After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 46

Argument

The night was vast and hazy. As the wind blew, the cold sweat on Lin Xingzhu’s back gradually dried, and her trembling hands slowly steadied.

She tightened her embrace, feeling the real and present person in her arms, and only then did her drifting heart finally settle.

A moment later, Lin Xingzhu released Bai Xiying.

She lowered her head, using the mottled moonlight to get a clear look at the bloodstains on Bai Xiying’s cheeks. Her gaze flickered, and then she reached out to slowly wipe them away.

Lin Xingzhu asked again, “Are you hurt anywhere?”

Only then did Bai Xiying return to her senses. “…I’m not.”

She glanced at the man who had fainted on the ground, then slowly let her gaze fall upon the person before her.

“You lost control just now.”

Lin Xingzhu paused, her face expressionless. “It’s what he deserved.”

If Bai Xiying had been injured in any way, Lin Xingzhu would absolutely not be this calm.

Hearing this, Bai Xiying’s eyes curved into a smile, but she said nothing.

With the panic and fear having receded, it was now time to think about the practical problems.

Lin Xingzhu took out her phone, and just as she was about to make a call, the corner of her eye caught something glinting on the ground.

…It was a blood-stained dagger.

She looked up, and a string in her mind was suddenly, gently plucked.

After finishing the call, Lin Xingzhu’s gaze was heavy as she suddenly asked, “You accidentally got into this black car¹, right?”

Bai Xiying didn’t understand. She could sense that the atmosphere was a little off, but she didn’t know why.

“Of course,” Bai Xiying said without a second thought, blinking.

Lin Xingzhu bent down, picked up the dagger, took out a handkerchief to wipe the bloodstains clean, and handed it back to Bai Xiying.

“It’s better not to carry this kind of weapon when you go out in the future,” Lin Xingzhu said, her voice suppressed. “There’s a huge disparity in strength between men and women. What if you can’t control it?”

If, in a situation with such a disparity in strength, Bai Xiying couldn’t control her own self-defense weapon, then it would become the very weapon the wrongdoer would turn against her.

Her eyes twitched. Bai Xiying keenly sensed that Lin Xingzhu seemed a little angry.

She glanced at the dagger, which had been wiped clean, and took it under Lin Xingzhu’s gaze, retrieving the sheath from her pocket and putting it away.

Bai Xiying suddenly remembered the time Lin Xingzhu had accidentally glimpsed the dagger hidden in her bag and the advice she had given.

It was the same meaning as what she had just said: try to choose a self-defense tool that was more advantageous for her.

But for Bai Xiying, the weapon she was most familiar with was still a sharp dagger.

Therefore, Bai Xiying thought for two seconds, then lifted Lin Xingzhu’s hand, which was hanging by her side. She gently prodded the knuckles of her clenched fist and said, “Xingzhu, don’t worry. I’m very good at using it.”

For the first time, she let slip a trace of the Bai Xiying from her past life.

Perhaps the night was too beautiful, the moonlight too gentle, and the sight of Lin Xingzhu cutting through thorns and brambles² to reach her too heart-stirring. Bai Xiying couldn’t help but reveal a bit of her true softness.

“You expect me not to worry?!”

Lin Xingzhu could no longer suppress the emotions about to erupt. She abruptly pulled her hand back and pointed at the unconscious man collapsed on the ground, her gaze icy and furious. “How can you expect me not to worry?! Do you have any idea what kind of scene I saw when I rushed over here?! It was you, pinned down on the seat! It was a man, willing to be injured just to fight you for the weapon in your hand so he could hurt you!!”

The emotions Lin Xingzhu had been desperately suppressing instantly burst their dam. She was like a ball of fire burning in the vast night.

“What if I had been a step too late? Were you going to fight him to the death, wrestling for the weapon in a life-or-death struggle³?!”

Her questions rained down on Bai Xiying, one after another.

Lin Xingzhu was furious—furious that Bai Xiying didn’t know how to cherish herself, that she would place her own safety in such a dangerous situation.

She didn’t dare to imagine what she might do, what irreversible thing she might commit, if she couldn’t rein in her spiraling emotions if something had truly happened to Bai Xiying.

She hadn’t fallen deeply in love with Bai Xiying yet, but she already couldn’t bear the pain of losing her.

Bai Xiying’s expression changed instantly.

She didn’t speak, just looked at the Lin Xingzhu who had torn off her gentle exterior. The empty space was suddenly plunged into a deathly silence.

After a long moment, Lin Xingzhu said in a hoarse voice, “Bai Xiying, you realized something was wrong not long after you got in the car, didn’t you?”

With Bai Xiying’s intelligence, there was no way she would only notice something was amiss at the very end.

But even though she could have realized it, she still chose this path.

As she said this, Lin Xingzhu’s deep eyes stared intently at Bai Xiying.

“…”

Bai Xiying’s lips parted. “Yes. I knew he had bad intentions long ago!”

Her guess confirmed, Lin Xingzhu closed her eyes.

“You had a chance. You could have taken the opportunity to send a message for help the moment you realized something was wrong, whether it was to me or the police.”

She had noticed earlier that the driver hadn’t taken Bai Xiying’s phone, so she had a way to communicate with the outside world.

But Bai Xiying hadn’t. She chose to sit and watch, waiting until the driver reached his destination to commit the crime and was about to make his move.

There was a way to solve the problem that could have better guaranteed her safety, yet she chose the most extreme one.

She had finally managed to show Lin Xingzhu a sliver of her true heart, only for her to wave it away and, in the next breath, question her word by word.

