Chapter 32 Did you miss me today?

Two days before the start of the grand banquet at Huo Garden, many celebrities from all walks of life who had traveled from afar had already begun to arrive at the garden.

Whether blonde with blue eyes or with honey-colored skin, their jewel-encrusted attire and elegant demeanor are undeniable.

Huo Garden became a social venue for high society. Many people took advantage of the banquets held at Huo Garden to start chatting enthusiastically, claiming to make new friends, but in reality, they were all secretly comparing each other's status and resources, considering how to exchange them to maximize their benefits.

This is how it has always been in the elite circles, but there are also some unconventional families. After entering Huo Garden, they had no interest in socializing, but instead became quite interested in the Chinese garden style of Huo Garden, and kept pulling Shi Teng to drive them around in a sightseeing car.

The photos of Jiang Shiyuan and Huo Lan embracing at school are not clear. Reporters were blocked at a distance, and bodyguards would step in to stop anyone from taking pictures. Therefore, the few scattered photos circulating online are all taken secretly and are very blurry.

Therefore, even though everyone knows that the head of the Huo family is about to get married, the identity of his bride remains a mystery. The question of who the Huo family's future wife is has become a new topic of conversation among the wealthy, and everyone has begun to speculate.

The powerful and wealthy naturally thought that Shen Chuqing was the most likely candidate. The Shen family and the Huo family had been friends for many years, and their daughter had been raised to be knowledgeable, elegant, and beautiful.

Xu Feixuan had even brought her to Huo Garden in advance, so it seemed obvious who Mrs. Huo was.

However, opinions online are varied. Some say that Fu Xinyuan, the young heiress of the wealthy Fu family in Hong Kong, has also come to the mainland ahead of schedule. Perhaps the childhood sweetheart cannot withstand the arrival of a newcomer, and Miss Shen's marriage to the Huo family will fall through.

Some people say that the photos were taken by classmates, and since the location was the school, it must have been a revisit. Maybe Huo Lan was dating someone in high school and kept it a secret until he was about to get married.

Although opinions varied, there was one thing everyone agreed on.

Earlier, Huo Lan spent hundreds of millions of dollars to buy a fancy blue diamond at an auction, and then invited prominent figures from all over the world to his engagement banquet in such an extravagant manner. Whoever the bride-to-be is, she must be someone that the head of the Huo family loves very much.

Jiang Shiyuan didn't know how the powerful and influential people who had come to Huo Garden viewed the Huo family's marriage, but Cheng Yan would tell her everything about the online opinions, even showing her screenshots, without her checking.

Cheng Yan was very excited, after all, she was one of the few people who knew who the bride was, but she resisted the urge to announce the news online.

Jiang Shiyuan, however, found it uninteresting; such entertaining speculation was rather dull.

For each girl mentioned in the rumors, such discussions only bring them distress.

Meanwhile, the real fiancée, who should be the subject of gossip, was swaggering back to Bell House with her tool bag slung over her shoulder, almost unnoticed by anyone.

Although Jiang Shiyuan thought so, someone on the sightseeing bus still took a picture of Jiang Shiyuan walking by the lotus pond.

The young pianist Kristen gazed at Jiang Shiyuan bathed in the sunset, lost in thought. The golden sunlight behind her softened her beautiful features.

Kristen was instantly captivated; every strand of her hair seemed to glow, making her appear as beautiful as a fairy.

In order not to miss Kang Shi-won, Kristen inquired about Kang Shi-won's identity from Shi Teng and called him her Muse, which suddenly gave him some inspiration to create.

Before Shi Teng could answer, she wanted to jump out of the sightseeing bus to find Jiang Shiyuan.

Shi Teng's eyes widened in shock. He quickly stopped Kristen from jumping out of the car. He rarely showed any panic, but at this moment he didn't know how to dissuade Kristen from this idea.

