Transmigrating Into a Book, the Villain Becomes the White Moonlight!

121: Chapter 121 Lin Wan with a straight ballHer fingers gently slid across the screen, displaying clear charts and brief explanations with professional movements.

Su Bai took the phone, his gaze quickly and intently sweeping over the neatly arranged data, charts, and brief explanations on the screen, his fingertips lightly gliding over the cool glass.

A moment later, he handed the phone back to Lin Wan, his tone carrying a hint of straightforwardness: ”The investigation is quite detailed. You’ve worked hard.”

”Su Bai,” Lin Wan took the phone but didn’t put it away immediately. Instead, she looked into his eyes, her voice softer than before yet carrying an ineffable gravity, ”I know... you might have chosen Mu Xue. But at least, regarding the Nangong Family matter, don’t be blind. Their internal situation might be more complex, more... dangerous than it appears.”

Su Bai tossed the last bit of chocolate into his mouth, patted the crumbs off his hands, raised an eyebrow at her words, his tone tinged with amusement: ”What, in your eyes, am I that kind of brainless fool who can be easily deceived?”

Lin Wan didn’t answer immediately. She just looked at him deeply, her cool eyes clearly conveying one meaning: At least regarding matters concerning Mu Xue, you have that tendency.

Last night at the auction, Su Bai, for Mu Xue’s sake, or at least for the performance related to her, recklessly spent tens of billions. Although it didn’t succeed in the end, it had already fully ”proven” his ”irrationality.”

Now, facing the obviously problematic Nangong Family, Lin Wan was genuinely worried that Su Bai would plunge in headfirst regardless of the consequences, using the Su Family’s resources to fill a potentially bottomless black hole, all because Mu Xue was there.

”The Nangong Family matter,” Su Bai seemed to see through her worry, leaned back, rested his arm on the back of the bench, his tone becoming somewhat more casual, ”I know.”

A clear flash of astonishment appeared in Lin Wan’s eyes.

Seeing her expression of ”You actually know?”, Su Bai suddenly found it somewhat interesting and decided not to beat around the bush anymore. He smiled frankly and laid his cards on the table: ”To be honest with you, Lin Wan. These ’troubles’ the Nangong Family is having now... actually, were done by me.”

Since he had already revealed the past to her last night, based on his understanding of Lin Wan, while she might be awkward or even angry about emotional matters, she has her own sense of proportion and bottom line when it comes to the bigger picture and serious affairs, and wouldn’t do anything to harm the Su Family or his interests.

Telling her part of the truth might ease some of her unnecessary worries and also... slightly explain some of his seemingly ”impulsive” actions.

”You did it?” Lin Wan was truly stunned this time, her brows furrowed, her face filled with confusion, ”What do you mean? You... how could you...”

”During these two years I was abroad, did you really think I was just wasting time and playing games?” Su Bai gave a slight tug at the corner of his mouth, his gaze shifting to the heavy night in the distance, his tone steady as he began to explain, ”Besides dealing with the courses my father arranged, most of my energy was actually spent investigating and... targeting this Nangong Family.”

He paused, then continued, ”I only found out from my father shortly before I left that Mu Xue is a daughter of the Nangong Family. As for the Nangong Family itself... it was already riddled with holes, full of rotten accounts and shady dealings inside. Mu Xue being found and brought back was, from the very beginning, likely a carefully designed ’trap,’ or rather, a pawn intended to bind external support and divert internal conflicts.”

Lin Wan listened quietly, the astonishment on her face gradually replaced by contemplation, her breathing unconsciously lightened.

”So,” Su Bai withdrew his gaze and looked back at Lin Wan, his eyes clear and bright, carrying a kind of calmness akin to a successful plan, ”My move against the Nangong Family wasn’t to help them overcome their difficulties. On the contrary, it was to accelerate their collapse. What I want to do is thoroughly clean out those rotten parts, and then...”

He paused for a moment, clearly uttering the second half: ”...let Mu Xue, with a relatively ’clean’ background and identity, truly take control of the remaining, valuable parts of the Nangong Family. That’s my ultimate goal.”

Lin Wan’s pupils contracted slightly, as if she had instantly grasped a key point. She looked at Su Bai, her voice carrying a trace of realization, and a faint, almost imperceptible tremor: ”In other words... from the very beginning, you were... supporting Mu Xue? Everything you’ve done was to... pave the way for her?”

Her eyes, under the dim streetlight, visibly reddened at a rapid pace.

