After Being Bent by Reader

Out of the six books Xu Chuanchuan sent over, Murong Shi had stored five of them inside a locked drawer and one of them under her pillow for reading when she had insomnia. She would also occasionally take it out to read on a whim. Murong Shi never deliberately hid the book since she knew Aunt Lian wouldn't touch her things casually. Unfortunately, due to a moment of negligence, she failed to account for Fang Qin's arrival.

Fang Qin stared at the illustration on the title page, undisguised loneliness and sorrow on her face.

Seeing this scene, Murong Shi couldn't bear to snatch the book away from Fang Qin.

Eventually, though, Fang Qin's eyes started to hurt. Closing the book, she exhaled and explained, "She's a person who loves to dream. She also likes drawing and reading novels, especially the works of this author. She says this author's stories are all very sweet. She used to read this author's works every day. Later on, when she heard that this author was going to publish a physical book, she took the initiative to help draw many pictures. She would ask for my opinion every time she drew a picture. As naive as I was at the time, I thought she was drawing our daily life."

Probably because she had yet to get over her heartbreak, Fang Qin was reluctant even to mention her ex-partner's name.

Staring at her friend's face, Murong Shi said, "You'd better stop smiling. It's ugly as hell."

Wiping the corner of her eyes, Fang Qin stubbornly said, "Don't worry, I'm not sad at all. It's not worth it."

"Good that you're aware of that. Hey, don't damage my book," Murong Shi said as she reached out to snatch back the book.

However, Fang Qin quickly moved the book out of Murong Shi's reach. While smoothing out the pages she accidentally wrinkled, she muttered to herself, "At the time, this author deliberately sent her six books from China to her as a form of gratitude. After she broke up with me, she took away all of her things. She didn't leave even one memento for me. I never thought such a weak and gentle person could be so merciless."

Wrinkling her brows, Murong Shi said, "Stop thinking about unhappy matters."

"I know. I'll stop thinking about them," Fang Qin said, sighing. She then returned the book to Murong Shi.

Murong Shi then passed the charger to Fang Qin.

However, Fang Qin did not leave right away after receiving the item. Instead, she poked Murong Shi in the waist and asked in a whisper, "Do your parents know about your situation?"

"What situation?"

"That you don't like men."

"There's no need for them to know for now."

"Why?"

Murong Shi fell silent.

"I understand. You've been single for 26 years, after all."

Instead of getting angry, Murong Shi calmly said, "They only know that I'm together with Jiang Shaohua right now."

While fiddling around with the charger out of boredom, Fang Qin suddenly widened her eyes as she asked, "Jiang Shaohua? What do you mean?"

"I mean it literally."

Fang Qin's hand movements paused. Looking at Murong Shi's serious face, she pondered for a moment before saying, "There's no way you and he will get together. So, are you using him as a shield?"

"You can also say that we are mutually using each other."

Fang Qin was surprised. She then began fearlessly scrutinizing Murong Shi's body. She had even reached out to poke her breast.

Murong Shi remained expressionless.

Fang Qin poked Murong Shi in the waist again.

Still maintaining a blank face, Murong Shi asked, "Is everything okay with you?"

Covering her face, Fang Qin shouted exaggeratedly, "You didn't react even in the slightest! I knew it! You're sexually unresponsive!"

Murong Shi's face darkened. "You can scram now."

Fang Qin scrammed.

However, less than a minute later, Fang Qin came running back, opening the door without knocking, and asked, "By the way, I remember her saying that this author doesn't sell her physical books. How did you get one?"

Murong Shi didn't expect Fang Qin to ask such a question, so she was momentarily stunned. However, she quickly regained her calm and said, "I won it in a lottery on Weibo."

Looking at her friend skeptically, Fang Qin asked, "Are you also a diehard fan of this author?"

Murong Shi remained silent.

Taking Murong Shi's silence as an acknowledgment, Fang Qin said, "Even someone like you can read web novels? Is that author's writing that good?"

