Chapter 70 – Extra: The Wedding (Including the Eldest Brother’s Arc)
Meng Xueyuan had already finished filming the high-altitude scenes and took a moment to reply to him: “Scheming and infighting?”
The three of you brothers, plus Dad—can you really be outmaneuvered by others?
Lu Xiao said, “Deep waters and raging fire. I need my wife to come be my secretary.”
He was truly envious of his eldest and second brothers, who could go in and out of work together with their wives. He’d been blinded by their public displays of affection. Every time this happened, he regretted not being in the same profession as his wife.
Doctor Meng diagnosed Lu Xiao with lovesickness and soothed him: “In a few months, when the baby’s a bit bigger, I’ll pause work and go to the company to keep you company, okay?”
Lu Xiao immediately reflected—how could he make his pregnant wife turn around and comfort him? This kind of “can’t win so I call my wife to back me up” behavior was really lame.
He straightened up and said, “Thank you, my wife. Actually, the Lu Group is thriving, internally united. Being CEO is as easy as eating a meal.”
Meng Xueyuan asked, “Have you eaten?”
Lu Xiao: “I have.”
Meng Xueyuan: “I don’t think you have. Go eat quickly—the cafeteria’s about to run out. Remember to send me a photo.”
Lu Xiao had no choice but to obediently go eat. He carefully picked three dishes and a soup, arranged them nicely, took a photo, and sent it to Meng Xueyuan.
Meng Xueyuan sent him a heart emoji.
Lu Xiao suddenly felt twenty years younger, as if he’d gone back to being four years old, eating lunch at kindergarten while Meng Xueyuan coaxed him not to be picky.
When he first arrived in the southwest, the food there was very different from Nan Cheng’s, and he couldn’t get used to it. A regular kindergarten’s lunches were just cooked by an aunt according to her own taste.
Meng Xueyuan would scoop vegetables from his bowl and feed him:
“Brother, try this too,”
“Brother, have a taste of this one.”
With all those “brother”s, Lu Xiao had never developed picky eating in his life—he could eat anything and grew up strong and healthy.
His wife was really too healing.
After finishing his meal, Lu Xiao worked hard. He needed to work well, then apply for paternity leave.
…
Big Brother Lu discovered that at work, he simply couldn’t keep up with his secretary.
He’d always been steady, favoring subtlety, but Bai He—having observed the Lu brothers’ wife-chasing histories—had long since quietly learned how to hold an umbrella.
When Lu Lou said he wanted to book a romantic restaurant for dinner after work, Bai He said he had a private engagement later and going there would be a detour.
When Lu Lou said he wanted to change to a new clothing line and wear matching outfits with his secretary like his second brother, Bai He said no—Lu Group’s CEO needed to maintain a consistent public image, forming a fixed symbol representing the company.
A secretary values efficiency, and romance is the least efficient thing of all.
The secretary controlled the CEO’s food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Lu Lou suddenly realized he didn’t actually have much freedom to pursue someone—because everything had to go through his secretary.
Lu Lou: “…” How am I supposed to woo anyone like this?
He had to break free from the circle where everything was arranged by the secretary—but breaking free meant reclaiming Bai He’s authority.
Lu Lou didn’t want to do that.
So, in one decisive move, Young Master Lu fell ill. Now he didn’t have to listen to anyone—only the doctor.
The doctor said he needed rest, so rest it was. But he was the CEO; he couldn’t just abandon the group. He still needed the secretary to report company developments to him in real time.
Bai He had no choice but to keep him company at the rehabilitation center.
But in truth, there wasn’t much to report—the company had plenty of people running it.
The suite at the high-end rehab center was very comfortable, one person per room. Bai He was forced into a vacation.
Lu Lou waited two days, until the secretary had cleared all work from his mind. Otherwise, any non-work-related words would be automatically bounced by the firewall in Bai He’s head.
On the third day, Lu Lou finally said, “Bai He, I’m pursuing you.”
Bai He: “I know.”
Lu Lou: “Can we process this item now?”
Bai He: “…” He was indeed very idle right now. His thinking brain automatically accepted the instruction and began running the processing workflow.
After thinking for a moment, he said, “President Lu, I don’t recommend following trends.”
The bee clan was unusual, but not so alluring that one had to follow the trend and get a little bee.
Lu Lou: “Following trends?” Fine—he knew it. Being behind his brothers never led to anything good.
“I’m not following a trend. I’ve said more than once that as long as I’m at the Lu Group, you’ll be by my side. Before, I hadn’t thought it through. I was too busy with work and thought what I needed was a secretary.”
“What I actually need… is you.”
