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

81: Chapter 81 Lin Wan’s close relationship with her family~”When did you get back?”

Lin Wan’s voice broke the brief silence in the living room. She withdrew her gaze, picked up the chopsticks on the table, and took a small bite of the stir-fried cabbage heart in front of her.

”Just now,” Su Bai responded lazily.

This overly concise exchange caused Shang Hui, who had just sat down nearby, to pause her movements.

She turned around, her face showing clear doubt as her gaze swept back and forth between her son and her future daughter-in-law. ”Hmm? Su Bai, didn’t you tell me before that you’d contacted Wanwan before coming back? That you’d told her long ago?”

”I did tell her,” Su Bai lifted his eyelids, his tone laced with a hint of matter-of-fact perfunctoriness. ”Didn’t we just talk on the phone?”

”He told me ten minutes ago,” Lin Wan interjected at the right moment, her voice clear and cool, devoid of any extra emotion.

She put the piece of cabbage into her mouth, chewed it carefully, and then added as if casually, ”Auntie’s cooking is still the best.”

”You brat!” Shang Hui’s brows immediately knit together. Genuine displeasure appeared on her well-maintained face, and her tone took on a reproachful edge. ”What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know to take the initiative and tell Wanwan earlier? Letting a girl worry about you—how does that look?”

Huh?

Su Bai’s brow twitched imperceptibly.

His originally nonchalant gaze now slowly traveled between his mother’s angry face and the profile of the person sitting opposite him, who was eating quietly as if none of this concerned her.

A flash of genuine surprise crossed his mind: What was the situation? When did his mother, Ms. Shang Hui, establish such a solid united front with Lin Wan?

In his memory bank, the number of times Lin Wan had stepped into the Su Family villa could be counted on one hand, and their past interactions were limited to polite pleasantries.

This current posture of calling him to account for his lack of timely notification was unexpectedly intimate.

”It’s fine, Auntie,” Lin Wan put down her chopsticks and picked up a plain napkin from the side, gently dabbing the corners of her mouth. Her movements showed good breeding, and her tone could even be described as gentle and considerate. ”Really, I’m used to it.”

Used to it.

These four words weren’t loud, but they carried immense weight.

They fell lightly, yet they created a clear resonance in the quiet dining room.

If Shang Hui had only been slightly dissatisfied out of politeness before, then now, a more distinct anger—one bordering on protective instinct—visibly gathered in her eyes.

Su Bai was all too familiar with that expression—it usually only appeared when she conducted a surprise inspection of the study and successfully confiscated his father’s hidden cigarettes.

It was a parental authority mixed with a sense of ’just as I thought’ and ’this must be disciplined’.

A sense of alarm suddenly surged in Su Bai’s heart.

In a flash, he understood completely.

Well, well.

Having not seen her for two years and seven months, this former arranged-marriage-betrothed and desk-mate, the Eldest Miss of the Lin Family who used to only protest silently with cold eyes... she had really improved. Had she learned flanking tactics?

When did this little girl become so black-bellied? She even had two faces now?

Hadn’t they always maintained a sort of unspoken understanding?

On the stage visible to their parents, they played the roles of fairly familiar old acquaintances;

But off-stage, they were two parallel lines that didn’t disturb each other.

Now, this casual remark of being ’used to it’ was clearly a silent accusation of his long-term disappearance right in front of his mother, directly tearing through that veil of unspoken understanding.

Seeing the murderous intent in Ms. Shang Hui’s eyes intensifying, as if her next sentence would escalate to the level of his sense of responsibility and attitude toward Wanwan, Su Bai made a prompt decision and activated emergency response mode.

The laziness on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a much more serious smile that carried a hint of chagrin and total obedience.

”Mom, don’t be in a hurry, let me explain.” His speed was moderate, and his voice sounded sincere.

”I was really anxious to get home this time, wishing I could fly back on wings. On the way, I was just thinking about home and your cooking. Plus, the company has been incredibly busy lately; several major games were launched globally at the same time, the overseas branches had a thousand things to deal with, meetings were one after another, and I haven’t even adjusted to the jet lag yet. My brain feels like mush... so regarding the notification, I just... got overwhelmed and was negligent.”

He cleverly replaced ’forgot’ with ’overwhelmed negligence,’ which both explained the reason and implied it was excusable, looking at his mother with sincere eyes.

Any fool could see that Lin Wan’s weight and favorability in his mother Shang Hui’s heart were unlike anything before. He definitely didn’t want to ram into this suddenly black-bellied iron plate at this critical juncture.

”He’s very busy, I understand.”

Lin Wan looked up and gave Shang Hui a sweet smile, her tone considerate and sensible.

However, in the next second, she actually reached out her chopsticks quite naturally across half the table, picked up a emerald green cabbage heart from the stir-fried vegetables, and steadily placed it into Su Bai’s almost untouched bowl. Her voice was soft: ”Eating habits abroad are probably irregular. Now that you’re back, eat something light; it’s good for your stomach.”

What does this mean?

Su Bai looked down at the abrupt vegetable in his bowl, his brow furrowing imperceptibly.

A strong sense of wrongness permeated the air.

The words sounded considerate, but combined with her previous ’used to it,’ they felt like a needle hidden in silk.

More importantly, the act itself—serving food, especially an act with such clear caring connotations—was unprecedented between them.

Even on the few occasions in the past when both sets of parents were present, they had maintained a polite distance, not even reaching the casualness of friends, more like strangers forced to sit at the same table.

Each eating their own and not disturbing the other was their tacitly understood script.

But now... after being away for over two years, how did it feel like Lin Wan had already quite naturally plopped herself down into the position of the Su Family’s future daughter-in-law?

Fortunately, at this moment, Lin Guohua strolled over from the living room with a teacup, smoothing things over with a laugh: ”Oh, Shang Hui, young people have their own world and rhythm. Su Bai is young but can already hold his own abroad; being busy is a good thing, it shows he’s career-minded! We old folks shouldn’t interfere too much in the children’s specific affairs; they know what they’re doing.”

With Lin Guohua’s peacemaking words, the thin layer of anger on Shang Hui’s face finally faded. She glared at Su Bai, her tone softening though still carrying a bit of complaint: ”No matter how busy work is, how much effort does it take to make a call or send a message? Forget it, forget it, let’s eat.”

During the latter half of the meal, the atmosphere was tinged with a subtle strangeness.

Su Bai ate without tasting anything, while Lin Wan appeared as usual, occasionally conversing in low tones with Shang Hui. The topics were trivial, yet they seemed exceptionally harmonious.