World 1: Scheming Retired Third-Generation × Pitiful Former Female Lead’s Coworker 21

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“You really want him to attend?”

Fu Yu’s finger tapped his chest, sliding down to his abs.

She leaned close to Huo Hanting’s ear, her warm breath brushing against his neck.

“Let me show you a good show—for free.”

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On the day of the twins’ first birthday banquet.

Fu Yu and her two adorable, doll-like children were naturally the center of attention.

Huo Hanting held the babies in his arms, his gentle, considerate manner causing all the socialites present to turn green with envy.

They envied how Huo Hanting ended up with Fu Yu.

Even Huo Tailing was jealous, but as one of the hosts today, she stood tall and straight, afraid of disgracing Fu Yu.

As soon as Fu Yu entered the venue, everyone rushed to greet her.

After all, billionaires were common, but geniuses were one in a million.

Watching the crowd swarming around Fu Yu, Huo Hanting suppressed the anger building in his heart.

The next second, Fu Yu took his arm and tiptoed to kiss him on the cheek.

Huo Hanting’s heart melted instantly, his eyes filled only with tenderness.

“So this is the good show you mentioned?”

As Huo Hanting set the children down, he noticed someone standing at the door—Chen Manzi.

She gripped her champagne glass tightly, her nails digging into her palms.

Even though she had heard that Huo Hanting had married Fu Yu and had children, she still refused to believe it.

Chen Manzi had tried to find Huo Hanting—

At his company’s entrance, at the Huo family villa, in the parking lot of the hunting grounds.

She had visited every place where they had met in her previous life—but found nothing.

Until one day, from afar, she saw Huo Hanting holding a child and holding Fu Yu’s hand as they got into the car together.

That kind of happiness… should have been hers!

The person standing next to Huo Hanting, smiling, full of joy—should have been her!

How did everything turn out like this?

Chen Manzi didn’t know what she had done wrong, or where it all went off track.

Huo Hanting used to be domineering, cold, obsessive—a madman.
So why did he become the perfect man next to Fu Yu?

Meanwhile, the man she had chosen—Gu Huai—was a social climber who would do anything to achieve his goals.

Even when it rained, Chen Manzi stood there, refusing to leave, staring stubbornly in the direction Huo Hanting had gone.

She firmly believed Huo Hanting wouldn’t ignore her.

In her past life, she hadn’t accepted Huo Hanting’s terms at first. It was only after the Chen family truly collapsed that she panicked and knelt outside the Huo building.

Just minutes later, Huo Hanting had relented and taken her to the nearest hospital.

“Huo Hanting… he’ll definitely see me…”

Chen Manzi hugged her trembling body tightly.

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“Manzi! What are you doing?! Stop acting crazy!”

“Don’t beg Huo Hanting anymore! He won’t help our family!”

“Are you trying to disgrace yourself, or our entire Chen family? Everyone’s already laughing at us—can’t you stop making it worse?”

Mrs. Chen looked at her daughter with disappointment.

Huo Hanting already had a family and loved Fu Yu deeply.

By any measure, Chen Manzi should not be clinging to a married man!

Especially when she herself was already married…

“Mom, I’m going to the birthday banquet!”
“Once he sees me like this, he’ll feel sorry for me—he’ll definitely leave Fu Yu and choose me!”

“You’re insane! Manzi, you’ve completely lost it!”

Mrs. Chen screamed in despair.

“Back then, I told you to treat Huo Hanting well and make a good impression at his welcome-back banquet. But you kept saying you didn’t need to flatter him!”

“Now look at you—clinging like he’s your last hope. Manzi, it’s too late! Stop being delusional!”

Chen Manzi froze.

Suddenly, she remembered that night from her past life.

She had specially gone to a beauty salon to get a full treatment just to impress Huo Hanting.

From the first moment she saw him, she had felt attracted to him.

But she was too proud, too aloof. And later, as Huo Hanting’s love turned more and more possessive…

She forgot this was a trap disguised as an escape.

From the very beginning—she had jumped in willingly.

Regret filled her heart.

She got up and rushed toward the Huo Corporation building—but the bodyguards stopped her at the door.

At that moment, Mrs. Chen received a phone call.

Mr. Chen had been issued a critical condition notice.

“Manzi! Your father is dying!”

That one sentence snapped Chen Manzi back to reality.

She and her mother rushed back to the hospital—but the first thing she saw was the doctor covering her father’s body with a white sheet.

“My father… how could my father be dead?!”

Her hysterical screaming drew the ER director over.

Chen Manzi immediately recognized him.

In her past life, when she had resisted Huo Hanting and accidentally cut her hand, he had insisted on carrying her to this same doctor to treat her.

“Director!”

Chen Manzi grabbed his white coat desperately.

“If Huo Hanting had come, you could’ve saved my dad, right? If he were here, my dad would still be alive, right?!”

The director looked at her like she was crazy.

“Do you hear yourself? We did everything we could. Your father suffered from multiple organ failure…”

“No! That’s nonsense! You didn’t try! It’s because Huo Hanting didn’t come that you didn’t save him! That’s the real reason!”

She screamed like a madwoman.

Mrs. Chen finally lost it and slapped her.

“Wake up!”

Right now, Mrs. Chen was the only one in the family who still had any sanity.

She composed herself and bowed to the medical team.

“You said before that as long as he kept taking the special medication, his condition could be stabilized. So why…”

“Special medication?”

The director adjusted his glasses.

“You haven’t paid the medical bills in a long time. I’ve only kept treating him out of respect for the Chen family name. But those special drugs are very expensive and in high demand. If you don’t pay, how can we provide them?”

“What? But I just paid recently—”

“It was your husband, Mr. Gu Huai, who withdrew the funds.”

Chen Manzi froze. Her tears spilled over.

She stumbled out of the hospital, ignoring her mother’s cries.

The rain blurred her vision, mixing with her tears.

Like a walking corpse, she arrived at the birthday banquet venue.

There he was—Gu Huai—socializing with everyone, suave and composed.

But in her eyes, he overlapped with the man in the hospital surveillance footage, taking away her father’s last hope of survival.

Chen Manzi pulled out the critical condition notice and slammed it into Gu Huai’s face.

“You used my father’s life-saving money for your investments?!”

Gu Huai calmly straightened his suit and tie, unfazed by her outburst.

“That special drug was a bottomless pit. Your father’s illness…”

“So you sentenced him to death without asking me?”

She trembled violently.

“All for your pathetic startup fund? My father was the chairman of the Chen Group! Without him, there wouldn’t even be a Chen family! How could you—how could you be so heartless?!”

At that, Gu Huai’s expression darkened. He grabbed her chin harshly.

“Don’t forget, Chen Manzi—the Chen family has been a hollow shell for a long time. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be living like a pampered ‘Mrs. Gu’ now!”
“Why not? That old man wasn’t worth the money anymore.”

Smack!

Her slap stunned him.

She looked at the man who used to be so gentle—now filled with greed and cruelty—and felt