To My Dear Mr. Huo

“Jinyao hires his secretaries by himself. Even if I did assign someone to him, he may not want to use that person.”

“He has more than one secretary. And if I’m not wrong, Zhang Yang’s wife is pregnant, and their baby is due soon. He is planning to ask for leave.”

‘He cannot think that I don’t know. The last time I went to the company, I overheard it,’ Liu Tongjia thought.

Huo Jinyao had a few secretaries, but he valued Zhang Yang the most. Zhang Yang had been working for him for years.

Apart from him, Yang Wenchang, the assistant, dealt with other things.

Liu Tongjia didn’t ask for an assistant position. She only wanted to assign him a secretary, a position that was not important to his work. Why couldn’t she do that?

Huo Mingguang looked at Liu Tongjia, feeling frustrated. He knew what his wife was planning something.

“Tongjia, Jinyao is married. Why do you have to——”

“What?” asked Liu Tongjia, staring at Huo Mingguang. Liu Tongjia didn’t think she was wrong. “What do you want me to do? I am doing this for his own good. Huo Jinyao is so blind that he is treating her like a queen.”

Huo Mingguang was baffled. He didn’t have a problem with Su Qingsang. However, as for Huo Jinyao——

In any case, Huo Jinyao was his son. Even though emotionally, he was uncomfortable with him, he was not as aggressive as Liu Tongjia.

“I don’t care. Whatever method you are going to use, you have to make it happen.”

“It’s just an arrangement so you don’t need to be so vexed. I’ll let someone arrange that tomorrow, okay?”

Liu Tongjia regained her composure but still looked a little bit upset.

Huo Mingguang walked to Liu Tongjia, stretching his arms out to hold her shoulder.

“I’m not going to talk you out of it. However, if you keep taking too many actions, Huo Jinyao may become disgruntled. Then——”

“He is dissatisfied with me?” Liu Tongjia sneered. “I don’t need his satisfaction. Among all the things he has done, which one has satisfied me? None, none of them. Since he let me down, why should I do things for his satisfaction? Am I his mom or is he my mom?”

Huo Mingguang was silent, gently patting her shoulder.

Liu Tongjia became gloomy. She leaned her face against Huo Mingguang’s chest and asked, “Mingguang, do you also think I am being unreasonable?”

The last time she had taken He Xuanyao home, Old Master Huo was extremely dissatisfied with her and looked very grave. Later, he talked to Huo Mingguang in private, asking him to tell Liu Tongjia to restrain herself.

Restrain herself? Why should she be the one to restrain herself? Huo Jinyao didn’t restrain himself at all.

She hated Old Master Huo for his partiality. It was clear that Huo Jinyao made a huge mistake and did wrong to the whole family. Why did Old Master Huo forgive him easily?

“No,” said Huo Mingguang. Liu Tongjia and he were married for over thirty years. They had been through a lot, and he understood her.

Huo Mingguang understood her hardship, as well as her suffering.

“Mingguang, to be honest with you, I don’t want to have any grandchildren whose mother is Su Qingsang. She is manipulative and scheming. You didn’t see the way she talked to me. I really dislike her.”

Of course, Liu Tongjia wouldn’t admit that she didn’t like Huo Jinyao even more than Su Qingsnag. It was her contempt towards Huo Jinyao that caused her to be fastidious about Su Qingsang.

Huo Mingguang understood. “All right, please don’t think too much. Tomorrow, I will arrange as you said, but as to what will happen in the future, it’s out of my control.”

“Okay,” Liu Tongjia nodded, and she looked up at Huo Mingguang, her eyes red. “Mingguang, thank you.”

Huo Minguang was silent, sighing in his heart.

Over the past years, he had also harbored a grudge against Huo Jinyao, and that’s the reason he had acquiesced in Liu Tongjia’s previous lunatic schemes.

However, thinking of Huo Jinyao’s love for Su Qingsang, Huo Mingguang started to develop a gloomy feeling.

He was afraid that Liu Tongjia wouldn’t get what she wanted this time.

…

Looking at the quaint door in front of her, Shi Mengwan complimented with amazement, “this place has a good vibe. How did you find it?”

“I don’t need to find it.” Su Qingsang looked at her and shook the golden card in her hand. “Yesterday, Huo Jinyao told me this great place. It’s also the right season to come here.”

Today was Friday. Huo Jinyao was at work so he couldn’t come with them. More importantly, he knew that Su Qingsang wanted to spend some time with Shi Mengwan, her best friend forever, or BFF.

“Mr. Huo is very considerate, huh?” Shi Mengwan cast an amused eye over Su Qingsang. “By the way, you don’t need to ask for a leave to accompany me. It’s not like I have never traveled alone before.”

“It’s different. You’ve traveled a long way, so I must prove my hospitality, right?”

Su Qingsang took her hands. “Let’s go! Speaking of that, I actually have benefited from you being here since it’s my first time.”

Thinking about the navigation app and the address that Huo Jinyao had told her yesterday, she may not have found this place, because it was unclear.

