There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 23.2

Perhaps because she was the first person to truly understand the meaning behind his painting… Huo Jingyan lied to Huo Shengfeng for the first time.

“From what I’ve observed so far, Xiao Jun doesn’t seem to be overly close to any girl… I’ll continue to investigate.”

“Good, then I’ll leave Xiao Jun’s matters to you.”

“Yes, Uncle. Don’t worry.”

“……”

A minute or two later, the call ended.

Huo Jingyan put away his phone, picked up the few teaching materials he had brought to the podium, and walked down the steps behind the curtain from the lecture platform of the multipurpose hall.

At this time, except for a few LED lights on the stage still casting a cold white light, everywhere else in the hall was covered in darkness. Just as Huo Jingyan stepped off the last step, the front door of the multipurpose hall suddenly opened.

Light from the corridor streamed in, and the person who pushed open the door leaned against it with hands in pockets. The corners of his thin lips curled up slightly, his eyes cold at the edges.

“With such a brilliant and glorious resume, to only use it for these trivial family matters, don’t you feel stifled?”

Huo Jingyan was only stunned for the initial two seconds, quickly regaining his composure and putting on that mask-like smile again.

“This is my responsibility.”

“Responsibility?” Huo Jun scoffed coldly, “Why don’t you just say it outright, what great benefits did the old man promise you to coax you into serving him so devotedly?”

“Not everything and everyone in this world can be bought or driven by profit.”

Huo Jingyan paused, the sharpness in his eyes dissipating, and he smiled again—

“I just didn’t expect that Young Master Zhonglou would engage in such ‘trivial matters’ as eavesdropping on others’ phone calls.”

As soon as he heard that title, Huo Jun’s eyes and expression turned cold.

However, contrary to Huo Jingyan’s expectation that Huo Jun would immediately refute him or simply turn and leave, Huo Jun, after darkening his eyes for a few seconds, neither got angry nor left. Instead, he visibly suppressed the irritation in his eyes.

Standing at the door, straddling the boundary of light and shadow in the multipurpose hall, Huo Jun sneered, “I have zero interest in your dealings—you needn’t worry.”

“Oh, then Young Master Zhonglou is…?”

“…”

Huo Jun turned his eyes away.

A few seconds later, he let out a very light, mocking laugh.

That laugh carried a hint of hostility, but more so, an emotion that Huo Jingyan couldn’t understand.

—

“I just want to confirm one thing with you.”

“Oh?” Huo Jingyan’s eyes flickered, “Whatever Young Master Zhonglou wants to know, I’ll tell you everything I know, without reservation.”

Huo Jun never fell for this act of his.

So after hearing this, his eyes remained mocking, but the deepest emotion within them began to flow slowly, “Qin Ke, will you like her?”

Huo Jingyan was stunned.

After the surprise, he couldn’t help but laugh, “Is this what you wanted to ask?”

“…” Huo Jun seemed to realize how childish his question sounded, his eyes showing a rare hint of embarrassment as he spoke, but he didn’t intend to take it back, “I’m asking you, not the other way around.”

Huo Jingyan still smiled. “Although Young Master Zhonglou and I are theoretically of the same generation, in terms of age, I’m almost old enough to be the father of your classmates. To like a girl nearly twenty years younger than myself… Am I that despicable in Young Master Zhonglou’s eyes?”

Huo Jun didn’t care about his teasing, “That’s what you said.”

Having confirmed this, he seemed ready to turn and leave without any lingering attachment.

Huo Jingyan’s eyes moved, and he still called out to him.

“You must have heard my phone call with your father?”

“…”

Huo Jun, who had turned around, stopped abruptly.

He didn’t turn back, only turned his face to the side. His already sharp jawline tensed into an almost razor-sharp curve, and those black eyes completely lost their last trace of warmth.

“He is not my father. I don’t have a father.”

Huo Jingyan wisely chose not to dwell on this topic with Huo Jun, but instead opted to move past it.

“I think you can guess his intention,” he said.

“So what?” Huo Jun replied.

“So,” Huo Jingyan narrowed his eyes slightly, “I believe if Young Master Zhonglou truly likes that girl, then at this stage, what you should do is to stay away from her.”

“Should?”

Upon hearing this, Huo Jun suddenly burst out a harsh, hoarse laugh.

“Bullsh*t ‘should’—in my dictionary, there’s no ‘should or shouldn’t’, only ‘want or don’t want’!”

Huo Jingyan frowned, which was rare for him.

“Are you treating her as an accessory?”

“……”

Huo Jun, unable to bear it any longer, turned back around.

The young man’s clean-cut, pale profile was now cast in the interplay of light and shadow from outside the door, creating long, intricate shadows that made his features appear even more sharply defined and razor-edged.

He lifted his eyelids, his smile lazy yet cold.

“Don’t spout that emotional philosophy crap at me, I’m not interested.”

He paused, raising his eyes slightly, his pupils so black it seemed as if light couldn’t penetrate them at all.

“Huo Jingyan, do you know what the biggest difference is between me and you, you all, even that old man and his entire Huo family?”

Huo Jingyan’s eyes flickered. “I’m all ears.”

“That old man and you, you both carry the Huo surname of the Huo family—even if the old man treats you like a dog raised by the Huo family under the title of an adopted son, you’re still a purebred dog.”

Huo Jun let out a cold sneer, the sharpness in his eyes piercing.

“But I’m different. No matter what you call me, when I was born, I wasn’t some damn ‘Young Master Zhonglou’, but a stray dog that anyone could kick on the street.”

“…”

“Do you know the habits of a stray dog, you purebred?”

Huo Jun raised his head, looking up at Huo Jingyan on the steps.

He grinned, his teeth snow-white, his eyes as black as the long night—

“It’s simple.”

“Whoever dares to touch what’s mine, I’ll tear them apart myself and swallow them bit by bit.”

“—Whether it’s you, or the Huo family.”