Surrounded by Wolves
Huo Yingli’s light, melodious tone carried obscure, shadow-laden words, echoing through the circular corridor and making one’s heart tremble to hear it. Huo Qingzhi paused and stopped walking. After a moment’s gloomy concealment, he turned to look at Huo Yingli.
Jiang Wu was just on the other side of the wall, earnestly eating her dinner, utterly unaware of what was happening outside.
After a silent standoff, Huo Qingzhi warned him from a short distance away, “Be mindful of your words and actions. She is your younger sister.”
“Not anymore.” Huo Yingli walked forward slowly, speaking such words without the slightest taboo inside the Huo family’s main residence, as though he was not afraid of anyone overhearing. “You and I both know very well that we stopped being her brothers long ago.”
The truth of Jiang Wu being switched at birth… They had already known about it eight years ago, when she was sixteen.
After Jiang Wu came of age, she went to university in the capital. Her household registration had also been moved there with her as well, separating her from their family. She had even changed her name during that period because of other reasons.
But this news had been sealed away only between Huo Tingshan and the three brothers.
To ordinary people, a switched-at-birth matter was merely entertainment gossip.
But for a family like the Huo family, any news, whether positive or negative, concerned stock prices, market value, and future development. At the slightest movement, losses could reach hundreds of millions a day.
Especially back then, when Jiang Wu was born, the Hong Kong media had reported on it continuously, and Huo Group’s stock price had hit the daily limit for several days in a row.
Now, if they said she was not their biological daughter, setting aside market volatility for the moment, even the Huo family’s credibility and reliability in front of business partners would take a major hit.
Huo Tingshan’s intention had been to keep the matter sealed until they found their biological daughter. Even after finding her, they still had to consider carefully whether to switch them back, and how to switch them back. After raising her for so many years, it was impossible to have no feelings.
Moreover, Jiang Wu had been spoiled and pampered by them as she grew up. First, they had to consider whether she could endure it. Second, they worried she would be unable to adapt.
Huo Tingshan did not trust outsiders, so he could only have his own biological sons search on his behalf.
But finding Wen Ciying had not been easy either.
Back then, the circumstances surrounding Jiang Yaping’s delivery had been extremely chaotic. She had been visiting her maternal grandfather’s family in Europe when she encountered an accident and went into premature labor.
At the time, the hospital corridors had been full of injured patients. There had also been seven or eight pregnant women among the injured. Jiang Yaping had not been the only one who went into premature labor from fright.
Everyone had been in complete chaos. Huo Tingshan’s Gulfstream had taken off from Hong Kong, only to be forced by air traffic control to circle for more than ten hours before making an emergency landing in a neighboring city. From there, he drove to the hospital. By the time he arrived, several premature infants had already been placed in incubators to keep them alive.
Years later, the list of casualties from that hospital, which had been a temporary facility, had been lost.
Finding Wen Ciying had only happened within the past two years. But Wen Ciying’s stance was that she never wanted to be switched back. She did not want to switch back.
As for when their relationship with Jiang Wu had begun to change, Huo Yingli was not sure. But the moment he discovered that the other two were also not quite right was when Huo Qingzhi suddenly decided to send Jiang Wu to America for graduate school.
The three of them had a huge argument. Each of them sensed something abnormal in the others. Huo Qingzhi told them all to calm down and use the time while Jiang Wu was abroad to sober up.
In secret, they reached an agreement: for as long as Jiang Wu remained the Huo family’s daughter in name, they would spend that day being her good elder brothers and swallow their feelings into their stomachs.
They had simply never expected that this time, the news would suddenly be exposed like this. The media had exposed Wen Ciying’s paternity test report from two years ago. As for who had leaked it and ordered it done, that still needed to be investigated.
They could no longer play the good elder brothers. At the very least, Huo Yingli felt he had endured far too painfully.
“There is no blood relation. We are not on the same household register. And now, even in name, she is no longer our sister. What boundaries do you want me to observe?” Huo Yingli looked at him. “I haven’t exactly seen Eldest Brother observe boundaries either.”
Huo Yingli asked, “Should a good eldest brother enter his younger sister’s bedroom without even knocking?”
“Mind your own business.” Huo Qingzhi blocked Huo Yingli’s words. “Part of the funding chain behind the media outlets has already been dug up and sent to you. You know what to do. And clean up the media camping outside today, too.”
Huo Yingli drew out his tone and called after him, “Eldest Brother, you haven’t answered my question.”
Huo Qingzhi ignored him. His upright, refined, and proper figure disappeared around the circular corridor.
Huo Yingli pondered for a moment, then turned back and looked at Jiang Wu’s tightly shut bedroom door with an unreadable expression.
By the time Huo Qingzhi returned from a trip to the study, the doorway to Jiang Wu’s room was already empty. It was as though everything that had gone off track had returned to normal again.
Huo Qingzhi took a deep breath and opened the door to his own room.
Once the door clicked shut and half his body was covered by the shadow of the entryway, his breath and thoughts both grew heavy.
Huo Qingzhi calmed himself alone for a moment, then rounded the entrance and walked inside. From the corner of his eye, he saw the suit jacket, the one he had draped over Jiang Wu earlier, hanging on a rack nearby.
So, she was now not wearing it anymore…
Huo Qingzhi took a deep breath, his throat tightening. His head ached terribly.
By now, Jiang Wu had finished dinner, and flickering light and sounds came faintly from the media room.
