After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 17

Pretty

“Don’t let me catch your little tail.”

The drug administered this time was nothing compared to the last one, so Bai Xiying’s body had already returned to normal by the next day.

Therefore, in response to Bai Xiying’s strong desire to be discharged from the hospital, Lin Xingzhu nodded in agreement after consulting with Dr. Zhao.

Packing things up was a task Bai Xiying had become adept at.

Her hands moved without stopping as she turned her head to ask Lin Xingzhu, who was beside her, “What’s the situation with Qiao Zijin’s matter?”

“I reported it to the police that same night,” Lin Xingzhu said nonchalantly.

When it comes to reporting to the police, timing is sometimes crucial, especially when dealing with powerful and influential people like Qiao Zijin.

After discussing it with Bai Xiying the previous night, Lin Xingzhu had called Mu Muqing, asking her to hand the person over to the associate she had sent to handle it, and then directly hauled Qiao Zijin to the police station.

During this time, Qiao Zijin naturally caused a scene after she sobered up, and even the Qiao family tried to exert pressure on the police station once they found out. However, Lin Xingzhu had long anticipated this situation. The Qiao family could exert pressure, and, coincidentally, so could she.

Thus, Qiao Zijin was currently still being detained at the police station, and the matter had reached a stalemate.

She looked up at the worried expression on Bai Xiying’s face and comforted her, “Don’t worry. I will definitely do what I promised you.”

Bai Xiying packed her clothes and personal items into a small suitcase, zipped it up, and then straightened up to look at the azure sky outside the window, a little lost. “Why do I always encounter things like this…”

“…” Lin Xingzhu felt a momentary twinge of guilt. “Don’t you dare start thinking it’s your fault. There are just too many degenerates in society, and you’ve just had the bad luck of running into them.”

Before Lin Xingzhu had transmigrated into the book, she had seen plenty of similar news stories. Whenever a victim came to harm, whether it was society, the victim’s family, or even the victims themselves, they would subconsciously look for problems within themselves rather than condemning the perpetrator’s crimes and motives.

Ordinary people were treated this way by these invisible shackles, and even when Lin Xingzhu was still the young lady of the Qin family, she had seen plenty of scions from high society treated the same.

But asking the victim to find fault in themselves—isn’t that just brain-dead?

So Lin Xingzhu was genuinely afraid that Bai Xiying would also think of herself this way.

Bai Xiying paused, her eyes glazing over for a moment in a daze.

“Xiying… why are you again…” Fang Xiaotong frowned, her expression a bit unsightly, and her words were hesitant.

The woman clutched the quilt, her exposed wrist looking so fragile it could snap with a single twist. Her eyes were red-rimmed as large, crystalline tears fell. “I-I don’t know either…”

She turned her head, trying hard to suppress the sob in her voice. “I don’t know why they’re always harassing me and getting entangled with me… First it was Lin Xingzhu, then it was President Mu, and now Qiao Zijin… What did I do wrong?”

Fang Xiaotong quickly pulled out a tissue for her.

Bai Xiying messily wiped her face, the rough paper chafing her delicate, snow-like cheeks. Paired with her pitiful and helpless posture, she was utterly captivating.

Even Fang Xiaotong couldn’t help but stare, momentarily stunned.

After wiping her tears, Bai Xiying held Fang Xiaotong’s hands and said gratefully, “Xiaotong, thank you for coming to stay with me. I really didn’t know who else I could talk to about this.”

Back then at the bar, she had nearly been assaulted. It was precisely because Fang Xiaotong had managed to slip away in the chaos and moved heaven and earth to get her out that she knew some things from the very beginning.

Fang Xiaotong squeezed her hand back and said seriously, “Xiying, about you being harassed… could it be because you’re too beautiful?”

Bai Xiying was taken aback. “…”

Fang Xiaotong seemed to have found the reason, arguing plausibly, “Just now when I saw you wiping your tears, even I couldn’t help but be stunned by your beauty. Could it be that those people are like this because you’re too pretty… or maybe some of your casual actions made them…” She frowned, struggling to find the right words, “…made them feel like they were being seduced.”

A strange feeling suddenly welled up in Bai Xiying’s heart.

Her vision blurred with tears as she looked at Fang Xiaotong’s earnest and familiar face, suddenly feeling that the person before her was a complete stranger.

Bai Xiying subconsciously pulled her hands free, trying her best not to look at Fang Xiaotong’s increasingly certain expression.

The memories came flooding back in an instant.

Bai Xiying’s raised head lowered slightly, her somewhat long bangs obscuring the emotion in her eyes. Lin Xingzhu couldn’t see clearly, but she heard her suddenly ask, “Isn’t it because I’m too pretty?”

Bai Xiying had known since she was little that she was pretty, but in her heart, being pretty couldn’t be exchanged for food. She much preferred to rely on herself, carving out her own life one step at a time.

But in her previous life, after graduation, it was as if the world had changed overnight. Her life was turned upside down, all starting from a single glass of wine.

From then on, her beauty seemed to become the most unbearable sin she had to carry.

Lin Xingzhu was stunned, seemingly not expecting her to say that.

She retorted in surprise, “But there are tons of beautiful people in the world! Is being good-looking a crime?”

“That’s just an excuse for the incompetent and sophistry for criminals,” Lin Xingzhu said with disdain.

After saying this, Lin Xingzhu walked over, leaned in close, and looked her up and down with her arms crossed. “Don’t tell me you really think that way?”

Bai Xiying shook her head and looked up with a smile. Her entire face came alive with the smile that bloomed from the depths of her eyes, seeming to glow under the sun.

“I really do think I’m quite pretty,” Bai Xiying said. “But I’ve never considered the question of ‘these things only happen because I’m pretty’.”

Perhaps she had been confused by similar words when her world was suddenly turned upside down, but Bai Xiying had never truly entertained such a thought.

She curved her lips into a smile. “So, it’s all the fault of those damn violators.”

So, violators… should all die.

Lin Xingzhu inexplicably felt a sudden cold gust. She shifted her position, subconsciously moving to a spot away from the window’s draft, and nodded in satisfaction. “That’s the right way to think. You did nothing wrong, so why blame yourself?”

Speaking of this issue, Lin Xingzhu couldn’t help but apologize again on behalf of her original self.

“Including that time I drugged you,” she said calmly. “That was my own fault as well. You just need to remember that you are not in the wrong. When facing these things, they are the ones who are wrong.”

Bai Xiying’s bright, captivating eyes gazed at Lin Xingzhu earnestly. She looked very serious, yet when she spoke, she sounded completely besotted. “I believe you’re not that kind of person. You just lost your head for a moment.”

“…?”

Lin Xingzhu was momentarily baffled. Bai Xiying’s statement sounded so much like those “love-addled brain¹” quotes that circulated online.

Even though there wasn’t even any “love” between them; they were completely innocent, as pure as jade.

A jolt went through Lin Xingzhu, and she immediately declared in a firm, powerful voice, “No, it was my fault!”

Bai Xiying simply smiled without a word.

She turned to close the window, making it clear that she firmly believed in her own judgment.

However… Bai Xiying’s gaze swept over the pedestrians strolling in the square opposite, leading their pet birds in cages. In one of the delicate, small birdcages, a brightly feathered bird seemed to be fluttering and chirping.

The smile at the corners of her eyes deepened. Bai Xiying parted her lips, seemingly murmuring into the void—

“Don’t let me catch your little tail.”

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Ever since discussing the topic of “pretty” with Bai Xiying before leaving the hospital, Lin Xingzhu clearly felt that the other woman seemed to have grown a bit closer to her.

It was like a tightly shut door. Although it had previously opened a tiny crack for you to stick a foot in, the world behind the door was dark and lightless, and you had no idea what you would encounter when you stepped inside. But now, a sliver of faint light had suddenly shone through, illuminating the path at your feet, and so everything became warm and bright.

But right now, Lin Xingzhu was worrying about how to face Father Lin.

This time, Father Lin’s lungs were about to explode with rage.

“Look at what you’ve done! You’ve only been settled at work for a few days, and you’re already making trouble for me again! Tell me, how did you manage to provoke the Qiao family!”

Father Lin paced back and forth in the living room, fuming. He had only found out about this today. It was only after a call from President Qiao that he, who had been kept in the dark, realized Lin Xingzhu was up to her old tricks again.

He circled the sofa twice and let out a heavy sigh. “Tell me, why can’t you just give up your womanizing ways!”

He clearly wasn’t a philanderer, and his late wife had been dignified and courteous. So how on earth did he end up with such a promiscuous and dissolute daughter!

Lin Xingzhu poured a cup of freshly brewed tea and placed it in front of Father Lin. “Dad, have some tea and calm down first,” she said.

Seeing Father Lin glare at her, about to say something more, Lin Xingzhu quickly cut him off before he could speak. “This time it’s not what you think. In this matter, I’m the one who was wronged!”

Father Lin looked at her skeptically.

Lin Xingzhu pretended not to see and said angrily, “It was that Qiao Zijin who started trouble! I finally got myself a girlfriend after pursuing her for a long time, and just a couple of days ago at the charity gala, she shamelessly drugged my girlfriend. Tell me, how could I tolerate that? What woman could tolerate that!”

She looked up and stared at Father Lin furiously. “If it were you, could you tolerate it?”

“…” That goes without saying, of course he couldn’t!

“You’re not lying to me?” Father Lin asked doubtfully. “When did you get a girlfriend? How come I didn’t know?”

Lin Xingzhu hesitated for a moment, then said shyly, “Just… recently…”

Father Lin was suddenly intrigued.

It wasn’t often he saw his own daughter acting shy and embarrassed. Lin Xingzhu might be a philanderer, but ever since she grew up and became sensible, he hadn’t seen her act like this.

He immediately grew interested in this “girlfriend” he had yet to meet.

And… seeing Lin Xingzhu like this, he couldn’t help but believe her eighty percent of the way.

Father Lin had always believed that a good bamboo produces a good shoot, just as a bad one produces a bad shoot. The child of him and his wife naturally wouldn’t be too bad; she was just young and reckless and hadn’t found the right path yet!

As for that Qiao Zijin, Father Lin’s lip curled into a sneer. With a father like hers, it was guaranteed that a crooked bamboo would produce a crooked shoot. The child she raised naturally wouldn’t be much good!

“If that’s really the case, then we have no reason to fear them!” As a seasoned veteran of the business world, Father Lin understood what to do in an instant. “It’s right for you to seek justice for your girlfriend. As for that Qiao Zijin, I refuse to believe her father would really have a complete falling out with me just for her sake!”

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