CHAPTER 24: CHAPTER 24: EMBARRASSMENT

Yue Ning clasped her hands together on her lap, meeting Huo Feng’s gaze with a faint, almost teasing smile.

"Do you really want to hear more from me?" She pressed, her smile visible.

Huo Feng’s eyes narrowed, though the sharpness wasn’t aimed at her this time. It was more calculating than cold while trying to see through her.

He slid another page of the proposal toward her. "If you think the supplier is a problem, then what about this expansion plan? Do you also see something I don’t?" He inquired.

Yue Ning leaned forward, skimming the page. The numbers danced in her mind, arranging themselves neatly.

She tapped her nail against a section of the document. "The expansion is fine, but the location is risky. The demographics here..." she pointed at the footnote "...don’t align with the target customers. You’ll bleed money before it stabilizes." She bluntly remarked.

Huo Feng’s jaw tightened, though not in irritation. He studied her intently, his fingers drumming once against the desk.

"And your solution?" His gaze never left her. He wondered what more surprises she had in her.

She tilted her head, lips curving slightly. "Relocate to a business district one tier lower. It looks less flashy on paper, but the returns will come faster." She paused, and glanced at him. Seeing that he was paying attention to her, she felt something swell in her...pride.

"Sometimes the smarter choice isn’t the one that looks impressive, it’s the one that actually works." She completed.

The silence that followed was heavy, but not uncomfortable.

Finally, Huo Feng let out a low hum. His lips pressed into a line, but his eyes betrayed him. It was faintly lit with curiosity, and something softer he couldn’t quite name. "You speak as though you’ve done this before."

"Maybe I just have a knack for it. Or maybe," she leaned back in her chair, meeting his stare without flinching, "you underestimate me."

There was a smile on her face as she combed through her hair with her hands.

Her actions caused Huo Feng to raise his eyebrows in admiration. For a man as restrained as Huo Feng, it was almost a smile.

He closed the document slowly, as if marking the conversation’s end, but his gaze lingered on her longer than it should have.

"Interesting," he murmured to himself, but loud enough for Yue Ning to hear.

Her heart skipped, but she hid it behind a casual shrug. "Take it however you like."

"You are different from what your sister said about you," he mumbled, but was perfectly heard by her.

The smile on her face deepened. "You didn’t get to know me."

"Alright, I’ll be leaving now." She informed him.

But when she rose to leave, she could still feel his eyes on her. His gaze was watchful, questioning, and for the first time, intrigued.

When the door clicked shut behind her, silence fell over the study once more.

Huo Feng leaned back in his chair, fingers brushing the edge of the proposal. His gaze lingered on the neat handwriting across the page, but his mind was far from the document.

Her words replayed in his head. They were sharp, confident, and unflinching. She had spoken as though numbers and strategy were second nature.

That wasn’t what unsettled him, though.

It was the way she looked at him when she spoke. She was calm, certain, and unafraid of the weight his name carried.

Most people stumbled under his scrutiny, yet Yue Ning had met his eyes without a shred of hesitation.

Huo Feng exhaled slowly, realizing his hand had stilled mid-tap. She saw through it so quickly, and it had to admit that she had gotten him interested in her.

The proposal had taken his team hours to dissect. And she had pointed out the flaw in minutes. It was god-like.

A faint crease formed between his brows. Was it luck? Coincidence? Or was there more to this woman he had dismissed just because Yue Chen said she wasn’t special.

He shut the folder, but instead of relief, a curious tension lingered in his chest. His lips curved ever so slightly, an expression even he didn’t notice.

"Interesting," he murmured again, this time without restraint.

For the first time since the marriage, Huo Feng found himself wondering who exactly was Yue Ning.

Meanwhile, Yue Ning collapsed to the bed without hesitation when she walked into her room.

"Did you see that?" She squealed. "The way he gazed at me changed. He didn’t have the same nonchalance, but he was rather intrigued."

The system laughed. ’You did it host!’

"I did it," Yue Ning beamed. "I cannot forget the look on his face. He had no other option than to admire me." There was a proud look in her eyes.

"But I also have to thank you. If you hadn’t given me that skill, I probably wouldn’t have been able to impress him. So for that, I say a very big thank you."

Yue Ning expressed her gratitude. She momentarily forgot that the system was the one who taught her a lesson the previous day.

’It is all your own achievement,’ the system replied.

Yue Ning had a smile on her face, and picked up the novel. She was in a good mood as she read it. It didn’t matter if it was horror, the encounter from earlier was still fresh in her mind.

_________________

The next morning, Yue Ning woke up early. She stretched lazily, her stomach growling in protest.

"Right, no dinner," she muttered, dragging her tired body to the bathroom.

By the time she finished, she stepped out, completely naked, humming to herself without a care.

Her hum died in her throat when her eyes met Huo Feng’s. He was standing near the window, the morning light behind him, frozen mid-step as though he hadn’t expected to see this.

Yue Ning’s brain short-circuited as her eyes widened. She was about to let out a scream when it got stuck halfway in her chest, so all that came out was an awkward, squeaky yelp.

Huo Feng’s ears turned red instantly. He cleared his throat, sharply turning away.

"Put some clothes on." His voice was steady, but the stiffness in his shoulders betrayed him.

Yue Ning scrambled, yanking the bedsheet around her body like a cocoon.

"Why are you here?! Don’t you knock?!" she hissed, feeling mortified.

"I wanted to talk to you," Huo Feng replied dryly, still facing the other direction.

Yue Ning had an awkward look on her face by his reply.

She bit her lip, clutching the bedsheet tighter. Just when she thought the embarrassment couldn’t get worse, her stomach growled loudly, echoing in the awkward silence.

Yue Ning wanted to scream.

Huo Feng pinched the bridge of his nose, an almost imperceptible twitch at the corner of his lips.

"You should eat breakfast." He said, and walked out without saying what he had to say.

Yue Ning buried her face in the sheet.

"I should move to another planet." She cried in embarrassment