By the time Lin Tingwan finished transferring buses and walking, exactly spending an hour to get back to the Lin family’s mansion on the outskirts of the city.
The energy recovery potion’s effect had already worn off, and she had returned to the body state of a “top-tier fat girl.”
Just as well, so as not to arouse her stepmother’s suspicion—she didn’t yet have the strength to face her head-on.
Lin Tingwan’s stomach felt like a fire was burning inside it, this body needed a constant supply of energy, and she urgently needed food right now.
Following her memory to the dining room, Lin Tingwan saw Su Wanyi and Lin Yuexuan, mother and daughter, eating dinner.
The man of the Lin household was still busy at the company, even when he was home, he’d never paid the original owner much attention before.
Seeing Lin Tingwan, the mother and daughter, who had been chatting and laughing, put on completely different expressions.
Lin Yuexuan’s cold, venomous gaze coiled around Lin Tingwan like a snake, if it weren’t for the occasion.
It seemed she might just stand up and beat this fat girl right there.
Su Wanyi, on the other hand, wore a graceful, seemingly kind smile.
Lin Tingwan could tell at a glance the disgust and contempt hidden deep in that woman’s eyes, and the condescension in her very bones.
Hmph, before marrying Lin Zhenwei, you were nothing but a little secretary at the company.
Just a mistress who climbed into his bed and had a child before his first wife had even died, what’s there to be smug about?
“Tingwan’s back? I didn’t know when you’d get home, so your sister and I started eating first.” Su Wanyi said this flatly.
But she failed to hide the smile at the corners of her mouth.
Hmph, before long, this world would have no more eyesore of a fat girl in it—she couldn’t understand why such a disgusting creature as the first wife’s daughter even existed.
When it came to acting, who in this room could possibly compete with a grand-slam-winning actress?
Lin Tingwan smiled and called out, “Auntie Su.”
At the same time, she also called out to Auntie Zhang, who stood off to the side serving them: “Auntie Zhang.”
This woman was her stepmother’s most capable lackey.
Satisfied to see Su Wanyi’s perfect smile begin to crack, Lin Tingwan then dragged her heavy steps toward the kitchen.
Auntie Liu, in charge of the family’s three daily meals, was busy at work in the kitchen, and upon seeing Lin Tingwan, quickly and deftly ladled out a bowl of chicken soup from the clay pot for her.
She leaned in close and said quietly, “Miss, I saved this one just for you. Drink it while it’s hot.”
Lin Tingwan’s eyes grew hot.
In this household, there was still someone who showed kindness to the original owner.
Auntie Liu had started working for the Lin family very early on, in fact, it was originally the original owner’s mother who had taken her in.
So, seeing the lady of the house barely gone before the master of the house couldn’t wait to bring in someone new, and the young miss’s days getting harder and harder.
Especially since the young miss, for some reason, kept getting fatter and her grades kept getting worse as if she’d given up on herself, it worried Auntie Liu terribly.
But she was only a kitchen helper, with no say in this household.
Lin Tingwan’s face was pale, her eyes red-rimmed, an especially jarring contrast against her bloated body.
Seeing this, Auntie Liu felt her heart ache, she wiped one hand on her apron, then gently stroked Lin Tingwan’s chubby cheek.
“Miss, no matter what, living well yourself is what matters most.”
“Auntie Liu, don’t you know the rules anymore? How dare you hide in the kitchen sneaking food?” Su Wanyi’s voice rang out coldly, no one knew when she’d appeared at the kitchen door.
“Madam, this was for the second young miss…” Auntie Liu spoke carefully, not daring to say much more.
Auntie Liu was deeply grateful for the original madam’s kindness in taking her in, now that her own son had graduated from university and found a good career.
Why did she still stay on at the Lin household as a servant, if not to secretly look after the young miss?
But this was something she couldn’t say out loud.
When Madam Su first married in, she had held herself back somewhat, but these past two years, as the young miss had increasingly fallen out of favor with the master.
