After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 60

Dream

Bai Xiying’s deep and profound eyes stared at Lin Xingzhu’s back, unspeakable images swirling in her heart—images that would make the person before her turn around, rip open her heart to look, and become red-faced and red-eared.

The confusion from a moment ago was fleeting. At this moment, what Bai Xiying determined in her heart was that regardless of whether Lin Xingzhu accepted it or not, she was destined to be her person. She shouldn’t vainly think she could just pat her butt and walk away¹ after provoking her.

Having made a firm decision, Bai Xiying returned to her usual self.

Lin Xingzhu was completely unaware that during this short journey, the person beside her had formulated so many extremely stimulating plans regarding her future—and whether her belonging would be willing or not.

She drove Bai Xiying home as usual. When going upstairs, Lin Xingzhu helped by carrying the large box that Bai Xiying had originally placed in the trunk, while Bai Xiying carried the things they had bought at the supermarket.

Inside, besides daily necessities, there was also a box of very sweet-looking Swiss rolls².

Her lowered gaze swept over it, and Lin Xingzhu suddenly found it a bit strange. “Have you always liked to eat sweet things, ever since you were little?”

Not expecting Lin Xingzhu to suddenly ask this question, Bai Xiying paused for a moment, her expression unchanging. “When I was a child, I just rather liked eating them. Now, I like them very much.”

Very, very much. A liking that almost reaches a pathological state.

Before she had memories of living with Han Cuiying³, the impression of “sweet” in Bai Xiying’s mind was the cake her parents bought for her birthday.

The cream on the cake was very, very sweet. It was milky and sweet. The feeling of that sweetness reaching the bottom of her heart still produced a heart-palpitating⁴ sensation when she recalled it now.

But after her parents passed away and she lived with Han Cuiying, the next sweet things Bai Xiying ate were candies given casually by other uncles and aunts⁵, or fruit drops that other children took out to kindly share.

As a normal child, Bai Xiying also liked sweet things.

So every time she ate those candies, she was very happy. For that, she could tolerate Han Cuiying’s foul attitude toward her when she was in a bad mood that day.

And the beautiful, delicious cakes were forever displayed in bright shop windows she could not touch.

When you look at something for a long time, it becomes an obsession⁶.

And when the idea brought by the word “sweet” became related to happiness, when Bai Xiying fell into the abyss of pain, the only thing that could bring her solace was everything related to “sweet.”

Lin Xingzhu, holding the box, couldn’t reach her own mouth, but she felt her healthy teeth and said, “Then your teeth are quite good.”

To eat so many sweets and not have them go bad.

Lin Xingzhu remembered that she quite liked sweets when she was a child. After all, which child doesn’t?

The nanny watched her strictly, but Lin Xingzhu always had various ways to get candy to eat. The consequence of her lack of restraint was that her teeth went bad at a young age. When she opened her mouth, a black corner made the Lin Xingzhu of that time, who already knew the difference between beauty and ugliness, very fearful.

From then on, Lin Xingzhu never dared to eat too many sweets again.

Fortunately, when she naturally changed her teeth later, that tooth symbolizing ugliness and gluttony was also replaced.

Thinking of this, Lin Xingzhu subconsciously licked her gums again.

Fortunately, the original owner’s body also had a set of white, healthy teeth.

Otherwise, Lin Xingzhu was certain that after she transmigrated, the first thing she would do was send the Chinese-medicine-smelling Bai Xiying to the hospital, and the second thing would be to go to the hospital to have her own teeth corrected if they could be, or replaced if they could not.

Bai Xiying: “…”

She hadn’t expected Lin Xingzhu’s focus to be on this.

She smiled. “I thought you would say that you would often make desserts for me in the future.”

Bai Xiying looked at Lin Xingzhu suggestively.

“Now you know, both my body and my teeth are very healthy, so don’t forget what you said before about making desserts often in the future.”

Lin Xingzhu pressed her lips together to hold back a laugh. “I won’t forget.”

