Cui Jing complaining to Lou Xiao that she had spent a whole day in the studio and didn’t even eat properly.
Now they had a good relationship. Cui Jing liked Lou Xiao, who is sensible and capable. In just a few days, his impression value had reached 40. Lou Xiao also likes Cui Jing’s loving and caring personality and gave her an impression value of 20 for her. It is quite rare.
Huo Wei went to open the door for them, and Cui Jing asked, “Have you finished drawing? Lou Xiao is off work. Come out and rest and paint tomorrow.”
Huo Wei took Cui Jing’s arm and let them enter, pointing to the painting and saying, “Look, I’m finished painting, how did I paint?”
Cui Jing and Lou Xiao both looked at the painting. Huo Wei had been hiding it from them these few days. It was the first time they saw a complete and colorful “Rainforest Fire”, the smile on their faces disappeared with just one glance.
There were many different colors in the painting, but you couldn’t see the difference in so many colors if you didn’t look carefully. Many of them were superimposed and smeared with the same color schemes, which added a sense of layering and three-dimensionality to the whole painting, with a sense of “angriness”. It looked real at first glance.
The upper part of the painting was very depressing. The dark clouds covering the rainforest. The endless woods from near to far made people feel desperate, as you were left alone in the world, trapped in the dark woods. Unable to be saved.
Only the bright fire and the billowing black smoke brought a glimmer of life. The thick black smoke, bright and dark in color, seemed to rush into the sky with only hope, hope to be seen, hope to bring vitality.
There were no characters in the painting, but looking at this painting could make people feel how helpless and desperate the person near the fire was. People couldn’t help but worry for her, hoping that she could be rescued.
This was a painting with strong emotions, and it was also a successful painting. Cui Jing was tearing up after only a few glances. She hugged Huo Wei and comforted her. No matter how detailed you knew about this incident, it couldn’t compare to the impact you saw with your own eyes. Especially the emotions conveyed in the painting represented Huo Wei’s emotions at that time. This made Cui Jing extremely distressed, and she also feels terrified.
What if… what if it was too late to save someone?
What if the rain didn’t stop?
What if Huo Wei didn’t carry a power bank in her bag?
With any slight mistake, her daughter might not be able to stand in front of her in this way. She suddenly understood why Huo Wei refused her elder brother. After she felt Huo Wei’s despair at the time, she could no longer repair their relationship.
The damage to the soul could never be repaired.
Lou Xiao kept pursing his lips and said nothing, just staring at the painting for a long time in silence. It wasn’t until Cui Jing wiped away her tears to ask him to go out for dinner, he nodded and went out with them. When he reached the door, he looked back at the painting, as if to remember it, it took him a long time to close the door.
There was a rare silence at the dinner table that day, Cui Jing kept offering food to Huo Wei, wanting her to eat more to replenish her body. Knowing that Cui Jing was feeling uncomfortable, Huo Wei obediently ate the food that she had offered, and occasionally made a couple of jokes to let her know that she was fine.
But how can Cui Jing feel at ease? When she thought of her daughter holding on in the woods desperately, she didn’t even dare to fall into a coma, she felt the same pain in her heart. She endured her sadness in front of her daughter, and as soon as she finished eating, she saw that Lou Xiao wanted to accompany Huo Wei for a walk, she went straight back to the room, fearing that her bad emotions would make her daughter feel uncomfortable.
Lou Xiao asked the servant to put a coat on Huo Wei and walked slowly with her in the small garden. It was already dark, it happened to be the night of the full moon, the moonlight and lights were shining on, and it felt very comfortable.
Huo Wei was the first to break the silence and smiled: “Why haven’t you been talking? Are you scared of my painting? Do you think I should paint that kind of positive, energetic paintings? Are they more in line with my appearance?”
Lou Xiao shook his head. “I didn’t imagine what type of painting you would paint, but I didn’t expect your painting to be like this.” He was silent for a moment, and his voice was much lower than before, “That day… Were you very sad?”
Huo Wei stopped by the swing, handed the pulley to Lou Xiao, slowly sat on the swing, looked up at the full moon, and said softly, “That day, maybe it was the saddest day of my life? I had no elder brother that day, and we were twins, he should be the closest elder brother.”
Lou Xiao kept looking at her, afraid that she would fall off, and that she would cry. But Huo Wei’s hand was very steady, and the expression on her face was quite plain, and he couldn’t see any sadness or sorrow.
He asked what he wanted to ask the most, “Are you still sad now?”
Huo Wei tilted her head, and her hair slipped from her shoulders with her movements. It was very smooth, and it made her look a bit more gentle. She looked like she thought and thought very seriously before replying: “I’m not sad anymore. I am a little grateful for that day. I thought I was going to die that day. I was scared, sad, and regretful.” She looked at Lou Xiao. , Asked him, “Guess what I regret?”
Lou Xiao squatted down and looked up at her, “You regret not being filial to your mother, regretting that you should not argue with Zhao Sijia, regret not drawing satisfactory paintings, regretting not being able to do a lot of things that you hadn’t had time to do.”
He said so comprehensively that he almost said everything Huo Wei thought of. Huo Wei smiled, her eyebrows curled up and she looked very beautiful, not at all like she had just experienced the scene in the painting not long ago.
Huo Wei smiled in her eyes, “Why do you know me so much? I just regret these things. Thinking back to the scenes of arguing with them before, I feel that I wasted my life.”
