Chapter 3 Who can't pretend?
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a tall man of about 1.8 meters standing at the entrance of the alley. He had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, broad shoulders and narrow waist. He was wearing a dark green military uniform, and the whole person looked upright and steady.
It was the second son of the Lu family, Lu Jingchen, who had not been home for four years.
After Lu Jingchen rescued people and left, he went to the department store, bought some things, and changed his wet clothes before going home.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked to the gate of the courtyard, he saw the woman he had just rescued from the river, and he didn't expect that she was actually his wife Xia Qingling whom he hadn't seen for four years.
When he realized that she was Xia Qingling, he was really surprised.
His memory of Xia Qingling was still four years ago. At that time, she was short and thin, with a sallow complexion and sparse hair. She always walked with her head down and had no vitality. She was nothing like the fair and charming woman in front of him.
He was indeed resentful and angry about this woman who took the initiative to climb into his bed, forced him to marry her, and made him unable to raise his head in front of his brother. But when he saw her being surrounded by a group of people and questioned, with her head down and aggrieved, he felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.
In everyone's surprised eyes, Lu Jingzhen walked up to Xia Qingxing, turned to look at Zhao Cuilan, and said coldly:
"The clothes are mine!"
He raised his hand and pulled up Xia Qingxing's right hand, and continued:
"A button is missing here."
After that, he put down her rolled-up sleeves. Everyone looked over and saw that there was indeed a button missing from the cuff of the clothes.
Under everyone's gaze, he raised his hand and took out a button from the pocket of Xia Qingxing's clothes. It was the one that fell from the cuff.
Xia Qingxing looked at Lu Jingzhen, knowing that if he just said that the clothes were his without producing substantial evidence, people would inevitably think that he was covering up for himself. Now that he had reason and evidence, the matter couldn't be clearer.
"Do you know what the crime is of making up rumors to defame the innocence of a soldier's family?" Lu Jingzhen looked at Zhao Cuilan with a cold gaze and said in a calm voice:
"If you don't know, I can take you to the police station to ask now."
Because he has been in a disciplined army for a long time, Lu Jingzhen has a dignified military demeanor. Now he asked in such a cold tone, a strong sense of oppression came over her.
Zhao Cuilan was so scared that her face turned pale after hearing this.
She didn't expect Lu Jingzhen to come back suddenly, and she didn't expect the clothes to be his. When she heard that he was going to take her to the police station, she suddenly became at a loss.
Even if she looked down on Xia Qingxi in her heart, her identity as a military family member was an indisputable fact.
"That's not what I meant. It was a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding." Zhao Cuilan, who had reacted, immediately said with a smile, and then turned to look at Xia Qingxi and made excuses for herself:
"Qingxi, you are such a fool. The clothes belong to your man. What is there to be embarrassed about? Look at this misunderstanding."
Xia Qingxi looked at her coldly. Haha, it turns out that she is always picking on the weak. Even at this point, she still didn't forget to blame herself.
At this moment, the door of Lu's house suddenly opened, and then a woman with short hair and decent clothes came out. She bent down and looked at the crowd, and then said in a voice of great joy:
"Oh, it's Jingjing who is back." Then she shouted to the house:
"Xiaoxue, come out quickly, your second brother is back." After shouting, she walked towards the crowd.
Xia Qingqing looked at this smiling woman and couldn't help but frowned slightly.
This was Lu Baichuan's scheming ex-wife Wang Mingfang.
After Wang Mingfang divorced Lu Baichuan, she married a director of the Revolutionary Committee and lived a good life. She also gave birth to a daughter.
But not long after, her husband was reported by his subordinates for saying something wrong. During the investigation, he died in an accident. From then on, the family's life fell into decline.
After Lu was shocked by the death of her mother Su Hui, she thought about remarrying Lu Baichuan.
Wang Mingfang was always able to read people's expressions and assess the situation. She knew that Lu Baichuan had a knot in his heart and would definitely not remarry her easily, so she took a roundabout approach.
She first found ways to recognize the son Lu Lidong who she had abandoned, and then moved into Lu's house in the name of taking care of her granddaughter.
In the eyes of outsiders, she is a rare good ex-wife. Not only does she work hard for the entire Lu family, she also takes the initiative to take care of her ex-husband's little daughter Lu Xiaoxue. Most importantly, she is very good to the child. The delicious food at home is close to her, and she almost always meets her requests. She is closer to her than her own mother.
Only Xia Qingli knows that Wang Mingfang's kindness and generosity are all pretended for outsiders. The tragic fate of the original owner was almost caused by her.
In order to get her daughter He Shanshan into the state-owned factory, she tricked her original self into the bed of the workshop director, and got He Shanshan a good job that everyone envied. Later, when she found out that her original self was pregnant, she urged her original self to join the army and arranged for her niece to take care of her. In fact, she took the opportunity
to seduce Lu Jingxue, squeezed the original self's last bit of value, and then told the truth about the child's life experience, forcing the original owner to jump into the lake and commit suicide. Her kindness to Lu Xiaoxue was completely to establish her image as a good ex-wife. Under her doting, Lu Xiaoxue was directly spoiled. She was competitive and selfish since she was a child. She mixed with a group of gangsters. She got pregnant before she was seventeen and died of dystocia.
It can be said that Wang Mingfang is a snake wearing a hypocritical mask, and a very poisonous one at that.
Just like when Zhao Cuilan humiliated Xia Qingling in front of everyone just now, she clearly heard it, but she closed the door tightly and pretended that she knew nothing, so as not to offend Zhao Cuilan and not to be known as someone who doesn't speak up for the younger generation.
She really knows how to behave!
In Xia Qingling's disgusted eyes, Wang Mingfang had already walked to the side of several people.
Zhao Cuilan saw Wang Mingfang as if she had found a life-saving straw, and hurriedly explained:
"Auntie Mingfang, you are here. I just wanted to play a joke on Qingxi, but I didn't expect these young people to take it seriously and even said they were going to the police station. You are the most reasonable one, please help me persuade them."
"A joke? You are playing a joke on someone else's reputation?" Before Wang Mingfang could say anything, Lu asked back in shock, obviously not intending to keep the matter quiet.
"Zhao Cuilan, listen to what you are saying. You are also a woman. Can reputation be used as a joke?" Zhang Qiulian, the women's director at the side, couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up.
"No, no." Zhao Cuilan waved her hands repeatedly: "That's not what I meant." She didn't know how to explain for a moment, so she could only look at Wang Mingfang for help.
As long as her own interests are not affected, Wang Mingfang has always been a good person. She looked at Lu Jingchen with a smile and said,
"Jingchen, we are all neighbors and fellow villagers. I think your Aunt Cuilan has no bad intentions and she just means what she says." After that, she turned to look at Xia Qingxiang and soothed her,
"Our Qingxiang is the most sensible one. She won't argue with your Aunt Cuilan over such a small matter, right?"
According to her original personality, after hearing what Wang Mingfang said, she would just swallow her anger and say yes. But the person standing here is not the original body. She, Xia Qingxiang, will not suffer this grievance, and will not let Wang Mingfang stand and play the good person.
Xia Qingxu raised her head and looked at Wang Mingfang, saying with a wronged look:
"Does it mean I am wronged just because I am sensible? If she was talking about your close friend He Shanshan instead of me, would you still think it is a small matter and be generous enough to ignore it?"
Who can't pretend?