Bai Xiying’s mood was, frankly, not good.

A chill rose in her eyes. “Why should I do that?”

Bai Xiying’s gaze was one of a coldness Lin Xingzhu had never seen before. “If I call the police, can they arrive in time? If I send you a message, can you receive it in time?”

She gave a mocking smile. “Relying on anyone is not as good as relying on myself. So what if I get hurt? As long as the result is good, that’s all that matters!”

So, after getting in the car and realizing something was wrong, Bai Xiying had never considered relying on others to escape. She never had such a thought to begin with.

She had a knife with her, and the driver was clearly acting on a whim. Bai Xiying was confident enough to ensure she wouldn’t be harmed by his evil act.

At most, I might get a few minor injuries during the struggle, right?

But so what? As long as the final goal is achieved, it’s fine.

The atmosphere between the two of them suddenly grew tense, with swords drawn and bows bent⁴.

Lin Xingzhu stared at her blankly, as if she were meeting Bai Xiying for the first time.

She had always known that Bai Xiying’s true nature wasn’t what she showed on the surface, but this was the first time she had witnessed, with her own eyes, the tip of the iceberg of Bai Xiying’s true self after the veil was lifted.

It was like the eternal ice and snow on a mountaintop, possessing a kind of cold chaos.

The smile on Bai Xiying’s lips thinned, and her tone suddenly dropped, becoming icy and severe. “Oh, I forgot. You, Lin Xingzhu, can of course arrive in time.”

“—after all, you’ve been following me.”

She exposed Lin Xingzhu without a shred of mercy. Seeing Lin Xingzhu’s face instantly turn pale, she felt no pleasure of having won the argument, but rather a searing pain.

“…”

Lin Xingzhu was silent for a long moment. “I’m sorry.”

Even if she had a million reasons, the fact that she had followed Bai Xiying in the middle of the night was true.

She gazed at Bai Xiying’s tightly pressed lips, which were like her sealed heart, and a feeling of exhaustion suddenly rose within her.

Just as the two were locked in a silent standoff, the police finally arrived.

Lin Xingzhu and Bai Xiying got into the car and went to the police station to give their statements. After it was confirmed to be legitimate self-defense, Lin Xingzhu left her assistant and lawyer to handle the follow-up and drove Bai Xiying back.

On the way back, neither of them said a word. When their eyes occasionally met, their gazes were full of indifference.

This was the first time Lin Xingzhu had ever argued with someone. The restraint and composure she always maintained had been completely discarded. But after the argument, she couldn’t help but feel a little lost.

Was I really wrong?

I hoped that Bai Xiying wouldn’t take such excessive risks, that she wouldn’t disregard her own safety just to act tough. Was that wrong?

The more she thought, the more chaotic her mind became. Lin Xingzhu gripped the steering wheel tightly, with so much force that one couldn’t help but wonder if she would snap it in two if she had the strength.

Bai Xiying’s eyes swept over, her light-colored gaze lingering for a moment on Lin Xingzhu’s blood-stained knuckles before she withdrew it as if unconcerned, staring out the window at the scenery streaking by in a straight line, not saying a word.

The two, who had been embracing intimately like lovers at noon, were now facing each other at night without a word, like the most familiar strangers in the world—cold and distant.

Arguments were always like this. Lin Xingzhu knew clearly that the process of every argument invisibly consumed the feelings of both parties, ultimately becoming like a tug-of-war where it was impossible to say who had won or lost.

She looked at Bai Xiying standing ramrod straight in the elevator and desperately wanted to speak, to break the suffocating silence, to say that arguing wouldn’t solve the problem.

But Bai Xiying’s indifferent “So what if I get hurt?” kept circling in her mind, making her unable to stop the anger from surging whenever she thought of it.

How could she not cherish herself? How could she be so careless about her own safety?!

This was the one thing Lin Xingzhu could not tolerate. She could accept Bai Xiying acting for her, she could accept Bai Xiying hiding things from her for certain reasons, but she absolutely could not accept her hurting herself.

The mere thought of it brought a sharp pain, and the self-control that was usually so excellent failed completely. Suppressed anger began to assault her heart, burning her rationality to almost nothing.

The sound of the elevator arriving dinged. Lin Xingzhu stepped out. After a moment of silence, she watched Bai Xiying, who was inside the elevator with her head down, fiddling with her fingers. Just as she was about to say something…

The person in the elevator seemed to sense it and looked up. She gave her a faint glance, took a step forward, and mercilessly pressed the close button. The doors slid shut, leaving only Lin Xingzhu’s reflection in the smooth, mirror-like outer doors.

Her silent, ugly expression was on full display.

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

Forget it. We should both calm down first. I also need to think about some things.

When she got home, Jiang Yeye was curled up in the living room, eating instant noodles and playing a game. Hearing the noise, she looked up and saw Lin Xingzhu looking like she had just suffered a romantic defeat, and she froze.

She just went out for a bit, what happened?

Could it be that my cousin has another love interest besides Xiying-jiejie upstairs?

At this thought, Jiang Yeye’s expression changed.

But when she saw the dark, congealed blood on Lin Xingzhu’s hand, her eyes suddenly filled with horror.

“C-Cousin…” Jiang Yeye swallowed, asking nervously, “What were you doing out in the middle of the night? You’re not some kind of outlaw⁵, are you?”

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

She was in no mood to banter with Jiang Yeye. She gave a bitter smile and said self-deprecatingly, “I just suddenly discovered that the difficulty of winning her over has increased again.”

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