She glanced at Ning Lu.
Although Ning Lu wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about it, she still greeted him politely.
“Hello, Brother Xie.”
Seeing how gentle his future stepmother seemed and how pretty and well-mannered his stepsister was, all of Xie Qingquan’s defenses instantly melted away.
He could hardly wait to tell He Wanyu the good news.
Lu Huaichuan cleared his throat.
“Alright, let’s get in the car. You’ve been on the train for days. You must be exhausted.”
He and Xie Qingquan loaded the luggage.
Then Xie Qingquan lowered his voice.
“Huaichuan, I need to go buy something for Wanyu. Could you take them home first? I’ll come back later and apologize.”
Truthfully, it wasn’t very appropriate.
But Xie Qingquan’s mind was completely occupied by He Wanyu.
Lu Huaichuan glanced at Ning Lu from the corner of his eye and agreed immediately.
“Go ahead.”
After all, Xie Qingquan and Ning Lu weren’t real siblings.
The less contact they had, the better.
Ning Lu and Yan Bingqin climbed into the car and sat in the back seat.
Lu Huaichuan sat in the front passenger seat.
The driver smiled.
“Commander, we’re setting off.”
During the drive, Lu Huaichuan calmly introduced them to the general situation in the area.
Then he added:
“Commander Xie should be back tomorrow.”
“For tonight, you’ll stay in the family housing compound.”
“Any specific arrangements can wait until he returns tomorrow.”
Yan Bingqin thanked him politely.
Yet for some reason, as she looked at Ning Lu and then at Lu Huaichuan, she felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
The way Lu Huaichuan acted reminded her very much of Commander Xie when he had been younger.
Ning Lu pressed her lips together.
She wasn’t normally a shy person.
But every time she looked at Lu Huaichuan, she felt unbearably nervous.
Every pore in her body seemed tense.
She didn’t dare look directly at him.
Didn’t dare meet his eyes.
She could only pretend to be interested in the scenery outside.
Sometimes she even caught him looking at her.
Each time, she immediately looked away.
She admitted that Lu Huaichuan was extraordinarily attractive.
Any young woman would be tempted.
But appearance didn’t equal character.
A man like him was a rare prize.
Countless women were probably already interested in him.
As a girl who had merely followed her mother to her stepfather’s home, she had no intention of competing for such a fiercely contested prize.
Lu Huaichuan lowered his gaze.
He had noticed her avoidance.
Which was understandable.
They had only met once before.
They were practically strangers.
Things would have to develop slowly.
Besides, she was beautiful, intelligent, and bold.
Perhaps she already liked someone.
Perhaps she was even engaged—or married.
Both of them were distracted by their own thoughts.
Before long, the vehicle arrived at the family housing compound.
News had already spread that Lu Huaichuan and Xie Qingquan were picking up Commander Xie’s second wife that day.
Everyone was curious.
A crowd had gathered beneath an old locust tree near the compound entrance, pretending to chat casually while secretly waiting to see what the rumored “fat mother and daughter” looked like.
“In the countryside and still that fat? She must be lazy and greedy.”
“I don’t know what Commander Xie sees in her.”
“Exactly. And she’s bringing a stepdaughter.”
“I heard the girl weighs nearly two hundred pounds.”
“Maybe she’s coming here to find a husband. Better keep an eye on your sons.”
“If someone marries a wife that big, the food expenses alone would be terrifying!”
Another woman teased:
“Qingle, didn’t your father ask you and your brother before marrying?”
“With two big fat women in the house, think how much money your family will spend on food.”
Someone else laughed.
“Qingle, when your stepmother arrives, are you going to call her ‘Mom’?”
Xie Qingle’s face turned bright red.
She was mortified.
Part of her even blamed her father.
Why did he have to marry such a woman?
Just then someone shouted:
“The car’s here!”
“Come on, let’s see how fat they really are!”
Xie Qingle felt her scalp go numb.
Tears welled in her eyes.
She felt utterly hopeless.
Her mother had died when she was young.
Her father was always busy.
She had been mocked and bullied countless times growing up in the compound.
Now she was getting a stepmother and a stepsister.
How was she supposed to live like this?
Still, she followed the crowd forward.
She wanted to see what they looked like.
The car stopped.
The door opened.
People stepped out.
