Chapter 29: Young Master Huo, Should We Continue Withholding Resources from Song Yiren?

Pei Baoyuan was not injured. After spending one night in the hospital, she was discharged. Her mother, Ms. Song Xuanling, came to pick her up.

However, standing at the entrance of the ward, Pei Baoyuan saw Huo Yanzhi again. He looked eager to offer the two women a ride home, but Pei Baoyuan did not spare him a single glance.

Upon learning she had been in an accident, his first words hadn't been to ask how she was, but to rush to clear the name of his little mistress—the contrast between people was truly stark. Pei Baoyuan thought of Ke Xianbai, and her mood inexplicably sank.

After she had laid down and drifted into a hazy sleep the previous night, she woke up this morning to find only Ms. Song Xuanling in the room.

Huo Yanzhi followed closely behind them, fawning, "Auntie, let me take you and Yuanyuan home."

Pei Baoyuan spoke before Song Xuanling could respond: "No need to trouble yourself, Young Master Huo. Our Pei family has a driver. Since you are so busy with your myriad affairs, we wouldn't want to bother you."

Song Xuanling was stunned, but she chose to listen to her daughter. As the Pei family car pulled away from the hospital, Song Xuanling kindly said, "Little Huo, you should head back."

Huo Yanzhi was left at the hospital, choking on a mouthful of exhaust fumes.

Inside the car, Pei Baoyuan seemed lost in thought. After watching her for a while, her mother asked cautiously, "Yuanyuan, you and Little Huo..."

Pei Baoyuan replied, "Mommy, the new job was introduced to me by Huo Yanzhi, and the Huo Group holds a seventy percent stake in the platform."

Song Xuanling wanted to say something but hesitated.

Pei Baoyuan continued, "When he came to the hospital, his first words weren't to check on me, but to clear the suspicion surrounding that actress’s assistant. Doesn't that tell you everything?"

Song Xuanling did not speak up for Huo Yanzhi again. Her daughter had truly grown up and matured; she was no longer the girl who would mindlessly chase after Huo Yanzhi. Seeing this version of Pei Baoyuan actually brought her a sense of relief.

After a long silence in the carriage, Pei Baoyuan suddenly asked, "Mommy, the puppy in the painting in my bedroom—is that Coconut?"

Song Xuanling’s eyes darted away. "What Coconut? I don't know. That’s just something you scribbled when you were a child."

"..."

[Oh, for heaven’s sake, Pei Baoyuan has finally grown a brain.]
[Mom, stop looking so guilty; your shifty eyes are practically shouting that you’re lying.]
[I checked the later chapters—even though it’s mentioned vaguely, Pei’s mother actually went to see Coconut when he passed away.]
[Something’s not right. Why are they hiding this from Pei Baoyuan? It definitely isn't simple.]

Seeing the comments about Coconut passing away, Pei Baoyuan felt as though her heart had been struck by a blunt object. She had always known there was a missing piece of her memory—a side effect of a high fever she had suffered as a child that refused to break for days.

It was only after she recovered that her family realized she had lost the memories of those years spent in therapy. Ke Xianbai and Coconut must have appeared during that time. If Coconut had been just a puppy when they first met, then by now, he would have been an elderly dog.

Ms. Song Xuanling tried to change the subject, but noticing Pei Baoyuan staring blankly in one direction with her eyes welling up, she quickly fell silent.

With an incident like this, especially occurring under the gaze of so many people, it was difficult to contain the news. By that evening, so-called insiders were leaking details online: A beautiful hostess on a certain platform had been trapped in an elevator during a recording, and the culprit turned out to be the assistant of a popular actress.

There were many people present that day, and netizens were sharp; the fire quickly spread to Song Yiren. The matter didn't have much time to ferment before it was suppressed. By the day Pei Baoyuan was discharged, no mention of the incident could be found on the trending lists.

Pei Baoyuan figured it must have been Huo Yanzhi’s doing. Some people would go to their partner's home in the middle of the night, while others would move heaven and earth to bury the news for their little mistress.

Huo Yanzhi was once again added to Pei Baoyuan’s blacklist.

Having finally managed to earn Pei Baoyuan’s forgiveness, Huo Yanzhi was on the verge of a breakdown. Furious, he ordered someone to cut off the resources for Song Yiren.

011 suddenly interjected: "...Are you sure you want to give up this extra task with double points? The system has detected a sudden spike in Song Yiren’s hatred level; cutting off her resources might affect the completion of your extra task."

Huo Yanzhi: "..."

Huo Yanzhi was so angry he could have hit himself. He grabbed his phone to retract the message, but the other party called him first.

The executive said obsequiously, "Young Master Huo, you don't even need to order it; I already had people cut Song Yiren’s resources a long time ago."

Huo Yanzhi: "..."

His eyelid twitched uncontrollably. No wonder they had argued yesterday and she had said so many things he couldn't understand—it was all because of this "genius."

He gritted his teeth and asked, "When?"

The executive gave a date.

Perfect. It was the exact day Pei Baoyuan started her new job, the day he went to support her. It seemed this "genius" had tried to curry favor with Pei Baoyuan by taking it upon himself to cut Song Yiren’s resources.

The executive wanted to say more, but he only heard the dial tone.

The executive: "..."

He sensed something was wrong. Seeing no further instructions from Huo Yanzhi after the call ended, he struggled for a long time before tremblingly typing out a line: *Young Master Huo, should we still cut off Song Yiren’s resources?*

Huo Yanzhi was so infuriated by this idiot he felt like he was having a heart attack. He gritted his teeth and typed two words: *No need.*

Just as Huo Yanzhi was feeling vexed, another call summoned him to the company. The engineering project he had been busy with for some time had been snatched away by a small company that had only been in the capital for a few years.

This project was government-led; if managed well, their company stood to gain a great deal. Yet, it had been snatched by a small firm he hadn't even bothered to notice. It felt like "it never rains, but it pours"—every bad thing was happening to him at once.

When Huo Yanzhi arrived at his office, the files for that small company were already on his desk.

*Yuanbao*, established in the capital in 2017, legal representative: Lu Wang.

Huo Yanzhi flipped through the documents repeatedly, failing to see what was so special about this company. Even if the project hadn't gone to his Huo Group, it shouldn't have fallen to such a small outfit. The company was only five years old, and the boss was a young man not even thirty—how could they compare to the Huo Group?

His secretary hinted, "Young Master Huo, have you been having conflicts with Ms. Pei lately?"

Huo Yanzhi realized it instantly: the project was government-led, and Pei Baoyuan’s older brother, Pei Zongnian, was now the Secretary-General of the capital. What was the difference between offending Pei Baoyuan and offending Pei Zongnian?

He had just made Pei Baoyuan angry, and immediately the project went to this small company, Yuanbao. The more he thought about it, the more certain he was, and his hatred for Pei Baoyuan and the Pei family grew.

The Pei family truly held the capital in their grip. The Song Group had not only survived for so many years but had grown increasingly powerful, with countless subsidiaries. It would take dozens of Huo Groups to equal the Song Group, and that was surely thanks to the maneuvering of the Pei father and son behind the scenes.

Huo Yanzhi leaned back in his chair, feeling that the mission he had to complete was becoming increasingly arduous. The capital should not have the Song Group, and it certainly shouldn't have the Pei family—these two-faced...