After lunch, Lan Su followed Xu Panpan out of the company building.
With Huo Yan absent, happiness was as simple as breathing.
The muscles in her body were no longer tense; her limbs felt like leaves floating on a current, light and free.
Lan Su let out a long breath. Just like every time she successfully completed a mission, she stood under the sun, raised her head, stood on her tiptoes, stretched her arms out wide, and gave herself a solid stretch.
Even more relaxed than her was Xu Panpan, who was off work for the afternoon. She had decisively swapped her high heels for a pair of small Anta sneakers before running out:
“Miss Lan, where would you like to go?”
Lan Su held the strap of her handbag, a little troubled. “I don’t know either.”
Xu Panpan pulled out her key to unlock the car. “What do you usually like to do? Ms. Huo isn’t here this afternoon, so we can do whatever you want.”
When it came to entertainment, Lan Su was completely ignorant.
She couldn’t surf, sing karaoke, go clubbing, or ski.
In the years she had been adopted by the Lan family, all she had done was study how to distinguish genuine antiques from fakes, or cycle between training in combat and recovering from injuries. She had never relaxed, let alone enjoyed leisure and entertainment. Perhaps Lan Haotian was right; compared to her, Lan Xiaoyu was indeed more suited to be a qualified “fake second miss.”
“I’m fine with anything,” Lan Su tried not to give herself away. “What do you want to do?”
Xu Panpan helped her open the passenger door, gently closing it after she sat in. Bouncing around the front of the car to the driver’s seat, she already had an idea.
“I’ve been out a lot lately. If you want to completely relax, we can go to an amusement park. If you want something quieter, we can go see a movie—there’s a big blockbuster out recently. If you want to do some light exercise indoors, archery or shooting sounds good.”
Lan Su was interested in very few things; shooting was one of them. She had distinguished herself by her shooting skills at the Lan family’s secret training camp back then.
“How about shooting, then?”
Xu Panpan’s eyes curved into a smile. “Alright!”
It was easy to get along with an outgoing person. You didn’t need to contribute much to the conversation; you just had to listen quietly, occasionally replying with a sentence or two to show you were paying attention.
“I was actually on the shooting team when I was in school. I’m not boasting, but among my graduating class, I had the highest natural talent. Even my coach said that if I hadn’t gone for further studies and focused on shooting, I definitely could have become a professional athlete.”
“Later, I went abroad for my master’s degree. There was a guy in the club who was particularly annoying, always saying things like Chinese girls are weak and so on. So, I challenged him to a duel, and bang bang a few shots—all of mine were bullseyes!”
“Later, I got into a small car accident, and my eyesight isn’t as good anymore, which is a pity. Miss Lan, if you like it, we can invite Ms. Huo next time; she’s much better than I am.”
Xu Panpan chatted non-stop on the way, but Lan Su only registered one sentence—she’s much better than I am.
In other words, Huo Yan was an excellent shot.
That day, they stayed at the shooting club until the evening.
They would shoot for a while, then take a break. Xu Panpan was talkative, but her boundaries were incredibly precise; she never asked intrusive questions or said anything that made Lan Su uncomfortable.
It was very relaxing.
It was just like when she was first adopted into the Lan family. Lan Xiaoyu was also like this, constantly surrounding her, calling her ‘Sister’ repeatedly, chattering away, seeming to have no worries, happy all the time.
“Do you ever have unhappy moments?”
Lan Su looked at the target, riddled with bullet holes, her memory drifting to the past.
“Hmm?”
Xu Panpan took off her earmuffs and pieced together Lan Su’s original sentence from the few muffled sounds the earmuffs had blocked out. Her bright eyes rolled, showing a hint of cuteness.
“Yes, I do. Working under Ms. Huo is very stressful!”
She wrinkled her nose as she spoke. Lan Su was momentarily stunned, vaguely seeing a naughty little elephant in her.
It was strange. Xu Panpan had a master’s degree and was already 25, yet in front of the 19-year-old Lan Su, she seemed like the younger one.
“Then how do you relieve your emotions?”
Lan Su really wanted to know, because ever since the day she stepped into the Lan family, she hadn’t smiled again. Now married into the Huo family, facing the unfathomable Huo Yan, she felt like she was walking on ice; one wrong, heavier step and the ice would collapse, leading to an abyss.
