Transmigrated as the Heroine’s Perfect Alpha - Chapter 14

After two chance encounters, Xie Ling could be certain that something was wrong between Ji Xue and Lin Man.

Although, following the customary tropes of typical CEO romance novels, the two would usually have some conflicts and friction in the beginning, especially with an enemies to lovers setting, it still felt strange.

Ji Xue’s attitude toward Lin Man was a bit too, how should she put it? Although she was in a state of defying the CEO time and time again, her eyes were too cautious and rational. There was not a trace of the unyielding stubbornness or the reckless impulsiveness that a female lead should have. On the contrary, she acted more like a pitiful, fragile little flower in front of Xie Ling.

Had they gone out of character? That should not be the case, right?

The more Xie Ling thought about it, the more bizarre it felt. She hurriedly tapped the system customer service, which had been relatively quiet for the past two days: “Are you there? Are you there? Are you there?”

“Dear, I am here. Your dedicated system customer service is online twenty-four hours a day to serve you.” Little Anti’s voice had lost the chaotic tones from before and truly sounded like a smartphone’s clunky voice assistant.

Xie Ling: “How is the progress of Ji Xue and Lin Man’s relationship?”

Little Anti: “I apologize, but the relationship progress between Ji Xue and Lin Man is outside of this system’s reading range. I cannot provide you with an answer.”

“?”

Little Anti took the initiative to explain: “They are not users of this system.”

Xie Ling: “…”

As expected, it was a useless system, only sharp witted when it was busy tormenting her.

Xie Ling leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling, her index finger tapping unconsciously on the chair’s armrest.

Forget it. She would stop thinking about it. Whatever happens, happens. The important thing was to quickly finish the plot and get rid of this pit of a system.

The phone screen, which had dimmed slightly, lit up again. Xie Ling swiped her finger, returning from the social media page to the chat list.

The small group chat, which had its notifications muted, lit up with a red dot again. Tang Wenwen, who had left the group last night, had been added back. She had shared a location for a bar. It seemed to be a new one.

Xie Ling glanced at her left hand, where the wound was healing and starting to scab, then looked at her left leg propped to the side, feeling speechless. Did you not say I cannot drink? Why are you inviting me to a bar?

Qian Lu replied instantly: We did not call you. Come if you want, or do not. I am hosting tomorrow at noon, and I will have the driver pick you all up.

Tang Wenwen sent a nodding sticker.

Xie Ling: “…”

Fine. This was the true face behind sisterhood. If you do not go, you do not go!

Xie Ling put down her phone, moved the mouse to close the horror movie she was watching, and switched to a newly released comedy with a 4.0 rating.

Unexpectedly, before she could finish the opening of the movie, Ren Xuan called. At the same time, a message notification from Ji Xue flashed across the top of her phone screen.

Xie Ling still held to the principle of avoiding the female lead as much as possible, so she naturally ignored it and answered Ren Xuan’s call.

“Ling, how is your leg?” Ren Xuan’s voice sounded a bit off. It was lazy, and the speaking pace was much slower.

Xie Ling glanced at the phone screen and frowned: “Did you drink?”

“Mm, a family dinner tonight. I had a little to accompany my family. It is fine.” Ren Xuan made a muffled sound, her voice tinged with a faint smile.

“I am fine too. Did you see the messages in the group? Qian Lu said she is hosting tomorrow at noon and wants to come pick us up herself.” Xie Ling moved her left hand, which was still aching, and her brow relaxed slightly.

Ren Xuan said in surprise: “Really? I just left the dinner. I have not had a chance to look at the messages carefully yet. I was in a rush to call you because I have something I want to ask.”

Xie Ling’s heart tightened.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a while, followed by a faint sound of a door closing, before Ren Xuan continued: “Lin Man’s father came to my house today. I overheard a little bit. Is it true that your family and the Lin family have stopped all cooperation? When did this happen? How come I never heard you mention it?”

Xie Ling breathed a sigh of relief. She thought Ren Xuan was going to say something else. Not hiding anything, she summarized what happened a few days ago in a few sentences.

Ren Xuan was furious after hearing it: “She is crazy? She ran to your house to grab your collar and fight with Auntie Chen? Because of whom? Is it the woman you met last night? Hey, who exactly is that woman? Where did she come from? I have never heard you say you knew such a white lotus before.”

Xie Ling felt a bit awkward and gave a light “Ah”: “She is my classmate. Was it not my birthday a few days ago? The school sent representatives invited by the school, and I met her at the birthday party.”

Ren Xuan was half sobered by the shock, her tone clearly picking up speed: “Are you kidding me?”

Looking back, Xie Ling also felt it was a bit exaggerated. Objectively speaking, Xie Ling and Lin Man had known each other for many years. Even if they were not friends in the true sense, one should not be so impulsive over someone they had just met.

Thinking of this, she felt even more ashamed. Speaking of which, how could she have written such an absurd story back then? Even though it was unreasonable, it was oddly interconnected. It truly made her feel both ashamed and proud.

Ding dong! Little Anti sent a warm reminder: “Congratulations, Empathy Index +1. Please keep up the good work.”

Xie Ling covered her face, listening helplessly to Ren Xuan’s harsh mockery until the phone ran out of battery and turned off. Luckily, she had forgotten to charge it during the day, otherwise, she really would not have known how to end that call.

