Gold Medal Mediator [Quick Transmigration] 56p1

Chapter 56: I’m Really Not the Female Lead of a Novel (III) p1

The System didn’t know, and the System was also in despair.

Only Hua Baihe, having sized up the little rabbit’s appearance, asked the System with some caution, “System, my dear… have you even learned how to set up a honey trap?”

The System didn’t understand what she was talking about. “?”

Hua Baihe snapped shut the book she was holding, which was currently in a transitional phase of the plot with no steamy scenes for now, and asked it seriously, “I get it. Are you trying to trick me and figure out my feelings for her? I might as well tell you directly—I have no interest in a kid who hasn’t even fully grown her fur.”

System: “…”

It was silent for a moment, then said with an old, gratified heart, “Remember what you said.”

Hua Baihe tossed her hair, her face full of confidence. “Let me tell you, this good-girl type, you can tell at a glance she’s a little white flower who doesn’t even know the basics. I have no interest in raising a child.”

With that, she shook the book in her hand. “Enough about her—this author called ‘Firefly’ is much more fun. Hey, it’s a pity she doesn’t do book signings or anything.”

Otherwise, she could see what she looked like in person.

Was she the urban elite type? Or a silent university student with a contrasting personality?

From the writing style, Hua Baihe could only roughly judge that this person’s thoughts were quite mature. As for the rest, she wasn’t in this line of work, so she couldn’t see anything more.

But the desire to have a conversation with her was stirring in her heart. After thinking for a moment, she immediately took out her phone, and based on the content she had searched for last time, she followed the clues to her contracted website and then searched for information in the author’s column.

Weibo… nothing.

Contact information… nothing.

After scrolling to the bottom—

In the end, Hua Baihe could only see a reader group, and it was divided into one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven groups. Who knew which one the real author was in, or if she had seven different accounts.

She stared at it for a while, bored, and then put her phone down.

…Never mind. What if this person’s novel ends up with a bad ending? She’ll wait until she’s finished reading the ending.

* * *

A few days later.

Hua Baihe had intended to change her daily routine of staying cooped up in her room, but an autumn rain brought a chill, and the temperature curve on the weather forecast was dropping steadily.

In addition, her frail little body hadn’t put on enough fat for autumn. The moment she opened the door of her house, she let out a sneeze, which scared the maids and servants into persuading her one by one to take care of her health. It made Hua Baihe almost think she was the emperor on the dragon throne, insisting on a southern tour despite the death-defying remonstrations of the censors.

She was already afraid of the cold, and with the encouragement of the people around her, it was only natural that, let alone the idea of exercising her arms by turning her wheelchair a couple of times when she first arrived, with the severe cold as an excuse, she wished she could grow together with the bed, and was even reluctant to move from the bed to the wheelchair every day.

As a result, on the day Jiang Xue came to return the book, she didn’t see her in the living room at all.

If it weren’t for Xue Jiming thinking that she and Xue Ling were on good terms and letting her go directly to the door to knock, Jiang Xue’s trip to the Xue family this time might have been in vain.

Jiang Xue was still dressed like a student. She also had a pink designer scarf around her neck, with simple black lines running through it, giving it a simple and elegant look. Her face, which was a little pale from the cold outside, was further accentuated with an innocent look.

Hua Baihe’s impression of her was still that of “a rabbit vase with a strange cute point.” She couldn’t say she liked her or disliked her. She was just tired of binge-watching dramas in her room and casually let her in.

Jiang Xue was holding a book, stood obediently by her bed, and handed it over with both hands.

“Thank you for your help. I’m currently working on a project for my advisor and was worried I wouldn’t be able to find any second-hand reference materials. Your book came at just the right time.”

Hua Baihe’s attention was not on her at all. She was studying the ball group on her phone’s page, trying to find out where the author “Firefly” was. She was multitasking and replied to her perfunctorily:

“You’re welcome. Just put the book on that bookshelf.”

Besides glancing at Jiang Xue when she entered the room, she did not give her an extra look during their conversation.

