Chapter 23: Opening the Guardian (I)

Huo's Villa, where Huo Wenxia lives.

　　The group marched to the door, only to find it unlocked. They pushed open the three-door palace gate and saw two bodyguards in black lying in the blood.

　　"ah!"

　　Huo Jun yelled, retreating behind the old man, his tall body curled up like a lobster:

　　"Grandpa, something happened!"

　　Almost at the same time, the men in black who were following behind and had intended to suppress Huo Yan and Lan Su quickly stepped forward and surrounded the old man and his companions.

　　Grandmother Song Yajun grabbed her husband's hand and said, "Grandpa, let's go back first!"

　　Huo Shouping leaned on his crutches with both hands, and the earthworm-like veins on the back of his hands were throbbing with emotions. His eyelids, which were covered with age spots, were half-raised:

　　"This is the Huo family's territory. Let's see who dares to mess around!"

　　He took a step forward and raised his voice:

　　"Search for me! I want to see who is so bold as to do it right under my nose!"

A dozen men in black rushed into the mansion like a flock of crows shaking a valley. Naturally, they saw Huo Yan and Lan Su lying in a pool of blood in the study at the end of the first floor.

　　And, the ruthless man in black who beat the two of them into such a state.

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

　　That afternoon, at the Huo Family Private Hospital.

　　The VIP ward on the top floor has a wide view. Looking out the window, you can see the clock tower across the woods.

　　When he pushed the door open, Huo Yan was sitting sideways against the wall, leaning against the edge of the arched window, half turning his head to look at the hour hand on the clock tower two hundred meters away.

　　The light cuts the face into yin and yang, day and night. The setting sun is just right, but it cannot shine into those cold and frosty eyes.

　　"Mr. Huo."

　　Ai Li closed the door, stopped at the other side of the window, and reported the current situation:

　　"Miss Lan has woken up. Although her internal organs are not injured, the wound is very deep. The doctor said that she needs to rest for a while."

　　"Um."

　　There was no ripple in Huo Yan's eyes, as if he had known the result, and asked:

　　"Where's Huo Wenxia?"

　　Huo Wenxia, the fourth child's aunt, was the one who called Huo Yan to the villa that day, and she was also the owner of that villa.

Her original plan was to knock Huo Yan unconscious and steal her information about new jewelry. Everything was going smoothly and Huo Yan was knocked down. Just as she was searching Huo Yan's handbag and even got the hard drive, Lan Su's voice came from outside the door.

　　When Huo Wenxia was mentioned, contempt flashed across Ai Li's face:

　　"She was taken back by the old man. She had to endure the consequences when she was attacked on Huo's territory."

　　I feel a little bit sorry when I say this:

　　"However, once the hard drive is in the hands of the old man, he will definitely put it away and it will be useless."

　　Huo Yan adjusted his glasses. The golden frames reflected rich colors in the sunset, but they could not block his calculating ambitions.

　　"As long as it's in the hands of someone in the old house, it can be used."

　　Ai Li reacted for a moment and asked speculatively, "You mean... the old man will sell it to Huo Jun?"

　　Huo Yan withdrew his gaze from the clock tower. "A complete set of autumn jewelry design drafts can bring Huo Jun's company back to life, and it can also be used as an endorsement for Huo Jingjing. Why not do it?"

　　The premise is that they don't know the problems with these design drafts.

　　Ai Li understood, and his face immediately brightened up: "I'm a little curious, what will happen if they are ruined in a month."

　　"We'll have to wait and see."

　　The wheelchair turned and drove towards the door. A cold voice floated in the air:

　　"Let's go and see Lan Su."

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

　　At the other end of the corridor, at the door of the ward, the doctor and the nurse were preparing to go in.

　　"Mr. Huo."

　　Seeing Huo Yan, he withdrew his hand from the door handle.

　　"What's wrong?" Huo Yan asked.

　　The doctor explained: "Let's change the dressing for Miss Lan. The bleeding and healing medicine has been on for four hours. We need to change to a repair ointment to reduce the scarring in the future."

　　"Then wait a moment, I have something to say to her."

　　"Okay, you go first, no rush."

　　The door opened and closed, blocking out the sound of bottles and cans being knocked against each other in the corridor. There were only two people in the room, and they were the two least talkative people in the entire Huo family and the Lan family.

　　Lan Su was leaning against the head of the bed, her one-size-fits-all blue-striped hospital gown loosely covering her body like a prisoner's uniform, her dangling hair hanging across her chest like ink, her cheeks and lips pale from excessive blood loss, her eyes dark as pebbles reflecting light on a lake at night.

　　"Mr. Huo."

