A Man Named Huo Yao

After saving Song Jingchen, Nan Pei returned home late at night. The lights in the Nan family home were still on.

Nan Pei paused for a moment, and upon entering, he saw Nan Chengshuo and Li Ya sitting on the sofa, their expressions tinged with worry.

Seeing their son return, their eyes lit up, and they quickly stood up to ask:

“Peipei, that kid didn’t bully you again, did he?”

“He rejected you like that tonight. Maybe we should stop seeing him.”

“Exactly, look at him with that sour face every day, who does he think he is?” Nan Chengshuo said unhappily, “If it weren’t for you liking him, I wouldn’t let someone like that step into the Nan family home.”

While internally praising Nan Chengshuo for his spot-on complaints, Nan Pei put on a deep, affectionate look and said, “Dad, Mom, Jingchen Gege has been really busy with company affairs lately, so he might not be in a good mood. I understand.”

Faced with their son’s understanding, the Nan parents exchanged a glance and sighed, both thinking, when will this foolish son see Song Jingchen’s true colors?

At this moment, Li Ya noticed some scuff marks and dirt on Nan Pei’s sleeves and frowned:

“Peipei, did you fall?”

Nan Pei followed her gaze to his sleeve and only then noticed that his clothes had been torn when he saved Song Jingchen earlier.

Although it wasn’t serious, it was enough to show the urgency of the situation.

“Ah… it’s nothing.” Nan Pei scratched his head, “I accidentally brushed against something.”

Li Ya checked Nan Pei’s arm with concern, and only after confirming there were no injuries did she breathe a sigh of relief. She knew her son’s personality; if he didn’t want to talk about something, he wouldn’t, and these scratches were likely related to Song Jingchen.

“Be careful next time.” Li Ya said softly, her words carrying a double meaning, advising Nan Pei to stay safe and not get hurt emotionally.

Faced with such gentle concern, Nan Pei was momentarily lost in thought, and after a while, he responded quietly.

Unlike Li Ya’s gentle and meticulous care, Nan Chengshuo expressed his concern in his own way—by giving him money to buy new clothes.

“Peipei, if you’re unhappy, just buy yourself something you want.” Nan Chengshuo said generously, “We can afford it.”

For a moment, Nan Pei felt that having such parents and still being a doormat, giving money to the male lead, was truly ungrateful.

But he quickly snapped back to reality, smiling and thanking his parents for their concern, before heading upstairs to his room and locking the door.

Leaning against the door, he took a deep breath, his shoulders slowly relaxing.

These past few days, Nan Pei had been busy completing role-playing tasks to ensure the plot followed its original trajectory and helped the three male leads begin their paths to success in their respective fields.

Even saving Song Jingchen without hesitation earlier was just to prevent the plot from collapsing.

Nan Pei felt like an emotionless task machine; the various humiliations from the male leads hadn’t caused any emotional fluctuations.

Initially, he treated everyone as NPCs, including the parents in the plot.

But the concern from Nan Chengshuo and Li Ya just now stirred something different in his heart.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but recall the moment he saved Song Jingchen… feeling a delayed sense of fear.

Although he was in a novel’s plot, if an accident occurred, he wouldn’t be able to resurrect and return to the original world.

The system sensed Nan Pei’s emotional fluctuation and asked, “Host, are you feeling down because the concern from Li Ya and Nan Chengshuo reminded you of your own parents?”

Nan Pei didn’t answer immediately.

After a while, he regained his composure, walked from the door to the water dispenser in his room, poured a glass of water, and took several sips.

Then, he shook his head and calmly replied to the system:

“I don’t have parents in the original world.”

The system fell silent for a moment, its cold electronic voice carrying a hint of apology: “I’m sorry, Host.”

“It’s okay.” Nan Pei seemed indifferent, having grown up this way, “I’m just a bit tired, having rushed through several tasks in a row.”

The system thought for a moment and said, “Host, perhaps you can take this opportunity to experience familial affection.”

Nan Pei took another sip of water and then replied, “To be honest, I can’t even remember what my parents looked like. Growing up in an orphanage, I often thought how nice it would be if someone came to be my parents, but this is a virtual world to me, none of it relates to me.”

The system could sense human emotions but didn’t quite understand complex feelings.

Even so, it obediently said, “I understand, Host.”

Nan Pei quickly recovered from his emotional low. For him, completing the plot role-playing and achieving his goal was more important now.

To avoid situations like today’s near mishap, Nan Pei began to seriously consider how to reduce the risk of breaking character due to constantly switching storylines.