Suddenly, Meng Qingqing appeared behind Xie Qingle and gave her a hard shove.
Qingle stumbled directly toward the opening car door.
Right into Ning Lu, who was stepping out at that exact moment.
Meng Qingqing immediately slipped back into the crowd, looking delighted.
The instant Ning Lu stepped down from the car, she felt someone crash into her.
Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around the person.
The two of them tumbled toward the ground.
Ning Lu rolled once and ended up underneath, cushioning the fall with her own body.
“Ow!”
Xie Qingle gasped in shock.
When she opened her eyes, she realized someone had protected her.
Lu Huaichuan reacted instantly.
He pulled Xie Qingle to her feet and rushed to Ning Lu’s side.
“Are you alright?”
“Did you hit the back of your head?”
Yan Bingqin panicked and hugged her daughter.
“Lu Lu!”
“Oh no! There’s already a bump on your head!”
Xie Qingle burst into tears.
She practically dropped to her knees.
“Auntie! I—I didn’t mean to!”
“Someone pushed me!”
Ignoring everything else, Lu Huaichuan carefully pushed Ning Lu’s hair aside and examined the injury.
“It’s bleeding.”
“There’s swelling too.”
“I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Yan Bingqin’s eyes turned red with worry.
“Lu Lu, talk to me!”
“Are you dizzy?”
“How do you feel?”
Xie Qingle cried even harder.
“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”
The crowd was instantly concerned as well.
Everyone had already noticed that Yan Bingqin and Ning Lu were indeed fuller-figured than average women.
But their faces were stunningly beautiful.
Nothing like the crude country women people had imagined.
Yan Bingqin, though forty years old, possessed a gentle and elegant beauty.
As for Ning Lu—
She was at the perfect age of youth.
Her features were exquisite.
Her skin was fair and delicate.
Her black hair flowed like ink.
Her presence was as captivating as a blooming rose.
The visual impact of her beauty was almost overwhelming.
Yes, she was somewhat heavier than most girls.
But all the extra softness seemed to be in exactly the places men found irresistible.
She looked like a perfectly ripe peach.
The sight was enough to make others jealous.
No wonder Commander Xie wanted to marry Yan Bingqin.
In fact, after seeing Ning Lu once, several people were already secretly planning to ask Commander Xie whether he might introduce her as a future daughter-in-law.
The fall had been severe.
Ning Lu felt dizzy.
Tears formed in her eyes from the pain.
The sight made Lu Huaichuan’s heart tighten.
Without hesitation, he lifted her into his arms and carried her back into the vehicle.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Yan Bingqin naturally climbed in after them.
Xie Qingle hurried forward as well, crying.
“I’m coming too!”
“I—I’m Commander Xie’s daughter.”
“Auntie, I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”
The women in the housing compound watched anxiously.
“Sigh. They just arrived, and something like this already happened.”
“Fortunately, Commander Xie’s new wife seems kind-hearted.”
“If she’d been a difficult person, she might have slapped Qingle right there.”
Someone else nodded.
“Qingle isn’t the type to do something like that on purpose.”
“But how did she fall so hard?”
As everyone discussed it, the real culprit, Meng Qingqing, quietly stepped backward.
In a low voice she asked the person beside her:
“Cousin… nobody saw me, right?”
He Wanyu narrowed her eyes as she watched the departing car.
There had been far too many unexpected developments lately.
First, her father had said that trouble had struck their relatives back in their hometown.
The son and daughter of her eldest uncle were supposed to be brought to the city.
Then her uncle’s house burned down.
Her mother had spent enormous effort arranging treatment for Ning Xingde after he was badly burned.
And now Commander Xie was remarrying.
The new wife and daughter were nothing like the ugly, obese pair everyone had described.
They were beautiful.
Remarkably beautiful.
But what bothered her most was something else.
She had spent countless hours and enormous effort trying to get close to Lu Huaichuan.
Yet he had never treated her with such concern.
Just now, however, he had picked up that so-called stepdaughter without the slightest hesitation.
He Wanyu couldn’t quite describe what she was feeling.
Still, she comforted herself.
It didn’t matter.
No matter what happened, she was the heroine of this world.
In the end, those men would all revolve around her.
As for that stepsister who had just arrived—
She had better know her place and stay out of the way.
Otherwise…
He Wanyu wouldn’t be so polite.