“What? My sweetheart, what did you just say??”
Twenty minutes later, in the Qiu family villa next door to the Wen family villa, Qiu Lening was stunned—they hadn’t chatted for half a day, and as soon as she asked how the blind date went, Wen Yuan told her she had gotten married, married!
A marriage certificate!!
“My dear, you told me last night you were going to Western Tulan Restaurant for a blind date, not to the civil affairs bureau to get a marriage certificate! What’s going on here?”
Qiu Lening was bewildered, utterly bewildered. She seriously suspected she was hearing things.
Although she knew that getting married was a good thing for Wen Yuan, this progress was just too fast, wasn’t it?
Qiu Lening couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off and couldn’t help but worry.
The more she thought about it, the more something felt wrong. She simply hung up the phone, went to a certain room, opened the window, and shouted toward the neighboring villa, “Yuan’er! Yuan Yuan! Sweetie!!”
In the Wen family villa, Wen Yuan, hearing the voice, hurriedly slipped on her slippers and ran into a certain secret base.
The two villas had two rooms that were close together. Whenever the two wanted to chat face-to-face but didn’t feel like going outside, they would come to these rooms.
At first, it was done secretly, discussing things between girls. Later, after both sets of parents found out, they simply converted the space into a smart chat room for them:
Press a button, and two panels would extend from each villa, joining to form an elevated long table with railings on both sides. It was perfect for placing tea and snacks, and passing things back and forth was very convenient.
At this moment, Qiu Lening took the red marriage certificate Wen Yuan handed over, carefully opened it, and felt as nervous as if she were the one who had just gotten married.
Seeing the two people in the photo—the man handsome, the woman beautiful, exceptionally well-matched, looking very much like a married couple—Qiu Lening nodded, her thoughts drifting in a daze as she sighed, “Hmm… not bad, not bad.”
The cabbage hadn’t been trampled by a pig; this Huo Shengye was actually quite a match for her Yuan Yuan.
Qiu Lening nodded slowly in approval. The next second, she slapped her thigh and exclaimed, “Wait, wait, Yuan Yuan! Who is this!”
Qiu Lening pointed at Huo Shengye’s face on the red marriage certificate. “Ugh, this, this Huo Shengye! Ah, no, your, your husband!…”
“Isn’t he the head of the Huo family?”
As she spoke, Qiu Lening closed the red marriage certificate and handed it back to Wen Yuan. Without quite knowing why, her thumb automatically gave Wen Yuan a thumbs-up. “I have to say, sweetie, you two really are quite a match. You look really pleasing to the eye.”
He was a carefree young master; she was a carefree young lady. Wen Yuan had long grown accustomed to Qiu Lening’s complete disregard for matters within their social circle. So when Qiu Lening asked this, she didn’t find it strange at all.
Instead, she automatically ignored Qiu Lening’s last sentence and replied, “Yes, he is the current head of the Huo family. It seems he’s been in the position for quite a few years…”
“Seven years!”
Before Wen Yuan could finish her sentence, Qiu Lening in the opposite room rapidly tapped on her keyboard, pulling up Huo Shengye’s encyclopedia entry and announcing the exact number of years.
Wen Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly. Seven years?
She only remembered that when she looked up Huo Shengye’s information last night, some people mentioned that Huo Shengye had become the family head at a very young age.
They said Huo Shengye had an iron-fisted approach, acted swiftly and decisively, and was famously known as the King of Hell in the business world. They claimed that any business Huo Shengye set his sights on, he would inevitably acquire, and being a business rival of Huo Shengye was a dead end.
But she truly hadn’t known that Huo Shengye had already been the family head for seven years.
He was only 29 this year. Did that mean he became the head of the Huo family at just 22?
At 22 years old, she had just graduated from university this year at 23. Moreover, the Huo Group was a chaebol—a top-tier chaebol in K Country.
Ranked number one in K Country for over a century, it was also among the top contenders worldwide.
The sheer scale of a chaebol far surpassed that of a wealthy family, and Wen Yuan felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.
In the room across the window, Qiu Lening was still typing rapidly on her keyboard.
Wen Yuan snapped out of her thoughts and glanced over, immediately recognizing that Qiu Lening’s gossip-loving spirit was ablaze. Today, she would likely dig up every detail about Huo Shengye’s ancestors for generations.
Having shared the important news, Wen Yuan retracted the foldable table and headed back to her room, intending to catch up on some sleep.
She had a habit of taking afternoon naps, and last night, she had stayed up late worrying about the blind date. She had woken up before six this morning, and now she was barely holding on.
Moreover, after registering their marriage, Huo Shengye had asked her to add him on WeChat. She wondered if he would message her tonight.
