Huo Wei was going to hold a painting exhibition, such a stunt was enough. With Lou Xiao as the host, the invited guests would be from the large business bosses to the second generation of rich families to the painters and then to the media. This covered all the groups he usually contacts, and this was arranged quite well.
Lou Xiao was not considering the return on investment at all. All aspects of the exhibition were arranged by the best professionals. Besides the ten paintings of Hou Wei, Lou Xiao also contributed his own famous paintings and directly enhanced the appreciative value of the exhibition. And invited several well-known contemporary painters to participate in the exhibition with their works.
Therefore, although most people don’t believe in Hou Wei’s skills, they still feel that this exhibition could still be a form of art appreciation and would be joining with expectations. There were many other important figures in the business world, who saw that Lou Xiao was joining, causing the value of the art exhibition to be promoted to the top-level immediately. The invitation letter soon became a rarity!
Hou Wei’s ankle sprain has completely healed, and in the early morning, she was already surrounded by the team of stylists invited by Cui Jing. She was dressed up very elegant, and still did not lose the youthful look of a woman her age.
Many of Cui Jing’s lady friends came as well, and they all praised Huo Wei when they saw her. Before they still pitied Hou Wei, they had thought that they would see a girl who was frustrated or rebellious. They didn’t expect that this time, what they would see before their eyes was a blinding light.
Hou Wei was beautiful, and had a powerful aura, talking sweet, easy to laugh, and seemed very intimate. Such a good daughter, is there anyone who does not want her? Especially Huo Wei and Cui Jing hand in hand, that warm spirit really would cause the eyes of a group of moms to feel warm!
Those that had daughters in their families felt that their daughters couldn’t even compare, and those with sons in the families regretted that they didn’t give birth to someone this warm. There were even others that raised their own thoughts about joining families with the Huo’s, asking Cui Jing about Huo Wei’s plans after graduation and asked whether she had a boyfriend.
Hou Wei was in a bad situation and hurried away. Then Lou Xiao took her to meet several directors of Yun Xiao Group. They already knew that Hou Wei would become the director of the R&D department of the company, and knew her ability. When facing Hou Wei, his attitude was very kind, so that the other people who didn’t know the situation were very confused.
Especially the rich second and third generations who played with Hou Wei, they couldn’t even talk to Hou Wei at this time, and they couldn’t help wondering as they looked at each other. Was Hou Wei really just painting? How can she be talking so much with the directors of the Yun Xiao group? What were they talking about?
They felt like after not seeing Huo Wei for a while, and then suddenly, Huo Wei seemed to be getting farther and farther away from them.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition has almost become an “exchange meeting” among the upper-class in B city. Just because of this, the tycoons, their wives, and the second generation felt that the exhibition was worthy of their visit and have a lot of patience and expectation towards it.
Huo Wei also sent invitation letters to Huo Tingwei and Huo Ming. They came very late. When they entered, the opening ceremony was about to start. With the invitation letter, one can bring companions, but no one knew what Zhao Sijia was thinking when she actually also followed along to the exhibition.
Huo Wei just glanced at them but didn’t go to them to exchange greetings. After that, she and Lou Xiao went on stage together to start the opening ceremony.
The preview of all the paintings in this exhibition were displayed on the large screen. Everyone present knew her recent experience. When listening to her explaining the psychological process during her painting, there were many that turned serious. Everyone had a photobook on hand, which contained not only each painting in the exhibition but also the story behind them.
Huo Tingwei’s mouth was in a straight line, suppressing his anger. Since he entered, Huo Wei didn’t even show her face to him in public. As her father, she didn’t even greet him, which made a lot of colleagues think of him as a joke.
At this time, she explained her psychological process on stage. It seemed that she was talking about the paintings, but in fact, she implied that she was very disappointed with him and Huo Ming. Even if he didn’t look around, he could feel that many people were looking at him.
He wanted to hide his emotion by browsing the album, so as not to be photographed by the media. But when he saw the story of the paintings in the album, his face immediately sank!
Huo Wei’s series of paintings begin with a sunny graduation trip, followed by a dreary and unpleasant journey, followed by the anger of being wronged, the shock of being left behind, the fear of being hurt, the despair of having no way to help, and the joy of being alive.
That paragraph of text printed in the photobook, were as if printed on the face of Huo Tingwei. He was feeling a strong sense of shame. Does Hou Wei not know what she’s doing? Bringing up something that took considerable effort to cover up, and then providing even more details to point the finger at Huo Ming, was it not enough then for outsiders to see them as laughing stocks?
Huo Tingwei was not so ashamed as the main instigator. Huo Ming, the person who left Huo Wei, was even more embarrassed. The feeling of eyes on him made him want to escape for the first time in his life. He looked up at Huo Wei on the stage with anger in his eyes.
Huo Wei feeling unhappy towards him, kicking up a fuss with him, he withstood them all. But Huo Wei should not have stepped on his honor in such an occasion! He was the successor of the Huo family, representing the face of the whole Huo family. Does she not understand what she is doing? Why is Huo Wei always so childish when they are of the same age?!
Huo Wei met his line of sight, slightly raised her eyebrow. Was her genius brother this angry? This was just a warm-up, and he couldn’t stand it already. Then when he enters the exhibition hall, would he become so upset and turn hostile?
As she was thinking about it, Huo Wei couldn’t wait to see him lose his mind.
Huo Wei and Lou Xiao looked at each other and jointly invited the guests to enter the exhibition hall. It was not Huo Wei’s paintings that came to their eyes first, but the paintings of several other painters. Everyone scattered, according to the index on the photobook to look for the paintings they were interested in, while some others leisurely walked around, looking at each one by one.
Zhao Sijia lowered her head and walked into the exhibition hall next to Huo Ming. She hadn’t even walked that far when suddenly, she heard several very low voices talking about her——
“That’s her?”
“Yes, that’s Zhao Sijia. I didn’t expect her to come.”
“She came with Huo Tingwei and Huo Ming. Huh.”
Zhao Sijia recognized the irony contained in their smiles, lowered her head, squeezed her handbag hard, and quickened her pace away from them.
She can’t help but think of those days of online abuse and paled. It was over. She thought that it was over. Why was Huo Wei mentioning it again? In this way too!
From now on, she and the people in this circle can no longer get along well, they will despise her, will ridicule her. She regretted coming.
Zhao Sijia raised her head and looked around, but she couldn’t find Lou Xiao. Her heart felt blocked.
Lou Xiao held an exhibition for Huo Wei, which was so large and high-end. She once asked Lou Xiao to show her the famous paintings collected at home, but Lou Xiao refused without even thinking about it. Now, for Huo Wei’s sake, he put all his famous paintings on display!
What was Lou Xiao thinking? Wasn’t she the one he treated best? There used to be no woman around him, even his assistant was male, only she was special, why was he treating Huo Wei better than her now? Yu Hai lied to her, saying that Lou Xiao and Huo Wei had become friends because of painting. She couldn’t believe it! Huo Wei’s paintings were far worse than hers and Lou Xiao never appreciated her paintings. And yet he took fancy to Huo Wei’s paintings?
Zhao Sijia’s face was so glum that even Huo Ming, who was angry, could see it. Huo Ming asked in a low voice, “What’s the matter? Are you uncomfortable? “
Zhao Sijia shook her head and looked around again. She still can’t find Lou Xiao, but she accidentally met the gazes of those mocking her. She quickly lowered her head, bit her lip, and said in a low voice, “Huo Ming, I’m a little uncomfortable. I will leave to go first.”
