No Longer the Only One

Shen Can looked at Huo Xi, who was sitting on the sofa across from him talking to Shen Yu. Wasn't the project already up and running? Why did he keep coming over? I've been seeing him all the time lately.

Huo Xi's lips curled slightly when he heard Shen Can's thoughts. What else could it be? Of course, he was coming deliberately.

He wanted to run into Shen Can more often. Maybe Shen Can would reveal how he became such a huge sucker. He was genuinely curious.

Seeing Huo Xi working so hard for the Huo Household project, Shen Can could not help sighing. Why are you working yourself so hard? The Huo Household won't end up in your hands anyway.

After that thought from Shen Can, the living room practically froze. Whether it was Lu Shao feeding Shen Ze fruit, Shen Father and Shen Mother talking, or Shen Chi and Shen Yao playfully scuffling around, everything came to a halt.

Their family was unusually complete today because they would be taking a flight to a neighboring province that evening to attend the birthday banquet of Shen Father's old friend.

Huo Xi had merely come over to discuss work. None of them had expected to hear such shocking news from Shen Can's thoughts.

Who among the wealthy families did not know Huo Xi? Back when he was in school, his reputation as a genius had been thunderous. After he began working, everyone said he was a natural-born leader, someone destined to take charge of the Huo Household.

No one had ever imagined any other possibility, nor was there anyone capable of competing with him. It was not as if the Huo Household lacked young members around Huo Xi's age, but every one of them behaved with astonishing obedience.

They themselves said they had long accepted their fate. Being idle rich heirs was good enough. If they behaved themselves and had some ability, Huo Xi might even give them a Huo family company to manage someday.

If they caused trouble, the simplest outcome would be remaining useless young masters for the rest of their lives, never getting their hands on any position in any Huo family company. The terrifying outcome would be getting thrown out of the Huo Household and losing even their status as young masters.

Though it was somewhat embarrassing to still be a young master at their age, when people their age were already this president or that CEO, busy building their careers while they lingered about awkwardly. Still, they had money to spend, and outside the wealthy social circle, who would not show them respect?

So when they heard that the Huo Household would ultimately not belong to Huo Xi, they were truly stunned. They thought through everyone in the Huo Household but could not imagine who could snatch it from Huo Xi.

It was not that the Huo Household would collapse, but that he would no longer be its head. Yet Huo Xi could not think of anyone in the Huo Household capable of taking something from him. He almost wanted to laugh. Could it be that the plot had arranged for him to die or become crippled in the future?

Otherwise, he truly did not believe anyone could take the Huo Household from him. After all, no one understood the abilities of those Huo family members better than he did.

Among the younger generation, only a few were somewhat capable. They served as presidents of small companies or managed minor departments in Huo Corporation.

Those people could manage a department or a small company, but wanting to take charge of the entire Huo Household was laughable. Besides, the elders would never trust them to be qualified for the position of family head.

Born as the only grandchild of the previous head of the Huo main family, with intelligence far beyond ordinary people—someone like him was born a favored child of heaven. The others in the Huo Household truly had no ability to compete with him.

But what if one day, he was no longer the only grandchild of the previous head of the Huo main family? After all, not everyone was willing to accept a Huo Household controlled by Huo Xi.

They once had no choice but to listen to Huo Xi, but if another opportunity arose, some of them would be willing to give it a try. After all, Huo Xi stopped them from doing this and forbade them from doing that.

Several old members of the Huo Household had never kept their hands particularly clean. They had made plenty of money in gray-area businesses before. Huo Xi had prevented them from touching such businesses again, so they naturally held some resentment.

When another option besides Huo Xi appeared, of course they would switch sides. They had not necessarily expected to succeed. They had simply been suppressed for too long and wanted to resist. Who knew they would actually succeed?

Huo Xi was absolutely certain that his father had no illegitimate children. Though his father and mother had entered into a family-arranged marriage without much affection, and had separated after giving birth to him, his father truly had no illegitimate children.

His father was a down-and-out painter who loved mountains, rivers, and freedom—but not Huo Xi's mother. After Huo Xi was born, he barely saw his father. His father was always traveling around to paint from life, staying in each place for a long time.

But his father had never been involved with any woman. Huo Xi had investigated it. Besides, even if it were his father's illegitimate child, that person would have no competitive power. The Huo Household generally did not think much of his father.

A Huo family young master who had no instinct whatsoever for business yet insisted on becoming a painter. He even looked down on everyone else in the Huo Household, believing they reeked of money while he was some lotus blooming unsullied from the mud. How could that not anger the Huo family?

And his father had not achieved anything notable as a painter, either. The old members of the Huo Household looked down on him even more. If Huo Xi had not possessed overwhelming ability, those people would have viewed him through the same prejudiced lens.

If it was not his father's illegitimate child, then there was only one possibility—one that made him furious. His grandfather might have betrayed his grandmother and had a child with someone else outside their marriage.

If asked who mattered most to him in the Huo Household, it was undoubtedly his grandmother. Even the name Huo Xi had been given by her. He had also grown up under her guidance.

His grandfather had actually betrayed his marriage to his grandmother and had a child with another woman. If that child was also said to be a grandchild of the Huo Household like him, then it meant that his grandfather's illegitimate child had already had a child of their own.

It was more than simply having a child outside the marriage. It could even be said that he had built an entire family outside. How ridiculous. Then what had his grandmother been? Did she know about it before she died?

It was really just a story about betraying a marriage for a former first love. After the Patriarch Huo married the wife chosen by his family, he unexpectedly ran into his former first love while away on business.

Those two shameless people got together. One was clearly married, and the other clearly knew he was married. If that was not shameless, what was?

After spending three sweet months together, at least in their eyes, the Patriarch Huo had to return home because his project was finished.

At the time, he had not yet taken the position of Huo family head. Others of his generation in the family were also highly competitive, and he still needed the support of Huo Xi's grandmother's family, so naturally he had to go home.

After explaining things to his first love, the Patriarch Huo saw the next day that the house had been emptied out. He fell silent for a long time, realizing that his beloved had understood him and chosen to leave first. Filled with guilt, he began packing his own things.

Once he finished packing, he touched the spot where the two of them used to lie together in each other's arms, wanting to remember those three months forever. Oh! Here came the exciting part. Under that woman's pillow, he found a test report showing that she was pregnant.

One could imagine how deeply that report shocked him at the time. From then on, the Patriarch Huo could never forget it.

He constantly wondered whether she would abort the baby or keep it. If she kept it, what would the child be like? When the child reached school age, he wondered whether the child studied well. When the child became old enough to marry and have children, he wondered whether the child had married or had children.

After so many years had added to it, the Patriarch Huo's guilt, longing, and affection had accumulated to the extreme. One could imagine how insanely well he would treat that child if they appeared before him.

Shameless bastard. All I want to say is, you only knew to stare at that test report. Wasn't your wife at home pregnant too? She was about to give birth, yet I never saw you spare her a thought, Shen Can thought in extreme speechlessness.