After Being Bent by Reader

Xu Chuanchuan felt a little stunned after being abruptly given the "nice guy card." After taking a screenshot of the comment and sending it to Ange, she asked: "What do you think she meant by that?"

Ange: "Crap! Did you secretly write some meat for her? [Shock] Way to go, Tang'er! [Thumbs up]"

Xu Chuanchuan: "I didn't!"

Ange: "What did you do for her exactly, then? [Pick nose]"

Xu Chuanchuan: "How would I know…"

At this time, Xu Chuanchuan's reader group was talking about this matter as well.

—Wahhh! Lord, look quickly! Someone gave you a lot of Deep-waters! @I Love Malatang

—It's Passerby again. How rich. By the way, is this tycoon in the group?

—She shouldn't be, right? And even if she is, we wouldn't know.

…

Normally, Xu Chuanchuan would immediately make a response after being tagged in the group chat. However, she didn't do so right now as her brain was still in a mess. She was still thinking about the words Passerby left for her.

Why would she give me so many Deep-water Torpedoes?

It seems this person isn't just capricious. She also has abnormal preferences…

Harassing Ange, Xu Chuanchuan asked: "I'm a little worried. This person has only registered her account recently. Do you think someone hacked her account?"

Thinking of this possibility, Xu Chuanchuan promptly logged into Weibo, clicked on the familiar blue sea profile picture, and sent the other party a message: "Girl, did your account get hacked?"

No response.

Ange: "I don't think that's the case."

Xu Chuanchuan: "How so?"

Ange: "First of all, why would the hacker donate money to you? If you go through the hassle of hacking someone's account and find a lot of money in that account, wouldn't the logical action be to spend that money on buying books you like or donating to authors you love? Unless the hacker is one of your readers. However, do you think those softies in your group have that kind of capability?"

Xu Chuanchuan snuck a glance at her lively reader group and fell silent.

In the end, Passerby's account getting hacked was only a conjecture. They would still need to wait for Passerby to clarify the situation to know what had happened exactly.

When Xu Chuanchuan was in a daze, Ange sent her another message: "There's another possibility. She might be cursing you."

Xu Chuanchuan: "Wat???"

Ange: "Think about it. Five Deep-waters equal 500 yuan. After jjwxc takes its cut, you'll be left with 250. This reader is quite shrewd. She's cursing you using a twisted method, yet you're still acting silly and happy over it."[1]

Xu Chuanchuan's lips twitched as she replied: "To hell with you."

Ange: "o(*≧▽≦)ツ┏━┓"

After still seeing no reply on Weibo, Xu Chuanchuan decided to take a bath first.

…

In the meantime, Murong Shi was soaking inside her bathtub. The facial mask covering her face outlined her exquisite facial features. Water vapor had moistened her long eyelashes, her eyes were shut, her brain was void of thoughts, and her body was thoroughly relaxed.

Murong Shi ended up soaking for one whole hour. When she exited the bath wrapped in a towel, hot air radiated from her body. Though, the air conditioning cooled down her body to normal temperatures.

Murong Shi was 173 centimeters tall, and her bone structure wasn't as petite and slender as other girls. Of course, she wasn't robust, either. Instead, Murong Shi was a natural-born model. Not only was she thin, but her body fat had coincidentally centered around her chest and hips.

A drop of water slowly slid down Murong Shi's elegantly curved neck, passed her collarbone, and finally sank into her neckline without her notice.

When her feet made contact with the thick wooly carpet of her room, Murong Shi heard a knock coming from the door.

"Little Shi, are you still awake?"

Holding the towel wrapped around her body with a tight grip, Murong Shi approached the door and opened it. "Mom, why aren't you asleep yet?"

Murong Mingshu currently wore a plain set of satin pajamas, and she allowed her hair to spread loosely. Frowning, she said, "I wanted to sleep originally."

"What happened?"

"Do you remember Aunt Lian coming across a kind person today? Since we have her contact information, I'm thinking of inviting her out for a meal."

Typically, People who believed in Buddhism spoke of karma and repaying kindness. Murong Mingshu had also always been thorough in these matters.

Murong Shi wasn't at all surprised by her mother's words. After pondering slightly, she said, "No need, Mom. I've already thanked that person on Aunt Lian's behalf."

Surprised, Murong Mingshu asked, "You did? When? How did you thank her?"

Getting straight to the point, Murong Shi answered, "I gave her something."

"What did you give her?"

After hesitating for a moment, Murong Shi said, "Money."

Murong Mingshu gaped. She then chided, "This person helped your Aunt Lian, yet you just dismissed her with money. This… This is too…"

Murong Shi bent her knees slightly and leaned her back against a wall. She then smiled and said, "Too vulgar? Wouldn't you also have to spend money by treating her to dinner?"

Hearing her daughter's words, Murong Mingshu hurriedly said, "That's different! I wanted to treat this person to a meal together with Aunt Lian and properly thank her. Hah—Forget it. Since you've already thanked her, let's just...leave it at that."

Sighing in relief, Murong Shi said, "No more concerns, right? It's late, so quickly head to bed. Buddha said that staying up late is bad for your body."

Murong Mingshu didn't feel annoyed by her daughter's urging. Instead, she said, "You should sleep soon, too."