“Then I’ll ask the driver to see you off.” Huo Ming still has to settle with Huo Wei. He doesn’t want to leave at the moment. However, hearing this, Zhao Sijia couldn’t help but feel disappointed, and suddenly wondered if Huo Ming really liked her? What’s this the attitude to show to your sweetheart?
She was just about to nod and leave when she heard the noise ahead. It was not noisy but just that the second generation of the rich were talking. With more people talking, naturally the place sounds noisy. That corner of the exhibition hall, looking at the index of the photobook, it’s exactly where Huo Wei was displaying her paintings. She saw a girl covering her eyes!
Zhao Sijia’s eyes flashed with emotion, there must be something wrong with Huo Wei’s painting. How could she miss such a rare chance to see Huo Wei’s as the joke? Maybe she can find a chance to turn over on her current situation and let those people clear their impression of her.
She immediately pulled on Huo Ming’s sleeve and said, “There seems to be something wrong over there. Let’s go and have a look. After all, this is Huo Wei’s first painting exhibition. We can’t make any mistakes. “
“You are always so sensible.” Huo Ming said, and took her to the other side.
It was not only them who saw the unusual situation, but other people who participated in the exhibition also noticed. However, they thought it was just a group of children making a fuss and had no sense to control themselves. Although they were not happy with the noise of the exhibition, they were not in a hurry to get to that corner.
As soon as Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia got close, they heard that they were being scolded at.
“Huo Ming is such a bastard. Was he crazy, leaving you behind?”
“That Zhao Sijia, pushing aside the branch, not even showing the person behind her some attention, she must have done it intentionally!”
Huo Ming looked at Huo Wei and saw that her good friend was hugging her and crying, “Huo Wei! Hou Wei! It was so fortunate that you came back alive! My God, I could never have imagined how desperate you were if I never saw these paintings! When you came back, you were laughing while video calling us so I always thought what the media were what you deliberately asked them to. I thought you were OK and I didn’t go to see you! Fortunately, you are well, and you will be well in the future… “
There was a girl standing next to Zhao Sijia. When she saw her raise her hand, she gave her a push. Then she grabbed her and dragged her to the wall to see a picture. “Do you have a conscience? Why don’t you make it clear to me, what were you thinking then? Hou Wei’s right behind you, next to you, and you hit her with a branch??? Then you come around and say that you are innocent. I have never seen someone as shameless as you!”
Huo Ming subconsciously stepped forward and pushed the girl’s arm away to protect Zhao Sijia. As a result, his action was like a drop of water into an oil pan, an instant explosion!
“Huo Ming, what are you doing? Why are you involving yourself in girls’ talk?” A boy who was one of Huo Wei’s best friends pulled Huo Ming away, pointed to the painting on the wall, and said, “Since you’re here, why don’t you tell us what you think? So, for the sake of this manipulative gold digger, you are willing to kill Wei Wei?”
“Huo Ming, were you thinking straight? I always knew that you were like this, but I didn’t think you’ve totally lost your mind! What’s wrong with you, why are you being so hard on Hou Wei? If you don’t want a sister like that, give her to use, we want to be her brother!”
“We’d like to be her sister too. Huo Ming, you are so cruel! Come and have a look. Look at Wei Wei’s paintings. I feel bad as an outsider. She was so desperate at that time. Can’t you feel it? Aren’t you twins?” One of Huo Wei’s best friends pushed Huo Ming to look at the paintings on the wall. When she shouted at him, her voice became even louder.
Huo Ming could clearly see the painting on the wall and was stunned in place.
Huo Wei’s first painting was a mountain full of flowers and plants. The sun was warm. It made people feel relaxed when they look at it. It was like the sun was shining on them and they can’t help but feel like laughing.
But in the second picture, the color of the painting became darker. He remembered that it was cloudy and, on the mountain, the winds were strong. He and Zhao Sijia were dissatisfied with Huo Wei’s decision to climb the mountain. They were not interested at the time, and there were no smiles on their faces. Zhao Sijia also said that she had chosen to go fishing on the island, but unfortunately, she had no time to go.
At that time, Huo Wei didn’t say anything. Was her mood really so dull?
Huo Ming never understood paintings. But now, he doesn’t know why he can feel Huo Wei’s depressing mood from this painting. He only knew that these paintings were the world seen through Huo Wei’s eyes, the scenes that she and her genuine feelings at that time.
The third painting showed that they were very tired after climbing to the top. They were even more tired when they were going down the mountain. They didn’t even want to say anything. This painting clearly depicts the vast sky after the summit, and yet it felt suppressive as if the presence of suppressed anger as well as constrained disappointment.
He remembered that Huo Wei had not said a word since she reached the summit. He occasionally looked back at her, but she had her head lowered.
The fourth, the fifth, the sixth paintings… were more and more depressing. They were filled with suffering, sadness, disappointment, and many bad emotions. Even Huo Ming felt uncomfortable when he saw them.
In the last few paintings, there was one of Zhao Sijia’s silhouette pushing a branch in the rainforest. Her back was very big, showing a view of the parts above her shoulders, almost occupying the whole canvas. That’s because Huo Wei was so close to her that she can see the back of her head when she looked up.
And Zhao Sijia’s hand that was playing with the branch was particularly highlighted, the color of the branch was accentuated, inexplicably making people want to dodge immediately! Because standing in front of this painting, you would feel that in front of you was Zhao Sijia pushing away the branch, and that branch — will be coming at you in the next second!
With the direction and degree of the bending of the branch, you can see how painful it will be when it hits you. If it hits your eyes, you may turn blind!
Huo Ming remembered that when he heard the sound, he turned back from the corner, he saw the two of them standing in this place. Then Huo Wei angrily pushed Zhao Sijia down. He then angrily asked Huo Wei to apologize.
What does this painting mean? Was Huo Wei saying that Zhao Sijia deliberately whipped her with the branch and made her fall? Did she push Zhao Sijia because she was angry?
Instinctively, in disbelief, he frowned, “That’s impossible!”
Zhao Sijia who had finally recovered her voice, said calmly, “This painting is fake. I never touched a branch at all.”
Zhao Sijia was already hated to death by Huo Wei’s best friends. Hearing this, one of them stared at her and asked, “Then how did Huo Wei fall and concussed herself? Did she cause herself to fall? Who are you, Zhao Sijia, that you can imply that Huo Wei wrongly accused you? If I remember correctly, Hou Wei doesn’t even recognize you, does she? If she doesn’t recognize you, why would she care about Zhao Sijia? “
The boy next to her also said: “Huo Ming, acting stupid once can be treated as a joke, but acting stupid for your lifetime is just disgusting.”
As Huo Ming stared at the painting, countless questions emerged in his mind. Did Zhao Sijia really do that? If not, how could Huo Wei be injured so seriously? If Zhao Sijia did do it, it would not have been an accident, because there’s no need to hide if it was an accident, and Zhao Sijia had just denied it.
Huo Ming looked at Zhao Sijia, who spoke up: “What are you doing? Do you really believe her?”
“Nonsense! Huo Ming doesn’t believe his own sister. Will he believe you? So, you want to ac as the sweet innocent little flower? Seriously…I really want to throw up!” Huo Wei’s best friend just swore and turned away from her.
Huo Ming looked at Zhao Sijia, but then saw the last painting behind her, which was of Huo Wei walking alone in the mountains after he left. Only this one was not the world through her eyes, but a forest that was drawn with a thin figure having both its hands holding onto the branches, seemingly having trouble walking.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]
The fragile figure that looked like it would fall at any time was Huo Wei. The whole painting was full of despair and sadness as if she was trapped in the woods and would never reach the end. That kind of despair, despair caused by an extremely strong feeling of fear, helplessness, and disappointment. Huo Ming’s heartstrings were pulled as he looked at it.
