After Being Bent by Reader

After the two elders left, only Xu Chuanchuan and Murong Shi remained in the spacious house. Looking at her right hand that a certain someone was holding, Xu Chuanchuan reminded, "How am I supposed to eat like this?"

In response, Murong Shi unhurriedly turned toward Xu Chuanchuan and said, "I'll feed you."

After putting on a token struggle, Xu Chuanchuan said, "No need. I'll do it myself."

Naturally, Murong Shi turned a deaf ear to Xu Chuanchuan's words and scooped up a spoonful of green bean soup. Then, she deliberately rested the spoon on Xu Chuanchuan's lower lip and said, "This is the first time in my life that I'm feeding someone."

Xu Chuanchuan pursed her lips for a moment before gradually opening them and enveloping the spoon with her mouth. Then, she suddenly realized something as she asked, "Isn't this your spoon?"

After feeding Xu Chuanchuan, Murong Shi casually ate a spoonful as well. Then, in a lighthearted tone, she said, "We've even kissed already. What's the point of minding such small matters?"

Xu Chuanchuan was rendered speechless. Then, she silently withdrew her hand and began sullenly eating her green bean soup.

Murong Shi was full after finishing only half of her bowl. However, Xu Chuanchuan was reluctant to let the soup go to waste, so she finished Murong Shi's remaining half after downing her own bowl. After the light meal, Xu Chuanchuan also felt her body's discomfort dissipating, and she couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.

While Xu Chuanchuan was wiping her mouth, Murong Shi stared at her and asked, "Are you still dizzy?"

Xu Chuanchuan shook her head.

"Is your chest still stuffy?"

Xu Chuanchuan shook her head again.

Then, Murong Shi suddenly leaned closer by several centimeters and quietly asked, "Can I kiss you now, then?"

Xu Chuanchuan gaped in shock, the napkin in her hand falling to the ground. Then, she exclaimed, "Why are you still thinking about this?!"

Murong Shi softly chuckled and said, "I will never give up until I achieve my goals."

"..."

Without waiting for an answer, Murong Shi held Xu Chuanchuan's face with one hand and Xu Chuanchuan's chin with her other hand. Then, she pressed her green bean flavored lips against the other party's.

Xu Chuanchuan obediently closed her eyes. Then, when she sensed the intrusion of Murong Shi's soft tongue, she tried responding in kind.

Murong Shi was stunned by this development. Immediately, she moved a hand to the back of Xu Chuanchuan's neck to further deepen their kiss.

At this time, a slight movement came from the front door.

Bot Murong Shi and Xu Chuanchuan noticed the movement. Startled, Xu Chuanchuan abruptly pushed Murong Shi away.

At the same time, someone pushed open the front door and entered the house, followed by Aunt Lian's mumbling, "I can't believe I forgot to bring the cart when I'm going to buy so many ingredients. What are you two doing?"

In her panic, Xu Chuanchuan had accidentally bumped into a bowl. Fortunately, a carpet covered the floor, so the porcelain bowl and spoon remained intact. The only problem was that the residue soup had spilled onto the table and carpet. While Murong Shi was picking up the bowl and spoon, Xu Chuanchuan wiped the table in a panic, her face as red as a tomato.

Then, Murong Shi calmly replied to Aunt Lian, "It's nothing. We just dropped a bowl."

Aunt Lian didn't doubt Murong Shi's answer. Instead, after grabbing her shopping cart, she promptly left the house once more.

Then, the two people at the dining table exchanged looks with each other.

There was no easy way to remove the stain on the carpet, so Murong Shi had no choice but to wait for Aunt Lian to return to clean it. Then, after she and Xu Chuanchuan washed their respective bowls and dried their hands, she asked, "Do you want to go to my room?"

"W-We're still doing it?"

Murong Shi was slightly confused as she asked, "Do what?"

Xu Chuanchuan hurriedly lowered her head in shame.

Seeing the blush on Xu Chuanchuan's face, Murong Shi chuckled and said, "You still want to continue where we left off? Sure. But for precaution's sake, we should go to my room first."

Xu Chuanchuan felt incredibly embarrassed by her thoughts. Stammering, she said, "N-Nevermind... I-I didn't mean that..."

