“Take your clothes off and get in.”
As she spoke, Huo Yan was turned slightly away from her, completely submerged in the round bathtub. The milky-white water covered her chest. One elbow rested on the rim of the tub, and the other hand loosely held a glass of wine, which she slowly brought to her mouth for a sip. The water level below her collarbone moved leisurely, releasing wisps of steam.
Lan Su remained rooted to the spot, her feet pressed together, careful not to trespass even an inch onto the edge of the tub.
Her steps halted by the door, showing no intention of moving forward. Huo Yan took another sip of wine, then placed the wide-mouthed glass onto the tray by the side of the tub. She turned her head, her sharp eyes fixing on the motionless figure, and asked:
“Is there a problem?”
She wasn’t wearing her glasses.
Without the filter of the lenses, her eyes revealed their original intensity, like white light reflecting off ice. It was the first time Lan Su had felt the oppressive force of her pronounced features. Her wet hair clung to her scalp; her glasses were gone—all objects of compromise had vanished. Only that face remained.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Lan Su glanced at her, and her gaze seemed to be drawn in.
Her deep-set eyes were as profound as a dark cave, and her nose bridge was prominent. Though not as frightening as a vulture’s, its height and shape were clearly sharper than those of a traditional Eastern face. Her brow, eyes, lips, teeth, cheeks, and jaw—every piece of bone seemed to have been sculpted strictly according to the statues of Greek mythology.
Her throat swallowed, and her tongue trembled in response.
Lan Su avoided the piercing gaze and looked toward the billowing steam rising from the tub’s edge.
“I have a bathroom in my room, too.”
She attempted to explain.
“Lan Su.”
Huo Yan called her name, her tone already carrying a hint of a warning:
“I am not discussing this with you.”
Lan Su gripped her dress. She suddenly felt as if she had been transported back to the Lan family, becoming an obedient instrument. Like meat hanging on a stall, whether or not it was bought was entirely up to the buyer.
She didn’t know why Huo Yan had the sudden idea to insist on bathing with her. But while she was thinking, her body had already reacted.
There was no debate, no resistance.
She walked to the clothes rack, turned her back to Huo Yan, and unzipped the back of her dress. The thin fabric parted on both sides, the line of her spine sinking in half a finger’s depth. Her scapulae fluttered with the movement of her arms, blurred by the surrounding steam.
Obedience was the thing Lan Su had been best at for the past decade or so.
This excessive submission stirred a trace of guilt in Huo Yan. A droplet of water on her eyelashes quivered, refracting a few streaks of light.
In that instant, she felt that Lan Su might not be the person who had saved her that year. Because that person had approached against the light, bringing with her the smell of blood and gunpowder. Though severely injured and heading for a dead end, her eyes had been sharper than hooks, bearing the intensity of someone who would tear off a piece of the enemy even in death.
She wasn’t like Lan Su, who did whatever she was told, like an echo worm hiding in the mud, being swallowed by this murky world.
The sound of the pool water weakly rippled. Lan Su entered the water, holding one arm across her chest and facing her sideways, until the water level covered her chest. Only then did the slight furrow in her brows relax.
It was just that sitting at opposite ends of the tub felt too far apart.
“Come over here.”
Huo Yan spoke two words faintly. Just like before, it was not a suggestion.
If Ai Li had been present, she would have felt relieved. This was because Huo Yan’s tone was much softer than before, and Huo Yan, who had a slight germaphobia, had never allowed anyone to step into her tub.
But unfortunately, Lan Su didn’t know the Huo Yan of the past, nor could she detect the difference in those two words.
Her body stiffened underwater, hovering at her own psychological defense line.
The instinct to obey urged her to move forward. The hot water rushed over her body, and the forward movement met with some resistance, reminding her of falling into a glacier in Russia last year for a Song Dynasty coin. She was enveloped by water just like this, only that water was ice cold, and the Huo family’s water was hot.
Sitting one body-length away from Huo Yan, Lan Su’s breathing became cautious.
She wasn’t afraid that Huo Yan would suddenly strike her, like in the Lan family, where a single wrong word would invite a beating with a whip. However, she had a hunch that Huo Yan would do something.
Huo Yan picked up a ceramic ladle nearby and poured water over her head. Her hair plastered to her neck along with the stream of water, outlining the fluid lines of her head and neck. She raised her hand to wipe her eyes and said:
“Come a bit closer. If Jiang Dan comes in later and sees you sitting so far from me, it’ll give us away.”
