"A Rou, quickly manage my brother!"
Only Huo Rou could make Qin Ningyi put down his work and be late for three consecutive days. She needed to vent to Huo Rou about her brother.
"What's wrong?" Huo Rou had just entered Elder Wang's home with An'an and was changing her shoes.
Seeing her on the phone, Elder Wang, no matter how excited he was, couldn't interrupt. He took An'an to his study to look around first.
"That scoundrel Qin Ningyi put a woman I detest, a green tea b*tch, into my design department for an internship. You absolutely have to lecture him."
Qin Feiyan felt increasingly uneasy as she spoke, "He's always kept work and personal life separate. Anyone entering the company has to go through the proper channels. This time he just arranged it directly. You have to be careful, don't let that woman trick my brother away."
When it came to who she favored, she was on Huo Rou's side.
"How detestable?" Huo Rou asked indifferently.
"She's pretentious, her voice is so syrupy, she doesn't speak properly, and everything she says is so fake and manipulative." Qin Feiyan, being straightforward, naturally couldn't stand such a person.
"I had someone check her design work later. It's utter trash, yet somehow people fawn over her. In a university design competition, her work was clearly not as good as the second-place entry, yet she still won first place."
As a proud designer, she couldn't tolerate deceit and falsification.
Tang Zhenzhen before was an example. She could tolerate her minor transgressions solely due to her design talent; at least her work was presentable.
"The second-place entry was good, didn't you notice?" Huo Rou's tone was very calm, and talking to her made one involuntarily set aside their impatience.
Hearing Huo Rou say this, Qin Feiyan's frustration subsided significantly, and a plan suddenly struck her.
"Oh Huo Rou, I see! I'll find that second-place winner and have her start working here too!"
"What bad idea are you hatching now?" Huo Rou chuckled softly.
Listening to Huo Rou's laughter, Qin Feiyan compared it to Wang Wanrou's voice and realized that natural sweetness was indeed more pleasant than artificial sweetener.
"I'll make her retreat in the face of difficulties," Qin Feiyan declared aggressively. "Alright, sister Huo Rou, you go ahead and be busy. I need to start preparing."
"Mhm." Huo Rou saw she had thought it through and was about to hang up.
"You must properly manage my brother. Tell him that if he brings another woman into the company, you won't accept his confession." Qin Feiyan began digging a pit for Qin Ningyi behind his back.
"But I've already accepted it." Huo Rou said playfully, then hung up the phone. She turned and entered the study to find An'an and Elder Wang.
Qin Feiyan, on the other end of the line, had been enthusiastically planning to put Wang Wanrou in her place a moment ago, but now she stood stunned.
What?
She hadn't misheard, had she?
Didn't her brother just consult her about how to confess not long ago? And now Huo Rou was his girlfriend?
Qin Ningyi was as direct and swift as ever. Unlike her...
Qin Feiyan touched the woven ring on her hand and shook her head, pushing the thought away.
Huo Rou didn't give that Wang person any thought. She was currently standing at the study door, watching Elder Wang teach An'an calligraphy.
"Right, right, right!"
As soon as An'an finished writing a large character, Elder Wang excitedly stroked his beard and shouted, "That's it!"
"Xiao Rou, come quickly and see, how is An'an's handwriting?" Elder Wang called her over with a rosy complexion.
Huo Rou leaned in to look and nodded, "There's progress."
"Really?" An'an looked at Elder Wang with shining eyes, "Uncle Wang, please teach An'an another one!"
"Okay, let's write another!" Elder Wang picked up the brush and, with a flourish, wrote a character "Huo" in an ancient and elegant style.
An'an observed carefully, then similarly dipped his brush in ink, licked it, and painstakingly wrote the character "Huo" next to Elder Wang's.
A child's arm strength was insufficient, always lacking a certain flair, but Elder Wang was clearly very pleased, nodding continuously.
"How about 'Rou'?" Having received Elder Wang's praise, An'an looked up with sparkling eyes and asked Elder Wang for instruction.
"You want to write your mother's name?" Elder Wang's fondness grew. He looked at Huo Rou standing nearby, handed her the brush, and said, "Xiao Rou, you write it!"
Huo Rou met An'an's gaze, and her heart instantly softened.
She took the brush. Elder Wang moved aside for her. Huo Rou stood before the table and, beneath the "Huo" character An'an had written, added the characters "Ji An."
"My name!" An'an was overjoyed.
Elder Wang looked at the two characters Huo Rou had written and exclaimed, "These two characters are structured compactly, and their form is slender and upright, appearing more vigorous and beautiful than your previous writing."
Elder Wang became engrossed, picked up the rice paper, and savored it, "Less constraint, more a sense of naive and uninhibited joy."
Elder Wang looked at Huo Rou with satisfaction in his eyes, "Indeed, you've become a mother, and your calligraphy has a different flavor. It's more refined and more human."
Huo Rou offered a smile and said nothing.
An'an walked over and negotiated with Elder Wang, "Uncle Wang, can you give me this calligraphy?"
Elder Wang raised his eyebrows, "That won't do. Go back and have your mother write another one for you."
How many pieces of Huo Rou's calligraphy had he received over the years? For him to give it away? Impossible.
An'an failed to get the calligraphy and winked at Huo Rou.
Huo Rou took another piece of paper, held An'an's hand, and had him write his name again.
This time, as soon as An'an put down the brush, he picked up the paper, blew on it, and put it away once the ink dried!
The mother and son spent the whole day at Elder Wang's home. They also helped Elder Wang tend to his small courtyard, watering the flowers and pulling out weeds.
As they were leaving, Elder Wang produced a scroll and gave it to Huo Rou.
"What is this?" Huo Rou asked him curiously.
Elder Wang pressed the scroll into her hand, "You've moved to Yu Chang City, haven't you? It's to decorate your new home too."
He patted Huo Rou's shoulder and smiled like an ordinary old man, kind and amiable, "I know you don't like flashy things, but a home needs some decoration to feel like a home. Take it and hang it up."
Huo Rou looked at the scroll in her hand, suppressing the softness in her eyes, and said with a firm tone, "Yes, I will definitely enshrine your masterpiece properly."
"Just you be sarcastic!" Elder Wang broke character in a second and waved them away, "Hurry and go! It's getting dark, and it's not safe outside at night."
Huo Rou looked at the wrinkles on the old man's face and his white hair, and gently instructed, "You must take good care of yourself at home. Contact me anytime if you need anything."
With that, she didn't wait for Elder Wang to be moved. She pulled An'an and walked out.
Elder Wang watched her retreating figure, and after a long time, he smiled and closed the door.
When Huo Rou returned home, she opened the scroll and, as Elder Wang had instructed, hung it on the bare wall in the living room.
It was Elder Wang's powerful and dynamic running script, writing the poem "Settling in the Southern Mountains in My Later Years" by Wang Wei.
The running script was elegant, and An'an couldn't understand much. "Mom, what does it say?"
"Middle-aged, I've taken to the Dao,
My humble abode by the Southern Mountains.
When inspiration strikes, I roam alone,
Such joys, known only to myself.
I walk to where the water ends,
And sit to watch the clouds arise.
By chance, I meet a woodsman,
We chat and laugh, with no thought of return."
Elder Wang lived a leisurely and tranquil life, and he wished the same for her.
Huo Rou swallowed the sudden surge of emotion and smiled.
Hopefully.
As the moon rose, casting a bright, clear glow, Huo Rou's bedroom was enveloped in darkness.