He suddenly understood why Huo Wei’s best friend was crying and Huo Wei’s friends were angry. They understood the paintings and realized Huo Wei’s feelings at that time. How could they not be angry? How could not be distressed? How could they not be afraid?
If something went wrong that day, maybe Hou Wei really wouldn’t have been able to come back.
Huo Ming had never thought about this before. When he saw Huo Wei in the hospital, Huo Wei was fine and had the strength to argue with him. He felt that Huo Wei was exaggerating when she said that she almost died out there, just like she used to make a fuss many times before, saying that she had been wronged, and in reality, she was fine, right?
But now seeing this painting with his own eyes and the emotion that Huo Wei expressed through the painting, he can no longer deceive himself. He really did hurt Huo Wei. He had hurt her so much that Huo Wei no longer recognized him as her brother, and still, he did not care about her and tried to make himself as the good guy, and so, she refused to even go home.
The last painting was also full of depression, but there was a glimmer of hope behind it, because Huo Wei fortunately found a little bit of dry wood, lit a small fire, and made black smoke for help.
The black smoke was clearly the thickest color in all the paintings, but it meant hope, only a glimmer of hope.
Because of the thick black smoke, even the fire seems bright, as if with the hot temperature, people can finally feel a little warm.
Hou Wei was finally saved. She’s even fine now. But was she really OK? All her wounds were healed, but what about her heart? She was left behind by her brother. After all this, can she still be as happy as before?
She can’t.
All her friends around her knew that Hou Wei has changed. She became steady and mature and seemed not to be in the same world as them. They joked that Huo Wei was kept in her home for too long, and she was just bored and also complained that Huo Wei kept spending time chatting with the old managers and directors. Now, for anyone that has seen these paintings, who can say that she was just as ungrateful as before?
They were all born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and each of them has some form of dignity and etiquette. How could they have been so impolite at the exhibition if they hadn’t felt such deep emotions after seeing these paintings?
However, Huo Wei’s paintings were so infectious that it’s easy to feel sad as compared to watching TV or reading novels. Facing Huo Wei’s paintings so directly, their impact pierces their hearts and made them all flustered. It was not worth it for Huo Wei. Seeing Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia, they just want to beat them up!
They stared at Zhao Sijia with hate in their eyes, and her heart was beating very fast. She was afraid and felt that her well-hidden ugly side had been exposed in public. She didn’t think the consequences would be so serious at that time. She just hated Huo Wei’s involvement in Huo Ming’s graduation trip. She hated Huo Wei’s insistence on mountain climbing, which ruined her travel plans, and hated Huo Wei for delaying her long-prepared confession.
She just wanted Huo Wei to suffer a small loss. She was embarrassed. She didn’t expect Huo Wei to fall to the ground. Fearing that Huo Ming would see something, she immediately pulled Huo Wei up. As a result, Huo Wei gave her a push and injured her hand slightly.
At that time, she saw that Huo Wei had fallen over and twisted her foot, but she really didn’t know it was so serious. Huo Ming left Huo Wei and she just followed along, wanting to go for a candlelight dinner with Huo Ming. Both of them in their own world.
But she can’t say anything now. She should have said that it was an accident then. Now, she would be regarded as a cunning fox. So, she had to deny that the painting was fake. But her expression was so distraught, and in her heart is, she felt so flustered. She was thinking that these things have developed uncontrollably, and the development was absolutely against her favor!
The small disturbance on their side was turning into loud and noisy commotion, and it seemed to be getting worse, even someone has started to cry. Cui Jing couldn’t stand it anymore and hurried over. She had wanted to let her daughter herself deal with the issues in the exhibition, but this seemed to be a bad situation.
The ladies who were with her as they were browsing naturally followed her. When they asked about what happened, the group of children allowed them to pass and only asked them to see the paintings.
Cui Jing has never seen these paintings before. She has only seen the last one with the forest fire. She almost cried then when she saw the painting with the forest fire. Now that she has seen the ten paintings, it was as if she had gone through that day again with Hou Wei. Suddenly, Cui Jing’s world turned dark and she fainted, her body weakly falling aside!
“Mom!” Hou Wei was shocked and hurriedly helped her up, and Huo Ming also quickly came to support Cui Jing.
Cui Jing was stunned for more than ten seconds before slowly rising up again. She opened her eyes, she saw Huo Ming and then suddenly gave him a slap!
“You bastard!”
Huo Ming, who was defending his face, rose back up with Cui Jing, who followed him closely and stood up, and raised her hand again!
“Huo Ming! You bastard!”
Cui Jing has attracted the attention of many people with two slaps and two yells of the word “bastard”. This time, no one was waiting for them to be quiet again. This was a big event. Even the big corporate bosses stopped smiling as they came over.
Huo Tingwei, with his face calm, walked quickly to get near to them. Cui Jing said angrily when he saw him: “You’ve always said I never taught my daughter well. Come on! Look at yourself, look at the good son you yourself taught! Look at this ungrateful bastard that you have to take care of! “
Cui Jing pointed to the paintings and angrily said, “When our daughter came back, have you ever asked her about her injury? You have only blamed her for being careless. Which part of her is immature? Even if she hated Zhao Sijia again, has she ever done anything bad to Zhao Sijia? At most, she only wanted Zhao Sijia to move out. What’s wrong with wanting Zhao Sijia, a 20-year-old adult, to move out?
Take a look at Zhao Sijia. Who is she anyway? Wei Wei said that she was the one who caused her to fall. And yet you don’t believe it. Look at this, do you see how Zhao Sijia had hurt her? For this ungrateful bastard, you chose to teach your daughter a lesson? You forbade our daughter from entering the company and then froze her cards, have you gone crazy? Huo Tingwei, have you gone insane?”
The exhibition has already been suspended, but no one felt offended. They were all shocked by the sudden truth.
Huo Wei was injured by Zhao Sijia. This was just a little too much. Cui Jing said that Huo Tingwei had not allowed Huo Tingwei to enter the company and froze Huo Wei’s card. They looked at Huo Tingwei with doubts and guessed that Zhao Sijia must be Huo Tingwei’s bastard daughter, right?
Zhao Sijia hid behind Huo Ming with her head down. She was still shivering. She was afraid, of course she was. She had never been to this kind of occasion before, and all the people present were superior and unattainable to her. Now they all despise her and dislike her. She felt that this kind of humiliation was more serious than the last time when she was scolded by the whole Internet. It was so serious that her whole body felt numb, her head was buzzing, and she was not able to think at all.
She opened her mouth to defend herself, but she couldn’t make a sound.
Huo Tingwei saw that the paintings and was also greatly impacted, but he was more rational. No matter how hurt his daughter was, Huo Ming was still Huo’s successor. In the future, he would have been in charge of Huo Company and have dealings with the guests here, so he must not have any moral problems.
So, at this moment, he was annoyed with Huo Wei. What can’t she say this at home? Didn’t he already ask Huo Ming to apologize to her? He also asked Zhao Sijia to move out of Huo’s Family house. He even transferred Zhao Sijia to another position as asked. All of them were compensation for Huo Wei.
Huo Wei had insulted him in public in the company before. So he didn’t believe that Huo Wei was as fragile and desperate as shown in the painting. Now that Huo Wei has brought this incident up again, she must have felt dissatisfied that he would not let her enter the company. It must be because she wanted to go head-to-head with Huo Ming and fight for the right of succession.
Huo Tingwei gave Huo Wei a pointed look and said coldly to Huo Ming, “Apologize to your sister!”
Huo Ming lowered his head and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”.
