Chapter 22 But this time, he wants to be with me...
Jiang Shiyuan immediately climbed up from Huo Lan's arms.
Seeing her strong reaction, Huo Lan became even more interested.
"Little liar, I finally caught you."
"So, you've been keeping an eye on me ever since then?"
Huo Lan was afraid of scaring Jiang Shiyuan, so he didn't admit it immediately. He just said, "That's not important. What's important is that we will be together forever."
Not wanting to bring up the matter again, Huo Lan pulled the frightened Jiang Shiyuan into his arms and began to gently and rhythmically pat her back to lull her to sleep.
"Get some rest. You're exhausted tonight, and you'll be busy for many days to come. I'll get our wedding done as soon as possible."
But how could Jiang Shiyuan possibly sleep? She continued to press, "So what exactly happened?"
Seeing that Huo Lan was unwilling to say more, she forced a smile and said, half coaxing and half pleading, "Honey, just tell me, I want to know."
Huo Lan always appreciated this nickname, so he replied, "Ever since that day, I think of you whenever I see a plastic bottle, and I get angry whenever I think of you. You always manage to stir my emotions so easily."
"So I had someone investigate your background. I know exactly where you go to school, what your family situation is, what your daily life is like, where you like to go and what you like to do."
Jiang Shiyuan felt increasingly disheartened as she listened. "Why are you investigating all this? I only asked you to help me pick up a few bottles..."
At that time, she didn't think too much about it; she just thought he was strange.
Huo Lan was clearly the most dazzling player on the field, but after the cheers subsided, he stood alone in the quietest place, facing the wall as punishment.
That was so strange, so I decided to tease her.
Looking back now, if she hadn't asked him to collect bottles with her, perhaps none of these things would have happened. Even if they met again many years later, at least the outcome wouldn't have been like this.
"How could it be just a matter of a few bottles? You lied to me."
Huo Lan kissed the tip of her nose and continued, "You've been lying to me all this time..."
"But it doesn't matter, you'd better be prepared to lie to me for the rest of your life."
He was fully aware of Jiang Shiyuan's obedience, but he was still willing to pretend not to know and continue to play along with her act.
If I could act for a lifetime, then it would be real.
When he got Jiang Shiyuan's information, he did consider making her pay the price for deceiving him, but he still did nothing.
Jiang Shiyuan's parents died in a car accident when she was four years old, and her uncle became her guardian.
Her uncle's family has two other children, and her aunt doesn't work. The whole family lives on her uncle's salary alone, so her aunt isn't very nice to her and often shows disdain, intentionally or unintentionally.
Her aunt and her other aunt kept passing the buck about raising her, so Jiang Shiyuan didn't always live in the same family.
This situation caused her to shuttle back and forth between the two families; if her aunt got annoyed today, she would go to her aunt's house tomorrow.
After her aunt found the place unpleasant, she went back to her uncle's house.
She was always the most obedient one at home. Afraid that the adults would get annoyed or dislike her, she started helping with housework when she was very young. She was sweet-talking and thoughtful, and always managed to make the adults very happy.
The neighbors all say that Jiang Shiyuan is a beautiful and sensible girl, but many people also talk about her behind her back.
They called her a burden, an unwanted wild child.
Jiang Shiyuan knows everything, but pretends to know nothing.
She was afraid of being abandoned, afraid of becoming a wild child, so she started trying to save money.
Even the hardest heart felt a pang of pity. Huo Lan stopped intruding into her life, but the information he had about her only increased.
She grew up in such a family from the age of four to fifteen.
After entering a boarding high school, he rarely went home except for financial dealings with the two families.
When Jiang Shiyuan went to university, she had saved enough for tuition and then completely lost contact with them.
They are heartless and ruthless, leaving without ever looking back.
But after being with Huo Lan and no longer having financial pressure, Jiang Shiyuan still thought of them again.
She emptied her savings account, accumulated over many years, and transferred it all to her uncle and aunt.
The total amount from the various accounts, added together, is over 200,000.
Jiang Shiyuan claimed that she had found a stable job with good prospects and did not need the money for the time being.
The uncle initially refused to accept the offer, but Jiang Shiyuan blocked his contact information and he never got in touch with him again.
Huo Lan had always known about these things.
Jiang Shiyuan felt as if she had been stripped naked layer by layer, her body and soul completely exposed to Huo Lan.
And he has been watching and admiring her for more than a decade.
She felt she couldn't bear it until the Huo Garden project ended. She needed to find a way to leave him as soon as possible, hide somewhere he would never find her, and never see him again for the rest of her life.
Jiang Shiyuan silently endured it, but her shoulders began to tremble.
She closed her eyes tightly and buried herself in Huo Lan's arms, wrapping her arms around his waist in a posture that resembled an ambiguous and intimate embrace.
His warmth, perhaps, is something I crave, but not something I need.
She had once been blinded by the Huo family's superficial prosperity, but now she clearly knew what she wanted.
It's not just about freedom, but about being able to take control of your own life.
Huo Lan felt her trembling, but only gently kissed the top of her head.
"Baby, you can't escape, you can never escape."
"I'll go with you to your uncle's house the day after tomorrow if I have time, so your family can at least know about our marriage. As for the studio, we can actually announce it now."
Jiang Shiyuan remained calm and composed, simply saying, "Xie Shuyan is no easy opponent. If you let your guard down even a little, you might lose the project funding..."
Huo Lan found it somewhat amusing, "Why can't it be that I'm already determined to have it?"
Jiang Shiyuan's heart sank, knowing that he wouldn't say such a thing without basis.
No wonder he went back to his study before finishing his work today; it turns out the business matters had been settled.
