After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 38

Cousin

At noon that day, Lin Xingzhu received a phone call. On the other end, Father Lin was arranging for her to go pick someone up.

Hearing that her cousin¹ was coming, Lin Xingzhu was stunned for a moment, and only then did she remember that she did indeed have a cousin on her mother’s side of the family.

The original owner’s mother passed away early. When she was little, the original owner would often be picked up by her maternal grandparents’ family to play during school holidays, but as she got older and her personality became more and more unruly and domineering, she no longer liked to run over to their place.

After all, over at her maternal grandparents’ place, there were always people managing east and west²; how could that be as comfortable as messing around to her heart’s content all by herself here in A City?

After asking for the flight time, Lin Xingzhu left the company early and arrived at the airport to pick the person up.

She didn’t wait long. Soon, a cute and charming girl came jogging over, pushing a suitcase.

“Cousin!”³

Lin Xingzhu nodded with an “Mm,” took the luggage from her hands, and opened the trunk to put it inside.

“Are you hungry? I’ll take you to eat first?”

Jiang Yeye⁴ watched the woman before her effortlessly lift the suitcase with a single hand, especially the lines of her arm that tensed from the effort, and let out a “Wow.” “Cousin, you’re so amazing, your girlfriend-power is off the charts, eh!”⁵

Lin Xingzhu almost sputtered at her words. She shot Jiang Yeye a look and, very naturally, spoke in the original owner’s tone: “You’re looking for a beating, aren’t you?”

Jiang Yeye pouted. “You’re so violent. I take back what I just said. Who would want to be your girlfriend when you’re so fierce.”

Aside from being unable to hide it from her own father, Lin Xingzhu had always done a good job of concealing her flirtatious and amorous nature from her maternal grandparents’ relatives. This resulted in their perception of Lin Xingzhu as someone obedient and innocent.

Jiang Yeye knew her cousin was a bit unreliable and flighty, but she had never guessed in the direction of Lin Xingzhu messing around in relationships.

Lin Xingzhu: “I haven’t even started on you. Instead of studying properly, what are you doing suddenly running off to A City for?”

Jiang Yeye felt a little guilty, but she quickly and righteously declared, “I came here to relax and clear my head!”

“Let me tell you, I took a leave of absence from school fair and square. My parents both agreed to it!”

Glancing at her, Lin Xingzhu remained noncommittal.

She pulled open the car door, and with a twist of her petite body, Jiang Yeye whooshed into the passenger seat and sat down properly.

As the car drove out of the airport area, Lin Xingzhu asked again, “Have you thought about what you want to eat tonight? Eat out or eat at home?”

“Let’s eat at home. It’d be so embarrassing not to go see Uncle on the first day.” As she spoke, Jiang Yeye looked left and right, sizing up the unfamiliar streets.

After looking for a while, Jiang Yeye retracted her gaze to the car’s interior, trying to find any signs that her cousin was in a relationship.

Suddenly, her eyes fixed on something—an object that didn’t seem to belong to Lin Xingzhu.

Jiang Yeye bent down and picked up the earring by her feet, her eyes crinkling as she snickered. “Cousin, this probably isn’t yours, is it?”

She remembered that her cousin didn’t have pierced ears.

“What?”

Lin Xingzhu turned her head and saw the earring Bai Xiying had worn yesterday being held in Jiang Yeye’s hand.

She reached out and snatched it.

Caught off guard, Jiang Yeye had the item snatched from her hand. She wasn’t angry; she just rolled her eyes and said in a drawn-out voice, “Looks like it really isn’t yours, ah. So whose could it be~”

Lin Xingzhu ignored her. In her memory, this cousin had always been eccentric and mischievous, her head filled with all sorts of bizarre and fantastical ideas.

“It belongs to your girlfriend, right?” Jiang Yeye asked gossipily.

Staring straight ahead, Lin Xingzhu subconsciously replied in a faint voice, “No.”

Jiang Yeye turned her head to study her expression seriously but was disappointed to find she couldn’t read anything from it.

She leaned back against her seat again and said with an air of understanding, “Then it must be a girl you like, and you haven’t successfully pursued her yet.”