The smile in Jiang Xue’s eyes was immediately diluted a little, but she still did as she was told, putting the book on the bookshelf on the desk. Then she glanced at it and found that the book Xue Ling had pressed under her pillow before had actually been placed on the bookshelf as well.

Her gaze lingered on the colored spine of the book for a while, and for some reason, the thought of what would happen if the head of the Xue family, Xue Cheng, were to come in and take a tour of his eldest daughter’s study, he would probably be angered to death by Xue Ling’s rebelliousness.

She still didn’t know about the glorious history of “Xue Ling enthusiastically inviting her old father to appreciate a strange text.” The thought only flashed through her mind, and then she raised her hand and tapped the spine of the book with her fingertip, felt the hollowed-out craftsmanship, and let out a surprised “Hmm.”

Hua Baihe didn’t expect her to have no intention of leaving after returning the book. She had just randomly poked a group and submitted a request to join. While waiting, she glanced in her direction.

“What’s wrong?”

Her voice was emotionless. Fortunately, Jiang Xue just pointed at the book without taking it privately. “Ling-jie, do you have ‘Firefly’s’ book here too?”

She had learned from her elders that she was a few months younger than Xue Ling, so there was nothing wrong with calling her “jie.”

Hua Baihe couldn’t frown at her innocent little face and just focused on what she was saying. “What? You read her books too?”

Her tone was a little strange.

After all, Jiang Xue was different from Xue Ling. She was a genuine talented girl. Hua Baihe knew what color she was under her shell, but if Jiang Xue also bowed to this kind of literature…

Then this world was probably hopeless.

Fortunately, Jiang Xue just smiled and shook her head at her. She raised her hand to her face and paused, and finally just gently scratched her cheek, tilting her head at Hua Baihe.

“No, but I know her. We’re both members of the local writers’ association. We often go out for coffee and chat.”

Jiang Xue seemed to have casually mentioned it, but she found that a certain person’s ears had perked up, and most of her attention had shifted to her.

She smiled secretly in her heart but only revealed this much.

Hua Baihe was just about to hear more about this author, but there was no more. Her heart was itching, and her request to join the group on her phone had not been approved for a long time.

She put her phone aside and asked casually, as if nothing was wrong, “Oh, you’re on good terms?”

Jiang Xue pondered for a few seconds, her gaze looking to the side, as if she were thinking about how to judge their friendship. Her peripheral vision noticed that Xue Ling was already staring at her intently, her eyes full of expectation.

Under Hua Baihe’s eager gaze, she finally replied:

“I’ve known her for many years. What’s wrong? Ling-jie, do you want to meet her?”

Hua Baihe really wanted to nod, but due to her “moody” chuunibyou persona, she could only pretend to be very casual and reply, “I browsed her column the other day and found that she has a bunch of reader groups. I don’t know which one is real, so I’m a little curious about her in person.”

After thinking for a moment, she added, “Just a little.”

Jiang Xue immediately chuckled. She keenly caught the key information in her words and, as if she were just chatting, replied casually, “She’s in groups one, two, and three. She’s very approachable and also accepts readers’ advances. If you’re really interested in her, you can consider joining a group.”

Hua Baihe, who had just applied to join the second group, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She put on a nonchalant attitude. “We’ll see.”

Without a common topic, the room became much quieter. Jiang Xue smiled at her and said:

“Then I won’t disturb you. It’s getting cold lately. Ling-jie, remember to wear more clothes.”

Hua Baihe nodded, not at all polite.

“Take care, I won’t see you out.”

Seeing that she really had no extra interest in her, the color in Jiang Xue’s eyes deepened. In the end, she still left the Xue family politely.

However, the moment she stepped out of the door, she immediately took out her phone, changed the settings for friend requests to “allow friends to add friends by phone number,” and then went into the group to change the settings for adding friends. Then she opened the messages of the second group to take a look—

“Shi shi zhe ling luo” has applied to join this group. Verification message: A reader who has purchased the genuine version.

Her expression was stunned for a moment. As she pressed the “agree” button, a sentence couldn’t help but pop into her mind:

“Those who get the opportunity will flourish, and those who lose the opportunity will wither.”

