After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 14

Picking the Lock

“Ma’am, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

What did that look mean?

Lin Xingzhu sat in her spot, her eyes fixed on the slender figure melting into the crowd as she sank into thought.

Mu Muqing was turning her head to introduce someone to Bai Xiying. One in pink, one in black, they looked like a perfect match standing side by side.

However, after witnessing their dynamic up close, Lin Xingzhu began to suspect that the two might not be dating at all, but were simply in a physical relationship.

From her angle, Bai Xiying seemed perfectly normal, being led around by Mu Muqing to chat with people.

Suddenly, she saw Bai Xiying’s body sway. Mu Muqing caught her just in time, the distance between them inadvertently closing as she pulled her steady.

Just as she thought it was a small accident, Lin Xingzhu noticed that a waiter who had been walking behind them was startled by the small commotion. He lost his grip on his tray, and the last glass of wine on it spilled all over Bai Xiying’s dress.

A brief moment of chaos erupted in front of them.

She drew in a sharp breath, a sudden feeling of déjà vu washing over her.

—A party, and accidentally getting a drink spilled on you.

As if a keyword had been triggered, Lin Xingzhu couldn’t help but wonder if the next step would be someone leading her away to change out of her soiled clothes.

“…?”

Watching a waiter suddenly appear and seem to be saying something humbly to Bai Xiying, Lin Xingzhu then noticed Bai Xiying follow the person away.

So she really was being led away to change her clothes?

Putting these key points together, no matter how you looked at it, the situation felt unsettling.

—Even though this was an incredibly common occurrence at banquets.

Suddenly, Lin Xingzhu’s brow furrowed.

Behind a towering column diagonally across from her stood a familiar face. She was too far away to see Qiao Zijin’s expression clearly, but from her position, Lin Xingzhu could deduce that her gaze had been fixed on the spot where Bai Xiying had been standing before she left.

A chill abruptly rose up her back.

When Lin Xingzhu watched, without blinking, as Qiao Zijin left in the same direction as Bai Xiying, that chill had already reached its peak.

Something flashed before her eyes.

—A vast expanse of faint red.

That look from Bai Xiying before she left!

Lin Xingzhu suddenly understood everything.

A party, getting a drink spilled on her, being led away to change—if you added the factors of a covetous party and drugging to these keywords, it all connected into a single thread.

If she hadn’t transmigrated into this book, Lin Xingzhu would have seen such a plot and complained about how dog blood¹ and cliché it was. Who even watches such tired plots these days? But when the person involved was Bai Xiying, she could no longer remain calm.

Frost instantly formed in the depths of Lin Xingzhu’s eyes. Without a second word, she stood up and gave chase.

After a few steps, Lin Xingzhu changed course, striding over to Mu Muqing with an icy expression and pulling her away from the person she was talking to.

If it really was drugging, and an antidote was truly needed, perhaps Mu Muqing could be of help.

Her expression was frigid, and she exuded a sharp, unapproachable aura. Seeing her like this, many people on her path subconsciously cleared a path for her.

Mu Muqing’s wrist was seized without preamble. She stumbled along behind her, indignation flared in her heart. “President Lin, what are you doing?!”

Seeing Lin Xingzhu didn’t answer, she struggled while being involuntarily dragged along at a brisk pace, and her voice dripped with resentful sarcasm. “President Lin, aren’t you afraid of losing your composure in front of everyone!”

What kind of madness has gotten into this Lin Xingzhu!

Mu Muqing cursed inwardly, furious. For some reason, Lin Xingzhu’s strength was surprisingly great, like being trapped in a steel vise; she couldn’t break free no matter how she struggled.

Once they were in a less crowded area, Lin Xingzhu finally said coldly, “Something’s happened to Bai Xiying.”

If it weren’t for the fact that Mu Muqing might have an intimate relationship with Bai Xiying and could help her, why would she have bothered turning back to grab her?

Mu Muqing froze, her struggles easing.

Then, a hint of suspicion crept in. “You’re not lying to me, are you?”

