Huo Yao’s phone vibrated after she was more or less done with eating. She glanced at the screen and did not click on it when she noticed that it was a text message.

  Two seconds later, her phone vibrated once more with more text notifications.

  After Huo Yao had the last mouthful of her lunch, she picked up the phone and tapped on the messages.

  [Scaredy-cat, see you at your school’s entrance after class tomorrow. Let me know when you have received this text.]

  [Scaredy-cat, did you blacklist me?]

  [Scaredy-cat, I know you are on a live stream program. If you do not reply to me, I will tell everyone who you are on the show!]

  The moment Huo Yao saw ‘scaredy-cat’, she immediately knew who it was. She moved her fingers and typed five words. She clicked on the reply button before she blacklisted the phone number again.

  **

  [Do you want to die?]

  The moment Lu Ziming saw her reply, his heart throbbed in shock. He instinctively remembered what happened the last time he looked for Huo Yao at school.

  She had not held back when she beat him up.

  Lu Ziming was infuriated. He sent Huo Yao a lot of text messages, but it was futile. She did not reply even a single time.

  Lu Ziming suspected that he had been blacklisted, so he dialled her number and heard the automated message that her phone was not in service. No matter how many times he called her, it turned out to be the same.

  “Ziming, how did it go? Did you hear back from her?” asked He Xiaoman.

  She pretended to sound nonchalant knowing her son had just texted Huo Yao.

  Lu Ziming bit his lip and tossed his phone on the couch and said annoyingly, “She blacklisted me.”


  He Xiaoman was stunned. Then again, considering her foster daughter’s proud airs, it was normal for her to blacklist someone.

  However, she did not anticipate Huo Yao to do this to her son of all the people. After all, he used to be her little brother.

  He Xiaoman sat on the couch quietly for a while before she said, “In that case, she probably won’t show up for your birthday party.”


  Lu Ziming pulled his hair and sat up. “This is so irritating. I’m going upstairs.”


  The moment he finished his sentence, he ran upstairs without giving He Xiaoman a chance to speak.

  He Xiaoman watched her son go up. Her eyes landed on the phone he had left behind on the couch. She contemplated for a few seconds before picking up his phone, and unlocking it to check his text messages. She ended up seeing the last text message from Huo Yao asking Lu Ziming if he had a death wish.

  This foster daughter of hers was genuinely arrogant. She did not recall Huo Yao talking like this in the past.

  He Xiaoman went into a daze before she placed the phone back on the couch.

  Lu Hongwen had not come home for two days because of the bid and was unreachable on the phone as well. She felt inexplicably anxious. After being married into the family for years, it was the first time that she felt so worried. She was terribly afraid of provoking her husband.

  Ever since she saw how close her foster daughter was with Secretary Lin, she kept thinking about it. Regardless of whether Huo Yao was involved in ruining their bid for the project or not, she had to attempt mending her relationship with Huo Yao and the Lu family.

  He Xiaoman had already started to regret her actions. She regretted severing ties with Huo Yao so ruthlessly. She should have heeded her mother’s advice to be tolerant towards Huo Yao. If she did, things might have turned out a lot different for her.

  Sadly, it was too late for her to regret it.

  He Xiaoman inhaled deeply as she leaned into the couch and looked haggard. She had lost all her elegance and beauty during the past few days.

  After Lu Xia came out of the recording studio, she saw He Xiaoman sitting on the couch, looking depressed. She halted in her steps briefly and went quiet for two seconds before she headed over.