She raised her head and went on the swing a little bit more, smiled and said: “I used to be reconciled. My father and brother didn’t spoil me because they were busy at work. I can understand. The same is true of other people’s families, how could they spoil me when they were so busy? But I can’t understand that they treat an outsider better than me. For no reason, they have only been together for a year, but they treat her so preciously, for her they would always reprimand me for being ignorant. I admit that I am more squeamish, so I was very angry. Disliking Zhao Sijia and always wanted to drive her away. I thought that my family would become the same again. It may not be warm enough, but it is very stable and won’t make me angry.”
She took a deep breath and sighed, “Some truths can only be understood after experiencing something. When I thought I was dying, I suddenly felt… Life is so limited, why should I cling to people who don’t like me? If they don’t love me then they don’t. I still have my mother who loves me. I should live well and be filial to my mother.
Later I was rescued. Huo Ming didn’t ask me whether I was hurt or not. He just asked me to come out and explain, and not let other people criticize Zhao Sijia. Zhao Sijia also said that I deliberately let people on the Internet criticize her. Huo Ming believed her.
At that time, I felt that some people are worth my time to cherish, and some people, even just looking at them is a waste of my life. Now I just want to be happy every day. I don’t need to think about the unhappy things in the past.”
She whispered the feeling of desperate life with a faint smile. Lou Xiao looked at her on the side, feeling that she was so fragile as if the wind would blow her away, and yet she was so strong that she could overcome the pain and make her heart extremely strong and indestructible.
He looked at her, unconsciously stretched out his hand, and gently touched her hair.
Huo Wei turned her head to look at him. He retracted his hand in embarrassment, rubbing his fingers, not knowing how to explain his behavior, this kind of action seemed a bit ambiguous.
Huo Wei stopped the swing, looked at him, and asked: “You don’t think I deliberately said bad things about Zhao Sijia in front of you? She said that you are childhood sweethearts, told me about the relationship that you had growing up together, and warned me, telling me to stay away from you, didn’t want me to hurt you. I’ve always been curious, how is your relationship with her? What I said… will they make you feel awkward?”
Lou Xiao said without even thinking, “I just lived next door to Zhao’s house when I was a kid. I have been a neighbor with her for three years. Then something happened in my family, and I left there. I had no memories of her. I took care of her because when I was in the orphanage, her mother gave me many things. The letters I wrote all mentioned Zhao Sijia, saying that we are good friends and we should support and take care of each other when we grow up.
They left city b before, and I didn’t find them. I only met Zhao Sijia six months ago, when her mother had already passed away. So I asked Yu Hai to help her a little bit. “
Huo Wei found that Lou Xiao was a little nervous when he said this and kept looking at her as if he was afraid that she misunderstood. Her heart missed half a beat, and asked: “What are you doing explaining so clearly to me?” “
“I’m afraid you will misunderstand.” Lou Xiao answered almost instantly.
Huo Wei nodded and continued to ask, “Then why are you afraid of my misunderstanding?” “
This time Lou Xiao was silent for a while before answering: “I don’t know, I just don’t want you to misunderstand. You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s always been Zhao Sijia’s improper approach, whether she did it intentionally or unintentionally, they hurt you. I don’t want you to think I will help her, and I don’t want you to be angry because of it. “
“You are quite honest.” Huo Wei went on the swing again, and said with a smile, “Then what will you do in the future?” I hate her so much, if she does something to provoke me, I will find a way to punish her. Will you help her or me when the time comes? “
“Help you.” Lou Xiao gave her the answer without even thinking about it, and then lowered his head and said, “Her mother’s request, I can make up for her with supplies.” In fact, I bought the Zhao family’s house and prepared a position for her. I think her mother wants such a stable life. “
Huo Wei almost laughed. She was sure that Zhao Sijia’s mother definitely didn’t mean that. What kind of a stable life? Compared with money, what is stability?
But this matter obviously held a certain weight in Lou Xiao’s heart. She had no basis and didn’t speak insensitively, but took a different approach of saying, “When you met Zhao Sijia, she was already at Huo’s house and lived a very good life. Do you still need to make up for her and take care of her like this? “
“She said she was living under someone’s roof.” Lou Xiao touched his nose embarrassedly after saying this, “Sorry, I was very busy when she said this, so I didn’t let anyone investigate, and thought she was really living under someone’s roof. “
Huo Wei laughed unceremoniously this time, she stopped the swing and hooked her finger with Lou Xiao’s. After Lou Xiao got closer, she secretly said: “My mother just found out that my dad had given Zhao Sijia a property worth about 100 million, and ordered her a limited edition car. She can use Huo Ming’s secondary card on whatever she wants. Oh, also, she is now an assistant of the chairman. Have you ever seen this kind of person who is living under someone’s roof? She is wealthier than I am. If you have to take care of her, why don’t you take care of me? “
Lou Xiao wasn’t ashamed of the small house and position he had prepared, instead, there was a feeling of relief, he smiled looking at her, “She is living such a good life, I am relieved, then there is no need to send her the things I prepared for her. Charity is more appropriate, presumably the kind-hearted Aunt Zhao will be happy too.”
He said seriously to Huo Wei: “You won’t be angry with me just because I helped her? Can I still paint you in the future?”
Huo Wei thinks this is the halo of the Muse. She is Lou Xiao’s muse and is as important as his company. How could Zhao Sijia, a fake childhood sweetheart compare with her?
She smiled slightly and promised Lou Xiao, “You can paint me whenever you have time. I am not a stingy person.”
She never angered, she only held grudges. Just like tomorrow, she will go to Huo’s headquarters to stir the wind and the rain. Huo Ting Wei and Huo Ming made her mother so unhappy, and she had to make them even more unhappy.
