Chapter 27 Heartbeat (Part 3)

Huo Yan's disability was acquired, but no one knew why, they only thought he had a serious illness.

　　No one dared to ask, just like no one asked what happened on the day Hassan chased the kite. The secret was only sealed in an old box and buried deep in the desert.

　　Throughout the entire reception, Huo Yan's wheelchair was parked by the French lattice window on the first floor, with a single sofa next to it. Those who wanted to discuss cooperation would bring a glass of wine over, and after getting Huo Yan's permission, they would sit on the sofa.

　　There were men and women, Chinese and foreigners sitting on the seats, but without exception, they were all leading companies in the industry.

　　"We shall be glad to enter into business relations with you."

　　The blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigner leaned over and shook hands with Huo Yan. After receiving Huo Yan's affirmative answer, he left happily.

　　Huo Yan handed the man's business card to his assistant Jiang Feng and dialed the number at the same time:

"Queen May's conditions are good this time. Let's have a meeting tomorrow at 10 o'clock. Invite the marketing and legal departments to draft a cooperation agreement. Please book me a flight to Milan on the 30th. I want to talk to Louis in person."

　　Jiang Feng wrote furiously on the other end: "Okay, no problem." Then he repeated: "Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, we will have a meeting to discuss the cooperation agreement with Queen May."

　　"Um."

　　Huo Yan raised his watch and said, "The press conference will start in ten minutes. Ask the public relations department to prepare. There will be news tonight."

　　Jiang Feng had already prepared: "Well, the press release is ready. We can release it when things get going."

　　"good."

　　The small corner was next to the window, the room was brightly lit, and the outside was dark. Huo Yan sat there motionless, the black and white dividing line divided Huo Yan's face into two halves, one yin and one yang, one bright and one dark, like the Vajra statue enshrined in the temple, holding ten thousand thunderous means.

　　Da da da...

　　The sudden sound of footsteps broke the sacredness of the scene. Huo Yan hung up the phone and turned around. It was a woman in a goose yellow evening dress.

　　Huo Yan was always indifferent to strangers: "Miss, what's your name?"

　　The man was grabbing the hem of her skirt, his chest heaving violently with his breathing. It was obvious that he was looking for her.

　　Lan Xiaoyu let down her skirt, but her palms were tightly clenched, as if she was about to file a complaint with the emperor:

　　"My last name is Lan, and I'm Lan Su's sister."

Huo Yan was slightly surprised, and after concentrating, he indeed saw that his features were somewhat similar to Lan Su's:

　　"Miss Third, nice to meet you. What do you want to talk to me about?"

　　Lan Xiaoyu took a deep breath: "Don't you think Lan Su is weird?"

　　"oh?"

　　"A vegetative person who has been in a coma for eleven years would have his muscles atrophied and his nerves dulled. It's impossible for him to be like this. She is alive and kicking now, without taking any medicine or rehabilitation, as if she had never been in a coma and had always been a normal person. You have been married to her for so many days, don't you find it strange?"

　　Huo Yan listened to her complaints quietly, the hair draped over his shoulders did not move, his spine leaning against the back of the chair was relaxed and lazy, his eyelids were half drooped, without any ripples, as if he was listening to a clichéd legend of foot binding.

　　His gaze fell on eyes that were 30% similar to Lan Su's, and he found that the only resemblance remained in the eye shape. They had the same willow-leaf eyes. Lan Su was tough, reserved, and forbearing, while Lan Xiaoyu was frivolous, restless, and jealous.

　　"The third young lady is even stranger."

　　Huo Yan spoke with contempt. The wheelchair was half as low as Lan Xiaoyu's, but when he looked up from below, it was like a sharp blade slowly being pulled out of a sheath. As their eyes met, a dagger also fell on Lan Xiaoyu's throat.

She could clearly see one sentence from those jealous eyes - I want Lan Su to die.

　　"Lan Su is your biological sister, but you want her to die."

　　The judge handed down his sentence and sent the unknown devil to the eighteenth level of hell.

