Time flies, like a white horse galloping past a crack in the wall...
To outsiders, Huo Jiayuan seems like a girl who has the whole world at her fingertips, but no one knows that her path to success wasn't always smooth sailing.
She has a strong personality, and since starting elementary school, her parents have been called in by teachers quite often. Despite the Huo family's special status, Huo Junyu and Jiang Mianmian still constantly say nice things and put on a smiling face in front of the teachers. After returning from school, the little princess inevitably gets a scolding.
Later, Huo Jiayuan became more shrewd. When calling for parents, she resolutely refused to call her own parents. Instead, she expanded the scope of "parents" to include Huo Junyang, Bai Zhijin, Huo Jingnan, Pei Nian, sometimes Jiang Can and Huo Zhixing, and sometimes Lin Yuqing and Lu Lishan.
Even Lin Zhaojiang would be summoned from Yun City by her with a single phone call.
Later, Huo Jiayuan's ideas became even more eccentric during her adolescence. She maintained a strong curiosity about everything and always ignored her parents' advice. Her rebellious phase came early, and Huo Junyu was relatively tolerant of his daughter. However, Jiang Mianmian was not so good-tempered. The mother and daughter at home often went from being a loving mother and daughter to a chaotic mess the next, staging dramatic scenes of catastrophe.
However, as he grew a little older, one day...
She fell silent.
She became less mischievous as she was as a child, less rebellious as she was when she first entered adolescence, and her mind was no longer filled with all sorts of wild ideas. She became mature and composed, quiet and reserved, spending her free time reading, painting, and playing the piano. She was very polite to people, but also had a touch of cold distance about her.
All of this changed when she was sixteen and lost her best friend.
Even now, Huo Jiayuan, a recent college graduate, still occasionally sits by the window gazing into the distance, reminiscing about the day she first met her best friend. Back then, she was a kindergarten student, her younger brother just a year old, and she went with her father to Yun City to visit Song Wan's twins. While the adults chatted and laughed inside, she, feeling bored, secretly ran out.
It was then that she met Zhong Xiaoman, a local girl from Yun City. They were about the same age, shared similar interests, and chased each other around the yard, running and laughing in the sunshine. Later, she learned that Xiaoman's mother worked as a maid for the Zhu family, and all the hard-earned money went to pay off Xiaoman's father's gambling debts. Xiaoman grew up in an environment of constant beatings and scoldings; when her father lost money, she became his punching bag, often covered in bruises.
During their time in Yun City, Huo Jiayuan spent every day with Zhong Xiaoman. When it was time to leave Yun City, neither of the two girls wanted to part with the other. After some discussion, Huo Junyu decided to bring Xiaoman back to Yangcheng as well.
From then on, Huo Jiayuan had a playmate. Xiaoman was loyal to her and took very good care of her, which put the Huo family at ease.
Huo Jiayuan never treated her like a servant, and Zhong Xiaoman was honest, well-behaved, and very likable. The two girls grew up together, went to school together, shared their little secrets, and were inseparable. Even during Huo Jiayuan's most mischievous and rebellious years, and during some of the crazy things that belonged to youth, it was Zhong Xiaoman who accompanied her.
These happy days came to an abrupt end when Huo Jiayuan was sixteen, like a car that suddenly broke down, throwing her fate in another direction.
Zhong Xiaoman has disappeared.
She vanished without a trace, as if she had never been there. When she first disappeared, the Huo family mobilized considerable resources to search for her, and through investigation, they roughly determined that she had been abducted, heading towards the border. However, the trail went cold, and they ceased their search.
Later, Huo Jiayuan learned that the people who had kidnapped her were none other than Xiaoman's parents... Her gambling father was heavily in debt again and wanted to sell her to pay it off. Her mother was so cowardly that she couldn't even protect her own child and didn't dare to say a word against her father. So the two of them came to Yangcheng to find her. When biological parents want to see their daughter, even the Huo family has no right to stop them.
So Xiaoman was taken away by them so easily.
This incident dealt a heavy blow to Huo Jiayuan, but even after all these years, she has never given up searching for Xiaoman.
That day, as she was lost in thought in her room, someone gently knocked on the door.
Then the door opened, and a head popped out, revealing eight teeth and a groundhog-like smile.
"Sis!"
Huo Jiayuan glanced at him and smiled slightly.
Huo Jiaxi mysteriously ran up to her and tossed her a crash course exam paper—in another week, he would be taking the written and oral exams for Ivy League universities abroad.
"Sis, after we finish explaining this workbook, I'll tell you a secret..." Huo Jiaxi inherited her father's sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, but her playful smile was a carbon copy of her second uncle's. "One workbook, one secret in exchange, you've got it!"
Huo Jiayuan pouted and ignored him.
"Yes, I'm telling the truth!"
"Could you please give me some peace and quiet?"
"Sister, you don't believe me?"
Wherever Huo Jiayuan turned her head, Huo Jiaxi followed.
After several attempts, Huo Jiaxi couldn't hold back any longer. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you first..."
Huo Jiayuan's lips curled into a smug smile.
She had her younger brother completely under her control since he was a child.
"Then I'll tell you, but you have to explain the problem to me!"
"Hmm..." Huo Jiayuan twirled the pen in her hand, "That depends on how many questions your secret is worth!"
Huo Jiaxi pursed his lips and whispered in her ear, "Sister Xiaoman has news!"
Huo Jiayuan's expression suddenly changed, and she stared at him with wide eyes.
“Actually, I’m not too sure either.” Huo Jiaxi scratched his head. “I have a friend whose dad does business in the border area. He went with his dad this holiday and found out about it by chance… but I don’t know if it’s Sister Xiaoman. I told my friend about her situation before, and my friend said that the person he saw seemed to match Sister Xiaoman in every way, so…”
Huo Jiayuan's expression was solemn, yet her two beautiful eyes revealed boundless determination. She suddenly stood up, opened the dressing room door, and dragged out a small suitcase.
This move left Huo Jiaxi speechless.
"Sister, you..."
"I'm going to find her!"
"Stop messing around!" Huo Jiaxi hurriedly stopped him. "Putting aside whether this news is reliable or not, even if that person is her, you can't go! That place is Biandu, the central area of the five border provinces! It's too far from the capital, and we don't have anyone there!"
"Sis, I advise you to calm down. Tell Mom and Dad the news first and ask them to send someone to look for it, or ask them to think of a solution. What do you think?"
Huo Jiayuan sat down silently, feeling uneasy.
“Oh, right, there’s one more thing…” Huo Jiaxi rolled her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Grandpa and Grandpa... are disciplining your boyfriend right now, do you want to go and save him?"
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