Mr And Mrs Huo

Chapter 24

After the competition the winners celebrated.

Li Na rented a private room for their small party and invited Yu Yuan to join them. The room was filled with eating, drinking, and making merry.

"Cheers to our victory!"

"Cheers!!"

Clink!

"It still feels like a dream," one person said.

"Hey," another designer nudged him. "We always deserved it. If not for that thief, it wouldn't have been this hard."

"Yeah," another echoed with him.

Li Na looked up to say, "On that topic, there's something I want to announce."

Everyone quickly turned their attention to her.

"We found the culprit. Although I'm sure you all have your guesses by now."

She was right. Since the beginning of the competition, one person acted out of the norm. That person wasn't even present at their celebration. It wasn't hard to put a few things together.

"It's Tan Lin."

Sighs echoed in the room.

"Although I guessed it would be her, I can't believe she did it."

"Even if she disliked working at Bejeweled she didn't have to go that far, did she?"

This bit of news made them a little sad. They always considered themselves a family, but one of them didn't think so and even went as far as stealing their designs.

Yu Yuan looking at their downcast faces, comforted them, "There's no need to feel sad. Someone like Tan Lin doesn't deserve to be part of Bejeweled. Her mediocre talent could be excused but not her attitude. It's good that she didn't have the opportunity to cause more damage."

Thinking of the fact that they wouldn't have won the competition if Tan Lin had her way erased the last bit of sadness and replaced it with anger.

"What are we going to do?" one of them asked.

"Can we take Tan Lin and Lustrous to court? Although Lustrous is already in hot water for their failed plagiarism, we still have grievances with them. Are we going to let go?"

Li Na smiled. No of them knew how this misfortune befell Lustrous, but they were right.

"We have solid evidence against Tan Lin, but not Lustrous. They covered their tracks very well. Even if we managed to take them to court, they could just say the designs were sold to them and they had no idea it was stolen. After all, to an outsider, it looks like Tan Lin stole from us and sold to them."

Yu Yuan added, "We sent someone to follow Tan Lin after the competition to see if we could get some evidence against the person behind her. But whoever she was supposed to meet didn't show up. But we got the recording of her making a call. The conversation is one-sided but we got some extra information."

Yu Yuan placed her phone on the table to play the recording.

Restless footsteps could be heard in the recording. It was Tan Lin pacing anxiously after arriving at the place. The pacing continued for a while. Then it abruptly stopped. Tan Lin's voice came after. "Hey, I've been waiting here for a while. How long do you intend to keep me waiting?"

"What do you mean the deal is over? How can the deal be over? I did everything you asked me to do!"

"Even if it failed at the last part what about the previous ones? The designs I stole for you previously made a lot of money. How could you call off the deal now? I even help you spread the rumors about Bejeweled bribing the judges. If not for me, people wouldn't believe the rumors so easily."

"Money is not enough! You promised me a position at Lustrous!"

"You can't do this to me! I'm about to be fired from Bejeweled! This is not what you promised me. You... Hello? Hello?"

"Arrrgggh!"

The loud voice was followed by the sound of a phone hitting the wall.

The recording ended there.

"Wow! This Tan Lin is so vicious!"

"How could she be this wicked? Even spreading rumors about us."

"Don't get so worked up about it," Li Na comforted. "As we speak, Tan Lin has been arrested. Very soon her court trial will be arranged and we can all go see her get her just desserts. But today we party and celebrate our victory. Don't let Tan Lin ruin our good mood."

"Come on, everyone, no one is leaving here sober." Li Na picked up her glass and raised it, "Cheers!"

After they had sent everyone home, Yu Yuan and Li Na were left.

The slightly drunk Li Na turned to Yu Yuan. "Sigh! Yu Yuan, what would I do without you, hmm?"

"Thanks to you, we are able to smile so broadly today." She hugged Yu Yuan tightly. "Thank you."

A smile formed on Yu Yuan's face as she returned her hug. "It's all good. If I don't do it for you, who will I do it for?"

"I know, right?" Li Na replied smugly. She looked at Yu Yuan and sighed again. "If I were a man, I would marry you and show you off."

"Then it's a good thing you're not a man because you would have been heartbroken."

Li Na pretended to get angry, "Miss Yu, are you saying I'm not good enough for you!"

"How dare I imply that? Your Highness Li is incomparable!"

"Your statement is without sincerity. Accompany me to our high school reunion and I'll forgive you."
"That was your goal, hmm?"

"Yu Yuan~," Li Na whined. "You have to go this time. Do you know what they said when you were not around for the previous ones? That Gu Meiling was especially annoying. She even started a rumor that you got pregnant right after school and you fled abroad to avoid gossip."

"Gu Meiling? Who's that?"

Li Na was speechless. "I can't believe you forgot Gu Meiling. But then again, you don't bother to remember people you consider unimportant. Gu Meiling is the girl that tried to bully you then because her crush, the school male god was interested in you."

Yu Yuan racked her brain a little before finally remembering who she was.

Back in high school, Yu Yuan tried to keep a low profile, but she was always top of her class and the school. With her beauty and temperament, it wasn't long before she was identified as the school goddess.

The male god was a student called Li Weizhe, and he had a crush on Yu Yuan. Too bad she wasn't interested. Knowing that their male god had feelings for another person, many female fans were crushed. One of those female fans was Gu Meiling. But instead of giving up, she turned her anger to Yu Yuan.

At that time, no one knew Yu Yuan's family background. Gu Meiling's family was a bit influential and had connections in the school, so she thought Yu Yuan was a soft persimmon she could pinch at will.

After suffering a few losses in Yu Yuan's hands, she didn't dare look for trouble again.

It was no wonder Yu Yuan didn't remember her. To Yu Yuan,  Gu Meiling was just an immature child she had played with a little and wasn't worth remembering.

"Ohh. I remember now."

"Did you know that they got together and are now engaged? She won't shut up about it and has mentioned you a few times. It's obvious she wants to embarrass you. I get so angry when she says nonsense about you. I don't want to face her alone again at this reunion. Come with me, hmm?"

Yu Yuan spared her a glance and reluctantly agreed, "Fine."

"Yes! I'll help you pick your outfit. You have to show them that you are still on top."

"Whatever you say." Yu Yuan rolled her eyes, exasperated.

******
Author's Note

Huo Wei: When will I see my wife again?

Author: Soon...soon...

Huo Wei: Glacier stare

Author: Shivers