It was very quiet around. Huo Ming’s apology was the only voice in the whole exhibition hall. When he heard his own voice, he suddenly felt ashamed. The impulse of wanting to seize the door and escape came again, and the tie around his collar seemed as if a rope was choking him, strangling him out of breath.
He has always been the pride of the Huo Family. When has he ever been embarrassed in the eyes of the public like this?
Many of the people here were important figures in the business sector. Once upon a time, he was their favorite youngster. After today, will they shake their heads and be disappointed when he is mentioned? At the thought of this, Huo Ming couldn’t accept it, and his hands clung unconsciously to his side.
Huo Wei took Cui Jing’s hand and said with a smile, “I’m sorry, this was supposed to be a good exhibition. I didn’t expect it to be so noisy. However, since this was mentioned, I would like to make a statement. Yes, Huo Ming has already apologized. There is no need to discuss whether he was sincere or not and there is no need for any future apologies.
As I said, I no longer have a brother, and I will never change my mind. Huo Ming, this stupid sister who used to like to stick close to you has disappeared. You don’t have to feel annoyed anymore. Also, for those who used to envy that Huo Ming and I were twins, there is no need to feel envious anymore. Not all twins are close to each other.”
She looked at Lou Xiao standing next to her and said with a smile, “I’m really sorry today. There is a restroom upstairs. If you are tired, you may as well go upstairs and have a rest. Please stay and enjoy the banquet later. Chairman Lou and I have another important news to announce. Maybe all of you will be very surprised with that.”
Lou Xiao took over her words and took some business tycoons to admire his famous paintings. People also followed her words and dispersed slowly, leaving space for the Huo Family and Zhao Sijia that were in conflict.
Several of Huo Tingwei’s partners took a look at him when they left. Huo Tingwei apologized to them about the noise and said that his daughter had always been a troublemaker since she was a child. Recently, she had trouble with her family and tried to make fun of them.
In the same moment, they politely praised Huo Wei, saying that the little girl was delicate, and it was normal for her to get angry after such an accident.
Who would have thought that Huo Wei would have such an experience that day? If Huo Wei was their own daughter, they would have broken Huo Ming’s legs!
Huo Tingwei also asked Huo Ming to apologize and pointed out that they were brother and sister, and it was a family affair. It was obvious that his son made a one-off mistake, and he will teach him well. But those paintings were too uncomfortable to look at, and yet Huo Tingwei only gave reprimanded Huo Ming softly, which made him as if he did not care for Huo Wei at all.
It suddenly occurred to several people that they had heard that Huo Tingwei preferred boys over girls. This was a private matter, and it was no big deal, but it’s a bit much to look down on girls to such a degree. Has Huo Tingwei gone senile for not properly handling such a family matter?
The media took pictures from all angles, including the slap mark on Huo Ming’s face and the shivering Zhao Sijia. There were also those paintings, which have been photographed one by one. There was no one in the video, only the paintings on the wall, which are much more vivid than the printed photobook. Although it was the same feeling as one gets from looking at the painting from a close distance, it can at least convey 80% of the emotions of the paintings.
The staff didn’t respond to the media’s actions. They were all told by Yu Hai in advance that they would stop the media from taking pictures. But the Huo family and Zhao Sijia wanted those pictures to be taken.
When the media saw this, they immediately understood. This was Lou Xiao giving his consent to report on the Huo family! Thinking of Huo Wei’s announcement that she and Lou Xiao were going to announce something important, many people were thinking that Lou Xiao was the one who organized the exhibition for Huo Wei, they were both good-looking and well-matched, were they a couple? If Lou Xiao was allowing them to publish news about the Huo family, it must be because he wanted to help Huo Wei!
Huo Tingwei’s face turned blue. He couldn’t catch up with the media himself. He could only calm down and ask his family to come aside against a wall and asked in a low voice, “What are you doing? You said you wanted to enter the company, did you realize that this incident that you caused today will only harm your brother? “
Huo Wei lowered her head and arranged her skirt. She said faintly, “If you stopped me just to say this, then please excuse me.”
“Huo Wei!” Huo Tingwei looked at her coldly, not trying to reprimand her, but calmly said, “You said that you want to enter the company, right? Then go to work tomorrow. Don’t talk nonsense anymore.”
Cui Jing wanted to scold him, but Huo Wei stopped her. Huo Wei looked at Huo Tingwei and shook her head. “Sorry, I’m not interested in your company. I said that day, if you wouldn’t let me into the company then, then I won’t ask for that anymore and won’t thinking of joining either in the future.”
Huo Ming raised his head and couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you want to do this exhibition? Was it to fight with me for the right to the inheritance?”
Cui Jing frowned at him, her eyes were full of anger, she couldn’t believe that at this time, her son did not even care about her daughter, but still complained about how her daughter wanted to organize a painting exhibition.
Hou Wei was calmer, and she returned casually, “You are thinking too much. Weren’t my cards all frozen? I don’t even have shares in the company, so I am unlike you two and don’t have any dividends to spend. Then the only way I earn money quickly is through my paintings. Just as it happens, these are the best I have ever painted, so I took them and wanted to hold an exhibition. “
She looked at her paintings, and her eyes were heavy. “I used all my emotions to draw these paintings, and they are dedicated to the old Hou Wei. Every scene and every feeling here is true. If you have not done something wrong, why are you forcing me to cover it all up?
Huo Ming, when my cards were cut, you didn’t even say anything. Do you think I should be taught a lesson too? So, you see, you two tried to punish me so naturally, so why are the two of you finding the thought of losing face hard to swallow?”
Hou Wei looked at Zhao Sijia again, smiled, “Take a look at this, I am so curious, which part of her do you guys find precious? Is it because the two of you like this delicate, pitiful, innocent little white flower who is actually just pretending to be strong? I can find plenty of people like her. “
Zhao Sijia’s face was blue and white, and for the first time she dared not look up at Hou Wei. She was afraid.
Huo Wei turned to Cui Jing and said, “Mom, don’t look at these things. It’s all in the past. Look at me, I’m not sad at all. I’ll take you to Lou Ciao’s collection of famous paintings, there are especially good.”
Huo Tingwei watched the back of the mother and daughter duo who were walking far away, and a dull feeling in his heart, but he could not do anything. He just said, “The two of you go back first.”
He is the Huo Family leader, he cannot leave yet. He also had to talk to several partners to try to downplay the matter.
Huo Tingwei took deep strides and walked away, and only Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia were left in this corner. Zhao Sijia tightly grasps Huo Ming’s clothes, wanting to leave, but found out that couldn’t move her legs. She was so hit so hard by what happened that her legs became numb.
Huo Ming took a deep breath, not wanting to cause further complications, held her wrist and took her out of the hall, whispered: “Let’s go, I will send you back.”
He was also confused with Zhao Sijia now. He felt that what happened with the branch in the painting was true but he was also unwilling to believe that Zhao Sijia was capable of such a thing. But what he didn’t know was that in his heart, he already believed it to be really true. Zhao Sijia’s heart was beating as if she was going to have a heart attack. There were too many things to fear and she was so scared that she didn’t know what she was actually scared of the most.
The two quickly left the exhibition hall to pick up their car. After Zhao Sijia entered the car, she finally felt like she had space to breathe. Her emotions collapsed, she finally broke down and cried and cried.
Huo Ming looked at her and turned to the window. The driver drove the car, and soon they were very far away from the exhibition hall, but he still felt as if the shame he felt in the hall still followed along with him, as if they were inseparable. He pulled off his tie and still he felt breathless.
He suddenly felt that his sister really was gone, and as Hou Wei said, the ten paintings – were used for the memorial service of their dead relationship.
