There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Extra 6.1

When Qin Ke awoke from her nightmare, the scene from her dream still lingered before her eyes–

In a corner of the small woods at Qiande High School, under a tree, a man leaned against the trunk with his eyes closed, while his phone had fallen to the ground, hitting an empty medicine bottle.

Fear gripped Qin Ke, making it hard for her to breathe.

She hugged the man in front of her tightly, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“Huo Zhonglou…”

Was that his fate?

If she hadn’t come, would this person have ended his life like this, leaving himself without even the slightest possibility of happiness and hope?

Remembering everything that had flashed by in her dream, Qin Ke felt so heartbroken she could hardly breathe.

Angry and sad, she bit the man’s neck.

But the girl’s hands only held the person in front of her tighter, as if afraid that, like in her dream, she would only be able to watch him die helplessly, unable to do anything or save him.

Huo Zhonglou’s figure stiffened, but in the end, he didn’t have the heart to push the girl away at such a moment.

Just then, he sensed movement and lightly wrapped his arms around the girl in his embrace, slightly furrowing his brow as he turned to look.

Fang Xusheng, leaning against the doorframe, showed no shame for his eavesdropping–

“Director Huo, this relationship between you as a brother-in-law and sister-in-law… seems quite solid and genuine, huh?”

Hearing this unfamiliar voice, Qin Ke, whose mind was still immersed in the dream, finally came to her senses. She hurriedly backed away a little, reaching out to wipe away the tears still hanging on the tip of her chin.

The girl looked up somewhat flustered, her gaze passing over Huo Zhonglou’s shoulder to fall on Fang Xusheng standing at the door.

Their eyes met.

Fang Xusheng was stunned for a moment.

Earlier, when he had glanced around on the first floor, he hadn’t paid much attention to the girl’s appearance. But now, seeing her, he realized she was indeed a rare beauty, especially with her current tearful appearance, which was even more heart-rending.

Fang Xusheng had always been someone without much integrity when it came to relationships between men and women, and Huo Zhonglou was well aware of this. Sensing that Fang Xusheng’s gaze had lingered on Qin Ke for more than three seconds, Huo Zhonglou’s expression darkened.

“Go wait for me outside.”

“…”

Hearing the unmistakable dismissal in these words, Fang Xusheng rubbed his nose and turned to leave, disappointed. As he left, he was thoughtful enough to close the door.

Huo Zhonglou’s eyes cleared slightly.

He turned back, looking at the girl in his arms who had just dried her tears.

“What happened to you just now?”

Qin Ke hesitated for a moment. The scene from her dream, which she was reminded of again, made her eyelashes tremble.

The girl lowered her eyes.

“Nothing… I just had a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” Huo Zhonglou frowned, “What nightmare?”

Qin Ke’s gaze wavered.

In this moment, she had already adjusted her emotions, and now looked up at the man in front of her.

The girl showed a slight smile.

“I dreamed that you really married Qin Yan, and it scared me awake.”

Huo Zhonglou: “…”

Hearing that this wasn’t the truth, Huo Zhonglou was still taken aback, strange and inexplicable emotions arising in his heart.

He quickly snapped out of his previous worry, noticing that his current position with Qin Ke was indeed intimate. Huo Zhonglou’s gaze darkened slightly.

He placed the girl back on the bed and stepped away.

“You can rest here for a while. I have some matters to attend to later. You can leave whenever you’re done resting.”

—

After the earlier anxiety and concern, the man’s tone was once again suppressed to a restrained and cold temperature.

Having said this, without giving Qin Ke a chance to stop him, he had already turned and quickly walked out the door.

His retreating figure seemed almost like he was fleeing in panic.

Qin Ke frowned, got off the bed, put on her shoes, and prepared to chase after him.

However, just as she reached the door between the inner and outer rooms, her hand on the doorknob, she happened to hear the earlier unfamiliar male voice from outside, with a hint of mockery.

“Just now, who was telling me that he could only be the girl’s brother-in-law? Does your face hurt?”

Qin Ke paused, pricking up her ears to listen.

“…”

Outside the door, Huo Zhonglou gave Fang Xusheng a cold glance.

“I am just her brother-in-law. She had a nightmare, shouldn’t I be concerned?”

“Tsk tsk, I never thought, Director Huo, that one day I’d see emotions like putting on a brave face and self-deception in you because of a woman?”

“…”

“Come on, tell me, what’s the difficult situation? Why do you have to marry the sister of the person you like? There’s no family in this Sijiu City that can force you into an unwilling marriage alliance, right?”

“You’re overthinking. The marriage was my own decision, no one can interfere with me.”

Huo Zhonglou’s voice was deep and cold.

“If there’s nothing else, you should just leave — if you have business later, come find me at the company, don’t come to the old house again.”

“Don’t be like that,” Fang Xusheng laughed, “I haven’t finished talking yet, why are you in such a hurry to send guests away?”

“…What else do you want to say?” Huo Zhonglou looked at him coldly.

Fang Xusheng leaned in closer, lowering his voice, and said jokingly, “Since you say this young lady is just your pure sister-in-law and you’re her brother-in-law, that you have no interest in her and only want to marry her sister, and since we’re friends — why don’t we become brothers-in-law? Let’s strengthen our bond!”

