To My Dear Mr. Huo

Under Su Qingsang’s vigilant gaze, Zhang Yichen’s lips curled into a faint smile.

He made a large step backward but didn’t leave immediately.

Su Qingsang knew that she would have no chance to win a fight against that man. She pressed herself tightly on the wall just now, so her hair was now a little messy.

Zhang Yichen raised a hand without thinking. He wanted to smooth her hair for her, but he retracted his hand when he saw the alerted look on her face.

He looked at her in the eyes once again, then turned and left.

Su Qingsang had her eyes fixed on that man, worrying that he might come back to hurt her. However, she already realized that he was only trying to scare her. He probably knew that she didn’t hear anything.

Thankfully, that man didn’t do anything bad to her. Otherwise, she would’ve been infuriated.

Her phone rang again. Su Qinggsang answered the call, her breath still a little uneven.

“Qingsang, are you okay?” It was Shi Mengwan on the other side of the phone.

“I’m okay.” Su Qingsang shook her head. The man turned and left only after making sure that he wouldn’t come back.

“You sound like you’re catching your breath. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I was startled by a dog.”

Shi Mengwan didn’t ask any further questions. She had something to say to Su Qingsang, but as the latter answered the call, she didn’t know how to start.

“You hardly called me during working time. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Qingsang, I…” Shi Mengwan felt a little uneasy with Zhan Haoze in mind. “Nothing. I might want to go to Rong City to see you soon. Will I be welcomed?”

“Of course you will.” Su Qingsang would love to have her.

“Great. I’ll see if I have time these couple of days and adjust my schedule.”

“Sure.” Su Qingsang didn’t think too much about it, “Your work schedule is flexible anyway. Call me before you come. I’ll pick you up at the airport.”

“Okay,” Shi Mengwan said something else, but still didn’t tell Su Qingsang about what had been bothering her.

She decided to save it until she saw her in person.

Shi Mengwan dropped her phone. The call didn’t cheer her up. On the contrary, she felt even uneasier then before.

What on earth was she thinking yesterday that made her end up in the same bed with Zhan Haoze?

He refused to admit that he was her dear brother, and he had a fiancee.

‘Shi Mengwan, what did you do?’ She said to herself, ‘Are you gonna be the third person in their relationship?’

She couldn’t figure out a thing, so she gave up. She ran into Zhan Haoze a lot recently.

That was not a good thing. She decided to go to Rong City to see Su Qingsang, avoid him, and calm herself down.

Zhan Haoze’s face crossed her mind from time to time. What she sensed what not only the sweetness of the memory but also the bitterness that overshadowed the sweetness.

Her dear brother would probably never come back to her.

…

Su Qingsang looked at the Range Rover parked in front of her and blinked her eyes. With suspicion, she turned to see the person in the driver’s seat. She didn’t touch the car door until she confirmed it was Huo Jinyao.

“I didn’t think you’d leave home with this car this morning.”

Huo Jinyao wasn’t a very materialistic man. He had some cars in the garage, but he drove only his Bentley and Benz most of the time.

He had sports cars too, but he hardly ever drove them to the company. The Range Rover was not the type of car he liked either.

“Oh, this car belongs to one of my uncles. He has something to do, so I’m gonna drive his car back to the family house. He’ll come to the family house for dinner.”

“Uncle?” Su Qingsang remembered him mentioning Huo Yangxiu’s youngest son. “You’re not talking about your grand-aunt’s son, are you?”

“Yeah, he’s here.”

His uncle went to Huo Jinyao’s company to visit him at lunchtime, then left in a haste after taking a call. He left the car with Huo Jinyao and told him to drive it back to the family house.

“What’s this?” As he spoke, Huo Jinyao’s eyes landed on the thing holding in Su Qingsang’s hand.

Su Qingsang was carrying a birdcage covered in a piece of cloth. Whatever was in it was quiet at the time.

“It’s a parrot.”

Huo Jinyao looked at her, then at the birdcage. “Please don’t tell me that you’re gonna give this to Grandpa.”

“Why not?” Su Qingsang looked at him with excitement, “I spent the day in the shopping mall but didn’t find anything for Grandpa. Then I passed by the bird and flower market. I think the parrot could be a great gift for him.”

“This was the best one in the shop. He’s intelligent and can say many words. Seriously, he can even talk to you. You don’t come back home a lot, so the parrot can keep him company. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Huo Jinyao burst out laughing. He reached out a hand to stroke Su Qingsang’s hair, looking at her affectionately.

“Darling, you’re so adorable.”

He even stroked Su Qingsang’s messy hair. She stared at him and said, “Just tell me if Grandpa will like it or not.”

“He will. He definitely will.”

Huo Jinyao couldn’t help but laugh again after he said that. Su Qingsang had completely no idea what he was laughing about. “Huo Jinyao, stop laughing. I’m gonna give it back to the shop owner and ask for a refund if you think grandpa isn’t gonna like it.”

The bird wasn’t cheap, costing her tens of thousands of yuan.

Huo Jinyao stopped laughing. He put an arm around Su Qingsang’s shoulders, then leaned toward her and kissed her lips. “Darling, you are so cute,” he said.