They couldn’t not touch the people that she cared for
The next day, since Zhao Sijia lived very close to the company, she arrived early at the company, packed up her stuff at her work station, and was ready to move to the work station outside the chairman’s office on the top floor.
She felt a little depressed. On the one hand, she felt that Lou Xiao’s attitude towards Huo Wei made her uncomfortable. On the other hand, she was disappointed because Huo Ming had dissociated any relations with her. She only slept for two or three hours a night, basically watching the trend of public discussions on the Internet.
After the Huo’s clarification letter was issued, there were still many people discussing the content of the letter at the beginning, saying that the truth could not be so uninteresting. But when many people realized that they couldn’t find out more about it, they were diverted by other things. After all, Huo Ming is not a celebrity no matter how famous he is, and as for her, if she was on her own, perhaps no one would even know who she is.
So the incident ended in such a plain and simple manner. Reasonably she should be happy, but she only breathed a sigh of relief, and then she was uncontrollably depressed. She didn’t know what was going on with herself, and she scolded herself for not knowing good or bad, but she just couldn’t be happy.
People in the company started coming to work one after another, and they glanced at her a few times when they saw her. Zhao Sijia didn’t care, she quickly finished packing her things, went to the bathroom, and planning to go to the top floor after washing her hands. Unexpectedly, as she walked to the bathroom door, she heard two people inside talking about her.
“Zhao Sijia should be embarrassed to come to the company. If I were her, I must have resigned.”
“Don’t you know her? She’s so shameless and treating the mistakes she makes as fun. Last time she made a mistake in the tender document, I saw her acting innocent in front of Mr. Huo. If this had happened to someone else, even if you don’t get fired, you must get a salary deduction? As a result, Mr. Huo appointed me to help Zhao Sijia to reorganize, and he also ground some coffee with his own hands for Zhao Sijia to drink. In the end, I was the one who did all the work, and Zhao Sijia got all the credit.”
“No ordinary people have the ability like her, making connections with Mr. Huo. What’s more, is that she has also gained favor from the chairman, she is basically already stepping one foot into the Huo’s family. How can we compare to her? It’s a pity for Miss Huo, with the sister-in-law urging Mr. Huo to bullied her before she even entered the door.”
“Why do you think that she was promoted to serve as an assistant to the chairman? I have an ominous hunch that our company’s good image will sooner or later be damaged by her. But it’s good that she is leaving, we will be much more relaxed and no longer have to clean up her mess, and we don’t have to pay attention to our expressions all the time, lest she feels wronged, then Mr. Huo would think that we are leaving her out.”
“Oh you don’t say, she was a nightmare when she first came. We were just in a serious discussion and didn’t pay attention to her, then her eyes actually became red, what a drama queen. It caused Mr. Huo to admonish us. Hehe, to be honest, I have always admired Mr. Huo, but after Zhao Sijia came, my image of Mr. Huo is broken. How bad it is to have set his eyes onto someone like this”
“Miss Huo is really piteous! She was almost killed by her, poor girl.”
“Yes, I don’t believe a word of the clarifications on the Internet. Others don’t know, but how can we not? We have to pray that Mr. Huo will marry her quickly, so that she will be a housewife like the chairman’s wife, and not come to the company to give us trouble.”
“Yes, yes, that’s it, pray that she will get married soon!”
Zhao Sijia was so angry that her heart was pumping, she heard them giggling and couldn’t listen anymore. She slammed the door open and looked at them coldly, “Wang Jing, Xia Meng, what good is it for you two to say bad things about me behind my back? And I was trying to learn from you, when I had any questions, I would humbly approach you for advice. All those times you must have been laughing at me! How come your character is worthy of working at the Huo’s company?”
One of those two is Huo Ming’s secretary and the other is Huo Ming’s assistant, usually having the most contact with Zhao Sijia, and they have to deal with the things Zhao Sijia did not do well. Naturally, there would be more complaints, and they were just murmuring a few words while retouching their makeup together.
Now that they got caught, both of them had a bit of embarrassment on their faces, but they were annoyed when they heard Zhao Sijia’s last sentence.
“Zhao Sijia, have you forgotten the picture in your social media feed? Are you worthy to talk about character with us? What did we say wrong?”
Zhao Sijia angrily said: “I work hard, even if I don’t do well, I’m always improving, and I am not slacking off at work. How come I look like a mess from what you say about me? Huo Ming sometimes gets angry and tells you off, it’s me who plead for you, don’t you think it’s too ugly to repay your favor with revenge like this?”
When she mentioned this, the two became even angrier.
Wang Jing stepped forward, looked at her directly, and said, “You pleading? We are using you to plead? Originally, Mr. Huo was only venting a few words to us. Your so-called pleading convicted us of our mistake. He directly asked the Ministry of Human Resources to deduct our salary. We didn’t even have the chance to explain!”
Xia Meng pushed away Zhao Sijia, pulling Wang Jing to go out, ”there is nothing to say to her. She is the innocent, the good, and the beautiful, we are all scheming dog in her eyes.”
When Wang Jing was walking out she mumbled with anger, “you have no shame to say that you work hard. How much chaos has been added to us this year? You are obviously frail and helpless, but you think of yourself as an independent woman. What can she do without relying on a man? Pff! Relying on men yet wanting to be honored!”
Zhao Sijia was trembling with anger, staring deadly at their backs, her eyes were red. It just so happened that someone came over to go to the bathroom, and seeing her look like this, she hurriedly backed away for five meters and walked out quickly, as if she was afraid of getting to her nerves.