This was a sentence that appeared in the Book of Han, Chronicle of the Han.

As the name suggests, it talks about how people who get the help of luck will have more and more helpers around them, while those who lose their luck will become worse and worse, like the withering of plants in winter.

It was as if they had entered a cold winter.

Does Xue Ling feel… that she is the one who has lost the opportunity?

Jiang Xue remembered what she had heard from her elders at home about Xue Cheng’s family, and couldn’t help but think of the girl who had had a car accident and could only hear the news of her parents’ divorce in the hospital room.

The one who has lost the opportunity…

It seems she was not wrong?

It just made her feel a little heartbroken.

On her way back, Jiang Xue was holding her phone. The sentence from the Book of Han was circling in her mind, so much so that when she walked out of the community and saw the car that had come to pick her up, she got into the back seat with a chill.

With a “ding-dong!”

As if a valve had been opened, a stream of friend requests from within the group poured into her backstage. Fortunately, everyone was holding back, wanting to reduce their love rivals and be the first to hook up with the great author, so no one in the group said a word about the author opening up friend requests.

Jiang Xue perked up and carefully sifted through the names. A few minutes later, she found—

A certain person had been completely lurking since entering the group and showed no sign of wanting to hook up with her at all.

Jiang Xue: “…”

What was with this subtle sense of disappointment?

* * *

Hua Baihe didn’t know she was being targeted. Ever since her request to join the group was approved, she had been curiously lurking, thinking she could secretly learn a lot of new poses.

But this group was really strange:

Fish Loves Water: “A few days ago, when I was in my ancient Chinese philosophy class, I heard the teacher occasionally mention ‘Guangling San.’ Sigh, what a pity. A masterpiece, but the score was not passed down to later generations.”

Wahahaha Is Really Delicious: “Yeah, hey, when Ji Kang died, who knows how many people wrote to the emperor asking to die in his place. Even the students of the Imperial College jointly wrote to the emperor, asking him to rescind the order. What a pity.”

Fish Loves Water: “Yeah, but his son was a loyal minister. When Luoyang fell, he used his own body to block the swords and arrows for the emperor. His blood even splattered on the dragon robe. When the emperor was rescued, he said, ‘This is the blood of Courtier Ji. Do not wipe it away.'”

Hua Baihe: “…”

Excuse me.

She looked at the group number for a few seconds, went back and verified it number by number, and found that she had not joined the wrong group.

The problem was—

Why was a reader group of an 18+ author filled with this inexplicable scholarly style?

What were they doing talking about metaphysics?

How was a scum like her, who only knew that Ji Kang was a handsome man, supposed to stay in this group?

Lunatics!

Hua Baihe’s face was complicated.

The System happily added fuel to the fire. “Here’s a picture for you: [I often feel out of place because I’m too salty.jpg]”

Hua Baihe was a little angry. She stared at the red “leave this group” button for a long time, and suddenly heard a commotion from outside.

And Jiang Xue, who was still waiting for a friend request at home, never would have thought that one day she would almost lose her partner because she was too cultured.

* * *

The Xue family’s living room.

Liu Lu was holding a stack of printed scripts, questioning her son. “What is this? Weren’t you writing your graduation thesis lately? What is this?”

Because her own rise to power was a bit improper, and the Liu family was not a high-class family, just an ordinary middle-class family, let alone any literary tradition. So after she married into the Xue family with a child, she had strengthened her own cultural education. Her usual leisure was either listening to Kunqu opera and Peking opera, or practicing calligraphy and painting plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum.

It was not enough for her to be educated herself. She had been strictly grasping Xue Jiming’s literary cultivation since he was a child. In order to cultivate him, she had hired countless famous teachers in the capital to tutor him.

Today, on a whim, she went to tidy up his study. But on his desk, she saw…

She saw a movie script!

After so many years of pulling up the seedlings to help them grow, Liu Lu herself had developed some literary aesthetic. She casually flipped through the script and realized what her son was looking at.

Especially the name on the cover of the script, The Number One Young Master of the Capital. Wasn’t this the commercial film that had been a box office hit a while ago but was heavily criticized by the literary circle!

