When Xu Chen entered the office and began reporting everything that had happened,
Huo Chengye sat behind the desk, his cold eyes resting on Xu Chen as they twitched slightly.
It was clearly she who had single-handedly beaten his cousin and his bodyguards half to death.
What an unforgiving woman. So she was still holding a grudge.
As he thought of that flawless, beautiful face twisted with anger, his heart stirred slightly.
Xu Chen stood before the desk, reporting every part carefully without leaving out anything.
The office stayed quiet for a few moments after he finished.
Then Huo Chengye finally spoke.
"Okay. You don't have to worry about it. I'll deal with this."
After hearing that, Xu Chen did not say anything else.
He simply lowered his head and left the office.
The moment the door closed, the room grew quiet again.
Huo Chengye sat there without moving.
But suddenly, a scene flashed through his mind.
Shen Yueran, who had looked like a demon with blood on her face and a knife in her hand, had been mercilessly scolded by that old man over the phone while she stood there like an obedient child.
The contrast was too strong.
The lawless woman who could scare others to death had actually stood there obediently listening to her grandfather.
Was that kind of obedience reserved only for family?
Did he also need to become her family?
His mind began to race uncontrollably.
After calming down, he made a call to his other assistant, Han Rui, gave a few instructions, and ended the call.
On Xu Chen's side, after leaving the office, he returned to his workplace with a complicated expression.
He sat down, but his mind was still in a mess.
After thinking for a while, he finally made a decision.
He would report today's matter to the Old Madam.
Of course, he had to do it in utmost secrecy.
If Boss found out that he had become the Old Madam's informant in this matter, even if it could not be called betrayal, Xu Chen had no doubt that he would be skinned alive.
Still, after hesitating for a moment, he picked up his phone.
The call connected very quickly.
Xu Chen lowered his voice and respectfully informed the Old Madam of everything that had happened, not leaving out any detail.
From the club incident, to Shen Yueran's madness, to Huo Chengye's reaction after watching it all—he reported everything clearly.
After that, he also sent over all the details they had gathered on Shen Yueran.
Once the information reached Gu Lanying, even she, who had weathered many storms in her life, was shocked beyond belief.
She sat there with the phone in hand, her expression turning stranger and stranger the more she listened.
That boy…
That boy who was practically like a monk and never went near women…
No matter what they had tried in the past, no matter how many suitable young women were arranged for him to meet, every single one had been coldly and ruthlessly rejected.
There had never been any exception.
Because of that, Gu Lanying had truly believed that Huo Chengye might stay single for the rest of his life.
From a young age, he had always been like that.
Cold to everyone.
His face was like a block of thousand-year-old ice, with almost no reaction at all.
He dealt with everything seriously, rationally, and without any unnecessary emotion.
That was how he had always been.
And yet now, such a person had actually started paying attention to a woman.
That thought made Gu Lanying's expression even more complicated.
What worried her even more was the girl's temperament.
She and Huo Chengye were opposite in too many ways.
One was cold and disciplined.
The other was wild and lawless.
Was this what people meant when they said opposites attract?
Gu Lanying sighed inwardly.
Then another thought rose in her heart.
No wonder there had been no clear retaliation from their side after that boy, Huo Shenkai, had been beaten up so badly.
So it was you who suppressed everything.
With that thought, her eyes drifted out toward the garden.
There, an old man was watering his favorite bonsai tree without a care in the world.
He looked relaxed and peaceful, completely unaware that his family had already become tangled in a new mess.
Meanwhile, back in Mingxiao Hall, Liang Zhen had already started working like an ox again.
After Shen Yueran was removed from the position of young leader, a large part of the company's matters naturally fell onto his shoulders.
From the company's operations to the aftermath of the recent chaos, he had to take care of everything.
But that was not his only main work.
He also had another very important task.
That was to keep watch over that devil and stop her from causing trouble again whenever possible.
Unfortunately, that task was far harder than all the company work combined.
At the same time, far away at his vacation resort, Shen Mingshan was living in complete comfort.
At that moment, the old man was visiting his favorite spot in the resort and was receiving a full-body massage.
His eyes were closed, and his face looked peaceful and relaxed, almost as if he were in bliss.
For the first time in many days, he felt that the world was finally quiet and peaceful
Without that brat causing trouble and raising my blood pressure every day...
But that peaceful feeling did not last long.
Very soon, his assistant ran over at full speed with an envelope in hand, not caring at all whether the old man was in the middle of something.
The hurried footsteps instantly trampled all over the bliss Shen Mingshan had been enjoying.
"Old Sir!"
The assistant's voice came urgently.
"Something serious has happened!"
Shen Mingshan opened his eyes at once.
The comfortable expression on his face disappeared immediately.
He turned his head and looked at the assistant with visible irritation.
"Why is there no peace in this world for me?" he said in frustration. "Why is it always one thing after another?"
The assistant did not dare waste time.
He stepped closer and quickly recited the information he had received.
"Our Mingxiao has supposedly blocklisted Huo Corporation."
The moment those words fell, Shen Mingshan's brows twitched.
But the assistant continued before he could interrupt.
"This news is already spreading through in our business circle. Many people think the situation is the opposite—they think we offended Huo Corporation."
His expression turned serious.
"If this continues, it may severely affect Mingxiao's business."
The more Shen Mingshan listened, the uglier his face became.
His eyes widened.
Then, all of a sudden, the old man shot up from the massage bed, startling the girls nearby so badly that they almost cried out.
"What did you say?!"
His earlier peacefulness had vanished without a trace.
The girls giving him the massage quickly stepped back in fear.
But Shen Mingshan no longer cared about any of that.
His face had already darkened completely.
"Tell me everything in detail!" he barked.
The assistant immediately lowered his head and prepared to explain.
But before he could speak, Shen Mingshan had already asked another question with a grim expression.
"Is the Huo Family retaliating against us?"
"If they were the ones who made the move, the aftermath would not have been this minor."