Zhao Sijia couldn’t help but shed tears, and hurriedly walked into the cubicle, locked the door, and cried, covering her mouth.
She did work hard, and who doesn’t go through a learning process? Both Huo Ming and Huo Tingwei praised that she has made great progress. This is the Huo family’s company, and the Huo family agrees with her. Why do they say that to her? If she really depends on the Huo family, why does she have to work hard? She would just be living under the family’s roof, painting her favorite painting every day. She just wanted to be independent, but she was so misunderstood.
Zhao Sijia cried for a long time until she received a call from Huo Ming. Huo Ming saw the cardboard box she had packed and knew she was here. When he asked her where she was, he heard Zhao Sijia’s swallowing voice, and immediately became anxious.
Huo Ming knocked hard on the bathroom door, and Zhao Sijia wiped away her tears and rearranged her emotions before walking out.
Huo Ming asked incomprehensibly: “What’s wrong? Why are you crying? I just saw it. No one scolds you on the internet anymore. After two days, no one will mention it again. Don’t worry.”
“It’s not because of this, I’m fine.” Zhao Sijia whispered with her head down, wanting to leave.
Huo Ming grabbed her, “What’s the matter with you? Say clearly, don’t let me guess what you are thinking every time, how would I know if you don’t tell me? Everything is solved, I don’t understand why you are still sad. “
Zhao Sijia shook his hand away, and said angrily: “Do you think I’m making a temper with you? It’s not because of you at all. Besides, we are just ordinary colleagues and ordinary friends. Why should I cry because of you? It’s because of your secretaries talking bad things about me!”
Huo Ming felt a little familiarity when he heard her say this, and after thinking about it, he felt like it was a bit like Huo Wei before. When Huo Wei quarreled with him, she would deliberately say something ironic, get angry with him, and not make sense.
He had a headache, so he decided to skip the unreasonable words and ask Wang Jing about this.
When the two of them were talking, a colleague passed by and overheard, and ran to tell Wang Jing and Xia Meng. The two of them have worked by Huo Ming’s side for more than three years, they are within reason the right-hand man of Huo Ming, but at this moment they both regretted it.
Who do they care about what happens to Zhao Sijia? She was being transferred, why count they endure it? Huo Ming knew about it now, but it’s not clear what would happen. But they also know in their hearts that it happened again, they might still be tempted to mutter, and they will mutter outside even if they didn’t in the company. Zhao Sijia has caused much trouble to them and caused them to have a salary deduction so many times. How could they resist complaining?
Soon after, Huo Ming brought Zhao Sijia back and ordered the two of them to enter.
When they saw Huo Ming’s sullen expression, they knew he was angry, and apologized to Zhao Sijia when they entered the office.
Upon seeing this, Huo Ming looked at them in silence for a long time, and said, “criticizing colleagues, questioning the decision of your boss, arguing in the company, what do you have to say?”
Wang Jing bowed her head and said, “Mr. Huo, I will definitely be cautious with my words and actions in the future. Zhao Sijia, I’m sorry, I hurt your self-esteem, I’m very sorry.”
Xia Meng also said something similar. The two understood Huo Ming’s personality, not trying to explain or talk nonsense, kept bowing ninety degrees, and repeatedly apologized to Zhao Sijia.
Huo Ming looked at Zhao Sijia, Zhao Sijia was taken aback, took a deep breath, and said: “I won’t forgive you, this was too much.”
The two felt a chill down their spine but listened to what Huo Ming said: “We will deduct half a year of your bonus, and this incident will be criticized at the company’s internal announcement. If there is a next time, you will write a letter of resignation.”
The Huo’s company benefits were very good, and they were all useful people around Huo Ming, and the bonus of half a year was at least fifty thousand. With a word from Zhao Sijia, their fifty thousand was gone. In addition, there will be a public announcement within the company criticizing them. When the time comes, employees of the entire cooperation, including branches, will see the announcement. Will they still have the dignity to come to work in the future?
But because the job was very good, they couldn’t easily give up, even if they felt wronged and uncomfortable, they all accepted the conditions and left the office with a pale face. When they closed the door, they saw Zhao Sijia’s unbelievable expression, and their hearts became even more suffocated. They were punished so hard, why would Zhao Sijia still be dissatisfied? Meeting her is the luckiest thing in their lifetimes!
Zhao Sijia was indeed dissatisfied. She never thought that Huo Ming would keep people with such bad character. She frowned and asked: “Do you think such people can do a good job? Why do you still keep them in the company?”
Huo Ming patiently explained: “They have been working by my side for a long time. They cannot be dismissed casually, and if I don’t use them suddenly, many things on my side will not be taken over, and it will be a mess. They talked about you behind your back. I have already punished them. They dare not do anything to you anymore.”
When Zhao Sijia came to the office with him earlier, her heart was still warm, thinking that Huo Ming was going to avenge her, but now her heart was cold, and she said with a constrained expression: “I have to report to the chairman. If there is nothing else, Mr. Huo, I will get going.”
“Sijia, are you still angry?” Huo Ming frowned in confusion.
Zhao Sijia shook her head and said, “I’m not angry. Everything should be treated accordingly in the company. I’m going to work, and Mr. Huo should be working too.”
Zhao Sijia didn’t stop this time and left the room holding the cardboard box. She didn’t want Huo Ming to dismiss those two people, but Huo Ming only fined them money and criticized them publicly, and that made her feel like this was treated lightheartedly. Could it be that they said she was depending and relying on men, and insulting her was not a problem to Huo Ming?
Does Huo Ming think of her the same way?
