The Female Lead is Quite Unusual - Episode 36

Though Bai Yin’s question seemed like a joke, Lin Wan felt a sudden tension, inexplicably sensing a strange similarity to the classic dilemma of “If your mother and I both fell into the water, who would you save?”

But how could a boy she’d only just met compare to Bai Yin?

Whether in terms of the quality of their work or the closeness of their relationship, Bai Yin completely outshone that young man in Lin Wan’s heart.

So Lin Wan answered almost without hesitation, “Of course, I like your work best! Your paintings are so beautiful! I’ll definitely treasure them.”

“That boy’s photography skills are actually quite good.” Bai Yin’s lips curled almost imperceptibly as she lifted her chin slightly. “You’re too kind, Wanwan. If you like them, I’ll paint more for you in the future.”

Lin Wan didn’t quite catch her words, because the boy had sent another voice message, saying he could bring over the professional books he no longer needed.

This was an unexpected delight for Lin Wan. Since she hadn’t received formal training, those specialized books were exactly what she needed.

Overjoyed, Lin Wan quickly sent a message to thank him and offered to buy the books from him at their original price.

Naturally, the boy refused. After some back-and-forth, he seemed to come up with a compromise: “If you really want to repay me, how about treating me to breakfast when we shoot together later?”

Not wanting to drag out the negotiation, Lin Wan agreed right away: “Alright, then breakfast tomorrow is on me. What would you like to eat?”

The boy was considerate, saying he wasn’t picky and would eat whatever Lin Wan did. They arranged to meet at the park entrance.

After finishing the conversation, Lin Wan finally looked up at Bai Yin. “Yin Yin, what did you say just now? Sorry, I didn’t catch it.”

“Nothing much. I was going to ask you something.” Bai Yin lifted her gaze, her eyes deep and intense. She took a deep breath, and though her expression seemed calm, Lin Wan couldn’t shake the feeling that Bai Yin’s words carried a hint of gritted teeth.

“Even though I’ve been taking medicine and sleeping these past couple of days,” Bai Yin continued, lowering her head hesitantly as if deeply embarrassed, “I’ve been having headaches. So, I wanted to ask if you could stay with me tonight.”

“But you have to get up early tomorrow,” Bai Yin’s head drooped even lower. “I’m afraid I’ll disturb you and affect your meeting with your friend. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow night.”

“It’s no problem at all!”

Shocked to learn the medicine had side effects, Lin Wan immediately cut her off. “I’ll come stay with you tonight.”

“If it’s making you uncomfortable, you shouldn’t take that medicine anymore.” Seeing Bai Yin glance at her as if about to refuse, Lin Wan quickly added, “Yin Yin, in my heart, nothing is more important than your health.”

Lin Wan sighed inwardly: Bai Yin was just too kind-hearted. If Lin Wan hadn’t pressed, Bai Yin would probably have kept this to herself.

“You’re my best friend. Helping you is what I should do. I’d be happy to come stay with you every night.” To prevent Bai Yin from feeling uneasy or making excuses, Lin Wan took the initiative. “If you keep being so formal with me, does that mean you don’t consider me a good friend?”

Sure enough, the gentle and innocent Bai Yin was persuaded by her words.

“Then I’ll be troubling you, Wanwan.” Bai Yin’s eyes glistened as she lifted her gaze to glance at Lin Wan before guiltily lowering her head. “I’ll try my best not to delay your matters.”

“Yin Yin, your requests have never been a burden to me,” Lin Wan sighed, grasping Bai Yin’s hand with a sincere expression. “Being able to stay by your side and help you is the happiest thing for me.”

Bai Yin’s expression clearly froze for a moment as she looked down at Lin Wan’s hand holding hers.

For an instant, Lin Wan felt that the Bai Yin before her was utterly unfamiliar. Her eyes resembled a bottomless abyss, as if some terrifying monster might crawl out from its depths at any moment and drag Lin Wan down into it.