The emotions swirling within them were complex and hard to define: shock, realization, perhaps a trace of the sourness of being excluded from the plan and only being able to watch from the sidelines, and... an ineffable impact from Su Bai’s far-sighted planning and this silent, unspoken ”protection.”

He wasn’t blindly losing his head over love. Instead, he had laid out a grand scheme she knew nothing about. And at the center of this scheme, from beginning to end, was Mu Xue.

”So, you did all this... went to such great lengths, even possibly using family resources to attack another family, all for the ultimate purpose of giving Mu Xue a better, ’cleaner’ identity and future?” Lin Wan’s voice was very soft, yet carried a kind of almost stubborn insistence. The red rims of her eyes were even clearer under the night sky, ”Why?”

She needed a reason. A reason that could explain why he went to such great lengths, paid such a high price.

Su Bai was silent for a moment. His gaze moved away from her reddened eyes, looking into the empty darkness. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he gave a brief but heavy answer: ”I owe her.”

He didn’t specify what he owed, nor did he explain where this ”debt” came from or how it was measured.

But these three words contained all the complexity, the exploitation, and perhaps even the guilt born from the power imbalance in his past, indefinable relationship with Mu Xue, which even he himself might not have fully acknowledged. He might not believe he and Mu Xue could have a future in the conventional sense, but at least, within his capabilities, he wanted to clear some obstacles for her, pave a relatively smooth path, so she could live a better life later.

A pure love warrior? He mocked himself inwardly with a smile. Perhaps. Who says a Villain can’t have a little... ill-timed ”pure love” sentiment? Even if this sentiment might be built on an unequal starting point and might not have an ideal outcome.

[At this moment, in front of the observation deck of the distant Spacetime Administration Bureau, Xiao You, holding a freshly brewed cup of hot cocoa, couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the screen and muttered under her breath: ”Pure love my foot! You’ve already shared a bed, and you’re still adding a deep love persona for yourself!” Of course, her Make complaints (tǔcáo, rant/teasing), Su Bai was destined not to hear.]

Hearing those simple three words, ”I owe her,” was like the final straw breaking the dam she had been desperately holding back.

The emotions she had been tightly bottling up completely collapsed.

She stared fixedly into Su Bai’s eyes, as if trying to pierce through his usual layer of laziness and aloofness to see the truth beneath. Her voice trembled slightly with agitation:

”You’ve seen what she’s done for you, what she’s endured for you, so you feel indebted, feel you must compensate her, is that it?” Her words seemed to be not only about Mu Xue, but also faintly pointing toward her own efforts—those unseen, or deliberately ignored.

Su Bai was caught off guard by her sudden, almost accusatory emotional outburst. In his impression, Lin Wan was always calm, restrained, even somewhat aloof; she rarely had moments like this, bordering on losing composure. He opened his mouth, momentarily unsure how to respond, and could only offer an awkward smile, trying to ease the tension: ”You... what’s wrong? Why bring this up so suddenly?”

”It’s nothing.” Lin Wan abruptly turned her face away, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled, as if using all her strength to suppress the turbulent waves surging in her chest. When she turned back, most of her calm had returned to her face, but the red streaks in her eyes and that lingering weariness betrayed the turmoil within.

She even forced an extremely strained, formulaic smile and asked a question that left Su Bai even more stunned:

”Then... when do you plan to marry her?”

The question was too direct, too... ”understanding,” yet it carried a flavor of utter disillusionment.

”Uh... well, we’ll see about that later.” Su Bai was taken aback for a moment, then tugged at the corner of his mouth, offering a vague smile. His eyes, however, involuntarily drifted elsewhere, a fleeting shadow passing deep within them.

Before completely resolving the threat of the ”Protagonist” hanging over his head, before breaking free from the shackles of this ”Villain” destiny, talking about the future or marriage was far too extravagant and dangerous.

He didn’t want to, nor could he, drag anyone truly into that potentially bottomless vortex.

To be honest, if Lin Wan hadn’t been bound to him from the start due to a family marriage contract, if she didn’t have these years of not-close-but-not-entirely-severable ties with him; if she were just one photo among the many marriage alliance candidates his father suddenly presented today, he might have really chosen her without hesitation. No emotional foundation, a purely beneficial union, advantageous to both families, fitting his ”keep it simple” principle, and free from any emotional burden.

