"The madam is back, young master and young miss are both upstairs, and there are only two more dishes before the meal can be served. The madam can go rest for a bit, wash up and wait for a moment."
Wang Ma looked back at her and said.
Rong Dai frowned slightly. "Didn't Shao Ting say he was coming back?"
Wang Ma didn't notice her expression and was focused on the food in the pot. She directly answered her, "Eldest young master called and said he won't be coming back for dinner tonight."
Rong Dai responded somewhat gloomily. The emotions she had temporarily suppressed in her heart came bubbling up again.
Could it be because she didn't respond to him last night that he was a little annoyed deep down?
She went back to the living room and sat on the sofa. She took out her phone and looked at the name on WeChat. She hesitated for a long time before sending over a sentence: Do you need me to cook a late-night snack for you?
Until Wang Ma brought the dishes to the table, she still hadn't received a message back from Huo Shao Ting. Her heart inexplicably sank with sourness.
"Sister-in-law, you look very tired today. Is it because learning from Teacher Jiang is too tiring?"
When Huo Mei Shu came downstairs and saw her somewhat unpleasant expression, she asked worriedly.
"It's nothing, I'm just not quite used to it yet." Rong Dai hurriedly collected herself to answer her.
Huo Mei Shu nodded and stood on the stairs to call for Huo Shao Jie to come down for dinner.
Rong Dai still hadn't received a message back from Huo Shao Ting. She didn't have much of an appetite during dinner either. She just accompanied Huo Mei Shu and Huo Shao Jie to eat a little before putting her chopsticks down and making an excuse to go upstairs.
"Don't you feel like big brother and sister-in-law have been a bit strange since yesterday?"
Although Huo Mei Shu wasn't very perceptive, Rong Dai's mood was clearly very off. Of course she could tell.
Huo Shao Jie didn't pay much attention to those details: "Don't you know what kind of person Teacher Jiang is? Big brother asked him to give sister-in-law some pointers. Of course she'd be a little tired. I'd find it strange if she wasn't tired."
Huo Mei Shu immediately scowled and gave him a very disgusted look. "No wonder you can't get a girlfriend!"
Saying so, she got up from the table and left. She went to the kitchen to grab some fruit and brought it to Rong Dai's room to find her.
"Sister-in-law." Huo Mei Shu's face revealed a smile as she carried the fruit over to the desk. Her gaze carefully sized up Rong Dai.
Rong Dai found her behavior amusing and couldn't help sighing lightly. She had never lost control of her emotions like this before.
"Is it because big brother didn't come back that you're feeling down? Don't worry, he's just dealing with things at the company. This is already a common occurrence."
Seeing that her expression had eased up, Huo Mei Shu immediately came to her brother's defense.
Rong Dai sighed, her eyes revealing a hint of melancholy. "I guess you could say that."
She hesitated for a moment before asking the little sister-in-law, "Mei Shu, does Shao Ting really dislike it when people around him keep secrets from him?"
"I wouldn't say that exactly. It depends on who the person is and what the secret is."
"Then what if it was a very important secret?"
"Sister-in-law, don't tell me you have some especially shocking secret that you've kept from my big brother! My heart can't take it."
Huo Mei Shu immediately realized what she meant and dramatically clutched her chest.
Rong Dai sighed. "Of course not, but don't worry, I'll tell him. It's not a big deal either, so don't worry."
Huo Mei Shu nodded, half believing and half doubtful. Seeing that Rong Dai still had work to do, she didn't stay for long.
After Rong Dai finished the task Teacher Jiang had given her, it was already past 11 pm. Her eyes were tired and her whole body felt exhausted.
She took out her phone to take a look. Seeing there was still no message from Huo Shao Ting, her heart instantly sank. She typed and deleted words on the screen for almost half an hour but didn't end up sending anything out. She could only sigh and go take a shower and sleep.
Huo Shao Ting didn't come back all night and didn't reply to her message either. Looking at the darkened phone screen, Rong Dai felt heavy-hearted, as if pressed down by a huge boulder.
She washed up and went downstairs for breakfast.
Huo Mei Shu and Huo Shao Jie were also there. Seeing that the color had returned to Rong Dai's face, the little sister-in-law instantly felt much more relieved.
Just as the three of them were eating breakfast, several cars came honking loudly at the entrance to the Huo residence. It was very noisy.
"Who's being so rude this early in the morning?" Huo Mei Shu's temper flared up instantly.
"Madam, young miss, young master, the second master's side has arrived."
Wang Ma hurriedly came in to inform the three of them.
Before Rong Dai could react, she saw the other two's expressions turn extremely ugly, looking as if they were confronted with a formidable enemy.
She suddenly recalled what Huo Mei Shu had told her before - when Huo Shao Ting's father passed away, the people on Second Master Huo's side strongly opposed the hereditary system of the family business, determined to seize the company.
Rong Dai knew about these kinds of power struggles within large family clans. She immediately became guarded as well.
"It must be because of that wretched Huo Linjing! Rong Dai, you wench, come out here!"
Before they even entered the door, an extremely shrill, angry female voice charged in.
Rong Dai, Huo Mei Shu and Huo Shao Jie's expressions instantly darkened. Being cursed at early in the morning, who could tolerate it?
Sure enough, Huo Linjing pushed the door open. Behind her was a large group of people swaggering in like bandits. Several security guards from the residential area followed them in as well.
Huo Shao Jie's face was gloomy as he signaled for the security guards to leave.
If they could block Second Master Huo's people, that would be a miracle.
"So you're Rong Dai?! You wench, to cause such a huge uproar! Are you trying to drive the Wen family to their deaths?!"
Huo Linjing's fiery gaze accurately found Rong Dai. Stomping in sharp high heels, she charged over wanting to hit her!
Rong Dai could tell her intentions and didn't want to confront her head-on, so she took two steps back.
As a result—
Bang!
Huo Linjing didn't stand firmly herself. Her foot twisted and her entire body tumbled back, landing squarely on her backside!
This loud noise stunned everyone in the living room. No one expected that Huo Linjing, who had charged in so aggressively and seemed ready to claim victory, would end up "shooting herself in the foot" and falling flat on the ground herself!
Rong Dai looked in astonishment at Huo Linjing who had fallen on the floor with a twisted, pained expression. A few seconds later, she forcefully suppressed her urge to laugh. Her gaze swept over each of the fierce, sinister-looking people from Second Master Huo's side.
They were looking at her as if she owed them billions, with eyes of utter hatred!
