Chapter 34
"Have you had a tough five years?"
Chu Ci placed her hand on his face and saw the coldness hidden in his eyes instantly dissipate. He just stared straight at her, looking pitiful, like a lost puppy.
She smiled, concealing the moisture in her eyes, and sat on the desk, winking mischievously. "How come I remember you hated me five years ago?"
Huo Junyan leaned over, his hands resting on the table. "You made a very deep impression on me the first time we met."
“I know. I cheered Zixi on when he got into a fight. Later, Zixi said that he deliberately picked a fight because he saw you there. But at that time, the Huo family didn’t recognize Zixi, so you didn’t interfere.”
The Huo family doesn't acknowledge Huo Zixi... Huo Junyan smiled calmly. Although he didn't know at the time that Huo Zixi was his eldest cousin's son, even if he had known, he wouldn't have done anything.
"I only recognized you at that time."
Five years ago, in a brightly lit bar, on the second floor, young Huo Junyan glanced at the U-shaped stage, where only a drum set and a female singer were playing and singing with a guitar.
Suddenly there was a commotion downstairs. He glanced down and saw a red-haired man fighting with a group of drunkards.
Surrounded by bodyguards, he hurried downstairs, then suddenly stopped. The drumbeats perfectly matched the shouts of fighting, and he couldn't help but turn his gaze towards them.
The female guitarist was gone. On stage, a girl wearing a light blue seashell hat held a drumstick, staring at the fighting crowd, precisely striking the drumbeats. Her expression seemed to be admiring her own work.
He recognized her; the girl on the winding road in the mountain town had grown up, radiant and beautiful, as bright as the rising sun.
However, he still acts arrogantly and recklessly.
He left after just one glance.
Unexpectedly, half a month later, the girl and the red-haired guy who had been fighting together gave him a big surprise.
They almost activated the Fok family's top-tier public relations team.
Chu Ci tilted her head, slightly puzzled, "Recognize me?... Oh, you said in my hometown," according to the timeline, it seems to be around the time she had just returned to her hometown after dropping out of school.
"Was it really you that time?" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're so handsome, if I had seen you before, I would definitely remember you."
Huo Junyan's eyes and brows were filled with a smile.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "I think I was wearing sunglasses."
“No wonder, then it doesn’t count,” Chu Ci tilted her head and followed his eyes. “We first met in… this office. You were so impressive that day.”
"You remember everything?"
Actually, it's not this office; it's another building owned by the Fok Group, but the layout is basically the same as this office.
“Just a little bit,” Chu Ci gestured with her fingernail, “I just remember you threatening me.”
Huo Junyan was speechless. That wasn't a threat at all; it was just a slight scare.
They copied the Huo family's newly launched software, received a lawyer's letter, and then directly destroyed the software, leaving the Huo family's crisis public relations department dumbfounded and thinking there was a bigger conspiracy.
No, there is a conspiracy.
Almost simultaneously, they discovered Huo Zixi's identity, pushing back the age at which Huo Chengxun had an illegitimate child.
The investigation revealed that Chu Ci was behind all of Huo Zixi's actions, copying and then destroying the software to help the Huo family solve a small problem. Chu Ci was bold and meticulous, handling everything perfectly.
This kind of thing had happened more than once in the Huo family, which immediately made him wary, and he decided to meet this girl in person.
He still remembers that slap.
That lawless and audacious girl.
Unexpectedly, the girl blushed as soon as she saw him. She obediently responded to whatever he said, and finally, she defended Huo Zixi a few times without much assertiveness, but was scared away by one look from him.
Huo Junyan was also a man. A beautiful girl who had left a deep impression on him blushed when she saw him. He appeared calm on the surface, but secretly he was pleased.
However, the reality was that the girl slapped him again, this time emotionally.
After their conversation that day, they inexplicably walked into their usual bar, where they overheard the girl say, "Your uncle is so easy to fool, he's definitely never been in a relationship." Huo Zixi, completely drunk, raised his glass and said, "Sister Chu, I'll listen to you from now on..."
Huo Junyan was almost driven mad with anger at the time.
Chu Ci pouted and hooked her toe against the back of his leg. "Looking at it this way, my first, second, and last... uh... left a really bad impression on you. Why do you still like me?"
He lowered his eyelashes, slowly placed his hand on her slender waist, and remained silent for a long time before looking at her. "I don't know."
Over the past five years, he has asked himself this question countless times. Even though he knows she is cunning, he is still unconsciously attracted to her and gets angry at her time and time again.
When I learned of her death, my mind went blank for several days.
In the days and nights that followed, he set himself up as the perfect heir in the eyes of his grandfather and father, doing everything for the benefit of the family.
This includes marriage alliances.
He followed the arrangement and went on a blind date with his supposed marriage partner.
When they first met, he was polite and courteous, and there was nothing wrong with his actions and words. Only he knew that at that time, he wanted to jump into the sea and end it all.
As an heir, he cannot act on emotion; as a child, he cannot bear to imagine his parents losing him.
Later, he had no choice but to stop going on blind dates and just try his best to live.
“But I know that for you,” she pointed to her heart, “you bought me a bag of spicy strips on the antique street.”
While participating in a promotional event at an ancient-style street, she saw a spicy snack that was only available at the gate of her junior high school at a small stall during a break.