“Um…”
Xu Panpan put the gun back on the rack, pursing her lips in thought, hesitating for a moment whether to tell the truth to her boss’s wife. Meeting those eager eyes, she chose to be frank.
“I don’t need to relieve them.”
“So, you’re always this happy?”
Xu Panpan smiled, shallow dimples appearing on both sides of her face. She said:
“Negative emotions are also part of life, so why try to relieve them? Just like every sea I’ve seen and every road I’ve walked, they are all a part of life. Sometimes you take the wrong path, but so what? Just keep moving forward.”
Lan Su was stunned by her words. Xu Panpan was excellent at expressing herself, possessing both the vigorous, life-filled exuberance that turns toward the sun, and the resilience to charge forward regardless of the storm.
Yes, so what if I took the wrong path? Just keep moving forward.
“You’re right.”
She praised sincerely.
Indeed, to be able to work under Huo Yan, standing out from tens of thousands of campus and social recruits to become her personal assistant, one certainly had some remarkable skills.
It was already 10 PM when they returned home. Under the crystal chandelier in the main hall, Lan Su saw Jiang Dan for the first time.
She was the “Madam” the servants referred to.
She wore a wool knit shirt, a pair of camel-colored wide-leg pants, and was draped in an apricot wool cape—just like the image Lan Su had of all the rich madams.
Jiang Dan was beautiful. The shape of her lips was full and rich, and her slightly upturned eyes, marked with fine lines, were full of charm. Perhaps this was why the Huo family still kept a place for her years after her husband’s death.
“Xiao Yan, you’re back?”
She slowly rose from the sofa, her smile warm.
“Aunt Dan.” Out of politeness, Huo Yan nodded to her, greeting her.
Lan Su stood to her right and also nodded politely, asking sweetly:
“Hello, Aunt Dan.”
Jiang Dan laughed, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes deepening a bit as her gaze landed on Lan Su:
“This must be Miss Lan, right?”
Lan Su nodded. “Yes, my name is Lan Su.”
Jiang Dan took her hand, examining her from head to toe:
“Let me see… Oh my, you really are beautiful and have such good posture. Xiao Yan, you too, why didn’t you bring such a beautiful wife home sooner? You should have at least let us know. After all, we’re family, but we had to hear the news from the media in the end. The old man was furious.”
Faced with the gentle criticism, Huo Yan’s expression was cold, as if she didn’t want to hear another word.
“Grandpa’s anger wasn’t because of me; it was because my elder brother’s new project lost eighty million.”
“This child!” Jiang Dan feigned a glare at her, warning, “You absolutely must not say these things in front of the old man tomorrow, or you’ll make him angry, and he’ll take it out on you and Miss Lan. Do you hear me?”
Lan Su listened, feeling a little moved. Logically, Huo Yan’s mother was deceased, and Jiang Dan was her stepmother; the atmosphere between them should have been tense. But Jiang Dan seemed to tolerate her without limit, always smiling warmly.
It’s a bit strange.
Lan Su came to a nearly useless conclusion.
After a few pleasantries, Huo Yan drove her wheelchair upstairs. Jiang Dan then pulled Lan Su aside, taking out an exquisite brocade box from her handbag:
“Miss Lan, I am Xiao Yan’s mother in name. By rights, when you married in, I should have prepared a betrothal gift for you. But things were a bit rushed today, so I’ll give you a necklace as a meeting gift for now. How does that sound?”
Lan Su subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Jiang Dan was genuinely warm. Unable to resist the maternal concern, she nodded and accepted it.
“Thank you, Aunt Dan.”
It was a jade pendant with a relief carving of a Guanyin Bodhisattva. Based on Lan Su’s years of experience with antiques, it was worth at least three million. However, the relief and the base showed signs of splicing; an outsider wouldn’t notice, but it looked like it had been repaired.
The night gradually deepened. Lan Su returned to the bedroom, planning to grab a robe for a shower, but her phone pinged—
It was a message from Huo Yan.
Huo Yan: Come to the bathroom
Both bedrooms had an attached bathroom, and the one Huo Yan meant was clearly hers.
Lan Su didn’t think much of it, assuming she had forgotten something or needed her for some reason.
What she didn’t expect was that as soon as she stepped inside and closed the bathroom door, Huo Yan, who was soaking in the bathtub, said something that made her doubt if the world was about to explode:
“Take your clothes off and come in.”