Huo Wei was going to hold a painting exhibition, such a stunt was enough. With Lou Xiao as the host, the invited guests would be from the large business bosses to the second generation of rich families to the painters and then to the media. This covered all the groups he usually contacts, and this was arranged quite well.
Lou Xiao was not considering the return on investment at all. All aspects of the exhibition were arranged by the best professionals. Besides the ten paintings of Hou Wei, Lou Xiao also contributed his own famous paintings and directly enhanced the appreciative value of the exhibition. And invited several well-known contemporary painters to participate in the exhibition with their works.
Therefore, although most people don’t believe in Hou Wei’s skills, they still feel that this exhibition could still be a form of art appreciation and would be joining with expectations. There were many other important figures in the business world, who saw that Lou Xiao was joining, causing the value of the art exhibition to be promoted to the top-level immediately. The invitation letter soon became a rarity!
Hou Wei’s ankle sprain has completely healed, and in the early morning, she was already surrounded by the team of stylists invited by Cui Jing. She was dressed up very elegant, and still did not lose the youthful look of a woman her age.
Many of Cui Jing’s lady friends came as well, and they all praised Huo Wei when they saw her. Before they still pitied Hou Wei, they had thought that they would see a girl who was frustrated or rebellious. They didn’t expect that this time, what they would see before their eyes was a blinding light.
Hou Wei was beautiful, and had a powerful aura, talking sweet, easy to laugh, and seemed very intimate. Such a good daughter, is there anyone who does not want her? Especially Huo Wei and Cui Jing hand in hand, that warm spirit really would cause the eyes of a group of moms to feel warm!
Those that had daughters in their families felt that their daughters couldn’t even compare, and those with sons in the families regretted that they didn’t give birth to someone this warm. There were even others that raised their own thoughts about joining families with the Huo’s, asking Cui Jing about Huo Wei’s plans after graduation and asked whether she had a boyfriend.
Hou Wei was in a bad situation and hurried away. Then Lou Xiao took her to meet several directors of Yun Xiao Group. They already knew that Hou Wei would become the director of the R&D department of the company, and knew her ability. When facing Hou Wei, his attitude was very kind, so that the other people who didn’t know the situation were very confused.
Especially the rich second and third generations who played with Hou Wei, they couldn’t even talk to Hou Wei at this time, and they couldn’t help wondering as they looked at each other. Was Hou Wei really just painting? How can she be talking so much with the directors of the Yun Xiao group? What were they talking about?
They felt like after not seeing Huo Wei for a while, and then suddenly, Huo Wei seemed to be getting farther and farther away from them.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition has almost become an “exchange meeting” among the upper-class in B city. Just because of this, the tycoons, their wives, and the second generation felt that the exhibition was worthy of their visit and have a lot of patience and expectation towards it.
Huo Wei also sent invitation letters to Huo Tingwei and Huo Ming. They came very late. When they entered, the opening ceremony was about to start. With the invitation letter, one can bring companions, but no one knew what Zhao Sijia was thinking when she actually also followed along to the exhibition.
Huo Wei just glanced at them but didn’t go to them to exchange greetings. After that, she and Lou Xiao went on stage together to start the opening ceremony.
The preview of all the paintings in this exhibition were displayed on the large screen. Everyone present knew her recent experience. When listening to her explaining the psychological process during her painting, there were many that turned serious. Everyone had a photobook on hand, which contained not only each painting in the exhibition but also the story behind them.
Huo Tingwei’s mouth was in a straight line, suppressing his anger. Since he entered, Huo Wei didn’t even show her face to him in public. As her father, she didn’t even greet him, which made a lot of colleagues think of him as a joke.
At this time, she explained her psychological process on stage. It seemed that she was talking about the paintings, but in fact, she implied that she was very disappointed with him and Huo Ming. Even if he didn’t look around, he could feel that many people were looking at him.
He wanted to hide his emotion by browsing the album, so as not to be photographed by the media. But when he saw the story of the paintings in the album, his face immediately sank!
Huo Wei’s series of paintings begin with a sunny graduation trip, followed by a dreary and unpleasant journey, followed by the anger of being wronged, the shock of being left behind, the fear of being hurt, the despair of having no way to help, and the joy of being alive.
That paragraph of text printed in the photobook, were as if printed on the face of Huo Tingwei. He was feeling a strong sense of shame. Does Hou Wei not know what she’s doing? Bringing up something that took considerable effort to cover up, and then providing even more details to point the finger at Huo Ming, was it not enough then for outsiders to see them as laughing stocks?
Huo Tingwei was not so ashamed as the main instigator. Huo Ming, the person who left Huo Wei, was even more embarrassed. The feeling of eyes on him made him want to escape for the first time in his life. He looked up at Huo Wei on the stage with anger in his eyes.
Huo Wei feeling unhappy towards him, kicking up a fuss with him, he withstood them all. But Huo Wei should not have stepped on his honor in such an occasion! He was the successor of the Huo family, representing the face of the whole Huo family. Does she not understand what she is doing? Why is Huo Wei always so childish when they are of the same age?!
Huo Wei met his line of sight, slightly raised her eyebrow. Was her genius brother this angry? This was just a warm-up, and he couldn’t stand it already. Then when he enters the exhibition hall, would he become so upset and turn hostile?
As she was thinking about it, Huo Wei couldn’t wait to see him lose his mind.
Huo Wei and Lou Xiao looked at each other and jointly invited the guests to enter the exhibition hall. It was not Huo Wei’s paintings that came to their eyes first, but the paintings of several other painters. Everyone scattered, according to the index on the photobook to look for the paintings they were interested in, while some others leisurely walked around, looking at each one by one.
Zhao Sijia lowered her head and walked into the exhibition hall next to Huo Ming. She hadn’t even walked that far when suddenly, she heard several very low voices talking about her——
“That’s her?”
“Yes, that’s Zhao Sijia. I didn’t expect her to come.”
“She came with Huo Tingwei and Huo Ming. Huh.”
Zhao Sijia recognized the irony contained in their smiles, lowered her head, squeezed her handbag hard, and quickened her pace away from them.
She can’t help but think of those days of online abuse and paled. It was over. She thought that it was over. Why was Huo Wei mentioning it again? In this way too!
From now on, she and the people in this circle can no longer get along well, they will despise her, will ridicule her. She regretted coming.
Zhao Sijia raised her head and looked around, but she couldn’t find Lou Xiao. Her heart felt blocked.
Lou Xiao held an exhibition for Huo Wei, which was so large and high-end. She once asked Lou Xiao to show her the famous paintings collected at home, but Lou Xiao refused without even thinking about it. Now, for Huo Wei’s sake, he put all his famous paintings on display!
What was Lou Xiao thinking? Wasn’t she the one he treated best? There used to be no woman around him, even his assistant was male, only she was special, why was he treating Huo Wei better than her now? Yu Hai lied to her, saying that Lou Xiao and Huo Wei had become friends because of painting. She couldn’t believe it! Huo Wei’s paintings were far worse than hers and Lou Xiao never appreciated her paintings. And yet he took fancy to Huo Wei’s paintings?
Zhao Sijia’s face was so glum that even Huo Ming, who was angry, could see it. Huo Ming asked in a low voice, “What’s the matter? Are you uncomfortable? “
Zhao Sijia shook her head and looked around again. She still can’t find Lou Xiao, but she accidentally met the gazes of those mocking her. She quickly lowered her head, bit her lip, and said in a low voice, “Huo Ming, I’m a little uncomfortable. I will leave to go first.”
