After Being Bent by Reader

As they had left the house in a hurry, they didn't have time to pack their belongings. They had also been wearing the same clothes the entire day, so Murong Shi urged Xu Chuanchuan to take a shower first.

When Xu Chuanchuan took off her coat, she suddenly thought of something as she exclaimed, "Crap! I forgot about Ange!"

Immediately, Xu Chuanchuan grabbed her phone and messaged Ange, saying: "Sorry for the terrible reception, Ange! Please have Xiangxiang accompany you for tonight!"

Ange: "You heartless person. Only now do you remember that I'm a guest?"

Xu Chuanchuan continued apologizing one time after another.

Ange: "Whatever. I'll let it slide this time. It's a cold night tonight. Where did you and that person run off to?"

Xu Chuanchuan: "A hotel. I'm really sorry. Did you get scared?"

Ange: "I'm still fine. Xiangxiang got a little excited, though."

Xu Chuanchuan: "What happened to her?"

Ange: "She went to argue with your father. Her voice was even louder than your father's."

Afterward, Ange sent a long voice recording to Xu Chuanchuan. When Xu Chuanchuan downloaded the file and played it, she immediately heard the loud voices of Father Xu and Xu Xiangxiang.

Xu Xiangxiang: "Dad, you've gone too far! Many countries have already legalized same-sex marriage! What ancient era do you think you're living in?! How is Sis perverted?!"

Father Xu: "Many countries might have legalized it, but has our country legalized it? If the law doesn't recognize it, they shouldn't even think of getting married in this lifetime!"

Xu Xiangxiang: "So what if they don't get married?! Many people get divorced even after getting married!"

Father Xu: "You're still going against me? Are you itching for a beating?"

Xu Xiangxiang: "I dare you to hit me! If you hit me, I'm going straight to Grandpa tomorrow to tell on you!"

Father Xu: "...Don't talk about this nonsense with me. I won't agree to their relationship no matter what! If she wants to stay with that woman, then she shouldn't think of being my daughter!"

Xu Xiangxiang: "What's so bad about Big Sis Shishi? Her family runs a big company, and every one of their cars costs over a million yuan! I dare say that no man in Xian City is better than Big Sis Shishi!"

Father Xu: "Who cares about her money?! Do you think she's great just because she has money?!"

Xu Xiangxiang: "Of course it's great to have money! If it wasn't for Big Sis Shishi, we couldn't even afford the renovations for this house! If I can get a girlfriend like Big Sis Shishi as well, who cares if she's a woman? I'll be laughing in my sleep!"

Father Xu: "Are you trying to anger me to death?!"

Xu Xiangxiang: "I'm not trying to anger you; I'm just trying to talk some sense into you. Dad, society has changed. Your thinking needs to change as well. There are so many scummy men out there nowadays. Do you think Sis will live a good life just because she finds herself a man? What if that man turns out to be a womanizer or wife beater? Compared to them, Big Sis Shishi is a much better person! She is capable and good-tempered. She's also kind to Sis. The two of them have such a good relationship, so why must you separate them? Do you not want Sis to be happy?"

Father Xu fell silent.

Xu Xiangxiang: "Sis is barely earning anything each month. She skimps on food and doesn't buy herself any beauty products. You can even count the number of new clothes she buys for herself with one hand! She has also worked very hard and shouldered a huge debt to buy a house for our family! How much has she contributed to our family already? Now that she has found a person she likes, can't you give her even a word of blessing?"

The voice recording ended at this part, but Xu Chuanchuan continued holding her phone in a daze. Simultaneously, her eyes reddened, and a drop of tear fell on her phone's screen.

Murong Shi was momentarily stunned when she came out from the bathroom and saw her lover's tearful state. Then, she asked, "What's wrong? Why are you crying again?"

Then, Xu Chuanchuan replayed the voice recording for Murong Shi.

Murong Shi fell silent for a while after hearing the voice recording. Then, she let out a rueful sigh and said, "It seems Xiangxiang is siding with you."

"She's been bickering with me since we were young, and she frequently annoys me. I used to despise her because of how willful and wasteful she was, but I never thought she would…"

After wiping the tears on Xu Chuanchuan's face, Murong Shi said, "She's bound to grow up one day. Now that she has grown up, isn't that a good thing? Alright, stop crying. Why are you so emotional today?"

Xu Chuanchuan had previously cried because of sadness, but this time she cried because she was touched. While doing her best to stop crying, Xu Chuanchuan said, "I'll go take a shower."

"Mhm."

…

The next day, Xu Chuanchuan and Murong Shi had secretly snuck home after Mother Xu called to tell them that Father Xu had left for work.

Mother Xu looked quite dispirited when they arrived, probably because she didn't get much sleep last night. Seeing this, Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but feel guilty.

After looking at her daughter for a while, Mother Xu said, "Your father is still being stubborn. I think you two should go back for now."

Xu Chuanchuan had returned with this intention in mind, so she and Murong Shi immediately began packing their luggage.

Then, Mother Xu said in a heavy tone, "Truth be told, I have a difficult time accepting this as well. But since you're already an adult, I don't think I have the right to meddle in your relationship. I just hope that you two can be happy together."

Xu Chuanchuan immediately gave her mother a hug, her nose reddening as she had the urge to cry again.

Murong Shi also embraced Mother Xu, saying, "Auntie, I promise I'll treat Chuanchuan well."

Mother Xu revealed an awkward smile when she heard Murong Shi's promise. Afterward, she personally saw them off downstairs.

Before leaving, Xu Chuanchuan and Xu Xiangxiang also paid Grandpa Xu a visit.

