Lin Wei thought to himself that if the elderly Mrs Huo managed to trace it back to him, he would just have to deal with it as it came. In the original story, the female lead’s brother was sent abroad for treatment under half coercion and half good intentions from Huo Qijun, and he never appeared again. The next news was his death, which dealt a fatal blow to the already strained relationship between the male and female leads. In his anger and suspicion, the male lead believed that his subordinates were colluding with Mrs Huo to undermine him, and with a careless remark, he disposed of everyone involved. The original never elaborated on how he dealt with them, only subtly hinting at how, after this incident, people around him grew even more respectful and fearful of him.
The fates of ordinary people, in the author’s pen, only served to accentuate the increasingly domineering nature of the male lead. It remains unclear whether the female lead’s brother really died of an illness or whether Mrs Huo intervened, but Lin Wei needed to be cautious from the start; he had to guard against both Mrs Huo and Huo Qijun. At least this sanatorium was an asset under his name, not part of the Huo family’s territory. Even if Mrs Huo found him, she couldn’t immediately act without going through him, giving him some time to react.
If the illness truly was beyond cure, Huo Qijun’s misplaced anger would probably be directed at him, but Lin Wei felt he could manage that; if he couldn’t, then they would deal with it as it came. Furthermore, this was the worst-case scenario. Even if the female lead’s brother was genuinely gravely ill, he could have someone report on his condition every few days to prepare the female lead mentally in advance.
For the same matter, Lin Wei believed he handled it far more gracefully and thoughtfully than the male lead did in the original. Fu Xiaoqing was not unreasonable; in their group, only those surnamed Huo were truly unreasonable.
Fu Xiaoqing had been with him the past three days, watching Lin Wei arrange everything. The last bit of her resentment towards Huo Qijun faded, and on the way back, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “With Huo Qijun’s tyrannical personality, how could he have a friend like you who is so righteous? Shouldn’t people flock together?”
She had always thought that despite external personality differences, these wealthy young masters were inherently condescending. However, these past three days with Lin Wei made her genuinely feel the equality of friendship. Even though Lin Wei had helped her immensely, he showed no hint of condescension or superiority, as if what he did was merely an apology to her on behalf of Huo Qijun.
Hearing the term ‘tyrant’, Lin Wei instinctively tightened his grip on the steering wheel and felt awkwardness creeping in.
Yet on the surface, he remained unfazed: “Ah Qi is just stubborn on the outside, soft on the inside. He’s actually quite easy to appease.”
He wasn’t lying; at least, from Lin Wei’s genuine observations during these past two days with Huo Qijun, it was true that Huo Qijun was easy to placate.
Simply trying to appease him wouldn’t work, as Huo Qijun was used to being in a dominant position and would think that anyone trying to flatter him was merely bootlicking him. On the other hand, being confrontational like Fu Xiaoqing wasn’t effective either. While it caught Huo Qijun’s attention, he was overly concerned with his pride, and unless she experienced a fierce ‘pursuit and burn’ scenario, Huo Qijun wouldn’t learn to lower his guard and admit defeat for another hundred years.
Lin Wei felt that he was like a British Shorthair cat, naturally stubborn, and it would take some thought and balance of softness and firmness to build a close relationship with him.
However, he realized that he could not share this insight with Fu Xiaoqing just yet. She clearly showed no interest in developing any ambiguous relationship with Huo Qijun; if he said anything, she would only find it perplexing, as it was her first time interacting with people romantically, so why should she have to appease Huo Qijun?
Sure enough, after hearing Lin Wei defend Huo Qijun, Fu Xiaoqing only smiled awkwardly yet politely, unable to agree with him at all.
Lin Wei understood her perfectly and could only sigh in his heart that even with his task necessitating him to help overcome various obstacles, it would still be a long road ahead for Huo Qijun to pursue anyone.
While contemplating this, he poked at the system in his mind.
[Wait, if the difficulties they face are fewer, how does that end the plot?] This was the first time he encountered a scenario where the male and female leads from the small world didn’t steadfastly love each other.
[Don’t worry, host. This is a setting for old-school tragic romance; no one wants to watch middle-aged people enact a sunset romance of a domineering entrepreneur. Even if the male and female leads don’t end up together, by the time of the original story’s conclusion, the male lead’s aura will still fade.]
[…Then I can relax.]
The two returned to the city, and Lin Wei took Fu Xiaoqing directly back to his home. Her luggage had already been packed three days earlier and left there.
Considering that taking a taxi to the villa area where Huo Qijun and Lin Wei lived was inconvenient, let alone taking public transport, Fu Xiaoqing ultimately decided to accept Lin Wei’s kindness and stay in the room he prepared for her during work.
This was something Lin Wei had basically anticipated.
Once home, Lin Wei waited for Fu Xiaoqing to tidy up her room before giving her a weekly meal plan from the system. When he saw her looking at it earnestly, with a hint of nervousness on her face, he chuckled, “As long as it tastes okay, that’s good. The main goal is to help him nourish his stomach, not to provide a lavish feast.”
Fu Xiaoqing couldn’t take her job lightly; she replied earnestly, “But it has to be good enough to keep going.”
While that made sense, Lin Wei was confident that even if Fu Xiaoqing’s cooking was awful, Huo Qijun would only complain verbally and finish every bit. He was so sure, he’d bet on it—every novel depicted this.
Yet, saying this to a couple that already had a relationship would be a good-natured tease, but it came off as somewhat offensive to Fu Xiaoqing, who was still single and planning to stay that way, so Lin Wei refrained from insisting further.
That same day, after finishing his work at the company, Huo Qijun was about to head home when he finally received Lin Wei’s call inviting him out for dinner.
President Huo first felt joy, but then he raised his hand to check the time and realized something was off: “Is she still with you this late?”
Lin Wei had anticipated that Huo Qijun would be concerned; in fact, Huo Qijun’s concern was part of his plan, but he hadn’t expected him to be so perceptive, making him feel a mix of amusement and exasperation. It struck him that Huo Qijun seemed to enjoy feeling jealous more than he liked Fu Xiaoqing herself.
“She has trouble commuting, so I prepared a room for her. She’s on the second floor while I moved to the first. Is that okay?”