Zhao Sijia remembered the clarification letter again and suddenly did not dare to think deeply, because the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable it became, and the more she couldn’t figure out what Huo Ming’s feelings were for her.
On the top floor, the people working around Huo Tingwei were much more strict than those around Huo Ming. They did not show dislike for her and would greet her when they met. But Zhao Sijia had just experienced gossips from colleagues, and at this moment, no one was trustable in her mind.
After organizing her workstation, she couldn’t resist going to the bathroom and pantry a few times and walked silently to the door to listen to what anyone said. Turned out no one talked about her.
She also sensitively discovered that they were very polite to her. There could not be any fault in this kind of politeness, but it was alienated, as if a barrier had been erected between her and them and they did not intend to break it at all, that is, they did not intend to interact with her.
Huo Tingwei saw her after the meeting and asked her to enter the office, asking her if she was adjusting well and if she encountered any difficulties.
She wanted to talk to Huo Tingwei about her discomfort, but after thinking about it, she found that there was nothing to say. If she complained and caused Huo Tingwei to punish the secretaries and special assistants, would they, like Wang Jing, think that she secretly accused them behind their backs?
She didn’t mean that, so she smiled and said that everything was fine. Huo Tingwei was relieved when he saw this. He was very busy and told the first secretary to take along Zhao Sijia, and then began to work.
The first secretary gave Zhao Sijia a small amount of work, allowing her to adapt to the rhythm of the office here. She just worked at the station for a day without much communication with anyone. Obviously, it was a good thing to be promoted to the chairman’s office, but she felt terribly uncomfortable as if nothing was right.
The company’s public announcement of criticization came out very quickly, and only employees logging into Huo’s intranet could see it. But such a wide range of criticism surprised all the employees. The people at the headquarters were alright, as they might have guessed that the reason behind the severe punishment of these two people, was Huo Ming who avenging Zhao Sijia out of anger.
People in each branch didn’t know them, so they started talking, saying that how the people around the general manager were so bad. How much gossips did it take to be criticized publicly? It was definitely the kind of people who did not want to change after teaching them repeatedly and will be fired sooner or later.
There were many groups among employees, from various departments, various branches, branches, and headquarters, etc., and the personal connections were even more complicated. Wang Jing and Xia Meng soon learned what others thought of them, and their faces were pale when they worked in the company.
Since Zhao Sijia joined the company, the workload of the two of them had increased sharply. It didn’t matter that they didn’t get bonuses for doing so much, but they had been deducted several times because of Zhao Sijia. This time the bonus was deducted for half a year, which was a shame in front of the entire group of employees. This was definitely a huge blow to their future careers. Even if they left the Huo’s to apply for other companies, those companies would know about this and would have opinions on them.
They were not rewarded for their hard work, and they were punished so severely for a few extra words. The two cried secretly for half a day, hating Zhao Sijia to death.
There were colleagues who had a good relationship with them in private, and they asked quietly about the ins and outs. They didn’t know whether to blame them for talking or pity them. But this way, one by one in private, and within a few days, many employees in the headquarters knew the inside story. At the same time, they all knew that they can’t talk about Zhao Sijia, and occasionally they use “the who” to refer to her, and they rarely mention her.
Zhao Sijia had become an unspeakable existence in Huo’s headquarters. She herself didn’t notice it at all, but everyone else had kept a distance with her, maintaining only the superficial politeness and “respect”. Who dares to mess with the young mistress in the future.
Huo Wei did not have an employee number at Huo’s, but she had no trouble entering the company’s intranet. She also went to various employee groups every day to see what the news were in the company. From the gossips that she occasionally found using pronouns, she guessed that Zhao Sijia’s situation was exactly the same as she had previously expected.
The workplace was not an easy place, especially in large groups, everyone was polite and decent on the surface, and what everyone was thinking was not what Zhao Sijia can see.
After reading the original text three times, she had understood that this is a spoiled article. Huo Ming was responsible for being handsome, cool, pretending, and spoiling the heroine; Lou Xiao was responsible for assisting and helping the heroine; Huo Tingwei was responsible for affirming and matching the two protagonists as a senior family member; Huo Wei and Cui Jing were responsible for accepting the faults and wrongs.
As the heroine, Zhao Sijia only needed to be responsible for happiness, being tolerated, loved, and taken care of. Every time she caused trouble, receiving tolerance and forgiveness was a sweet plot to highlight their care for her.
She insisted on working only to represent her inner strength and independence, although she did not do well, it also represented that she had such a thought. After Huo Ming and her ended up happily, she would be relieved and she no longer insisted on doing the work she didn’t like, but concentrated on painting, and learned from the master painter hired by the Huo family. Day after day, she finally painted a work that was pretty well.
This was the job she finally found suitable for her, and it was also the job she loved.
Such a spoiled heroine did not need to be strong. So Huo Wei knew her weakness, instead of being hard-headed with her, she only needed to go with the rhythm, dig a pit for her, which she would fall in and couldn’t get up. Maybe give her some time, and she would let the Huo family father and son discover her needs and meet her needs. But will Huo Wei give her time? Of course not.
Since you couldn’t get up on your own, just stay in the pit and enjoy the “gift” she repaid her.
Huo Wei had been painting these past few days and was almost done. She originally lived in the Huo’s villa, but Cui Jing listed the property list of the Huo’s family and found that Huo Tingwei had given Zhao Sijia a four-hundred-square-meter duplex apartment, at the front of the two buildings with the best locations, he also reserved a limited edition car with a total value of almost 100 million![Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]
Not to mention that Huo Tingwei and Huo Ming had given Zhao Sijia so many gifts, jadeite, jewelry, diamond necklace, and various brand-name clothing, all of which cost a lot of money. This went far beyond the treatment of taking care of a friend’s daughter. The most important thing was that Huo Wei had no property at all, and the difference in treatment was too obvious.
