Chapter 73 -0073: A Battle of Wits and Courage with the Ultimate Mother-in-law
“As a married woman, do you still think about unnecessary dealings with other men?”
Mu Lan couldn’t help but sneer when she heard Han Yongmei speak so righteously.
“If we go by what you’re saying, shouldn’t Huo Tingxiao, a married man, also not randomly associate with other women in the future?”
Han Yongmei immediately glared, retorting:
“He is a man, you are a woman, how can the two be the same?”
Mu Lan really wanted to laugh at her ridiculous mother-in-law, implying it was all about passing things down to sons and not daughters!
...
“So you mean, officials can set fires, but commoners can’t even light a lantern?”
Han Yongmei didn’t expect Mu Lan to be so persistent, and could only play the elder’s card again.
“This… this is not the same thing.”
Mu Lan didn’t want to let it go so easily, and turned to look at Huo Tingxiao.
“It seems if I continue to be the granddaughter-in-law in your Huo Family, I’ll have to enroll in a ‘women’s virtue’ class.”
“Listen to her, is this the way she talks to her elders?”
Huo Tingxiao slightly lifted his eyelids and looked at Mu Lan. Although he clearly knew she was just bickering with Han Yongmei and not really defending Lin Yize, he still felt uncomfortable hearing it.
However, he would settle this with her later.
“Her attitude depends on your attitude. Elders also need to behave like elders. If Grandfather knew you came to accuse her of wrongdoing just because someone stirred you up—”
Huo Tingxiao didn’t finish his sentence, deliberately leaving Han Yongmei some space to imagine.
“Are you taking her side?”
Mu Lan glanced at the pale-faced Han Yongmei without a shred of sympathy. Huo Tingxiao, cold-hearted as he was, answered without any hint of wavering.
“She is my wife. Isn’t it only right and proper that I protect her?”
Han Yongmei paused, staring fixedly at Huo Tingxiao, a complex emotion swirling in her eyes.
“Good, very good. I had no idea my son was such a foolishly devoted man.”
“It seems you did not take the suggestion I gave you last time.”
Mu Lan’s eyelids twitched at these words. He’d better not add fuel to the fire!
“What?”
“Go back and tell him that I don’t want to care about those things he does outside, and I can’t be bothered to. But make sure those unfit for the public eye stay in their place. Otherwise, don’t blame me for not holding back.”
Huo Tingxiao’s words were straightforward, making Han Yongmei’s face look even uglier.
“Tingxiao, it’s someone from the second branch…”
“Today, Mu Lan suffered here because of the Huo Family, and she didn’t turn to her own family for help, which is already giving the Huo Family face.
This is the last time I’ll talk to you calmly. I always live up to my words, you know that.”
There was an unquestionable domineering tone in his voice, making even Han Yongmei fear him to some extent.
When she spoke again, she was subconsciously much more cautious.
“I really didn’t know this matter involved people from the second branch, otherwise I wouldn’t have… what exactly did they do?”
Mu Lan stared unwaveringly at Huo Tingxiao. Had he already found out something?
“Did they find the person?”
“Not yet, but it should be as I’ve guessed. You don’t need to worry about this matter, leave it to me.”
Watching the back-and-forth between the two, Han Yongmei became even more anxious.
“Tingxiao, you can be angry with me however you want, but this is a serious matter, I can’t turn a blind eye.”
Huo Tingxiao didn’t buy it, his face devoid of much expression, but his eyes were cold and clear.
“You have turned a blind eye for so many years. Just continue living peacefully as the official wife.”
“I…”
“Yun Xi.”
“Mr. Huo.”
Mu Lan stared at the tall short-haired girl in front her and paused. Judging by her attire, was she a bodyguard?
“From now on, you are responsible for the close protection of Mrs. Huo’s safety. No one unrelated is allowed to approach.”
This statement was practically a slap in the face for Han Yongmei. Clutching her purse tightly in her hands, she knew that staying any longer would only make her despised.
“The driver will take you back. From now on, you don’t have to worry about my affairs.”
Biting her lip, Han Yongmei ultimately didn’t utter a single word of rebuttal and stood up to leave the hospital room.
The vast space suddenly quieted down. Mu Lan looked at Huo Tingxiao, actually wanting to ask what had happened between him and his mother, to reach such a cold state. It wasn’t that Mu Lan felt pity for Han Yongmei out of some saintly morality, but rather she wanted to understand what had happened to Huo Tingxiao to make him this way.
Huo Tingxiao gazed at her, his face showing neither joy nor anger, then he spoke unhurriedly.
“Did you go shopping with Lin Yize to pick out a birthday gift for his mother?”
Suddenly, Mu Lan felt a bit guilty, but she quickly regained her composure and answered openly.
“Yes, I ran into my senior when leaving the Empire Building that day.”
Huo Tingxiao walked to the front of the bed and sat in the chair beside it, staring at her unblinkingly, his gaze as if it had hooks in it.
Mu Lan thought he had more to say, but he simply looked at her that way for quite some time without uttering a word, making her feel profoundly uneasy.
“What do you want to say?”
Huo Tingxiao was silent for a while before speaking again.
“What do you think I want to say?”
Mu Lan felt helpless, he was starting with that stubbornly aloof demeanor again.
“How would I know what you want to say? I am not a worm in your stomach.”
Suddenly, Huo Tingxiao stood up, his hands planted on either side of Mu Lan’s body, his handsome face close to hers, the distance between them likely less than a forearm’s length.
Mu Lan’s fingertips tingled, her clear eyes staring at him as she wondered what he was up to now. Couldn’t he speak to her properly?
As their eyes locked, the emotions swirling in Huo Tingxiao’s depths were conspicuously impossible to ignore, no matter how she wished to do so. The thought of another person being in the room caused her face to become uncontrollably hot.
“Don’t do anything rash, there’s someone else here.”
Mu Lan’s voice was soft when she spoke, but it cut through the silence distinctly.
Huo Tingxiao, acting as if he hadn’t heard her, moved even more presumptuously closer by an inch, causing Mu Lan’s eyes to widen in shock.
“He came today as well, but it’s a pity he’s not a family member. The nurse didn’t let him in.”
Mu Lan thought to herself whether it was the nurse who didn’t allow it or if it was him, speaking as if he had the moral high ground.
She sighed, explaining patiently with good temper.
“He’s my senior, it’s only natural for him to visit me in the hospital.”
Clearly, Huo Tingxiao was not willing to see it that way. What Lin Yize was harboring towards Mu Lan, as a man, he knew all too clearly.
“Lin Yize doesn’t only want to be your senior.”
Mu Lan frowned, her tone becoming slightly impatient.
“I only consider him as a senior, Huo Tingxiao, let’s be straight with each other. The fact that Sheng Xueqin works at your company, you didn’t tell me beforehand, and I didn’t make a fuss when I found out. Can’t we be fair about this?”
Huo Tingxiao was taken aback by her retort, taking a while before he finally spoke.
“Sheng Xueqin has already resigned.”
Mu Lan was stunned.
“So what?”
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“So, Lin Yize should also be eliminated from your life. That would be fair.”