Chapter 9

Xu Chuanchuan tried to write the character settings and plot outline for her new book but failed to type a single word even after struggling for a long time.

For some strange reason, whenever Xu Chuanchuan tried working her mind, Murong Shi's expressionless face would immediately surface in her mind. As if Murong Shi knew Xu Chuanchuan was spying on her, her beautiful almond eyes stared at Xu Chuanchuan unkindly, warning Xu Chuanchuan not to go too far.

Novels and the real world are separate things. How could I simply lewd a three-dimensional person in my novel? If Murong Shi finds out about this...

Of course, Murong Shi is unlikely to ever find out about this...

But this still isn't right. It's too immoral…

Xu Chuanchuan shook her head in an attempt to shake her absurd ideas out of her mind. Yet, after abandoning this route, she failed to get any other inspirations. Seeing as she wasn't making any progress, she decided to harass Ange.

Unfortunately, Ange appeared to be occupied with her work as she did not respond to Xu Chuanchuan's messages.

As she was destined to suffer from insomnia today, Xu Chuanchuan opened up her reader group and sent a greeting: "Any ladies still awake at this hour?"

—Me!

—+1

—It's almost two o'clock, Lord. Why aren't you asleep yet? Are you writing?

While Xu Chuanchuan was lightly tapping her fingers on the keyboard, another message appeared on the screen.

—You must not have a sex life since you're not asleep at this time! Lord, are you still single? Do you need a girlfriend? I just so happen to be needing one as well! I can warm your bed~

This wasn't the first time Xu Chuanchuan's readers had teased her. However, during the brief moment she paused to read the message, the group chat exploded with activity.

—Lord, I don't have a girlfriend, either! I have a loli voice! Be my sugar mommy!

—Lord, you must be a cute girl, right? I'll be your sugar mommy!

—Hey, hey, hey, the Lord hasn't spoken yet. What if the Lord already has a girlfriend?

—She shouldn't have one, right? I've never heard of the Lord bringing it up. Lord, hurry up and come out! @I Love Malatang

—Did we scare away the Lord?

…

Xu Chuanchuan's hands hovered above her keyboard for several seconds. She then deleted the words she typed before and replaced them with "I'm not bent." However, before she could press the Enter key, someone else eagerly answered her readers on her behalf.

—Quiet, quiet. Let me say a few words. Are you people new here? Do you not know that your Lord is straight???

The person who said these words were Ange, and her ID in the group was "I Love Hotpot." Apart from Xu Chuanchuan, nobody else knew of Ange's true identity. Meanwhile, as a moderator of the group, Ange's words still held some weight.

—Lord isn't bent? How can such a cute girl not be bent? I don't believe it! [Cry]

—Even if she was straight initially, she should've been bent after writing so many yuri novels! This is unscientific!

—Does the Lord sleep with her fans?

Xu Chuanchuan finally couldn't remain silent any longer and responded: "I do not sleep with my fans! I like men!"

—Lord, you're so cruel. You shattered my dreams. [Grief]

—I love you no matter what, Lord. [Kiss] I used to think I was straight, but ever since I read your books, I can't help but imagine myself falling in love with your protagonists. I would even dream about them sometimes. [Shy] Doesn't this mean I'm about to be bent already?

Can sexual orientations even be changed so easily?! This is impossible, right?!

Looking at the texts in the chat window, Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but wonder to herself, Why have I never dreamed of falling in love with my prince charming?

Xu Chuanchuan's prince charming was a trending celebrity, and he had good acting skills and singing.

However, when Xu Chuanchuan tried closing her eyes, she unexpectedly found that not only did her prince charming not appear, but Murong Shi's cold and expressionless face had appeared again instead.

Frightened by this, Xu Chuanchuan hurriedly opened her eyes, patted her chest, and mumbled to herself, "I was wrong, I was wrong. I won't dare have obscene thoughts about you anymore, so please spare me…"

The group was still discussing the matter of "bent and straight." Afraid of continuing the conversation, Xu Chuanchuan quickly sent a few red packets to the chat.

As the group members began frantically snatching the red packets, they quickly forgot about the previous topic.

Before going to bed, Xu Chuanchuan grabbed her phone and read the comments made to her books. She then discovered that someone had sent her a Deep-water Torpedo to the book she had recently concluded. While this in itself wasn't something to be surprised about, it was a different story for the sender—Passerby.

Narrowing her eyes, Xu Chuanchuan wondered, Does she like my story?

She should like it, right? Otherwise, why would she give me so many donations?

...

When Xu Chuanchuan came across Murong Shi again in an office corridor, guilt flooded her heart. Lowering her head, she greeted, "Good morning, Miss Murong."

"Good morning," Murong Shi responded in a lukewarm tone.

Xu Chuanchuan dared not linger around, so she quickly moved aside and left the scene.

