Ghost Invasion

The board members began pa.s.sing it around. When the booklet came to that old man, I saw him suddenly go pale. When the booklet finally came to Yun Li, I leaned over slightly to glance at it, but my eyeb.a.l.l.s nearly fell out when I did.

There were a few pictures inside the booklet, and I knew the people in the pictures: it was Stepmom Yun Li and that old man Chen. Immediately, the whole conference room boiled, only quieting down when An Qiang began laughing coldly.

“So, everyone, although our An family has already dropped out from among the three largest shareholders, we are still paying attention to the Huo Corporation. I believe that regarding this, everyone, like me, isn’t dumb?”

“But handing the Huo Corporation over into the hands of an inexperienced little girl is the same as suicide!” Someone shouted out loud.

From the beginning to the end, Yun Li didn’t speak. And I wasn’t going to put a foot in it either. It was very obvious that this was between An Qiang and Yun Li; only an idiot would stand forward between them at this time.

“Of course, everyone’s worry, is also my worry. So Mo Xiaoya will only be in the position of chairman of the Huo Corporation temporarily. Half a month, how about using half a month as the time limit, and we can vote again on the next shareholder meeting?”

An Qiang’s behavior right now really scared me. I never thought that a person never talking at home actually shamed Stepmom here so heavily. Will it ever be peaceful at home then? Actually, looking back, from the time I entered the Huo family, there was never peace in the house.

Until the meeting ended, Yun Li never said one more word. But An Qiang, I actually saw a rare smile on her face. From entering this family, except for hate, there was only extermination in her eyes.

After returning Huo house, Yun Li shooed me away with a dark face, then told Matron w.a.n.g to go find uncle Huo Ningen. Of course, Yun Li couldn’t come back with An Qiang. So I had just finished climbing the stairs when I saw An Qiang coming through the door.

My room was the only room that needed to go pa.s.s Stepmom’s study. I don’t know why she put me there; I was the only person living on the entire third floor.

Pa.s.sing by the study, I heard arguments coming from inside. Originally, I didn’t mean to stop, but Huo Xiaoran, who should not have appeared, materialized in front of me.

He nodded his head towards the study. I understood what he meant.

“Can’t you not even control your wife? Huo Ningen are you still a man?” Along sides Stepmom’s furious voice, something broke.

“Yun Li, you know this isn’t my fault! And I’ve heard, that you actually have a thing with that old man. I really admire you!” Uncle’s voice was sour. But having seen those pictures, I did want to say the same things as Uncle. That wrinkled old man; regarding Stepmom’s courage, I had to admit defeat.

“She followed me, she actually followed me! And you didn’t know anything about it? Or maybe you told her to? Huh?”

“Are you crazy? We are the ones on the same battle line! You know, I’m not only one of your bedmates, but your real teammate! Yun Li?” Uncle seemed hasty to explain. But suddenly, all went quiet. After some time, I actually heard Stepmom’s soft sighing.

I couldn’t eavesdrop anymore. This time, I didn’t go around Huo Xiaoran, but directly through him. Was this what he wanted me to know? That Uncle and Stepmom were lovers! And so reckless in this house!

I didn’t even leave my room for dinner. He sat in front of my desk, not moving an inch.

“This is what you want? To become her p.a.w.n?” From the time we sat down, this was his first question.

“What else? What else can I do? Stay in this family forever? My eyes open but pretending not to see? What do you and Yun Li want? I have nothing, what do you want from me?” I started yelling, my face getting red, until someone knocked on the door.

“Xiaoya? Are you there?”

Aunt? An Qiang? I didn’t expect for her to come! Opening the door, I saw her with some food. Before I could say anything, she walked in herself.

“You didn’t come down for dinner, and I was a little worried about you, so I’ve brought you some.” Setting the plate on the table, she eyed the pulled out chair, but I sat down on it firmly.

Maybe she heard my angry yells at the door. I saw something from her puzzled gaze, so to avoid suspicion, I could only sit on that chair, although Huo Xiaoran was sitting on it!

Cold. I felt like if I was in a freezer. Fortunately, it was only for a little while before he left the chair and stood to the side, watching An Qiang.

“Uh, thank, thank you!” I didn’t know what to say to her. I dragged the plate of food over and started eating.

“Xiaoya, I beg you, please help me!” Suddenly, An Qiang grabbed my hand. Her puffy eyes were full of tears.

