Mr. Liang was utterly devastated. After wandering aimlessly with his script, he was eventually led back to the guest room by President Huo, who carefully put away the high-end suit and shirt.
Early the next morning, Liang Xiao crawled out of bed with bleary eyes and returned to the film set as usual.
There was no filming scheduled today—he only needed to make an appearance and sign in before returning. His manager and assistant had been given time off, replaced by Xingguan’s assistant team.
Sitting in the car surrounded by his NPC-like support team, Liang Xiao still couldn’t understand: “Why am I genuinely unable to memorize properly…”
“What can’t you memorize?”
Duan Ming, who for once wasn’t accompanying him, couldn’t quite follow over the phone: “Don’t you have no scenes today?”
Holding his phone, Liang Xiao sighed across the distance to his manager: “Not today, but there will be more in the future.”
Duan Ming: “…True.”
Liang Xiao felt somewhat dejected: “When those days come, I’ll have to write out the script again.”
Duan Ming: “…”
Having feared this since childhood, Liang Xiao never imagined that after so many years he still couldn’t escape it. Inevitably reflecting on life’s unpredictability and recurring nightmares, he let out a disheartened sigh.
Duan Ming tentatively suggested: “Do you want a memorization tool?”
“What’s that?” Liang Xiao perked up with interest and sat upright. “Will it help me memorize ten pages at once?”
“It’s just a plastic board where you can use a black pen to mark what you need to memorize… never mind.”
Over the phone, Duan Ming seemed to be flipping through something, his voice intermittent: “It won’t be much help to you.”
Liang Xiao’s problem was actually his lack of concentration. Without effective high-pressure measures forcing him to focus, he struggled to truly concentrate.
Besides President Huo’s strict approach, there really wasn’t a better method.
Duan Ming asked: “Is there anything else you want?”
Liang Xiao paused for a moment, thinking carefully: “No, I have enough things right now.”
Duan Ming hinted: “What about things you might want in the future?”
Liang Xiao responded with tight logic: “Things I want in the future can be bought in the future. What if I later find I don’t need them? That would save money.”
Duan Ming was convinced by his reasoning: “…Right.”
Duan Ming took a breath: “What about things you wanted in the past—”
“…” With just the phone connecting them, Liang Xiao really couldn’t figure out what Duan Ming was trying to do. He couldn’t help asking: “Brother Duan, did you win some ‘clear your shopping cart’ prize or something?”
Liang Xiao made a quick decision: “Add two boxes of spicy turkey noodles for me, the genuine brand, one box of cola, we’re almost out of business cards, and Xiao Gong wants a capsule coffee machine…”
Duan Ming felt a headache coming on, hastily agreed, and hung up the phone.
—
Hotel suite.
Duan Ming put down his phone, sighing: “I couldn’t get anything out of him.”
The butler was troubled: “This makes things difficult.”
“Is President Huo planning to celebrate Liang Xiao’s birthday?” Duan Ming had been helping select gifts all morning but hesitated. “That birthday is just a made-up date, recorded when he got his household registration. Even he doesn’t take it seriously…”
The butler shook his head: “President Huo says we must celebrate it anyway.”
Duan Ming was stunned, then after a moment smiled slightly and nodded without saying anything more.
The butler had people search for suitable birthday gifts again, compiling several lists.
President Huo had actually been preparing for this for some time. The contract originally intended as a birthday gift had been given early, so they needed something else to replace it.
This was his first time giving a birthday gift, and President Huo’s standards were strict—he had already rejected hundreds of proposals these past few days.
Tonight at midnight would be Mr. Liang’s birthday. Although they had prepared several gifts, everyone still felt uncertain and continued making final efforts.
“Actually… it doesn’t need to be so complicated.”
Duan Ming thought for a moment: “What kinds of gifts has President Huo received for his own birthdays? We could use those as reference—”
The butler hesitated, giving a bitter smile: “President Huo doesn’t celebrate birthdays.”
Duan Ming was surprised: “Why?”
“Madam had complications when giving birth to President Huo… she was seriously ill for several years.”
The butler had hinted at this before but never explained in detail, now giving a vague explanation: “The master forbade us from celebrating President Huo’s birthday. Every year during that time, he wouldn’t stay at home and would take Madam to various places for treatment and relaxation.”
When the master and madam went out, the butler and head of security had to take turns keeping watch at the villa. Even though they knew the date, no one could go celebrate with young Huo Lan who was staying with a branch of the family.
One year, Huo Lan happened to be at the main family home. The butler secretly made a cake for young Huo Lan but was caught red-handed by the master before he could deliver it.
At that time, the madam’s condition happened to be worsening again. The master, distressed and irritable, ordered someone to throw away the cake on the spot and severely reprimanded everyone in the villa.