But then Bai Yin closed her eyes and lowered her head.

“I understand, Wanwan.”

Bai Yin’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s hum, spoken softly like a sigh.

Lin Wan later went downstairs to practice photography and tried opening software to learn photo editing. Time passed quickly, and soon it was evening.

After finishing her bedtime routine, Lin Wan sent Bai Yin the “tucking in” GIF. This time, it didn’t take long for Bai Yin to reply: “Wanwan, come over.”

Lin Wan picked up a book and went to Bai Yin’s bedroom, reading to her as before.

Bai Yin kept her eyes closed and remained silent for a long time. She seemed to be trying hard to pretend she was already asleep, but Lin Wan saw through it immediately. No one who’s truly asleep would have such a tense body.

I never thought Bai Yin’s insomnia would get this severe.

Lin Wan sighed, feeling that reading aloud probably wouldn’t help this time. She simply turned off the light and, having grown familiar with the routine, naturally slipped into Bai Yin’s bed and took her hand. “I’m here.”

“Yin Yin, you can rest assured and sleep.”

Bai Yin’s hand clearly stiffened for a moment. She definitely wasn’t asleep!

“Yin Yin, don’t hide it from me anymore,” Lin Wan sighed, tightening her grip on Bai Yin’s hand, her heart growing even more tender toward her. “I told you I’d help you. Why force yourself to pretend you’re asleep.”

The night was utterly silent. After a long while, Bai Yin finally let out a soft “Mm.”

Lin Wan closed her eyes and began humming a lullaby from her original world.

Bai Yin’s grip on her hand gradually relaxed. Lin Wan stopped humming the lullaby, and after a while, she squeezed Bai Yin’s hand again. Bai Yin’s body noticeably stiffened once more.

So, she was still pretending to be asleep.

“Yin Yin,” Lin Wan felt both exasperated and amused. “Not being able to sleep isn’t something to be ashamed of. If you really can’t sleep, we can chat for a while.”

No one spoke.

Clearly, the delicate young lady seemed determined to continue her act.

Lin Wan hadn’t expected Bai Yin to be this stubborn. She felt as if she’d punched cotton utterly powerless and chuckled inwardly. Since Bai Yin wanted to pretend to be asleep, she’d play along.

With that thought, Lin Wan reached out and pulled Bai Yin’s stiff body into her arms.

“Ah,” feeling Bai Yin’s tense form, Lin Wan struggled to hold back her laughter while pretending to notice nothing. “Holding Yin Yin is so comfortable. Yin Yin is soft and fragrant, like a doll.”

Her hand inadvertently brushed against Bai Yin’s cheek. The young lady’s face was indeed burning hot, likely extremely embarrassed right now.

Serves her right for pretending to be asleep!

Lin Wan felt particularly satisfied.

For some reason, perhaps because heat is contagious, Lin Wan suddenly felt a bit warm too.

Afraid of completely angering Bai Yin, she swallowed and stopped talking, quietly continuing to hum the lullaby while gently patting Bai Yin’s shoulder to soothe her.

Bai Yin’s tense body gradually relaxed.

Around two in the morning, Lin Wan stopped humming and carefully turned over.

Just as she had expected, Bai Yin immediately snuggled up against her from behind.

This was how Bai Yin truly slept when she was asleep.

When awake, Bai Yin carried the unique pride of a pampered young lady and would never be this clingy.

Lin Wan breathed a sigh of relief, finally letting go of the weight on her mind, and drifted off to sleep as well.

Not wanting to wake Bai Yin, Lin Wan didn’t set an alarm, but around five in the morning, the electronic bracelet on her wrist vibrated.

Lin Wan turned off the bracelet, opened her eyes, and felt overwhelmingly drowsy, wishing she could just keep sleeping. But remembering her plan to learn photography, she sighed, forced her tired eyes open, and carefully climbed out of bed.