If it wasn’t someone she liked, why would she have been so nervous about their thing just now.

A thick sense of interest rose in Jiang Yeye’s eyes. She had noticed earlier that there were several strands of fallen hair on the passenger seat. Judging by the curl and color, they didn’t look like her cousin’s, so they must belong to another woman.

Lin Xingzhu didn’t pay her any mind. Looking at the road conditions ahead, she said, “We’re almost there.”

Tch, changing the subject.

Jiang Yeye huffed and ignored her.

When they arrived home, Lin Xingzhu helped Jiang Yeye get the suitcase out, then took out her phone and stepped aside to make a call.

For some reason, she and Bai Xiying had both been getting off work on time these past few days, which meant Lin Xingzhu had been driving Bai Xiying straight home every evening. Since she had left early today, she needed to let Bai Xiying know to avoid making her wait too long.

After hanging up and turning around, Lin Xingzhu discovered Jiang Yeye behind her, craning her neck and trying to eavesdrop.

The corner of Lin Xingzhu’s mouth twitched. She reached out, placed a hand on Jiang Yeye’s head, and then forcefully turned it away.

“Ah, ow, ow, ow!” Jiang Yeye yelled in pain. “Are you trying to murder me, Lin Xingzhu!”

Lin Xingzhu glanced at her. “Eavesdropping on other people’s conversations is not a good habit.”

That being said, she still helped rub Jiang Yeye’s neck.

Father Lin had also come home early today and was waiting in the living room. The moment he stepped out, he saw Lin Xingzhu being rough, and his expression immediately hardened as he roared, “What are you doing, Lin Xingzhu! Being so rough with your little sister!”

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

Fine. In this family, she would always be the one with the lowest status.

When Bai Xiying came, she monopolized Father Lin’s affection. Now that this little devil, Jiang Yeye, had come, she also monopolized his affection.

At the dinner table, Lin Xingzhu muted herself⁶ and ate, her ears filled with Jiang Yeye’s cheerful words and laughter as she coaxed Father Lin.

Suddenly, she heard Father Lin mention Bai Xiying.

“We should call Xiao Ying over some day, so we can all have a lively meal together,” Father Lin remarked with a sigh.

“Xiao Ying?” Hearing this unfamiliar name, Jiang Yeye tilted her head and asked curiously, “Who’s that?”

Father Lin smiled and said, “Your cousin’s girlfriend. You’ll get a chance to meet her.”

Jiang Yeye’s expression suddenly became very strange. “My cousin—” Doesn’t she not have a girlfriend?

Halfway through her sentence, her foot was suddenly stepped on.

So painful!

“…”

Jiang Yeye held it in and changed the subject. “When did my cousin start dating, ah?”

This topic got Father Lin all fired up.

He and Lin Xingzhu’s mother had married for love, so he especially hoped his own daughter could find her true love and spend the rest of her life with them.

And because he was extremely satisfied with Bai Xiying, upon hearing Jiang Yeye’s question, the thought of my future daughter-in-law is amazing immediately spurred him on to share.

Listening to Father Lin go on and on to Jiang Yeye about her and Bai Xiying, Lin Xingzhu’s ears were going numb.

She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again. Father Lin’s excited and happy expression entered her vision, causing her heart to pause.

It’s rare for someone to be able to chat with him for so long.

Lin Xingzhu sighed and once again became a qualified foil.

She lowered her head and sent Bai Xiying a message.

【Lin Xingzhu: I’m not going back to the apartment tonight. Remember to get up a bit earlier to catch a cab for work tomorrow morning.】

【Bai Xiying: Okay, but tomorrow is Saturday, we don’t have work.】

Lin Xingzhu glanced at the calendar; it was indeed so.

【Lin Xingzhu: Then get a good night’s sleep tomorrow. Get rid of those dark circles.】

After their chat ended and while Father Lin was upstairs handling work, Jiang Yeye immediately glared, her brows furrowed. “Lin Xingzhu, who gave you permission to step on my foot just now!”

That one step from Lin Xingzhu nearly made her spit out the rice in her mouth.

“Sorry,” Lin Xingzhu said innocently, her eyes wide. “It was an accident.”

