I Became a Rich Heir in a Novel and Saved the Female Lead - Chapter 6:

Chapter 6: Staying Overnight at the Villa

Overwhelming panic pressed down on Zhang Xiaoyu until she felt as though she were on the verge of a mental breakdown. With tears trembling in her voice, she said, “I want to go home.”

He Man shot her an impatient glare. “No one is leaving right now. First, delete everything from your phones. Once we’ve gotten our stories straight, then we can go home.”

“But I really want to go home.”

“Are you deaf?” He Man roared as she grabbed Zhang Xiaoyu by the wrist. “Zhang Xiaoyu, I’m warning you. Every single one of us was involved in what happened tonight. No one gets to run away. Don’t forget, you were the one who put the lock on the door!”

Zhang Xiaoyu trembled all over. She stopped arguing and lowered her head, silently allowing He Man to check her phone.

When He Man turned away to urge the others to delete their chat records, Zhang Xiaoyu quietly took several steps back and hid on the other side of a trash can. On her phone screen, their homeroom teacher, Teacher Liu, was right there in her WeChat contacts.

Zhang Xiaoyu stared at the name. Her fingers trembled so badly that several times, she failed to tap it. Finally, she gritted her teeth and opened the chat.

“Teacher Liu, we locked Lin Wansu in the warehouse behind the school.”

Her hands were shaking too badly to type, so she could only lower her voice and record a rambling voice message, “We only wanted to scare her. We really didn’t mean any harm. Who knew the warehouse would suddenly catch fire? By the time we noticed, the flames had already reached the entrance. We really didn’t do it on purpose…”

She continued pleading, “Teacher, please go check on her quickly. Please don’t tell anyone I was the one who told you. I’m begging you…”

The instant the voice message showed that it had been successfully sent, Zhang Xiaoyu felt as though every ounce of strength had drained from her body. She immediately turned off her phone, crouched in the corner with her knees hugged to her chest, and began shedding huge tears.

Meanwhile, inside the villa’s underground examination room, the automatic doors opened once again, and a nurse wheeled Lin Wansu out.

An oxygen mask still covered her face, and a pulse oximeter was clipped to her finger. Her face, which had originally been smeared with soot, had been cleaned considerably, revealing a weak, almost bloodless pallor.

Chen Xu had already finished having the injuries on his back treated and was sitting in a chair with a cold compress against his ankle. The moment he saw Lin Wansu being wheeled out, he immediately tried to stand.

However, as soon as his foot touched the floor, a sharp burst of pain shot up from his ankle. Left with no choice, he sat back down.

“Young Master, please don’t move around,” the nurse said, belatedly reaching out to support his arm. “Although your ankle isn’t fractured, the ligament is mildly strained. It would be best if you didn’t walk on it tonight.”

“How is she?” Chen Xu completely ignored his own ankle, his gaze fixed on the examination report in Dr. Zhou’s hands.

Dr. Zhou removed his mask, and his tone finally became more relaxed. “There’s no obvious trauma to her lungs, and her blood oxygen level has returned to normal. Her carboxyhemoglobin level was elevated at first, but it dropped very quickly. She’s no longer in any serious danger.”

“Are you sure there aren’t any other problems?”

“We’ve performed every examination we can at the moment.” Dr. Zhou turned to the next page. “Miss Lin mainly inhaled some smoke, and combined with physical exhaustion and severe fright, that caused the dizziness and weakness. There are no burns to her mouth, nose, or airway. The abrasions on her arms aren’t serious either. They’ve been cleaned and disinfected, so there’s no need for stitches.”

Only then did the tension finally leave Chen Xu’s shoulders. “That’s good.”

Lin Wansu looked at him through her oxygen mask, and the expression in her eyes softened as well.

Dr. Zhou then handed another examination report to Han Zheng. “Young Master Chen’s injuries look rather frightening, but they’re actually superficial. Most of the injuries on his back are soft-tissue contusions caused by the doorframe striking him, along with a few abrasions and minor burns. The injuries on his palms and knees are also only abrasions.”

He continued, “All the wounds have already been cleaned and disinfected. He only needs to have the dressings changed on time over the next few days. Make sure the wounds don’t get wet, and avoid strenuous activity.”

After hearing this, the anxiety that had weighed on Han Zheng throughout the entire journey finally eased. If Chen Xu had actually injured his bones or spine and been left with some lasting complications, Han Zheng wouldn’t even know how to explain it to Chen Xi.

Dr. Zhou looked at Chen Xu, then turned toward Lin Wansu. “It would be best for Miss Lin to stay at the villa for observation tonight. Excessive smoke inhalation can sometimes cause delayed symptoms. We’ll check her blood oxygen level again after midnight. If there are no abnormalities, she should be able to resume normal activity tomorrow morning.”

“Then she’ll stay here,” Chen Xu said, looking at Lin Wansu and making the decision without a second thought.

Lin Wansu had originally wanted to refuse.

Right now, what she wanted most was to return to that shabby rented apartment, hold her younger sister tightly, and cry until all the fear and pain buried inside her finally poured out. She wanted the comfort of her sister’s embrace to soothe the wounds covering her body.

