Chapter 118: Let's Part Ways

Huo Xingzhou nodded. "All right."

After he spoke, he reached out and wiped the sauce from the corner of Xiaoxiao’s mouth with a napkin. Xiaoxiao, however, grabbed his hand, refusing to let him pull it away.

Huo Xingzhou raised an eyebrow. "What’s the matter?"

Xiaoxiao turned her eyes, smiling softly. "I want to go to Lawyer Huo’s place to watch a movie."

Huo Xingzhou was stunned for a moment. "They don't have it at the cinema?"

Xiaoxiao sighed. "No, it’s been out for a few years now."

Xiaoxiao held his hand and kissed the back of it. "Of course, the main thing is, I want to hold Lawyer Huo in your big bed, draw the curtains..."

She dragged out the note, smiling coyly. "...and watch the movie together!"

Huo Xingzhou was amused by her childish flirting and nodded. "Fine. I’ll hold you."

Xiaoxiao’s smile became even brighter than before. "Since it’s finally a day where Lawyer Huo isn't busy, why don’t we open a bottle of red wine to celebrate?"

Huo Xingzhou called the waiter over and opened a bottle. "But we must drink sparingly; I still have to go to work tomorrow."

...

"When will you transfer the money to me?" Xiaoxiao asked, clutching her phone as she looked at the man in the suit sitting across from her.

Gu Ming had his hands clasped on the table, his eyes fixed on the phone she was gripping tightly. "Are you afraid I’ll welch on the deal? As long as I’ve seen the photos and the contents are genuine, the money will be in your account the next second."

"Whether it’s genuine is for you to decide. How would I know?" Xiaoxiao still refused to let go of her phone.

The relaxed smile on Gu Ming’s face faded, replaced by the stern, imposing authority of someone in a high position. "If you don’t want to cooperate, please leave."

Seeing that the man before her was so unhurried, a flash of panic struck Xiaoxiao’s heart. She had gone to such lengths to trick this document out of Huo Xingzhou; she wasn't about to give up easily. She had endured the pressure of potentially being abandoned by Huo Xingzhou, all for the sky-high check this man had promised. With that money, she would never have to grovel or work overtime like a slave for her boss again, nor would she have to hesitate over a bag costing tens of thousands. Everything she had never dared to dream of would be within her reach. She wouldn't give up, not even if it meant gambling.

"Here." Xiaoxiao unlocked her phone and sent him the document she had secretly photographed.

"You photographed every page? Nothing is missing?" Gu Ming asked as he received the images.

Xiaoxiao nodded firmly. "I photographed everything."

That day, she had tricked Huo Xingzhou into coming home to watch a movie, then plied him with alcohol. As they watched, Huo Xingzhou had unknowingly finished an entire bottle of red wine and fallen into a drunken sleep. Xiaoxiao knew he kept his documents in the study. He was a cautious man, and even the study at home was kept under lock and key; it had taken her quite a while just to find the key.

Knowing Huo Xingzhou was asleep and unlikely to wake up easily, she carefully photographed every single page.

"He didn't notice?" Gu Ming was still a bit skeptical. A man like Huo Xingzhou—did he really let a woman get the better of him like this? Fifty million couldn't move him, yet this woman, who didn't exactly look like a femme fatale, had gotten what she wanted so easily?

"Of course he didn't notice. If he had, would I still be standing here talking to you?" Xiaoxiao scoffed.

Gu Ming opened the photos and scanned the text. The further he read, the deeper his frown became.

"Hurry up and pay me," Xiaoxiao urged.

Gu Ming slammed his phone down on the table. "Show her out."

The assistant standing nearby immediately stepped forward and pulled the bewildered Xiaoxiao away.

"What are you doing? Are you really trying to cheat me? I recorded our conversation! You said if I got that encrypted will, you’d give me ten million!"

"Yes, but this will of yours is a fake," Gu Ming said in a deep voice.

Xiaoxiao’s expression was one of panic. "No, that’s impossible! This is the encrypted file! I took it out of the safe. I guessed the password twice—the password was the date he was rescued from the fire. He once told me that the fire gave him the courage to keep living. How could it be fake?"

Gu Ming had no interest in bickering with a woman here. "It’s fake. If you still want that ten million, I can give you one more chance, though I don’t know if Huo Xingzhou will give you another chance."

Dazed and distraught, Xiaoxiao walked out of Gu Ming’s office.

The document was fake.

Could it be that Huo Xingzhou had intentionally placed a fake document in the safe to mislead people? But it was his own home—why would he do that? Who was he guarding against?

Xiaoxiao walked along the street against the biting wind. Suddenly, a flash of bright red roses passed by. It was an old man pushing a flower cart. Through the roses, Xiaoxiao saw Huo Xingzhou on the other side of the road. He seemed to be waiting for her.

Xiaoxiao immediately wiped the look of despair from her face and forced a smile. She bought a bouquet of roses from the old man.

"Huo Xingzhou!" she called out, waving the flowers and smiling as she ran toward him. The light turned green, and she rushed across, reaching the other side first.

She gave him a smile as dazzling as ever, breathless. "Huo Xingzhou, for you."

Huo Xingzhou smiled just as gently as he always did. "Thank you."

Xiaoxiao’s smile didn't fade. "Why are you here?"

Huo Xingzhou took a breath of the roses' scent. "I ran into you here last time, and I must have walked here without realizing it. Perhaps... I missed you?"

Xiaoxiao’s brilliant smile slowly stiffened. She froze. In truth, that day, she had come here on purpose, pretending to run into him by chance. She suppressed the guilt and panic in her heart. "I—I missed you, too."

"Why are you here again?" Huo Xingzhou asked with a faint smile, holding the roses in one hand and taking her hand with the other.

"Well..." Xiaoxiao’s eyes curved into crescents, glowing with a bright luster. "I came to buy roses for my big lawyer, Huo."

The two of them walked forward aimlessly. Huo Xingzhou looked at the person beside him. "How have you been lately?"

Xiaoxiao smiled. "Great! As long as I keep Lawyer Huo in my heart, I can even laugh when I look at my bald boss."

"How are your parents?" he asked again.

Xiaoxiao nodded. "They’re very well. Mom said yesterday she wanted to come to Jing City to see me, but I thought it would be too much trouble, so I told her not to."

"Xiaoxiao," Huo Xingzhou stopped and called her name.

Xiaoxiao’s heart gave a sudden, sharp ache at the sound. "Wh—what is it?" She forced a laugh. "Is Lawyer Huo so in love with me that you have to say my name every single second?"

"If you are short on money, you can tell me."

Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment. "I—I’m not short on money. Even though the salary that heartless boss pays is low, it’s enough for food and drink." It was just that it could never fill the bottomless pit of her desires.

Passing an intersection, there was a trash can on the corner. Huo Xingzhou let go of her hand and walked straight toward it. The delicate, vibrant roses in his hand were tossed ruthlessly inside.

Before, the roses expressed love; now, they were useless trash.

"Let’s break up," he said calmly.