Lan Su was momentarily stunned. She turned her head to look at her: “So, that’s why you told me to come in?”
To put on a show of a couple bathing together, to deceive everyone.
Huo Yan turned her head, her aloof eyes casting a fleeting glance: “I don’t like bathing with people.”
Lan Su lowered her eyes: “Me neither.”
Leaning back against the side of the tub again, she suddenly felt a little tired. “When we go back to the Huo family tomorrow, we have to continue the act.”
“Mhm.”
Huo Yan glanced at her, noticing that while her features were delicate, her nose bridge was quite straight, unexpectedly giving her a look of resolve.
Interesting.
“It’ll be similar to today.”
“To what extent should we act?”
“Make them believe we have a good relationship. Don’t be obsequious, don’t explain anything, and don’t suddenly pull out the marriage certificate.”
“But the marriage certificate is proof.”
Huo Yan was briefly choked by this overly simple train of thought. Fortunately, it was only for a moment, and she immediately regained her usual sharp wit:
“A real couple doesn’t carry their marriage certificate everywhere.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
Lan Su honestly felt it was a good thing she hadn’t cleared her name by showing Jiang Dan her marriage certificate downstairs earlier.
Huo Yan’s eyes narrowed, seeming to see through her thoughts, and asked:
“Did you show it to Jiang Dan?”
“No, I was going to. But then, she gave me the jade pendant, and I forgot.”
Jade pendant?
Huo Yan turned her body sideways, her eyes refocusing on her. Sure enough, the ‘Salvation’ necklace she had been wearing was now replaced with a jadeite pendant.
Lan Su couldn’t bear the intense, burning gaze. She felt as though her chest was on fire, covered in blisters from the heat. She turned her head away, only daring to stare at the water’s surface, silently inching away.
Huo Yan’s presence was intensely oppressive. It was as if a sharp-fanged beast was standing behind her; the air around her solidified just from her sitting there quietly.
“She is from the old estate.”
Lan Su pursed her lips and explained, “I know. But after meeting her today, I felt like she was quite nice.”
“She smiled at you, and you think she’s nice?”
“No.” Lan Su stated the reason candidly, “She cares a lot about you and was worried that things wouldn’t go smoothly when we return to the old estate tomorrow. She specifically came over today to give you instructions.”
At least, she wasn’t like the Lan family members, whose icy exteriors were filled with disdain and curses.
“Heh…”
Huo Yan let out a cold laugh from the back of her throat as if she had heard a joke, and countered:
“Do you think she came here today just to instruct me?”
Lan Su thought to herself, didn’t she just say that she specifically came today because she was afraid, they would say the wrong thing when they went back tomorrow, and came to instruct them?
But before she could speak, a sudden tug was felt at the back of her neck—
Huo Yan had snapped the chain of the jade pendant.
“What are you doing!” Lan Su was a little displeased.
Strictly speaking, even if Huo Yan didn’t like the jade pendant, it was a gift from Jiang Dan, and she should at least ask for her opinion.
Huo Yan offered no explanation. She played with the pendant in one hand, then reached back to the side of the tub, picked up the wine glass with three fingers, tilted her head back, and leisurely drank the liquid inside. A drop of red wine slid down the corner of her lips, passed over her jawline, neck, and collarbone, and plunged into the pool water.
Next, she casually turned, placed the jade pendant on the tray by the tub, and violently smashed the wine glass against it.
Bang!
A spiderweb of cracks appeared on the transparent bottom of the glass. The sound fell, the jade shattered, and amidst the fragments of green jadeite, a grain-sized metal pellet was glaringly obvious.
It was the most popular item of the last two years, a bugging device.
“This is your welcome gift.”
Her long, slender fingers pressed the eavesdropping device, pushing it along the floor tiles on the shore toward Lan Su, graciously informing her of the truth.
Her gaze landed back on Lan Su’s profile. She wanted to say something, but the words were abruptly lodged in her throat, cut short—
She saw an expression in Lan Su’s eyes, the kind she had witnessed in Vietnam—a howl from the abyss, as sharp as a wolf’s fangs, the look of wanting to tear an enemy to shreds.
In that brief moment, Huo Yan felt that Lan Su truly bores a resemblance to that person.