“Then I’ll ask the driver to see you off.” Huo Ming still has to settle with Huo Wei. He doesn’t want to leave at the moment. However, hearing this, Zhao Sijia couldn’t help but feel disappointed, and suddenly wondered if Huo Ming really liked her? What’s this the attitude to show to your sweetheart?
She was just about to nod and leave when she heard the noise ahead. It was not noisy but just that the second generation of the rich were talking. With more people talking, naturally the place sounds noisy. That corner of the exhibition hall, looking at the index of the photobook, it’s exactly where Huo Wei was displaying her paintings. She saw a girl covering her eyes!
Zhao Sijia’s eyes flashed with emotion, there must be something wrong with Huo Wei’s painting. How could she miss such a rare chance to see Huo Wei’s as the joke? Maybe she can find a chance to turn over on her current situation and let those people clear their impression of her.
She immediately pulled on Huo Ming’s sleeve and said, “There seems to be something wrong over there. Let’s go and have a look. After all, this is Huo Wei’s first painting exhibition. We can’t make any mistakes. “
“You are always so sensible.” Huo Ming said, and took her to the other side.
It was not only them who saw the unusual situation, but other people who participated in the exhibition also noticed. However, they thought it was just a group of children making a fuss and had no sense to control themselves. Although they were not happy with the noise of the exhibition, they were not in a hurry to get to that corner.
As soon as Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia got close, they heard that they were being scolded at.
“Huo Ming is such a bastard. Was he crazy, leaving you behind?”
“That Zhao Sijia, pushing aside the branch, not even showing the person behind her some attention, she must have done it intentionally!”
Huo Ming looked at Huo Wei and saw that her good friend was hugging her and crying, “Huo Wei! Hou Wei! It was so fortunate that you came back alive! My God, I could never have imagined how desperate you were if I never saw these paintings! When you came back, you were laughing while video calling us so I always thought what the media were what you deliberately asked them to. I thought you were OK and I didn’t go to see you! Fortunately, you are well, and you will be well in the future… “
There was a girl standing next to Zhao Sijia. When she saw her raise her hand, she gave her a push. Then she grabbed her and dragged her to the wall to see a picture. “Do you have a conscience? Why don’t you make it clear to me, what were you thinking then? Hou Wei’s right behind you, next to you, and you hit her with a branch??? Then you come around and say that you are innocent. I have never seen someone as shameless as you!”
Huo Ming subconsciously stepped forward and pushed the girl’s arm away to protect Zhao Sijia. As a result, his action was like a drop of water into an oil pan, an instant explosion!
“Huo Ming, what are you doing? Why are you involving yourself in girls’ talk?” A boy who was one of Huo Wei’s best friends pulled Huo Ming away, pointed to the painting on the wall, and said, “Since you’re here, why don’t you tell us what you think? So, for the sake of this manipulative gold digger, you are willing to kill Wei Wei?”
“Huo Ming, were you thinking straight? I always knew that you were like this, but I didn’t think you’ve totally lost your mind! What’s wrong with you, why are you being so hard on Hou Wei? If you don’t want a sister like that, give her to use, we want to be her brother!”
“We’d like to be her sister too. Huo Ming, you are so cruel! Come and have a look. Look at Wei Wei’s paintings. I feel bad as an outsider. She was so desperate at that time. Can’t you feel it? Aren’t you twins?” One of Huo Wei’s best friends pushed Huo Ming to look at the paintings on the wall. When she shouted at him, her voice became even louder.
Huo Ming could clearly see the painting on the wall and was stunned in place.
Huo Wei’s first painting was a mountain full of flowers and plants. The sun was warm. It made people feel relaxed when they look at it. It was like the sun was shining on them and they can’t help but feel like laughing.
But in the second picture, the color of the painting became darker. He remembered that it was cloudy and, on the mountain, the winds were strong. He and Zhao Sijia were dissatisfied with Huo Wei’s decision to climb the mountain. They were not interested at the time, and there were no smiles on their faces. Zhao Sijia also said that she had chosen to go fishing on the island, but unfortunately, she had no time to go.
At that time, Huo Wei didn’t say anything. Was her mood really so dull?
Huo Ming never understood paintings. But now, he doesn’t know why he can feel Huo Wei’s depressing mood from this painting. He only knew that these paintings were the world seen through Huo Wei’s eyes, the scenes that she and her genuine feelings at that time.
The third painting showed that they were very tired after climbing to the top. They were even more tired when they were going down the mountain. They didn’t even want to say anything. This painting clearly depicts the vast sky after the summit, and yet it felt suppressive as if the presence of suppressed anger as well as constrained disappointment.
He remembered that Huo Wei had not said a word since she reached the summit. He occasionally looked back at her, but she had her head lowered.
The fourth, the fifth, the sixth paintings… were more and more depressing. They were filled with suffering, sadness, disappointment, and many bad emotions. Even Huo Ming felt uncomfortable when he saw them.
In the last few paintings, there was one of Zhao Sijia’s silhouette pushing a branch in the rainforest. Her back was very big, showing a view of the parts above her shoulders, almost occupying the whole canvas. That’s because Huo Wei was so close to her that she can see the back of her head when she looked up.
And Zhao Sijia’s hand that was playing with the branch was particularly highlighted, the color of the branch was accentuated, inexplicably making people want to dodge immediately! Because standing in front of this painting, you would feel that in front of you was Zhao Sijia pushing away the branch, and that branch — will be coming at you in the next second!
With the direction and degree of the bending of the branch, you can see how painful it will be when it hits you. If it hits your eyes, you may turn blind!
Huo Ming remembered that when he heard the sound, he turned back from the corner, he saw the two of them standing in this place. Then Huo Wei angrily pushed Zhao Sijia down. He then angrily asked Huo Wei to apologize.
What does this painting mean? Was Huo Wei saying that Zhao Sijia deliberately whipped her with the branch and made her fall? Did she push Zhao Sijia because she was angry?
Instinctively, in disbelief, he frowned, “That’s impossible!”
Zhao Sijia who had finally recovered her voice, said calmly, “This painting is fake. I never touched a branch at all.”
Zhao Sijia was already hated to death by Huo Wei’s best friends. Hearing this, one of them stared at her and asked, “Then how did Huo Wei fall and concussed herself? Did she cause herself to fall? Who are you, Zhao Sijia, that you can imply that Huo Wei wrongly accused you? If I remember correctly, Hou Wei doesn’t even recognize you, does she? If she doesn’t recognize you, why would she care about Zhao Sijia? “
The boy next to her also said: “Huo Ming, acting stupid once can be treated as a joke, but acting stupid for your lifetime is just disgusting.”
As Huo Ming stared at the painting, countless questions emerged in his mind. Did Zhao Sijia really do that? If not, how could Huo Wei be injured so seriously? If Zhao Sijia did do it, it would not have been an accident, because there’s no need to hide if it was an accident, and Zhao Sijia had just denied it.
Huo Ming looked at Zhao Sijia, who spoke up: “What are you doing? Do you really believe her?”
“Nonsense! Huo Ming doesn’t believe his own sister. Will he believe you? So, you want to ac as the sweet innocent little flower? Seriously…I really want to throw up!” Huo Wei’s best friend just swore and turned away from her.
Huo Ming looked at Zhao Sijia, but then saw the last painting behind her, which was of Huo Wei walking alone in the mountains after he left. Only this one was not the world through her eyes, but a forest that was drawn with a thin figure having both its hands holding onto the branches, seemingly having trouble walking.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]
The fragile figure that looked like it would fall at any time was Huo Wei. The whole painting was full of despair and sadness as if she was trapped in the woods and would never reach the end. That kind of despair, despair caused by an extremely strong feeling of fear, helplessness, and disappointment. Huo Ming’s heartstrings were pulled as he looked at it.
