Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Wen Xinya frowned slightly and thought to herself, Lin Yingxin has really put in so much effort into plotting against me.
Although the Lin Family used to be a renowned family in Jiangsu, they were not as reputable as others, which was also the reason why Lin Yingxin decided to come to Capital city to study. Lin Yingxin first used the Ye Family to build a name for herself in the circle before making use of Ye Feiyu’s cousin to gain more reputation. However… it was not enough for her because she wanted more and more.
It was Lin Yingxin’s second time joining the Heiress’ Gala and she was planning to use this opportunity to gain a greater reputation. She was greedy. She knew clearly what it meant to be awarded a title during the Heiress’ Gala.
Lin Yingxin was already known as a talented girl in Capital City and she was not inferior to numerous daughters of scholarly families. However, she was not confident of standing out from the dozens of candidates during the gala and even if she trumped them, she still wouldn’t get what she wanted.
Winning against the “talented girl” Wen Xinya, was what Lin Yingxin wanted.
Si Yiyan checked Wen Xinya’s wound which had healed quite a bit within just a day. “Fortunately, the wound is minor. Otherwise, it’ll definitely affect your performance during the Heiress’ Gala.”
Si Yiyan then applied some medicated cream on her wound before bandaging it.
Feeling rather indignant, Wen Xinya said, “It’s not that serious. A small wound like this is not going to affect my performance.”
The wound no longer hurt, though it still felt slightly uncomfortable. She reckoned that she would be fine by tomorrow.
Si Yiyan said calmly, “In normal circumstances, you’ll be fine after a few days and you can totally leave this wound alone. However, a slight blunder will cause you to perform poorly during the gala. Since you want to make an outstanding performance during the gala, you can’t be careless.”
Wen Xinya pouted, feeling stressed about the fact that Si Yiyan and Old Mr. Mo had a lot of faith and confidence in her.
Si Yiyan knew exactly what she was thinking. He said calmly, “Xinya, you’re very intelligent. Since you knew right from the start that the gala is not as simple as we had imagined, you have to be very careful of this Lin Yingxin who definitely harbors ill intentions.”
He had sent someone to investigate Lin Yingxin before and he utterly despised her for her behavior. He knew that she was a greedy and abhorrent woman.
Wen Xinya said, “I know that Lin Yingxin is trying to use me to gain a better reputation for herself. She’s got a smart plan. This woman is not any less scheming than Xia Ruya. In fact, she’s much better at manipulating people than Xia Ruya is. She hides herself well too. Compared to Xia Ruya, she’s way more vicious, bold and straightforward.”
Unlike Xia Ruya, who was extremely selfish and wanted to be in control of everything, Lin Yingxin was much more direct. She wanted to take shortcuts and she liked making use of men to bring herself more power. Only by conquering men, could women conquer the world.
Lin Yingxin was undoubtedly planning to make Wen Xinya lose her reputation and image to show how outstanding she was compared to the latter. She would then marry into a wealthy family as she had always dreamed of doing and stand on the top of the upper-class social hierarchy. She would become just like Zhou Huiyan and Tang Xiaowei.
It was easy for her to achieve those dreams, but her greatest mistake was provoking Wen Xinya.
Si Yiyan said, “Since you know that, you should also be well aware of why Lin Yingxin chose you out of everyone else.”
That was the main point.
Wen Xinya said with a nod, “Lin Yingxin chose me for three reasons.
“Firstly, she wants to use the Wen Family’s drama and Grampy’s reputation to make me receive more attention. After what she and Xia Ruya did, all eyes are on me. If Lin Yingxin manages to defeat me and beat me down during the Heiress’ Gala, she’ll be able to use my ruined reputation to bring out how talented she is, so as to get her desired results.
“Secondly, Grampy is an influential and esteemed figure of the literary world and he was also the one who taught me the four arts. Others would then think that she must be very outstanding since she could defeat even the reputable Old Mr. Mo’s granddaughter!
“Thirdly, I may have been taught by Grampy, but I’ve only returned to the Wen Family for three years. It’s neither too long nor too short in the eyes of others. However, it’s too short for me to master the four arts. Lin Yingxin knows how difficult it is to learn these arts and hence, she thinks that it would be easy to defeat me because she thinks that I definitely couldn’t have learned them well within just three years.
“If others think that my poor performance is due to the fact that I had been learning the arts for only a short period of time, Lin Yingxin can just undermine me by saying that I was taught by the influential Old Mr. Mo who is a reputable teacher. Besides, they always say that a brilliant teacher beats ten years of hard work.”
Wen Xinya shrugged her shoulders and stared at Si Yiyan innocently. “See, no matter what I do, it’s going to be beneficial to Lin Yingxin. In fact, it’d even help her achieve her goals. So, there’s no reason for her not to plot against me.”
After understanding more about the gala in the past few days, she began to see through Lin Yingxin’s and Xia Ruya’s scheme.
Si Yiyan smiled profoundly and said, “Since you’ve already thought it through, you definitely know that girls who are confident of their own talent have long found it pointless to join the gala. That means those who are still joining it nowadays are all doing it because they’re coveting something. Others might also be thinking the same as Lin Yingxin!”
Wen Xinya’s eyes widened in shock and she said, “You mean…”
Grinning widely as if he were gloating over her predicament, Si Yiyan said, “Your opponents are not just Lin Yingxin and Xia Ruya. Everyone at the gala could be your enemy.”
Wen Xinya wished she could chide him. Pulling a long face, she remarked, “I actually forgot about this. Lin Yingxin is going to be one of the judges and so, she obviously wouldn’t compete with me from the start. So, my greatest enemy is not Lin Yingxin nor Xia Ruya. Instead, it’s all the contestants of the gala.”
This is probably the trap that Xia Ruya and Lin Yingxin have laid for me. How brilliant!
There were more than a hundred contestants who definitely bore the same thoughts as Lin Yingxin. Hence, she would have plenty of competitors. No matter how confident she may be, she still might not win. In fact, her chances of winning would be slim since she would be fatigued and lethargic towards the end.
Once she lost, Lin Yingxin and Xia Ruya would achieve their goals and she would have fallen into their trap.