　　Lan Xiaoyu's bones were seen through by those eyes. At that moment, jealousy and hatred hit her brain, making her almost lose her mind.

　　Why did Huo Yan react like this? She should be furious, she should go after Lan Su, she should slap Lan Su in public and then go to the Lan family to ask for an explanation. She should kill Lan Su as well as the first three wives as rumored!

　　Why do you protect Lan Su so much? Why don't you believe a word from others?

　　Why?

　　-------------------------------------

　　Lan Su sat on a bench in the corridor on the second floor, waiting for the judgment of life or death.

　　Lan Xiaoyu would tell everything, including her carefully hidden identity, the secret of her dependence on the Lan family, the purpose of marrying Huo Yan, everything, without leaving out a single word.

　　Closing her eyes, Lan Xiaoyu's angry expression when she left, which made her wish she was dead, was still in front of her. The memories overlapped. It was eleven years ago, when a huge change happened at home. The two of them ran out of the house that was on fire and lived in the sticky and muddy streets after the rain for two days and two nights.

On the third day, she was starving so she picked up a moldy steamed bun from the trash can, peeled off the moldy surface, and handed the white inside to Lan Xiaoyu.

　　At that time, Lan Xiaoyu cut the bun in half with her dirty hands, handed it to her, and said crisply:

　　"It tastes better if you eat it with your sister."

　　Eleven years, long eleven years, eleven years distorted by the oppression of the Lan family and the deformed love. Lan Xiaoyu had already died in the rainy alley that year.

　　A tear slid down and was wiped away by slender fingers, and along with the words "You are no longer my sister", disappeared from this world.

　　call...

　　She took a deep breath, calmed down a little, and extricated herself from the tragic family experience - what she had to think about now was how to explain it to Huo Yan.

　　Buzz...

　　The sound of wheelchair tires rolling over the floor came from the elevator entrance. Lan Su clutched the fabric of her skirt around her knees, waiting for Huo Yan's judgment.

　　However, what greeted her was not a barrage of abuse or sarcastic judgment, but a sentence that couldn't be more plain:

　　"The press conference is about to begin, let's go."

　　"Um?"

　　Lan Su looked up in surprise and looked into the man's eyes, but only saw bright reflective lenses.

　　"Didn't Xiaoyu come to find you?"

She directly mentioned Lan Xiaoyu, hoping that Huo Yan could give her a quick death.

　　"I found it." Huo Yan's answer was still straightforward.

　　"Then she must have told you a lot." Lan Su's voice was like dust.

　　Huo Yan sat in front of her, his eyes falling on her shoulders that were hunched due to inferiority and fear, and a slightly bitter taste of Chinese medicine rose in his heart.

　　"She told a Soviet joke."

　　After a pause, he continued:

　　"But it's not funny."

　　"you..."

　　Lan Su was shocked. She didn't know what Huo Yan meant by that. Did he not believe Lan Xiaoyu's words, or did he believe them but not pursue the matter. Her eyes fell on the face with clear contours. The other party nodded suddenly, and the reflection angle of the lens shifted, revealing a pair of solemn eyes underneath, as firm as diamonds.

　　"Lan Su, family is not a synonym for harbor."

She said word by word:

　　"In fact, it's just like the difference between 'home' and 'house'. If someone living in the same house hits you, do you know how to fight back?"

　　She didn't care whether Lan Su was the real Second Miss Lan. She only cared whether this person would stand on her side when facing this world that was as ferocious as a flood or a beast.

　　Lan Su took a full 5 seconds to react and finally understood what she meant. His tense shoulders and neck relaxed.

　　The "fight back" that Huo Yan mentioned was referring to the personal revenge that occurred during the attack in Villa last month.

　　Lan Su followed up on her words and said, "Huo Jun and his men have stolen the design draft. We can't just let it go like this."

　　Huo Yan finally nodded with satisfaction, as if the newly bought kitten had finally learned to eat by itself.

　　"So, the press conference is about to start, let's go."

　　The light circuit in the corridor had poor contact and was flickering. It flashed several times amid the noisy crowd before finally coming back to light.