After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 34

What on Earth Did You Do Yesterday?

Lin Xingzhu was utterly astonished when she received the call from Mu Muqing at the company.

She had originally thought there was some issue with the project, and Mu Muqing was calling to negotiate with her personally.

“Bai Xiying?” Lin Xingzhu’s brows furrowed. She put down the stack of documents in her hand, her voice calm. “Director Mu, if I recall correctly, it’s Monday, isn’t it?”

The voice on the phone was slightly distorted, but Lin Xingzhu could still discern the trace of jealousy hidden beneath Mu Muqing’s placid anger.

“I know, but Bai Xiying hasn’t come to work all morning, nor has she requested leave.” Mu Muqing paused, then added, “I received news that you two attended a banquet together yesterday. For her to neither request leave nor show up for work, it’s not in her character to do something like this, so I’m worried something might have happened to her.”

Saying these words, Mu Muqing felt incredibly aggrieved.

Ever since she and Bai Xiying had poked through the window paper¹, Bai Xiying had avoided her as if there wasn’t time to get away². In contrast, she became even more conscientiously devoted to her work, leaving Mu Muqing unable to find a single fault. She couldn’t even find an excuse to call Bai Xiying into her office for a private chat.

Now that Bai Xiying was absent, Mu Muqing had no way to go looking for her directly—because she didn’t have Bai Xiying’s address.

She’d had many opportunities to drive Bai Xiying home before, but without exception, Lin Xingzhu, who was always present, had blocked her every time.

At this thought, a dark hatred grew in Mu Muqing’s heart, and she gnashed her teeth³ as she said, “If Director Lin can get in touch with her, please help me inform Xiying that the collaborating party for the work she’s responsible for is pressing very hard.”

The works Bai Xiying submitted for her written and interview portions before joining were excellent, but the change in her art style after she started was enough to make one’s eyes light up. Her brushstrokes were brilliant without being chaotic, and she flew her own banner⁴, having essentially formed her own unique style.

Back then, this collaborating party had taken a fancy to Bai Xiying’s abilities at a single glance, splitting off a portion of the project’s core segment to be completed solely by this newcomer. Now, the other party was in a hurry, and Mu Muqing couldn’t contact Bai Xiying either.

Lin Xingzhu was no longer in the mood for idle talk with her. “Fine, I understand,” she said curtly.

After hanging up, Lin Xingzhu’s fingers flew, unhesitatingly tapping on the contact that started with the letter ‘A’.

The phone rang a few times, but no one answered.

Lin Xingzhu had already expected this; otherwise, Mu Muqing wouldn’t have called her.

Without further hesitation, her steps creating wind⁵, she left the company and drove back.

Lin Xingzhu was more or less the boss, and besides, her workload on Mondays was light. With her efficiency, she had already finished it long ago. The documents she had been looking at in her office just now were merely materials she had asked someone to investigate regarding Chu Xiaxia and the Chu family.

“Bai Xiying! Bai Xiying!”

Lin Xingzhu’s brows were knitted tightly as she knocked on the apartment door with a series of thumps.

But there was no sound from within, no answer.

Lin Xingzhu’s jaw tightened, the taut line of her profile casting a sharp curve. She lowered her hand, its knuckles red from knocking, and turned to go downstairs for the spare key.

As Bai Xiying’s landlord, Lin Xingzhu had a key to her apartment, but she had never used it, nor had she had the opportunity to. Fortunately, Lin Xingzhu had always kept her things neat and orderly, and she quickly found the key belonging to Bai Xiying’s apartment.

The key turned, and with a creak, the door was pushed open.

Lin Xingzhu scanned the living room but saw no one. However, upon entering, she had noticed that the few pairs of shoes Bai Xiying often wore when going out were still in the entryway, so she should be at home.

Gently pushing open the bedroom door, she found the room dim and blurry, making it hard to see. But after looking carefully for a few seconds, Lin Xingzhu still spotted a lump on the large bed.

She let out a sigh of relief, but it was immediately followed by a rising concern for Bai Xiying’s health.

