After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 39

I’m Lin Xingzhu’s girlfriend.

Only after she’d finished tidying up the room she would be staying in did Jiang Yeye finally have time to tour the apartment.

She wandered around for a moment, then turned back to Lin Xingzhu, who was leaning against the bar drinking water, and gave her a thumbs-up. “Jie, I didn’t expect you to be so put-together living on your own.”

Look at how neat and tidy everything was. All that was missing was a girlfriend to move right in.

Lin Xingzhu shot her a look. “You and your smart mouth.”

However, noticing that Jiang Yeye was scratching her neck again, she put down her water glass and said coolly, “I’ll go buy some ointment for your bug bites.”

“No need,” Jiang Yeye stopped her, grinning. “I can go myself. I noticed there’s a pharmacy right outside the complex when I came. I’m not that much of a useless little thing.”

Her cousin had helped her plenty with her luggage over the past two days; Jiang Yeye couldn’t possibly trouble her with such a small matter.

After a moment’s thought, Lin Xingzhu lazily drew her foot back. “Then you go ahead.”

When Jiang Yeye came out of the pharmacy, she was holding two tubes of ointment. She had noticed that her cousin also had bite marks on her neck, which were glaringly obvious on her fair skin and impossible to ignore.

Walking briskly through the residential complex, Jiang Yeye looked around, humming a little tune in high spirits.

She was going to have a long period of freedom. It was simply too awesome!

Suddenly, Jiang Yeye’s eyes lit up, and she stared, completely dumbfounded.

That jiejie’s side profile up ahead is so beautiful! It’s exactly my type!

She blinked, unable to resist speeding up to get a closer look at her full face, but she didn’t dare to be too obvious, so she restrained herself and followed behind.

With Lin Xingzhu, Jiang Yeye could speak informally without regard for seniority¹, but facing such a beautiful stranger, Jiang Yeye swallowed hard and suddenly felt her courage fail her.

Fortunately, they were heading in the same direction. Especially when she saw the beautiful jiejie enter the same elevator she had taken downstairs, Jiang Yeye couldn’t hold back anymore. She jogged over, calling out, “Wait for me!”

Hearing the voice, Bai Xiying’s hand, which was holding the elevator button, paused for a moment before moving up half an inch to press and hold it.

“Th-thank you.”

Jiang Yeye’s face was flushed as she thanked her shyly.

“It’s nothing,” Bai Xiying said faintly.

Jiang Yeye took two steps to the left, pressed the button for her floor, then stepped back to her original spot.

Why do I feel like I can’t even breathe too loud? Jiang Yeye thought, trembling inwardly. This jiejie hasn’t said a word, but her presence feels so powerful I don’t dare to start a conversation.

For a moment, the elevator was silent.

Bai Xiying held her breakfast and scrolled through messages on her phone. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the girl who had just run in shift twice, revealing a large patch of red marks on the side of her neck facing her.

After a single glance, Bai Xiying looked away, uninterested.

The elevator ascended slowly. When it stopped on the twelfth floor, Jiang Yeye breathed a sigh of relief and quickly scurried out, clutching the ointment.

At the same time, Bai Xiying took two steps forward, preparing to press the ‘close door’ button.

The moment she glanced down, her calm, placid eyes caught the exact instant the light on the ’12’ button abruptly extinguished.

Her pupils contracted. She snapped her head up.

But all that was in her line of sight were her own emotionless eyes reflected in the mirrored elevator walls.

The plastic bag hooked on her knuckles was squeezed into a thin, tight strip, digging into the bones of her hand until they turned red.

Bai Xiying’s breathing tightened. She pushed open her door, went home, tossed the breakfast in her hand aside, and immediately pulled out her phone to send a message.

【Bai Xiying: Are you in the apartment?】

She stared intently at the WeChat interface.

【Lin Xingzhu: I just got back. What’s up? Is something wrong?】

Bai Xiying stared at the line of text, her lips parting twice, but she didn’t reply.

What was she even suspecting?

Bai Xiying put down her phone and took a couple of deep breaths. Only when she felt the air flowing smoothly again did she reach over and grab the breakfast she had just tossed aside.

