Xu Chuanchuan wasn't making up an excuse. She really was sleepy.
Without caring whether the other party would reply or not, Xu Chuanchuan quickly exited her Weibo and set aside her phone.
At this time, Xu Xiangxiang suddenly screamed, "Ahhh! Save me! I'm dying!"
Having most of her drowsiness scared away, Xu Chuanchuan looked at the person beside her and berated, "Why the hell are you screaming in the middle of the night?"
Without shifting her gaze away from her phone, Xu Xiangxiang said, "I'm talking about the character in my game. Ah—It's over. I ran out of HP."
Xu Chuanchuan sent a slap at the back of her sister's head. She then said, "Go to sleep."
Xu Xiangxiang twisted her body around a little and said, "You sleep first. I'm not sleepy yet."
"How can I sleep if you don't? You'll keep me awake with your noise," Xu Chuanchuan said as she confiscated Xu Xiangxiang's phone.
Xu Xiangxiang fumed at her phone getting stolen. However, when she turned around and met her elder sister's warning gaze, she promptly swallowed her complaints into her stomach. She then clicked her tongue and said, "Alright, alright, I'll sleep. Just let me use the toilet first."
In the meantime, Xu Chuanchuan placed her and her sister's phones at a place out of arm's reach. After she had straightened the ruffled bed sheet and got into bed, Xu Xiangxiang also came out of the bathroom.
After climbing onto the bed as well, Xu Xiangxiang said, "Turn off the lights."
Xu Chuanchuan hesitated for a moment when she heard the movement beside her. She then turned around and looked at the side of Xu Xiangxiang's face and asked, "Tell me the truth. How exactly did you meet with Murong?"
Xu Xiangxiang, who was rubbing her eyes, froze momentarily. Her eyes then wandered around for a moment before she answered, "Didn't I already tell you? We just happened to meet each other on the street."
"Do you think I'll believe that?"
"Why wouldn't you believe it?"
Previously, as soon as Murong Shi had got back into her car, Xu Chuanchuan promptly began grilling Xu Xiangxiang for answers. Hence, Xu Xiangxiang had come up with a relatively logical story on the spot.
Based on Xu Xiangxiang's story, she had thought to visit Xu Chuanchuan after work. However, she had very nearly gotten herself hit by a car in her hurry to catch up to a bus. Meanwhile, Murong Shi was the car's owner.
Fortunately, Murong Shi had stopped the car in time. When she came out of the car to check up on the person she nearly ran over, she found that Xu Xiangxiang looked very much like Xu Chuanchuan. Upon asking, she then found out that the two were sisters. Out of the kindness of her heart and seeing that Xu Chuanchuan's house was on the way, Murong Shi then offered to give Xu Xiangxiang a ride.
Although Xu Xiangxiang's story sounded very coincidental, it was a relatively reasonable story, so Xu Chuanchuan accepted her little sister's story at face value. She then ordered take-out for Xu Xiangxiang and began secretly writing her book on her phone, not putting any more thought into the matter.
However, now that Xu Chuanchuan had calmed down and gave the matter some more thought, she realized that there was a big hole in Xu Xiangxiang's story.
How could Murong Shi possibly be such a good samaritan?
Xu Chuanchuan still distinctly remembered the "punishment" Murong Shi gave her on Friday, and only one day had gone by since then.
Could Murong Shi have had a change in personality during this time? Impossible.
Xu Chuanchuan might've believed Xu Xiangxiang's story if the other party involved was anyone else, but Murong Shi?
Xu Xiangxiang was hiding something.
Putting on a cold smile, Xu Chuanchuan asked, "Do you know who she is?"
"Is she not your colleague? She says she's doing miscellaneous work in the company just like you."
"Misce...llaneous? She said that?"
Xu Xiangxiang innocently nodded. "Is that not the case?"
Her lips twitching, Xu Chuanchuan said, "She's my boss's daughter."
"What?!" Xu Xiangxiang exclaimed, her upper body springing up. "Really? Why would she lie to me, then?"
Xu Chuanchuan frowned. She also didn't have an answer to this question.
Meanwhile, Xu Xiangxiang mumbled to herself, "No wonder I found it strange. If she really is doing miscellaneous work like you, how can she drive such a nice car? But then again, your boss's daughter is a nice person."
"How is she nice?" Xu Chuanchuan asked, looking at Xu Xiangxiang as if she was looking at a ghost.
Without thinking twice, Xu Xiangxiang answered, "She's pretty."
Xu Chuanchuan glared at her little sister and said, "I don't need you to tell me that."
Putting on a stupid smile, Xu Xiangxiang said, "Not only is she beautiful, but she's also warm-hearted. She doesn't put on airs, either. How is she not nice?"
Xu Chuanchuan seriously suspected that she and her little sister were talking about two completely different people. After pondering for a moment, she said, "Many of our company employees call her 'She-Devil' in secret. Only you think of her as a nice person."
"She-Devil?" Xu Xiangxiang immediately had her curiosity piqued. Moving closer to her elder sister, she asked, "Is she cruel in the company?"
Xu Chuanchuan didn't have the guts to tell Xu Xiangxiang that Murong Shi had already screwed with her once. After all, she had been in the wrong first. Regardless, Xu Chuanchuan had received a trauma after that lesson and dared not casually speak badly of Murong Shi even in front of her own little sister. It didn't matter even if she knew that Xu Xiangxiang would never betray her.
After another long silence, Xu Chuanchuan said ambiguously, "She behaves coldly to everyone around her, so other colleagues don't dare get close to her in private."
Shifting her buttocks closer to her elder sister, Xu Xiangxiang asked, "Does this mean you have a bad relationship with her?"