He suddenly understood why Huo Wei’s best friend was crying and Huo Wei’s friends were angry. They understood the paintings and realized Huo Wei’s feelings at that time. How could they not be angry? How could not be distressed? How could they not be afraid?
If something went wrong that day, maybe Hou Wei really wouldn’t have been able to come back.
Huo Ming had never thought about this before. When he saw Huo Wei in the hospital, Huo Wei was fine and had the strength to argue with him. He felt that Huo Wei was exaggerating when she said that she almost died out there, just like she used to make a fuss many times before, saying that she had been wronged, and in reality, she was fine, right?
But now seeing this painting with his own eyes and the emotion that Huo Wei expressed through the painting, he can no longer deceive himself. He really did hurt Huo Wei. He had hurt her so much that Huo Wei no longer recognized him as her brother, and still, he did not care about her and tried to make himself as the good guy, and so, she refused to even go home.
The last painting was also full of depression, but there was a glimmer of hope behind it, because Huo Wei fortunately found a little bit of dry wood, lit a small fire, and made black smoke for help.
The black smoke was clearly the thickest color in all the paintings, but it meant hope, only a glimmer of hope.
Because of the thick black smoke, even the fire seems bright, as if with the hot temperature, people can finally feel a little warm.
Hou Wei was finally saved. She’s even fine now. But was she really OK? All her wounds were healed, but what about her heart? She was left behind by her brother. After all this, can she still be as happy as before?
She can’t.
All her friends around her knew that Hou Wei has changed. She became steady and mature and seemed not to be in the same world as them. They joked that Huo Wei was kept in her home for too long, and she was just bored and also complained that Huo Wei kept spending time chatting with the old managers and directors. Now, for anyone that has seen these paintings, who can say that she was just as ungrateful as before?
They were all born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and each of them has some form of dignity and etiquette. How could they have been so impolite at the exhibition if they hadn’t felt such deep emotions after seeing these paintings?
However, Huo Wei’s paintings were so infectious that it’s easy to feel sad as compared to watching TV or reading novels. Facing Huo Wei’s paintings so directly, their impact pierces their hearts and made them all flustered. It was not worth it for Huo Wei. Seeing Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia, they just want to beat them up!
They stared at Zhao Sijia with hate in their eyes, and her heart was beating very fast. She was afraid and felt that her well-hidden ugly side had been exposed in public. She didn’t think the consequences would be so serious at that time. She just hated Huo Wei’s involvement in Huo Ming’s graduation trip. She hated Huo Wei’s insistence on mountain climbing, which ruined her travel plans, and hated Huo Wei for delaying her long-prepared confession.
She just wanted Huo Wei to suffer a small loss. She was embarrassed. She didn’t expect Huo Wei to fall to the ground. Fearing that Huo Ming would see something, she immediately pulled Huo Wei up. As a result, Huo Wei gave her a push and injured her hand slightly.
At that time, she saw that Huo Wei had fallen over and twisted her foot, but she really didn’t know it was so serious. Huo Ming left Huo Wei and she just followed along, wanting to go for a candlelight dinner with Huo Ming. Both of them in their own world.
But she can’t say anything now. She should have said that it was an accident then. Now, she would be regarded as a cunning fox. So, she had to deny that the painting was fake. But her expression was so distraught, and in her heart is, she felt so flustered. She was thinking that these things have developed uncontrollably, and the development was absolutely against her favor!
The small disturbance on their side was turning into loud and noisy commotion, and it seemed to be getting worse, even someone has started to cry. Cui Jing couldn’t stand it anymore and hurried over. She had wanted to let her daughter herself deal with the issues in the exhibition, but this seemed to be a bad situation.
The ladies who were with her as they were browsing naturally followed her. When they asked about what happened, the group of children allowed them to pass and only asked them to see the paintings.
Cui Jing has never seen these paintings before. She has only seen the last one with the forest fire. She almost cried then when she saw the painting with the forest fire. Now that she has seen the ten paintings, it was as if she had gone through that day again with Hou Wei. Suddenly, Cui Jing’s world turned dark and she fainted, her body weakly falling aside!
“Mom!” Hou Wei was shocked and hurriedly helped her up, and Huo Ming also quickly came to support Cui Jing.
Cui Jing was stunned for more than ten seconds before slowly rising up again. She opened her eyes, she saw Huo Ming and then suddenly gave him a slap!
“You bastard!”
Huo Ming, who was defending his face, rose back up with Cui Jing, who followed him closely and stood up, and raised her hand again!
“Huo Ming! You bastard!”
Cui Jing has attracted the attention of many people with two slaps and two yells of the word “bastard”. This time, no one was waiting for them to be quiet again. This was a big event. Even the big corporate bosses stopped smiling as they came over.
Huo Tingwei, with his face calm, walked quickly to get near to them. Cui Jing said angrily when he saw him: “You’ve always said I never taught my daughter well. Come on! Look at yourself, look at the good son you yourself taught! Look at this ungrateful bastard that you have to take care of! “
Cui Jing pointed to the paintings and angrily said, “When our daughter came back, have you ever asked her about her injury? You have only blamed her for being careless. Which part of her is immature? Even if she hated Zhao Sijia again, has she ever done anything bad to Zhao Sijia? At most, she only wanted Zhao Sijia to move out. What’s wrong with wanting Zhao Sijia, a 20-year-old adult, to move out?
Take a look at Zhao Sijia. Who is she anyway? Wei Wei said that she was the one who caused her to fall. And yet you don’t believe it. Look at this, do you see how Zhao Sijia had hurt her? For this ungrateful bastard, you chose to teach your daughter a lesson? You forbade our daughter from entering the company and then froze her cards, have you gone crazy? Huo Tingwei, have you gone insane?”
The exhibition has already been suspended, but no one felt offended. They were all shocked by the sudden truth.
Huo Wei was injured by Zhao Sijia. This was just a little too much. Cui Jing said that Huo Tingwei had not allowed Huo Tingwei to enter the company and froze Huo Wei’s card. They looked at Huo Tingwei with doubts and guessed that Zhao Sijia must be Huo Tingwei’s bastard daughter, right?
Zhao Sijia hid behind Huo Ming with her head down. She was still shivering. She was afraid, of course she was. She had never been to this kind of occasion before, and all the people present were superior and unattainable to her. Now they all despise her and dislike her. She felt that this kind of humiliation was more serious than the last time when she was scolded by the whole Internet. It was so serious that her whole body felt numb, her head was buzzing, and she was not able to think at all.
She opened her mouth to defend herself, but she couldn’t make a sound.
Huo Tingwei saw that the paintings and was also greatly impacted, but he was more rational. No matter how hurt his daughter was, Huo Ming was still Huo’s successor. In the future, he would have been in charge of Huo Company and have dealings with the guests here, so he must not have any moral problems.
So, at this moment, he was annoyed with Huo Wei. What can’t she say this at home? Didn’t he already ask Huo Ming to apologize to her? He also asked Zhao Sijia to move out of Huo’s Family house. He even transferred Zhao Sijia to another position as asked. All of them were compensation for Huo Wei.
Huo Wei had insulted him in public in the company before. So he didn’t believe that Huo Wei was as fragile and desperate as shown in the painting. Now that Huo Wei has brought this incident up again, she must have felt dissatisfied that he would not let her enter the company. It must be because she wanted to go head-to-head with Huo Ming and fight for the right of succession.
Huo Tingwei gave Huo Wei a pointed look and said coldly to Huo Ming, “Apologize to your sister!”
Huo Ming lowered his head and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”.