Cui Jing questioned Huo Tingwei, and Huo Tingwei actually said that he intended Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia to get married, but the two quarreled again. Cui Jing didn’t understand Huo Tingwei’s foolish behavior. Huo Tingwei could not explain to her that he wanted to make up for the daughter of his beloved, let alone tell her that he wanted to use Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia’s marriage to complete the love he had missed.
So in the eyes of Cui Jing, Huo Tingwei’s kindness to Zhao Sijia was unreasonable and inexplicable. At most, he supported his son’s love. In Huo Tingwei’s eyes, she was petty and persistent in quarreling about little things.
Cui Jing did not agree with this marriage. Of course Huo Ming was on Huo Tingwei’s side. The father and son made Cui Jing angry and sad.
Huo Wei saw that she was also suffering at home, so she just coquettishly said to her: “Mom, let’s go to another place to live for a while? Our home is too far away from Lou Xiao’s home. Lou Xiao is the chairman of Yunxiao Group and he is very busy. We can’t paint together at such a distance. Besides, we are not happy at home, so we might as well go outside to relax, so as not to see them angry every day.”
Cui Jing loved her, especially when both her husband and son made her angry, she loved her even more. Cui Jing asked for help and directly bought the villa near Lou Xiao’s house at a large price and put it under Huo Wei’s name.
Usually, no one would sell such a good villa, but Cui Jing had her status there, and the other party sold it to her as a favor, and Cui Jing would naturally want to find a way to return it in the future. The villa was well decorated, they told someone to clean it up and moved in with some simple belongings.
Huo Tingwei was very annoyed by his wife and daughter’s noisy behavior, and he ignored them after he called once and they refused to go back. Of course Cui Jing and Huo Wei didn’t bother to care about him either.
Huo Wei painted at home during the day, and when Lou Xiao came home from work, Cui Jing asked him to come over for dinner. Lou Xiao liked the warm atmosphere between the mother and daughter. He agreed without hesitation and started to finish work quickly every day, trying to avoid socializing and rushing back before dinner to eat with them.
If it was still early after the meal, they would paint together for a while, so even if Lou Xiao went to work every day, the progress of painting her portrait was still very fast, and the painting was almost finished in a few days, and developed good feelings for her steadily, to 55 points.
Huo Wei was not idle either. She learned from the flaws and unsatisfactory initial works and found well-known painters to point out the deficiencies in color. The progress was very fast, and now she was almost finished painting the picture of the rainforest fire.
Cui Jing was obsessed with buying things for her. The men in the family didn’t care for her, so she cared for her as a mother. Cui Jing not only transferred the four houses under her name to Huo Wei but also went to the auction to bid on several valuable jewelry for Huo Wei. It had been spread in the circle recently that Cui Jing loved her daughter very much, and that her daughter was also very caring. The relationship between mother and daughter was very good.
And Cui Jing liked to compliment her daughter in front of her friends. If there was nothing else to praise, she would praise her for her rapid progress in her painting and her excellent painting. Huo Wei hadn’t finished painting, yet many people in the circle knew that she was painting a particularly good painting.
Some people didn’t believe it, and naturally, some were curious, they were all waiting until she finished painting to see what masterpiece she could paint.
Huo Wei didn’t rush to show them. She drew the last stroke and completed the rainforest fire painting. After looking at it for a long time, she nodded in satisfaction.
When there was no one around, she said to the system silently: [What was I doing before? How do I know so many things? Isn’t drawing and being a hacker and studying ai contradictory? 】
[Host, no contradiction, hacking and studying ai may be your knowledge in this field. In terms of drawing, you are obviously not good at drawing works of art but good at drawing drawings. Designing the shape of ai requires drawings. ]
Huo Wei touched her chin, thinking, and said: [So I may be technical talents. However, I am still learning things very quickly. I can see that my painting has improved a lot in the past few days. ]
This made Huo Wei very satisfied. There were a lot of waste drafts in her studio, and in the end, she finished this one. Comparing the original draft together with the current finished product, no one would believe that they were painted by one person.
The system said: [Your IQ is higher than that of ordinary people. Learning fast is the basic ability. I hope that you can make good use of this ability to complete the task as soon as possible. 】
Huo Wei laughed, 【What’s the hurry? This is called sharpening a knife and not delaying the work of cutting wood, when the knife is sharp, then it is naturally more effective in cutting wood with half the effort. I know it in my heart, wait and see. Speaking of which, you didn’t help me much. 】
【Host, you drew the impression value at the beginning, so now I can only provide you with the impression value. When you draw other rewards in the future, the system can provide more comprehensive and better help. Such as encyclopedia, GPS, mind reading, space, protective shield, and so on. ]
Huo Wei did not speak, but the system seemed to guess her thoughts and said: [ in this world even with a simple task, there will be difficult and dangerous task appearing in the future. The reward system is very important, which can help the host greatly, please complete the task seriously. ]
Huo Wei was actually curious about those interesting rewards, laughing, and said: [I have been taking the task seriously, tomorrow I go to the company, it’s time to come face to face with them. ]
There was the sound of a car outside, soon Cui Jing took Lou Xiao to the studio. When they knocked on the door, Huo Wei also heard Cui Jing complaining to Lou Xiao that she had spent a whole day in the studio and didn’t even eat properly.