Huo Qingzhi walked over and saw that, sure enough, she had curled up on the bed in the media room. The blanket was thrown messily over her, not covering her properly. Her legs were curled up, snow-white skin contrasting with the deep red of the blanket.
She leaned against the headboard, while a documentary on cultural relics played on the large screen. The room lights were off, and the dim, shifting light fell hazily over her.
Her long hair was loose, tracing over the delicate, beautiful line of her collarbones before winding downward, rising and falling with the curve beneath. The thin strap of her nightdress had also slipped to one side because of the way she leaned, exposing a wide expanse of bare skin. And she was nestled here, in his space.
Even on his bed.
If it had been in the past, Huo Qingzhi would have sternly told her to put on proper clothes. But today, no matter what, he could not bring himself to speak harshly.
Huo Qingzhi did not understand…
Why could she not remember to dress properly inside a man’s room? Would she only remember if it were torn apart?
And Jiang Wu, utterly unguarded, heard his footsteps and looked over absentmindedly. The instant their eyes met, for a split second, Jiang Wu faintly saw something dark and obscure in the depths of the man’s eyes. But when she looked again, it was gone.
Jiang Wu had never thought there was anything inappropriate about wearing only a slip dress. After all, when she had been abroad, everyone dressed like this in summer. She was thinking about whether he had come to drive her away. After all, if this were before, once it got too late, it would be time for Eldest Brother to send her back.
Sure enough, Huo Qingzhi asked, “Not planning to go back?”
Jiang Wu said gloomily, “I don’t want to stay alone.”
Hesitating, she made a request that even she felt was somewhat inappropriate. “Can I sleep here tonight?”
Jiang Wu had stayed in her own room the entire day. From time to time, she felt as though everything outside her room no longer had anything to do with her. So, she always wanted to find somewhere in this house where she still had some connection. And in this house, the one closest to her was Eldest Brother.
Huo Qingzhi frowned, and his expression turned serious. Just when Jiang Wu thought he was going to refuse, she heard his somewhat helpless sigh. “I’ll be outside. Call me if you need anything.” As he spoke, he helped her close the media room door.
Jiang Wu burrowed into the velvet blanket. Outside the room came the man’s steady, powerful footsteps. Her emotions grew even more complicated. Although when she spoke to Eldest Brother today, she had deliberately avoided those matters, Huo Qingzhi had, after all, come back because of this.
They both knew it clearly in their hearts.
Jiang Wu also knew clearly that he was no longer her brother, and she was no longer his younger sister.
The more indulgent Huo Qingzhi was toward her now, the sadder Jiang Wu felt because she knew that Eldest Brother would not have been this lenient before.
It was strange and contradictory. She could not tell what she actually wanted. She still could not understand it either. How could she suddenly not be his biological sister?
Jiang Wu tossed and turned for a long time, but still could not figure it out. The footsteps outside the room had disappeared for some time. From the sound of it, Huo Qingzhi had probably gone to sleep too.
Jiang Wu sat up and sighed. Slowly, she dragged herself out of the media room. The corridor light was on, but aside from that, everything was dark. From afar, Jiang Wu saw that Huo Qingzhi’s bedroom door had not been closed. It was probably so he could hear her if she called him. Jiang Wu stood in place for a while, then walked toward Huo Qingzhi’s bedroom.
His bedroom was dark in style to begin with, and once the lights were off, almost nothing could be seen.
Jiang Wu walked to the bedside and crouched down. She carefully looked at the outline of the man’s face and murmured in a breathy voice, “Eldest Brother is a good brother.”
Unfortunately, he seemed no longer to be her eldest brother.
Jiang Wu rose and followed the hidden passage beside his bedroom back to her own room.
The man on the bed opened his eyes. Her words echoed in his mind: Eldest Brother is a good brother.
And Huo Qingzhi knew, with absolute clarity. He was not.
~~
Jiang Wu fumbled her way back. Casually, she switched on the lights in her room. The instant the room lit up brightly, Jiang Wu suddenly saw Huo Yingli sitting on the sofa nearby.
He was swirling her remaining half cup of lemon soda in his hand, looking at her with great interest.
Jiang Wu gave a startled little scream. After recovering, she immediately grabbed the cushion beside her and angrily went to settle accounts with Huo Yingli. “You’re trying to scare me to death.”
Jiang Wu stormed up to Huo Yingli, one leg naturally kneeling onto the sofa to make it easier to hit him.
Before the cushion fell, the scent of rose cocoa rushed toward him.
Huo Yingli did not move. He took a few blows, his beautiful peach-blossom eyes narrowing slightly. Only after a moment did he grip her wrist and ask, as though making casual conversation, “Where did you just come back from?”
Jiang Wu froze, and the motion of hitting him stopped. She countered defiantly, “Where did you come in from?”
Huo Yingli smiled. “Eldest Brother said he coaxed you to sleep. I was worried, so I came in to take a look.”
As he spoke, he fixed his gaze firmly on her eyes. “But why weren’t you in your room, bb?”
Jiang Wu was speechless and was racking her brain to find an excuse.
But Huo Yingli suddenly pulled her a little closer.
Jiang Wu staggered slightly, and the words she had just been about to say caught in her throat. The man’s gentle, handsome face filled her vision.
“Tell me,” Huo Yingli’s low, warm voice wound around her thread by thread. “Where exactly did Eldest Brother coax you to sleep?”
On his bed?