And with the master busy at work and often not coming home, Madam Su often couldn’t even be bothered to keep up appearances.
Lin Tingwan knew perfectly well that her stepmother’s mockery of Auntie Liu on the surface was really meant for her ears.
Su Wanyi acted as if she hadn’t heard, and turned to instruct her trusted aide: “Auntie Zhang, go pour out that soup.”
Earlier, because of something the second young miss had said, Madam had already been displeased with her, and now Auntie Zhang was only too happy to see Lin Tingwan humiliated.
But Lin Tingwan didn’t give her the chance at all, and directly picked up the bowl of soup and poured it straight into the kitchen trash can.
Just as well—given her current physical state, it wasn’t suitable for her to over-nourish herself anyway.
It was just a pity to waste Auntie Liu’s good intentions, Lin Tingwan could only, where Su Wanyi couldn’t see, lightly touch Auntie Liu’s callused hand with her fat one.
Lin Tingwan’s action left Su Wanyi inexplicably stifled, feeling as if her dignity had been challenged.
But then, thinking that this dead fat woman wouldn’t be able to jump around for much longer, she decided there was no need to stir up trouble at this final, critical moment.
And for now, Lin Tingwan had no wish to provoke conflict either.
Miraculously, a war without gunsmoke was extinguished invisibly, and the estranged stepmother-stepdaughter duo dissolved for the time being.
Su Wanyi had an appointment for a beauty treatment, and didn’t even have time to listen to Lin Yuexuan complain that the fat woman had bullied her at school.
“Weren’t you always so capable? How come you can’t even handle such a small matter now?”
That one line left Lin Yuexuan’s face flushing blue and white in turns, unable to find a reason to argue back.
As for Lin Tingwan, she couldn’t be bothered with any of it, and turned to head back to her room.
At the top of the stairs, Lin Tingwan’s steps paused slightly.
Piled up in the corner were clearly the original owner’s clothes.
Just then, with nowhere else to vent her anger, Lin Yuexuan saw Lin Tingwan pause in front of those clothes and deliberately ran over to stomp on them with her foot.
She said, in a sarcastic, mocking tone: “Little sister, you’re still the second young miss of the Lin family after all—aren’t you embarrassed to be wearing such ragged clothes?”
As she spoke, she deliberately instructed the housekeeper, right in front of Lin Tingwan, to have all these ragged clothes thrown away.
In fact, it was under the effect of the drugs that the original owner’s body had suddenly gained so much weight.
Some of the clothes had simply been torn apart by her overweight body.
If the original owner had heard her stepsister say this, she likely would have been furious and humiliated to the point of wanting to die.
It could be said that Lin Yuexuan was the inescapable nightmare of the original owner’s pitiful, short life.
At the very least, the stepmother’s poisoning and scheming had all been done behind closed doors, while Lin Yuexuan was the chief culprit behind the bullying the original owner suffered at school.
Looking at the beautiful-faced, viciously cruel-hearted girl in front of her, Lin Tingwan instead smiled, and deliberately said: “That’s right, these ragged clothes really do damage the Lin family’s image. I should go find Dad and have him buy me new clothes.”
She placed particular emphasis on the word “Dad,” knowing full well how damaging that word was to her stepsister.
At the very least, openly, Lin Yuexuan was only the extra baggage Su Wanyi had brought along, her father unknown!
“You—” Lin Yuexuan raised her voice. “Dad is very busy with work, don’t bother him over something this trivial.”
But her voice carried an involuntary tremble, cracking slightly.
“Oh, is that so?” Lin Tingwan deliberately drew out her tone.
Satisfied to see the other girl’s face turn even paler.
At the same time, she also felt a flicker of doubt in her heart, Lin Yuexuan wasn’t the type to be all bark and no bite, fierce on the outside but cowardly within.
She’d only mentioned “Dad”, so why was her stepsister’s reaction so strange?