Now they had a good relationship. Cui Jing liked Lou Xiao, who is sensible and capable. In just a few days, his impression value had reached 40. Lou Xiao also likes Cui Jing’s loving and caring personality and gave her an impression value of 20 for her. It is quite rare.
Huo Wei went to open the door for them, and Cui Jing asked, “Have you finished drawing? Lou Xiao is off work. Come out and rest and paint tomorrow.”
Huo Wei took Cui Jing’s arm and let them enter, pointing to the painting and saying, “Look, I’m finished painting, how did I paint?”
Cui Jing and Lou Xiao both looked at the painting. Huo Wei had been hiding it from them these few days. It was the first time they saw a complete and colorful “Rainforest Fire”, the smile on their faces disappeared with just one glance.
There were many different colors in the painting, but you couldn’t see the difference in so many colors if you didn’t look carefully. Many of them were superimposed and smeared with the same color schemes, which added a sense of layering and three-dimensionality to the whole painting, with a sense of “angriness”. It looked real at first glance.
The upper part of the painting was very depressing. The dark clouds covering the rainforest. The endless woods from near to far made people feel desperate, as you were left alone in the world, trapped in the dark woods. Unable to be saved.
Only the bright fire and the billowing black smoke brought a glimmer of life. The thick black smoke, bright and dark in color, seemed to rush into the sky with only hope, hope to be seen, hope to bring vitality.
There were no characters in the painting, but looking at this painting could make people feel how helpless and desperate the person near the fire was. People couldn’t help but worry for her, hoping that she could be rescued.
This was a painting with strong emotions, and it was also a successful painting. Cui Jing was tearing up after only a few glances. She hugged Huo Wei and comforted her. No matter how detailed you knew about this incident, it couldn’t compare to the impact you saw with your own eyes. Especially the emotions conveyed in the painting represented Huo Wei’s emotions at that time. This made Cui Jing extremely distressed, and she also feels terrified.
What if… what if it was too late to save someone?
What if the rain didn’t stop?
What if Huo Wei didn’t carry a power bank in her bag?
With any slight mistake, her daughter might not be able to stand in front of her in this way. She suddenly understood why Huo Wei refused her elder brother. After she felt Huo Wei’s despair at the time, she could no longer repair their relationship.
The damage to the soul could never be repaired.
Lou Xiao kept pursing his lips and said nothing, just staring at the painting for a long time in silence. It wasn’t until Cui Jing wiped away her tears to ask him to go out for dinner, he nodded and went out with them. When he reached the door, he looked back at the painting, as if to remember it, it took him a long time to close the door.
There was a rare silence at the dinner table that day, Cui Jing kept offering food to Huo Wei, wanting her to eat more to replenish her body. Knowing that Cui Jing was feeling uncomfortable, Huo Wei obediently ate the food that she had offered, and occasionally made a couple of jokes to let her know that she was fine.
But how can Cui Jing feel at ease? When she thought of her daughter holding on in the woods desperately, she didn’t even dare to fall into a coma, she felt the same pain in her heart. She endured her sadness in front of her daughter, and as soon as she finished eating, she saw that Lou Xiao wanted to accompany Huo Wei for a walk, she went straight back to the room, fearing that her bad emotions would make her daughter feel uncomfortable.
Lou Xiao asked the servant to put a coat on Huo Wei and walked slowly with her in the small garden. It was already dark, it happened to be the night of the full moon, the moonlight and lights were shining on, and it felt very comfortable.
Huo Wei was the first to break the silence and smiled: “Why haven’t you been talking? Are you scared of my painting? Do you think I should paint that kind of positive, energetic paintings? Are they more in line with my appearance?”
Lou Xiao shook his head. “I didn’t imagine what type of painting you would paint, but I didn’t expect your painting to be like this.” He was silent for a moment, and his voice was much lower than before, “That day… Were you very sad?”
Huo Wei stopped by the swing, handed the pulley to Lou Xiao, slowly sat on the swing, looked up at the full moon, and said softly, “That day, maybe it was the saddest day of my life? I had no elder brother that day, and we were twins, he should be the closest elder brother.”
Lou Xiao kept looking at her, afraid that she would fall off, and that she would cry. But Huo Wei’s hand was very steady, and the expression on her face was quite plain, and he couldn’t see any sadness or sorrow.
He asked what he wanted to ask the most, “Are you still sad now?”
Huo Wei tilted her head, and her hair slipped from her shoulders with her movements. It was very smooth, and it made her look a bit more gentle. She looked like she thought and thought very seriously before replying: “I’m not sad anymore. I am a little grateful for that day. I thought I was going to die that day. I was scared, sad, and regretful.” She looked at Lou Xiao. , Asked him, “Guess what I regret?”
Lou Xiao squatted down and looked up at her, “You regret not being filial to your mother, regretting that you should not argue with Zhao Sijia, regret not drawing satisfactory paintings, regretting not being able to do a lot of things that you hadn’t had time to do.”
He said so comprehensively that he almost said everything Huo Wei thought of. Huo Wei smiled, her eyebrows curled up and she looked very beautiful, not at all like she had just experienced the scene in the painting not long ago.
Huo Wei smiled in her eyes, “Why do you know me so much? I just regret these things. Thinking back to the scenes of arguing with them before, I feel that I wasted my life.”
