Chapter 43: First Layer Vest (Part 2)

The quiet night was broken by the sound of gunfire. The ground shook, and birds fled through the woods. The friction between branches and wings made a whistling sound of rapidly flowing air.

　　Screaming, running, people falling to the ground.

　　The crew finished work urgently, and the stagehands ran away with the expensive equipment, leaving cardboard boxes and tables and chairs on the ground. The scripts and unknown A4 documents were blown everywhere by the wind, making the ground a mess.

　　Jiang Ying was so frightened that her whole body froze. She clutched her phone, not knowing whether to move forward or backward. Ai Li carried her back to the car and drove away.

　　"Call Mr. Huo."

　　Ali stepped on the accelerator to the bottom and drove in the direction where the two were walking, but he didn't see anyone.

　　"Oh, okay." Jiang Ying suppressed her fear, her fingers tapping on the phone uncontrollably, and finally dialed Huo Yan's number.

The cell phone rang in the muddy pit, flickering under the huge shadow of the tree. Ellie stopped the car and used the flashlight to find the cell phone in the mud pit and the overturned wheelchair next to it.

　　Jiang Ying panicked, "Oh no! Were they kidnapped?"

　　Ai Li shone the wheelchair around the muddy puddles and saw only a size 37 footprint, no other size, and no other footprints on the path or by the river, so there should be no kidnappers. Going up along the direction where the wheelchair fell, the size 37 footprints extended all the way to the grove of trees.

　　"Probably not. There are only Miss Lan's footprints here."

　　His calm eyes gradually froze, his brows sank, and Ai Li finally realized something. He picked up his phone and turned to look at Jiang Ying, who was trembling in the passenger seat:

　　"Call Miss Lan."

　　Jiang Ying immediately did as she was told. This time the phone was picked up after one ring, but it was not Lan Su.

　　"Hello, Jiang Ying."

　　"Hey, sister, what are you doing now——"

　　The words came out of his mouth suddenly, and he realized later that the person's voice was calm and flat. It was Huo Yan, so he quickly changed his words:

　　"Boss Huo, how are you doing now?"

On the other side of the phone, Huo Yan had just been carried to the hotel by Lan Su and fell into the single sofa.

　　"We're in the hotel, everything is fine."

　　His tone was steady, without panic or fear, but with a slight ups and downs after intense exercise, and then he arranged:

　　"You and Ai Li come back first. Safety is the most important thing. Call the police on the way and tell them the general situation."

　　As he was speaking, Lan Su took the phone away and added skillfully:

　　"Tell the police that the suspect is on the other side of the river 100 meters downstream from where the crew turned right after leaving the house. The shell casings and bullet marks should still be there. Ask them to quickly seal off the area, the sooner the better."

　　Jiang Ying was stunned for a moment, and Ai Li, who was driving the car beside her, was also stunned for a moment - just now she asked Jiang Ying to call Huo Yan first because she was afraid that Lan Su would panic and be at a loss, but who knew that he was calmer than her boss?

　　Jiang Ying nodded slowly:

　　"Oh, oh okay."

　　Jiang Ying's hesitation awakened Lan Su, who was suddenly startled and escaped from the life-and-death situation that she was familiar with before. She suddenly realized that this was not the journey of escorting antiques as she had done thousands of times before, but a weaker rich girl who was shot in a foreign country.

　　The bright light inside the room comes into my mind, and my vision reopens to a quiet and peaceful hotel room.

His spine suddenly shuddered - what did she just do? She calmly escaped when she was suddenly attacked by a hidden gun, used Huo Yan's coat to attract fire, and then ran a kilometer back to the hotel with someone on her back, and also provided Jiang Ying with an absolutely calm plan to call the police.

　　There was no fear, no screaming, not even panic.

　　Is this the reaction of a vegetative patient who has been in a coma for 11 years?

　　Even if she wasn't unconscious, is this the reaction of a delicate flower in a hothouse?

　　Turning back, he looked at Huo Yan sitting on the sofa and found that he was leaning lazily with his head slightly tilted to one side, his eyes showing curiosity and a hint of teasing.

　　"ah."

　　His acting skills went back to the days before liberation. Lan Su sat on the ground, threw his phone away, and covered his chest in a pretentious manner, his eyebrows twisted, and his voice was so weak that it was out of place:

　　"Scared me."

　　Huo Yan calmly admired her hard work in acting, picked up the phone for her, then raised his right hand and adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, causing a strand of chestnut hair hanging on the edge of the frame to sway.

　　"Does this scare you?"