Lin Xingzhu walked around the foot of the bed and pulled open the outermost curtain that was blocking the light. The bedroom instantly brightened.

“Bai Xiying, Bai Xiying.”

Lin Xingzhu called out softly twice but received no response.

She tiptoed closer and lifted the quilt covering Bai Xiying, and a flushed face immediately came into view.

The person on the bed finally seemed to react to the movement so close by. Bai Xiying let out a soft whimper, shifted twice, then curled up and tried to hide herself further down.

Lin Xingzhu sighed, reached out, and gently brushed aside her slightly damp bangs, then placed her hand on her full, rosy forehead.

It’s very hot, like she has a fever.

The cool sensation, so different from her own body temperature, spread from her forehead. Like a thirsty fish yearning for the sea, Bai Xiying couldn’t help but chase after the slender hand emitting that coolness.

Later, perhaps annoyed that she couldn’t catch it no matter how she chased, she reached out and grabbed it. The cool sensation was immediately clutched in her scorching palm. She hurriedly pressed her face against it, then sighed in comfort.

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

She looked down at this goofy side of Bai Xiying she had never seen before, took a breath, and then gently pulled her hand back.

She still needed to find a thermometer to take Bai Xiying’s temperature.

The thing that made her comfortable was trying to escape. In her sleep, Bai Xiying’s brows furrowed, and she quickly pressed down on that hand even deeper and tighter, even trying to pull it further inside.

But how could a sick person’s strength compare to Lin Xingzhu’s? With a clever bit of force, she freed her hand from Bai Xiying’s soft embrace.

This time, Bai Xiying was annoyed!

Who knows where she got the strength from, but with a sudden burst of effort, she yanked that hand that had nimbly escaped back again. As if that wasn’t enough, she even pulled the entire arm into her embrace, rubbing against it fiercely as if with a retaliatory mindset.

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

This is going too far.

She looked down at Bai Xiying, whose sleeping face was as pure and enchanting as a child’s, and silently ground her teeth.

I feel like I’m on an adventure.

Judging by her state, she seems to have a fever. I wonder when it started.

Lin Xingzhu hadn’t expected that her simple, habitual act of checking a temperature with her hand would provoke such a series of actions from Bai Xiying.

It seems I have no choice but to wake her up, Lin Xingzhu sighed deeply.

She thought for a moment in this awkward position, then bent down, used her free hand to pinch Bai Xiying’s small nose, and leaned her head toward Bai Xiying’s exposed ear.

“—Bai Xiying, time to get up!”

Lin Xingzhu deliberately controlled her volume so that it was neither too soft nor too jarring.

Fortunately, this two-pronged approach was very effective. She saw Bai Xiying’s thick eyelashes move unconsciously, and then she opened those eyes, which were misty with a film of water.

“…Lin Xingzhu?”

Her voice, after a long sleep, carried a trace of drowsy laziness, the final syllable dissipating into the air with a naturally husky, granular texture.

Lin Xingzhu noticed her eyes were still blurry and unfocused.

“…You probably have a fever.” Lin Xingzhu pulled her arm out and said softly, “I’ll take your temperature.”

The two words “have a fever” seemed to trigger something in Bai Xiying.

Her fingers, exposed to the air, trembled slightly as she mumbled deliriously, “I’m not being lewd⁶.”

“Huh?”

Lin Xingzhu turned her head, suspecting she had misheard.

Bai Xiying’s pretty brows creased in annoyance as she continued to mutter, “I’m not, I can’t, not even for Lin Xingzhu…”

What “not even for Lin Xingzhu”? Lin Xingzhu herself was utterly baffled.

She stopped paying attention to this suspected patient and turned to look for Bai Xiying’s first-aid kit.

But just because she ignored Bai Xiying didn’t mean that Bai Xiying, still not fully awake and thinking she was in a dream, would ignore her.

On the bed, Bai Xiying tightened her grip on the quilt. The cool air from the air conditioner seemed to suddenly kick in at that moment. She wrapped herself in the quilt, her mind still groggy from last night’s indulgence. Her body, having tasted the ultimate pleasure, was as limp as bones that couldn’t be pieced together. As she sat up, she swayed from side to side.

