Chapter 148 Tidying Up

Chapter 148: Settling the Score

Speak of the devil, and An Qiao arrived—

Late at night, Zhao Mingshi was in his hotel room, completely engrossed in his work on the laptop he’d brought from the United States, when a sudden pounding on his door broke his concentration.

"Coming."

Zhao Mingshi assumed it was the room service he had called.

He rose from his desk, left the bedroom, and went to open the door.

But the moment he unlatched it, the door was violently forced open. Several unfamiliar men barged in, shoving Zhao Mingshi back into the room without a word. Caught off guard and unprepared, his glasses nearly tumbled to the floor.

He stumbled backward into the living area, adjusted his glasses, and watched as a figure stepped further inside. His astonishment deepened.

Yet, his expression of surprise was fleeting; he quickly regained his composure.

"An Qiao."

Zhao Mingshi addressed her.

In the doorway, Chen Xin, who appeared significantly changed to Zhao Mingshi, slowly advanced.

The woman now sported a short, sharp haircut, exuding an air of efficiency. Her beauty remained as striking as ever, and her suit dress highlighted the competence of a true professional.

Chen Xin walked in, looked at Zhao Mingshi, and immediately smiled. "It hasn't been easy, waiting for you to return to the country."

"It’s been so many years."

"If President Jiang hadn't told me, I wouldn’t have known such incredible news."

As she spoke, she moved closer, and another woman’s figure emerged behind her—someone Zhao Mingshi didn’t recognize.

That woman was dazzlingly beautiful. She glanced at Zhao Mingshi and promptly said to Chen Xin, "Why waste words on him?"

Chen Xin looked at Zhao Mingshi and smirked coldly. "I’m just catching up with an old friend, exchanging a few pleasantries."

Yu Dong rolled her eyes.

Zhao Mingshi observed the two women before him, his peripheral vision scanning the men nearby. Though his face remained impassive, his mind was already on high alert.

"Let’s talk alone."

Outnumbered, Zhao Mingshi knew he was at a disadvantage.

He wanted to placate An Qiao first.

But the woman stepped directly in front of him, staring intently. She then raised her hand, gently stroking his cheek with her palm, her expression dark and profound. "Do you know how much I’ve missed you all these years?"

Her tone feigned deep affection as she continued, "Every time I think of you, I remember our time together at school, in the student council."

"And in that hotel room."

"You held me and said you loved me."

Zhao Mingshi replied calmly, "An Qiao, I know I wronged you."

"I was young back then, incredibly foolish."

"I apologize for hurting you, for everything in the past."

He even added, "When I said I loved you back then, it wasn’t a lie."

"All these years, I’ve often thought of you."

"I feel very guilty. I know I owe you a lot."

"I work at Microsoft now, and I’ve got a green card. I can settle in the U.S. and live a good life."

"If you’re willing, we can start over."

"Give me a chance to make it up to you."

Chen Xin’s expression softened bit by bit as Zhao Mingshi spoke, as if she were genuinely moved.

But the next second, a cold smirk twisted her lips. Her hand, which had been stroking his face, dropped and suddenly clamped around Zhao Mingshi’s neck. She stepped forward, pressing closer, and said, "Zhao Mingshi, why didn’t you say these things to me back when I tried to kill myself? Huh?"

"If you’d told me then, I would’ve believed you—I was brainless."

"But now…"

Chen Xin’s face and eyes instantly filled with ferocity, "Do you think I still have no brains?!"

"Start over? Compensate?!"

She shoved him hard, "If you want to compensate, then pay with your life!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the men rushed at Zhao Mingshi.

Realizing he was in danger, Zhao Mingshi immediately cried out, "I was invited back by the Haicheng government! If you dare lay a hand on me, aren’t you afraid—"

But the men’s fists were already raining down on him like hailstones.

Chen Xin took a few steps back, watching coldly, and sneered, "Afraid of your motherfucking ass."

"Not only do I dare hit you, I dare make sure everyone knows how you drove me to suicide."

"What’s it to you if I move against you?"

"Between the two of us, if I make a move, you deserve it!"

"What if the government finds out?"

"They won’t give a shit about personal morals and private matters!"

Chen Xin shouted to the tall, burly men, "Hit him! Beat him to death!"

Zhao Mingshi had already curled into a ball like a quail, covering his head as he was beaten, crying out in pain.

Chen Xin watched coldly, while Yu Dong strolled into the bedroom as if casually looking around. When she came out, she was holding the heavy laptop.

Yu Dong handed the laptop to Chen Xin. "This must be really important to him, right?"