But she couldn’t do that.

She didn’t want her sister to know what had happened. She didn’t want Lin Wanning to worry, and even more importantly, she didn’t want her to confront those animals.

Knowing Lin Wanning’s personality, if she ever discovered everything He Man and the others had done to her over the past few years, she might genuinely grab a knife and fight them to the death.

They had already graduated and were about to step into a brighter future. There was no reason to create even more trouble now.

Besides, her phone was gone anyway. She could simply wait until all her wounds had been properly treated tonight, change into clean clothes at Chen Xu’s place, and then appear before her sister tomorrow morning as though nothing had happened.

Then the two of them could check their college entrance examination scores together and share their happiness.

That was the best solution.

With that thought, Lin Wansu nodded. “Sorry to trouble you.”

Once the doctor confirmed that neither of them had suffered any serious injuries, the tense atmosphere in the examination room finally eased.

The nurse finished treating the wounds on Lin Wansu’s arms, then brought over a clean blanket and draped it over her torn and ragged school uniform.

Lin Wansu lowered her eyes toward the soft, snow-white blanket. She carefully pinched one corner between her fingers, afraid that she might smear too much soot onto its pristine surface.

Before long, a housekeeper arrived carrying a brand-new bathrobe, pajamas, and a completely new set of toiletries.

“Miss Lin, these have all been prepared for you.”

Lin Wansu visibly froze when she heard the way the housekeeper addressed her.

No one had ever called her that before.

She hadn’t paid much attention when the doctors addressed her that way earlier, but now she realized that, aside from Chen Xu, everyone in this villa seemed to call her Miss Lin.

At school, He Man and the others often called her “pauper” or “trash picker.” When she worked part-time, even at his most polite, the store manager merely called her Little Lin. Whenever her landlord came demanding rent, he always called her by her full name.

Yet now, the neatly dressed housekeeper standing before her, a woman considerably older than she was, was politely addressing her as Miss Lin.

Feeling awkward and somewhat overwhelmed, Lin Wansu accepted the things from the housekeeper. “Thank you.”

The fabric of the pajamas was incredibly soft, so light beneath her fingers that it almost seemed weightless. Although the price tag had already been removed, Lin Wansu could tell at a glance that this was definitely not something she could normally afford.

“Isn’t this expensive?”

“Not at all.” Sitting in a wheelchair, Chen Xu lied without the slightest change in expression. “It’s just a spare set we had at home. It would only gather dust if no one wore it.”

The housekeeper glanced at Chen Xu but did not expose his lie.

She had just retrieved the pajamas from the spare clothing room on the first floor. Although they could hardly be considered extravagant, they were certainly not cheap.

“I’ll wash them after I wear them and return them to you.”

“Why would you return a pair of pajamas?” Chen Xu frowned. “After you’ve worn them, who else am I supposed to give them to? Stop worrying about pointless things.”

“Then I’ll pay you back someday.”

“Fine. Take your time paying me back.”

Chen Xu couldn’t be bothered to argue with her any further, so he gestured for the nurse to take her to a guest room on the second floor.

Since his injured ankle made walking inconvenient, he had no choice but to remain in the wheelchair for the time being. Another nurse pushed him into the elevator.

Lin Wansu sat in another wheelchair beside him.

The elevator’s polished walls gleamed like mirrors, clearly reflecting their current appearances.

One had gauze wrapped around his back, with injuries covering his palms and knees. The other had a pale face and arms mottled with bruises.

Neither of them looked particularly presentable.

Lin Wansu gazed at Chen Xu’s reflection in the mirrored wall. After a moment, she softly asked, “Why did you come to save me?”

Chen Xu’s heart skipped a beat.

‘That’s really not an easy question to answer.’

He certainly couldn’t tell her that he had transmigrated into a novel, knew that she was supposed to die tonight, and even knew that her younger sister would eventually ruin him financially, leaving him penniless.

“I happened to be passing by.”

“You just happened to be passing by the school warehouse in the middle of the night while carrying a fire extinguisher?”

Lin Wansu might have had a gentle personality, but she wasn’t stupid.

“…”

Chen Xu rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I heard there was a fire at the school, so I went over to take a look. Is that so strange?”

“Then how did you know I was inside the warehouse?”

“Lin Wansu, why do you have so many questions?” Unable to think of any convincing excuse, Chen Xu deliberately hardened his expression. “I already rescued you. You can’t seriously expect me to send you back there now, can you?”

Lin Wansu froze at his words. Then she lowered her head, but the corners of her lips quietly curved into the faintest smile.

It was the first time she had smiled since being rescued from the warehouse.

Chen Xu happened to catch that smile in the elevator’s mirrored wall, and for some inexplicable reason, his heart missed a beat.

Lin Wansu’s face still wasn’t completely clean, and her hair remained messy and disheveled. Yet when those almond-shaped eyes curved ever so slightly, there was still such a gentle warmth in them that it was difficult to look away.

Chen Xu hurriedly turned his face aside and pretended to study the electric wheelchair beneath him.

When the elevator reached the second floor, the housekeeper led Lin Wansu into the guest room beside Chen Xu’s master bedroom.