She raised her head and went on the swing a little bit more, smiled and said: “I used to be reconciled. My father and brother didn’t spoil me because they were busy at work. I can understand. The same is true of other people’s families, how could they spoil me when they were so busy? But I can’t understand that they treat an outsider better than me. For no reason, they have only been together for a year, but they treat her so preciously, for her they would always reprimand me for being ignorant. I admit that I am more squeamish, so I was very angry. Disliking Zhao Sijia and always wanted to drive her away. I thought that my family would become the same again. It may not be warm enough, but it is very stable and won’t make me angry.”
She took a deep breath and sighed, “Some truths can only be understood after experiencing something. When I thought I was dying, I suddenly felt… Life is so limited, why should I cling to people who don’t like me? If they don’t love me then they don’t. I still have my mother who loves me. I should live well and be filial to my mother.
Later I was rescued. Huo Ming didn’t ask me whether I was hurt or not. He just asked me to come out and explain, and not let other people criticize Zhao Sijia. Zhao Sijia also said that I deliberately let people on the Internet criticize her. Huo Ming believed her.
At that time, I felt that some people are worth my time to cherish, and some people, even just looking at them is a waste of my life. Now I just want to be happy every day. I don’t need to think about the unhappy things in the past.”
She whispered the feeling of desperate life with a faint smile. Lou Xiao looked at her on the side, feeling that she was so fragile as if the wind would blow her away, and yet she was so strong that she could overcome the pain and make her heart extremely strong and indestructible.
He looked at her, unconsciously stretched out his hand, and gently touched her hair.
Huo Wei turned her head to look at him. He retracted his hand in embarrassment, rubbing his fingers, not knowing how to explain his behavior, this kind of action seemed a bit ambiguous.
Huo Wei stopped the swing, looked at him, and asked: “You don’t think I deliberately said bad things about Zhao Sijia in front of you? She said that you are childhood sweethearts, told me about the relationship that you had growing up together, and warned me, telling me to stay away from you, didn’t want me to hurt you. I’ve always been curious, how is your relationship with her? What I said… will they make you feel awkward?”
Lou Xiao said without even thinking, “I just lived next door to Zhao’s house when I was a kid. I have been a neighbor with her for three years. Then something happened in my family, and I left there. I had no memories of her. I took care of her because when I was in the orphanage, her mother gave me many things. The letters I wrote all mentioned Zhao Sijia, saying that we are good friends and we should support and take care of each other when we grow up.
They left city b before, and I didn’t find them. I only met Zhao Sijia six months ago, when her mother had already passed away. So I asked Yu Hai to help her a little bit. “
Huo Wei found that Lou Xiao was a little nervous when he said this and kept looking at her as if he was afraid that she misunderstood. Her heart missed half a beat, and asked: “What are you doing explaining so clearly to me?” “
“I’m afraid you will misunderstand.” Lou Xiao answered almost instantly.
Huo Wei nodded and continued to ask, “Then why are you afraid of my misunderstanding?” “
This time Lou Xiao was silent for a while before answering: “I don’t know, I just don’t want you to misunderstand. You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s always been Zhao Sijia’s improper approach, whether she did it intentionally or unintentionally, they hurt you. I don’t want you to think I will help her, and I don’t want you to be angry because of it. “
“You are quite honest.” Huo Wei went on the swing again, and said with a smile, “Then what will you do in the future?” I hate her so much, if she does something to provoke me, I will find a way to punish her. Will you help her or me when the time comes? “
“Help you.” Lou Xiao gave her the answer without even thinking about it, and then lowered his head and said, “Her mother’s request, I can make up for her with supplies.” In fact, I bought the Zhao family’s house and prepared a position for her. I think her mother wants such a stable life. “
Huo Wei almost laughed. She was sure that Zhao Sijia’s mother definitely didn’t mean that. What kind of a stable life? Compared with money, what is stability?
But this matter obviously held a certain weight in Lou Xiao’s heart. She had no basis and didn’t speak insensitively, but took a different approach of saying, “When you met Zhao Sijia, she was already at Huo’s house and lived a very good life. Do you still need to make up for her and take care of her like this? “
“She said she was living under someone’s roof.” Lou Xiao touched his nose embarrassedly after saying this, “Sorry, I was very busy when she said this, so I didn’t let anyone investigate, and thought she was really living under someone’s roof. “
Huo Wei laughed unceremoniously this time, she stopped the swing and hooked her finger with Lou Xiao’s. After Lou Xiao got closer, she secretly said: “My mother just found out that my dad had given Zhao Sijia a property worth about 100 million, and ordered her a limited edition car. She can use Huo Ming’s secondary card on whatever she wants. Oh, also, she is now an assistant of the chairman. Have you ever seen this kind of person who is living under someone’s roof? She is wealthier than I am. If you have to take care of her, why don’t you take care of me? “
Lou Xiao wasn’t ashamed of the small house and position he had prepared, instead, there was a feeling of relief, he smiled looking at her, “She is living such a good life, I am relieved, then there is no need to send her the things I prepared for her. Charity is more appropriate, presumably the kind-hearted Aunt Zhao will be happy too.”
He said seriously to Huo Wei: “You won’t be angry with me just because I helped her? Can I still paint you in the future?”
Huo Wei thinks this is the halo of the Muse. She is Lou Xiao’s muse and is as important as his company. How could Zhao Sijia, a fake childhood sweetheart compare with her?
She smiled slightly and promised Lou Xiao, “You can paint me whenever you have time. I am not a stingy person.”
She never angered, she only held grudges. Just like tomorrow, she will go to Huo’s headquarters to stir the wind and the rain. Huo Ting Wei and Huo Ming made her mother so unhappy, and she had to make them even more unhappy.
They couldn’t not touch the people that she cared for