Chen Xin took it, glanced at it, and Zhao Mingshi—surrounded by fists—immediately shouted, "Don’t touch my computer!"

Before his words even finished, Chen Xin raised the laptop and slammed it onto the floor.

Not only did she smash it, she stomped on it with her feet, grinding her sharp heels into the keyboard and screen—fast, hard, frantic, and fierce—as if the computer were Zhao Mingshi’s second life, and she was here to claim it. Yu Dong joined in, stomping alongside her.

Zhao Mingshi: "An Qiao!"

Chen Xin yelled back: "Hit him!"

……

At home on Wukang Road, Jiang Luo had long forgotten all about Zhao Mingshi. He had deliberately come home early today, tidied the house, prepared some fruit, and was waiting for Huo Zongzhuo to return from his business trip tonight.

As the wind started picking up outside the window, Jiang Luo, standing in the first-floor living room, glanced out and mumbled to himself, "It's going to rain."

He turned and went into the kitchen to prepare the fruit so Huo Zongzhuo could eat some as soon as he got home.

In fact, a few years earlier, when Huo Zongzhuo returned from a business trip, if Jiang Luo was in Haicheng, he would always go to pick him up at the airport or train station.

But Huo Zongzhuo was afraid he would get tired, or arrive too early and wait too long, and get exhausted, so he asked him not to come.

There was another reason: whenever they met, Jiang Luo always wanted to kiss him right away, and Huo Zongzhuo couldn't resist either.

But it was really inconvenient outside, and in the car with Lao Si and the others driving, it was just as awkward.

So now, whether it was Jiang Luo or Huo Zongzhuo returning from a trip, they had agreed that neither would go to pick the other up, at most waiting at home ahead of time.

At this moment, Jiang Luo was waiting patiently, standing at the counter preparing fruit, placing slice by slice into a transparent crystal fruit plate, just like the fruit platters sold in nightclubs and karaoke spots, with a really nice presentation.

Jiang Luo really enjoyed doing things like this, especially at home.

He liked planning and working with his hands to make the home more well-put-together.

Over the years, it had indeed been him who devoted more energy to the household, because compared to him, Huo Zongzhuo was a very simple and casual person when it to daily life.

The bedroom Huo Zongzhuo lived in could remain unchanged year after year—a bed was just a bed, the wardrobe just a wardrobe.

Jiang Luo was different. Jiang Luo loved to shop and buy things to decorate the home.

So from the time they got together, it had always been Jiang Luo who arranged their lives and managed the household. Because of him, Huo Zongzhuo started driving a Rolls-Royce, wearing designer clothes, and living in a cozy, luxurious home.

As Jiang Luo was cutting an avocado, his phone rang in his pocket.

He answered, tilting his head to hold it between his cheek and shoulder, and said, "Yeah, what's up?"

Yu Dong's voice came from the other end: "I took Chen Xin to teach that scumbag a lesson, and we’re done now."

"Really, you should’ve said something earlier. If you had, I would’ve arranged things so that scumbag would lose face and maybe even his life."

"But now, late at night, we can only give him a beating and call it quits."

Jiang Luo heard sobbing and asked, "Who’s crying?"

Yu Dong: "Chen Xin."

"I’m at a bar having a drink with her."

"She’s drinking and crying,"

sighed, "All these years, she’s really been bottling it up."

"To be this pent up, she must have been so wronged back in the day."

"She just told me that the 20,000 yuan Zhao Mingshi’s parents paid as compensation back then was taken by her own parents and used for her brother’s wedding."

"I can’t even imagine how bad things were for her then, no wonder she even changed her name."

Jiang Luo hummed in response, and said, "You stay and keep her company."

Yu Dong: "Alright, I’ll hang up now."

Jiang Luo set his phone down and continued cutting the avocado.

A little after eleven, the reflection of car lights flashed across the brightly lit glass. Jiang Luo happened to be coming down the stairs, saw it, and immediately ran outside.

Not far out, he ran straight into Huo Zongzhuo walking toward him. He immediately threw his arms around him. "Dad!"

Huo Zongzhuo caught him in a hug, then walked him inside.

"Missed you."

Jiang Luo held nothing back, expressing himself freely.

As he spoke, he gave a loud kiss on Huo Zongzhuo’s cheek.

Huo Zongzhuo took off his shoes and walked barefoot into the house, carrying Jiang Luo and sitting down on the sofa. "I told you, no need to wait up for me. It’s so late, you should rest early."

"But of course I had to wait for you."

Jiang Luo sat in his lap, lifted his chin, and said, "Kiss me."

One looked up, the other looked down, and they kissed—softly, tenderly, and very lingering.

