HSS CH8

Chapter 8：Maybe I Should Just Quit

Lin Miao had seen workers being owed wages by their bosses, but he had never encountered a situation where, after finishing work, he ended up owing his boss a few pounds of flesh.

He paused for a moment, then protested with a stern expression, “You never mentioned that before. It doesn’t count.”

Huo Yuchuan replied, “I’m saying it now.”

Lin Miao retorted, “It’s too late. The meal’s already been eaten.”

Huo Yuchuan said, “Then pay me back in money. Thirty thousand per pound.”

Lin Miao was taken aback. “……”

He felt flattered and asked, “Am I really that valuable?”

Huo Yuchuan glanced at the abalone and sea cucumber on the dining table and said, “A bit more valuable than them.”

Lin Miao had no choice but to continue dodging the debt. “I don’t have the money.”

Huo Yuchuan suggested, “Then extend the contract duration.”

“No way,” Lin Miao said indignantly. “You’re not even giving me a raise.”

Huo Yuchuan pressed, “Are you sure?”

Lin Miao insisted, “I’m sure.”

Huo Yuchuan then said, “Alright, I’ll have Little Zheng go to your school with a loudspeaker and announce that you’ve been eating and drinking for free.”

Lin Miao was stunned but quickly retorted, “Then I’ll bring a loudspeaker to your company and shout that you’re a miserly rooster who won’t part with a single feather!”

“Go ahead,” Huo Yuchuan said nonchalantly. “If your dad lets you in, I’ll fire him.”

Lin Miao fell silent. He had forgotten that his dad worked as a security guard at Huo Yuchuan’s company.

Two years ago, when Lin Miao “sold” himself to Huo Yuchuan, he finally paid off his dad’s debts. But then he owed Huo Yuchuan seven hundred thousand. Lin Miao, fearing that his dad would idle away and take out loans for more investments, urged him to find a job as soon as his leg healed.

His dad found one within two days.

Lin Miao was very surprised. “So quickly?”

“Yeah,” his dad said cheerfully, “I wandered around and saw a company hiring security guards, so I applied and got hired!”

Worried that his dad might be scammed, Lin Miao went to check out the company himself.

Then, he saw Huo Yuchuan and Little Zheng coming out of the office building after work.

Huo Yuchuan, in his suit, looked at Lin Miao, who was standing outside the building, bewildered, and said indifferently, “Came to pick me up?”

Before Lin Miao could speak, Little Zheng sighed emotionlessly, “Ah, so enviable.”

Huh? Enviable for what? Lin Miao denied it, “No, I……”

Ignoring him, Little Zheng walked away, saying, “I’ll get the car.”

Lin Miao gave up trying to explain, looked up at the tall building in front of him, and asked Huo Yuchuan, “Do you work here?”

Huo Yuchuan: “Mm.”

Lin Miao: “In charge of hiring security guards?”

Huo Yuchuan: “……No.”

“No?” Lin Miao muttered, “I thought my dad was hired by you.”

He looked up and asked, “So what do you do?”

Huo Yuchuan: “Odd jobs.”

Lin Miao didn’t believe him, “But Assistant Zheng calls you Mr. Huo.”

Huo Yuchuan: “I’ve been demoted.”

Lin Miao: “Ah? Why?”

Huo Yuchuan: “Because of hiring security guards.”

Lin Miao: “……”

Lin Miao declared indignantly, “I’ll tell my dad to quit right away.”

Huo Yuchuan seemed to stifle a laugh.

He walked towards the car that was slowly approaching and said, “I was just teasing you.”

Lin Miao chased after him with his school bag on his back, his voice fading away.

“Did you hire my dad?”

“No.”

“Then how come it just happened to be your company?”

“I don’t know.”

……

Later, Lin Miao found out that Huo Yuchuan’s surname “Huo” was from the Huo Group in the neighboring City B, a family with a vast and complex network. The number of illegitimate children seemed to sprout like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, popping up every now and then.

Huo Yuchuan was one of them.

Lin Miao didn’t know why, at the age when he should have been in college, Huo Yuchuan became some kind of “Mr. Huo.” He only heard that after Huo Yuchuan was taken back by his family, he was sent abroad and, upon returning, somehow took over this subsidiary in City A.

Over the past two years, Lin Miao had never met his family, and Huo Yuchuan had never mentioned them. It seemed as if he was truly alone, living in a spacious house and managing a very profitable company… Lin Miao suddenly felt that he wasn’t pitiful at all.

He was so wealthy yet so stingy! In order to keep his dad’s job, Lin Miao had no choice but to grumble, “I’m going to lose weight tomorrow!”

Huo Yuchuan said, “The treadmill is upstairs. You can go run two hours after meals.”

Lin Miao humphed and reluctantly went to run.

Ten minutes later, feeling weak in his limbs, he sent a message to his dad: “Dad, maybe you should just quit.”

Lin Jianxing: ???

Lin Miao: “Bring your bank card. Let’s run away.”

Lin Jianxing: “Isn’t the bank card with Little Huo?”

Lin Miao remembered again that, fearing he would spend money recklessly, he had given all his bank cards to Huo Yuchuan.

Downstairs, Aunt Chen, hearing the “bangs” from upstairs, felt both heartbroken and puzzled. “Why does Little Lin suddenly want to lose weight? Where is he fat? He finally has a bit of meat on his bones.”

Huo Yuchuan, sitting on the sofa and flipping through a cookbook, said, “It’s just to exercise.”

That night, lying on the bed, Lin Miao groaned, “So tired, my legs are so sore……”

Huo Yuchuan sat on the edge of the bed and massaged his legs.

“I can’t run anymore,” he said, feeling sleepy and drowsy. “Maybe I’ll just skip meals tomorrow.”

Huo Yuchuan turned off the light, held him in his arms, and suddenly said, “We’ll have lobster tomorrow.”

Lin Miao: “……”

The next day, in order to resist the temptation of lobster, Lin Miao hid on the second floor and refused to come down.

Out of sight, out of mind, Lin Miao stared at his textbook—my mind is only on studying.

His phone suddenly “dinged.”

Huo Yuchuan had sent a picture.

Lin Miao opened it and saw a bright red, steamed garlic lobster that unexpectedly caught his eye, as if it were about to jump into his mouth.

Lin Miao clenched his fists and turned off his phone.

A few seconds later, he opened it again indignantly, “Huo Yuchuan, you’re so annoying!”

Huo Yuchuan quickly replied, “Thank you.”

Lin Miao: “I’m not complimenting you!”

Huo Yuchuan shared a link: Why “Hating” Means “Liking”: These People Often Say One Thing but Mean Another.

Lin Miao: “……”