When Xu Chuanchuan recalled last night's matter, she couldn't help but apologize to Ange once more. Then, holding her friend's hands, she said, "I wouldn't have invited you to join us if I knew something like that would happen. I even ended up leaving you behind after letting you watch all that. I'm really sorry."

In response, Ange shrugged and said, "I'll just take it as reference. Hopefully, it'll come in handy when it's my turn to come out of the closet."

When Xu Chuanchuan thought about Ange and Fang Qin, she hesitated for a moment before asking, "Will your parents be tough to deal with?"

"They've long since known that I like women," Ange said, chuckling.

Surprised, Xu Chuanchuan asked, "Don't tell me you already came out of the closet when you were dating Fragrant Citrus?"

"Her?" Revealing a look of disdain, Ange said, "I only dated her for half a year, and most of our interactions were done online. Our relationship wasn't so good that I would bring her to meet my parents."

"Then, how did they find out?"

Ange remained silent for a moment. Then, she leaned into Xu Chuanchuan's ear and said, "When I was in high school, my computer stored a lot of 18+ yuri films. I forgot to turn off my computer one day, and my mom ended up seeing them. When she questioned me about them, I had no choice but to confess."

Gaping in shock, Xu Chuanchuan exclaimed, "You were already watching those nonsensical things when you were in high school?! Have you even become an adult at that time?"

"Nope," Ange said as if it were a matter of course.

Xu Chuanchuan: "..."

…

After returning from their trip, Murong Shi brought Xu Chuanchuan back to the Murong household.

When Murong Mingshu heard about their coming out of the closet in the Xu household and that Father Xu was opposed to their relationship, she sympathetically said, "At the end of the day, everything parents do is for the good of their children. If your parents aren't unreasonably stubborn people, they will eventually come to accept your relationship. Take things slowly and give them some time."

Even though their coming out of the closet was a colossal failure, they still needed to live their lives. Xu Chuanchuan also made sure to call Mother Xu after work every day to ask about Father Xu's attitude.

Mother Xu said, "You know as well as I do about your father's personality. He's still angry even now, and he keeps on cursing as soon as he comes home."

Xu Chuanchuan knew what her father was cursing about even without asking, so she couldn't help but fall silent.

Then, Mother Xu added, "I even had a fight with him last night, and he ran out of the house out of anger, saying that he refuses to stay in the house you bought. He ended up returning to our old house, but your grandpa found him to be a nuisance and chased him out. With nowhere to go and no money in his pockets, he still had to come back in the end."

Xu Chuanchuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry about this situation.

Because of her trip back home, Xu Chuanchuan had missed two days' worth of updates for her novel. Feeling somewhat guilty, she decided to look at her reader group before starting on her daily writing. However, she couldn't help but be shocked when she opened her QQ messenger.

Many people in her reader group had tagged her in their messages. Xu Chuanchuan initially thought that these people were urging her to update her novel, but the messages she saw were as followed:

—Did anyone read the number one novel promoted in the newcomer's section? Why does it feel so similar to Lord's current book?

—Are you talking about My Tycoon Girlfriend? I've read it as well! What do you mean 'similar'? It's a carbon copy! The scenarios in the novel are just copies of Lord's book. The only things that are different are the character names and identities! It's so infuriating! When I asked that author if she had read Lord's work before, she refused to admit it!

—Someone finally brought this up. I've read that book as well. It has 25 chapters, and it's even monetized already. I wrote in the comment section saying that she copied Lord, but that author called me a dog. She even got a moderator to delete my comment afterward.

—There's actually such a shameless person? I'll give it a look.

—Such a person deserves to have their points reduced!

—The book has over 3,000 bookmarks already. Quite a lot of people are reading it.

—Lord, hurry up and come out! You're being plagiarized! @I Love Malatang

…

These messages were dated two days ago, which was also the day she visited her hometown.

Someone Is plagiarizing my work???

Xu Chuanchuan was stunned.

However, she decided not to jump to conclusions first before looking into the situation. Setting aside her work, she logged into her reading app and searched for the copycat novel in question. Then, when she finished reading the first chapter, she couldn't help but be shocked.

Isn't this my novel? The characters only have their names and identities changed.

The author of My Tycoon Girlfriend was a newcomer on the platform, and she only had this one book under their name. This copycat author didn't copy After Being Bent by Reader word for word. Instead, she had taken Xu Chuanchuan's original plot, reorganized it, and rewrote it using her youthful writing style.

Xu Chuanchuan's book was about the relationship between an author and her reader, while this copycat author wrote about a famous artist and her passionate fan.

Because there were many similarities in the content, the more Xu Chuanchuan read, the angrier she became.

Having one or two coincidences was one thing, but any discerning person could tell that this author was plagiarizing Xu Chuanchuan's work with so many similar plot points.

Half an hour later, Xu Chuanchuan read up to the novel's seventh chapter and found well over two dozen plagiarized scenarios.

When Murong Shi came out of the shower, she saw Xu Chuanchuan sitting in front of the computer while staring into her phone. Seeing that the document displayed on the computer was still blank, she casually asked, "Did you get writer's block again?"

"A new author is plagiarizing my work," Xu Chuanchuan said as she handed her phone to Murong Shi.

Murong Shi read much more quickly than Xu Chuanchuan. In just an hour, she had already finished reading all 80,000 words of the novel. Frowning, she said, "This is indeed plagiarism. Why aren't the platform editors doing anything about this?"

"The editors have to manage many authors. There's no way they have time to read every author's work," Xu Chuanchuan said. Then, slamming her fist on the table, she angrily said, "I'm going to report her!"