They kissed, then kissed again, as if they couldn't get enough.

When their lips parted, Jiang Luo reached out and touched Huo Zongzhuo’s hair, then noticed the rain droplets on his shoulder. "Is it raining?"

"Yeah, just started."

Huo Zongzhuo patted Jiang Luo’s leg. "Let’s head upstairs, rest early."

Jiang Luo leaned in again and kissed Huo Zongzhuo. After kissing, he stretched out an arm, picked up the fruit plate from the coffee table, and held it in front of Huo Zongzhuo. "Have some, it’s fresh."

He took a fork, stabbed a piece of fruit, and fed it to Huo Zongzhuo.

Huo Zongzhuo opened his mouth and ate it. As soon as it was in his mouth, he kissed Jiang Luo, sharing the taste and scent of the fruit.

Jiang Luo laughed until his shoulders shook. "Just eat it properly."

Huo Zongzhuo finally swallowed the fruit, then kissed Jiang Luo’s cheek again, coaxing, "Let’s take the fruit upstairs, okay?"

How could Jiang Luo not understand? He immediately looked over with a glint of amusement in his eyes and said teasingly, "Then the bed will be stained with fruit juice again."

Huo Zongzhuo kissed his cheek once more, softly saying, "Let me taste whether you’re sweeter, the fruit is sweeter, or you and the fruit together are sweeter."

Jiang Luo couldn’t wait any longer. He reached out, threw his arms around Huo Zongzhuo’s neck, and kissed him hard. "Let’s just do it here. We can always get a new sofa later."

In the hotel, Zhao Mingshi sat on the ground covered in bruises, surrounded by the shattered pieces of his laptop.

He raised a hand and touched his lip, flinching in pain.

Looking at the wreckage of the computer beside him, he was too furious to even speak, probably completely fed up, and actually laughed.

As he laughed, a cold, fierce glint appeared in Zhao Mingshi’s eyes—Fine, fine, Jiang Luo, you've really outdone yourself!

Far from being crushed by the current situation, Zhao Mingshi used it to his advantage—he used the phone lying on the bedroom bed to call Zhao Shuo for help.

Soon, Zhao Shuo and Su Lan rushed over. Upon entering and seeing the shattered black pieces scattered across the floor and Zhao Mingshi lying filthy on the ground, they hurried to his side: "Ming Ming! Are you alright?!"

After being helped onto the sofa, Zhao Mingshi revealed cuts at the corners of his mouth and forehead, his white shirt covered in footprints—clearly, he had just been beaten.

"Who hit you?" Zhao Shuo asked, puzzled.

"Didn’t you call the police?" Su Lan was both shocked and heartbroken.

"Never mind," Zhao Mingshi replied weakly, with a faint, resigned smile. "It was An Qiao. Let it be."

Hearing it was An Qiao, Zhao Shuo and Su Lan fell silent.

Zhao Mingshi brushed himself off feebly, his tone full of guilt and dejection. "I know she hates me."

"I deserved it," he added.

He continued, "I just think, even if An Qiao has reason to hate me, what about Jiang Luo? There’s no grudge between us."

Jiang Luo?

Su Lan and Zhao Shuo exchanged bewildered glances before turning back to Zhao Mingshi.

Zhao Shuo asked, "Are you saying Jiang Luo had An Qiao bring people to beat you up?"

"That’s not what I meant," Zhao Mingshi said weakly, his voice low. "A couple of days ago, I happened to run into Jiang Luo in company. We shook hands and greeted each other."

"But later, in the locker room while showering and changing, Jiang Luo brought up An Qiao and then slapped me."

He looked at Zhao Shuo and Su Lan, adding, "Oh, I don't mean to blame him."

"I know he must hate me deep down."

"After all, I took his parents and the life that should have been his."

"I understand why he hates me."

Soon after, medicine was bought, and Zhao Mingshi took off his shirt, letting Su Lan use a cotton swab to tend to the wounds on his back.

As she wiped, tears streaming down her face, Su Lan shed tears—her two sons, Zhao Mingshi and Jiang Luo, one can't come home, the other won't.

How did things come to this? Why did it have to be this way?

Zhao Shuo, meanwhile, picked up the computer fragments from the floor. Not daring to throw it away outright in case there was anything salvageable, he placed the pieces in a plastic bag and set it on the table.

After thinking it over, Zhao Shuo sighed and said, "Come back home. I’ll try to persuade Dad."

Two days later, Zhao Mingshi returned to the Zhao family’s western-style house with expensive gifts. In front of everyone, including Huang Bing Bing, he knelt down before Zhao Guangyuan: "Dad."