"Where are you running off to? I'm just thinking of showing you my room."

When Murong Shi arrived in front of her room on the second floor with Xu Chuanchuan in tow, she suddenly paused for a moment. Then, she turned around and said, "Wait outside for a second."

What's with the mystery? Xu Chuanchuan wondered.

Without explaining, Murong Shi disappeared into her room. Then, after a minute had gone by, she opened the door and said, "Alright, please come in."

"What were you hiding just now?" Xu Chuanchuan asked jokingly.

In response, Murong Shi pulled Xu Chuanchuan into the room and closed the door behind her. Then, she said meaningfully, "I was preparing my house for my beloved woman."

Xu Chuanchuan's face turned even hotter when she heard these words.

Meanwhile, Murong Shi casually scanned the pillow on her bed. The pillow initially hid bedtime reading material under it. Now, though, she had locked said material inside a drawer.

Speaking of reading materials, Murong Shi suddenly recalled the phone call she had received from a courier around a month ago.

The courier had called to notify her of a delivery, and the parcel was delivered to the district Linda lived in. When Murong Shi heard the courier calling her "Passerby Shi," Murong Shi instantly knew Xu Chuanchuan sent the package.[1]

At the time, Murong Shi had only recently had her courting attempt rejected by Xu Chuanchuan, so she had been trying to draw a clear line between the two of them. Hence, she didn't hold much interest in the delivery. After the call with the courier ended, she casually brought the matter up with Linda and stopped caring about it.

Now, Murong Shi had no idea what had happened to the parcel. Linda's father was currently severely ill. The woman herself was probably too busy to care about anything else, so Murong Shi didn't find it appropriate to disturb her about the parcel.

Xu Chuanchuan only left the Murong household after having dinner. After personally escorting Xu Chuanchuan to the door, Murong Shi whispered into her ear, "You don't need to leave. My house has a guest room. You can go to the company with me tomorrow."

Xu Chuanchuan had already mooched two meals off of Murong Shi, so she tactfully declined Murong Shi's offer by saying, "I don't have any spare clothes to change into."

Only then did Murong Shi give up.

After Xu Chuanchuan left, Murong Shi brought out her bedtime reading material and casually flipped through it. Then, on a whim, she reached for her phone and logged in to QQ.

Upon logging in successfully, Murong Shi immediately saw the message Xu Chuanchuan sent her. The message talked about the physical copy of her latest completed work and the matter of the parcel.

Murong Shi swiftly typed away at the virtual keyboard and sent a reply to Xu Chuanchuan.

…

On the other side...

When Xu Chuanchuan returned to the dormitory, Little Yan caught her and asked, "I haven't seen you all day. Where did you go have fun with my cousin today?"

Afraid that Little Yan might overthink things, Xu Chuanchuan didn't reveal that she had visited Murong Shi's house today. Instead, she only ambiguously said that she went out with Murong Shi today.

Then, Little Yan revealed a smirk and said, "Your development with my cousin is absurdly fast. The only thing you've been doing in your free time nowadays is going on dates with my cousin. So when are you two going to come out of the closet?"

Shyly, Xu Chuanchuan said, "We aren't officially together yet."

"What? You two still aren't official even after going on so many dates? Do you not like my cousin?"

"I..." Little Yan's questions instantly stumped xu Chuanchuan.

After returning to her room, Xu Chuanchuan started reflecting on herself. Her development with Murong Shi was indeed moving a little fast. She had even "met her in-laws" today. If it were anyone else, they would've long since taken the next step in their relationship.

However, the problem was that Xu Chuanchuan still hadn't agreed to Murong Shi's approach...

Through their recent interactions, Xu Chuanchuan found that she was becoming more and more attracted to Murong Shi. Although Murong Shi would often tease her to the point where her face turned as red as a tomato, Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but admit that she liked to be close to Murong Shi. She also liked the numbing feeling she experienced whenever Murong Shi kissed her.

Xu Chuanchuan had still been confused before, but now that she finally realized her feelings, why was she still hesitating?

In reality, Xu Chuanchuan already knew the answer to this question. She simply didn't wish to admit that she had fallen.