Huo Zhonglou’s figure stiffened.

The air was dead silent for a few seconds, then he suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Fang Xusheng’s collar, slamming him against the wall with a “bang”.

“I’m warning you, Fang Xusheng, don’t you dare set your sights on her — she’s not like you and those women around you!”

“Hahahahaha…”

Fang Xusheng, despite being grabbed by the collar, wasn’t angry at all. Instead, he looked like he was about to double over with laughter.

“Huo Zhonglou, you should quickly find a mirror and look at your eyes right now — you look like someone whose precious treasure, kept safe for over ten years, has been eyed by others — and you still claim to be just her brother-in-law? Who are you trying to fool??”

“……”

Huo Zhonglou’s gaze darkened as he let go and pushed the man aside.

He himself cast a complex look towards the direction of the inner room’s door.

It was quiet inside.

As if no one was there.

Huo Zhonglou’s eyes sank deeper as he turned his head to give Fang Xusheng a fierce look.

“Didn’t you want to drink?”

Having said that, he turned and strode out of the room.

Fang Xusheng adjusted his collar and was about to move when he heard a soft sound from the inner room.

He paused, pretending not to notice, and raised his voice as if calling out to the already departed Huo Zhonglou–

“Hey, aren’t you getting married? Is it appropriate to go out drinking and looking for women at a time like this?”

A low curse came from outside the door, indistinct.

Meanwhile, the successful Fang Xusheng glanced at the inner room door from the corner of his eye and left with a smile.

A few seconds later.

The door opened, and the girl, with a slightly tense expression, stood there for a few seconds before clenching her fingertips and quickly running out.

****

The driver was forced to brake.

On the tree-lined path of the Huo family estate, a girl in a little white dress stood in the middle of the road.

“Young… Young Master Zhonglou.”

The driver carefully turned back to look at the back seat.

Fang Xusheng sat with his arms crossed, smiling gleefully, while beside him, the man’s eyes were dark and unsettled.

“Tell her to move.”

“…Yes, sir.”

The driver dared not refuse and had to unbuckle his seatbelt to get out and persuade her.

Inside the car.

Fang Xusheng laughed, “Stop pretending, Director Huo.”

“…”

Huo Zhonglou didn’t speak, just turned to give Fang Xusheng a cold look.

Fang Xusheng continued smiling. “You actually knew she would definitely chase after you, didn’t you?”

“……”

“Otherwise, you wouldn’t be wearing this somewhat ridiculous mask of yours — you’ve never cared about how others see you before, treating them like ants at your feet, right?”

Fang Xusheng stroked his chin.

“So you must have known she wouldn’t be easily persuaded, right?”

Almost as soon as Fang Xusheng finished speaking, the driver came running back, sweating profusely, and bent down by the window.

“Young Master Huo, Miss Qin Ke… she refuses to move.”

Huo Zhonglou’s temple twitched.

He clenched his fist.

—

Those most selfish and dark thoughts at the bottom of his heart seemed to have been peeked at and exposed by Fang Xusheng beside him.

Fang Xusheng was right. Deep down, he knew she would definitely chase after him. If he didn’t want her to stop him, he had thousands of ways to prevent it.

She could block the car only because he wanted to see her appear in front of him.

Just as Huo Zhonglou was struggling internally, Fang Xusheng laughed loudly and waved to the driver.

“You get in the car, I’ll go persuade her.”

The driver glanced at Huo Zhonglou.

Seeing that Huo Zhonglou showed no clear objection, the driver smiled apologetically, “Thank you for your trouble, Mr. Fang.”

Fang Xusheng waved his hand dismissively.

He opened the car door and got out, walking straight towards the girl.

Keeping a close eye on those two figures, Huo Zhonglou’s hand on his knee clenched into a fist.

As he was trying his best to restrain himself from doing something irrational, he saw Fang Xusheng and Qin Ke walking towards the car from the front.

Fang Xusheng opened the rear door and said with a smile to the person behind him.

“Please, Miss Qin Ke.”

“Thank you.”

Qin Ke bent down and entered the car.

Fang Xusheng gave a smug smile to those inside the car and directly got into the front passenger seat.

Huo Zhonglou: “……”

In the oppressively silent atmosphere, the driver reluctantly restarted the vehicle.

The car drove off.

From the moment Qin Ke got in the car, Huo Zhonglou hadn’t looked to his side once. Now he coldly asked, “What are you doing here?”

Given that there were two bright “light bulbs” in the car – the driver could perhaps be ignored, but that Fang Xusheng constantly wore an expression of watching a good show – Qin Ke naturally couldn’t show any intimate gestures towards Huo Zhonglou.

She hesitated for a moment, then found a grand-sounding excuse.

“I heard you were going out drinking. Since Qin Yan isn’t here, I… I’m helping her keep an eye on you, to prevent you from messing around with those women.”

The end of her sentence carried a strangely cute tone of gritted teeth.

Huo Zhonglou’s posture stiffened slightly.

He indeed hadn’t expected Qin Ke to use this reason to deal with him, but thinking about it, the reason was quite reasonable and appropriate.

Whether or not there were selfish motives at play, Huo Zhonglou ultimately chose to remain silent.