Huo Lan had instructed that Jiang Shiyuan's information should not be revealed to anyone until he officially announced her identity, so Shi Teng could not directly admit that she was the protagonist of this engagement banquet.

Shi Teng could only say that it was inconvenient to tell him at the moment, and then began to explain the history of Huo Garden to Kristen, which temporarily prevented him from getting to know Jiang Shiyuan.

When Jiang Shiyuan returned to Lingdang Xiaozhu, Huo Lan had not returned.

Huo Lan has been busy again these past few days. Since signing the marriage certificate with her, he has relaxed his supervision of her a lot and has started to come back later and later, but no later than midnight.

Jiang Shiyuan studied in the study all night, and only after turning off the computer did she realize that it was almost midnight, but there was still no sound of Huo Lan returning downstairs.

She left a warm yellow light on in the living room and turned on the TV to project the archaeological documentary that Xu Sinian had recommended to her, but soon she began to feel drowsy.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, there was finally a noise outside the door.

Jiang Shiyuan rubbed her sleepy eyes and prepared to get up to pick up Huo Lan. She had just sat up from the sofa when she saw him take off his coat and walk towards her, holding a picture book or something similar in his hand.

Huo Lan seemed to be in a good mood. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

Before he could finish speaking, he was already sitting next to her, pulling her onto his lap with a blanket. His embrace tightened abruptly, his hot breath close to hers. "Did you miss me today?"

Jiang Shiyuan blinked, then nodded emphatically, looking incredibly obedient.

She was indeed thinking about him, wondering why he hadn't come home yet, even though it was already past midnight.

Jiang Shiyuan noticed the booklet that Huo Lan had casually placed aside and asked, "What's that?"

"We brought our wedding plan specifically for you to see. If you're not satisfied, we have many other options to choose from."

Huo Lan had the home smart assistant turn on the crystal chandelier in the living room, and the room was instantly brightly lit. Jiang Shiyuan, who had been under dim yellow light, squinted her eyes, still feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Don't watch TV with just a floor lamp on in the future, it's bad for your eyes."

"knew."

After Jiang Shiyuan's eyes adjusted, Huo Lan handed the booklet to her.

She pretended to be interested and flipped through it for a long time before saying, "I'm very satisfied. This is perfect."

Huo Lan looked at her without any expression, and simply said, "The Selby Abbey in England is indeed very nice. After the wedding, we can also have a party at the Garden Castle."

Jiang Shiyuan clapped her hands happily, acting as the atmosphere-setter, "That's right, very good!"

"But unfortunately, this place is not mentioned at all in this picture book."

Jiang Shiyuan was startled: "Huh?"

It turns out they were using entrapment to enforce the law.

Huo Lan leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes, unbuttoning a few buttons on his shirt to reveal his delicate collarbone. The rise and fall of his chest could not hide the turmoil in his heart.

"So, what are you thinking?"

"It's because..."

Jiang Shiyuan's mind raced, and after coming up with an excuse, she immediately got up from the sofa, put on her fluffy slippers, and ran upstairs to her study.

"Wait a minute."

Huo Lan opened his eyes again after hearing her hurried footsteps, his brows furrowed, as if she had come up with another reason to lie to him.

Jiang Shiyuan handed him the restored "Letter to My Wife." She had already read the contents of the scroll after returning from Jingyuan. It specifically expressed the longing of a certain ancestor of the Huo family for the concubine who lived in Jingyuan.

"I've always been curious, didn't everyone say that Jingyuan fell into disrepute because its owner was out of favor?"

Seeing Jiang Shiyuan's serious expression, Huo Lan could only suppress her displeasure at her indifference to their marriage and unfold the folded paper.

What comes into view is “My dear, my love, I am so close to you”.

Miaomiao was probably the concubine's maiden name, while Qingqing is usually a very intimate term used between husband and wife.

After reading the entire article, Huo Lan was also somewhat moved.

Huo Lan had never met this Miao Miao; he had only heard of her.

