Chapter 116: I Will Not Part From You
It suddenly began to rain outside, the pitter-patter sound hitting the window and leaving behind meandering streaks of water.
They looked like tear tracks.
Belatedly, Lin Huaizhi touched his own eyes and discovered that, at some point, he had also begun to cry.
Before he could wipe away the tears, a set of footsteps suddenly sounded behind him, followed by a large, soft blanket draped over his shoulders.
“You were quite fierce when you stabbed Zhang Qiang; what are you crying for now?”
Lin Huaizhi’s body stiffened. Like a wound-up robot, he slowly and awkwardly turned his head. When his eyes met the man holding a hair dryer behind him, his tears instantly fell like a dam breaking.
“I thought you didn’t want me anymore…”
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have… kept it from you. But if you gave me another chance, I would still do it… Huo Chen, I’m just a very bad… very bad person. It would have been better if you had stayed in the heavens forever… then you wouldn’t have been hurt by me…”
Huo Chen didn’t speak.
He simply plugged in the hair dryer, set it to the lowest setting, and began to dry Lin Huaizhi’s hair.
Lin Huaizhi didn’t speak either; he just couldn’t stop sobbing. Tears fell like broken pearls, one by one, hitting his hands.
After a long while, the sound of the hair dryer finally stopped. Huo Chen unhurriedly wound up the cord, placed the hair dryer on the table, and then turned Lin Huaizhi’s face toward him.
The man used his thumb to wipe away the young man’s tears.
“Lin Huaizhi, you should understand. I’ve never been angry at your stubbornness or your ‘badness.’ Being with you was my choice. Whether I end up hurt or abandoned, those are the consequences I should face. I won’t regret it, and you shouldn’t use those words ‘for my own good’ to push me away.”
Feeling the warmth of the man’s fingers, Lin Huaizhi quickly grabbed his hand, as if afraid he would walk away.
“I know.”
He sniffled, trying his best to suppress his sobs. “I know what you’re angry about. You’re angry because when I was doing all this, I never took you into consideration.”
“But…”
Lin Huaizhi buried his face in the man’s palm.
“Huo Chen, I’m an unlucky person. I don’t regret it. I will never regret it…”
When he decided to fight Zhang Qiang to the death, he indeed hadn’t thought about Huo Chen.
He had simply made up his mind before deciding to do it that he wouldn’t get Huo Chen involved.
Regardless of whether he truly lost Huo Chen in the process.
Huo Chen also heard his subtext. He didn’t know what to do with Lin Huaizhi, nor did he know how to correct him. Clearly, it was best for two people to solve such things together.
But if he were in Lin Huaizhi’s shoes, he would have made the same choice.
What could he say?
How could he scold him?
Ultimately, it was impossible for him to break up with Lin Huaizhi and go their separate ways.
Huo Chen sighed softly, his tone filled with deep helplessness: “Lin Huaizhi, what on earth am I supposed to do with you?”
The tears Lin Huaizhi had finally managed to suppress welled up again at that moment. He hugged Huo Chen, his crying growing louder. They were tears of rebirth after finally completing his severance from Zhang Qiang, and tears of joy because Huo Chen wouldn’t leave him despite his faults.
The rain continued to fall outside.
This storm was sudden and powerful, like a gale passing through, determined to sweep everything away.
And determined to wash away all filth.
…
The Zhang Qiang affair finally came to an end.
Lin Huaizhi was happy in both mind and body. Since then, his whole being felt much lighter, like a traveler who had finally set down a heavy burden and found a harbor where he could drop anchor.
Huo Chengzhang and Li Meiqing hadn’t come looking for trouble lately either, which made life incredibly comfortable.
Of course, one slightly uncomfortable point was that Huo Chen was still very busy. He only spent two days with him after his release before rushing back to work.
However, before half a year had passed.
Huo Chengzhang showed up at the door once.
He had only one purpose: he wanted Huo Chen to return to the Huo Group to take charge. The series of terrible moves he and Li Meiqing had made had sent the Huo Group on a downward spiral.
Logically, given the Huo Group’s current status, it shouldn’t have collapsed just because a chairman left. But the truth was that the Huo Group’s current position was built on the large-scale collaborations that Huo Chen himself had negotiated.
Once Huo Chen left, those professional relationships also dissipated.
Furthermore, the new chairman they had promoted lacked Huo Chen’s methods. Relying on being older than Huo Chen, he continued using the old ways from before Huo Chen took over, offending many project partners.
Moreover, he couldn’t make as much money as Huo Chen did; instead, he even caused losses. With their interests harmed, none of the shareholders were willing to let it slide. With one person making a fuss and another stirring up trouble, plus several people being shoved into the group through connections, the group became even more of a mess before it could even stabilize.
Of course, Huo Chen didn’t go back.
As he said back then, there could be many “Huo Groups,” but there was only one “Huo Chen.” Although going back now would be a satisfying “face-slap,” he didn’t have the time. His new company, Lingyue, still had many things to do.
However, he still held shares in the Huo Group, so in the end, he sent Zheng Xiuang back.
As Huo Chen’s first assistant who had followed him until now, Zheng Xiuang handled most matters before they even reached Huo Chen.
If the Huo Group’s problems were now so serious that even Zheng Xiuang couldn’t handle them, then there was no point in Huo Chen wasting his time.
Because there was only one way out.
Change to a chairman with more courage and better methods than him.
But the Huo Group was named “Huo.” Whether it was the main branch or the side branches of the Huo line, there were some outstanding younger members, but if you were talking about someone more capable than him—not to sound conceited, but there truly wasn’t anyone.
Fortunately, not everyone in the Huo Group was a fool.
The problem wasn’t beyond repair.
Zheng Xiuang worked around the clock for almost half a year and finally managed to stabilize the situation.
During this time, Lingyue also showed its brilliance. In the recent robotics competition, they used their self-developed chips to build a robot for the contest and took first place like a dark horse.
Because of this, relevant national departments took notice of Lingyue and later incorporated them into certain collaborations, involving them in highly confidential projects.
In the second year, Lingyue’s game technology collaborated with Huaimeng to produce an animated film for the Spring Festival, adapted from traditional myths. Within just five days, it broke 5 billion yuan in box office receipts, stunning everyone.
On the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Lin Huaizhi paid out of his own pocket to invite the entire company to watch this animated film.
Naturally, he also invited Huo Chen.
However, to enjoy some time alone as a couple, Lin Huaizhi bought tickets for a different theater hall. After the two of them finished the movie and patiently watched all the post-credit scenes, they walked out of the theater.
This winter in Long City was colder than the last.
The weather forecast also said there would be a cold front these few days. Thus, the snow that hadn’t fallen before the new year began to drift down as the two walked out of the cinema.
Huo Chen looked at the falling snowflakes.
“It’s snowing.”
Hearing this, Lin Huaizhi turned to look at him and smiled. “I heard that in Korea, the first snow has a very beautiful meaning. As long as you watch it with the person you love, you can be together forever.”
Huo Chen held his slightly chilled hand and put it into his own pocket, then unwound his scarf and draped it around the young man’s neck.
“Regardless of the country, and regardless of whether it’s the first snow, I will not part from you.”
The young man stood in the falling snow.
He stood slightly on his tiptoes to kiss the man’s lips.
“Me neither.”
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