After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 12

Banquet

The Proper Manner.

When Lin Xingzhu arrived at the charity gala venue under the guidance of an attendant, many people were already there.

She glanced around and could see many familiar faces.

The one representing the Lin family was Father Lin’s special assistant. When he saw Lin Xingzhu from afar, he nodded at her in acknowledgment.

Lin Xingzhu nodded back and then averted her gaze, following the attendant to her name card.

Suddenly, she felt a gaze filled with malice.

Lin Xingzhu sharply looked over and met Qiao Zijin’s gaze, which she hadn’t retracted in time.

Her thoughts churned slightly, but her expression remained unchanged. The long, elegant dress perfectly showcased her beautiful figure. She walked with unhurried grace, her temperament calm and outstanding, which made Qiao Zijin’s eyes almost unable to contain their jealousy and hatred.

She had never imagined there would come a day when she would be jealous of Lin Xingzhu!

Qiao Zijin’s eyes were bloodshot with hatred, not only because of Bai Xiying, but also because of what had happened that day in the dimly lit private room.

She had been humiliated by Lin Xingzhu time and time again. The hatred of having her love stolen, the enmity from the humiliation—she would absolutely never let Lin Xingzhu off!

The person in front of her raised a glass of champagne, about to turn back and drink with Qiao Zijin, but then saw her faintly crazed expression. Startled, the person immediately turned back around, not daring to speak.

What’s wrong with this Young Miss Qiao? Could she have some hidden madness? he wondered inwardly.

Thinking this, he instantly felt a chill run down his spine and inconspicuously moved a little further away from her.

As soon as Lin Xingzhu sat down in her seat, she immediately received a barrage of appraising gazes.

Tonight’s charity gala was a gathering of celebrities. The wealthy circle in A City wasn’t too large or too small; any bit of news or gossip from any family was sure to spread everywhere.

A while ago, it was rumored that the Young Miss of the Lin family was an ignorant good-for-nothing who went around picking up girls. Later, there were faint rumors that she had mended her ways and turned over a new leaf, and was now working properly. But that wasn’t the most important thing. Their gazes shifted between Lin Xingzhu and Qiao Zijin. Had they heard correctly that Young Miss Lin had beaten up Young Miss Qiao?

There’s no smoke without fire¹. And looking at Young Miss Qiao’s expression, it seemed there was indeed something to it.

These people were watching the drama subtly. Lin Xingzhu, naturally, didn’t have the ability to read minds. She could only sense something from everyone’s small gestures. Recalling Qiao Zijin’s earlier expression, her brows furrowed slightly, but then relaxed a moment later.

She’d cross that bridge when she came to it². It wasn’t as if she had to treat Qiao Zijin like a formidable enemy the moment she saw her.

When Bai Xiying followed Mu Muqing into the hall, the first thing she saw was Lin Xingzhu’s noble and indifferent back. In the banquet hall filled with clinking glasses and crisscrossing toasts³, she seemed no different from others, yet also different in every way.

Her vision blurred for a moment. Such a posture and temperament could actually appear on Lin Xingzhu.

However, once she remembered who was inside this shell⁴ now, it became understandable.

Bai Xiying lowered her gaze and obediently followed behind Mu Muqing.

Mu Muqing turned back, her voice full of concern, “Tonight’s gala is just a formality for us. Although there are many people, stick with me. If anything happens, you can tell me directly.”

Besides people from the wealthy circles, the charity gala also invited some outstanding professionals from other fields. Mu Muqing, as an excellent designer whose career was booming, was naturally among them.

After receiving the invitation, Mu Muqing didn’t think twice and immediately called Bai Xiying to her office to invite her to be her female companion for the event.

Sitting in her office, Mu Muqing’s posture was calm as she unhurriedly stated her request. She appeared gentle and polite, but Bai Xiying, seeing the undisguised aura she exuded and the decorations in the office that clearly distinguished her status from an ordinary employee, smiled faintly. “Alright.”

Now, hearing Mu Muqing’s concern, she lowered her head slightly and said, “Alright.”

Hearing this, Mu Muqing frowned almost imperceptibly.

She looked at Bai Xiying, who always maintained a distance of ten centimeters from her, not too close and not too far. She felt a bit helpless and suspected, had Bai Xiying understood her hint?

But seeing that Bai Xiying still hadn’t reached out to take her arm, it seemed she really hadn’t noticed anything.

When Mu Muqing turned away with a hint of regret to socialize, Bai Xiying finally lifted her head. Looking at Mu Muqing’s straight back, a cold sneer appeared on her lips.

Lin Xingzhu blinked, suspecting she had seen wrong. Did she just see Bai Xiying sneering at Mu Muqing?

When she focused her gaze again, there was no cold sneer. Bai Xiying was docilely following Mu Muqing, and the atmosphere between them seemed harmonious as they spoke. From afar, an uninformed onlooker would truly believe they were a well-matched couple.

“President Lin?” A woman followed her gaze and understood instantly. “Isn’t that the boss of Hurricane Studio? I’ve never seen her bring anyone with her to banquets before. It seems this girl by her side is quite special.”

Lin Xingzhu’s brow didn’t twitch; she didn’t respond.

But she unexpectedly recalled Bai Xiying’s captivating and soul-stirring voice from a few days ago.