"Use your brain, will you? She's my boss's daughter, while I'm only an assistant in the company's Engineering Department. We have nothing to do with each other, so how can there be any friendship between us?"
Xu Xiangxiang opened and closed her mouth several times. A moment later, she said, "That's strange. If you're not close, why would she be concerned about you?"
"Murong Shi? Concerned about me?" Was this some kind of bad joke?
"Yeah. She knows your back is aching, and she even asked me about it on the car."
"..." Xu Chuanchuan was surprised.
Patting her elder sister on the shoulder, Xu Xiangxiang said, "Well, whatever. Remember to help me thank her. I'm going to sleep."
Looking at Xu Xiangxiang's back, Xu Chuanchuan suddenly recalled that she still hadn't finished probing her little sister's matter.
Meanwhile, because of her guilt and active attempt at evading her elder sister's topic, Xu Xiangxiang had forgotten to tell her about the matter of Murong Shi mentioning that Xu Chuanchuan liked malatang. It was also fortunate that she didn't reveal this fact. If she did, Murong Shi wouldn't be far from getting her identity exposed.
…
The next day.
"Didn't you say you were working part-time today?"
Still half-asleep, Xu Xiangxiang listlessly replied, "I blew it."
"What do you mean?"
Xu Xiangxiang lazily took a sip of milk tea. While crunching down on an ice cube, she said, "I thought about it. Working part-time is so tiring, so I decided not to buy the phone."
Xu Chuanchuan: "..."
Afterward, Xu Chuanchuan asked Xu Xiangxiang if she wanted to go shopping, but the latter showed no interest and said, "I don't want to go out under the sun. You don't have anything fun to play here, either, so I'm thinking of going back to school."
Ange: "Writing?"
Xu Chuanchuan: "Just finished."
After a moment, Ange replied: "Up for another one?"
Xu Chuanchuan: "I'll pass. I still have ten deliveries to pack."
Ange: "Did you start a WeChat business?"
Dumbfounded by Ange's words, Xu Chuanchuan replied: "What business? I'm talking about the Weibo lottery. I promised to send physical books to my readers."
Speaking of giving away books, Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but recall her speculation toward that tycoon reader's identity. Although she had eventually convinced herself otherwise, she still couldn't help herself from sharing her conjecture with Ange.
Ange: "It would be interesting if this tycoon is your boss's daughter."
Xu Chuanchuan: "It's scary, OK? If that is the case, I might decide to kill my pen name."
Ange: "she doesn't look evil, so why are you so afraid of her?"
Xu Chuanchuan: "You won't understand."
Truthfully, even Xu Chuanchuan didn't understand what she was afraid of.
Was Murong Shi really that scary?
Not really.
However, Xu Chuanchuan always felt a sense of oppression bearing down on her whenever she stood in front of Murong Shi. And after that "recital" incident, she now felt an additional sense of shame.
At around five o'clock, the courier from Yunda Express arrived. Before the courier took the packages away, though, Xu Chuanchuan took a blurry picture of them to share with her readers on Weibo.
When she logged into her Weibo account, the sound of a "ding-dong" entered her ears. The system notified her of an unread message.
Xu Chuanchuan's heart tensed up when she saw the familiar blue ocean icon.
Xu Chuanchuan initially planned to avoid this tycoon reader for some time. She never thought that the other party would take the initiative to contact her.
There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feeling: "What are these Nutrient Solutions and Moonstones for? [Image]"
Thank goodness it wasn't a request for her to write meat.
After calming herself, Xu Chuanchuan tapped on the shared image and found that it was the account information for "Passerby Shi."
…
Nutrient Solutions 80, Moonstones 10, Points 0, Balance Coins 88888.03
…
Xu Chuanchuan's gaze was drawn toward the last category, her eyes widening in shock when she saw the string of numbers displayed there.
If she topped up this much money into her account, it's no wonder why she feels nothing at spending some of it. What a tycoon…
Xu Chuanchuan then focused back on the tycoon's question.
I Love Malatang: "You'll receive additional Nutrient Solutions if you make a full subscription to a novel, and you can use them to 'fertilize' novels you like. They're basically votes for jjwxc's voting system. Moonstones are generally used to give point reductions to novels. Each point reduction costs two Moonstones."
There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feeling: "That means I can give five point reductions now."
I Love Malatang: "Yes."
There Exists No Poem in a Girl's Feeling: "Then I'll give all of them to you to avoid letting them go to waste."
Xu Chuanchuan: !!!
I Love Malatang: "Tycoon! Please control yourself! These point reductions are not a joke! It'll deduct points from my book! [Kowtow][Kowtow][Kowtow]"
This tycoon had been capricious as far as Xu Chuanchuan could remember. This tycoon also had a unique thought process and arrogant personality. If she handled this situation poorly, this tycoon reader might very well do something crazy.
Xu Chuanchuan immediately thought of the tycoon reader's words as a threat. She wondered if she had angered the other party last night, and she couldn't help but regret her words. Before the other party had even said anything, Xu Chuanchuan had already conceded.
I Love Malatang: "I was wrong! I was wrong! Tycoon, you must remain calm! I'll pay you back the meat I owe you tonight, OK?"
I Love Malatang: "I'll start writing it now!"
TL Notes:
On the jjwxc platform, point reductions are basically bad reviews left by paying customers. I'm not sure about the specifics, but receiving too many point reductions will probably affect a novel's partnership with the platform. In other words, the book will stop being monetized. Of course, authors can issue a complaint if point reductions are made with malicious intent (aka troll reviews), and the platform will remove/ignore these point reductions if the complaint is valid.