“Grandpa, that wouldn’t be appropriate. They aren’t married.”
Huo Lin’s deep voice instantly drew everyone’s attention.
After all, no one had expected Commander Huo, who normally stayed out of everyone else’s trivial affairs, to actually voice an opinion about the gift his younger brother was giving his future sister-in-law.
Huo Tingyun was equally confused and hesitantly spoke up.
“Big Brother, you…”
“What’s inappropriate about it? If the two of them are in love, is there any reason they can’t get married?” Old Master Huo’s smile vanished as he spoke sternly to Huo Lin.
“I’ve already made up my mind. Nian girl will definitely become a daughter-in-law of the Huo family!”
At those words, Huo Lin pressed his thin lips together and said nothing more.
Naturally, no one else dared to object either. Seeing this, Jiang Zhinian obediently thanked them and accepted the bracelet.
She had no intention of keeping such a valuable and meaningful gift. She could simply return it to Huo Tingyun in a few days.
Besides, she could use it to irritate certain people while she was at it.
For example—Gu Nuannuan.
Gu Nuannuan stood in a corner, clutching her handkerchief so tightly that it nearly tore apart.
It was as if she were imagining Jiang Zhinian’s face in her hands, wishing she could rip it to pieces.
Jiang Zhinian even yawned at her, finding the whole thing rather boring.
Huo Tingyun’s childhood sweetheart was truly no fun at all. Other than splashing people with wine, all she knew how to do was glare.
Her eyes were practically spitting fire. Jiang Zhinian honestly wondered if that didn’t get tiring.
Soon, the banquet came to an end, and everyone began to leave.
“Big Brother.” Huo Tingyun, who had Jiang Zhinian linked through his arm, spoke up. “Grandpa wants me to stay behind and discuss something with him. Could you take Niannian home for me?”
Huo Lin stopped and turned slightly. His cold gaze lingered for a second on their linked arms.
“Fine.”
As usual, he was a man of few words.
Jiang Zhinian tilted her head and smiled.
“Tingyun, see you next time.”
Her beautiful eyes curved upward, and her smile was dazzling.
Huo Tingyun stared blankly at her.
By the time he snapped out of it, Jiang Zhinian was already walking away side by side with Huo Lin.
Watching his elder brother’s retreating figure, Huo Tingyun felt a complicated mix of emotions.
Although they were both members of the Huo family, he was nowhere near as outstanding as his eldest brother.
When Big Brother was strategizing on the battlefield and commanding the course of events, he could only follow behind, serving as nothing more than a mere regiment commander.
If only he could attain Big Brother’s position…
Then perhaps Niannian would be willing to stay with him forever.
Inside Huo Lin’s official car, the atmosphere was tense.
Cheng Yue sat in the front, driving without even daring to breathe too loudly.
Although the commander still wore his usual expressionless, ice-cold face, Cheng Yue somehow felt that his commander was in a particularly bad mood today.
In the back seat, Huo Lin and Jiang Zhinian sat side by side.
At first, there was a perfectly normal distance between them.
But Jiang Zhinian kept inching closer and closer to him.
Since Cheng Yue was present, Huo Lin could only try to stop her with a cold glance.
Yet the little woman acted as though she hadn’t seen it.
Before long, her fair thigh was pressed against his long leg.
Even through his military trousers, Jiang Zhinian could feel the firm, powerful muscles beneath.
Those legs must be very strong at certain times…
A few inappropriate thoughts immediately surfaced in her mind.
Because she had been shifting around in her seat, the hem of her crescent-white qipao had ridden up slightly.
Her thighs, as fair as milk and as soft-looking as fresh tofu, were now exposed.
With every bump of the moving car, they brushed against Huo Lin’s leg.
Huo Lin’s handsome face tightened, and he squeezed out two words through clenched teeth.
“Move away.”
The little wildcat beside him had obviously heard him clearly, yet she pretended to be clueless.
“What? Big Brother, are you feeling unwell?”
