Chapter 16 Hands (Part 2)

A golden-roofed temple in Vietnam 7 years ago.

　　The sound of gunfire interrupted the peaceful chanting. The people in the hall panicked and fled in the hail of bullets.

　　The servant who was in charge of taking care of Huo Yan was killed by a stray bullet. When she quickly maneuvered her wheelchair backwards and tried to hide behind a Buddha statue, the tires crushed a dead body and she could not move forward.

　　Bang! Bang!

　　The sound of gunfire was getting closer and closer. When she walked around the corpse, she suddenly saw darkness in front of her - a man in black chased her to the door, with the barrel of the gun pointed at her.

　　That day was her 18th birthday ceremony, held in a temple, and she had never touched a gun.

　　It was that negligence that gave the nematodes hiding in the shadows an opportunity to find their way.

　　Staring at the smoking muzzle of the gun, Huo Yan's breathing stopped. She thought that maybe she would really die on the day she turned 18.

　　boom!

　　The gunshot rang out, but the bullet did not hit him. When he looked again, the tall man in black was shot in the knee. He knelt on the ground and turned around, firing several shots behind him.

Seeing this, Huo Yan immediately pressed the button of his wheelchair, hurriedly passed through the Vajra Hall, and fled deeper into the temple.

　　She didn't know why so many killers suddenly appeared in a simple coming-of-age ceremony. She didn't know who was behind all this. Her thoughts were like the long corridor in front of her, dark and gloomy, and she was like a dark worm under a stone that could not see the light.

　　It was at that moment that a pair of hands saved her.

　　The bony hands carried her to the iris bushes in the courtyard, where the irises grew so tall and dense that they barely covered her head.

　　But the strange thing is that the person who rescued her was a child, probably about eleven or twelve years old, wearing a black windbreaker and a black mask, and was frighteningly thin.

　　What's even more frightening is that her right hand was broken.

　　The palm was at an inverse angle, and the wrist was covered in blood, as if it had been soaked in ketchup. A piece of white bone was exposed in the bloody wound.

　　Huo Yan took off the silk scarf from around her neck and said, "Bandage it."

　　The girl just raised her head, the mask covering half of her face, her eyes were particularly sharp among her hair, like sharp wolf teeth:

　　"Do not talk."

Huo Yan will never forget the next scene - the girl rushed to the wheelchair that had fallen outside the iris bush, grabbed the tire with her left hand, and failed to lift it up in one breath. Then she grabbed it with her broken right hand, twisted her thin body in the opposite direction, and used her weight and arm strength to straighten the wheelchair and push it into the hidden iris bush.

　　The whole process was easy, numb and skillful.

　　It seemed that the broken and painful wrist was just a supporting wooden board.

　　"You hide here and don't make any noise."

　　The girl stared at the gate through the gap in the grass, half-crouching to warn Huo Yan.

　　"They are chasing me. I will lead them away. After 20 minutes, you can call for help."

　　Huo Yan stared at the girl in front of him, his curiosity growing stronger - what kind of person, at the age of eleven or twelve, could be so calm in the face of a life-and-death tragedy. Moreover, she seemed to have no sense of pain, carrying a heavy object with an expressionless face.

　　Memories of the past flooded back into his mind. Huo Yan blinked twice, quite hard, temporarily dispelling the memories, and his gaze fell on the adult woman in front of him.

　　"Has your hand been broken before?"

　　She wanted to know urgently.

　　Lan Su's lips were tight. In order to survive, she pretended to be the second daughter of the Lan family. The second daughter was a rich girl who had been lying in bed for 11 years. She would not be like her, who had gone through hardships and was covered in wounds.

　　"I don't know." Lan Su turned his head and looked sideways at the person in front of the desk.

　　"have no idea?"

"I was in a coma for 11 years and I don't remember a lot of things. It's possible that I was injured in the accident, but it's been so long that I can't remember it clearly."

　　She found that the 11-year coma was her weakness, and at the same time, if used well, it could also be her trump card to fish in troubled waters. As long as she could attribute everything to these 11 years, she could get away with it completely.

　　Buzz...

　　The wheelchair's tires rolled over the floor, making a slight sound of machinery moving, like a red poisonous snake circling in the desert, rustling forward and spewing out its sharp tongue.

　　Huo Yan stopped in front of Lan Su. The height of her wheelchair was higher than the sofa. The light coming from behind cast her shadow on Lan Su.

