Hou Fa could feel his throat burn with a sense of embarrassment as he listened to Da Pei's words. Who knew that the man who threatened them would turn out to be the one to stand by Hou Lin's side? Not only that, if Da Pei came to know that he had indeed ordered Hou Lin to do 'pretend dating' with Da Shang for the sake of his job, the tables would completely turn against him.
"Y-Yeah…" a nervous chuckle escaped his lips. "I am very lucky indeed…"
At this point, Hou Luli too, felt too ashamed to meet her son's gaze who did the right thing from the beginning. She could feel Hou Cai's burning gaze directed at them as if saying, 'Bro was right but you humiliated him!'
The executive director, Lin Yawen, sternly said, "I appreciate Mr. Da that he apologized for his actions. But what you did cannot be easily overlooked. Mr. Hou, if you want, you can register a human resources complaint against Mr. Da for his unethical behavior. It will…surely bring a negative image for the company," she softly sighed, "but I don't want to stop you from getting justice."
Hou Fa quickly said, "No, no, Miss. Lin. If Mr. Da has sincerely apologized, then I have no reason to bear anymore enmity. I don't want to file any complaint."
Hou Cai sneered.
Heh. Your guilt of wanting to fool Da Shang is stopping you from doing that, otherwise you only endlessly cursed him!
Da Pei bowed his head. "Thank you so much, Mr. Hou. I truly appreciate your kindness."
Hou Cai scoffed.
Lin Yawen said, "Mr. Hou would not want to pursue this but at the company level, we cannot ignore this serious matter either. You will face salary cuts and a temporary suspension. Please come to meet me after this, Da Pei."
He gravely nodded. "It's alright. I deserve at least this much punishment."
She smiled as she looked at Hou Fa. "Welcome back, Mr. Hou. It is a pleasure to work with you again."
"Thank you, Miss. Lin!"
As the meeting was dismissed, Hou Lin turned and quickly followed after Lin Yawen. Hou Fa almost stumbled at his place, "Wh-where is he going? Don't tell me he wants to bust me in front of her!" He anxiously whispered to Hou Luli.
"I don't know either…" she worriedly answered.
Hou Cai, who had enough of it, glared at them fiercely. "Can you two bother to think at least a little outside of your selfishness!? Even after Bro saved your damn job, you keep doubting him! I…I so hate you two! And I won't forgive you for slapping Bro and scolding me to shut my mouth yesterday! You two are the worst!"
"C-Cai you…" Hou Fa trembled.
But Hou Cai stormed his way out, not wanting to talk to them any further.
—
"Miss. Lin!"
She stopped and turned, surprised to see Hou Lin rushing towards her. "Yes, Hou Lin. How can I help you?"
He breathlessly asked, "Um…you said you received an anonymous tip about Da Shang admitting to her father's guilt."
"Yes."
"What was the conversation about?"
Lin Yawen blinked in confusion. "Wait, so…you didn't send me the recording?"
Hou Lin's expression mirrored her bewilderment. "I didn't send you anything. That's why I came to ask you who did it and what it contained."
"I thought it was you because the recording is a conversation between you and Da Shang talking to each other. Wait, follow me."
She took him inside her office and played the recording on her laptop which she had saved.
'I am not lying!'
Da Shang's voice echoed from the recording.
'Lying is supposed to be a wrong thing.'
'I am seriously not lying! How is it my fault if Dad saw me crying yesterday and assured me that he will take care of it? That's why he must have fired your Dad. Because then you would come to me, apologize for breaking up with me and then getting back together with me, right?'
'Why would I do any of those things?'
'Don't you care about your father?'
'I do. That's why I came to ask why Mr. Da Pei fired Dad.'
'Exactly so that we get together for your father to get his job back!'
Lin Yawen paused the recording and asked, "There is a little more of it left but it's clearly you and Da Shang talking. Since it's you talking, I thought you secretly sent me this in order to expose Da Pei. That's why I didn't mention the source of this clip."
Hou Lin definitely recognized that it was the same conversation that occurred on the graduation ceremony day.
But we were talking privately-
Suddenly, his eyes slightly widened and it dawned upon him. He looked back at Lin Yawen and bowed. "Thank you."
"Wait so if it wasn't you, then who was it?"
His gaze flickered with warmth. "Somebody…who said that she won't be there to help me anymore but even so she did."
—
As the Hou family returned home, Hou Fa cheerfully laughed with joy. "Haha we should celebrate this."
Hou Luli beamed. "Yes, yes how about we all go for a family dinner tonight?"
Hou Cai grimaced. "Before that, don't you think that you should apologize to Bro?"
He stiffened, but he knew there was no way out of this. He looked left and right, feeling embarrassed, even humiliating to admit that he went too far with admonishing Hou Lin.
He stood before him and faced him, his expression contorting with the sense to quickly end this. "L-Look Lin…I know I was hard on you. But please understand your father. I was under a lot of stress. You don't know how it feels to lose your job and think how to feed your family without any money. I told you to do what I felt was right to do for our family to live peacefully. But now everything is okay, right? So we can let go of the skirmishes past us and focus on the future," he grinned and patted his shoulder, "I am proud that you stood your ground."
Hou Cai was left flabbergasted with his shamelessness. "Then you should also apologize for slapping him, right?"
"Cai, you…" he gritted his teeth, feeling irked. "Why do you have to keep poking the same thing again and again when everything is already resolved now!"
"Easy for you to say because you got what you wanted, right? Now that you got your job back, you don't feel the need to say a simple sorry because it would lower your head in shame, wouldn't it?"
"Hou Cai!" He exclaimed. "Mind your tongue or I will ground you!"
"Stop it you two!" Hou Luli stepped in between them, exasperated. "Enough of this fight. We already have suffered a lot of stress. This is not the time to keep holding onto grudges."
Hou Lin slowly parted his lips and said, "I won't hold any grudges."
The couple heaved a big sigh of relief.
"Because I am leaving this house."
They blankly stared at him, his words not registering within them. "What?"
"I am leaving from here."
"Where?"
"To live away from you two forever."
Hou Fa's jaw dropped while Hou Luli exhaled a sharp gasp. "What nonsense are you saying!?"
Hou Lin plainly said, "It's not nonsense. It's my decision that I arrived at after thinking about it a long time. I don't want to live with you and Dad."
"Y-you cannot be serious! Just because you and Fa had differences just one time doesn't mean that you just up and leave this house!"
He stared at his parents. "I am not leaving because of this matter with his job or because he slapped me. I feel…there is a fundamental difference in what you feel is right and wrong versus what I feel. Our ideologies don't gel. This is not just today. For a long time since my childhood now, I learned that our beliefs are in stark contrast. And if they are so different, such clashes will continue to exist. Today it happened to get sorted out. But tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? Two years later? Five years? Ten years later? I don't feel there will ever be an end to this."
His lips trembled and so did his heart. "So, I will leave this house. This is my right decision."
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