"I know. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

After shutting the door, Murong Shi acted as if she never heard her mother's advice. Tossing aside the wet towel wrapped around her body, she walked into the nearby closet and changed into a set of pajamas. She then laid down on the bed and grabbed her phone.

For some psychological reason, she subconsciously logged into her Weibo account. To her surprise, she had unread messages.

I Love Malatang: "Girl, did your account get hacked?"

Girl? Murong Shi raised an eyebrow, finding Xu Chuanchuan's message baffling.

There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings: "My account?"

I Love Malatang: "You're still awake? Well, here's the thing. I saw you giving me five Deep-water Torpedoes today. You also left a comment I couldn't understand. So, I suspected that someone might have hacked into your account."

Subsequently, Xu Chuanchuan sent two images through the chat. They were the screenshots of the five Deep-water Torpedoes "Passerby" had sent.

Murong Shi instantly knew what Xu Chuanchuan was talking about, and she fell into deep thought for a moment.

There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings: "Nobody hacked my account. I sent them to you."

Like? So-so, I guess.

Rather than liking Xu Chuanchuan's book, Murong Shi had instead started using Xu Chuanchuan's novels as a sleeping aid.

Will it be too much of a shock if I tell her this, though?

When Murong Shi thought about how Xu Chuanchuan had helped Aunt Lian today, her heart softened.

Forget it. Let's not tell her the truth.

There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings: "It's okay."

It's okay???

Xu Chuanchuan felt a complicated feeling when she read this reply, though it only lasted for an instant.

If she doesn't like my book, why would she donate so many Deep-waters? Does she have nowhere else to spend her money?

Xu Chuanchuan didn't believe the other party's rhetoric. After labeling this "Passerby" with the description of "capricious" and "rich," she added a new description—tsun.

A tsundere.[2]

I Love Malatang: "Why did you praise me as a good person, then?"

There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings: "Take a guess."

Xu Chuanchuan: "..."

Sure enough, she's a tsundere.

Murong Shi didn't like playing with such childish tricks. She deliberately dodged Xu Chuanchuan's question because she knew she would expose herself once she answered it.

As for how she knew it was Xu Chuanchuan who had helped Aunt Lian, this was something that had happened four hours ago.

Four hours ago…

After Aunt Lian took her bath, she pointed at the landline phone in the living room and asked Murong Mingshu, "Can you check the call records? I want to call that beautiful lady to thank her and tell her that I've arrived safely."

Aunt Lian had spoken to Murong Mingshu using a dialect, so Murong Shi didn't understand a word she said. After Murong Mingshu translated Aunt Lian's request, Murong Shi pulled up the landline phone's call history.

Afterward, Aunt Lian used her brand new dumbphone to call the other party's number. The dumbphone's volume was set to absurdly high levels, and even those standing nearby the phone could hear the conversation between Aunt Lian and her benefactor.

When Aunt Lian's benefactor spoke, Murong Shi found the other party extremely familiar. She even heard Aunt Lian calling the other party "Miss Xu" in standard Mandarin.

Not only did Aunt Lian's benefactor sound like Xu Chuanchuan, but they even shared the same surname. Could such coincidences exist in this world?

Unsure if it was truly just a coincidence, Murong Shi forwarded the phone number of Aunt Lian's benefactor to Linda. Linda then quickly replied: "This is Xu Chuanchuan's phone number. Do you have business with her?"

Murong Shi: "No. I was just asking."

Meanwhile, from what Murong Shi could hear from the conversation between Aunt Lian and Xu Chuanchuan, the latter adamantly refused everything Aunt Lian tried to offer her. Aunt Lian felt both vexed and touched by Xu Chuanchuan's refusal. After ending the call, Aunt Lian even ruefully exclaimed, "This Miss Xu is a wonderful person!"

Afterward, to express her gratitude toward a certain someone's "undifferentiated kindness," Murong Shi logged into her jjwxc application and donated five Deep-water Torpedoes in one fell swoop…

Returning to the present, Murong Shi withdrew from her thoughts and stared at her phone.

I Love Malatang: "I give up on guessing. I'll assume that you like my book a lot [Shy]. I'm off to writing now. Goodnight in advance~ [Moon]"

Xu Chuanchuan initially thought to type a "muah," but upon recalling that the other party seemingly disliked her such close interactions. Hence, she opted for a goodnight instead.

Murong Shi stared at the last sentence in a daze. Apart from her parents, she had never exchanged goodnights with even her closest of friends. This was the first time she had received such a farewell, so she wasn't used to it.

Only after pondering for a long time did she slowly type out a reply.

There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings: "Goodnight."

TL Notes:

[1]250: Two hundred and fifty can be read as 二百五 (Èrbǎiwǔ) or 二百五十(Èrbǎi wǔshí) in Chinese.

[You'll get 205 if you put it through Google, but that's incorrect. 205 is read as 二百零五 (Èrbǎi líng wǔ)]

[2]tsundere: a Japanese term for a character development process that depicts a character with a personality who is initially polarized warm/soft, cold, temperamental, hotheaded (and sometimes even hostile) before gradually showing a warmer, friendlier side over time.

In Chinese, tsundere is written as 傲嬌 [ào jiāo].