Lin Xingzhu straightened up, holding the thermometer she had found, ready to take Bai Xiying’s temperature.

The next second, a scorching body suddenly pressed against her. In that instant, Lin Xingzhu felt that it wasn’t the soft body of another person at all, but a blazing inferno, roaring as it burned away her already loosening rationality.

“…Lin Xingzhu…”

Bai Xiying’s eyes were hazy. She extended her slender, delicate arms, wrapped them around her heavy shoulders, and cupped Lin Xingzhu’s sweat-beaded cheeks with both hands, pushing her to face her.

“Look at me,” she commanded.

Her rationality teetered on the brink of collapse. Lin Xingzhu couldn’t help but clench her fist. The cool thermometer in her hand almost felt like it was warming up from her own soaring temperature, but its overly hard surface scraped her palm, causing her to suddenly snap back to her senses.

But her body had already complied with the command before her mind could.

Lin Xingzhu lowered her eyes, staring intently at the person before her.

This is another side of her I have never seen before.

The corners of Bai Xiying’s lips curled up, but there wasn’t much joy in it.

A hint of frenzied loss of control flashed in her eyes. With a posture akin to self-sacrifice, her crimson lips parted slightly as she issued another command: “Kiss me.”

This is a dream, Bai Xiying told herself, and what I must do in this dream is to verify my impossibilities.

It’s impossible for me to feel desire for Lin Xingzhu.

I cannot have a reaction to Lin Xingzhu.

My body can only be controlled by me. Bai Xiying was sick and tired of the ugly, uncontrollable self that was ruled by medication.

Having been reborn, my body is gradually getting better. No one can stop my body from gradually becoming normal.

—Not even the gentle Lin Xingzhu with her clean soul.

Lin Xingzhu’s whole body shuddered, unable to believe what she had just heard.

She pressed her lips together tightly, her entire being radiating an aura of resistance.

An incoherent Bai Xiying could say whatever she wanted without restraint, but she couldn’t actually do it.

To take advantage of another’s predicament was not Lin Xingzhu’s way of doing things.

Seeing the person before her resisting, a look of impatience crossed Bai Xiying’s face.

Why is the Lin Xingzhu in my dream like this too? But isn’t this my dream? Of course, I’m the one who decides what to do.

She licked her somewhat dry lips. The hands pressed against Lin Xingzhu’s delicate skin did not retreat. With a sudden exertion of force, the distance between the two of them closed in an instant, foreheads touching, noses brushing.

Lin Xingzhu: “!”

Seeing that the person before her was about to resort to forced buying and selling⁷, Lin Xingzhu’s entire body felt as if it had been set on fire, crackling and popping. She breathed with difficulty, and just before Bai Xiying could make her next move, she very quickly used her once-excellent skills—and knocked her out, on the premise of not harming her.

“Phew.”

Lin Xingzhu let out a sigh of relief, placed the collapsed Bai Xiying back on the bed, and raised a hand to wipe the sweat from her temple.

Forget it. It looks like Bai Xiying is seriously ill. Just in case, I’d better not take her temperature and just take her to the hospital.

And so, by the time Lin Xingzhu carried Bai Xiying to the hospital, got a number just as the outpatient clinic was closing, she was thoroughly scolded by an old doctor.

“No fever, no fever!” The doctor’s voice was sonorous and powerful⁸. “She’s just too tired, too weak, and slept a little too much, that’s all. She really does not have a fever!”

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

The black dragon⁹ had gotten out of hand.

But not being sick was the best possible outcome.

Before leaving, she heard the doctor mutter, “So young and no self-restraint. She really needs to replenish her strength¹⁰.”

Lin Xingzhu: “…” A complicated feeling.

She looked down at Bai Xiying, who was sleeping sweetly, oblivious to what embarrassment was, and sighed deeply.

Did you hear that? What on earth did you do last night? To make yourself so weak.

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