CEO is Picky but Handsome - Chapter 23

As the fall winds whistled in force, President Huo’s gay man incident came to a complete end. The Phoenix Group is still moving forward smoothly, Huo is in and out of the business no longer surrounded by large media outlets, and life looks like it’s back to its usual peaceful self.
It just looked that way.
On Saturday afternoon, in the Phoenix Group president’s office, Huo Jun was still working overtime.
Every year at this time he takes Huo Xiaoming on a vacation to a southern island, and this year is no exception. The departure date was scheduled for the next day, so Huo Jun remained in the office to wrap up some trivial matters.
Working continuously for more than eight hours, even an iron man can’t help it. Huo Jun signs the document at hand, rubs his swollen temples, reaches out for a cup, and after only one sip, his brows wrinkle deeply.
He sits up straight and rings the phone on the corner of the table.
“Come in.” He hung up without waiting for an answer.
A few minutes later, a woman in a light gray suit stood in front of him.
“Mr. Huo, you’re looking for me?”
Huo Zhun’s gaze freezes for a moment, then asks, “Where’s Ye Ling?”
“Mr. Huo, have you forgotten?” The woman says, “Assistant Ye took a vacation today. I’m Xiao Ting from the president’s office, and I’m filling in for Assistant Ye today.”
Huo Jun’s expression stiffens a bit.
Ye Ling took the afternoon off. Ye Rui had enrolled in an art study class and had to buy a full set of painting utensils, which had dragged on for a long time, and father and son’s schedules could never meet. Therefore Ye Ling wished to take a day off to take his son out for a stroll and buy a few winter coats on the way.
He was careful when he came to ask for leave, afraid that Huo Jun would not agree. Huo Zhun is not that unkind, besides, this is the first time he has taken leave since he joined the company, Huo Zhun approved it with a wave of his pen.
Now he’s a bit regretful.
“Mr. Huo,” Xiao Ting wonders why Huo Jun calls himself in, but only looks at himself in a daze and doesn’t say anything, “What can I do to help you?”
How can I help you?
I arrived at the company at eight o’clock in the morning, and no one has helped me call for takeout until now, not to mention no one has knocked on my door to ask me if I’m hungry; a cup of coffee, put in from the morning has become bitter and cold, not to mention that no one has changed it for me; on my desktop, there isn’t even a cup of cool water.
If Ye Ling was there, would it be like this?
Huo Zhun wanted to get angry, wanted to question what this substitute lady was thinking, however, the next moment, he felt particularly uninterested.
It’s not that he has no arms and legs, he can call for takeout when he’s hungry, he can make a cup of coffee when it’s cold, the pantry is right next door, and even the water cooler is right next to him, so he can get warm water as soon as he turns his head.
He was just used to someone knocking on his door when he’d thrown himself into his work, reminding him that it was time to eat, to take a break, or just to have a hot cup of coffee in front of him for a change.
“It’s okay,” he cleared his throat, suddenly feeling disinterested, “you go out.”
Unsure of what to do, Xiao-ting had to turn around and go out.
The office is quiet, the white bright lights reflecting the entire room even colder. Huo Zhun twists his head and looks out the window, it’s three in the afternoon, but the sky is overcast as if darkness is coming. As far as the eye can see, the entire city looks like it’s covered in an infinite black curtain, making people feel depressed for no reason.
Is it going to rain?
Huo Jun puts down the pen in his hand and decides to go home to accompany Huo Xiaoming. Otherwise, if it thunders later, the boy will make trouble again.
However, just as he was finishing up and about to shut down his computer, an email suddenly popped up in his mailbox.
The sender is a familiar address.
Huo Jun moved the mouse and clicked on the email. At the same time, a phone call came in.
“Mr. Huo, it’s me.” On the other end of the phone is a slightly rough male voice.
“Well, I saw the email, go ahead.” Huo Jun said.
“I’ve found out what you asked me to check. The results this time are completely different from last time.” The male voice said, “As you guessed, there is no such person as Ye Ling in the world.”
Huo Jun’s heart sank.
He clicked on the first attachment of the email, and in an instant, more than a dozen pages of information flashed open on the screen.
On the first line, in the name field, an unfamiliar name was written.
Ji Ning.
Yet the person in that photo was a face that Huo Jun was more than familiar with.
Although he wore a studentish hairstyle, and the contours of his features were much more youthful than they were today, the clean-cut handsomeness between his brows and eyes had remained unchanged.
Ye Ling in the photo was smiling. That kind of not-at-all-concealed, sunny and clean smile makes Huo Zhun wonder how the teenager named Ji Ning should have had a smooth and comfortable life.
He wasn’t the single father with a perpetual detachment in his demeanor, he had a bright future ahead of him, and there were countless possibilities for him in the future.
That’s why he can smile like this without fear.
Huo Jun scrolls the mouse, the profile labeled with all the information about him from childhood to adulthood. His father is unknown, his mother is a H-wen teacher, and he is the only one who is an only child. He had excellent grades since he was a child, jumping three levels in a row to enter the finance department of Yuk Man University early, and then guaranteed graduate school, but he died in the summer of his 21st year for some reason.
The mouse stopped on the screen, and Huo Zhun quietly looked at the text in front of him.
Of course Ye Ling didn’t die, he just changed his name and identity and started living another life.
But why?
What made a promising young man have to give up everything and go into hiding? And where did the so-called son, Ye Rui, come from?
“Why is it different from what we found out before?” Huo Zhun asked coldly.