In response, Murong Shi briefly said, "It's readable. Why are you asking so many questions? Do you want to read it as well?"

Sneering, Fang Qin said, "Sweet romance stories are nothing but a bunch of lies. There's no way I would believe these things."

Fang Qin left for real this time.

Afterward, Murong Shi spent half an hour soaking in the bath. When she came out of the bathroom, she saw her phone's notification light blinking.

She had received a new message on QQ. When she unlocked her phone, she found that she had received a message from a certain someone next door.

Fang Qin: "What address do you usually use to buy stuff on Taobao?"

Murong Shi: "I've never shopped on Taobao before."

Fang Qin: "Then give me your home address and your phone number."

Murong Shi: "Are you shopping online?"

Fang Qin: "No, someone wants to send me something. Let me use your home address for now."

Murong Shi didn't overthink the request and quickly sent her address and phone number to Fang Qin.

Fang Qin had just returned to the country and hadn't found work yet. She also dared not return to her own home for now as she still had many preparations she needed to make. The next day, Murong Shi drove Fang Qin around the city, with their first destination being a China Mobile branch to register for a new sim card.

While waiting for their turn, Murong Shi received a call on her private number. The caller was an unknown number, but it was labeled as "Express Delivery" by netizens. When Murong Shi accepted the call, she heard the other party saying, "Hello, XX Express here. Is this Water Heart?"

After conversing for around half a minute, Murong Shi put away her phone and said to the person sitting beside her, "Your delivery has arrived."

"Already?" Fang Qin exclaimed.

"It should be shipped from the same city. What are you receiving?"

Fang Qin blinked for a moment before vaguely saying, "Just a few books."

"Books?"

…

After returning home, Murong Shi saw Fang Qin unpacking a delivery package and taking out six familiar physical books from within it. Upon seeing these books, Murong Shi's expression immediately changed.

Picking up the tattered box Fang Qin had thrown aside, Murong Shi quickly found the shipping label pasted on it. When she saw the words "Xu XX" written in the sender's name column, her complexion turned from blue to pale white. And when she looked at the sender's address, her mind went blank.

Murong Shi was incredibly familiar with this address. Not long ago, she, too, had received six books from this address. There was no doubt that Fang Qin's books came from Xu Chuanchuan.

Meanwhile, Fang Qin had yet to notice her friend's strange appearance. She had her head lowered as she carefully inspected the illustrations printed on the six books' title pages.

After snapping out of her daze, Murong Shi grabbed Fang Qin's wrist and asked, "These books… How did you get them?"

A trace of unnaturalness flashed across Fang Qin's face. However, as she still had her head buried in the books, she failed to notice the expression Murong Shi was currently making. In a muffled voice, she said, "I went on Weibo and messaged the author. After exchanging a few messages with her, she said she would give me these books."

"What did you talk to her about?"

Her eyes drooping slightly, Fang Qin said, "It's nothing. I just told her the story of that person and me. She probably felt sorry for me."

Fang Qin wasn't as calm as she portrayed herself to be. When she saw that person's art again last night, she couldn't help but lose control over the emotions she had kept sealed away. However, as Fang Qin didn't wish to show weakness in front of Murong Shi, she secretly visited the author's Weibo after returning to her room.

Coincidentally, the author had also been hosting a giveaway for her physical books last night. Unfortunately, Fang Qin did not win the raffle. Afterward, Fang Qin struck up a conversation with the author and asked if she could spend money to buy a set of her physical books.

As for her story with that person, Fang Qin didn't go into detail about it. She merely stated that the artist was her ex-girlfriend, and the author generously offered to give her those physical books for free.

Fang Qin only wanted to have a memento to remember her relationship with that person. If she confessed to this fact, she felt that Murong Shi would definitely laugh at her. Though, Fang Qin also knew that Murong Shi wasn't dumb and guessed that her friend had probably seen through her thoughts by now.

