TFRLTOP Chapter 16 Part 1

Chapter 16 – The CEO’s Little Side Dish 

◎ It’s a sugar daddy, all right ◎

Huo Xiao pushed open the guest bedroom door. Inside, a sore and achy little girl had somehow managed to take the world’s fastest battle-shower and was now burrowed under the covers, ready to meet the Sandman.

It was barely past four.

Huo Xiao sat down on the edge of the bed, reached under the blanket, and started massaging her calf.

“Heard you ran eight hundred meters today. Tired?”

The way he said it dripped with schadenfreude—like he already knew the answer but asked anyway.

Ming Ming shoved back the blanket, revealing a furious, messy little head of hair.

The kind that made a man want to pinch her cheeks on sight.

Red fingertip marks were still faintly visible on her face, making her scowl even more.

But Huo Xiao didn’t let go. His hands kept kneading, and soon enough, she was softly groaning.

His broad, rough palms pressed just right—not too hard, not too light—easing away the ache in her muscles. After a while, Ming Ming unceremoniously offered him her other leg.

Huo Xiao gave her backside a light smack. The little wildcat immediately twisted around and bit his thumb.

The silent standoff ended with Fifth Master Huo giving in. Ming Ming went back to humming in comfort.

“You hum one more time and you’re skipping dinner tonight,” his low, raspy voice warned.

What? No dinner?

Ming Ming’s eyes flew open in outrage—only to meet his dark, dangerous gaze. In an instant, she wilted.

A steamroller to the face—yeah, she still feared that.

She clamped down on her groans, on high alert, monitoring the air for the faintest whiff of exhaust fumes.

Huo Xiao, though, was serious about it. He gave her a full-body massage: calves, thighs, arms, and back. When he worked her neck, two sharp cracks later, her head felt feather-light.

“My head’s so light. You massaged my brain right out.”

“No wonder you’re so dumb.”

“I’m not dumb! Just you wait—I’ll win a scholarship this year and prove it to you!”

The system cut in: “Wake up. You’re in law school. Just passing your classes without failing is already a miracle.”

Ming Ming groaned. “Crap, I totally forgot about that. Ugh, this mouth of mine—why do I always brag? What if I fail? Then I’ll be too embarrassed to let him use his money power to bail me out.”

The system tried to “comfort” her: “Don’t worry. Maybe he’ll have dumped you by then.”

What a fantastic comforter, thanks.

When Huo Xiao was done unknotting every last muscle, he gave her backside another pat, signaling the end.

The gesture was way too intimate.

Ming Ming rolled around the bed wrapped in her blanket, then rolled right back.

“Fifth Master…”

“Mm?”

“You’re… really good at massage.”

“Have you massaged other people before?”

“If your subordinates knew you gave me massages, would their jaws hit the floor?”

Her barrage of questions made Huo Xiao instantly realize her mood had lifted again. He shot her a cool glance and said, “If you keep running your mouth, I’ll just take your jaw off first.”

Ming Ming yanked the blanket over half her face, eyes blinking rapidly like little spotlights.

After a while, she poked her “antennae” out again.

“Fifth Master…”

“Talk.”

“Are you… really that powerful?”

He gave her a puzzled side glance that clearly meant, ‘What kind of nonsense are you spewing?’

Ming Ming: “…”

She rallied her courage. “If… someone at school…”

She paused. “Forget it. Never mind.”

So much for bravery—already exhausted after two rounds.

Who was she kidding? The male lead wasn’t going to stick up for some side character.

She didn’t say more, and Fifth Master didn’t press her. He just told her to come down later for dinner and left.

Downstairs, Huo Xiao called Chen Si over. “Find out what happened at her school today.”

Ming Ming thought that if she kept quiet, and he didn’t ask, the matter would just fade away.

But who was Huo Xiao? From just a few hints, he knew her bad mood wasn’t only from sore muscles and an eight-hundred-meter run.

There was more.

And she didn’t want to tell him.

Something small? Something she thought she could handle?

Or… she didn’t believe he’d handle it for her?

Soon enough, Chen Si came back with the details.

Huo Xiao tapped his fingers one by one on the table, the rhythm betraying his foul mood.

“I also found out that a young master from the He family once pursued Miss Chu,” Chen Si added carefully. “Well—‘pursue’ isn’t quite right. He actually proposed to keep her. After she turned him down, he started spreading some… unsavory rumors about her around campus.”

Huo Xiao let out a cold laugh.

Unsavory rumors?

“Tomorrow, I’ll take her to school myself.”

—

The next day, Ming Ming put on what looked like a plain outfit. Of course, since her wardrobe was stocked entirely with Fifth Master’s selections, there wasn’t a single truly ordinary brand inside. Still, she picked the least flashy thing she could.

She told herself, I’m not being low-key—I’ve always been low-key.

But the car… was still the same ostentatious orange Cayenne from yesterday. She’d forgotten to request a switch in advance, so there was no time to change. She’d just have to make do.

Next time, she’d definitely remind them to use a different one.

She opened the door—and froze.

“Fifth Master? What are you doing here?” She glanced around—no second car waiting. “Then… which one am I supposed to ride in?”

Huo Xiao tilted his gaze toward the passenger seat. “Get in. I’ll drive you to school.”

The orange Cayenne roared down the road. The other cars, terrified of accidentally offending fate’s lottery, kept their distance.

Ming Ming stammered, “You’re really… really driving me to school?”

“Isn’t that… a bit beneath you?”

“…Maybe just drop me at the next intersection, and you can get on with your day?”

Huo Xiao looked down at his phone and, without even lifting his head, replied coldly with just two words:

“On the way.”

On the way? Ming Ming scoffed silently. Yesterday I heard them say they were going to headquarters today. Our school’s in the east end of the city, the group headquarters is way out west, and the Huo estate happens to be smack in the middle. What part of that is ‘on the way’?

The car pulled straight up to the school gates, giving her no chance to protest, and drove right in.

Ming Ming: ?!

It rolled all the way to the teaching building where her class was held before stopping.

The commotion was big enough that plenty of students stopped to gawk from a distance.

On Huo Fifth Master’s side, the car window lowered slowly. A few rich kids in the crowd gasped in shock.