She didn’t plan to have children so soon, so she bought a bird for Old Master Huo.

“Huo Jinyao…” Su Qingsang felt as if Huo Jinyao was laughing at her, “Stop it. Just tell me if Grandpa doesn’t like this.”

“I’ve already told you that he’ll definitely like it,” Huo Jinyao said as he finally stopped laughing. He never thought that Su Qingsang could get his grandfather such a special gift.

Trying not to laugh again, he cleared his throat and said, “Darling, I suddenly realized that I’m really a lucky man.”

Su Qingsang looked at him suspiciously, instinctively feeling a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

The car was parked in the family house. Su Qingsang walked in carrying the birdcage. She was a little nervous on her way in, so she couldn’t help but glance at Huo Jinyao again.

Huo Jiyao put an arm around her shoulders and said, “Don’t worry, grandpa will like it.”

Su Qingsang was excited when she bought the parrot, but Huo Jinyao’s reaction made her a little worried.

Old Master Huo was sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper with his presbyopic glasses on. He waved at Huo Jinyao and Su Qingsang as the two came in.

“Jinyao, Qingsang, good to see you two.” he immediately noticed the birdcage which was covered in a piece of cloth, “What’s this?”

“Grandpa…” Holding the birdcage, Su Qingsang looked at Old Master Huo. She had to present the gift at that point, even if she thought it wasn’t suitable for Old Master Huo.

“Grandpa, I found this parrot when I went by the flower and bird market today.” she removed the cloth on the birdcage while talking. In the cage was a small, beautiful parrot with green feathers.

“He can speak. He can say a lot of things. I thought he’s interesting, so I bought him for you. You can play with him when you have time.”

Su Qingsang found the look in Old Master Huo’s eyes a little weird when she finished talking. She got a little nervous again, so she couldn’t help but look at Huo Jinyao.

Huo Jinyao’s lips were pressed together. She could tell that he was trying not to laugh.

Su Qingsang glared at him, then turned back to Old Master Huo, said, “Grandpa, this bird can say a lot of nice words.”

She picked up the bird food that the shop owner gave her and put some into the cage while saying to the bird, “Say something.”

Unlike how it acted back in the shop, the bird turned around without even glancing at Su Qingsang.

Su Qingsang felt a little embarrassed. She knocked on the birdcage and said, “Hello. Say something to me now.”

The bird didn’t turn back to look at Su Qingsang at all.

Su Qingsang finally remembered that the bird had a name.

What was its name again?

“Jade, say something.” It took her a while to recall the bird’s name. Its name was Jade.

“Jade, hi, say something.”

No matter how she tried, the parrot stayed silent.

Huo Jinyao and Old Master Huo watched her talking to the bird. They both did their best to keep themselves from laughing out. That was not easy for them to do.

“It really can talk!” Su Qingsang turned to look at Huo Jinyao with embarrassment and disappointment.

Huo Jinyao didn’t want her to be upset. He put a hand on Su Qingsang’s shoulder and said, “Alright, Qingsang. It’ll be fine even if the bird can’t talk.”

How would that be fine? Su Qingsang couldn’t accept that result. “It really can talk.”

“Alright, it can talk,” Huo Jinyao said, not daring to argue with Su Qingsang. He had a feeling that the person who sold Su Qingsang the bird lied to her.

Su Qingsang was going to surprise Old Master Huo with the bird, but it now felt like a joke.

“Qingsang, please have a seat.” Old Master Huo didn’t let himself laugh because he didn’t want Su Qingsang to feel embarrassed, “It’s okay. I’ll tell Cheng to hang it under the eave in the backyard.”

Su Qingsang looked at the proud parrot. She never thought that she would feel so embarrassed by a bird.

Mr. Cheng came in and saw the bird, wondering where it came from.

“Cheng, find a place to hang the birdcage in the backyard,” said Old Master Huo.

“Don’t forget to feed him.” Su Qingsang didn’t forget what the shop owner told her. Hearing Su Qingsang attentively ask Mr. Cheng to take care of the bird, Huo Jinyao became a little jealous of it.

“Don’t feed it. It can’t talk anyway. Just starve this stupid bird for a few days.”

The bird embarrassed his wife, so it deserved to be starved for a few days.

After he said that, the parrot which had refused to say a word unexpectedly began to talk.

“You’re stupid. You’re stupid.”

Hearing the bird’s voice suddenly, both Old Master Huo and Huo Jinyao were a little startled. Su Qingsang wasn’t expecting to hear the bird talk like that either.

“You’re stupid. You’re stupid,” the bird repeated, sounding quite unhappy.

Su Qingsang didn’t care what the bird was saying. She looked at Old Master Huo and said to him proudly, “See, Grandpa? He can talk!”

“Hahahaha!” Old Master Huo finally burst in laughter. He found his granddaughter-in-law so interesting.

Huo Jinyao laughed as well. Hearing them laugh, Su Qingsang blushed slightly, hid behind Huo Jinyao’s body, and fell into silence.

“What are you guys talking about here? What’s so funny?”

The voice sounded a little familiar. When Su Qingsang turned around, her eyes instantly popped.

Why was that man there?