Over time, no one dared to touch this sensitive issue again.
“He was concerned for his beloved wife.”
Duan Ming could understand but still couldn’t help frowning: “But the child did nothing wrong…”
President Huo didn’t allow people to bring up these matters much. The butler didn’t say more, just shook his head and returned to the topic: “So President Huo isn’t very clear about what gifts to give either.”
…However, President Huo certainly knew what gifts NOT to give.
The butler had compiled hundreds of rejected proposals and sincerely lamented: “Considering Mr. Liang’s interests, we’re almost tempted to suggest that President Huo just give him a credit card to spend freely…”
Duan Ming sighed: “Then he’d just buy spicy turkey noodles, cola, and a coffee machine.”
Liang Xiao was passionate about saving money but had almost no expensive hobbies. His most impulsive purchase in all these years was spending just 10 yuan on game currency.
He even complained to Duan Ming about this 10 yuan for three days, annoying Duan Ming so much that he ended up sending Liang Xiao one hundred red envelopes worth 0.1 yuan each.
The butler’s last hope was cruelly extinguished. He sighed: “Did Mr. Liang accept them?”
“He did,” Duan Ming replied. “But his phone was so old that it completely froze up from processing them, and he had to spend 200 yuan to repair it.”
The butler: “…”
Both men had run out of ideas. They stared at each other silently before clinking their coffee cups and draining them in one go.
After a long silence, Duan Ming suddenly remembered something: “That cake from back then—President Huo never got to eat it?”
The butler shook his head with a bitter smile: “I had promised it to President Huo.”
Back then, the butler had specially promised young Huo Lan and asked the chef to secretly make a cake in the rarely used backup kitchen. Despite careful planning, the master caught him just as he was bringing it out.
Not to mention eating it… young Huo Lan didn’t even get to see what the cake looked like.
“After that, President Huo never asked for a cake again.”
The butler cleared his mind, refusing to dwell on past memories: “Is there a problem? Mr. Liang—”
“No problem,” Duan Ming said. “Mr. Liang has never had one either.”
The butler was momentarily stunned.
“There’s no dramatic story—he just thought it was a waste of money.”
Duan Ming quickly explained, glancing at the master bedroom: “But has President Huo considered that we could approach this from a different angle…”
It didn’t necessarily have to be something particularly valuable—expensive enough to be kept as a family heirloom.
Duan Ming was vaguely worried that if Liang Xiao received such a gift, he might try to resell it for cash. Composing himself, he didn’t elaborate further: “Since President Huo’s birthday isn’t suitable for celebration, why can’t they share one birthday together?”
The butler was stunned for a moment before his eyes lit up. He grabbed the manager’s hand, shook it vigorously, and hurriedly entered the master bedroom.
—
When Mr. Liang returned, the entire suite had a different atmosphere than usual.
The living room didn’t have President Huo’s typical working ambiance. Several high-level chefs stood silently in a row by the door, while the assistant team bustled about, everyone carrying various items.
The butler was waiting at the living room entrance. Seeing Liang Xiao return, he cheerfully approached: “Mr. Liang—”
Liang Xiao removed his outer clothing and asked curiously: “What is President Huo doing?”
“I can’t tell you right now,” the butler replied with a beaming smile. “Please wait a bit. It won’t be long before you get a surprise.”
Liang Xiao paused before suddenly becoming alert: “Has President Huo finally started developing memory bread?”
The butler was confused: “What?”
Liang Xiao pressed his forehead, regaining clarity: “…Nothing.”
Having eaten food prepared by Huo Lan once before, Liang Xiao wasn’t sure why President Huo would be conducting this high-risk activity in the master bedroom. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help feeling excited and quietly asked the butler: “How long do I need to wait?”
“Not too long,” the butler assured him. “Go study your lines for a bit—one hour at most.”
The mysterious atmosphere made Liang Xiao feel both excited and nervous. He nodded, took out his script, and went back to study.
…
With something on his mind, studying became almost mechanical. Liang Xiao alternated between writing and glancing at the time. After exactly one hour had passed, he quickly closed his script and peeked out from the guest room.
Outside, the atmosphere still lacked President Huo’s typical work environment. The master chefs remained lined up silently by the door, and the assistant team continued bustling about carrying various items.
The butler stood at the living room entrance.
Liang Xiao pondered for a moment, went back to confirm that time was indeed passing, then opened the door again.
The butler noticed the movement and quickly approached: “Mr. Liang…”
Liang Xiao lowered his voice as if sharing a secret: “Is it ready?”
“Almost,” the butler whispered. “Please study for one more hour.”
![After losing all his wealth, the ancestor rose from his coffin [BL]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Your-paragraph-text-1.png "After losing all his wealth, the ancestor rose from his coffin [BL]")
