Chapter 140: After all, she's the female lead

During the auction, besides donating auction items, each family would also bid some amount on other families' donated auction items.

The item Wen Ling donated was bought by Wenhuai.

Seeing Wenhuai's sign raised ahead, Wen Ling pressed her lips and tightly gripped the hand she held with Zhou Yinhe.

Before the auction ended, they left first.

After getting in the car, Wen Ling leaned against the window, silent for a long time; Zhou Yinhe worriedly glanced at her several times and finally sighed.

He didn't take Wen Ling home; he turned the steering wheel and took her to Nys.

The boss wasn't there; the manager was somewhat surprised to see Zhou Yinhe arrive.

After all, tonight the noble families of Sijiucheng had all gathered at the auction venue.

Zhou Yinhe said to the manager who came trotting over, "Don't worry about us, and don't open a private room; just open a single booth for us."

The manager glanced at Wen Ling, nodded, and left.

"Would you like to dance with me? Tonight, do whatever makes you happy; if we've had enough fun here, we'll change venues until you're happy."

Wen Ling's eyes flickered slightly; she looked up at Zhou Yinhe, the distress in his eyes all too obvious, and her heart felt sour and uneasy.

She didn't want to be unhappy, because she knew that once she was unhappy, Zhou Yinhe would feel multitudes more unhappy than she.

"Okay." Wen Ling whispered her agreement and pulled Zhou Yinhe's hand onto the dance floor.

When Jiang Jibai and the others arrived, Wen Ling was already a bit drunk from drinking, but unusually excited, clinging to Zhou Yinhe and bouncing up and down.

"What's going on?"

Qi Zhan frowned; Zhao Xingtang poked him, telling him to speak less.

Not being close to one's parents, suddenly seeing 【her】 surely feels awful—how could these men possibly understand?

Sitting together in the booth, Wen Ling leaned close to Zhou Yinhe's ear and said, "I need to go to the restroom."

Remembering how she had almost been bullied before, Zhou Yinhe prepared to go with her, but Zhao Xingtang stopped him, saying, "I'll go; you can relax."

Zhou Yinhe gave her a deep look; he couldn't enter the women's restroom, but Zhao Xingtang accompanying her would do—at least among those who can hang out at Nys, few don't know Zhao Xingtang.

Zhao Xingtang followed Wen Ling into the restroom, saw no one else inside, and casually closed the door.

Waiting for Wen Ling to come out, as she stood at the sink washing her hands, Zhao Xingtang then approached her.

"Do you need something?" Wen Ling, a bit clearer-headed, looked at her through the mirror.

Zhao Xingtang nodded and smiled lightly, "I was still worried you'd be drunk and not sober enough to hear me."

Wen Ling shook the water droplets from her hand and said lightly, "My tolerance isn't that bad."

Her eyes dimmed slightly, and she spoke before Zhao Xingtang could: "I've been curious why you'd proactively seek me out—could it really be that you can't stand Ruan MiaoMiao? I don't think so."

"Your Zhao family is split into two branches; one is Zhao Ningyan's line, the other is your mercantile line. I think, given your status as the eldest daughter of the Zhao family's second branch, I'm not worthy of you taking the initiative to befriend me."

Zhao Xingtang couldn't help but clap for her, asking, "So you'd already figured it out, which is why you didn't reply to my later messages."

Wen Ling hummed, turned to face Zhao Xingtang directly, and said, "Go on—what did you mean by what you said at the auction? Why should I thank you for reconciling with Zhou Yinhe?"

"Such an absurd thing as rebirth—haven't you doubted it at all?"

Wen Ling's heart jolted; she laughed, tilted her head, pulled out a tissue, and slowly wiped her fingers, saying, "What do I need to doubt? I'm not a worrier; since I've been reborn, I'll just live this life over properly."

Zhao Xingtang, however, said, "Then aren't you curious why the current plot differs from what you knew before—why the Qin family suddenly shifted attitude, why Zhou Yinhe suddenly wanted to reconcile after you said you didn't want to chase him anymore, and why online opinion swung from blindly trusting Ruan MiaoMiao to now everyone jeering at her like a street rat?"

She stepped closer, leaned near Wen Ling, and whispered, "You really aren't curious?"

Wen Ling lifted her gaze, looked at her calmly, and said, "Not curious—curiosity killed the cat."

Zhao Xingtang couldn't hold back a puff of laughter; Wen Ling tossed the tissue she'd used to wipe her hands into the trash, went around her, opened the restroom door, turned, and asked Zhao Xingtang, "Shall we go? I'll head back myself—I'm afraid Zhou Yinhe will blame you for not watching over me."

Zhao Xingtang stood up straight, waved at Wen Ling, and said indifferently, "You go ahead; let him be angry—he's never been pleasant toward us anyway."

Wen Ling agreed with her words, nodded, and left first.

Zhao Xingtang leaned against the sink, took out her phone, and dialed someone.

"I probed her a bit; I didn't expect her to act so well—she really seems not curious."

The other party chuckled lightly, "After all, she's the female lead—if she were truly open-hearted enough to expose her inner thoughts at will, she wouldn't be the female lead."

Zhao Xingtang hummed in agreement, sighed, "All right, hang up—if I don't head back, Qi Zhan will start nagging again."

"Hey, do your job as a supporting female character; don't try to steal the lead's scenes."

As Zhao Xingtang walked out, she said, "I wonder, though—could I actually outshine her?"

She hung up and returned to the booth; Wen Ling was already sitting beside Zhou Yinhe, leaning on him and acting coquettishly.

Seeing her return, Wen Ling blinked her eyes and didn't speak to her.

"I'm a bit sleepy."

Upon hearing that, Zhou Yinhe stood up and told Jiang Jibai and the others, "We're heading back first."

Jiang Jibai frowned, "We've barely played and you want to leave—how have you become such a homebody?"

Just as Zhou Yinhe was about to retort, Wen Ling said, "Come to Chen Yue Fu tomorrow night to play; we'll have a barbecue together in the courtyard."

"Sure." Ke Chengyu was the first to agree, smiling, "Then it'll be a bother—we'll come tomorrow afternoon."

Wen Ling nodded; as the two left Nys, Zhou Yinhe frowned and asked, "Why should we let them come?"

"We can't really not play with our friends, can we?"

"They wouldn't really care, would they?"

"They don't care, but I want to make Chen Yue Fu livelier—is that not allowed?"

Zhou Yinhe reluctantly agreed; the driver arranged by Jiang Jibai was waiting at the door, took the car keys Zhou Yinhe tossed over, and drove them home.

Because there were outsiders present, Zhou Yinhe didn't ask further until they got home, when he finally spoke.

"Just now, why were you gone so long? Did Zhao Xingtang say something to upset you?"

His complexion was poor; he seemed ready to go find Zhao Xingtang for trouble if Wen Ling merely nodded.

Wen Ling laughed, "No, we were just chatting for a while." She raised her hand and tugged at Zhou Yinhe's collar, "Do I really look that easy to bully?"

Zhou Yinhe wanted to nod, but seeing the faint threat in Wen Ling's eyes, he could only shake his head.