To prepare for the confrontation with Old Madam Huo, Huo Qijun indeed buried himself in work for a long time.
He glanced at Fu Xiaoqing. Although his expression didn’t change much, the smugness in his eyes couldn’t be concealed. Fu Xiaoqing curled her lip, unsure why he was so pleased. Lin Wei treated everyone well, not just him!
That night, Lin Wei firmly refused to let Fu Xiaoqing wash the dishes again, asking her to go upstairs and pack her things instead. Huo Qijun sat nearby watching Lin Wei tidy up the dishes, feeling a bit restless for some reason. Soon enough, he got up to help.
The young master rarely cooked because he found it dirty but insisted on lending a hand, which only made things more cumbersome. In the end, Lin Wei could only helplessly shoo him away.
Yet, Huo Qijun surprisingly didn’t leave, leaning against the kitchen door with his arms crossed, quietly keeping company with her.
“You…” Lin Wei initially wanted to say that if he had shown such awareness while pursuing Fu Xiaoqing, they might not have been so close yet so far apart. However, he realized at the last moment that this was an ambiguous comment, especially since Huo Qijun currently bore the label of being male. It was a joke that couldn’t be made, so he quickly held his tongue.
“I?” To his surprise, Huo Qijun persisted, not letting the issue go.
Lin Wei had no choice but to rephrase: “It’s nothing much. I just think your changes are quite significant. If someone had told me two months ago that you would voluntarily help out with chores, I would have thought they were still half-asleep.”
As he spoke, he found himself laughing.
However, Huo Qijun thought this was an exaggeration: “I moved out and lived alone after reaching adulthood. Didn’t I do all the chores at my house myself?” He wasn’t keen on outsiders intruding into his personal space and had a slight cleanliness obsession, so it was impossible that he had never done housework; he just didn’t know how to cook!
“Of course, you can handle your own affairs.” Lin Wei pierced through his defenses: “You just never had the awareness to empathize and help others share the burden. But that’s not your fault. You grew up with a bunch of people waiting on you. It’s impressive enough that you can tidy yourself up.”
“As long as you know!” This comment felt like praising a child, making Huo Qijun somewhat uncomfortable.
If Fu Xiaoqing were there, she would definitely think to herself that Huo Qijun, apart from his work capabilities, was essentially like an immature child. If love was the second growth opportunity that taught him to empathize with others after family affection, then it was already evident who he liked.
He could not learn from his experiences when he met Fu Xiaoqing but became self-taught in this aspect with Lin Wei.
Unfortunately, the two present, Lin Wei didn’t consider this direction at all. After all, in his perception, Huo Qijun was like the male protagonist in a romance novel. How could he possibly like men? Huo Qijun himself also rarely questioned his sexual orientation; even if he noticed his concern, he wouldn’t think of it as liking someone.
He would rather admit to his vanity.
The next day, Lin Wei sent Fu Xiaoqing off. This was Huo Qijun’s first visit to that place, and while resting his eyes in the passenger seat, he rarely reflected on his previous indifference.
He suddenly realized that he had never once cared about Fu Xiaoqing’s brother’s situation. After getting a satisfactory answer from Lin Wei, he completely stopped caring.
He genuinely didn’t care about the conditions of the rehabilitation center, the qualifications of the expert team, or even his health status. It was an indicator of his indifference.
He tried to replace the situation with someone he cared about and felt his heart tighten momentarily. It made him understand that if he truly cared for someone—even a friend—he could never bear for them to suffer because of his negligence, resulting in their only family member living poorly or even passing away.
Fortunately, Fu Xiaoqing had always been very clear-headed. Huo Qijun thought nervously that he was only frustrated with his mom’s constant intervention. If Fu Xiaoqing had gotten together with him back then, by the time he figured out his true feelings, he wouldn’t know how to make amends.
After nearly two hours of travel, they finally arrived at the rehabilitation center. Fu Xiaoqing wanted to visit Fu Tianlan first, and Lin Wei had no objections. Huo Qijun was indifferent, so the three went together to the single room where Fu Tianlan was staying.
“Tianlan!” Fu Xiaoqing knocked on the door excitedly.
“Hey! Sis! Come in!” Fu Tianlan had anticipated their arrival and was sitting on the bed waiting. His health had improved significantly during this time, and his voice sounded much stronger than before.
Fu Xiaoqing felt delighted to see him in good spirits and immediately began chatting once she entered, driving Huo Qijun to the brink of annoyance. He tried to interject to calm her down but was pulled back by Lin Wei.
Once Fu Xiaoqing’s excitement waned, Fu Tianlan finally had time to greet Lin Wei and Huo Qijun.
He recognized Lin Wei from their last video call with Fu Xiaoqing. At that time, he was overwhelmed due to his illness and had said something inappropriate. Although Lin Wei mostly hadn’t heard, he still felt embarrassed remembering it and turned slightly red when greeting him.
His reaction made Lin Wei recall Fu Tianlan had shown concern that he didn’t seem to like him. However, he couldn’t hold it against someone who was unwell. Illness impaired one’s thought processes compared to normal times, so he pretended not to have heard and smiled at him kindly.
However, to Huo Qijun, oblivious to all of this, the scene was incredibly jarring. His patience wore thin, and he forcefully interrupted the awkward ‘tension’.
“Aren’t we supposed to arrange a job for Fu Xiaoqing? Stop wasting time! The siblings can visit anytime in the future!”
Lin Wei was momentarily taken aback by this remark. They had just arrived and hadn’t even sat down yet! How was this wasting time?
However, since Huo Qijun had already lost his patience, he also had no desire to continue the small talk here, so he went along with it.
Only Fu Xiaoqing noticed that Huo Qijun was making a fuss. After Lin Wei led the way, she couldn’t help but whisper to Huo Qijun, “Are you alright? You’re unhappy just because Lin Wei is talking to my brother?”
Huo Qijun felt he was in the right. He glanced at Lin Wei, who was talking with the manager, and quietly accused, “It was just two sentences! Why is your brother blushing when talking to Lin Wei?!”