After Being Bent by Reader

After saying "goodnight" to someone for the second time today, Murong Shi still did not intend to sleep. Instead, she subconsciously slid her finger around her phone's screen and inadvertently entered "I Love Malatang"'s Weibo profile page.

Pinned on top of the page was a post made half a year ago, and written on the post was as followed: "Hai~ Sorry to bother everyone, but because of copyright issues, I will no longer be selling my self-publication as products. I still have over a hundred books stockpiled under my bed, so I'll give them away to loyal readers as bonuses…"

The post was hundreds of words in length, and Murong Shi didn't have the patience to read all of it. She also didn't understand what that "self-publication" meant, though she guessed that it was a physical copy of one of Xu Chuanchuan's books.

Although Xu Chuanchuan only had around 20,000 followers on her Weibo account, the number of shares and comments her post received far exceeded this number. It appeared that many people wanted this gift of hers.

After all, who wouldn't want free stuff?

Murong Shi off-handedly liked the post. When she scrolled further down on Xu Chuanchuan's profile page, she found that most of Xu Chuanchuan's posts were related to her writing.

—It's finally over~ I'll be back after resting for a few days, kay~

—Updated, read it quickly~

—I started a new book! It's another sweet romance! Quickly grab your seats and red packets!

…

So long as it was related to her books, Xu Chuanchuan would almost always make a Weibo post about it.

Apart from her books, Xu Chuanchuan would also occasionally make posts about an author named Ange.

Murong Shi found the name "Ange" somewhat familiar, and she quickly realized it was the author of the first yuri novel she read.

Not interested.

Murong Shi scrolled down further. When she came across a photo, she paused.

It was a mosaicked photo of a person's side face. The picture came with the following words: "A promise is a promise! The photo you want is here! Take a look! [Shy]"

The post's comment section was incredibly lively.

—Ahhh! Why mosaic?! Lord, you're evil!

—Damn! I can tell you're cute just from your side face! I want to pinch it! Requesting for the original picture.

—Tsk, it's pointless to censor it. Lord, you're a submissive as I expected!

—How can a side face do? Lord, do you dare take a front shot?

…

The woman in the photo had her face censored using mosaic, and only her messy hair remained uncensored. The woman had widened her eyes and puffed up her cheeks. The image of a pink pig's head had also been added to the tip of the woman's nose. Overall, the picture looked quite comical.

After seeing this photo, Murong Shi no longer had any doubts regarding I Love Malatang's real identity.

When Murong Shi read the teasing comments other netizens wrote for Xu Chuanchuan, her mouth subconsciously curled upward.

Suddenly, she came across a comment saying: "Lord, I want to see the picture of your company's boss's daughter. Can you sneak a photo for me? You can censor it first and share it with us."

Murong Shi's pupils shrank slightly.

Boss's daughter? Are they talking about me?

Murong Shi continued scrolling down skeptically and came across another unexpected harvest.

I Love Malatang: "I met the rumored new vice president. Guess who it is? Forget it, you'll never guess it _(:з」∠)_. Do you still remember the time I complained about some woman snatching my coke in a KFC and pouring it on a scumbag? The follow-up story is here! That woman is my boss's daughter! She's also my company's new vice president! Surprised??? Anyway, I was given a fright! [Crying]"

—Wahh! This is even campier than novels! Lord, now that you've seen your boss's daughter slapping someone else, you should be careful not to get screwed by her in the future.

—Screwed? Which kind of screwed? Hehe, I've turned evil. [Evil laugh]

—Hmph, what a despicable person. She took someone's coke without checking who it belongs to! Hurry up and expose her photo!

—I'm curious what this boss's daughter looks like. Is she pretty?

…

I Love Malatang: "She's pretty. Her name sounds nice, her voice sounds melodious, and her body is beautiful. It's just that… Uh, she's a little grumpy. People in the company have secretly started calling her "She-Devil"... She's also very tall, so it's very stressful to stand beside her. Ah, my sore neck…"

Grumpy? She-Devil?

Not bad. She would remember all of this.

Had Murong Shi read this Weibo post earlier, she definitely wouldn't have sent those five Deep-water Torpedoes!

Never!

After calming her breathing, Murong Shi replied to Xu Chuanchuan's comment with her own comment before logging out of Weibo.

There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings: "Author, you should be careful when you go to work tomorrow after saying bad things behind someone's back."

…

Two minutes later, Xu Chuanchuan completed the transfer.

As her little sister had yet to come out, Xu Chuanchuan decided to check her phone. She recalled that she had heard two "ding-dongs" coming from her phone while she was busy writing. That was Weibo's system notification.

She frequently conversed with "There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings" recently, so it wouldn't be strange if the other party visited her profile and liked her posts. However, when she saw the comment the other party left her, Xu Chuanchuan's expression turned ugly.

