[Panda: Master, I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about the kid behind the computer we just attacked. He’s so trash!]
[Qiongqi: Little Ayiu, my sweetie, you go deal with him. Look at the mess those three made of their defeat. The other side must be someone significant. Let us get to know them too.]
[Keyboard: I remember now. That's why it felt so familiar.]
[Keyboard: Boss, his style is very much like yours.]
[Panda: Now that you mention it, I think so too! Just like Master!]
[Qiongqi: I'm all set. I'll just go for it. Little sweetie, you rest.]
[Chiyou: You dare?]
[Qiongqi: Then you go ahead.]
[Chiyou: Go where? Have you ever seen someone fight themselves?]
A long silence followed, as if the network had been cut. No messages appeared in the group chat.
Bifang, the one looking for a partner, was the first to react.
[Bifang: So, it was you?]
[Chiyou: You've infiltrated. Take a look for yourself.]
[Bifang: ...]
[Panda: Damn it! Master, how can you still be this perverted! You've messed with me so many times, *tat*.]
[Qiongqi: Speak properly.]
[Keyboard: Boss is truly the boss. Still strong, and still with such a twisted sense of humor.]
[Chiyou: Not really. Playing games with you guys is indeed very interesting.]
[Panda: You brutally stalled us at ninety-nine percent so many times, and you call this playing a game! Master, you owe me compensation for emotional damages!]
[Bifang: So, you are her friend?]
[Chiyou: So, what's your situation?]
[Bifang: A misunderstanding. Let me explain it to her.]
[Chiyou: Tell us first. If you can't pass my test, don't even think about bothering her.]
[Bifang: I want to explain it to her in person.]
[Chiyou: Then try to find her.]
[Keyboard: You won't find her.]
Keyboard answered the question for him, an answer written in the bitter defeat of the three of them.
[Bifang: ...]
There was nothing he could do. The opponent was on another level of strength. He could only submit and let Ren privately message her.
After a lengthy explanation, Huo Rou finally understood the whole story.
[Ah Rou: Just a casual acquaintance?]
[Ren: Yes. She logged into my computer to see the password while I was out handling something.]
[Ah Rou: She's asleep. I'll tell her tomorrow. Whether she wants to contact you is up to her.]
[Ren: You're still together so late? What's your relationship with her? Is she your brother?]
Brother?
Looking at the word, Huo Rou wondered if her gender was really that hard to guess.
Even with a feminine nickname, they still thought she was male?
[Ah Rou: How did you become a billionaire, tsk tsk.]
Qiongqi started clamoring in the group chat.
[Qiongqi: Don't you two chat privately. Ayiu, tell me some of his embarrassing stories too. Those guys haven't dared to make a move recently, and I'm so bored.]
[Chiyou: He said I was his brother.]
[Qiongqi: Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter.]
[Qiongqi: @Bifang, brother, it's one thing that you're fighting your own people, and it's understandable that you still can't beat them after all these years. ]
[Bifang: ...]
[Qiongqi: But it's too embarrassing that you can't even figure out the gender of your own people!]
[Panda: !!! What! What do you mean!]
[Keyboard: Huh?!!!!!!!]
[Qiongqi: No...]
[Qiongqi: Don't you all know?]
[Panda: So, my Master is a woman?]
[Qiongqi: I really want to crawl through the internet cable to see your expressions right now. You must look utterly foolish.]
[Chiyou: Probably similar to yours back then.]
After Huo Rou's gender was revealed to everyone, Ren Zhen finally breathed a sigh of relief. After being pestered by them for a reunion chat, Huo Rou finally went to bed when the moon was half-full.
The next day, Huo Rou opened the chat history and laid out the whole story to Xia Qingxue.
"Ah Rou, how do you know each other?" Xia Qingxue asked curiously, looking at the familiar avatar before even reading the content.
"Old friends. He hacked my computer yesterday because he couldn't reach you."
"Ah?" Xia Qingxue hadn't expected this to happen after she fell asleep yesterday. She quickly asked, "Is your computer okay? How could he do that?"
"What could happen? I just played around with them." Huo Rou said dismissively, glossing over the repeated defeats of the three yesterday.
"Look at the whole story. Whatever decision you make, I'll support you." Huo Rou gestured for her to read the chat history.
"So it was all a misunderstanding?" Xia Qingxue hadn't expected that what she had worried and cried about for so long was just a misunderstanding.
She didn't know whether to feel fortunate or regretful.
"Let me think about it." Xia Qingxue gently hugged Huo Rou. "Ah Rou, thank you."
Huo Rou patted her back and smiled, "Don't be so polite with me."
"Ah Rou, you're so wonderful. You'll surely be very, very happy. You have An An, you have me, you have the divine doctor, and now you have Qin Ningyi." Xia Qingxue paused.
Her voice choked with a hint of sobs, mixed with an indescribable heartache. "You are not alone."
Huo Rou was stunned when she heard this. By the time she reacted, she had already put on a fitting smile. "Why are you saying this now?"
Xia Qingxue didn't continue. She gently patted Huo Rou's back, trying to offer her comfort and companionship.
The loneliness in Huo Rou's paintings weighed heavily on her heart. She tossed and turned in her dreams all night, waking up several times from vast, empty snowy landscapes.
She had seen the beautiful scenery in Huo Rou's paintings: lingering mountains, gentle winds, entwined birds, and playful lake water with a person paddling...
Precisely because she had seen them, she couldn't forget them and longed to obtain one of Huo Rou's paintings.
For so many years, since she had truly known Huo Rou, she hadn't seen Huo Rou paint. Huo Rou had never let her see what she drew when she picked up a brush.
The once renowned genius national painter gradually disappeared from public view. Now, people only knew of her as the genius female painter Xia Qingxue, but not Huo Rou.
She had once feigned regression and clung to Huo Rou for guidance.
"Ah Rou, look, my mountains and water feel like they're missing something. I've really regressed. Please help me."
Back then, she thought that with An An already a year old, Huo Rou would have time to paint and re-enter the art world.
Her style was lively and bright. Facing such a request, how had Huo Rou been at that time?
"Qingxue, I really don't paint anymore." Huo Rou had initially refused her with a smile. In the end, unable to resist her, she had gently added a few strokes with a soft smile.
Why hadn't she realized it sooner...
Memories flooded back. The Huo Rou before her was as gentle and sweet as ever, seemingly unchanged.
"Alright, stop being sentimental here. That's not like your personality. How awkward," Huo Rou said with a sweet smile, poking her forehead.
A knock sounded at the door, and Xiao Konglin's voice came from outside.
"Miss Huo, the young master is with President Qin. President Qin asked me to come pick you up."