After thinking for a moment, a light bulb went off in Nan Pei’s mind, and he said to the system, “Since I have a lot of funds in all three books, I can use these funds to buy a house, right?”

“You can use the funds from the books, but it must be for the purpose of pleasing the male leads,” the system said. “Host, what do you want to buy a house for?”

“Of course, it’s to please the male leads.” Nan Pei replied, “I’m running back and forth between different areas of Lujin City every day, changing clothes in different villas, and the time is tight, increasing the risk of exposure. So, I want to buy a house close to all three male leads.”

This way, when there’s no task, Nan Pei can live in this house, and when a task is triggered, he can quickly change clothes and get to the scene.

System: “…This idea is feasible.”

With the system’s approval, Nan Pei immediately began researching maps and soon found a perfectly located standalone villa.

This villa was located in the very center of Lujin City, complete with a garden and pool, like a beautiful gem embedded in the heart of Lujin City.

Its location was close to where all three male leads were, so if Nan Pei lived there, it would greatly reduce travel time.

However, upon checking, Nan Pei found that the villa already had an owner.

He was a bit disappointed and tried to find alternative residences on the map, but to no avail.

To lower the task difficulty and reduce the risk of breaking character, buying this villa was Nan Pei’s only choice.

So, Nan Pei began researching the villa owner’s information.

The villa owner’s name was Huo Yao, and to Nan Pei’s surprise, this man was an entrepreneur from the northern part of Lujin City.

Huo Yao was very low-key, with almost no information about him online, making him seem like a transparent person.

Out of curiosity, Nan Pei continued to investigate and discovered that the Huo family behind Huo Yao was very powerful, with industries all over Lujin City, even beyond the reach of the Nan family.

Yet, such a family had no presence, leaving Nan Pei puzzled.

“Perhaps it’s because the northern area is a data redundancy zone,” the system explained Nan Pei’s confusion, “Therefore, Huo Yao and the Huo family are not characters in the three novels, so they don’t have a protagonist halo and don’t attract attention.”

This explanation made sense.

Since they weren’t people from the three novels, any interaction between Nan Pei and Huo Yao wouldn’t affect the plot.

He immediately decided to buy the villa from Huo Yao.

The next day, Nan Pei used the Nan family’s connections to finally get the phone number of Huo Yao’s secretary.

After dialing the number, Nan Pei politely explained his intentions, surprising the secretary, but she still warmly said, “Please hold on, I’ll consult with President Huo.”

The secretary went to Huo Yao’s office, where the CEO was working diligently.

Huo Yao wore a pure black, custom-made high-end suit, perfectly accentuating his figure with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs. Even if he did nothing, just sitting in the leather chair, he embodied the perfect CEO persona.

“President Huo…” the secretary cautiously began, “There’s a call from the Nan family, inquiring about the villa in the center of Lujin City.”

Huo Yao didn’t stop his work, lazily lifting his eyelids, his thin lips parting slightly, “What about it?”

“Do you… have any intention of selling the villa?” the secretary slowly asked.

President Huo always exuded a sense of pressure, and if it weren’t for the fact that the other party was a big family like the Nan family, she wouldn’t dare ask Huo Yao such a question.

“Who has the audacity,” Huo Yao paused his actions, looking at the secretary with cold eyes, “to ask to buy the best-located villa from me?”

The secretary, under Huo Yao’s gaze, broke out in a cold sweat, stammering, “President Huo, it’s the young master of the Nan family, offering a very high price…”

“I didn’t ask who it was,” Huo Yao half-curled his lips, his tone somewhat mocking, “I mean, no matter who it is, I won’t sell them that villa.”

After saying this, Huo Yao added, “Because it’s… very important to me.”

Hearing Huo Yao say this, the secretary didn’t dare say anything more, nodding and bowing, repeatedly saying “Sorry, President Huo,” as she exited the office.

Back in her own office, the secretary finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She politely picked up the phone and responded to Nan Pei, “I’m sorry, Mr. Nan, our President Huo said he won’t sell that villa.”

Nan Pei was a bit surprised and asked, “Why? I’m offering a high price, your president would definitely profit…”

“Sorry, Mr. Nan,” the secretary wiped her sweat and continued, “Our President Huo always acts based on his mood.”

After saying this, the secretary hung up the phone.

Nan Pei felt a bit frustrated.

What does “based on his mood” mean?

Does he have to go and please Huo Yao?

How can there be such a capricious CEO?

This Huo Yao… is really strange.

Author’s Note:

Future Huo Yao: Is ten villas enough?