Bai He declined, “I don’t think I’m qualified for the new position.”
Lu Lou said, “You help my dad schedule meetings, help my third brother handle social engagements, help my second brother cover up office romance… You’re so good at internal family coordination—and even though it all ends up being assigned to me—doesn’t that have the bearing of a wealthy family’s eldest sister-in-law?”
Bai He: “…”
Lu Lou stood up from the wheelchair he’d been using for show and faced Bai He directly.
“You’ve already done very well.”
Bai He took a small step back. “I’m frigid.”
Lu Lou said, “I don’t mind. I don’t have much time for sex anyway.”
Bai He retreated all the way to the wall.
…
By the time Meng Xueyuan finished filming this project, it was already December and the weather was gradually turning cold.
In the first three months, the changes in his lower abdomen weren’t obvious at all. Whether in fitted T-shirts or period costumes, his waist remained slender, as if modeled in 3D.
When there finally was a slight curve, winter had already arrived. Hoodies or loose-cut suits could easily hide that tiny bit of belly.
He and Lu Xiao had agreed on the variety show Harmony of Marriage to hold their wedding on May 18 two years later. But now that he was pregnant, next year’s May 18 would fall in late pregnancy, and holding a wedding would be too exhausting. So they moved it to before the Spring Festival.
Autumn harvest, winter storage—this was when the clan members were the most idle. On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, when all the worker bees were on holiday, he and Lu Xiao held a small wedding in Baihua Village.
After the first phase of new houses was renovated and aired out, all the clan members moved in together to squeeze for a bit, and then all the old houses were torn down.
When Lu Xiao wanted to hold the wedding, he couldn’t resist bribing the project director, Lin Xilan, to “loan” him a sum of money and bring in more construction teams.
As long as the money was in place, miracles could happen in construction. In the last few months of the year, phases three and four—which were originally planned to take three years—were rapidly topped out and had their exterior finishes completed. Only after that could the village roads, which had been battered into potholes by trucks, be rebuilt.
The entire village was completely renewed—good enough to compete for “Most Beautiful Village” or appear on some prosperity-promotion TV programs.
In fact, a similar program really did want to interview Baihua Village. The reporter came and asked the villagers what their secret to getting rich and staying united was.
Aunt Taohua, bold and straightforward, stammered in front of the camera:“Because… we have an industrial base here.”
“What industry?” the reporter asked pointedly.
“The beekeeping industry. Everyone’s welcome to buy honey from our village—purely natural, no additives, a hundred years of craftsmanship, dedicated solely to making honey…”
Reporter: “Is honey really that profitable?”
Aunt Taohua: “Not really. Our village took out a loan of 150 million.”
The reporter left in disappointment.
Aunt Taohua let out a sigh of relief. She couldn’t exactly say it was a CEO’s wife training base.
When Meng Xueyuan returned home close to the Spring Festival, he finally learned that Baihua Village was carrying debt of 150 million.
But many CEOs expressed willingness to help pay it off—as long as they could integrate into this big family.
Lu Lou offered 50 million, Fu Jin 50 million, Gu Yunlang 50 million—just like that, it could all be paid off.
Meng Xueyuan refused their kindness. Worker bees should pursue things themselves—there were no shortcuts.
Xiang Jin was constantly questioned by his employer about his relationship with the worker bees. Too lazy to explain, he even thought about quitting. As a result, he accidentally drank a bit of alcohol and did something beyond the scope of his three-thousand-a-month salary.
After that, Fu Jin never asked again about his relationship with the worker bees.
The reason was simple—Xiang Jin was scared stiff in bed; there was no need to worry about him having anything going on with others.
This job… might as well muddle through. But later… Xiang Jin wanted to quit again, because it was “too tiring.”
Then, at that critical moment, the queen bee announced he had a baby.
The two lazy uncles continued working with tears in their eyes. Please—they were the only two male-bee uncles! For the sake of buying gold for the baby, they could endure a few more months.
The day before the wedding, Lu Xiao airlifted in an entire sea of flowers.
He had booked them in advance with the flower farmers, requiring that no pesticides be used during cultivation. Even if the leaves and shapes weren’t perfect, they had to be completely natural and pollution-free.
As soon as the fresh flowers arrived, the bees—somewhat lethargic in winter—suddenly burst out of their hives, one after another, buzzing and circling among the flowers. Everywhere was bustling with activity.
For the queen bee’s wedding, Lu Xiao invited tens of thousands of bees.
He didn’t think holding the wedding in Baihua Village was lacking in grandeur. He could have staged a century-defining wedding in the center of Nan Cheng, but the bees probably wouldn’t have happily come.