After some thinking, Xu Chuanchuan made up her mind and messaged Ange: "I want to be with her."

With the tacit understanding between the two, Ange didn't need to ask to know who Xu Chuanchuan was talking about. Then, she replied: "I knew you couldn't hold on for much longer. Congratulations."

Xu Chuanchuan: "I thought you were going to say something else to me..."

Ange: "You already have her in your heart, so what else can I say? [Shrug]"

Xu Chuanchuan: "[Shy] I love you （づ￣3￣）づ╭～"

Ange: "Do you love her or me? [Light a cigarette]"

Xu Chuanchuan: "o(╯□╰)o"

Ange: "Will you be writing?"

Xu Chuanchuan: "It's so late already. Let's do it on another day."

Ange: "I knew you would say that. Ever since this Murong fella seduced you, your mind is no longer on writing. Are you planning to seal the pen for the sake of dating?"

Xu Chuanchuan: "*Cough* That won't happen. I'll start making plans once things stabilize."

Tomorrow. I'll make things clear with Murong Shi tomorrow.

Ange: "In that case, please appease the howling girls in your group first."

When Xu Chuanchuan tapped into her reader group, a wall of complaints immediately blinded her.

—Lord, it's been over a month now. When will you start your new book?

—Lord, where have you disappeared to?

—Lord, you updated your Weibo, yet you're not paying attention to the group. Are you deliberately ignoring our pleas for a new book?

—Lord, you need to tell us if you're facing writer's block. I'm dying from anxiety!

—Lord, are you perhaps occupied with dating?

…

Out of the thousands of readers in the group, one or two people were bound to guess the reason successfully. Hence, Xu Chuanchuan dared not respond to these complaints.

What should an author do when their reader group was in an uproar? Send red packets.

If one wasn't enough, then add a second one.

The readers of the group quickly forgot about their complaints once they started fighting over the red packet. Then, just when Xu Chuanchuan was about to set aside her phone and take a shower, she received a new message on QQ.

Passerby Shi: "I received the book. I like it a lot, thank you."

Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but doubt her eyes when she saw the capricious tycoon's sudden reappearance. Then, she replied: "Hi, long time no see."

Passerby Shi: "Miss me?"

Xu Chuanchuan: ...

If she said she missed the other party, it would look too ambiguous. Yet, if she said she didn't miss the other party, it would look as if she was being cold.

Xu Chuanchuan: "I thought that since you've disappeared for such a long time, you must have been busy with work again."

Passerby Shi: "Mhm. I've been quite busy with work."

Xu Chuanchuan: "Thank you for the hard work. The weather's been hot recently, so be careful not to get a heatstroke~"

Passerby Shi: "Thank you. You seem to be dodging the question. I asked if you missed me. Why are you afraid of answering it?"

How persistent…

Xu Chuanchuan: "My thoughts are as such: The relationship between you and I is only a relationship between an author and her reader. You've donated so much money to me already. If I were to say that I missed you, it would make it seem like I'm trying to flatter you. Also, you've disappeared for so long that I thought you'd parted ways with web novels... I have so many readers. If I were to miss every one of them, it would be incredibly exhausting."

Passerby: "Your straightforwardness isn't cute at all. [Pick nose]"

Xu Chuanchuan: "Is it wrong to tell the truth? [Aggrieved]"

Passerby Shi: "You heartless little thing. And to think I even dreamt of you recently."

Xu Chuanchuan: "You dreamt of me??? [Shock] Did you dream that I sent you a lot of books? [Snicker]"

Passerby Shi: "No. I dreamt of you confessing to me. You even forced a kiss on me after the confession."

Xu Chuanchuan: "!!!"

Passerby Shi: "I've been seeing this dream for several nights now. The worst part of it all is that your kissing skills are horrendous."

Xu Chuanchuan: "...!!!"

TL Notes:

[1]red packet: The red packet system in Chinese messaging applications works as a means to give monetary gifts in the form of virtual 'credits' to other users of the application. You can give a red packet directly to another person or designate a red packet to an entire group.

In the case of a group red packet, you can set various claim criteria such as the number of claimants and the amount claimed by each claimant (can be fixed or randomized).