　　Except for the occasional "Ayan" when pretending to be affectionate in front of others, she always called Huo Yan like this in private.

　　The wheelchair stopped beside the bed. Huo Yan glanced at the apple standing on the bedside table and the fruit knife pulled out of the sheath and asked:

　　"Want an apple?"

Lan Su pursed her lips and said, "Yeah. My hands hurt and I can't cut them anymore."

　　In fact, just as he was about to cut, he heard Huo Yan's voice at the door.

　　In order to thank his savior, Huo Yan naturally picked up the apple and skillfully turned the blade from the top.

　　"Thank you for saving me in the Villa before."

　　Lan Su understood in her heart that Huo Yan would not say "thank you" often. There was only one explanation - she was testing him.

　　So he denied:

　　"It wasn't me who saved you."

　　The peeling movement was smooth and fluid, without any pause. I knew she would make an excuse.

　　"oh?"

　　"I went in and saw you lying on the ground, but soon I was also beaten and passed out."

　　"This killer is quite unique. He took down two people in a row, but he didn't kill them to silence them, nor did he run away. Instead, he hit his head against the wall and fainted."

　　Lan Su had already found an excuse: "Someone should come to rescue us and get rid of him."

　　"who?"

　　"That's the Huo family's territory. If you don't know, how would I know?"

　　The best way to deal with doubts is to throw the questions to the other party.

The peeler suddenly applied force, and the peel broke and fell into the trash can below.

　　The first round was quite evenly contested, with Lan Su even having the upper hand.

　　He twisted his wrist and started again along the broken edge of the peel.

　　At that time, she pretended to be faint and tricked Huo Wenxia into stealing the hard drive in her bag. She put her ears close to the floor and heard Lan Su's hurried footsteps. She also heard the sound of Huo Wenxia jumping out the window in a hurry to escape. She also heard someone outside the door kicking the door open with a deafening bang.

　　Her crow-like eyelashes drooped slightly: "Why didn't you run away when you saw me faint?"

　　Lan Su bit the mucous membrane inside his mouth, tightened his fingers in his wide cuffs, and spoke some truth:

　　"I just wanted to save people, nothing else."

　　"I thought you were going to run."

　　"If something happens to you in the Huo family, even though we are husband and wife, they won't let me go."

Huo Yan nodded and praised:

　　"Not bad, you still have the energy to analyze the whole story. My last wife was already screaming just by watching me fall down the stairs."

　　Lan Su realized that he might be exposed, so he explained:

　　"I just thought of it when I woke up."

　　"Yeah." Huo Yan agreed with her and made a sound of affirmation, but it was just that one sound. Before Lan Su could relax, the next sentence came -

　　"Miss Lan is braver than I thought. When we first met, you blocked the knife for me and remained calm. You don't look like someone who has been in a coma for eleven years."

　　As he spoke, he looked up and handed over the peeled apple, but his eyes pierced through the transparent lenses and almost saw through Lan Su:

　　"Well, do you want to tell me what happened in the past?"

　　Lan Su did not take the apple. In fact, she had no way of answering Huo Yan's questions. Her mind raced for several rounds before finally an idea came to her.

　　"hiss..."

She leaned back and forced out a painful expression. Her slender fingers covered the wound through the gauze. Her eyebrows raised, the corners of her lips drooped, and the muscles on her face wrinkled exaggeratedly.

　　"It hurts. Leave the apple alone. You can't eat it now."

　　Huo Yan raised the corners of his lips, leaned forward, and asked jokingly:

　　"Does it really hurt?"

　　A person who stabs a knife into his own body with an expressionless face should have built up a strong body, so how could it hurt?

　　Who would have thought that as soon as these light words fell, they sprinkled lime on the grass in the warm spring breeze, and the green grass all over the ground instantly dried up and turned yellow, the stems and leaves rotted, and were crushed into a speck of dust in the soil.

　　Lan Su was stunned for a moment, like a withered flower whose petals are falling one by one, and suddenly became dejected.

　　"Will do."

　　she says.

　　It will hurt.

　　She was just used to being hurt, used to digging the bullet out of the wound as easily as scratching an itch. She forgot how to act coquettishly and tell others that she was in pain.

　　A similar experience invaded my mind. The fingers on the armrest of the wheelchair trembled violently. My body felt like it was electrified. The electricity finally remained in the blood supply ducts of the heart, causing pain.

　　The tire rolled over the floor, and he quietly opened the door and walked out. I thought this indecisive confrontation would end with this cold ending, but the arrogant and lonely man said something when he passed by the doctor:

　　"Excuse me, please be gentle when changing the dressing."