Who else could invite so many guests to a wedding like he could?
Lu Xiao also bought a large amount of pollen to feed the bees.
All rituals followed Baihua Village customs. He invited relatives and friends to attend, and Meng Xueyuan invited a few friends from the industry—people he’d met on dating variety shows.
There weren’t many outsiders; most of the guests at the banquet were from the bee clan.
Both grooms were truly handsome. Attending the wedding of both the queen bee and the flower god at once, people didn’t know whether to watch the dishes coming out of the chef team or to watch Lu Xiao—appearing for the first time in a tailored suit, elegant and refined. Everyone felt a bit unaccustomed.
The queen bee truly had good taste.
Meng Xueyuan was pregnant, and the clan members were very concerned about his health. They gathered to discuss who should be assigned as caretaker bees. No matter how rich the Lu family was, the queen bee’s baby couldn’t be cared for solely by them.
Big Brother Lu and Second Brother Lu held their breath.
As expected, Lin Xilan said, “I’ve already obtained a maternity-nanny certificate.”
Bai He said, “I’ll assist Xilan.”
The two brothers’ vision went black—were they about to lose their secretaries again for a while?
Lu Xiao admired his two brothers’ expressions long enough before saying, “I’ve already agreed with Yuanyuan to move back home in March.”
For the first time, Lu Xiao wasn’t confident in his own abilities. The further along the pregnancy went, the more he felt his knowledge was lacking. He urgently wanted guidance and help from Shen Ning.
Meng Xueyuan worried that Lu Xiao was overly anxious, so he lightly troubled Shen Ning and agreed to move back to the Lu family home when he was seven months pregnant.
Lu Yushu immediately understood and announced, “I’ll move back home too.”
If Lin Xilan wanted to conveniently care for the queen bee, living at the Lu house was the easiest option. And if Lu Yushu moved back at this time, wouldn’t that be cohabitation by stealth?
Lu Lou pondered for a moment. “Since you’re all moving back, if I don’t move back too, wouldn’t that be unfilial?”
With proximity comes opportunity—this time, he would definitely get a clear answer from Bai He.
All three brothers had moved out as soon as they came of age, yet after getting wives, they all ran back home one by one.
Lu Fengge felt a headache coming on.
Under the table, Shen Ning nudged his foot. “Congratulations, President Lu. Family bliss—smile a bit.”
Lu Fengge replied, “Mm. I couldn’t ask for more.”
Shen Ning happily went to discuss things with Meng Xueyuan.
“Do you like the home’s soft furnishings? We can change them in advance.”
“And Bai He and Xilan—the décor on the eldest and second floors is too cold. What styles do you like?”
The little bees said, “Everything’s fine.”
Mainly, the big flower garden at the front door was already enough to attract bees—what more could they want?
Dispatching caretaker bees was a gesture of the bee clan’s goodwill. As long as they lived together, it was fine. With Lu Xiao there, the secretaries could still go to work during the day and simply come back after work to check that the queen bee was safe.
…
After the New Year, Meng Xueyuan paused his activities in the entertainment industry, telling the public it was for self-improvement.
Sometimes he read professional books at home; sometimes he went to the Lu Group building to watch Lu Xiao work. Fans said they wanted to hear his voice, so he recorded a short segment of weather knowledge every day and posted it on his account, as if he’d gone from actor to radio host.
As he kept recording, voice-acting invitations actually started coming in.
Lu Xiao watched helplessly as his wife spent less and less time coming to his office to be his secretary, and sighed in resignation. A multi-talented wife would never lack work.
And besides—his wife was really good at being a secretary.
Young Master Lu the Third offered a monthly salary of one million, finally earning Meng Xueyuan’s favor again.
Meng Xueyuan accompanied Lu Xiao to work—or rather, Lu Xiao could only work with peace of mind when he saw him.
Back then, he’d mocked his two brothers as useless men who couldn’t live without their secretaries. Sure enough, uselessness ran in the family.
Meng Xueyuan suffered no hardship during the pregnancy. Apart from inconvenience later on when his belly grew large, his reactions were far milder than during the previous two fake pregnancies.
The little baby, who didn’t torment Dad at all, arrived in this world on a day in June.
Visiting clan members all sensed bee spiritual energy, but with multiple bloodlines mixed together, it was still impossible to tell which bee-clan branch it belonged to.
“Like a cute worker-bee baby.”
“Also like a queen-bee baby.”
Shen Ning said too, “Like a little flower god.”
Lu Fengge said, “Like a little vine.”
Lu Xiao, feeling like an ordinary person who’d wandered into an ABO world, paused for a moment.
“Like the child of Yuanyuan and me.”