It was very quiet around. Huo Ming’s apology was the only voice in the whole exhibition hall. When he heard his own voice, he suddenly felt ashamed. The impulse of wanting to seize the door and escape came again, and the tie around his collar seemed as if a rope was choking him, strangling him out of breath.
He has always been the pride of the Huo Family. When has he ever been embarrassed in the eyes of the public like this?
Many of the people here were important figures in the business sector. Once upon a time, he was their favorite youngster. After today, will they shake their heads and be disappointed when he is mentioned? At the thought of this, Huo Ming couldn’t accept it, and his hands clung unconsciously to his side.
Huo Wei took Cui Jing’s hand and said with a smile, “I’m sorry, this was supposed to be a good exhibition. I didn’t expect it to be so noisy. However, since this was mentioned, I would like to make a statement. Yes, Huo Ming has already apologized. There is no need to discuss whether he was sincere or not and there is no need for any future apologies.
As I said, I no longer have a brother, and I will never change my mind. Huo Ming, this stupid sister who used to like to stick close to you has disappeared. You don’t have to feel annoyed anymore. Also, for those who used to envy that Huo Ming and I were twins, there is no need to feel envious anymore. Not all twins are close to each other.”
She looked at Lou Xiao standing next to her and said with a smile, “I’m really sorry today. There is a restroom upstairs. If you are tired, you may as well go upstairs and have a rest. Please stay and enjoy the banquet later. Chairman Lou and I have another important news to announce. Maybe all of you will be very surprised with that.”
Lou Xiao took over her words and took some business tycoons to admire his famous paintings. People also followed her words and dispersed slowly, leaving space for the Huo Family and Zhao Sijia that were in conflict.
Several of Huo Tingwei’s partners took a look at him when they left. Huo Tingwei apologized to them about the noise and said that his daughter had always been a troublemaker since she was a child. Recently, she had trouble with her family and tried to make fun of them.
In the same moment, they politely praised Huo Wei, saying that the little girl was delicate, and it was normal for her to get angry after such an accident.
Who would have thought that Huo Wei would have such an experience that day? If Huo Wei was their own daughter, they would have broken Huo Ming’s legs!
Huo Tingwei also asked Huo Ming to apologize and pointed out that they were brother and sister, and it was a family affair. It was obvious that his son made a one-off mistake, and he will teach him well. But those paintings were too uncomfortable to look at, and yet Huo Tingwei only gave reprimanded Huo Ming softly, which made him as if he did not care for Huo Wei at all.
It suddenly occurred to several people that they had heard that Huo Tingwei preferred boys over girls. This was a private matter, and it was no big deal, but it’s a bit much to look down on girls to such a degree. Has Huo Tingwei gone senile for not properly handling such a family matter?
The media took pictures from all angles, including the slap mark on Huo Ming’s face and the shivering Zhao Sijia. There were also those paintings, which have been photographed one by one. There was no one in the video, only the paintings on the wall, which are much more vivid than the printed photobook. Although it was the same feeling as one gets from looking at the painting from a close distance, it can at least convey 80% of the emotions of the paintings.
The staff didn’t respond to the media’s actions. They were all told by Yu Hai in advance that they would stop the media from taking pictures. But the Huo family and Zhao Sijia wanted those pictures to be taken.
When the media saw this, they immediately understood. This was Lou Xiao giving his consent to report on the Huo family! Thinking of Huo Wei’s announcement that she and Lou Xiao were going to announce something important, many people were thinking that Lou Xiao was the one who organized the exhibition for Huo Wei, they were both good-looking and well-matched, were they a couple? If Lou Xiao was allowing them to publish news about the Huo family, it must be because he wanted to help Huo Wei!
Huo Tingwei’s face turned blue. He couldn’t catch up with the media himself. He could only calm down and ask his family to come aside against a wall and asked in a low voice, “What are you doing? You said you wanted to enter the company, did you realize that this incident that you caused today will only harm your brother? “
Huo Wei lowered her head and arranged her skirt. She said faintly, “If you stopped me just to say this, then please excuse me.”
“Huo Wei!” Huo Tingwei looked at her coldly, not trying to reprimand her, but calmly said, “You said that you want to enter the company, right? Then go to work tomorrow. Don’t talk nonsense anymore.”
Cui Jing wanted to scold him, but Huo Wei stopped her. Huo Wei looked at Huo Tingwei and shook her head. “Sorry, I’m not interested in your company. I said that day, if you wouldn’t let me into the company then, then I won’t ask for that anymore and won’t thinking of joining either in the future.”
Huo Ming raised his head and couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you want to do this exhibition? Was it to fight with me for the right to the inheritance?”
Cui Jing frowned at him, her eyes were full of anger, she couldn’t believe that at this time, her son did not even care about her daughter, but still complained about how her daughter wanted to organize a painting exhibition.
Hou Wei was calmer, and she returned casually, “You are thinking too much. Weren’t my cards all frozen? I don’t even have shares in the company, so I am unlike you two and don’t have any dividends to spend. Then the only way I earn money quickly is through my paintings. Just as it happens, these are the best I have ever painted, so I took them and wanted to hold an exhibition. “
She looked at her paintings, and her eyes were heavy. “I used all my emotions to draw these paintings, and they are dedicated to the old Hou Wei. Every scene and every feeling here is true. If you have not done something wrong, why are you forcing me to cover it all up?
Huo Ming, when my cards were cut, you didn’t even say anything. Do you think I should be taught a lesson too? So, you see, you two tried to punish me so naturally, so why are the two of you finding the thought of losing face hard to swallow?”
Hou Wei looked at Zhao Sijia again, smiled, “Take a look at this, I am so curious, which part of her do you guys find precious? Is it because the two of you like this delicate, pitiful, innocent little white flower who is actually just pretending to be strong? I can find plenty of people like her. “
Zhao Sijia’s face was blue and white, and for the first time she dared not look up at Hou Wei. She was afraid.
Huo Wei turned to Cui Jing and said, “Mom, don’t look at these things. It’s all in the past. Look at me, I’m not sad at all. I’ll take you to Lou Ciao’s collection of famous paintings, there are especially good.”
Huo Tingwei watched the back of the mother and daughter duo who were walking far away, and a dull feeling in his heart, but he could not do anything. He just said, “The two of you go back first.”
He is the Huo Family leader, he cannot leave yet. He also had to talk to several partners to try to downplay the matter.
Huo Tingwei took deep strides and walked away, and only Huo Ming and Zhao Sijia were left in this corner. Zhao Sijia tightly grasps Huo Ming’s clothes, wanting to leave, but found out that couldn’t move her legs. She was so hit so hard by what happened that her legs became numb.
Huo Ming took a deep breath, not wanting to cause further complications, held her wrist and took her out of the hall, whispered: “Let’s go, I will send you back.”
He was also confused with Zhao Sijia now. He felt that what happened with the branch in the painting was true but he was also unwilling to believe that Zhao Sijia was capable of such a thing. But what he didn’t know was that in his heart, he already believed it to be really true. Zhao Sijia’s heart was beating as if she was going to have a heart attack. There were too many things to fear and she was so scared that she didn’t know what she was actually scared of the most.
The two quickly left the exhibition hall to pick up their car. After Zhao Sijia entered the car, she finally felt like she had space to breathe. Her emotions collapsed, she finally broke down and cried and cried.
Huo Ming looked at her and turned to the window. The driver drove the car, and soon they were very far away from the exhibition hall, but he still felt as if the shame he felt in the hall still followed along with him, as if they were inseparable. He pulled off his tie and still he felt breathless.
He suddenly felt that his sister really was gone, and as Hou Wei said, the ten paintings – were used for the memorial service of their dead relationship.
