Chapter 893: Chapter 873: Vixen
In the distance, the Snakehead watched the explosion flames rising over the sea and dialed the phone: "Mrs. Huo."
"How is it?" Su Yan’s voice was calm.
"Everything went according to your instructions. I placed the explosives in the trunk ahead of time. After the second young master arrived, I anonymously reported to the police, then left the key on the speedboat without removing it. Just as Mrs. Huo predicted, when the police showed up, the second young master refused to be caught, fled in the speedboat, and was shot by the police, which ignited the explosives on the boat."
As he spoke, the Snakehead took a silent, sharp inhale.
Women truly are terrifying.
At the same time, on the other side of the city, inside the office of the Haodu Building.
Su Yan sat on the swivel chair by the floor-to-ceiling window. After listening to the Snakehead’s account, a hint of ease brushed her face, and her red lips slightly curved upward.
Finally, it was done.
The explosives were something Huo Zhenxuan had asked her to purchase on the black market to kill Huo Zhenyang.
In that moment, she had a sudden thought and bought a bit more.
Perfectly fitting to use it to send him off as well.
Even if the police later discovered explosives on the speedboat, they would only assume it was the leftover explosives Huo Zhenxuan had bought to kill his elder brother but hadn’t used.
Seamless.
She glanced at the disc on the desk; it contained surveillance footage of her visit to Xiaolei’s apartment.
Now, the footage was retrieved, and Huo Zhenxuan was dead.
Both material evidence and witnesses were gone.
She was completely safe.
In this world, no one could accuse her of murder any longer.
For the rest of her life, she would be the dignified and noble lady of the Huo family, forever untainted by crime.
"Your payment has been sent to your account. It’s enough for you to live a lavish life for decades. I don’t want to see you in Yunling again." Su Yan’s voice carried the arrogance and coldness of a victor.
"I’ll leave Yunling tonight and never come back." Even without her reminder, the Snakehead would have fled far away.
This aristocratic wife was nothing short of a femme fatale, utterly terrifying. Staying in Yunling any longer—there was no guarantee she wouldn’t silence him as well.
Su Yan ended the call, stood up, stretched her neck, picked up the disc, and, stepping in her high heels, walked toward the shredder in the office. She snapped the disc in half, tossed it in, then turned on the machine.
Amid the sound of the shredder starting up, the disc was ground into tiny fragments.
She exhaled a breath, a relaxed smile playing on her lips.
————————————
At dawn, as the sky first began to lighten, Jiayi opened her eyes and reached out, only to find the other side of the bed empty. Huo Zhenyang was already up.
The bed was a mess, and the room still carried a lingering, intoxicating scent that made her cheeks flush.
Since the day before yesterday, after the incident with the explosives, when she had taken the initiative to embrace him, it seemed to have awakened the man’s appetite, and he had since been insatiable.
For the past two days, Huo Zhenyang had barely let her leave the bed.
Last night, the moment he came back from the office, it had been another stormy affair, intense and relentless through the night.
Now, Jiayi’s entire body ached, her lower back sore. She rested on the bed for several minutes before finally pushing her trembling legs to get up.
After freshening up and changing her clothes, Jiayi went downstairs and saw Huo Zhenyang at the dining table, holding a cup of coffee and reading emails.
The morning sunlight streamed in, his white shirt slightly unbuttoned at the collar, revealing the sharp curves of his neck. His chiseled, handsome features were bathed in a soft golden hue, making her pause and glance several times before she couldn’t help but bite her lip.
After exhausting her so much last night, here he was, acting as if nothing had happened, his energy even more vibrant, already immersed in work at the break of dawn.
What was this man made of, she wondered? Was he on some kind of stimulant?
It wasn’t until Huo Zhenyang noticed her and slightly curled his lips: "Awake?"
She snapped back to her senses and walked over.
The housemaid, seeing Jiayi was up, brought her breakfast and placed it in front of her: "Here’s your breakfast..."
At this point, the maid hesitated, unsure of what to call her.
Over the past few days, it was obvious to anyone how inseparable the young master and Miss Chu had been.
However, Miss Chu had yet to officially reconcile with the young master.
So now, the maid didn’t know whether to address her as Miss Chu or as the young mistress.
Calling her Miss Chu seemed too distant, while addressing her as young mistress wasn’t quite right either.
Jiayi guessed what the maid was thinking and spoke up: "Hmm, thank you."
Only then did the maid leave with the tray.
Huo Zhenyang noticed Jiayi’s brief moment of awkwardness with the maid and, after a few seconds of silence, remarked, "The matter of reconciling... it’s about time..."
He knew that her staying at Disheng without an official status had been a source of pressure for her, not just from Chu Yanhan and his wife occasionally calling to comment, but also minor awkwardness among the housemaids.
"Eat your breakfast before it gets cold." Jiayi knew what he was about to say and quickly interrupted, stabbing her fork into her sunny-side-up egg. She gave him a bright smile, as radiant as the rising sun outside the window. "Auntie Li is so thoughtful—she always remembers how I like my eggs crispy on the outside and runny on the inside."
He could tell she was changing the subject, understanding that she was still concerned about Huo Tianpei’s stance on the issue.
Her concern wasn’t unfounded. Insisting on reconciling now would only anger Huo Tianpei and play into Su Yan’s hands.
But this also meant she would have to endure this situation a while longer.
His brows furrowed slightly, but he said nothing more. Instead, his tone turned languorous: "Come here, let me see how your knee is healing."
She set down her fork and walked over. Before she could settle herself, he tugged her onto his lap.
Instinctively, she placed her arms around his neck, already anticipating that there was no way he’d simply check her knee without taking the opportunity to tease her a little.
Huo Zhenyang lifted her slender leg, rolled up her pant leg, and examined the fading bruises on her knee.
Though his passion had been unbridled over the past two days, he had always been mindful of the injury on her knee.
Seeing that the wound had nearly healed, he let her pant leg back down.
She thought he was finished and was about to get up and return to her seat when she suddenly felt him lean in close, his lips brushing near her ear. "There’s a way to ensure the old man won’t oppose our reconciliation," he murmured.
She looked at the man’s mischievous gaze, puzzled.
His palm landed on her lower abdomen as he spoke with unshakable confidence, "Hurry up and give Zaizai a little brother."
Though Huo Tianpei cared deeply about reputation, he cared even more about the Huo family lineage. If she were pregnant, there’d be no way he’d prevent them from reconciling. To avoid having a grandchild born out of wedlock, he might even speed up their remarriage.
Her cheeks flushed bright red.
Just as the atmosphere at the dining table was heating up and becoming impossible to ignore, the sharp ring of the landline phone cut through the tension.
Half a minute later, Auntie Li’s voice came drifting over in a shocked tone: "Y-Young Master..."
"What is it?" Huo Zhenyang’s dark gaze narrowed in irritation as he withdrew his hand from the woman’s belly.
"Th-The second young master is gone. It’s said that last night, while preparing to flee the country, he was caught by Interpol. During the arrest, his attempt to escape caused the police to fire, which triggered an explosion on his speedboat. He was... blown up on the spot..." Auntie Li stammered.
Jiayi’s face paled in an instant.
*****************
At the police station, in the hallway.
Jiayi sat on a long bench, staring at the glass door of the bureau chief’s office.
Inside, the bureau chief was briefing Huo Zhenyang about the events of the previous night.
The chief’s lips moved as he spoke.
Huo Zhenyang, seated on the adjacent sofa, tilted his aloof and sharp jaw slightly upward, resting one hand on his face as he listened to the chief’s account.