About an hour later, Xie Ling was drowsy from the movie. She got up to wash and remembered to turn her phone on. As soon as it opened, dozens of unread messages dinged away, scaring Xie Ling so much that she threw the phone aside and scrambled into the bathroom as if fleeing.

By the time she lay back on the bed, it was past eleven. Xie Ling curled up under the soft quilt and opened the green icon to check the messages. She discovered that Qian Lu and the others had created a new group chat titled: Operation: Ban the Lin Family.

Scrolling through, it was almost entirely filled with Qian Lu and Tang Wenwen’s angry clamor, the screen full of exclamation marks.

Xie Ling thought to herself that they did not have to be this excited. A comprehensive ban on the Lin family was too exaggerated! Calling off the cooperation was one thing, but was it really necessary to drive them to the point of begging for food?

But as soon as she said this, the group members, who were excited and not yet asleep, immediately started spamming retorts.

Backhand Punch: Little Ling, you are just too kind! How can such a thing be let go so easily?

Give You a Punch: Wenwen is right. That bastard ran to your house to cause trouble. We are not dead yet, and she is being way too arrogant.

Drink More Hot Water: Lip service is not enough. Please be sure to show some actual action.

Xie Ling: Hey, do not be impulsive. Please do not do anything reckless.

Give You a Punch: You can mess with me, but you can not mess with my sister!

Backhand Punch: Exactly. I am going to go find my parents to discuss this right now!

Drink More Hot Water: Sisters! I will cover your gas cards after this is done! For a year!

Give You a Punch: A year is too little. At least ten years!

Backhand Punch: My wife is right!

Drink More Hot Water: Deal.

Xie Ling looked at the rapidly scrolling chat interface, feeling exhausted but also a little happy. This feeling of being cared for and supported by friends was so wonderful that her chest felt full, and her nose felt a bit sore for a moment.

However, actually carrying this out was no joke. Their attitude was already very moving.

Therefore, in the next second, Xie Ling, the only one in the four-person group with any shred of rationality left, exited the group chat. Before leaving, she could not help but urge: Please everyone, calm down. Let us talk when we meet tomorrow.

The affairs between the Xie family and the Lin family were truly not simple. In this world, Lin Man, shrouded in a certain degree of protagonist aura, had infinite possibilities. The likelihood of changing those fated endings did not seem very high right now, and there was really no need to drag so many people into the water as collateral damage. It would be unfair to them.

After all, they were all children, so who should she favor? She would protect as many as she could. As a biological mother, this was all Xie Ling could do now.

The system, Little Anti, jumped in to mock her: “Now you know you are the biological mother? If you had this realization back when you sacrificed Xie Ling to set off Lin Man, would you have needed to go through this?”

Xie Ling heard that mocking tone and was shocked: “You, have you enabled the Hoodlum theme pack again?”

“Yeah, is this system not very considerate?” Little Anti’s voice had not changed, but the tone was anything but proper, lazy and undisciplined, exactly like a thug hanging out on the street in a Hong Kong film.

Xie Ling was stunned: “How on earth did that trigger?”

“You missed me, so I came.”

“…”

Xie Ling sighed: “If I do not want you, will you change back?”

Little Anti chuckled: “Voice theme switching has a cooldown period. Do I look like a casual customer service agent? Of course not.”

Ever since binding to this broken system, Xie Ling’s eye rolling skills had become increasingly proficient. Sometimes, she even extreme-wished to just roll them into blindness so she would never see this SB system or SB agent again.

Of course, she would be brutally slapped back by the SB Little Anti, only to suffer another round of cold sarcasm, telling her that even if she became blind, she still could not escape the tragic fate of having to follow the plot.

Muting the voice in her ear, Xie Ling resignedly opened the message Ji Xue had sent.

I am not with Lin Man.

I do not like her.

Xie Ling was bewildered by the message. What kind of performance is this? What does she mean? Why does Ji Xue want to tell her this?

Little Anti popped up again: “Heh, as expected, Scum A’s are all the same. You were the one who asked her yesterday, and now that she is answering, you are playing dumb. Tsk tsk.”

Xie Ling opened the input box, wrote and deleted, feeling that perhaps no response was the best response.

Little Anti immediately exposed her: “If you want to reply, just reply. It is not like you were the one who initiated the conversation with her. The system will not randomly shock you.”

At the same time, Ji Xue, curled up on a small, narrow single bed, was staring at the chat window on her phone, her cheeks burning hot. She looked at the Typing indicator at the top and waited expectantly for a long while, but ended up getting nothing. She could not help but tap the input field again.

In Xie Ling’s reply box sat an “Oh,” which she had been slow to send. Seeing that it suddenly displayed Typing at the top, her hand shook, and the message was sent successfully.

Ji Xue’s typing speed was very fast. When she received that cold, one word reply, the question she had hidden in her heart for so long had already surfaced on Xie Ling’s phone screen.

Ji Xue had originally wanted to recall it, but then she saw the Typing reminder at the top again and knew it was too late. She curled her body up and hid inside her quilt, which smelled of milk.

Xie Ling, who had received the female lead’s question, was completely dumbfounded. She looked at the message and obediently tapped the system agent: “This part was not in the script. How should I reply?”

Little Anti had been about to continue mocking her, but after seeing Ji Xue’s question, it also froze.

Xie Ling had not received a response from the agent for a long time and asked in confusion: “Ah? Speak up, big boss?”