To My Dear Mr. Huo

“Which part is complicated?” Huo Jinyao held her hand. “I just got started, and you’re already saying it’s complicated. I haven’t even started to introduce my grandaunt and her family!”

He squeezed Su Qingsang’s hand. Taking out his phone, he showed her pictures of his family so that she could put names to faces.

Huo Mingfan had one son and one daughter, while Huo Mingqi had two sons. They were all Huo Jinyao’s cousins, and none of them were married yet.

Huo Yangxiu, Huo Jinyao’s grandaunt, had married a commander in the army. She was the youngest of her siblings, and she had two sons and one daughter.

She’d had her youngest son when she was forty, so he was almost the same age as Huo Jinyao.

All of her children were married. Like herself, her daughter had married an army man. Currently, grandaunt lived at the army base with her husband. Their eldest son was also serving in the army. He had twin sons who were fifteen years old, and they were the youngest members of the family so far.

“Stop, I feel dizzy,” Su Qingsang complained. Even though Huo Jinyao had tried to help with the pictures, she couldn’t possibly remember so many people at one time.

“Huo Jinyao, can you refresh me on them right before the dinner party? And can you give me tips on who’s who during the party?”

“You…” Huo Jinyao gently pinched Su Qingsang’s nose, saying, “You don’t need to memorize all of it. I’ll remind you who’s who at the party.”

“Mm…” Su Qingsang nodded. “All these people, that cousin of yours—they don’t live in this city. You don’t get many chances to spend time with them, do you?”

“No,” Huo Jinyao answered the question honestly. “My granduncle was a governor. I used to go to his place during summer vacation, but that was boring. He was very busy and had many visitors every day. When I got older, I never went there again.”

“What about your grandaunt?”

“Grandaunt? She lives at the army base with her husband. Not many people are allowed to enter that place, but I’ve been there a few times. I have a good relationship with my two uncles.”

“And,” said Huo Jinyao, abruptly turning around to lie on Su Qingsang, “my eldest uncle has twin boys. Should we try to have twins too? It’d be even better if we could have a boy and a girl.”

Su Qingsang hit him on the chest and said, “Twins? Really? A boy and a girl?”

How could she possibly have control over the number and gender of her children?

“Don’t you believe it’s possible?” Huo Jinyao put his forehead against hers, saying, “Don’t you believe in my abilities?”

“Stop it!” Su Qingsang hadn’t even decided if she wanted a child so soon.

Huo Jinyao turned her body around and trapped her in his arms. “You don’t believe me? Maybe I’ve been too nice to you recently. It’s time to show you what I can do.”

“Huo Jinyao.”

Su Qingsang twisted her body, but couldn’t break free from Huo Jinyao’s strong arms.

Before she could react, he pressed his lips against hers to stop her from speaking.

Nevertheless, when he released her, Huo Jinyao still got up to fetch condoms from the drawer.

As Su Qingsang looked at him in surprise, he kissed her earlobe.

“Dear, of course we’ll have children if you want to, and we won’t if you don’t want to.”

Su Qingsang looked at him with watery eyes. Swiftly, she leaned toward him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Oh, baby, you are so dead. I won’t let you get away easily tonight.”

Su Qingsang blushed but cheekily responded, “Alright. I’d like to see what you can do to me.”

….

Unlike the passionate atmosphere in Huo Jinyao’s room, the vibe in Huo Mingguang and Liu Tongjia’s room was much more strained.

Huo Mingguang shot Liu Tongjia an irritated look and said, “Aunty, uncle, and their families will be here on the day after tomorrow. When are you going to quit being so grumpy?”

Over the past few days, Liu Tongjia had left home whenever Su Qingsang was there.

It didn’t become a problem since she’d only done it once or twice, but if she’d kept acting that way, Old Master Huo would not have liked it.

“Who’s being grumpy?” Liu Tongjia had just showered. At the moment, she was going through her skincare routine. “I just don’t like her. What’s wrong with that?” She spoke with a sullen look on her face.

“I know you don’t like her, but she is already with Jinyao. Why can’t you—”

“Why can’t I what? That’s exactly the problem I have with her.” Liu Tongjia put down her lotion loudly, turned to look at Huo Mingguang, and said, “Have you seen how Jinyao protects her? Don’t you know how unhappy I am to see that?”

“Tongjia.” As her husband, of course Huo Mingguang knew what she was thinking. “It has been so long, already. The boy is grown up. Now—”

“It still bothers me.” Liu Tongjia’s eyes turned red immediately. “I can’t get over it. Huo Mingguang, I’m telling you, I will never get over it.”

Huo Mingguang wrinkled his brows. He stood up and walked up to her. “Tongjia, let it go.”

“I just told you that I can’t let it go. I can’t!” Liu Tongjia suddenly clutched her husband’s hands and said, “Why? Why does he get to be happy and married as if nothing ever happened? Why?”

Huo Mingguang gently patted Liu Tongjia on the back, watching her sulk like a little girl.

“Despite everything, he’s your son,” he said to her. “He’s your son. What else can you do?”

Liu Tongjia threw away his hand, glaring at him through tearful eyes. “Have you let it go? Can you let it go? I’m telling you, I can’t do it. I will never let it go. To me, Huo Jinyao will always be a sinner. He owes me. He’ll owe me forever.”

