His wife's pregnancy bump disappeared, and Mr. Huo was going crazy missing her.

"Really deleted?"

Huo Yanbei asked tentatively.

Mimicking his tone, Qiao Mian tentatively asked, "Mr. Huo, have you really deleted my video?"

"Qiao Mian".

The man's rough fingertips gently caressed the woman's slightly swollen red lips from the kiss. "No one dares to threaten me again and again. I hope there won't be a third time."

He never answered her question about whether he had deleted the video of her receiving money; instead, his last sentence carried a hint of warning.

However, whether he deletes it or not is no longer important.

Because all she needed to do was make him believe that she had something on Song Chen.

Although she has indeed deleted the video that reported the incident...

"As long as Mr. Huo doesn't make things difficult for me, I certainly wouldn't dare to go against you."

She said something indifferently.

Huo Yanbei chuckled, "You think you can use a video of a report to blackmail me?"

"So, Mr. Huo thinks he can use the video of me receiving money to threaten me?"

With that, she pulled away from the man's embrace and sat on the sofa a distance away from him. While straightening her disheveled clothes, she said calmly, "Mr. Huo, let's be frank. Last time, I was forced by you to pretend to stay by your side. I don't like you, and I don't want to be involved with you. I'm just a nobody, from a completely different world. I hope you'll let me go, okay?"

Upon hearing this, Huo Yanbei's cold features instantly darkened, and he grabbed her wrist. "You don't like me? You don't want to be involved with me? Do you like Gu Huai Nian?"

As he finished speaking, his fingers gently massaged the woman's bare, slender white wrist. "Since you've already accepted the bracelet Gu Huai Nian gave you, why aren't you wearing it?"

Her wrist ached from his grip, and Qiao Mian's face turned cold as she forcefully pulled her hand away: "Which man I accept a bracelet from is none of your business, Mr. Huo."

The man's brows furrowed deeply. "So, you really like Gu Huai Nian?"

Qiao Mian was speechless at the question. In order to dispel his suspicions, she told the truth: "I don't like Gu Huainian. Please don't always associate me with him, Mr. Huo."

Seeing her resolute tone, the man's cold expression softened slightly.

However, he quickly asked another question, "What about Zhou Jinnan?"

Qiao Mian felt that his brain was not working properly, and explained with a cold face: "Director Zhou and I are just colleagues."

"If you're just colleagues, will you have planned to take the day off together today?"

"Wait a moment."

She looked surprised. "Director Zhou took the day off too?"

Huo Yanbei didn't miss any subtle expression on her face.

Her eyes were clear and pure, not like she was lying.

So, was it just a coincidence that she and Zhou Jinan took leave together today?

However, his intuition told him that Zhou Jinnan had ill intentions towards Qiao Mian.

While she was pondering this, Qiao Mian asked, "Why did Director Zhou take leave?"

The man frowned: "So concerned about him?"

"Isn't it normal for colleagues to care about each other?"

Huo Yanbei's tone was harsh: "You've only been at Huo's for less than a month. Why do you need to care about his personal matters, like why he took leave?"

Qiao Mian's eyes narrowed slightly. "Mr. Huo, you're not jealous, are you...?"

Huo Yanbei's thin lips curled into a mocking smile: "Qiao Mian, you overestimate yourself."

Qiao Mian felt a pang in her heart. She stood up, walked to the door, and began to dismiss them, "It's getting late, please leave. I still need to pick up my child from kindergarten."

Huo Yanbei stood up, walked to her, and said, "I'll see you out."

"No, thank you."

The man frowned, took a key out of his pocket and handed it to her: "The place you live in isn't good. This is an apartment I've prepared for you. You can move in there."

Qiao Mian coldly pushed the key back to him, "No need for Mr. Huo's concern, I'm very comfortable living here."

Huo Yanbei forcefully placed the key in her hand. "Don't be stubborn. Even if you don't think about yourself, you have to provide a good living environment for the child, right?"

These words, like dense needles, pierced her deeply.

Over the years, she has truly done her best to raise her child.

But they still lived a very frugal life.

She also wanted to provide better material conditions for her children, but the reality was that with her salary, raising one child was manageable, but raising three children would be three times the expenses of an average family, which was really expensive.

If she didn't do part-time jobs to earn extra money, she and her child would struggle to even make ends meet.

Now that she is living in such dire straits, everyone can offer their opinions, but Huo Yanbei is the only one who has no right to judge.

Qiao Mian returned the key once again: "Whether my life is good or bad is none of Mr. Huo's concern."

After saying that, she forcefully pushed the man out the door and slammed it shut.

Then, her frail body leaned against the door panel and slid down little by little, powerless.

She sat blankly on the ground, hugging her knees and burying her face in her legs.

When the heartache reached its peak, tears welled up from the corners of my eyes, gradually soaking my clothes.

What she didn't know was that Huo Yanbei, who was just a door away, hadn't left.

He leaned quietly against the door, lit a cigarette, held it in his mouth, and slowly exhaled the smoke.

The key, clenched tightly in his hand hanging to one side, was digging painfully into his skin.

A slight pang of sadness welled up in my heart.

He wanted Qiao Mian to accept all the benefits he gave her, as if only in this way could he have a reason to keep her by his side.

But she rejected him again.

Does she dislike him that much?

Thinking of this, he felt as if his chest was stuffed with cotton, making him feel suffocated.

After the cigarette burned out, Huo Yanbei simply stubbed it out with his fingers, threw the butt into the trash can in the stairwell, and walked away.

……

Qiao Mian got up from the floor when she heard the alarm ring, went back to the bedroom to change her clothes, and then went out to pick up her child from kindergarten.

It was already 7:30 when I got back.

The children were playing in the living room while she went to the kitchen to cook.

Just then, as Qiao Mucheng was about to play a game on his phone, he saw a WeChat message from Uncle Huo.

Where is it?

Being just a child, he wasn't very perceptive and didn't notice the exact time the message was sent. Without thinking, he replied: "At home."

When Huo Yanbei received the WeChat message, he was sitting in his study, flipping through some of his younger sister Huo Wu's old school textbooks.

Seeing Qiao Mian's belated WeChat message eased my gloomy mood slightly, and I replied with interest, "What are you busy with?"

Over there, Qiao Mucheng glanced at his mother who was busy in the kitchen, opened his camera, and casually took a picture and sent it to her.

Huo Yanbei never expected Qiao Mian to send him the photos.

Staring blankly at the photo of Qiao Mian's slender figure busy cooking in the narrow kitchen, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

Isn't she busy cooking in the kitchen right now?

Who took this photo of her?