　　She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and asked seriously.

　　Lan Su was stunned for a moment and wanted to say, her reaction just now was so abnormal that the positive and negative poles of the battery were reversed. Huo Yan didn't ask her why she was so abnormal, but instead thought she was afraid?

　　"Aren't you afraid?"

Is it wrong to be afraid?

　　Shouldn't you be afraid?

　　Shooting, escaping, calling the police, which one of these events was not frightening?

　　What could be scarier than this?

　　Lan Su complained in her heart, looking at Huo Yan with a puzzled and somewhat resentful look. Until, what happened next, everything that she would never forget in her life, played in front of her like a movie at 0.5 times the speed -

　　Huo Yan lifted his paralyzed legs, stepped on the floor with his feet that should have been insensitive, and his trousers fell to the ground, making a rustling sound. Then, his upper body slowly stood up, and his long legs took a step forward, and he walked steadily, upright, and naturally.

　　Lan Su's eyes widened, her messy hair lying in front of her eyes, blocking her sight. In the fragmented vision, her tall figure moved slowly like dancing. Her waist was outlined by the black shirt, and her long legs were stretched out under the wide-leg trousers, vaguely revealing the general lines of thigh-knee-calf.

　　"you you..."

　　Lan Su, who was sitting on the ground, was petrified for a long while. He clenched his hands tightly around the edge of the coffee table, his fingertips twisted, and his nail beds lost their original pink color, becoming as pale as paper.

　　Huo Yan can walk, her legs are fine and not paralyzed.

When did he recover? Or was he never paralyzed at all, and he just kept using this trick to deceive people?

　　Why is this so?

　　Why would a person who is so proud and has such a strong sense of self-esteem pretend to be disabled and endure the pointing and criticizing of outsiders?

　　A person with a proud character would rather endure pity and ridicule, but what she carries behind her must be far more than the two extremes of dignity and meanness.

　　What terrible secret does Huo Yan hide...

　　A glass of water was handed to her, interrupting her brainstorming.

　　The lungs that had stopped for a long time finally started to breathe. Lan Su raised his head, looked at her and shrank back, just like a kitten sensing danger.

　　despair.

　　Putting the glass on the coffee table, Huo Yan did not intend to explain, but just said:

　　"If you're afraid, drink some water."

He turned around, took the phone he had been filming, stopped filming, played the video, and stood next to the glass, playing it frame by frame:

　　"This is the proper reaction to fear. The whole body is frozen, the limbs are retracted, and the eyes are motionless. Next time you act, act like this."

　　Lan Su looked away from the phone screen. She knew she was exposed, but she wasn't sure how much. But what was more important now was that Huo Yan's leg was fine.

　　"My acting skills are indeed not as good as yours."

The hand pulling the curtain paused for a moment, then after pulling it together and making sure it was tightly closed, he turned around:

　　"Maybe I shouldn't teach you how to act, I should teach you how to be honest. Tell me, what did you do before you married me?"

　　Lan Su glared at her and complained: "You are not qualified to teach me."

　　If honesty was a course, Huo Yan would definitely be ranked last among the worst students.

　　Huo Yan nodded in appreciation, a strand of hair slipped down from her earlobe and lazily fell to her chin, seemingly not bothered by what Lan Su didn't want to say:

　　"Indeed. I am not your acting teacher, nor your life mentor."

　　I am your wife.

　　The air was silent for two seconds in the unequal confrontation. Huo Yan, who was in control, had another idea and asked, "How is the Internet here?"

　　Lan Su was too lazy to respond: "It's OK."

　　"Let's start a live broadcast."

　　Lan Su thought she had misheard, and her pretty eyes widened: "What did you say?"

　　Huo Yan responded calmly: "Start a live broadcast and tell about your experience tonight. Didn't you say you wanted to find a way to promote the new product? When we were attacked by gunmen abroad, you and I ran away together. This gimmick is enough."

Lan Su stared at this delicate and beautiful face, which was as meticulously crafted as a work of art, but looked even more like a cookie-cutter wholesale vase produced in a large factory, devoid of emotion. His complaining eyes suddenly turned red, and a layer of moisture oozed out.

　　"You only have business in mind."

　　Lan Su snatched the phone, rushed to the bedroom, and slammed the door shut against Huo Yan who followed him.

　　Looking at the dark red bedroom door, Huo Yan was a little surprised - a live broadcast for two people, wouldn't it be possible to hype up their relationship? The studio has been working hard recently, and Lan Su has also actively cooperated, so why did he suddenly stop thinking about it?

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