The xiaolongbao, usually incomparably fragrant and savory, now tasted like flavorless dry dough. Even the soy milk, to which she had intentionally added five spoonfuls of sugar, didn’t taste as sweet as it used to.

She wiped her mouth, cleaned up the trash, and grabbed her phone before pushing the door open and heading out.

Whatever she suspected, she would just go and confirm it.

Bai Xiying thought to herself that she would absolutely not let such a baseless, bizarre, and inexplicable suspicion affect her mood.

“Knock, knock, knock—”

When the apartment door was knocked on, Jiang Yeye, who had just finished applying the ointment, was “Ge You-lying”² on the sofa.

She craned her neck to glance at Lin Xingzhu, who was in her room applying ointment, then got up to open the door herself.

“Are you looking for—”

Jiang Yeye pulled the door open with one hand, her posture casual. The next second, she froze completely, her unfinished words shattered by the stunning beauty that hit her head-on.

Oh my god, the beautiful jiejie came to find her!

…Oh no, it seems she’s here for Lin Xingzhu!

Facing Bai Xiying’s expressionless gaze, Jiang Yeye suddenly felt a chill rise despite the summer heat. That simple appreciation for beauty had morphed back into an indescribable trembling.

Why is her gaze so terrifying QAQ.

When she heard the knock, Lin Xingzhu had just finished applying her medicine. Guessing it was probably Bai Xiying, she quickly put the ointment away and came out to greet her.

Seeing Jiang Yeye standing rooted to the spot and blocking the doorway, Lin Xingzhu walked over, unceremoniously pulled her aside, and then said to Bai Xiying, who was also just standing at the door, “Come in, Xiying. Did you need me for something?”

Bai Xiying lowered her head and followed her inside, saying emotionlessly, “Can’t I come looking for you even if there’s nothing wrong?”

“…Of course not.”

Jiang Yeye pressed her body against the wall, watching the two of them walk past her, chatting without a care.

Xiying?

A memory immediately surfaced in her mind. Jiang Yeye muttered under her breath, “Is she the one Uncle was talking about?”

She secretly sized the person up. She had pierced ears, and the hair color and curl seemed to match, too.

Most importantly, her cousin’s attitude toward her is so gentle!

Looks like it’s her, almost certainly.

Lin Xingzhu poured her a glass of water and placed it in front of her. “Just grab whatever you need.”

Bai Xiying had just said she came to borrow something.

Bai Xiying cupped the glass of water and hummed in acknowledgment. Her gaze swept over Lin Xingzhu’s back as she filled the glass, and when her eyes landed on the heavily bite-marked red area, her hand trembled, nearly causing her to drop the glass.

“…Who is this?”

Bai Xiying’s expression was calm as she looked at the unfamiliar woman still standing by the door, not yet having recovered her senses.

Lin Xingzhu turned to look. “This is my—”

“I’m her girlfriend!” Jiang Yeye loudly cut her off.

Meeting her cousin’s shocked expression, Jiang Yeye held her head high, puffed out her chest, and strode over to her side. Ignoring how stiff her cousin’s body was, she brazenly linked arms with her and said with a sweet smile, “I’m Lin Xingzhu’s girlfriend. My name is Jiang Yeye. We just met in the elevator.”

Lin Xingzhu: “???”

What the hell is going on?!

Bai Xiying ignored the taste of rust in her mouth and smiled faintly. “Is that so?”

Her eyes were fixed on their tightly pressed bodies, their linked arms, and the fact that Lin Xingzhu didn’t pull away. “Xingzhu,” she asked calmly, “how come you’ve never mentioned this?”

Because I didn’t know I had a girlfriend either!

Lin Xingzhu desperately wanted to shout this, but she couldn’t, because Jiang Yeye was mercilessly pinching her.

Jiang Yeye tilted her head and gave a shy smile. “Because we haven’t been together for very long. By the way, jiejie, what’s your name? Are you a friend of Lin Xingzhu’s?”

