When he said this, he was already prepared. If Huo Qijun became furious upon hearing this and decided to confront his mother, he needed a plan to calm him down and prevent the situation from escalating.
However, it seemed that Huo Qijun didn’t really take it to heart. He casually asked, “Who is Fu Tianlan?”
“…He is Fu Xiaoqing’s brother.” Lin Wei sighed. He realized that he shouldn’t have expected anything from the relationship between the male and female protagonists in this world, which was more fragile than plastic.
Huo Qijun paused for a few seconds. “Oh.”
His expression was indifferent, seemingly unfazed. In reality, only Lin Wei could see a hint of innocence in his eyes. After some thought, Lin Wei concluded that it wasn’t entirely his fault; no one had specifically told him what Fu Xiaoqing’s brother was called.
Fu Xiaoqing was unaware of this, and he assumed that Huo Qijun should have known.
“So my mom is still looking into the whereabouts of the siblings?” After processing this, Huo Qijun seemed incredulous.
“What else?” Lin Wei put a damper on his excitement. “You’ve already moved on, while Mrs. Huo still has the script in hand, believing you are defying her for love!”
If the original Mrs. Huo knew that without her intervention, Huo Qijun and Fu Xiaoqing could never come together, he wondered what her thoughts would be.
“Wait… When did I say that things with her are resolved?” Huo Qijun’s words were filled with both anger and confusion; even he couldn’t understand his own feelings.
“Didn’t you?” Lin Wei reminded him, “Even if it isn’t all for you, I’ve created the perfect conditions for you. Think back on everything you’ve done in these days. Do you have even the slightest awareness of wanting to pursue her?”
Really, which domineering CEO, when chasing someone, would ignore the meals prepared by the female lead and hide in the office to gnaw on three days’ worth of snacks?!
“…”
Huo Qijun fell silent. He wanted to say that it was all Lin Wei’s fault for distracting him, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
In the end, with nothing more to say, Huo Qijun decided to change the subject. “As for my mom… Even if I told her I only wanted to focus on work, she probably wouldn’t believe me.”
Lin Wei agreed with that thought: “She would only be more convinced that you’re hiding someone, and that your submissiveness is just a tactic to lower her guard.”
“Tsk! This is endless!” After thinking it over, Huo Qijun felt as if they had been at a dead end from the beginning. His mom was being too dramatic, making it seem as if there were a royal throne to inherit. After all, even ancient emperors married commoners!
He really didn’t know what to say to her!
“You don’t need to worry too much. There’s just over a month until Xiaoqing’s exam. Once she finishes, I’ll get her a job with Fu Tianlan. As long as she leaves the city, I’m confident your mother won’t be able to find them.”
Lin Wei didn’t want anything to change before he sent off Fu Xiaoqing.
However, it was clear that Huo Qijun wasn’t the kind of person to swallow his anger. “I think she’s just not busy enough. Just wait! I’ll go cause her some trouble!”
“…What do you plan to do?” Lin Wei’s heart sank. His instincts told him that this sort of childish talk coming from the male protagonist would bode ill for his mission.
Even though Huo Qijun had a big disparity between his outward demeanour and inner character, and could act selfishly, the reality was that the whole little world had to make way for him.
“Don’t worry. She’s my mom; how could I really do anything to her?” Huo Qijun, judging by how he dealt with the bar incident, knew that Lin Wei was soft-hearted. Although he didn’t say what he specifically wanted to do, he at least reassured him.
But Lin Wei couldn’t relax. He knew Huo Qijun wouldn’t go so far as to harm his own mother, but during the power struggle, if someone else got hurt, that wouldn’t be acceptable either!
“Wait, calm down.” Lin Wei tried to steer him: “I think, instead of throwing a tantrum in your mother’s eyes, why not try to remove the root cause quietly?”
“What do you mean by a tantrum?” Huo Qijun was displeased.
Lin Wei deliberately sneered, “Petty tricks that don’t cause your opponent any substantial losses fall under the category of childish behaviour in my book!”
“What grand idea do you have then?” Huo Qijun pursed his lips, seemingly guessing what he was about to say.
Indeed…
Lin Wei shrugged casually. “Seize the power! The influence of the Huo family is the reason your mother can rally everyone with a single word. If you can rise to power ahead of time, then the support and freedom will belong to you.”
Internal power shifts within the company would inevitably lead to some people losing their jobs, but at least it would be within the bounds of legality, a normal phenomenon in the regular world.
Shifting the focus of their mother-son conflict from Fu Xiaoqing to the highest authority of the Huo family would ensure that it wouldn’t end up as a power struggle with kidnapping and illegal imprisonment as seen in the original work.
Of course, he couldn’t feel completely relaxed either. Though Huo Qijun had always harmed those he thought were wrongdoers, it was still wise to guard against the same being done to him.
This Huo Qijun could definitely pull off!
“Think it over carefully!” Lin Wei emphasized, “As long as you make a decision, I will definitely assist you without conditions.”
He didn’t think this would be too difficult for Huo Qijun. The reason Huo Qijun couldn’t outwit Mrs. Huo in the original work was due to the narrative inertia of the love-hate plot. Once the conflict wasn’t related to Fu Xiaoqing, the world wouldn’t allow him to lose.
He said this more as an encouragement to spur him on.
However, Huo Qijun’s interpretation of this was completely different. He stared quietly at Lin Wei’s calm and natural expression for a few seconds, then casually shifted his gaze away.
“Hmm, I understand what you mean.”
At noon, Tang Yuan stayed to have lunch together. At this point, Huo Qijun had finally stopped wearing his icy expression, although he still maintained a somewhat distant demeanour.
Lin Wei thought that he had simply shifted his focus and was contemplating how to deal with Mrs. Huo, but only Fu Xiaoqing, who was unaware of their previous conversation, sensed the underlying tension.