To My Dear Mr. Huo

Chapter 492: This Is Your Uncle

Old Master Huo was feeling delighted because of the gift that Su Qingsang had given him earlier on, but when he saw a tall figure coming in, his smile grew even wider.

“Yichen, come here.”

“Uncle.” Zhang Yichen walked up to Old Master Huo and said, “it’s been a long time since we’ve met, uncle. You look as energetic as ever.”

“Not as energetic as you,” said Old Master Huo as he looked at Zhang Yichen from head to toe. Zhang Yichen was in his thirties, looking composed and reliable.

He had a tall, sturdy body, and the muscles that he had grown in the army made him look very different from ordinary people.

“Why didn’t you come here with your mom the last time?”

“They had their own things to do, and I didn’t intend to join the party.”

While speaking, Zhang Yichen caught a glimpse of a parrot and the person standing next to the parrot.

The expression on his face froze for a moment as his eyes scanned the whole of Su Qingsang’s face.

When he came in, Huo Jinyao was standing by Su Qingsang’s side. Huo Jinyao was bigger than Su Qingsang, so he was covering half of Su Qingsang’s body.

Zhang Yichen couldn’t see Su Qingsang clearly until he walked up to Huo Jinyao.

“Jinyao, this is…”

He already had the answer, but he asked the question anyway.

“Uncle, this is Su Qingsang, your niece-in-law,” said Huo Jinyao. “Qingsang, this is the uncle we talked about earlier. His name is Zhang Yichen, and he is my great-aunt’s youngest son. He is young, but he is a senior colonel already.”

“Uncle,” greeted Su Qingsang. The smile on her face was a little stiff. She didn’t think that she would see Zhang Yichen again right inside her family home after she had run into him earlier that afternoon.

What surprised her, even more, was the fact that he was her husband’s uncle.

Thinking about what Zhang Yichen had done to her earlier in the afternoon, which could almost be considered flirting, Su Qingsang suddenly started to feel awkward.

“Hi, good to see you,” said Zhang Yichen. After being shocked for a moment, he adjusted his expression immediately. Then, he reached a hand toward Su Qingsang, as if it was the first time he was seeing her.

“Good to see you too.” Both Old Master Huo and Huo Jinyao were present when he reached his hand out, so Su Qingsang had no choice but to shake his hand.

His hands were larger than Huo Jinyao’s, and the texture of his palms was a little coarse. Su Qingsang quickly retracted her hand after shaking his hand for less than a second.

Zhang Yichen gave her another glance because of her sudden reaction. Then he said, “I couldn’t make it to Jinyao’s wedding, and I came here in a hurry today, so I didn’t have the time to prepare you a gift. Please forgive me for that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, uncle. We’re family, after all, so you don’t have to bring me a gift.”

He was a young man, but Su Qingsang needed to call him uncle because he was indeed Huo Jinyao’s uncle. Thinking about what he had done earlier that afternoon, Su Qingsang still felt a little uncomfortable.

However, she realized one thing. He was a serviceman. Hence, back in the afternoon, he was probably carrying out some kind of secret mission that was not to be known by someone like her.

With that realization, the fear and dislike Su Qingsang had held for Zhang Yichen began to fade.

“I do owe you a gift. I will bring it to you next time.”

Zhang Yichen looked at Su Qingsang’s eyes. She had dropped her eyelids, so he could only see her red lips.

Recalling how close they had been in each other’s presence earlier that afternoon, he, for some reason, felt his throat growing tight.

He turned his eyes to the parrot, then to Old Master Huo, asking, “Uncle, what were you guys laughing about just now?”

“About this,” he said, pointing to the parrot. Thinking about what had happened earlier on with the parrot, Old Master Huo’s wrinkled face was once again layered with a faint smile.

“Qingsang doesn’t want me to feel lonely, so she bought a parrot to keep me company. We were talking to it just now.”

For some reason, the parrot had been quiet since Zhang Yichen entered the door.

However, at that point, Old Master Huo had no time for the parrot. He asked Mr. Cheng to take the parrot to the backyard. Then, he waved at Zhang Yichen and signaled for the latter to sit down next to him.

He liked Zhang Yichen a lot. Like people said, nephews could get very close to their uncles. Zhang Yichen lived in the army most of the time, but he didn’t fail to visit Old Master Huo every time he came to Rong City.

“I heard from your mother that you’re now a senior colonel. I haven’t gotten a chance to congratulate you yet. Young senior colonels like you are quite rare.”

“Not so rare. Besides, they promoted me for my father’s sake. It’s nothing.”

“Stop being so humble. Not even your father could have gotten you promoted if you hadn’t made an actual contribution. You have to perform meritorious service to elevate yourself to higher positions.”

Zhang Yichen smiled without denying it.

Su Qingsang looked at Zhang Yichen, recalling how she had seen him bravely help other people twice now. The unhappiness she had towards him was now gone, as she learned that he was a serviceman.

During dinner, Old Master Huo let Zhang Yichen sit next to him, and Huo Jinyao next to Zhang Yichen, between himself and Su Qingsang.

Huo Jinyao and Zhang Yichen seemed to be quite close. Su Qingsang saw Huo Jinyao leaning toward Zhang Yichen from time to time to talk to him, mainly about their past.

When Ms. Zhou served them some soup, Huo Jinyao poured some of it for Su Qingsang in a bowl and put it before her as he always did.

“This soup is full of nutrients. Ms. Zhou made it for you exclusively. Try it!”

Liu Tongjia and Huo Mingguang had already gotten used to Huo Jinyao and Su Qingsang’s sweet interaction during every meal.

Nevertheless, the corner of Liu Tongjia’s mouth twitched when she heard what Huo Jinyao said. Ms. Zhou didn’t make the soup exclusively for Su Qingsang. She made it for Liu Tongjia because she seemed to be feeling a little tired these days.