　　However, it only covered the bridge of the nose, and the pair of calm and clear eyes were as bright as ever.

　　"Miss Lan."

　　Huo Yan spoke, and this time, there was a hint of warning in his words.

　　"I hope you know what happens when you deceive me."

She tried to intimidate Lan Su into telling the truth, even though the person in front of her only had one ten-thousandth of the same appearance as the girl back then.

　　Lan Su's upper body was originally leaning forward, but after hearing what she said, he slowly straightened his spine, raised his eyes, and looked into Huo Yan's eyes calmly.

　　Yes, she is not afraid.

　　"The person who lied to you is dead. Who can I ask?"

　　Huo Yan didn't expect her to say that. In fact, since getting married, Lan Su has always been submissive and has never done anything that crosses the line. According to her usual habits, she should deny "I didn't lie to you" or try to explain her broken hand.

　　It won't be like it is now, with tit-for-tat.

　　It seems that she really asked about this person's bottom line.

　　He nodded with interest, the lens reflecting bright light, Huo Yan asked back:

"Am I that scary?"

　　"At least your first three wives are dead."

　　"You think I killed them?"

　　"I didn't say that."

　　"But you thought so."

　　"I'm not a police officer."

　　"right."

　　The intensive conversation was very fast, words popping out like bullets, the two men hardly took a breath, they were at loggerheads, eyes staring into each other, one ruthless, the other resolute, like reefs standing in a storm, motionless, yet also witnessing the surging waves.

　　The waves washed out white water splashes, the water columns jumped up to more than ten meters, and then fell heavily, receding with the tide.

　　Where the dust settled was Huo Yan's eagle-like eyes and the word "yes" between his lips

The eyes behind the lenses narrowed slightly, as if he had picked up something more interesting than shells on the beach. The tip of his tongue slid across his canine teeth, and the slight pain brought out a bit of excitement.

　　She stared at Lan Su and said word by word:

　　"You are my wife."

　　Even though there are suspicions, concealments and calculations, they are now in the same boat.

　　Buzz...buzz...

　　The phone vibrated. It was Huo Yan.

　　Lan Su agreed that she and Huo Yan were similar in some ways. For example, neither of them set ringtones for their phones, and all of them set to vibrate for calls, text messages, and WeChat.

　　"Hello?"

　　Huo Yan answered the phone.

　　It was Ai Li calling from home: "Mr. Huo, when will you be back today?"

Huo Yan likes to be straightforward. No matter at home or in the company, his subordinates always talk about what they want to say and never exchange pleasantries

"I have a meeting this afternoon that ends at four. What's up?"

　　"The old house just called and said that the mistress is coming to pick you up and asked you to bring Miss Lan with you to visit the old house."

　　The old house, that is, the Huo family's old house, is a place filled with scheming and calculations from the inside out.

　　Madam is Huo Yan's nominal mother, who lives in the Huo family's old house.

　　The reason why it was "in name only" was because Huo Yan was an illegitimate daughter, and this lady was his father's third wife.

　　"Tell her that I will take Lan Su back tomorrow and she doesn't need to come to pick me up."

　　She didn't want to see this woman.

　　"But the madam is already on the way." Ellie tried to keep his tone as calm as possible.

　　Tick...tick...

The pendulum clock turned a few notches, and Huo Yan made a decision:

　　"Then let her wait, I will be back in the evening."

　　"Ok, I see."

　　After hanging up the phone, Huo Yan turned the wheelchair back and looked at Lan Su from top to bottom:

　　"I have something to do. Don't go back yet."

　　Lan Su pursed her lips. She was not stupid. She could probably guess the reason from Huo Yan's tone when he was talking on the phone. Most likely, there would be an uninvited guest at home, and one that Huo Yan hated extremely.

　　She didn't think she had the ability to go home alone and face someone that even Huo Yan couldn't handle.

　　But she didn't have the ability to stay alone with Huo Yan in this enclosed space for a whole day.

　　Buzz...

The wheelchair rolled over the floor, drove at a constant speed to the side of the desk, and dialed Xu Panpan's internal line:

　　"Put aside what you are doing for now and take Lan Su out for a walk."

　　The hand that was holding the skirt paused, and unexpectedly loosened.

　　Lan Su felt that Huo Yan was most likely able to read minds.