Like hell I believe you! Jiang Yeye rolled her eyes.

But right now, there was something she was more interested in, so Jiang Yeye decided not to settle the score with her.

She sidled up to Lin Xingzhu shiftily. “Never would’ve thought, Cousin. You really play the field.”

Lin Xingzhu: “?”

Jiang Yeye nudged her, a look of understanding on her face. “Stop pretending, I’ve figured it all out. You and that… Xiao Ying… you’re definitely just putting on an act to fool Uncle, right?”

“You said you didn’t have a girlfriend, but a girlfriend for an act isn’t a real girlfriend, that’s true,” Jiang Yeye said. “Tell me, was that earring that fell in the car Xiao Ying’s?”

Lin Xingzhu pushed her face away. “Stop saying ‘Xiao Ying’ with every other breath. Is that a name for you to be calling her? Call her Sister, you hear me?”

She hadn’t even called her by such an intimate name yet.

“Jealous, jealous, you’re jealous,” Jiang Yeye said with a mischievous grin, but upon seeing Lin Xingzhu’s darkened face, she instantly changed her tune. “Fine, fine, fine, I won’t say it, I won’t say it. Only you’re allowed to call her that, alright?”

Stingy.

Jiang Yeye complained inwardly.

Lin Xingzhu paid no mind to her glib talk.

She lowered her eyes, looking at the time on her phone. In a little while, it would be time for Bai Xiying’s routine outing again.

To this day, she still hadn’t figured out what exactly Bai Xiying wanted by doing all this.

This confusion was like a dense, dark cloud covering her heart, making it impossible to glimpse that ray of light.

Influenced by her now-calm expression, Jiang Yeye subconsciously sat down obediently not far from her.

She quietly lifted her eyelids to peek at her cousin. For some reason, from her angle, she felt her cousin exuded the lonely air of someone trapped by love.

Hiss… is being unable to win someone over this tragic?

She scratched her head in confusion.

Lin Xingzhu came back to her senses and saw Jiang Yeye staring at her without a word, her big, dark eyes glittering with an unknown light, clearly letting her imagination run wild.

“Go wash up and get to bed early.”

After giving the instruction, Lin Xingzhu led Jiang Yeye upstairs to her room.

Jiang Yeye followed behind her and asked, “Cousin, can I go stay at your place tomorrow?”

“My place? Is it not good staying here?”

“Well, will you be here?” Jiang Yeye retorted.

Lin Xingzhu compromised. “…Fine.”

There was no way she would be staying here, especially with Bai Xiying acting so strangely recently.

Behind her, Jiang Yeye’s eyes narrowed into a smile.

She really, really wanted to see what the ‘older sister’ who had her cousin so lovesick looked like!

The next day, Jiang Yeye, who had stayed in bed until the sun was high in the sky, finally got up. Lin Xingzhu, who was sitting on the sofa playing with her phone, heard the noise and glanced up. “There’s food in the kitchen. Have the auntie heat it up for you. After you’re done eating, grab your luggage and we’ll head to my place in a bit.”

Jiang Yeye said, “Oh.” “Where’s Uncle?”

“He left on a business trip. Just left this morning.”

Jiang Yeye scratched her neck as she walked. “There are so many mosquitoes here in A City. The bites from last night kept me from sleeping well.”

At her mention of mosquitoes, Lin Xingzhu reached back and touched her own neck; there was a spot there that was also red from a bite.

She remembered that outside the windows of her and Jiang Yeye’s rooms, there were lush camellia trees, their branches flourishing and leaves dense. The thick green foliage practically extended to the window’s edge. The view from an open window was certainly beautiful, but for someone who forgot to close it, it was inevitable that bugs would seize the opportunity to crawl inside.

“The auntie probably forgot to turn on the mosquito repellent lamp,” Lin Xingzhu said.

She often didn’t come back to stay, and this was Jiang Yeye’s first visit, so the auntie had likely forgotten.

Jiang Yeye was just complaining offhandedly. After finishing breakfast, she grabbed her luggage and eagerly hopped into Lin Xingzhu’s car to leave with her.

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