A Part of the Protagonists' Play

Huo Xi had already grown used to Shen Can's erratic inner thoughts, so even though Shen Can praised him so highly, his expression remained calm.

"Have you already looked over most of the staff for your studio?" Otherwise, why would Shen Can say that the preparations were nearly complete?

"Yeah, I've already picked out a team. I met with them and talked to all of them last weekend." After speaking, Shen Can silently thanked the plot.

[I have the plot to thank for drawing my attention to them. The leader of that team was originally supposed to jump off a building.]

[Because the whole world is just one part of the protagonists' play. That team leader, Yang Jing, was actually just a character meant to deliver a sweet little plotline to the protagonist couple.]

[Originally, Yang Jing was supposed to accidentally meet Shen Keke and form a good impression of him. Then, after being falsely accused of using underhanded methods to compete and being blacklisted by the entire gaming industry, he would entrust the work his team had poured their hearts into to the protagonist shou.]

[He hoped Shen Keke could help them release that game, at least allowing their hard work to see the light of day. Then the protagonist shou would use the money he earned from the game to buy the protagonist gong a gift, with all that stuff about how precious a gift bought with the first money he earned on his own was.]

[It never said what happened to the other team members afterward, but their leader was driven to jump off a building. They probably never wanted to touch games again, something that only brought them pain and sadness.]

[But it's fine now. Canny here solved it all. The false accusations against them were cleared up, so they weren't blacklisted and can release that game themselves.]

After hearing Shen Can's thoughts, Su Nanxing thought of the protagonist couple and gave a sarcastic smile. The whole world really was just one part of their play.

A person's life had become an opportunity for the protagonist shou to earn money independently for the first time, buy his lover a gift, and usher in a sweet moment.

The plot could clearly have arranged for the protagonist shou to save that person. He could have saved him and partnered with him to make money. But then the game would not have belonged entirely to the protagonist shou; that person would have been entitled to half of it. Perhaps that was why the plot arranged for his death.

After dinner, everyone left the Huo Household. Once they were all gone, Huo Zhang drove out alone.

Assistant He asked Huo Xi whether he wanted someone to follow him, but Huo Xi shook his head and said there was no need. He did not think his father would leave this time. He could tell that Huo Zhang had truly gotten angry today.

Huo Zhang drove to an image design salon. Walking inside, he said to the hairstylist, "Cut my hair short. Give me a more energetic hairstyle, however you see fit. Shave off my beard too."

More than an hour later, Huo Zhang looked at himself in the mirror and gave a bitter smile. He had finally stopped running away. Keeping his distance from the Huo Household all those years had actually been a form of self-imposed exile born from avoidance.

It was his way of fleeing from the fact that his father did not value him and that he could never gain his approval. No one knew why he liked painting. It was not only because painting calmed him, or because he loved freedom.

It was also because his father liked paintings. He had once thought that, on the path of business, he would certainly never surpass his father. Nor could he win a different kind of regard from him.

So, after seeing his father praise painters time and time again and say that the Huo Household, compared to certain families renowned for generations, lacked only an artist, he went off to study painting.

Now that he thought about it, perhaps those words had been deliberately spoken for him to hear. After all, his father had been hoping for that child to appear, had he not?

Was the Huo Household not powerful enough already? Did it matter whether there was an artist in the family? Would anyone dare offend them anyway? How laughable. Yet he had wanted his father's approval so badly that he had believed it.

Even afterward, when he still received no approval, he only assumed that perhaps he truly lacked artistic talent. But he had been too embarrassed to give up painting. He could not get a handle on the family business, and it would have been humiliating if he abandoned the path he had chosen halfway through.

He knew that he could not paint well while constantly doubting himself, but how could he not doubt himself? When Huo Xi was born, his feelings had been complicated. He wondered whether his father would treat this child differently.

If he truly did, then it would prove that his father simply looked down on him and failed to see him as a son. Yet unexpectedly, his father did not treat Huo Xi any differently either. He was completely unlike those elders who doted on their grandchildren.

He had felt sad for his son too, but who had told him to be born into the Huo Household? Still, he had never expected Huo Xi to be so intelligent. Though he had not drawn the Huo Patriarch's attention, he had shocked everyone in the Huo Household.

His son was still more outstanding than he was. Everyone said that someone like him had somehow given birth to a son like Huo Xi. Even he himself felt that Huo Xi was completely unlike someone he could have fathered.

Huo Xi was far too exceptional. He simply had no way to grow close to him. It was one thing to be unable to surpass his father, but he could not even compare to his own son.

He had no idea how to get along with Huo Xi. There was nothing he could teach him, nor could he become someone Huo Xi could be proud of. During that period, his self-doubt had reached its peak.

He could not even be like his wife, who could at least give Huo Xi some familial warmth. In the end, he chose self-imposed exile, letting himself wander around every day, yet he still failed to produce any decent work.

This time was different. This time, it was to seek justice for his mother. He had to do his part. And though he knew exactly what it felt like to lack a father's love, he had given his own son that same experience. Perhaps he should make a change, no matter whether it was too late.

When Han Yanhu saw that the returning Huo Zhang had cut his hair and shaved his beard, she was utterly stunned. Many times, she had wanted to say that real artists did not need to put so much effort into their appearance. What mattered was their temperament.

But she and Huo Zhang had, after all, only entered a business marriage. Though they had a son, it had not made them much closer, so it was not appropriate for her to say it. In the end, she never did.

He must have been shaken by this incident. Anyone would be shaken upon learning that their father had cheated and had another child. Besides, his father truly had no regard at all for Huo Zhang as a son.

The Huo Zhang the outside world saw was different from the Huo Zhang she saw. To outsiders, Huo Zhang was a son who made his father worry, caring only about his own happiness and insisting on studying art. But she could sense that Huo Zhenyun simply did not care about Huo Zhang as a son.

She had simply never known the reason. She had previously thought that Huo Zhenyun was just a cold and detached person who cared only about himself. Aside from sharing his blood, his son was no different from any ordinary person. She had never expected it to be because Huo Zhang had not been born to the woman he loved.

When she first learned that Huo Zhang was not valued, she had felt sorry for him. Later, when she saw that Huo Zhang himself did not care much about Huo Xi either, she stopped feeling sorry for him.

Although Huo Xi's differences from ordinary people had once made her feel pressured when interacting with him, she had not retreated. She worked hard to adapt to getting along with Huo Xi. After realizing she lacked the ability to teach him anything, she made sure he could feel how much she cared about him.