Huo Mingguang sighed. He understood why Liu Tongjia couldn’t get over what had happened.

He put an arm around her shoulder, saying, “Tongjia, so many years have gone by. Jinyao is a grown man now. You two can make things right. No matter how much you hate him, you can’t change the fact that he’s your son. How can a mother and her son hate each other?”

“I don’t have a son like that.” Liu Tongjia’s voice was tight with animosity. “I don’t have a heartless son like that. Don’t bother saying all this to me. I’m telling you that I will never forgive him. Never.”

Liu Tongjia’s sobs echoed around the room. Huo Mingguang stopped trying to reason with her and was left looking helpless and sad.

…

Su Qingsang could barely get up the next morning. She mentally cursed Huo Jinyao when she saw evidence of his kisses in marks all over her body.

It was her own fault though, she thought. After all, if she hadn’t teased him so much, he wouldn’t have almost gone mad with lust.

She washed up, got dressed, and went downstairs. Huo Jinyao had already left for work.

Seeing her come downstairs, Old Master Huo waved her over.

“Qingsang, are you going to the hospital for enrollment today?”

“Yes,” Su Qingsang nodded and said, “the Central Hospital.”

“I’ll ask Lin to drive you.”

“No need. I’ll drive myself.”

One of the cars that Li Qianxue had bought Su Qingsang was a sports car. Naturally, Su Qingsang wasn’t keen to drive that. The other was an SUV. She had tried driving it the day before and found it to be a great car. She chose to drive that car to the hospital.

“It snowed last night. The road can be a little slippery. Southerners might not be used to the roads being like that. If you’re going to drive yourself, be careful.”

“I know, grandpa, I’ll be careful.” Su Qingsang was grateful for Old Master Huo. He really did treat her like his own granddaughter.

As she prepared to leave, Su Qingsang turned on the GPS. Her appointment for enrollment at the hospital was for half-past ten. Thankfully, she would make it there on time.

Walking into the hospital, Su Qingsang was hit with the familiar smell of disinfectant.

She found the gynecology and obstetrics department, easily. The director of the department was Sun Huiya, who had been classmates with her tutor, Zhang Qiubai.

Recommendation letter in hand, Su Qingsang found Sun Huiya.

“Su Qingsang, right?” Sun Huiya read the recommendation letter, then raised her head to study Su Qingsang. She wore glasses and looked amiable, though she surprisingly seemed younger than fifty.

“Yes, I am Su Qingsang. I’ve heard about you from my tutor. She told me to learn from you.”

“Oh, there’s not much for me to teach anymore, really. These days, the world is ruled by young people like you. I’ve read some of the papers that you’ve published in journals. Not bad. You are a talented young doctor.”

Sun Huiya dropped the recommendation letter and looked at Su Qingsang. Even though Su Qingsang was one of her old classmate’s favorite students, she still wanted to make clear what she was to expect.

“I’m not sure how much you know about our hospital yet. This hospital is bigger than the one you worked at in Lin City. We have a lot of patients every day. Being a doctor here can be demanding. If you don’t want a job that will exhaust you and keep you busy, you may want to reconsider working here. If you’re okay with that kind of life, I’ll have someone give you an orientation; once that’s done, you can start working here after a few days.

“Ms. Sun, don’t worry. I’m here already, and I intend to be a member of the Central Hospital in Rong City. I’ll certainly work hard here.”

“I know you will. I’ve also heard things about you from your tutor. However, making things clear at the beginning is always better than having to hear complaints when problems arise, don’t you think?”

“I understand.” Su Qingsang nodded.

Sun Huiya called someone over and asked him to give Su Qingsang an orientation.

“This is Zheng Chenyu, my student. He’ll tell you what to do.”

“Thank you, Ms. Sun.” Su Qingsang was surprised to see Zheng Chenyu. It was quite rare to see male doctors in the gynecology and obstetrics department.”

“Hi, I’m Su Qingsang.”

“Hi, I’m Zheng Chenyu.”

After introducing himself to Su Qingsang, Zheng Chenyu guided her to the administration office. He was tall and slim, a polite and gentle-looking man.

“Are you Ms. Sun’s student?” Su Qingsang asked curiously. All of Su Qingsang’s college classmates had been girls. It was actually the first time she’d met a man who had majored in gynecology and obstetrics.

“Are you surprised to see a man in this department?” Zheng Chenyu looked into Su Qingsang’s inquisitive eyes and said jokingly, “After all, not many men would choose that major.”

“Yeah, I’m a little surprised.” Su Qingsang nodded in agreement. “In my experience, men have been quite rare in our department.”

“I was the only boy in my class. You have no idea how miserable that was. I never dared to skip class because I had to answer questions every single class.”

“I bet your teachers have paid a lot of attention to you.”

“They didn’t need to pay extra attention to me. I was the only boy, after all. But actually, over the years, my teachers and classmates have sort of stopped seeing me as a boy.”

“That sounds sad.” His self-mockery didn’t make Su Qingsang laugh. “But for some reason, I feel like you don’t really mind at all,” she said.