Recalling the cheek kiss Huo Shengye had asked for when she got out of the car, along with the words he had spoken at the time, Wen Yuan’s ears flushed slightly. She felt a bit embarrassed, but more than that, she was nervous.
If he sent a message and she didn’t reply promptly, it would likely be a bad look. After all, what did registering their marriage really mean? The wedding hadn’t even taken place yet.
There had been no ceremonies, no meetings with parents or families from both sides, and no invitations extended to guests.
This meant that this arranged marriage had only taken a small step forward—a proper wedding had to be held. Only when most of the social circles in the capital attended the wedding banquet and netizens on social media became aware of it would the two families truly be considered united in marriage.
So, for now, she absolutely could not afford to be careless. She had to prioritize maintaining her relationship with Huo Shengye.
At the very least, she had to maintain it until their wedding. And if he never brought up the wedding, she would have to gently remind him.
The Wen family’s current situation couldn’t afford any more delays. At the very least, news of the arranged marriage had to be made public, right?
But now…
As she walked, Wen Yuan took out her phone and searched for news about the arranged marriage between the Wen family and the Huo Group. She found nothing—not even a whisper.
This made her uneasy, and she couldn’t help but think the worst. Wen Yuan shook her head lightly. No, she couldn’t let herself panic. She couldn’t bring up the wedding directly and bluntly. Instead, she should focus on getting some proper rest.
She would wait for Huo Shengye to message her, reply instantly, and find an opportunity to subtly bring up the wedding.
Yes, that was the plan. She couldn’t let her mindset spiral.
However, reality often fell short of expectations. When Wen Yuan woke up and checked her phone, there were no messages.
Instead, Song Huiyue, who had gone to the temple to pray to the Bodhisattva, knocked on her door. She brought freshly cut fruit and a red string bracelet woven with gold beads, which she said had been blessed at the temple.
She then asked about the blind date and was utterly shocked when Wen Yuan showed her the red marriage certificate.
“This… this? You two… already registered your marriage??”
Song Huiyue took the certificate, flipped through it, set it aside, and furrowed her delicate brows. She clasped Wen Yuan’s hands, her face filled with worry and anxiety.
“My dear daughter, did he make any conditions with you? Mom looked into it—this Huo Shengye is not a good person!”
Like Qiu Lening, Song Huiyue felt something was off about the situation.
As for whether Huo Shengye was a good person or not, Wen Yuan truly didn’t know. But she actually hoped he would set some conditions with her.
After all, that would have given her a path to figure things out, but the reality was that Huo Shengye simply refused to say anything, leaving her with no way to understand.
All she could do was wait.
In the evening, the family of four sat down for dinner. Wen Yuan’s parents and her brother, Wen You, kept glancing at her.
Wen Yuan felt a mix of emotions—touched yet helpless. “Dad, Mom, Brother, I’m really fine. He said we should get the marriage certificate, so we did. He didn’t set any conditions with me.”
Wen Yuan repeatedly insisted that she was telling the truth, but the three of them couldn’t help worrying.
The meal was heavy with tension when suddenly, the butler led someone in from outside. The visitor called out, “Chairman Wen!”
Hearing this, Wen Defeng looked over, his eyes widening slightly as he forced his voice to remain steady. “Has something happened at the company again? Tell me, don’t rush.”
At the dining table, Wen Yuan pressed her lips together tightly. In the two days since she had returned, this was the third time she had seen this person.
He was the head of the finance department at one of the subsidiary companies. The previous two times he came, it was to discuss compensation for laid-off employees.
Those matters didn’t involve bloodshed, but each one was cruel in its own way. Wen Yuan couldn’t help, and seeing her parents, brother, and this person frowning with worry made her feel utterly powerless.
Unexpectedly, this time, the man didn’t speak with a sorrowful expression. Instead, he was overjoyed, his eyes shining brightly.
Wen Yuan was slightly puzzled when she heard him raise his voice and announce to Wen Defeng, “Chairman Wen! Great news! Absolutely fantastic news!!”
“A major investor has transferred one billion to the company’s account!!”
“How much?” Wen Defeng exclaimed, standing up in shock.
“One. Billion!” The man gestured excitedly, visibly thrilled. “I counted the zeros several times—there’s no mistake! It’s exactly one billion!! The billion of billionaires!”
As if anticipating Wen Defeng’s next question, the man added, “The investor’s name is Lu Ming—’Lu’ as in land, ‘Ming’ as in tomorrow!”
Lu Ming?
Wen Yuan silently repeated the name, feeling it sounded vaguely familiar. After the man left, it suddenly dawned on her.
Wasn’t this Lu Ming one of Huo Shengye’s subordinates? That man in black!?