He had investigated Ye Ling’s identity and obtained a detailed profile. The information contained Ye Ling’s biography so far, which led Huo Jun to believe that he was just an ordinary single father and dared to appoint him as his assistant.
Obviously, he was deceived.
Unluckily, in this world, there are really not many people and things that can fool Huo Zhun.
The voice on the other end of the phone was silent for three seconds, ”Mr. Huo, this is what I can’t figure out. At the very beginning, no matter how many people I sent out, the answer I got was just one – Ye Ling didn’t have a second identity, and all the information was believable. But just when I was about to stop my investigation, the whole thing suddenly revealed countless clues. Following the tracing down, Ye Ling’s information has changed drastically. The specific information is the one I sent you, and I’ve already confirmed that it’s true this time, there’s no forgery. It’s just that I can’t figure out how, why the answer that couldn’t be investigated with all the effort would surface on its own overnight.”
Why?
Huo Zhun tilted his head for a long time and smiled.
“Du Xing, sometimes, when you want to say goodbye to the past, covering it up is not the most brilliant way. The most brilliant way is to make up a new experience to replace the previous one. Just like there is a dirt pit by the side of the road, you want to do it so that others can’t see it, the best way is not to fill it with dirt, but to plant grass. What Ye Ling used, was such a method. When there’s a very convincing biography in front of you, would you still doubt its authenticity,” With the intelligence Ye Ling usually displays, Huo Zhun unquestioningly concludes that it’s Ye Ling himself who changed his information, “As for why it was discovered by us overnight, that’s quite understandable. For something this complicated, Ye Ling couldn’t have done it on his own, someone must have been helping him. That person who helped him has been rounding up his lies for him, and now, either that person is dead, or that person is no longer able to help Ye Ling, so naturally, his secret came to light.”
Huo Zhun looked at Ye Ling’s, or Ji Ning’s, profile with a single glance, his gaze gradually becoming somber and cold.
“When did you get Ye Ling’s information?” He asked.
“Just now. I just made sure that this information was real and sent it to you immediately.” On the phone, the man called Du Xing said.
That meant that …… Ye Ling didn’t know that his identity had been exposed yet.
“Mr. Huo, in addition, I have found the person you asked me to check.” The end of the receiver said, “His name is Rong Sheng, he is the head of the Rong Group in Country F. Ye Ling’s mother was Rong Sheng’s H-wen teacher, so Ye Ling grew up living with her mother in the Rong family. The two were five years apart and were considered childhood sweethearts.After Ye’s mother passed away, it was the Rong family that provided for Ye Ling to grow up ……”
Huo Jun clicked on the second attachment, which was Rong Sheng’s information.
Afterward, the hand holding the mouse paused.
“…… Mr. Huo,” Du Xing said in a deep voice as if he had noticed Huo Jun’s change in mood, “If you have an impression of the news, you should remember that half a year ago, Rong Sheng had died in a car accident……”
After lunch, the sky suddenly overcast.
The morning was still cloudless and nice, so neither father nor son had brought an umbrella, who would have thought that the sky would be cloudy in the afternoon. Worried about getting wet from the rain later, Ye Ling had to temporarily change his plans and go home early.
Ye Rui rarely go out with his father once, very reluctant to go back, so all the way to the sullen, let Ye Ling how to coax how to persuade, how to ensure that next week will bring him out to play, he refused to smile.
In the end, he even said, “Dad only needs to work now and doesn’t care about me”, such capricious and negative words.
Ye Ling did not feel angry, but only amused.
Since he came to N, and made Huo Xiaoming his friend, Ye Rui’s introverted character has gotten a lot better. At the last parent-teacher conference, the class teacher even praised Ye Rui for actively uniting with his classmates now, and for taking the initiative to sign up for debates. Therefore, Ye Rui being able to occasionally play a little childish capriciousness is simply a pleasure for Ye Ling. It’s just that when he’s capricious, his tone and demeanor are incredibly like Huo Xiaoming’s, which makes Ye Ling laugh and cry.
He carries the winter clothes for Ye Rui in his hand, thinks for a moment, holds the paper bag in his arms, pulls out two sleeves, pats them and folds them, puts them up, then calls Ye Rui: “Rui Rui, what do you see here?”
Ye Rui looked up, “Rabbit!”
The winter coat was thick and heavy, and the two sleeves were adjusted at a good angle, just enough to stand up on their own. Standing up on top of the end-to-end paper bag, it looked like a clumsy, long-eared rabbit.
“The bunny said, Rui Rui, Rui Rui, don’t be mad at daddy.” Ye Ling bent down, grabbed his sleeve and gently touched Ye Rui’s forehead, “Daddy still loves you the most.”
Ye Rui scratched the rabbit ears, pouted his mouth, and after a long time, lowered his head and smiled, “I know it …… I love dad too. Daddy, I’m sorry, I’ll never be willful again.”
Ye Ling rubbed Ye Rui’s head and smiled too.
“When we pass by the market later, let’s go buy some meat, and daddy will make dumplings for you to eat tonight, okay?” Father and son walked to the intersection just in time for the red light. There weren’t many people crossing the street, Ye Ling held Ye Rui with one hand and asked softly.
Ye Rui leaned on his dad and pampered him, “I want to eat chestnut filling.”
“Now where to get chestnuts from.”Ye Ling helplessly flattened his mouth, “The capers will not be available until a few more months ……”
The words ended abruptly.
A black car stopped in front of them, the window rolled down, revealing a familiar face.
The bag in Ye Ling’s hand “clattered” and fell.
“Sheng …… Brother Sheng ……