However, contrary to Fang Qin's expectations, she didn't hear any ridicule or laughter even after some time had passed. Lifting her head out of curiosity, she found Murong Shi staring at the shipping label with an odd expression.

"What are you looking at?"

Although Fang Qin had used her pen name for her recipient name, the phone number was a dead giveaway. If Xu Chuanchuan noticed it…

Glaring at Fang Qin, Murong Shi said, "You've just thrown me under the bus."

"What?"

…

Xu Chuanchuan spent an entire morning packing delivery packages. After finally giving away all her remaining physical books, she became so exhausted that even her hands shook as she held her phone.

She had hosted a giveaway for her remaining physical books last night. By the time she was done collecting the winners' information and filling in the necessary shipping labels, it was already long past midnight.

For the giveaway, apart from an outlier, the other winners were selected through a raffle. Although she had paid slightly more attention when she wrote down the outlier's information, she didn't deliberately memorize it.

As to why she suddenly decided to give away all of her stockpiled physical books, it was because she had decided to move into the company dormitory. Before moving, though, she needed to get rid of all those bulky books. Hence, she made a Weibo post last week stating that she would host a giveaway for those books.

At this time, Ange sent a message asking if she wanted to have a writing session together. However, as she was exhausted after the packing, she replied, "I'm taking a day off."

Ange entered the "Dark Room" all by herself.

Two hours later, Ange finished her 6,000-word quota for the day and sent her a message: "Have you finished delivering all the books?"

Xu Chuanchuan: "Mhm."

Ange: "How fast of you."

Xu Chuanchuan: "I don't have a choice. I should move out as soon as possible for my safety. I still need to pack my belongings later. I feel exhausted just thinking about it."

Ange: "Get your sister to help you."

Xu Chuanchuan: "Forget it. I'll get mad again if I see her."

Ange: "Is she still streaming?"

Xu Chuanchuan: "She stopped under my coercion."

The coercion here referred to their parents. In exchange for stopping her streaming gig, Xu Chuanchuan also offered her little sister an addition of 300 yuan to her monthly allowance.

Ange: "Citrus stopped streaming recently as well. She's not writing anymore, either. She seems to have suddenly disappeared."

Xu Chuanchuan: "How do you know that? Don't tell me you watch her streams?"

Ange: "Her dances are very stimulating."

Xu Chuanchuan: "..."

Ange: "You'll get a nosebleed if you watch them."

Xu Chuanchuan: "..."

Ange: "Hey, all women will have physical needs after reaching a certain age. I only occasionally watch her."

Xu Chuanchuan: "...Dare I ask how old you are this year?"

Ange: "We are the same age."

Xu Chuanchuan: "Oh. Then how come I don't have those kinds of needs?"

Ange: "This shows that your body still isn't fully developed. "

Xu Chuanchuan: "To hell with you." There she goes with the nonsense again.

As she had just worked up a sweat, Xu Chuanchuan found it uncomfortable to stay lying on her bed. So, she climbed out of her bed and began packing her belongings.

She didn't have a lot of belongings. The only cumbersome item she needed to move was her PC. Fortunately, she lived on the first floor, so moving it wouldn't be too much of a trouble.

The next day, she transferred all of her packed belongings to the company.

As Linda wasn't staying in the dorm today, Xu Chuanchuan played some music on her phone while unpacking her stuff. After working tirelessly for a few hours, she finally finished setting up her new home. She then took a few pictures of the room and sent them to Ange.

Ange: "The room's quite big. The bed's large as well. Your company's employee welfare sure is wonderful."

Xu Chuanchuan: "That's because this room was originally prepared for my boss's daughter."

Ange: "What? You're living with her???"

Xu Chuanchuan: "What are you thinking?!?! I'm living alone!!! [Blood Vomit][Blood Vomit][Blood Vomit]"

Ange: "That gave me a scare. I thought you had fallen already."

Xu Chuanchuan: "Your brain is too imaginative!"

Ange: "How will I write novels if I don't have a good imagination?"

Xu Chuanchuan had no comebacks for this.