"No one can beat me..."
"Except for you, you little liar."
*
Huo Lan still got up very early. Although the project financing had been secured, there were still some scattered tasks that he needed to review in the final stages.
Before she even woke up, he had already left Bell House.
The maid brought her wolfberry and lotus seed porridge and crystal shrimp dumplings for breakfast, along with two pieces of donkey-hide gelatin cake, but Jiang Shiyuan had no appetite at all.
After thinking for a long time, she finally picked up her phone and contacted her good friend from college, Cheng Yan.
In his junior year, Huo Lan came to the school to teach a class on "Appreciation of Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy". In just a few days, he became famous, causing quite a stir not only online but also on campus.
Cheng Yan was also one of the promoters. The short video she filmed of Huo Lan taking a class had over 100 million views and over 1 million likes in just a few days.
Just when she thought she was about to become a well-known self-media blogger, her short videos were strangely taken down by the authorities, and for a long time, news about Huo Lan was blocked.
Everyone knows that the Huo family is no ordinary family; they are an unshakeable force in both the business and political spheres.
Such a massive surge of traffic is not good for the Huo family, and naturally, someone will step in to block it.
Cheng Yan's journey in self-media was cut short in its infancy, but the matter of Huo Lan was far from over.
Jiang Shiyuan was called away by Huo Lan in front of her, and after returning, she was reprimanded by Cheng Yan for a while.
Jiang Shiyuan kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything, but she and Cheng Yan were roommates and classmates, eating and sleeping together, so it was impossible for them not to notice something was amiss.
After Jiang Shiyuan voluntarily gave up the Liangwang Tomb project and frequently didn't return to her dormitory on Saturdays and Sundays, Cheng Yan finally couldn't help but climb into her bed and corner her at the foot of the bed to interrogate her.
"Are you in a relationship?"
Jiang Shiyuan shook her head subconsciously, but Cheng Yan naturally didn't believe her and instead started smelling her scent again.
"A very elegant and seemingly expensive woody fragrance. You never wear perfume! Tell me the truth!"
In fact, Jiang Shiyuan did not wear perfume; her scent was merely something she picked up from touching Huo Lan.
Perhaps it was because of its high quality, but even so, the scent lingered on her for a long time.
Before Jiang Shiyuan could even figure out how to get away with it, Cheng Yan guessed it perfectly with her next sentence.
"Is it Huo Lan?"
She instinctively shook her head, hastily denying it, "How could that be! Impossible!"
"She blushed, she felt guilty, diagnosis complete."
Jiang Shiyuan was forced to acknowledge the relationship, and Cheng Yan became the first person in her life to know about her relationship with Huo Lan, and the only one in all these years.
The year Cheng Yan graduated, she was frantically interning to gain experience, while Jiang Shiyuan was living a completely different and unbelievable life.
Holland's private jet carried them across the Atlantic; they saw the Northern Lights in Iceland, fed pigeons on the banks of the Seine at dawn, and savored wine in a Tuscan castle...
Since then, Huo Lan has spent 1.5 billion to buy her a mansion in Manhattan.
While her classmates were still frantically busy with their future, Jiang Shiyuan woke up every day to see private helicopters of celebrities from all over the world through a huge glass curtain wall. She stood on the entire Central Park, with Wall Street behind her.
It's so superficial and unrealistic, yet it's impossible for people not to get hooked and addicted to it.
The two years I spent with Huo Lan were as beautiful and unreal as a fairy tale.
But besides castles and princes, there are also queens with poisoned apples. Calm and decisive enough, Jiang Shiyuan can abandon such wealth and luxury at any time.
Cheng Yan's WeChat Moments were set to be visible for only three days, but Jiang Shiyuan would still occasionally see her posts.
She entered the Wancheng Museum, which she had dreamed of when she graduated, and has been working there diligently for three years.
Jiang Shiyuan edited a lot of messages, but then deleted them all. She didn't even know how to greet her.
Not knowing what to say to start the conversation, I could only send a simple "Are you there?" before sinking into endless anxiety.
Could it be that she no longer considers her a friend?
Even though only a few minutes had passed, Jiang Shiyuan felt as if several days had gone by.
Just as she was about to send a second message, Cheng Yan finally sent her one.
Where have you been? You haven't contacted me in so many years! I almost blocked you!
Jiang Shiyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed that Cheng Yan hadn't forgotten her after all.
I'm sorry, Yanyan, I've been dealing with some things these past few years, so I haven't been in touch with you.
Did you have a fight with Huo Lan?
Cheng Yan always manages to hit the nail on the head with just one sentence.
Why are you still so sure that Huo Lan and I are together?
Young Master Huo has been asking me about you for the past few years, but how would I know? He even "invited" me to Huo Garden once; I almost thought I was going to die!
[Huo Lan must have already found you, otherwise you wouldn't have suddenly contacted me and revealed your whereabouts.]
[Shi Yuan, no matter what, Huo Lan won't harm you, please don't be afraid.]
Jiang Shiyuan's eyes reddened as she looked at the message Cheng Yan sent.
Cheng Yan was always aware of the subtle relationship between her and Huo Lan, as well as Huo Lan's obsessive personality.
Jiang Shiyuan wasn't sure if her phone was being monitored, but she still sent out the sentence she had always wanted to say.
But this time, he wants to marry me.
I don't want to.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Shi Yuan's closest friend has come online!
P.S.: I feel like I can't stay up all night anymore. My procrastination makes updating at 6 AM easily lead me to stay up all night writing, so for the next few days I'll switch to updating at 10 PM! [Laughing and crying with facepalm]
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential for sustainable development! [Thumbs up]
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