Seeing Lin Xingzhu didn’t speak, the woman tactfully changed the subject. “I heard Xingyuan is developing a new game?” She asked, not minding whether Lin Xingzhu answered, and continued, “I met President Sun earlier, and she mentioned that Xingyuan plans to outsource all the art design aspects of this new game’s development?”

This wasn’t a secret, so Lin Xingzhu nodded.

The woman smiled at once. “I saw you keep looking at President Mu. Are you perhaps interested in Hurricane Studio?”

Lin Xingzhu glanced at her and didn’t hide anything. “Not really. The company is still evaluating options and hasn’t leaned towards any particular one yet.”

The woman, Wu Qitai⁵, visibly relaxed. She had a friend in this line of work who had heard Xingyuan’s latest news and asked her to casually inquire about it.

Now that she heard Xingyuan hadn’t decided yet, her friend could naturally compete for it—even if Hurricane Studio’s reputation was too great and its capabilities too strong.

Lin Xingzhu tapped the table, wondering if this event had happened in the original novel.

Probably not. In the original novel, actual plot-progressing content only accounted for about twenty percent. The rest was all love-hate entanglements and fancy smut scenes⁶.

The Lin Xingzhu in the original novel, after appearing in the first chapter to drug someone to advance the plot, was offline⁷ for a period in the early stages. Moreover, given the original owner’s way of doing things, it was impossible for her to work at Xingyuan, so the novel naturally wouldn’t mention these things.

However, based on the company’s current attitude after market research and work evaluation, choosing Hurricane Studio seemed highly probable.

After all, Xingyuan had always had a good reputation for its games; the only controversial aspect had always been its various CG designs. Even internally at Xingyuan, it felt quite bizarre. It was one thing for their original designers to have such aesthetics, but how did designers who had exquisite art styles and good taste before joining, once they entered Xingyuan, also produce finished products that strangely and rapidly synchronized with the company’s original art style?

Could it be due to some special feng shui?

Gamers cursed the company’s bizarre aesthetics on the official website every day, angrily flaming⁸ the company for taking money and not doing its job—for not hiring talented designers with good taste and just slacking off every day.

But the company itself felt extremely wronged!

They did hire! They did spend money! They also wanted to make games with beautiful and captivating art styles, but reality just didn’t allow it!

That’s why this time, the entire company, from top to bottom, had decisively decided to outsource the entire art team for the new game. Even the internal art team raised both hands in approval of outsourcing—they really wanted to see if anyone could break the curse.

Lin Xingzhu calmly took a sip of champagne. Her light-colored pupils reflected a crystalline glimmer under the brilliant lights. Bai Xiying’s gaze swept over those eyes, as vast and gentle as the ocean, and her heart stirred slightly.

She followed beside Mu Muqing, watching as the distance to Lin Xingzhu grew shorter and shorter.

Walking up to her, Mu Muqing looked at Lin Xingzhu, who showed no initiative to greet her. A glint flickered in Mu Muqing’s eyes as she extended her hand. “President Lin.”

She addressed Lin Xingzhu but didn’t introduce herself.

A faint light swirled in Lin Xingzhu’s eyes. What an extremely confident person, she thought. Confident that even without introducing herself, others would surely recognize her.

Lin Xingzhu hadn’t disliked confident people before. What she had always disliked were those who were overly confident to the point of arrogance, or those whose extreme confidence wasn’t backed by sufficient capability.

Later, after leaving the Qin Clan⁹, her status changed, and her perspective naturally shifted as well. Thus, another criterion was added to Lin Xingzhu’s standards for disliking confident people—those who were hypocritical.

According to the original novel’s description, Mu Muqing was clearly teetering on the edge of this judgment line. However, given Lin Xingzhu’s previous interactions with Bai Xiying, whose personality seemed to differ somewhat from what was written in the original novel, relying on the original character settings for judgment also seemed problematic.

Lin Xingzhu’s attitude remained calm and composed as she extended her hand and returned the handshake briefly.

After shaking Mu Muqing’s hand, she turned her head, her gaze falling on Bai Xiying, who stood silently beside Mu Muqing.

She was very beautiful today. The light pink gown she wore added a soft, rosy hue to her already snow-white skin, and her complexion looked much better. Her eyes were crystal clear and bright. Looking closely, Lin Xingzhu found that she resembled a plump, juicy honey peach, exuding a fragrant, sweet aura.

Considering Bai Xiying’s current status, Lin Xingzhu merely glanced at her briefly, then extended her hand and said, “Hello.”

She didn’t introduce herself, but unlike with Mu Muqing, it was because they already knew each other.

However, if she had directly greeted her with “Long time no see,” Lin Xingzhu wasn’t sure if it would make Bai Xiying unhappy—after all, her status seemed to have changed, and even small issues in a relationship could seemingly cause lovers to argue.

Lin Xingzhu had never been in a relationship, but after the true young miss of the Qin family returned home, she had witnessed such arguments several times. Back then, Qin Siming¹⁰ had even said that Lin Xingzhu could first watch their quarrels to learn, so she would have experience later on.

What did Lin Xingzhu think at the time? Naturally, she politely declined. She felt that as long as people had mouths and could communicate normally, why must they resort to arguing to understand each other?

Love, truly incomprehensible.

However, despite thinking this, when she saw Bai Xiying, she still subconsciously chose a way to greet her that couldn’t be faulted.

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