Confidence quietly rose in her heart. It seems my skills are quite good. The very first try was enough to make Bai Xiying think about it for so long.

However, the past few days had indeed been too busy, with everything piling up at once. Now that some things were resolved, Lin Xingzhu would have a period of leisure to try out recipes for different flavors of dessert.

She carried the box and helped put it inside Bai Xiying’s home. After confirming there was nothing else she needed help with, she went downstairs to her own home.

Jiang Yeye, who had been scared out of her wits and staying at home, was currently holed up like a cat in the living room eating instant noodles.

“You’re back so early?” Jiang Yeye jumped in fright.

Lin Xingzhu glanced at her. “This is early?”

“How is it not early? I thought since it was a rare candlelight dinner⁷ for you and Xiying-jie, you would at least have a little date after dinner, in front of the flowers, under the moon⁸, to accelerate the warming of your feelings.”

After slurping a mouthful of instant noodles, then gulp-gulp-gulping the noodle soup until it was completely clean, Jiang Yeye wiped her mouth, finally feeling full.

Lin Xingzhu looked at her unladylike appearance but didn’t say anything. Originally, she thought that after such a major incident had happened during Jiang Yeye’s time in A City, and seeing how she had been scared out of her wits, she would want to go home after she recovered. But it seemed she had no such intention.

“Why don’t you want to go home?”

Although Lin Xingzhu was easy to talk to with others, her patience was indeed not that great. Now that the confusion had struck again, she didn’t turn corners and beat around the bush⁹ and asked directly.

“You refused to tell me the reason for taking a leave of absence from school before. Can you still not say it now?”

Jiang Yeye’s eyes darted away evasively.

“You don’t have any familiar friends here, and you don’t want to go out. Holing up at home playing games all day is obviously not a solution.”

“When you encounter problems, you must work hard to solve them, not just blindly escape.”

Jiang Yeye turned her face away and fell into silence.

Although Lin Xingzhu had restrained her external aura, the intimidating presence accumulated over the years as an adult and a superior was still unavoidably pouring out from the minor details, affecting Jiang Yeye, who was not yet deeply experienced in the ways of the world.

After a long while, she buried her head and said sullenly, “Something happened at school.”

Lin Xingzhu nodded, telling her to continue.

Jiang Yeye glanced at her hesitantly¹⁰, feeling a bit ashamed. But under Lin Xingzhu’s encouraging gaze, once she started, she didn’t feel the rest was so hard to say.

“I got a boyfriend at school, but not long after, I found out he was two-timing¹¹. The person he cheated with was a friend I was especially close with.”

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

She was a little surprised.

Jiang Yeye had an expression as if she were facing death. “That would have been fine. If she wanted the rotten man, I would have just given him to her. But she was too much! She and that damned scumbag spread rumors about me everywhere, making them sound as if they had a nose and eyes¹². What’s worse is that I had no way to prove my innocence. When I went to school, everyone looked at me through colored glasses¹³.”

Speaking of this, she became extremely indignant.

“All the friends I made before were turned against me¹⁴ by that girl. Now I’m isolated and without help at that school. I get annoyed just seeing them, wuwuwuwu!”

Jiang Yeye suddenly burst into tears. “I said I wanted to transfer schools, but my mom wouldn’t let me. I didn’t dare tell the truth, and I didn’t want to go back to school, wuwuwuwu. In the end, after pestering them to death, I decided to take a leave of absence.”

Lin Xingzhu: “…”

She supported her forehead, not expecting this to be the reason. “…If you really want to transfer, I can help say something.”

“…” Jiang Yeye sobbed. “It’s no use, that girl will transfer with me…”

Lin Xingzhu frowned. “How do you know?”

Jiang Yeye said, aggrieved, “She told me so herself.”

Lin Xingzhu took a deep breath. “So you took a leave of absence to hide from that girl, right? Including coming to S City.”

Jiang Yeye nodded weakly.