Liu Tongjia had moved her lips, preparing to say something. However, she chose to stay silent when her eyes landed on Zhang Yichen.

Huo Mingguang was even quieter than his wife. After all, they had both gotten so tired of watching Huo Jinyao and Su Qingsang’s sweet interaction.

Unlike them, Zhang Yichen was watching their interaction for the very first time. He had sat next to Huo Jinyao, watching him add soup to Su Qingsang’s bowl and put food on her plate from time to time during the entire meal.

He had never seen that side of Huo Jinyao before, nor the way Su Qingsang was now.

He only remembered Su Qingsang with a cunning smile on her face when facing the family of the woman who attempted to blackmail him in the hospital. He also recalled the way she had jokingly asked him if he had been blackmailed again.

He also remembered her being scared but trying very hard to stay calm earlier in the afternoon, along with the way she had looked at him with eyes very alert.

His heart raced a little but he couldn’t control it, so he lowered his head to focus on the food.

He knew that she was his niece-in-law. However, the impression she had left on him through the several short meetings they had was imprinted very deeply in his mind.

“Yichen, how long will you be staying in Rong City this time?”

Old Master Huo’s question alerted Zhang Yichen.

“Three days.”

“Stay here in the family house then,” said Old Master Huo. Zhang Yichen was going to say no but changed his mind when he saw from the corners of his eyes that Su Qingsang was putting some food into Huo Jinyao’s bowl.

Old Master Huo was delighted. He asked Mr. Cheng to prepare a room for Zhang Yichen.

…

After she took a shower, Su Qingsang came out but didn’t see Huo Jinyao in the room. She called Huo Jinyao on the phone, but he didn’t answer the call. She looked at the time, then put on her coat and went downstairs.

After she asked Mr. Cheng about Huo Jinyao’s whereabouts, she found him in the gym inside the family house.

She heard a loud noise from the gym when she walked to the door.

The gym was large. Half of it was occupied by all kinds of equipment, while the other half was paved with a thick mat, looking like a yoga studio.

Su Qingsang pushed the door open and saw Huo Jinyao and Zhang Yichen fighting an intense battle in the area she had thought was a yoga studio, the last time she came here.

She could tell that they weren’t fighting a real fight.

Zhang Yichen was good at fighting, but so was Huo Jinyao. They were both attacking each other fiercely.

Suddenly, Zhang Yichen changed his way of fighting and launched a series of attacks. Huo Jinyao quickly adjusted his fighting style to match his opponent.

Su Qingsang knew little about wrestling, but she could tell that Zhang Yichen was better at it than Huo Jinyao was.

Huo Jinyao lasted a long while under Zhang Yichen’s attacks but was thrown to the ground eventually.

“Are you really making this serious?” asked Huo Jinyao, gasping for air. He had said this to Zhang Yichen when the latter pressed him on the ground.

“You’ve grown weak.” Zhang Yichen sprang up and reached towards Huo Jinyao to help him stand up. “You haven’t been exercising lately, have you?”

“No,” Huo Jinyao admitted. “I have a lot of work to do in the company. I’m not like you. You practice every day in the army. How can I be compared to you?”

He got up, punched Zhang Yichen in the chest while gasping, and said, “I can’t believe you hit me so hard. That hurt like hell.”

Huo Jinyao had a feeling that today, Zhang Yichen hadn’t fought him like he usually did. He fought even harder instead.

Before asking Zhang Yichen the reason for his sudden aggressiveness, he saw Su Qingsang from the corner of his eye and put on a big smile.

“Darling.” He walked up to Su Qingsang in large steps and held her hand. “You see, uncle has hurt me. How awful is he!”

Su Qingsang gave Zhang Yichen a quick glance, then turned to Huo Jinyao with concern, asking him, “Are you hurt? Where?”

“Here, here, and here.” Huo Jinyao didn’t consider making his wife worry about him as something to be humiliated about. He quickly pointed at a few more areas on his body.

Su Qingsang intended to lift Huo Jinyao’s shirt to give it a check but paused when she saw Zhang Yichen walking over.

“Let’s go back to our room. I’ll treat you with some ointment.”

“Okay.” Huo Jinyao was satisfied with the worried look on Su Qingsang’s eyes. He leaned towards her and kissed her on the cheek, even though Zhang Yichen was right beside him.

It wasn’t the first time Huo Jinyao did that in front of other people, but Su Qingsang felt especially awkward when he did that under Zhang Yichen’s watchful gaze.

“Let’s go. Do you not want me to apply the ointment for you?”

“Of course I do,” said Huo Jinyao as he turned and waved at Zhang Yichen. He said, “Uncle, we will continue this fight again next time.”

Su Qingsang nodded at Zhang Yichen, then left together with Huo Jinyao.

Zhang Yichen stayed where he was. He sensed a faint aroma that was floating in the air. It was Su Qingsang’s.

Su Qingsang had obviously just taken a shower. He saw small droplets of water falling from the tips of her hair and inhaled the smell of her shower gel.

She had left, but her scent lingered in the air, gently caressing him.

Zhang Yichen stood there motionless.

He had grown up in a military camp. Since he was little, there had been barely any other females in his life apart from his mother and sister. He had some female colleagues, and sometimes, he went on missions with them. However, the women in the army mostly lacked obvious femininity.

He hadn’t met a lot of women like Su Qingsang. Thus, when he first met her, he hadn’t been expecting his relationship with her to turn out this way.

He leaned gently against the wall. The aroma in the air grew fainter and fainter, eventually fading away. The glow in Zhang Yichen’s eyes turned dimmer and dimmer, finally losing its spark.