But Lin Wan... was ultimately not a stranger’s photo. Over the years, she had managed the Su Family’s gaming company in perfect order, earning his parents’ constant praise; in his absence, she had, to some extent, fulfilled certain family obligations on his behalf; she was smart, calm, capable, and knew her boundaries. Though not exactly a lover, in Su Bai’s heart, she had long surpassed a mere ”business partner” or ”nominal fiancée,” more like a... trustworthy, even somewhat close family member.

It was just, as Mu Xue had inadvertently said that day—good girls shouldn’t be wronged.

”Is there anything I can do?” Lin Wan’s eyes reddened, right there under the campus tree.

”You... there’s no need for you.” Su Bai shook his head.

”Su Bai, I thought about it all last night, the entire night,” Lin Wan spoke up, directly cutting off Su Bai’s words.

She turned to look at Su Bai and said, ”I like you. I hope you’ll give me a chance.”

”Yes, what I said last night, I lied to you,” Lin Wan said immediately upon seeing Su Bai’s stunned expression.

”Is there anything I can do?” Lin Wan’s voice sounded again, carrying a barely perceptible choke. She stood right there under the campus’s dim yellow streetlight, in the cool evening breeze of autumn, her eyes terribly red, yet stubbornly fixed on him.

”You...” Su Bai instinctively wanted to refuse, to say ”there’s no need for you,” to push her back to the safe distance of a ”business partner.” But the words stuck in his throat as he looked into her eyes, brimming with tears yet unusually resolute, and found himself unable to say them.

”Su Bai,” Lin Wan directly interrupted any potential words of evasion or prevarication he might utter. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was exceptionally clear, as if she had mustered all her courage. ”I thought about it all last night, the entire night.”

She took a deep breath, as if to suppress the lump in her throat, or to gather her last ounce of strength.

She turned her head, her gaze direct and unwavering as she looked at Su Bai, enunciating each word clearly: ”I like you.”

”I hope... you can give me a chance.”

Seeing the instant flash of shock and bewilderment on Su Bai’s face, she immediately added, her voice hurried yet firm: ”Yes, last night in the car, when I said those things... I lied to you. I said it was just for the family business, just for cooperation... that’s not true.”

”I was jealous.” She admitted it frankly, yet with a self-mocking bitterness. ”Do you only see what she’s done for you? Just because she... slept with you? So you feel indebted to her and want to compensate her?”

Lin Wan’s words poured out like a breached dam, carrying emotions and grievances suppressed for too long, sweeping away her usual composure and restraint: ”I’ve been playing this ’hide-and-seek’ game with you for three and a half years. Three and a half years ago, on the day you first made money with your own designed game and held the celebration party, everyone surrounded you. You probably thought I was just one of those ’gold-diggers’ trying to latch onto the Su Family, right?”

Her voice trembled slightly, but she spoke quickly, as if slowing down would rob her of the courage to continue: ”But from that moment on, I truly became curious about you. Not because you’re surnamed Su, but because... you are Su Bai. I started actively learning about games, reading those tedious lines of code and market reports. These past two years, every time I made a decision, handled company affairs, even... even just choosing an outfit, I would wonder, how would you see it? Would you think I did well?”

Her words jumped around somewhat, yet were exceptionally sincere, laying bare the secret journey of her heart over these years before Su Bai: ”I worked hard to change myself, tried hard to become a worthy ’Su Family daughter-in-law,’ worked hard to maintain the company you built from the ground up... I did all this, not because of that damned marriage contract, not for the Lin Family’s business, but only because... the person was you, Su Bai.”

Tears finally spilled uncontrollably, rolling down her pale cheeks and dripping onto her collar, refracting tiny glimmers of light under the streetlamp. Yet her voice, strangely, didn’t tremble at all; it was clear and forceful, carrying a kind of desperate, all-or-nothing resolve:

”What I mean is... just turn your head and look. I can compete fairly with Mu Xue. I just want you to give me a chance, just once.”

Her eyes held an unprecedented plea, humility, and a kind of sacrificial determination. It felt like standing alone on the edge of a cliff, an abyss of darkness below with not a glimmer of light in sight, yet stubbornly reaching out a hand, wanting to grasp the only possible source of light before her.

”I never said it outright before, always thinking... there’s still time, always thinking... you’d eventually see.” Lin Wan raised her hand, wiping the tears from her face in a haphazard motion tinged with a childlike stubbornness. ”So today I’m telling you, I like you. These past two years, this liking... has grown into love.”