I stood there for a long time, just about to put the chili pepper back.
He appeared beside her, paid the money, and then left while talking to the people next to him about increasing investment, without saying a word to her.
Huo Junyan's eyes flickered slightly as he retrieved this little anecdote from a corner of his memory, "A bag of spicy strips can win your heart?"
He couldn't believe that such a beautiful girl wouldn't have many suitors or receive any gifts in college.
Unless a bag of spicy strips is very special to her.
Chu Ci only remembered that when she was in junior high school, during an extracurricular activity, she and a few other girls accompanied one of the girls to buy extracurricular tutoring materials, and afterwards each of them bought themselves a bag of spicy strips.
She was the only one who didn't have it.
One student asked, "Don't you have any money?" Another student replied, "Just a bag of spicy strips."
That's all.
Chu Ci had no pocket money; he couldn't even afford a 50-cent pack of spicy strips.
At such a young age, she was so embarrassed that she pretended to be nonchalant and said she didn't like spicy snacks.
Even after receiving my New Year's money, I never bought spicy snacks at the school gate.
At that time, most of her classmates came from ordinary families like hers, but everyone had five or ten yuan of pocket money every week. Chu Hao had it too, and Chu Ning occasionally received a reward, but she didn't.
Never.
Oh, once a male classmate secretly gave her a bottle of drink, and her deskmate saw it, and then the whole class started to cheer and make a fuss.
Back in junior high, the issue of early romantic relationships was particularly sensitive.
Fortunately, she had good grades and avoided having her parents called in.
"Yes, a bag of spicy strips." That hit the nail on the head.
Huo Junyan clung to her again, lightly pecking her lips. "Impossible. You blushed the first time you saw me, using spicy strips as an excuse."
Chu Ci laughed so hard she bent over, tossing her hair to stop him from kissing her.
"No, I didn't."
"Is there? Is there?"
"Yes, I know, I know," Chu Ci said, grabbing his hand as she was ticklish. "I blushed because I was nervous, and also, hehe..." I saw that you were very handsome.
Huo Junyan picked her up immediately and asked, "Anything else?"
Seeing that he was about to enter the bedroom, Chu Ci immediately kicked the swivel chair, and with a forceful movement, he lost his balance and sat down on it while holding her.
"Do you like doing this?"
Chu Ci jumped up, wanting to cover her ears, "Aren't we supposed to be attending a banquet? It's almost seven o'clock."
He looked at her for a while, then sullenly picked up the landline and asked someone to prepare a dress and dinner.
Chu Ci only ate two bites before going into the bedroom to change her clothes.
She chose a backless mermaid halter dress. The dress was entirely black velvet, with a large Mordred bow at the back waist, perfectly outlining her beautiful figure.
Open the bedroom door.
"Aren't you going to eat something?" Huo Junyan looked over at the same time, his eyes widening instantly.
Chu Ci opened the jewelry box, "If you eat any more, you won't be able to wear your formal dress."
"Let me check," he said, standing up abruptly upon seeing her fair and smooth back. "Change into a different dress."
"No, I don't want to change it. This is my favorite."
She put on her earrings, glanced at him sideways, and turned slightly. "Don't you think they look good?"
"No." His gaze had barely left her back when he realized she was too beautiful, too beautiful, and that was precisely why it wasn't good.
Chu Ci curled her lip, "What do you know, hmph."
She picked out a pair of 12-centimeter stilettos and immediately went to compare her height with his. Now her shoulders were only slightly lower than his. "That's more like a match," she said.
Huo Junyan frowned, his gaze lingering on her back. He silently picked up a full-coverage dress, but seeing Chu Ci pout and roll her eyes, he had no choice but to put it down.
"You should wear this one." Chu Ci also chose a velvet outfit for him.
Huo Junyan spread his hands out.
She pursed her lips and glanced into the bedroom. He understood and immediately went inside. Chu Ci leaned against the door frame and handed him the dress, saying, "I need to touch up my makeup. You can change yourself."
“No.” He sat directly on the bed, refusing to accept the dress.
Chu Ci threw the dress over. Don't think she didn't see the evil in his eyes. Once you go in, do you think you'll come out? Humph.
The bedroom door slammed shut, and Huo Junyan pressed his tongue against his cheek, laughing in exasperation.
In just a few minutes, he changed his clothes. Chu Ci held the rubber band, turned her head, and looked at him with undisguised amazement. He was nearly 1.9 meters tall, and his eyes, which seemed to be smiling but were not, were dangerous and charming.
"Don't tie your hair up," he said, taking the hair tie away and pulling her long hair back, parting it to cover her lower back. He sighed, "Let's leave it like this for now."
Chu Ci was amused by his appearance and took his arm, saying, "So rigid."
As the two reached the door, Chu Ci twisted her ankle three times. Huo Junyan looked down at her high heels and said, "Change into a different pair."
"No, I must wear super high heels when wearing a formal dress to have presence. Today, I want to be the best in terms of appearance."
Huo Junyan bent down and squatted down. "Lift your foot."
The two remained silent for a few seconds. Chu Ci took off her shoes, looking a little sullen, and pouted without saying a word.
The next second, he lifted her up with one arm and held her high heels with the other.
"Open the door."
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