As she moved, the red marks from the elevator brazenly stabbed into Bai Xiying’s eyes, along with the ones on Lin Xingzhu.

An unbearable sight.

The atmosphere suddenly froze.

For some reason, Lin Xingzhu felt a chill run down her spine, a feeling of being unable to stand still.

Bai Xiying spoke: “My name is Bai Xiying.”

As for the second question, she selectively ignored it.

Receiving a confused look from Jiang Yeye as she tilted her head up, Lin Xingzhu subconsciously added for her, “Bai as in ‘white,’ Xi as in ‘hope,’ and Ying as in ‘cherry blossom.'”

Watching this scene, Bai Xiying’s gaze turned cold.

As if she didn’t feel it, Jiang Yeye propped herself up against Lin Xingzhu and said with a look of sudden realization, “Oh, so it’s those three characters. What a beautiful name!”

Lin Xingzhu collected herself, not understanding what Jiang Yeye was trying to pull. Taking advantage of a moment when Jiang Yeye wasn’t paying attention, she pulled her hand free. She turned to Bai Xiying, who was sitting silently on the sofa, and tried to break the awkward atmosphere by making small talk: “What did you say you needed to get? I’ll go grab it for you.”

Just a moment ago, she had told her to grab whatever she needed.

Bai Xiying lowered her eyes, realizing that Lin Xingzhu was trying to get her to leave.

“Scissors,” she said stiffly. “The scissors at my place are broken.”

“Oh, so you needed scissors.” Lin Xingzhu quickly turned to the counter to find a pair for Bai Xiying.

“Thank you,” Bai Xiying said calmly. Speaking had left a trace of fresh blood at the corner of her lips. She wiped it away, and her finger slid across a lip now as vivid as if painted with the most brilliant lipstick—a stunning splash of color.

Jiang Yeye tried hard to control her eyes, to keep from looking.

Lin Xingzhu, however, didn’t have such reservations. Her sharp eyes noticed it, and she subconsciously asked with concern, “Is your mouth okay?”

Wiping it mercilessly again, Bai Xiying gripped the cold scissors. “It’s fine. I’m leaving.”

Without waiting for Lin Xingzhu’s reaction, she put down the water glass and turned to leave without a shred of hesitation.

In the entire time, she didn’t even spare Jiang Yeye a single glance.

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

She ruffled her hair, completely baffled.

After a moment, Lin Xingzhu turned and demanded, “Jiang Yeye, what were you doing just now? Why did you lie and tell her you’re my girlfriend?”

As soon as she was gone, the brave front Jiang Yeye had struggled to maintain under Bai Xiying’s calm gaze immediately crumbled. Her legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the sofa, sighing dramatically. “My dear sister, I was helping you! Don’t mistake my good intentions.”

“Think about it, you haven’t managed to win her over after all this time, and you’re even putting on an act to fool Uncle.” Jiang Yeye paused here, leaned in, and gave her a meaningful look. “But I was just mulling over the whole situation, and I realized this whole ‘chasing a girlfriend’ thing of yours might work. It probably just needs a little push.”

She had a gut feeling that this jiejie named Bai Xiying was definitely not indifferent to her cousin!

“I’m helping you!” Jiang Yeye cried out in protest against Lin Xingzhu’s distrustful gaze. “If she likes you too, then me pretending to be your girlfriend will make her jealous. Won’t that speed up your progress and help you win the beauty’s heart?!”

Lin Xingzhu sneered.

Jiang Yeye pounded the sofa. “Don’t be so disbelieving! This is how it always plays out in TV dramas!”

Lin Xingzhu rubbed the bridge of her nose. Leaving aside whether Jiang Yeye’s theory that “Bai Xiying likes her” was even true, just considering Bai Xiying’s eight hundred scheming minds³, Jiang Yeye was truly underestimating her.

So, Lin Xingzhu sneered again and followed Jiang Yeye’s line of thought, “How do you know you aren’t pushing in the opposite direction?”

She said expressionlessly, “What if you’re just pushing her further and further away?”

Jiang Yeye: “…”

It seems the TV dramas never covered that part.

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