11 Marriage details

Tuesday, continued ...

Anna Jones looked at Hou Yi and said, "Yi will you and I go and get married."

Looking Anna Jones in the eye, Hou Yi recognised that she was totally sincere in her offer. He responded quietly but clearly "Yes let us go and do so. But are you certain that you understand what you are getting yourself in for."

Anna looked at him with a look that said are you kidding me. Rather than snapping a response, she stopped and took a few deep breaths to be calm when she spoke.

"Hou Yi, I am a qualified lawyer. Yes, in what some people in the world might consider a backwater in Australia, but a lawyer is a lawyer, we understand and apply the law. I understand what marriage is all about. It is the legal commitment of two people to each other. The rest we can work out between ourselves. And I think that I can cope with being the wife of a businessman, who employs a few people in his business …"

"But…", said Hou Yi trying to interrupt Anna and correct her impression of Hou Corporation, simply because he called it the family company, and given that his father and grandfather were willing to give it away for nothing to have him comply with their demands to marry. Despite those two factors, he knew it is a huge international conglomerate, topping certain sectors here, one of the top companies in the country and hugely powerful in certain field in the world.

"Please do not interrupt me, Yi. As I was saying I can cope with being the wife of a businessman, as long as he respects me and lets me work in some way to deal with the situation that that 'ar**h**e' has caused me."

Anna briefly paused, as if thinking, then continued "I need to pay off my debts that he has left me with and work out how I can fight at least to get back some of what he has stolen. Marrying you, will let me do that, and get my revenge on him, as well as saying that just because you did not want to marry me, it does not mean that someone does not want to marry me."

Hou Yi realised correcting her view of Hou Enterprises, of it being the huge international conglomerate it is, its wealth, his personal wealth and by implication the situation with the Lu's she would not cope. He could simply tell her the truth in the future when she needed to know. Not correcting her misunderstanding was not going to make any difference to the core reason about getting married to her.

"Your certain then?" came his question.

"Absolutely certain" came her strong, but quiet reply.

Hou Yi glanced down at his watch and realised that only 10 minutes had passed since he commenced talking to Anna, and there had almost been a full circle in what was happening. He had arrived to get married, met a woman whose had her dreams shattered and that derailed his plans, and had received a proposal for a marriage. Accepting the proposal meant he could do what he had come here to do, get married.

This proposed marriage would Hou Enterprises and help Anna get her revenge. Hou Yi realised that he could get revenge he wanted on the Lu's and Yang's, not only for the past, but how they worked to undermine the deal he struck with his father and grandfather. That made him think, who told them about the deal to allow them to plan this? Does it mean that there are some spies in Hou Enterprises passing on information?

Marrying Anna, and presenting his beautiful western wife, who he was almost certain was the women from 6 months ago, to his family at the ancestral home would seal the deal with his father and grandfather, and mean that he could take Hou Enterprises in the direction he had wanted without any interference. All he had to do was figure out how to explain Anna, rather than who the family believed that he was marrying today. The details of how they met and all the other necessary information could be worked out before they arrived at the family compound.

"Given that you are certain, we can get married today." Pausing for a second Hou Yi looked at Anna Jones, thought about how she looked, and then said "Please do not take this the wrong way, but I think that you need to go into the bathroom, and wash your face, so that the officials do not wonder what I did to you to get you to marry me."

Anna Jones pulled out from her handbag, a makeup compact, and using the mirror looked at her face. "Oh my god, I look shocking, I need to tidy up. Do you know where there is a bathroom"