There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 38.1

At the moment she heard those three words, Qin Ke’s body suddenly trembled. Her pupils constricted tightly, and she turned her head to look at Huo Jingyansent behind her in disbelief.

Huo Jingyan had already paid no attention to her loss of composure. Taking advantage of the moment when Huo Jun at the edge of the rooftop was also stunned by this sound, he ran over in large strides, causing a gust of wind as he passed by Qin Ke’s side.

That wind sound made Qin Ke’s ears ring and her vision blur, almost unable to stand steady.

Her legs felt weak, and she instinctively took half a step back, leaning against the low wall of the rooftop behind her. Qin Ke looked anxiously at the scene not far away.

The youth who had completely lost his rationality was barely restrained by the joint efforts of Huo Jingyan and other teachers who had rushed over. The boy who had spread rumors and slandered Qin Ke fainted from fright after being rescued, and countless students were discussing in low voices with grim expressions…

In Qin Ke’s ears, there were only those chaotic sounds that seemed to suffocate her.

After an unknown amount of time had passed.

The crowd on the rooftop finally gradually dispersed, and the world slowly quieted down.

Huo Jingyan, who had left earlier, returned to the rooftop alone and stood in front of Qin Ke again.

He crouched down with concern, “Qin Ke?”

Seeing the girl’s eyes that seemed to have lost focus, Huo Jingyan waved his hand in front of her and asked worriedly, “What’s wrong with you?… Are you scared, or are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“…”

Qin Ke opened her dry lips but couldn’t utter a single word for a long time.

Her appearance and state made Huo Jingyan even more worried. He frowned and reached out to feel the temperature of the girl’s forehead.

He also touched the girl’s fingertips with the back of his hand.

They were all cold.

— Clearly, she was indeed shocked, and to a considerable degree.

“You can’t stay like this. Let me take you to the infirmary too.”

As Huo Jingyan spoke, he frowned and bent down, reaching out to help Qin Ke up.

However, Qin Ke almost instinctively avoided his support and hugged her arms tightly. “No…”

“?”

Huo Jingyan looked at her in confusion.

After another ten seconds or so, Qin Ke slowly stabilized her breathing and gradually calmed her previously agitated mind.

She looked up at Huo Jingyan and forced a very faint smile.

“I’m fine…Teacher Huo.”

Huo Jingyan: “Your current complexion doesn’t look like you’re fine.”

“I just…”

Qin Ke opened her mouth but couldn’t explain.

After a few seconds of silence, she looked at Huo Jingyan with trembling pupils, “Teacher Huo, I want to ask you a question.”

“Mm, go ahead.”

“Did you just call Huo Jun… Huo Zhonglou?” Qin Ke’s throat felt dry and tight, and she unconsciously clenched her fingertips. “He… that name…”

Huo Jingyan was stunned for a moment.

“Didn’t you say that Huo Jun had told you about his background?”

Qin Ke nodded absent-mindedly, “He did tell me, he said he was an illegitimate child of the Huo family…”

The girl looked up, her tone unintentionally becoming a bit urgent, “But isn’t Huo Zhonglou supposed to be the…designated heir of the Huo family?” Qin Ke bit her lip, “Shouldn’t Huo Zhonglou be — studying abroad now?”

Huo Jingyan said helplessly, “It seems that Huo Jun didn’t tell you — Huo Zhonglou is him, or rather, the real Huo Zhonglou never existed in the first place.”

“……”

Qin Ke looked at Huo Jingyan in shock, unable to say a word.

“How could Huo Zhonglou… not exist?”

“The name Huo Zhonglou, and all the background it represents, were fabricated by Huo Jun’s father, Mr. Huo Shengfeng.”

Huo Jingyan sighed deeply with a solemn expression.

“When Huo Jun was born, Mr. Huo Shengfeng wanted to bring him back to the Huo family, but Huo Jun’s status as an illegitimate child wouldn’t be accepted by the truly orthodox elites in their circle. To prevent Huo Jun’s life from being hindered by his birth in the future, Mr. Huo Shengfeng created the identity of a Huo family heir born to his legal wife starting from the year Huo Jun was born. He used the excuse of the child being born weak to send him abroad for treatment — when he turned eighteen, he could ‘return to the country’ as a legitimate heir who had received an elite education.”

This news almost completely stunned Qin Ke.

Her mind went blank.

All the understanding she had accumulated over her past and present lives seemed to be completely overturned in this instant.

A complex and indescribable sense of helplessness welled up from the bottom of Qin Ke’s heart. It was a long time before she pressed her fingernails tightly, letting the pain in her palm bring back her senses.

—

If everything Huo Jingyan said now was the truth.

Then without a doubt, in her previous life, she had been deceived by both “Huo Zhonglou” and Huo Jingyan.

The so-called fact deeply ingrained in her memory that “Huo Zhonglou’s face was disfigured due to a terrorist attack abroad when he was young” was told to her by Huo Jingyan from the very beginning.

And the only one who could make him deceive her like this must be Huo Zhonglou himself.

Huo Zhonglou did this to cover up the truth that he was once Huo Jun — but he liked her, and even saved her, so why did he deceive her and hide it from her?

Unless…

A flash of white light suddenly crossed Qin Ke’s mind.

Her fingertips dug deeply into her palm, and the girl unconsciously let out a muffled groan, but she didn’t bother to look.

—

In her previous life, on the film set, there was that accidental fire caused by the unexpected explosion of fireworks facilities needed for filming.

It was from that day on that Huo Jun completely disappeared from her life.

And Huo Zhonglou’s disfigured face, and his voice…

Qin Ke’s pupils suddenly contracted.