Caught off guard, I didn’t know what to do, swallowing the food in my mouth without chewing. I watched as she stood up, then took off her clothes. I stared unbelieving at the marks on her body. They were fresh and red, some places even swelling. When I touched them gently, her body started trembling.

“Was it him?” I could almost see my childhood; my drunk father often beat me for no reason. Except for Uncle Huo Ningen, I didn’t know who else could do this to her!

Tears falling down her face, An Qiang turned to look at me, and nodded. I knew, Uncle must have done this because Aunt shamed Stepmom publicly this morning.

As Aunt was putting on her clothes, I looked towards Huo Xiaoran, who had been standing aside all along. His face was cold, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. But he didn’t have an reaction to the wounds on An Qiang’s body.

“Help me! Xiaoya, you must help me! This is my family. I must protect my dignity, my marriage, my everything!” She sobbed forlornly. When she lifted up her head, her eyes were almost completely red.

“Before Yun Li appeared, I was so happy. Ningen loved me, but after that woman came, everything changed! She wants to hold the Huo Corporation in the palm of her hand, but Ningen just wants to protect his family business, so he could only submit to her!”

Listening to An Qiang’s words, my thoughts were messy. All I could think of were the wounds on her body. “I, I…… ” I didn’t know how to comfort her. But to her plea, I really was helpless.

“Don’t refuse me! This time, only you, only you can help me!”

“How can I help you? I, I’m only a decoration.” I said directly. Even though my heart really hurt for her, I was unable to do anything.

An Qiang suddenly grabbed my hand tightly, “I’ve noticed you. Didn’t you always want to leave the Huo family? Haven’t you always wanted freedom? Unless you can escape out of her hands, neither of us can live peacefully! I’ll help you, help you leave the Huo family. There’s only this one chance, we’ll take the Huo Corporation away from her, and then she won’t be able to restrict you anymore. Then, you can walk out the front door of the Huo house, even leaving clean and innocent.”

Clean and innocent! These two words were obviously an extravagant hope for me. The words clean and innocent had left me the day I married into the Huo family.

“I…… ” I hesitated. To tell the truth, I wasn’t even sure myself if I would be able to get my freedom from Yun Li. But An Qiang’s words just now became a sharp thorn in my heart, a thorn that awakened me.

An Qiang was anxious, seemingly wanting to say something else, but at the end, she still didn’t say it. She walked out, her face pale, her gaze pleading.

Sitting on the chair, I pulled a piece off a piece of bread and put it in my mouth, but I couldn’t taste its flavor at all.

“Huo Xiaoran, what really happened in your family?”

Standing besides the desk the whole time, Huo Xiaoran’s expression was still cold and dead, only his voice showing a hint of a rare, icy smile, “You believe what your eyes see? So it seems like the one-on-one situation has changed. She still couldn’t resist turning you into one of her p.a.w.ns!”

“p.a.w.n?” I looked at him in surprise. These days, I experienced way too much, and my mind was too messy to determine who was real and who was fake. I knew he was talking about An Qiang, but as a woman with such a history, would she really treat me as just a p.a.w.n? I was confused. Just one second ago, I almost believed her.

Her injured body. I thought about what I overheard when I pa.s.sed by the study, and my guesses about what happened inside. Connecting the two, Uncle hitting her would be reasonable! Or was that fake too?

“You still have a chance now. Since you are legally my wife, I want to give you a friendly reminder, or else you won’t even have bones left!” He laughed coldly, then continued, “All say that three women const.i.tute a show. So let me watch this show with interest, or wouldn’t life be too boring?”

He vanished the same time his voice did. Just when I wanted to ask some more and turned around, he was already gone! I was really curious about what happened in the Huo family every person envied. Under their peaceful surface, were such waves and whirlpools.

Before I could return to my senses, the door to my room was pushed open heavily by someone. Looking at the person in the doorway, I really was speechless!

“Huo Xiaojin! What do you want now?” I was furious. As the saying goes, a panicked rabbit can also bite. Even if I was rabbit, I was almost pushed to the point where fangs were starting to grow!

His long body leaned against my doorframe. I hated that face so similar to Huo Xiaoran with all my being, and the words out of his mouth nearly caused me to choke to death on my bread!

“What do I want? I want to do the duties of my poor older brother!”