His grandfather did not like this concubine of his father, so after the owner of Jingyuan passed away, he did not let anyone manage it anymore.

"Your great-grandfather left this Miss Miaomiao because of the war effort. By the time he wrote this letter to his wife, the two had not seen each other for six years."

Seeing that Huo Lan's expression had softened somewhat, Jiang Shiyuan took the initiative to climb into his arms, leaning against his chest as they stroked the scroll of the letter to his wife together.

Seeing that Jiang Shiyuan was trying to please him, Huo Lan's previous displeasure gradually dissipated. Instead, he focused on the faint fragrance on her body and paid little attention to the books.

“Our great-grandfather has always been a hero in our hearts, and the descendants of the Huo family will never forget him.”

"Huo Lan, that's not what I meant. Aren't you curious?"

Huo Lan continued to gently sniff Jiang Shiyuan's neck, lowering his hand from the book. Just as he seemed about to make a move, Jiang Shiyuan swiftly displayed the book in front of Huo Lan again, supporting his chin and urging him to look at it carefully.

"I'm explaining this to you, so you need to pay attention!"

Huo Lan's emotions came and went quickly. Seeing Jiang Shiyuan's current appearance, he couldn't help but laugh again. "Okay, Teacher Jiang, teach me what this book actually means."

Despite it being a perfectly normal scene, Huo Lan's tone made it sound as if she were about to engage in some kind of play with him.

"Huo Lan, be serious!"

After seeing Huo Lan restrain his actions a bit, Jiang Shiyuan continued, "Actually, you can see some clues, because the items left in Jingyuan are almost priceless. If you didn't have that kind of love for things, you wouldn't have done it like this."

When Jiang Shiyuan's fingers touched the words "deepest affection" written in pen on the paper, and combined with some items and letters she also found while restoring Jingyuan, she could almost determine the general direction of that story back then.

"Huo Lan, your grandfather should be the biological son of this Miss Miao Miao."

These words made Huo Lan's eyes widen. He looked down at Jiang Shiyuan, who was nestled in his arms, deep in thought.

"Shi Yuan, you shouldn't speak carelessly."

"Because all of Miss Miaomiao's letters before her death, besides expressing her longing for her husband, also reflected Old Master Huo's dislike of her melancholy."

Cheng Miaomiao and Huo Lan's great-grandfather, Huo Cheng, were classmates who studied abroad together. They had already secretly pledged their lives to each other and she was pregnant while they were abroad.

However, when the two returned to China to prepare for their marriage, the Huo family had already arranged for Huo Cheng to marry a woman of equal social standing, and had already welcomed her into the family without Huo Cheng's consent.

The Huo family elders wanted the two to separate, only to find out that Cheng Miaomiao was pregnant out of wedlock.

Such an act was considered a disgraceful thing at the time, but the elders, considering that she had been pregnant for a long time, reluctantly allowed her to enter Huo Garden. However, not only did they not give her a formal title, but after Huo Cheng left, they also gave the child to someone else to raise.

Cheng Miaomiao waited at Jingyuan for ten years, and when she finally received news of Huo Cheng, she was met with only a cenotaph.

Cheng Miaomiao, overwhelmed with grief, passed away a few years later, and this marriage came to an end amidst extreme longing.

"So, isn't it a very sad love story?"

Huo Lan carefully put the scroll away and returned it to the folder. "I'll have someone frame this letter to my wife in a few days."

"Such stories were common in that era."

"But speaking of which, I didn't even know about this, yet you dug it up. No wonder you want to study archaeology."

Huo Lan paused for a moment, lost in thought. He stroked Jiang Shiyuan's face and asked, "Do you think she did the right thing? She stayed in Huo Garden until her death for one person, even though she could have been free."

Jiang Shiyuan naturally knew what Huo Lan wanted to hear.

She climbed up from the sofa, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gently pecked his lips twice, saying, "If it were me, I would crawl to the front lines to find you and die with you."

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A note from the author: