After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 19

On the Way

“One must respect the wishes of the person involved.”

Looking at the scene in the private room, Bai Xiying’s eyes shifted, and she hesitated for a moment.

“President Mu, did I come at a bad time?” Bai Xiying asked hesitantly.

A familiar voice sounded. Lin Xingzhu looked up and, sure enough, saw Bai Xiying standing at the door. Her bright, expressive eyes were now filled with hesitation and uncertainty as she gazed into the room.

Lin Xingzhu subconsciously shifted over on the sofa.

“President Mu,” Lin Xingzhu said with a half-smile. “So this was your plan all along.”

Deliberately arranging the meeting in a bar, calling over several beauties in qipaos when she wasn’t paying attention, and timing Bai Xiying’s arrival perfectly—all with the goal of letting her witness this debauched side of me, thereby tarnishing the good image I have in her heart.

Mu Muqing put on a righteous expression, her tone nonchalant. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Then, she waved toward the doorway and softened her voice. “This is the place, you didn’t get it wrong.”

Bai Xiying slowed her pace and walked over.

Seeing this, Lin Xingzhu’s long lashes fluttered, and her cool gaze fell on the silent qipao beauty next to her.

That cool, indifferent stare sent a chill down the woman’s spine, and she subconsciously forced a docile smile onto her face.

Lin Xingzhu didn’t make things difficult for them. They were all just working people. When your boss pays you to be a drinking companion, what else can you do in this line of work? You can only obediently accept the boss’s arrangements.

Lin Xingzhu retracted her gaze. Her clear, soft voice echoed in the private room, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I neither need nor have the money for you to sit next to me. Why don’t you go find the boss who’s actually paying?”

Lin Xingzhu revealed a faint smile and pointed at Mu Muqing on the opposite sofa. “The paying boss is right over there.”

She blinked, her tone teasing. “President Mu, I’m afraid your information is a bit outdated. I haven’t been involved in this sort of thing for a long time…”

She paused, casually glancing at Bai Xiying, who was looking at her with curiosity, and added with a smile, “On the other hand, President Mu, that clap of your hands just now, followed by the beauties filing in… you seem like an expert.”

Lin Xingzhu’s smile was pleasant, but inwardly, she was thoroughly annoyed.

She was sick and tired of Mu Muqing’s hypocrisy. Since that was the case, she might as well let Mu Muqing enjoy this bountiful blessing of beauties herself.

Bai Xiying, right on cue, widened her eyes. Her gaze uncontrollably darted toward Mu Muqing, as if she was shocked that she was this kind of person.

Mu Muqing’s face darkened, but she had indeed been the one to arrange it. In front of Bai Xiying, she couldn’t very well refute anything—who knew what that unpredictable¹ Lin Xingzhu would say next.

Caught between the two of them and listening to their exchange of verbal blows², Bai Xiying felt a little restless.

“President Mu,” Bai Xiying called out to her. “Didn’t you say you wanted to discuss some work matters?”

Mu Muqing snapped back to her senses. She glanced at the flock of women³ in the room and decisively waved her hand, dismissing them all.

Lin Xingzhu didn’t fall for the trap, and now Bai Xiying is suspicious of me. What was the point of these idiots staying here when they couldn’t even seduce anyone!

Once the women left, the private room instantly became even quieter.

Lin Xingzhu lifted her gaze and glanced at Bai Xiying’s tired and weary expression. She adjusted her posture, pulling back her casual, relaxed demeanor a bit, and was the first to speak. “Since President Mu invited me out to discuss important matters, let’s begin now.”

Speaking of business, Mu Muqing also temporarily suppressed her displeasure.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the bar’s private room became remarkably professional, a stark contrast to the noisy clamor of the main hall below.

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After exiting the bar, Lin Xingzhu took a deep breath of fresh air, her expression relaxing.

Seeing this, Bai Xiying couldn’t help but smile. “Was it that unbearable?”

Lin Xingzhu said lazily, “Yeah. A bar isn’t the place to talk about work anyway. After an hour in there, my head is killing me.”

Bai Xiying teased, “I thought President Lin would be nostalgic for this kind of atmosphere.”

“Nostalgic for what atmosphere?” Mu Muqing, who they thought had left, reappeared and tactlessly interrupted their conversation.

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

She shot a glance at the deceptively well-dressed⁴ Mu Muqing and said flatly, “Nothing.”

Mu Muqing didn’t care about her attitude at all; she only cared about Bai Xiying.

She had just gone to get her car and, from a distance, had seen Bai Xiying and Lin Xingzhu standing side-by-side on the curb, talking harmoniously, which made her unable to resist butting in.

The smile on Bai Xiying’s face faded slightly. Mu Muqing didn’t notice, but Lin Xingzhu’s sharp eyes caught it.

“Is President Mu heading back?” Bai Xiying asked, feigning ignorance, then added, “I should get going too.”

Mu Muqing’s eyes lit up, and she was just about to offer, “I’ll drive you.”

Lin Xingzhu cut in first. “It’s on my way. I’ll give you a ride, Xiying.”

Mu Muqing: “…”

She looked at Lin Xingzhu with suspicion.

Lin Xingzhu ignored her, looking directly at Bai Xiying.