When she was chatting with the other wives, she had even heard them mock these young people for their increasingly vulgar forms of entertainment.

Now that she had found out that her son was involved in this vulgar entertainment, how could she stand it?

Xue Jiming had been discussing the content of her graduation thesis with Zhao He recently, and his whole person was much more relaxed. He was no longer as tense as he had been a while ago. Now, not only was he reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas as a bedtime story, but he was also studying some historical materials from the ancient times.

Fortunately, his long-stalled writing inspiration had finally visited him. Today, he had listed the revised writing outline and had just handed it to his advisor.

But a roommate in the same dormitory was preparing to enter the entertainment industry as a screenwriter. He had sent him this, wanting to discuss this movie that had been a big hit a while ago.

To be honest, Xue Jiming’s understanding of literature was very simple. Highbrow and lowbrow, each had its own good points. He didn’t think that the existence of this kind of commercial film was something terrible.

As long as something had a market, it reflected the public’s demand for it.

Besides, not everyone in China could receive the same education as him. This movie was just for entertainment and relaxation. It did not involve any illegal elements, nor did it rely on those truly vulgar things to attract people’s attention. He was very happy to discuss it with his roommate.

As a result…

This faxed manuscript, because it had not been put away in time, had caused him to be scolded today.

Xue Jiming pinched the bridge of his nose, not wanting to argue with Liu Lu about those many points of view, and just replied, “It’s not mine.”

Liu Lu’s face did not improve. She was still on the verge of exploding, and she bombarded him with a string of questions. “Then whose is it?! Who on earth wants to harm you, son? Didn’t I tell you to stay away from these things!”

Xue Jiming: “…It’s not to harm me. It’s just a roommate who casually chatted with me.”

Liu Lu followed up with, “Which roommate? Stay away from him in the future. This kind of person who is willing to degenerate—”

Before she could finish, a wheelchair slowly turned in her line of sight. On it sat the person with the biggest temper in the entire Xue family. Being swept by that gaze, the remaining words in Liu Lu’s throat were suddenly stuck.

Hua Baihe looked as if “I’m just passing by,” glanced at the woman whose voice was getting louder and louder, and then turned her wheelchair to get herself a drink of water—

This was her only exercise for the day.

But her movements to the side of the water dispenser were slow, like an old turtle sunbathing, the wheels of the wheelchair rolling round and round.

By the time she reached her destination, Liu Lu had forgotten what she was going to scold.

She should have stopped, but for some reason, she felt unhappy, as if her act of disciplining her son had been disturbed by an outsider. For some reason, just as Xue Jiming had taken the manuscript and was about to leave, she called out:

“Stop! You haven’t even finished listening. Didn’t they teach you in school how to respect your parents!”

Xue Jiming was a little confused by her menopausal, overreacting momentum. He sighed helplessly, turned to face his mother, and prepared to be scolded.

However, a scoff suddenly sounded from the side.

“I’m not very clear if he was taught to respect his parents—but I can see that you haven’t studied the three obediences and the four virtues. Anyone who didn’t know would have thought your son’s hearing was very poor, otherwise why would you have to use such a loud voice to communicate?”

Hua Baihe had naturally heard her pedantic talk about movies thoroughly.

Now she was also using that to reply to her—

Aren’t you asking your son to be as noble as the famous scholars of ancient times? Then why don’t you also learn from the women of ancient times, and obey your husband when you get married, and obey your son when your husband is not around?

Liu Lu was so choked by her that she almost fell backward.

Those things that had already been classified as dross by the new era, why should she go and learn them?

But she had long experienced Xue Ling’s ability to scold people indirectly. Arguing with a moody lunatic like Xue Ling would not only make her, the stepmother, seem petty, but also easily cause unrest in the family.

Xue Ling herself didn’t mind if her life was in a mess, but Liu Lu still had face, and did not want the other relatives of the Xue family to see her as a joke. Her face changed again and again, but she didn’t say another word.

Xue Jiming looked at her, and then at his sister, at a loss. But he knew that at least he didn’t have to be scolded. He picked up the script and went back to his room.

But this episode did not end there.