Chapter 4 : Genius by Nature

• "Alright, I accept you as my little brother. Now, call me 'big brother' and let me hear it," Huo Jingran unexpectedly revealed his childlike side as he looked at Xiao Ting. It seemed that he was becoming more and more interested in him.
• "I'm willing to bet and accept defeat, big brother."
• In the office, a five-year-old child calling a thirty-year-old man "big brother" was a comical sight.
• The female secretary struggled to hold back her laughter. She never expected that the big boss would have such a lack of restraint, coaxing a five-year-old boy to call him "big brother."
• The sound of "big brother" with a hint of cuteness made Huo Jingran find it surprisingly pleasant to the ears. He even had the desire to hear it again.
• Therefore, the female secretary witnessed another scene where her boss lost his restraint.
• Since they were now brothers, Huo Jingran had the secretary pour tea and the two of them began chatting in the office despite the twenty-five-year age gap between them.
• Huo Jingran was surprised to find that the adorable little boy in front of him was extremely tight-lipped. He tried various ways to pry open his mouth, but even after a long time of probing, he couldn't get him to reveal who his mother was.
• However, he did manage to find out the reason why the little boy, Xiao Ting, infiltrated the Huo Group. It turned out that it was for his classmate, a girl named Xiao Yun.
• Xiao Yun's mother ran a fried chicken shop located in the old city area, with the first floor being the shop and the second floor serving as their residence.
• A year ago, the district government decided to renovate the old city area and put most of the land up for bidding. The Huo Group, with its strong financial resources, won the bid.
• After winning the bid, the Huo Group planned to develop half of the old city area into a high-end residential area and the other half into entertainment venues and a top-notch commercial district.
• However, the local residents were not happy because the resettlement housing was set twenty kilometers away in the eastern district. They believed that this was an act of uprooting them from their hometown and were unwilling to relocate.
• In order to drive out the residents of the old city area, some high-level executives of the Huo Group tried all sorts of methods, both overt and covert. They even hired a group of thugs from society. When Xiao Ting's father organized the villagers to protest, he was beaten by those thugs and ended up in the hospital.
• In summary, Xiao Ting's motive for infiltrating the Huo Group was partly due to his integrity and kindness, and partly to protect his little friend.
• Huo Jingran noticed that every time Xiao Ting mentioned Xiao Yun's name, his eyes would quickly dodge, as if he was afraid of revealing his true intentions.
• Huo Jingran greatly admired this. At such a young age, not only could he hack into computers, but he also had the determination to fight for his loved ones. He truly was a genius by nature.
• Huo Jingran immediately instructed the secretary to temporarily suspend the development project in the old city area and discuss it later.
• Xiao Ting didn't expect Huo Jingran to easily put the project on hold. His attitude towards Huo Jingran suddenly became a bit closer.
• However, when asked about his parents, Xiao Ting remained tight-lipped. Perhaps Huo Jingran's questioning was too intense. Xiao Ting simply bid farewell to Huo Jingran and left. After taking a few steps, he turned around and looked at Huo Jingran. He pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose and his gaze was cold and sharp. "I will definitely defeat you in the future."
• Watching Xiao Ting's departing figure, a slight smile appeared on Huo Jingran's lips. His gaze shifted downwards and landed on the teacup that Xiao Ting had just used.
• He called the female secretary over and coldly ordered, "Immediately extract the DNA from this cup."
• "Get out! You're useless! You can't even make a cup of coffee!"
• From the second floor bedroom, there was a sound of crashing. A maid in uniform hurriedly fled from the room, sobbing softly as she went downstairs.
• Seeing this, the housekeeper Li hurriedly went upstairs.
• The bedroom door was open, and Ding Ningqiu was lying on the couch. When she saw Li, she sat up.
• Seeing the broken coffee cup on the floor, Li quickly said, "Madam, please wait, I will have someone clean it up."
• "Wait a moment." Ding Ningqiu leisurely spoke up, "The servants in this house are all clumsy and useless, as if they've never done any work before. Li, you should be the one to clean it up."
• Li looked at Ding Ningqiu with surprise, his expression slightly solemn.
• "What's wrong? As the wife of Mr. Huo, don't I have the authority to ask you to clean up the broken cup on the floor?" Ding Ningqiu had a faint smile on her face, but her smile carried a strong sense of ruthlessness and dominance.
• Li paused for a second and then spoke with resignation, "Since it's the madam's order, I will do as you say."
• Seeing Li bend down to pick up all the fragments, Ding Ningqiu focused her attention and revealed a satisfied smile on her face.
• During lunch, Ding Ningqiu specifically stopped a maid and inquired about the hierarchy in this mansion. She learned that besides Huo Jingran, the most authoritative person in this mansion was naturally Li, the housekeeper.
• From the maid's words, Ding Ningqiu learned that Li held a superior position in this mansion, second only to Huo Jingran. He was in charge of the daily operations of the entire mansion, big or small, and handled all matters, big or small.
• This made Ding Ningqiu feel somewhat displeased. If she compared Huo Jingran to an emperor, then Li would be the chief eunuch in the harem. In the past, when there were no concubines or empresses in the harem, Li could do as he pleased without any problems. But now that she had become the empress in the Eastern Palace, Li could only rank third, regardless of his previous status.
• Originally, Ding Ningqiu had just scolded a maid, but when she saw Li come in, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration. She felt that she needed to take this opportunity to assert her dominance, to show off her power in the entire mansion, and let everyone know that when Huo Jingran was not around, she was the queen.
• Seeing Li bend down to pick up all the fragments, Ding Ningqiu focused her attention and revealed a satisfied smile on her face.
• "Li, I heard that you have been serving by my husband's side for many years. Let me ask you, how many women does my husband have by his side?" Ding Ningqiu asked.
• Ding Ningqiu didn't care how many women were by Huo Jingran's side. Whether it was ten or a hundred, as long as it didn't interfere with her enjoyment of the materialistic life, it was fine.
• When you spend too much time with the same person, no matter how infatuated you were in the beginning, you would eventually find it boring. This was true even when facing Huo Jingran all day long.
• But money was different. No matter how long you spent with it, you would never get tired of it.
• "Madam, for all these years, there hasn't been a single woman by the young master's side, except for the one encounter six years ago at the Jiangling Hotel. Since then, the young master has been yearning for you day and night. Now, he has finally found you in this vast sea of people," Li said.