She had heard that the old Lin Xingzhu was a hedonistic scion² who lived for pleasure. If she was interested in Bai Xiying, dragging her away to a secluded spot to teach her a lesson while Bai Xiying was gone seemed like something Lin Xingzhu would do.

Lin Xingzhu let out a short laugh and glanced back at her, but there was not a trace of mirth in her eyes.

Mu Muqing: “…”

Her face stiffened slightly, anger flashing in her eyes.

Seeing that she had stopped struggling, Lin Xingzhu released her hand. In a few quick strides, she darted to the corner of a side wall and grabbed the waiter who was about to slip away quietly.

“Where is she?” Lin Xingzhu grabbed the familiar-looking man and asked coldly. “Where did you take the woman in the pink dress just now?”

The waiter was shoved against the wall, the back of his head tingling from the impact. He put on an innocent face. “Ma’am, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The moment he finished speaking, his collar was abruptly seized, choking him and making it hard to breathe.

Seeing his determination to deny it to the death, Lin Xingzhu sneered, “Whatever benefits Qiao Zijin gave you, you should consider whether you’ll even have a chance to enjoy them.”

When she mentioned Qiao Zijin’s name so directly, the waiter’s eyes began to shift, and the innocent look on his face nearly crumbled.

Lin Xingzhu didn’t waste any more words on him. “Are you sure you won’t talk?” she said coldly. “It seems you’re dead set on offending the Lins.”

“I just wonder if Qiao Zijin can protect you,” she said faintly, releasing her grip.

The Qiaos and the Lins were evenly matched, but Qiao Zijin wasn’t the only future heir to the Qiao family. Everyone knew that Father Qiao was endlessly promiscuous, and his illegitimate children were more troublesome than the last.

Unfavored by her father and unloved by her mother, Qiao Zijin’s position was very precarious.

But the Lins… they only had one heir with a stable position.

At this thought, the waiter, who hadn’t expected Lin Xingzhu to get involved, turned pale. Seeing Lin Xingzhu bypass him and start to leave, he hurriedly shouted, “I know! I know where she is!”

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Lin Xingzhu stopped in front of a black wooden door and glanced up at the waiter who had followed them.

“I-I don’t have a key either,” the waiter stammered under her intensely pressuring gaze.

Mu Muqing tried the door a couple of times and found it really was locked. Her expression turned grim. “I’ll go get someone to open the door.”

Lin Xingzhu looked at the tightly shut door and murmured, “I’m afraid it’ll be too late.”

If Bai Xiying had really been drugged, she was likely dosed the moment she drank the champagne Mu Muqing had handed her.

So much time had passed; the drug’s effects should be in full swing by now. And it seemed Qiao Zijin had learned her lesson from last time. The door was shut tight—a heavy, solid wooden door. No matter how strong Lin Xingzhu was, she couldn’t possibly kick down this highly secure black door.

Lin Xingzhu turned and asked the two, “Which of you has a wire on you?”

Mu Muqing was stunned. Who attends a banquet carrying a wire for no reason?!

The waiter hastily pulled a coil of wire from his pocket, his voice trembling. “I do.”

Taking the wire, Lin Xingzhu gave him a look with an unreadable meaning.

That one look made the waiter tremble inwardly. He didn’t carry a wire in his pocket for any illegal activities; it was simply a personal quirk, a purely personal preference.

Mu Muqing was astonished. “You’re going to pick the lock with a wire?”

“Mhm,” Lin Xingzhu grunted, her hands never stopping.

Back in the Qin family, as the heir, Lin Xingzhu had started learning self-defense and survival skills from a young age. As for lock-picking with a wire, it could be considered one of those minor skills.

It was a skill she hadn’t used in a long time, but fortunately, her memory was excellent.

In a matter of seconds, with a soft click, the lock opened.

Leaving the waiter to stand guard outside, Lin Xingzhu and Mu Muqing entered the room. They heard no sound at all; the entire space was deathly quiet, as if no one had ever been there.

Lin Xingzhu’s gaze swept around, finally settling on the room at the end of the suite’s hallway.

The door was shut tight, seemingly indestructible.

Her eyes turned cold. Without any hesitation, she headed straight for the end of the hall.

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