Chapter 216 - Lu Mo Causing Trouble, Xiao Ran’s Guilt

Chapter 216: Lu Mo Causing Trouble, Xiao Ran’s Guilt

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Huo Xiaoran understood what she meant. He looked at Lu Mo in shock. “What messages did you send Qiao An?”

Lu Mo was flustered. She had never dreamed that her message to taunt Qiao An would cause her so much trouble.

She explained guiltily, “Senior, I was just apologizing to Qiao An.”

Qiao An snorted. “Pretentious.”

That word was better than a thousand words, rendering Lu Mo’s quibble useless.

Huo Xiaoran’s eyes darkened.

Qiao An said impatiently, “Alright, Huo Xiaoran, let’s get down to business. I insist on terminating the contract, so don’t dissuade me. Let’s follow the contract flow…”

Before she could finish, Lu Mo probably wanted to take credit for it to resolve Huo Xiaoran’s doubts about her. She pretended to put herself in Qiao An’s shoes and said, “Qiao An, don’t terminate the contract. You can’t afford the penalty for terminating the contract. It’s not easy for a girl like you to have a stable job… Besides, online literature contracts have always been strict with authors. Your signature has been given to Hai Yue, and the copyright for those 50 years belongs to Hai Yue. Don’t you know?”

Qiao An rolled her eyes incredulously.

She couldn’t even be bothered to talk to Lu Mo. She ignored Lu Mo and asked Huo Xiaoran, “President Huo, I don’t think you’ve seen my contract, right? Why don’t you take a look now?”

At this moment, the executive quickly explained to Huo Xiaoran, “Apart from the first short story, which is a regular contract, the other novels are all non-exclusive contracts. The copyright of the book is in her hands, and we only have the priority recommendation rights. If the contract is terminated, she only needs to pay us the priority rights, which is a very small sum of money.”

Only then did Lu Mo realize how ridiculous her aggressive look was.

The executive whispered to Huo Xiaoran, “President, the proceeds from one of Qiao An’s books is equivalent to the profit of two or three explosive books from other websites. Moreover, the data of her latest book has been tested to be better than any other book in the past. If we let her go, Hai Yue will suffer a huge loss.”

Huo Xiaoran nodded. “I understand.”

Lu Mo stood beside Huo Xiaoran and listened to every word of the executive. She felt very upset. Qiao An’s talent terrified her. When it came to the future of Hai Yue, Lu Mo did not dare to mess around.

Huo Xiaoran said to Qiao An kindly, “Qiao An, let’s talk.”

Qiao An refused. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

Huo Xiaoran was slightly stunned.

This girl was as stubborn as a mule.

Huo Xiaoran said, “If you want to terminate the contract, come and talk to me.” With that, he turned around and walked towards the CEO’s office.

Qiao An was furious. She followed Huo Xiaoran into the CEO’s office angrily.

Lu Mo was in a daze. She was at a loss as to whether she should go in or not.

In the end, in order to show off her love in front of Qiao An, she shamelessly went in. However, Huo Xiaoran said to Lu Mo mercilessly, “Momo, wait for me outside.”

Lu Mo’s expression instantly collapsed. She walked out of the CEO’s office with a dejected expression.

Huo Xiaoran sat at his desk and looked straight at Qiao An.

“Qiao An, when are you going to change your temper?”

Qiao An retorted, ” I really didn’t expect President Huo to have the potential to be the King of Zhou. He neglected the interests of the company’s employees for his wife.”

Huo Xiaoran felt his head throbbing. He couldn’t say anything. If he was really King You of Zhou, she would be the one doted on by him.

“Look at this and decide if you want to terminate the contract?”

Huo Xiaoran opened his safe and took out a stack of information before throwing it in front of Qiao An.

Qiao An saw that under the company’s charter was the name of the legal appointee, Huo Xiaoran. But the beneficiary of the company was her, Qiao An.

Qiao An smiled. “Does CEO Huo wish to retain me in this way? You really can’t catch a wolf without sacrificing a child.”

Huo Xiaoran reminded her, “Look at the date of the contract.”

Qiao An lifted the document and saw that the signing was actually three years ago. It would appear that Huo Xiaoran had the intention to give Hai Yue Corporation to her when he bought it over.

Qiao An’s sneer slowly faded. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Huo Xiaoran said, “Qiao An, I remember the promise I made to you. It’s just that Momo’s condition is unstable at the moment. She doesn’t allow me to have too much contact with you, so I had no choice but to change the investor. I hope you won’t lose out because of a small matter. After all, Hai Yue is yours…”

Qiao An said, “Why don’t you just deal with Hai Yue as you deem fit?”

Huo Xiaoran was dumbfounded. He said in disbelief, “This has been your dream since you were young. If you can even give up your dream, what can’t you give up?”

He seemed to understand her reason for giving him up.

She was such a spontaneous person.

Jo Ann choked back a sob. “Dreams? Mine were shattered a long time ago.” She left, her eyes red.

She was afraid that if she didn’t leave now, she would collapse in front of Huo Xiaoran.

Huo Xiaoran looked at her back and sighed with a dark expression.

Lu Mo walked in and saw Huo Xiaoran’s exhausted expression. She said, “This Qiao An really likes to torture people.”

Huo Xiaoran suddenly slammed his fist on the table angrily. Lu Mo was trembling in fear.

She asked Huo Xiaoran anxiously, “Senior, did Qiao An make you angry?”

Huo Xiaoran looked at her fixedly, his eyes like cold pools. “Momo, what did you say to Qiao An?”

Lu Mo said in panic, “Senior, I didn’t say anything. I just felt that I was muddle-headed that day and forced you to change investors. I felt guilty, so I sent Qiao An a message to apologize and explain the whole story.”

A painful expression appeared on Huo Xiaoran’s handsome face. “I clearly promised her that I would protect her. I didn’t expect it to backfire and ruin her dream.”

Lu Mo had never thought that things would turn out this way. If she had known that it would cause Qiao An so much trouble and make Senior so worried about her, she wouldn’t have been so vain as to show off to Qiao An that Senior listened to her.

Just like that, Qiao An stopped everything she was doing. She stopped filming and serializing web novels. The boring days left her incredibly empty.

When Huo Xiaoran learned that she had stopped updating and that it was the first time she had stopped updating after two and a half years, he felt even more guilty and blamed himself.

He knew better than anyone how negative a break would be for a popular novel.

On this day, Huo Xiaoran couldn’t stand the strong condemnation of his conscience. He mustered his courage and called Qiao An.

He asked Qiao An, “How long are you going to be willful? Qiao An, there are so many readers waiting for you to update.”

But Qiao An told him leisurely, “I changed careers.”