Lu Ran's health improved day by day, and the storm seemed to have passed.
But once Huo Junyang calmed down, he could no longer find the feelings he once had for Lu Ran in his interactions with her.
It is said that people who have experienced life and death are reborn.
Lu Ran has indeed undergone a complete transformation, but she has become even less like the person she used to be.
Huo Junyang was somewhat confused.
Has the innocent, kind, and even somewhat timid Lu Ran truly disappeared? Did she really jump off the cliff and perish along with Cheng Suyue?
Now, whenever Huo Junyang picks up his paintbrush, Lu Ran stares at him coldly until he puts it down and quits the game.
Then she would bring him some books to read.
Such as business management, finance and economics, and even Machiavellianism.
She would also repeatedly remind him, "You're already far behind your older brother, so you need to work twice as hard to catch up!"
Huo Junyang got a headache just looking at those books.
This gradually led to a sense of fear, and even in his dreams, Lu Ran's words kept repeating themselves—
"Junyang, don't think that drawing and gaming will bring you success. You can't succeed through these things!"
"If these things are really that good, why doesn't your brother do them? Why doesn't my sister do them?"
"Huo Junyang, how come you can't do anything?! Didn't you promise me that you would listen to me in everything from now on?!"
“I’m trying to help you… You’re too unambitious, this is the only way I can motivate you! Junyang, your parents are strict with your brother but indulge you, and in the end they handed the Huo family business over to your brother. Do you think that’s fair?”
Sometimes Huo Junyang would wake up screaming from his dreams, his back covered in cold sweat.
*
When Pei Nian ruined her newly developed soup once again, Huo Jingnan secretly slipped out of the house beforehand.
It's the weekend, and Pei Nian definitely needs to spend time with Jiang Mianmian, so she calls Huo Junyu.
Unexpectedly, Huo Junyu came out as soon as he called.
It was lunchtime, so Huo Jingnan took him to a beef noodle shop. The noodle shop owner looked at the two grown men with a puzzled expression and asked, "Hey kid, why are you a different person today?"
Huo Jingnan chuckled.
"We're out of beef today, only noodles are left!"
"ah?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the uncle brought over two bowls of clear soup noodles.
Huo Jingnan sighed. How come his status at the noodle shop had been lowered without Pei Nian around?
Huo Junyu ate whatever was given to him, picking up the bowl and slurping the food into his mouth.
"Hey," Huo Jingnan nudged him, "Niannian...did she really go to your house?"
"No." Huo Junyu glanced at him. "I went to accompany Mianmian to her prenatal checkup."
"What?" Huo Jingnan exclaimed in surprise, "Shouldn't you be the one to handle this?"
Huo Junyu's face darkened. "Now my wife only wants Nian Nian to stay with me, leaving me to rest at home. What am I supposed to do? I haven't even settled accounts with you yet... Can't you do something about it?!"
"Well……"
Huo Jingnan chuckled twice and changed the subject, "Well, we rarely have time, so why don't we call Yangyang out too, and go out and have some fun?"
"Yangyang is busy."
"What's wrong?"
Huo Junyu's expression changed.
"He hasn't been feeling well lately."
"What happened?"
“Yangyang keeps having nightmares and can’t sleep well,” Huo Junyu said in a deep voice, “and she often has negative self-esteem issues. I think all of this is related to Lu Ran!”
Huo Jingnan thought about it and realized that seemed to be the case. The last few times he called Jun Yang, the voice on the other end was listless.
Huo Junyang once asked him whether he should continue drawing.
But he wasn't like this before.
Huo Jingnan frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "I've long felt that Lu Ran was mentally controlling Yangyang. She gradually destroyed his confidence so that Yangyang could be used by her."
"To put it bluntly..." Huo Jingnan looked at him, "maybe this suicide attempt was also part of her control over Yangyang."
“You’re telling the truth, it’s not unpleasant to hear,” Huo Junyu said, pulling out photos from his phone.
The photo shows a small brown glass bottle with the label torn off; there is nothing inside.
“This is what my mother found in Lu Ran’s room. It’s the sleeping pills she took when she committed suicide. But I don’t know how to find out the ingredients of this sleeping pill.”
Huo Jingnan glanced at it; it was just an ordinary medicine bottle, nothing special. He had deliberately torn off the label, clearly not wanting anyone to know what was inside.
"My mother wants to know where these sleeping pills came from," Huo Junyu said softly. "Aunt Yuqing no longer takes sleeping pills, and the Lu family wouldn't have such a thing."
"So you suspect that she colluded with someone to get the drug, and then took the risk of threatening Yangyang's life?"
Huo Junyu neither confirmed nor denied the statement.
"Hmm, perhaps I can help too." Huo Jingnan thought for a moment, "The military has some reconnaissance methods that might be useful."
"Thank you." Huo Junyu patted him on the shoulder.
"We're all brothers, no need to be so polite!" Huo Jingnan smiled. "By the way, do you want to call your wife and ask how her prenatal checkup went?"
"You want to ask why my wife was involved when you called Pei Nian?"
"Hey, Huo Junyu! Aren't you just crossing the river and burning the bridge?"
The two chatted and laughed, and quickly finished their noodles.
*
On the other side, Pei Nian accompanied Jiang Mianmian to her prenatal checkup, doing her best without even blinking, for fear of any mishap.
Jiang Mianmian went to a private hospital, where there was a VIP channel for every procedure, and five or six people served her.
But Pei Nian was still worried.
During the ultrasound, she kept her eyes glued to the screen. Seeing the tiny embryo, she felt a mix of excitement and nervousness.
“The young mistress is already three months along, the fetus is stable, and the young mistress is in good health, so this is definitely a healthy baby.”
Pei Nian asked curiously, "Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?"
The doctor chuckled: "Aren't men and women the same? They're both the young mistress's darlings!"
“Oh, right…” Pei Nian scratched his head and chuckled sheepishly.
This little baby will not only be Jiang Mianmian's precious darling in the future, but also her precious darling.
She had even thought of names: Lu Youran for the boy and Lu Qingxuan for the girl, both of which she found in the dictionary.
Not only these two names, but before the baby is born, she will come up with a hundred names and then let her older sister choose.
Pei Nian smiled and said, "The character 'Lu' sounds nice and is easy to use for a name!"
"Huh?" Jiang Mianmian was both amused and exasperated, touching her belly as she said, "Niannian, this child should... have the surname Huo."
Pei Nian was stunned, and after a long while, she murmured, "Uh, it seems so..."
Jiang Mianmian burst out laughing, laughing so hard she almost fell over.
Just then, Pei Nian's phone rang. She thought it was Huo Jingnan, but the screen showed an unfamiliar number.
Upon answering, the voice on the other end seemed familiar:
"Pei Nian? I'm at the hospital right now. I'll send you my location, so come over right away!"
"What?"
"I know it's the weekend, I'll give you triple pay for overtime! Hurry up and come over!"
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