She tasted an iron-like bloody taste in her mouth. She had unconsciously bitten her tongue or some other part, but the pain had long since gone numb.

Qin Ke bowed her head bitterly. She curled herself up into a ball, burying her face in her legs, her chest emitting a low, plaintive sound like that of an injured bird.

—

So it was all because of her.

So the two madmen from her past and present lives who were so obsessed with only seeing her were actually the same person…

Huo Jun.

Huo Zhonglou…

****

Qin Ke sat on the sofa in Song Qisheng’s office, looking lost and dejected.

Huo Jingyan pushed open the door, loosened the cap of a bottle of room temperature mineral water in his hand, and then handed it to Qin Ke.

“Have some water?”

“…”

Qin Ke came back to her senses, took it, and said a soft thank you.

Her voice was so soft it seemed like it could be scattered by the wind at any moment.

Huo Jingyan exchanged a helpless glance with Song Qisheng beside him. Song Qisheng lowered his head to return to work, while Huo Jingyan brought over a chair and placed it opposite the sofa where Qin Ke was sitting.

He sat down sideways.

After a few seconds of silence in the office, Huo Jingyan carefully considered his words before slowly speaking.

“You look like… you were terrified by Huo Jun?”

Qin Ke pressed her dry lips together and took a sip of water from the bottle.

“It’s not that…”

“Then what’s the matter?” Huo Jingyan asked.

“…”

Qin Ke couldn’t explain.

Fortunately, Huo Jingyan was understanding and had never been one to pry, so after seeing that the girl really didn’t want to talk about it, he automatically skipped this question.

“Then let’s not talk about this.”

“Mm…” The girl lowered her eyes, her small, fair oval face showing little emotion, “Thank you, Teacher Huo.”

“What’s there to thank for?”

“…” Qin Ke lightly pressed her lips together and raised the mineral water bottle in her hand, “I meant this.”

Huo Jingyan was speechless, then chuckled and shook his head after a moment.

“Seeing that you can still joke, I guess I don’t need to worry about you too much?”

“Mm, I’m fine now.”

Qin Ke nodded.

Then she seemed to finally remember the matter at hand and hurriedly looked up to ask Huo Jingyan, “Is the person who fainted alright?”

Huo Jingyan also joked, which was rare for him, “Do you hope he’s alright, or not alright?”

Qin Ke didn’t even think about it.

“Of course I hope he’s alright.”

Huo Jingyan: “Hmm, I didn’t expect our student Qin Ke to be so very, very kind, even hoping that someone who tried to harm you is alright?”

“…”

Qin Ke looked at Huo Jingyan helplessly.

“Teacher Huo, I’m really fine now, so you don’t need to joke to make me laugh — you know better than I do, I don’t care whether he’s alright or not, but if something happened to him, Huo Jun would definitely be in big trouble.”

Hearing this, Huo Jingyan didn’t say anything, but Song Qisheng in the corner behind the desk let out a light snort.

“It’s rare to have someone clear-headed among you little madmen. I thought you were all like Huo Jun, not caring about the consequences when your blood runs hot.”

He irritably put his phone on the desk and glanced at Huo Jingyan.

“Don’t worry, the hospital has given the results. He just received a little shock, nothing serious. At most, your Huo family will have to cover part of the cost for some calming medication, and this matter can be considered settled.”

Huo Jingyan’s eyes relaxed.

Evidently, some of his previous complete calmness and joking was also partly an act.

“But you know how serious the nature of this incident is, right?” Song Qisheng glanced at Huo Jingyan irritably, “This happened in front of all the teachers and students — what happened in the second year class could at most be considered intimidation, but this time, everyone watched as he almost pushed someone off the building. If you hadn’t arrived in time…”

Saying this, Song Qisheng frowned himself.

His expression became a bit unpleasant, and his tone carried a hint of sarcasm.

“Can’t your Huo family take back this little troublemaker early, and stop causing these kinds of incidents at our school?”

Huo Jingyan gave a bitter smile.

Qin Ke, however, was confused as she watched from the sofa on the other side: She thought she understood both Song Qisheng and Huo Jingyan, but their interaction seemed much closer than the ordinary colleague relationship she had imagined.

Seeming to notice Qin Ke’s confusion, Huo Jingyan glanced over and explained with a smile —

“Oh, did I forget to tell you? Your homeroom teacher happens to be my middle school classmate…right, Old Song?”

“…”

Song Qisheng gave him a cold look.

“You have the nerve to say that. First, I helped you bring in this troublemaker Huo Jun, then I introduced you to work at the school, and how many problems have you caused me before and after? If the principal or leaders trace this back to me — do you know how meager a teacher’s salary is? Even the bonuses at a private school aren’t enough for you to keep deducting like this.”

It was rare for Qin Ke to see Huo Jingyan show a bit of embarrassment. He seemed to scratch his head helplessly and said apologetically,

“But nothing serious happened, right?”

“Fortunately not!”

Song Qisheng stood up directly, “I’m terrified just thinking about the consequences — if something really happened, do you know how many people would be implicated!?”

“…”

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Qin Ke hurriedly stood up from the sofa and spoke softly to ease the mood —

“I’m sorry, Teacher Song. After all, this incident arose because of me…”

“This has nothing to do with you!” Song Qisheng said, then seeming to feel he was being too partial, he glanced at Qin Ke and added, “At least the source isn’t with you — if it weren’t for this troublemaker your Teacher Huo brought, who needs to kowtow three times and bow nine times just to transfer back home — Huo Jingyan using our school?”