Under their two intense gazes, Bai Xiying smiled. The dim shadows under the lights made her look mysterious and captivating. “I’ll take President Lin’s car.”

Mu Muqing’s eyes dimmed. Just as she was about to say something more, Lin Xingzhu stopped her.

“Did you hear that?” Lin Xingzhu said with a beaming smile, her words pointed. “One must respect the wishes of the person involved.”

In the end, Mu Muqing left, fuming.

Starting the car, Lin Xingzhu drove Bai Xiying away, turning a corner and leaving the bar far behind.

Because of this, they didn’t see Mu Muqing turn back and re-enter the bar.

While waiting at a red light at an intersection, Lin Xingzhu suddenly spoke. “You shouldn’t have come to the bar alone tonight.”

Bai Xiying detected the subtle reproach hidden beneath her calm voice and was slightly taken aback.

Lin Xingzhu gripped the steering wheel, her eyes on the road. “You can’t be too careful around people⁵. You already got into trouble at a bar just last month. Now, your superior calls you to a bar, and even if you couldn’t refuse, you should have found someone to accompany you, just in case.”

“If it had been anyone with bad character…” Lin Xingzhu paused, her brows furrowed slightly. “Something could have happened to you.”

Bai Xiying’s pink lips trembled. “But… she’s a pretty good person…”

Her voice was as quiet as a mosquito’s buzz, and if one listened closely, it held a hint of grievance and confusion.

Remembering the doctor’s diagnosis from a couple of days ago, Lin Xingzhu suddenly felt the weight of a heavy responsibility on her shoulders.

“You can know a person’s face, but not their heart⁶,” Lin Xingzhu said earnestly⁷. “Besides, you’ve known each other for less than a month. Or are you saying you just assumed she was a good person and never considered any of this?”

Bai Xiying fell silent. The light in her eyes dimmed, and she looked a little listless, like a wilted and utterly pitiful kitten.

Lin Xingzhu glanced over, her heart softening. After a moment’s thought, she decided to keep quiet for now.

She was someone with a God’s perspective⁸, so of course, she knew that Mu Muqing’s nature was morally ambiguous—not a purely good person, but not a purely bad one either. But Bai Xiying was different. The Mu Muqing she had encountered was all consideration and reliability, so her perception would naturally be different.

But what Lin Xingzhu didn’t know was that while she was focused on driving, the “pitiful little kitten” she imagined was actually sizing her up with a condescending, scrutinizing gaze.

This kind of talk… let me think, who said this before?

Ah, I remember now. Fang Xiaotong said something similar.

And what happened then?

The curve of Bai Xiying’s lips flattened, her eyes turning indifferent. What happened then? Later, that person thought I was just making trouble for myself. What was wrong with such an outstanding person asking me to hang out? It was just hanging out!

Bai Xiying’s expression turned contemplative. She hadn’t expected that the more she interacted with Lin Xingzhu, the more she discovered that this was a person with a high level of moral character. What was even more thought-provoking was that she didn’t seem to have been influenced by her at all.

Bai Xiying closed her eyes, wondering if it was because of what she did in her past life that, upon being reborn, this variable⁹ named Lin Xingzhu had appeared.

Or perhaps… this variable, Lin Xingzhu, had appeared first, and that was why her life this time was different from the last.

Thinking of this, Bai Xiying silently stroked her right wrist.

Perhaps… she could see just what this variable was capable of?

Just as the car was about to reach its destination, Bai Xiying suddenly spoke with consideration. “You can stop here. You still have to go home, and my apartment is just a short walk away. You should get back and rest early too.”

“No need,” Lin Xingzhu said without turning her head. “I wasn’t lying. Giving you a ride is genuinely on my way.”

Bai Xiying: “?”

She tilted her head subconsciously, a little confused.

Now she really looked like a confused little kitten, a tiny head full of big question marks.

Lin Xingzhu’s heart skipped a beat, and her hand seemed to move of its own accord, suddenly reaching out.

Just as her slender, pale palm was about to touch the fluffy crown of Bai Xiying’s head, Lin Xingzhu stopped in time. She cleverly changed its path, instead cupping Bai Xiying’s head and turning it to face forward again.

This series of actions was completed as smoothly as flowing water. Lin Xingzhu calmly withdrew her hand as if she wasn’t the one who had just wanted to ruffle the other’s hair.

“I moved.”

Lin Xingzhu explained, “My new address is, coincidentally, right in your—”

“Moved?” Bai Xiying’s eyes widened. “Why would you move all of a sudden?”

Lin Xingzhu gave a reasonable explanation: “For an easier commute. This apartment is one of the closest to the office, which makes getting to and from work convenient.”

The reason was perfectly logical, and Bai Xiying’s confusion was resolved.

But only Lin Xingzhu knew the real reason.

Ever since she learned from the doctor at the hospital that day, if Bai Xiying were drugged a few more times, the residual effects of the drug in her system and the reactions from her previous episodes would leave her with permanent side effects. And the beginning of all this was caused by the overly potent drug that the original owner of her body had bought from the black market.

To prevent Bai Xiying from suffering further harm, although Lin Xingzhu couldn’t follow her to work every day, she could at least choose to live closer and, if possible, look out for her a little.

This was the true reason she had moved.

But there was no need to let Bai Xiying know any of this.

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