HSS CH16

Chapter 16: Swollen Face

After a long silence, Huo Yuchuan coolly remarked, “You think it doesn’t sound as good when she calls you that, right?”

Lin Miao looked at him with wide eyes and asked, “Are you jealous?”

Huo Yuchuan was taken aback for a moment, a fleeting hint of panic flashing in his eyes. “I…”

“Rest easy,” Lin Miao raised four fingers and said with a sense of oath, “She’s your blind date. I won’t think anything more of her.”

Huo Yuchuan: “……”

Without another word, Huo Yuchuan turned to look at the cakes. Lin Miao followed and gazed at the glass display case, where one cake after another seemed like exquisite works of art. However, upon glancing at the prices, he felt out of place. His meager savings wouldn’t allow him to afford anything here.

But there was Huo Yuchuan; he could always rely on him to pay.

With great anticipation, Lin Miao asked Huo Yuchuan, “Which one do you want to buy?”

Huo Yuchuan: “I haven’t decided yet.”

“How about mango?” Lin Miao coaxed. “This mango one looks really delicious.”

Huo Yuchuan seemed to be persuaded and nodded, calling the shop assistant to pack it up.

Lin Miao was very attentive, helping to carry the cake and leaving the payment to Huo Yuchuan.

When they got home, Aunt Chen had already prepared dinner. Huo Yuchuan handed over the cake that Lin Miao had been carrying all the way to her, saying to put it in the fridge and eat it after the meal.

As a result, throughout the meal, Lin Miao couldn’t stop thinking about the sweet taste. After finishing dinner, he even walked back and forth in front of Huo Yuchuan and opened the fridge several times.

Huo Yuchuan, sitting on the sofa, said, “If you keep opening it, the cake will melt.”

Lin Miao pretended to just remember, “Oh yeah, your cake hasn’t been eaten yet.”

Huo Yuchuan indifferently said, “Aren’t you eating it?”

Lin Miao reluctantly said, “I can have just a little bit.”

Huo Yuchuan didn’t bother to expose him, put down the documents in his hand, and asked him to take out the cake.

Lin Miao was excited yet reserved, letting Huo Yuchuan take the first bite.

“Too sweet,” Huo Yuchuan put down his spoon and commented.

Lin Miao also took a spoonful and tasted it—it was soft, delicate, and not too sweet at all.

Maybe Huo Yuchuan just didn’t like sweets, Lin Miao thought as he ate the cake. He was a very picky person.

Huo Yuchuan watched him eat bite after bite with satisfaction, then picked up the school bag Lin Miao had left on the sofa, took out the textbook from the afternoon, and slowly said, “I didn’t understand much of the class this afternoon.”

Lin Miao looked up in surprise, “But you were sleeping, right?” How could he understand anything if he was sleeping?

Huo Yuchuan: “……I caught a bit.”

He opened the textbook and said, “Explain it to me.”

Lin Miao glanced at the clock in the living room, “But I have to go to work.”

Huo Yuchuan coldly said, “Then give me back the cake.”

Lin Miao looked at the cake in front of him, which was almost gone, “……”

That night, because he was “tutoring” Huo Yuchuan, Lin Miao didn’t go to work at “Muse.” When he went there the next evening, he felt something was off.

He came out of the locker room in his work clothes and saw Boss He sitting in a dim corner, looking very serious, as if he was thinking about something.

Then a waiter walked over and suddenly slapped Boss He across the face.

Lin Miao’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“Have you gone mad?!” Boss He jumped up in a rage, “Go clean the toilets for me!”

The waiter left, crying.

Boss He roared, “Whoever dares to slap again, I’ll beat them to death!”

A few people who were eager to try immediately dispersed.

Lin Miao was still dazed when he heard Xu Yue, who had come over at some point, say, “The third one.”

He was puzzled, “What third one?” He had only missed one night, how could the boss just slap people at will?

Xu Yue said mysteriously, “I heard the boss accidentally drank the wrong kind of alcohol last night.”

Lin Miao didn’t understand, “What kind of alcohol?”

Xu Yue’s face turned a little red, “The kind that makes you restless and hot, tossing and turning.”

Lin Miao looked like he was learning something new and gossiped, “And then?”

“Then the boss opened a room by himself,” Xu Yue said excitedly, “And later there was a lot of noise in the room!”

“It was the lamp that got broken!” Boss He’s voice suddenly exploded above their heads, “Are you bored?!”

“No, no!” Lin Miao and Xu Yue quickly ran away.

Boss He had a dark face, his eyes scanning the waiters coming and going, but none of them seemed familiar.

He remembered the thin figure of the person who pushed the door open, the lamp in the room broke, and only the weak light coming through the half-closed curtains made it hard for him to see the person’s face.

“You……” he heard the person ask, their voice muffled through the mask, “Are you okay?”

He wanted to tell them to leave, but what came out of his throat was heavy breathing.

He didn’t remember much of what happened next, only the uncontrollable crying of the person beneath him, asking him to slow down.

He became even more fierce and rough, and the person beneath him, unable to bear it, slapped him.

He felt as if his soul had left his body for a moment.

When he woke up, he was alone in the room with the mess all around him.

He felt a bit regretful. He had set the rule himself, not to force anyone, so why did he lose his mind?

He wanted to apologize to the person or offer some compensation.

He still had a faint handprint on his face. When he walked out of the room, it startled the others, who thought the noise last night was because someone had beaten their boss in the room.

Boss He checked the surveillance outside the room, but the person had their head down and was wearing a mask, making it impossible to see their face.

The uncle in charge of the surveillance expressed his concern and care for his swollen face, about to scold the person who had hit him, when Boss He smiled, touched his cheek, and said to himself, “She had quite a bit of strength.”

Then, somehow, by the afternoon, the rumor spread that the boss liked being slapped and was looking for the person who had slapped him to promote and give them a raise.

So, someone took advantage of the chaos and claimed they had entered his room last night.

Boss He held the person’s hand against his face and said with disgust, “The fingers aren’t as long as hers.”

“The fingers aren’t as slender……”

He searched and searched, but none of them matched.

Yet, some people still didn’t give up, thinking that slapping the boss again could lead to a promotion and a raise, so they seized any opportunity to slap him.

After hearing Xu Yue’s story, Lin Miao felt a bit sorry for their boss.

During a break, he sent a message to Huo Yuchuan, “Huo Yuchuan, buy some medicine for Boss He. His face is swollen from being slapped.”

Huo Yuchuan: ?