In her groggy state, she felt Bai Yin stir behind her. Lin Wan’s heart skipped a beat, and she held her breath, frozen in place. Only when Bai Yin showed no further movement did she quietly exhale in relief, gently pushed the door open, and left the room.

After returning to her own room to wash up and change clothes, she stepped outside to find Butler Zhao already waiting in the car.

“Butler Zhao, what could possibly require you to wake up so early?” Remembering that Bai Yin had mentioned Butler Zhao also had an early morning errand, Lin Wan climbed into the car and couldn’t help but ask.

“Actually, it’s nothing major,” Butler Zhao had prepared for this and replied smoothly, “My wife does morning exercises in the park, and I wanted to bring her breakfast.”

“You’re so good to your wife!” Lin Wan couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Miss Bai Yin is good to you too,” Butler Zhao smiled. “She just isn’t good at expressing it, but she truly cares about you deep down.”

“I know.”

But the two relationships were entirely different.

Lin Wan blinked, feeling a bit strange and unsure why the topic had suddenly shifted to Bai Yin. She could only respond vaguely.

The sky was still dark, and the scenery under the dim streetlights held a hazy beauty not seen during the day. Lin Wan couldn’t resist taking a few more photos.

Along the way, Butler Zhao stopped the car to let Lin Wan buy breakfast, and soon they arrived at the park entrance.

Bai Yin possessed immense wealth, which inevitably attracted envy.

To be cautious, Lin Wan had thought ahead and arranged with Butler Zhao to introduce him as her uncle when they met the boy, without revealing that they worked for Bai Yin.

Butler Zhao agreed without hesitation.

With smooth traffic, Lin Wan arrived earlier than the agreed time. After a short while, the boy came running over, panting.

Lin Wan handed him the breakfast, earning a very shy smile in return. His gaze fell on Butler Zhao behind her, and he asked curiously, “Who is this?”

“This is my uncle, Uncle Zhao. He’s also interested in photography, so he came along to see,” Lin Wan turned and introduced Butler Zhao as planned, only to find him pulling out his phone and typing something with an extremely happy expression.

“Uncle Zhao, what’s going on?” Lin Wan couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s nothing.” Butler Zhao put away his phone and gave the young man a kindly smile, speaking as he and Lin Wan had agreed: “I’m also very interested in photography, so I followed along. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not.”

Though the young man said this, during the subsequent photo session perhaps because Butler Zhao was watching from behind. He appeared noticeably restrained, glancing at the butler several times.

Lin Wan didn’t notice the young man’s unease. She was completely focused on taking photos, and after snapping a few pictures, she needed to use the restroom and headed to one nearby.

What Lin Wan didn’t know was that shortly after she left, Butler Zhao patted the young man on the shoulder.

“I noticed you kept eyeing my car earlier. You recognized it, didn’t you?” Butler Zhao said with a smile. “This car isn’t mine! It belongs to the madam. And it’s actually the cheapest car in our household.”

A car worth over three million, and it’s the cheapest?

“The madam you mentioned is?” The young man widened his eyes, swallowing hard.

“It seems the madam hasn’t told you,” Butler Zhao replied, his trademark smile spreading across his face. “Lin Wan is our madam. I am her butler. She’s been at odds with the family lately, which is why she’s been reluctant to go home.”

“Young man, the madam seems to really appreciate your skills,” Butler Zhao continued, his smile growing even more sincere. “Please take good care of teaching her during this time, and don’t let her know that you’re aware of the situation. As for the tuition fees, you needn’t worry. We’ll pay you double the market rate. ”

The young man took a moment to process this before lowering his head and murmuring a somewhat awkward “Mm.”

“Then I’ll inform the family about this,” Butler Zhao said, pretending not to notice the young man’s dejection as he cheerfully opened Bai Yin’s chat window.

“Miss, that young man is tall and handsome, with a witty way of speaking. Lin Wan seems especially happy when she’s with him and he doesn’t appear to be a bad person. You can rest assured.”

[Attached photo: A candid shot of Lin Wan standing with the young man] jpg.