The comment was for a post that Xu Chuanchuan made half a month ago. At that time, Murong Shi had called upon Xu Chuanchuan to act as her temporary assistant. After returning home that day, Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but vent her frustrations on Weibo.

Xu Chuanchuan shuddered when she read "There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings"'s threatening comment. For some reason, she found the tone of this person familiar. To be precise, it resembled Murong Shi's style when she was lecturing people.

However, Xu Chuanchuan knew her thoughts were absurd. How could Murong Shi possibly read web novels? Much fewer yuri novels. After all, Murong Shi was someone with a boyfriend.

Regardless, Xu Chuanchuan regretted her actions. Although she didn't name Murong Shi in her post, it was still immoral to talk behind someone's back. After giving the matter some thought, she decided to delete her post.

Afterward, Xu Chuanchuan privately messaged There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feelings: "Tycoon, don't scare me. I'm timid [Aggrieved]."

Unfortunately, Murong Shi didn't get to see Xu Chuanchuan's actions in time.

…

On Sunday, Murong Shi accompanied Murong Mingshu and Aunt Lian for a full day of shopping outside. At night, her father, Sun An, returned home. While having dinner, he asked her, "Shaohua's birthday is coming soon, right? What do you two plan on doing?"

Us?

Murong Shi found her father's words funny. Though, she still maintained an indifferent expression on the surface and said, "He can do whatever he wants."

Sun An felt slightly unhappy at her daughter's reply. "What do you mean, whatever? What is going on with the two—"

"Eat up, eat up. The food won't taste as good once it's cooled." Fortunately, Murong Mingshu had interjected and relieved the situation.

Sun An knew that his wife disliked Jiang Shaohua, so he stopped speaking and resumed eating.

After dinner, Murong Shi returned to her room and heard her phone ringing. After taking a brief glance at the screen, she reluctantly accepted the other party's video call request.

"What do you want?"

Jiang Shaohua smiled playfully in the video and whistled at her. He then said, "You rejected my call last time. Were you doing something bad behind my back?"

Annoyed, Murong Shi said, "Get to the point."

Faking a sigh, Jiang Shaohua said, "It's nothing important. I'm just afraid my dad will conduct a surprise check on me, so I decided to call you to communicate our affection."

"Is there any affection between us?"

"How can there be none? Strictly speaking, we're childhood friends," Jiang Shaohua said. Fiddling around with the hair on his forehead, he grinned and continued, "In the future, we might even become—"

Murong Shi did not wish to continue listening to his nonsense and ended the call on the spot.

Her actions infuriated Jiang Shaohua, who was in the middle of flattering himself. Immediately, he retaliated with a text message: "With that temper of yours, whoever marries you in the future will be cursed with bad luck for eight generations!"

Jiang Shaohua's words naturally angered Murong Shi. However, as she couldn't be bothered to cuss him out, she simply tossed her phone aside. Though, she ended up feeling horribly suffocated.

Meanwhile, this irritation finally exploded when she met a certain someone in the company the next day.

Xu Chuanchuan was holding a dry towel and an empty cup. She initially thought to grab a cup of water and moisten the towel to wipe the dust on her desk. She never thought that she would come across Murong Shi as soon as she left her office.

Xu Chuanchuan's heart sank, and she turned around to flee.

"Xu Chuanchuan—" A voice filled with suppressed irritation called out her name.

Xu Chuanchuan felt a chill at the back of her head, and she had a hunch that something terrible was about to happen.

While mentally cursing her short legs, Xu Chuanchuan turned around, forced a smile onto her face, and greeted, "Good morning...Miss Murong."

Less than ten meters were separating them. When the cold air released by the air conditioning hit her head and enveloped her body, Xu Chuanchuan jolted and stiffened her body, not daring to make even the slightest of movements.

Murong Shi currently wore a gruesome expression on her face. Staring straight at Xu Chuanchuan, she coldly said, "Why did you try to run as soon as you saw me? Am I very scary?"

Xu Chuanchuan didn't run out of fear. Instead, she felt embarrassed when she recalled the Weibo post from last night. Putting on a fawning smile, she said, "It's not like that. I...I just forgot my cup."

Lifting her chin, Murong Shi asked, "What's that in your hand, then?"

Xu Chuanchuan looked down at the empty cup in her hand, embarrassment filling her as she realized her blunder.

Wetting her lips, Xu Chuanchuan added, "I grabbed the wrong one. This one isn't insulated. I have another cup at my desk."

This is a reasonable excuse. She shouldn't be able to find any faults, right?

Murong Shi wore a long look on her face and remained silent.

Afraid of looking Murong Shi in the eye, Xu Chuanchuan lowered her head and said timidly, "I'm going to get some water. Do you need me to bring you a cup?"

Murong Shi still remained silent.

Xu Chuanchuan started growing anxious, yet she also dared not leave in this situation.

After the stalemate continued for several seconds, Murong Shi said, "Go get me a cup of warm water and send it to my office. I have something to ask you."