So, the opinions of others at school weren’t the main point. The main point was that Jiang Yeye wanted to escape the girl who had pried up her wall corner¹⁵.

Lin Xingzhu had never encountered such a situation. She rubbed the space between her eyebrows. “I understand. Actually, this matter is easy to handle. We just need to make sure the school you transfer to doesn’t accept her.”

“Or, we could find her parents and explain the situation, and have them step in to restrain her.”

Jiang Yeye bit her lip. “But then I’d have to tell them the reason, and besides, that girl’s family background is also quite good.”

She rejected the second option.

Lin Xingzhu glanced at her. “I remember Unclke was planning to have you study abroad, right?”

Jiang Yeye nodded like a chick pecking at rice¹⁶.

Lin Xingzhu was thoughtful. “Then you just need to get through this year smoothly.”

Jiang Yeye looked at her eagerly. Lin Xingzhu glanced at her, her meaning unclear. “You never thought about getting revenge?”

“…Huh?” Jiang Yeye’s eyes were blank. “That’s not necessary, right? It’s not like I liked that scumbag that much anyway.”

Fine.

Lin Xingzhu rubbed her foolish little sister’s head and said in a faint voice, “Don’t worry, I’ll find you a school that she can’t get into.”

“By the way, what’s that girl’s name?”

Jiang Yeye answered obediently, “Chu Tiantian¹⁷.”

Knowing the reason for Jiang Yeye’s leave of absence, Lin Xingzhu noted the matter down before sleeping, deciding to tactfully call her uncle and aunt tomorrow to explain the situation—of course, concealing some minor details as Jiang Yeye wished.

For the first time in a long time, Bai Xiying dreamed of her past life.

In the dream, she was imprisoned by Qiao Zijin. Her darting gaze was like a sticky, disgusting snake, both filthy and crazed.

Behind a single wall, hidden away, were the collectibles Qiao Zijin was so proud of. In a half-dreaming, half-awake state, Bai Xiying could still hear the sounds of whipping and moaning from next door.

Crying, struggling, indulging.

Bai Xiying knew that Qiao Zijin was doing this for her to see.

Because she had discovered that Mu Muqing had already beaten her to it¹⁸.

Thinking of Mu Muqing, Bai Xiying, imprisoned in the unvisited dark room, curled her lips into a mocking smile.

Soon after, through a leak she deliberately created, Mu Muqing brought people and found this place, using the Qiao family to threaten Qiao Zijin into releasing her.

Like watching lanterns on a galloping horse¹⁹, the scenes flickered.

The final frame froze on Bai Xiying, holding a dagger, stabbing it through Qiao Zijin’s filthy heart in one go.

The sound of the ocean tide surged, its waves rolling.

Beside her was Mu Muqing’s hypocritical comfort. Through the false, bewildering miasma, Bai Xiying’s clear yet crazed eyes captured the pride in the depths of Mu Muqing’s heart, who thought she had gotten a handle on her.

Fresh blood splattered the side of her face. Bai Xiying turned her head, witnessing the blood-drenched corpse being submerged in the sea, an arc of flickering light tracing the depths of her eyes.

The scene flipped again, to herself, curled up in a corner of a pure white room, trembling nonstop.

Through the layer of the dream, Bai Xiying clearly knew what state she was in.

A sweaty dampness enveloped her entire body; she was there in person.

Suddenly, the contact beneath her changed from ice-cold to warm.

That was a different feeling from toys or herself. It was another person’s light gathering, slow twisting, stroking, and plucking anew²⁰.

Bai Xiying followed the wet hand upwards. Inside the pure, flawless white room, she saw the face of another person.

“…”

Bai Xiying shot up abruptly, the dazed, alluring charm in her eyes not yet faded.

She gripped the soft blanket tightly and took a breath.

Her desire for Lin Xingzhu reached its peak this morning.

Bai Xiying’s jaw tensed. A drop of sweat slid from the side of her forehead, soaking a small, round dot into the blanket.

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