“You should be honest that you are planning to have fun all by yourself. I know that you are taking me only as an excuse.”

Shi Mengwan was joking with Su Qingsang, and Su Qingsang nodded at her words. “Wow, you have figured out my plan! I’m going to silence you tonight!”

When Su Qingsang was talking, she reached out, pretending to punch Shi Mengwan in her neck. Shi Mengwan dodged, laughing.

After talking and laughing, they went through the door.

Su Qingsang took Shi Mengwan to this place to enjoy the hot spring. One of Huo Jinyao’s clients had given the card to Huo Jinyao as a gift.

After receiving the golden card, Huo Jinyao had only come here with his childhood friends a few times. Since Shi Mengwan was here this time, he recommended this place.

All the designs here were an imitation of Suzhou Traditional Gardens, making the place quaint and elegant. They also paid attention to the privacy of their clients.

Like Japanese hot spring hotels, every spa was separated by small compartments.

“It’s really great.” Su Qingsang looked around the environment and said, “It looks even bigger than the hot spring hotel I went to in Japan. And the environment here is great.”

“It’s awesome,” said Shi Mengwan, nodding, and her face full of admiration.

“Let’s go. We must enjoy ourselves today. I heard the next door has a special place for a spa session and a great salon. After we enjoy the hot spring, we can go there.”

“What are we waiting for? I certainly can’t wait for it.”

First, Su Qingsang and Shi Mengwan looked around. Though it was winter, green plants were growing here, making both of them unclear about their gardening ways. There were some plants that Su Qingsang couldn’t name and she even saw plum blossoms.

“Wow!” exclaimed Shi Mengwan. She couldn’t help but marvel at it. “How can the plum trees bloom at this time? It should have passed its flowering time.”

“Almost. Look, it’s not going to last long. We’are lucky to have seen it.”

Some blossoms had withered away, but it didn’t affect their mood.

“That’s true.” Shi Mengwan held Su Qingsang and said, “Qingsang, I’m delighted with today’s arrangement.”

“Good, I will make sure that you are even more satisfied.”

Today was Friday. Su Qingsang had tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to play host.

At night, Su Qingsang and Shi Mengwan went for the spa session, and then they went to the hot spring inside the compartment.

The hot spring water was taken into the compartment from outside, and inside the compartment was a small hot tub with hot spring water filled in. Though it was a small hot tub, it was big enough to accommodate seven or eight people at the same time.

Because of the hot spring, Su Qingsang and Shi Mengwan wore only their swimming suits and went into the hot tub.

After staying in for a while, Shi Mengwan heard her phone ringing on the table by the hot tub. The ringtone was unique, for she had set it only for Zhan Haoze.

She hesitated, still staying in the hot tub. Su Qingsang, on the other side of the hot tub, heard the ring and turned to look at her.

“Your phone is ringing. Do you need me to take your phone for you?”

“Nope.”

The name she had for Zhan Haoze in her contacts was “Foe.” With her keen observation, she was certain that Su Qingsang would find something fishy here.

“I can get it by myself.” Shi Mengwan got up and took the phone. She struggled for a few seconds when she saw the name on the screen. Finally, she put on the robe that the salon had prepared for her.

“Qingsang, I am going to go out and take this.”

“Okay.” Su Qingsang waved her hands without thinking further.

Shi Mengwan came out with her phone while Su Qingsang remained in the hot tub. But soon, she heard footsteps again, along with the sound of the door opening.

Shi Mengwan was in a hurry when she went out, so she had left the door latch unsecured.

Now that the door opened and closed, so Su Qingsang took for granted that it was Shi Mengwan who came back. “Are you done? Who’s that? Is it your uncle so you have to take it outside?”

However, looking at the person who suddenly showed up in front of her, Su Qingsang was stunned and was about to scream but managed to control herself. Almost instinctively, she withdrew into the water.

It also surprised Zhang Yichen because he didn’t expect to run into Su Qingsang here. Although the hot tub produced a ton of steam that filled up the room, he still recognized her at first sight.

The bikini suit on Su Qingsang’s body, and——

He turned quickly, avoiding his eyes, saying, “sorry.”

The door was unlatched, so he had thought the room was empty.

“You——” Su Qingsang opened her mouth when she heard another scurry of feet outside.

Zhang Yichen’s face changed. He looked around and discovered that each compartment here, though looking like a cubicle, was spacious.

Apart from the place for the hot tub, there was space with a bed and a bathroom.

The closet on the side was for guests to hang their clothes. After glancing at Su Qingsang and looking around the room, Zhang Yichen slid into the closet and out of sight.

Before he hurried into the closet, he directed his eyes at her. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes and action conveyed everything.

Looking at his series of actions, Su Qingsang didn’t know how to react at this point. The footsteps moved closer to the door, and then she heard the guests next door arguing out loud. She guessed that they were disturbed b what had happened.

In no time, she heard someone knocking on the door.

Taking a deep breath, Su Qingsang got up and put on the robe. Although she wasn’t acting slowly, they knocked on the door again. This time it sounded much more urgent, almost forceful.