As she spoke, her slender hand reached up to touch his forehead, feeling it theatrically.
“You seem a little feverish. Big Brother, why don’t you come lie down and rest at my house for a while?”
Huo Lin frowned.
Since when had this woman become so shameless?
Fortunately, the person in front was his subordinate. If anyone else had heard her, who knew what kind of rumors they would spread about her?
Cheng Yue, however, could no longer remain calm.
After hearing such scandalous words, he instinctively glanced into the rearview mirror.
There, Miss Jiang was pressed tightly against his commander, looking as though she was only one step away from sitting on his lap.
Cheng Yue’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest. The horrified expression on his face was no less dramatic than if he had just seen a female ghost.
He had followed the commander for years and had never once seen him allow any woman to get close to him—let alone this close.
Wait!
Shouldn’t he be more shocked that his commander was being so intimate with his nominal younger brother’s girlfriend?
Completely shaken to the core, Cheng Yue nevertheless continued to perform his duty and drove steadily onward.
Unfortunately, there were very few streetlights on the roads in those days, and visibility was poor.
Suddenly, a calico cat darted out onto the road not far ahead.
Seeing that he was about to hit it, Cheng Yue immediately slammed on the brakes.
The cat escaped unharmed.
The two people in the back seat, however, were not so lucky.
Carried forward by the sudden momentum, Jiang Zhinian was thrown straight ahead from her seat.
Huo Lin reacted quickly and grabbed her arm, but it only softened the impact.
Jiang Zhinian still landed directly between the man’s legs, her hand happening to come into very intimate contact with a certain place.
So big.
Pah. That was close.
She had nearly been thrown right out of her seat.
Jiang Zhinian moved her hand slightly, intending to investigate a little further, but the man’s large hand immediately seized her wrist.
Huo Lin’s expression was dark enough to frighten anyone.
“Enough.”
Jiang Zhinian pouted innocently.
“Big Brother, I fell.”
Inside, she was laughing with delight.
Serves you right for giving me that cold face. Now look who’s the one suffering.
She, Jiang Zhinian, was the first woman to touch little Huo Lin.
Though, really, that wasn’t exactly something worth bragging about.
Still, the male lead was certainly generously endowed. What exceptional natural talent.
Why on earth did Liu Yuerou get to become the female lead? Jiang Zhinian truly couldn’t imagine just how “happy” she would be in the future.
Seeing that she had no intention of getting up on her own, Huo Lin stretched out his long arm and pulled her back into her seat.
Without the slightest hint of concern, he symbolically asked, “You’re not hurt, are you?”
Jiang Zhinian decided to play along. Her little face immediately scrunched up, and her voice turned soft and aggrieved.
“My leg hurts.”
As she spoke, she lifted the hem of her qipao and showed Huo Lin her knee.
There was an unusually red patch on her soft, rosy knee.
Huo Lin only glanced at it before calmly turning his head away.
That delicate?
If she were kneeling on a bed, her skin would probably chafe raw in no time…
The sight of that red mark on such slender, fair legs easily stirred something violent and deeply buried within him.
After years of abuse at Jiang Zhinian’s hands, he knew very well that his mind was no longer quite normal.
Although he had never touched a woman, in certain respects, he possessed a desire for cruelty far beyond that of ordinary men.
Especially when facing the woman named Jiang Zhinian.
For years, all he had ever felt toward her was disgust and hatred.
Yet ever since she had been driven out of the Jiang family, she had seemed to become an entirely different person, constantly finding new ways to seduce him.
He could not deny that Jiang Zhinian had already awakened a certain desire within him.
Closing his eyes briefly, he suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart. When he spoke again, his voice was as steady as ever.
“Go home and apply some medicine yourself.”
Jiang Zhinian nearly failed to maintain her pitiful expression.
Is this man made of stone? He still has no reaction at all?
Has my charm declined?
“Nooo. I can’t walk anymore. Big Brother, will you carry me down later? Please?”
Her voice rose at the end, sweet and utterly beguiling.