Murong Shi trailed Xu Chuanchuan's back with her gaze until the latter disappeared into the pantry.

Confused by this situation, Linda asked, "What...are you looking at?"

Murong Shi narrowed her eyes, her gaze seeming capable of penetrating the pantry wall. She then asked, "Do you think she's special?"

Linda followed Murong Shi's gaze and wondered if Murong Shi could still see Xu Chuanchuan's figure. Unsure what her boss was trying to say, Linda recalled Xu Chuanchuan's image in her mind before answering, "She looks pretty cute. As for her other parts... There doesn't seem to be anything special."

Murong Shi withdrew her gaze and let out an inaudible laugh. She then said, "I didn't notice anything special, either."

Linda: "..."

Although Murong Shi had no way of confirming her conjecture, her instincts told her that there was a 99% chance that Xu Chuanchuan was the author named I Love Malatang.

Who could've possibly imagined that a mediocre and obscure employee in the company would be a novel author? Moreover, by the looks of it, she had quite an excellent performance as well.

Most importantly, she was even a yuri author... Could Xu Chuanchuan be a lesbian?

Murong Shi retracted her thoughts and made her way into the general manager's office.

Linda had drafted the new company rules and regulations according to Murong Shi's instructions. She had also sent the revised documents to Murong Shi's mailbox already. After entering the office, she said, "See if there is anything that needs to be changed."

Murong Shi downloaded the compressed file attached to the email. When she opened the unpacked documents and saw a wall of text appearing on her computer, she felt her mind growing dizzy for a moment and ended up yawning.

Seeing this, Linda asked, "Did you not sleep well last night?"

"Mhm," Murong Shi vaguely responded as she took a sip of coffee.

After taking a closer look at Murong Shi's complexion, Linda lowered her voice and asked, "Is it because you were reading novels last night?"

The room's air conditioning was set to a freezing temperature, and plumes of white mist emerged from the coffee cup one after another, the water vapor shrouding Murong Shi's warmthless eyes. While silently drinking her coffee, Murong Shi's eyes moved toward a particular spot on her desk. She then asked, "What's that?"

Linda grabbed the pile of documents and answered, "These are employee files and some old documents. Do you want to look through them now?"

Pointing at her desk, Murong Shi said, "Leave it here. You can go out now."

After having her question ignored in such a manner, Linda did not dare to inquire any further. After setting down the documents, she quickly turned around and left.

Meanwhile, Murong Shi slowly sipped the remaining liquid in her cup. A lot of sugar had been added to this coffee, so she quickly grew tired of it. After setting the empty cup aside, she returned her gaze to her computer. Although her eyes were scanning the dense wall of text in front of her, her mind was pondering over Linda's unanswered question.

Murong Shi had indeed failed to get sufficient sleep last night because she was occupied with reading.

If Murong Shi had to be honest, that book wasn't particularly attractive. She even felt that some of the plots were naive, and she had to resist the urge to give the point reduction several times.

Yet, despite the disgust in her heart, Murong Shi strangely found that the more she read, the more she couldn't stop reading the book. The author's unpretentious writing appeared to have a magical power that made people relax both physically and mentally and have the urge to continue reading. By the time Murong Shi finished reading the 300,000-word novel, it was already two o'clock in the morning.

—Thank you, Passerby, for your Deep-water Torpedo. Love you~ Muah~

Murong Shi regarded this polite gesture positively. The only issue she had with it was the message's last segment.

Seeing as she had a lot of excess points, Murong Shi drowsily sent a Deep-water Torpedo before falling asleep.

The document Linda prepared had a lot of content. Seeing as she couldn't finish reading it within a short time, Murong Shi called Linda into her office again and said, "Send an email to everyone and have them clean their offices starting this afternoon. Also, conduct an inspection before you get off work. Whoever fails to comply will have their entire department's performance points deducted."

Linda left after receiving her task.

When afternoon arrived, the whole company fell into chaos.

However, Murong Shi paid no attention to the commotion outside as she focused on the documents Linda sent her. At some point, she decided to have a restroom break, only to come across Xu Chuanchuan in the restroom.

Xu Chuanchuan was standing in front of a sink when Murong Shi entered. The movement of the restroom door attracted her attention. When she lifted her head and noticed that the new arrival was Murong Shi, an awkward look flashed across her face. She then asked, "Miss Murong...do you want to wash your hands?"

However, Murong Shi did not move even after Xu Chuanchuan had stepped aside. When Murong Shi looked at Xu Chuanchuan's fair and lovely face and recalled that she had read this person's novel last night, a strange feeling appeared in her heart.

Xu Chuanchuan got goosebumps from Murong Shi's stare. Afraid that Murong Shi would misunderstand her for slacking, she wrung the wet rage in her hands and headed for the entrance. "I'll head back to work now."

When they were about to brush past each other, Murong Shi inexplicably asked, "Is your back alright?"

"Huh?"