Chapter 35: Pt.2

"Miss Murong, you have both looks and money. Anyone deserving of you should at least be a handsome man with a noble character, successful career…"

After writing the bootlicking essay, Xu Chuanchuan found that she was getting better and better at kissing ass. Though, she wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Unfortunately, Murong Shi still appeared unsatisfied with Xu Chuanchuan's answer as she snorted and said, "The type of person you mentioned isn't my type at all."

"Huh?"

However, Murong Shi did not seem to want to continue on this topic as she turned around and left, leaving Xu Chuanchuan standing idly in the printing room.

…

The weather had been cloudy recently, and it would rain from time to time. While Xu Chuanchuan didn't hate the rain since it cooled things off, the rain became a great inconvenience when she was trying to get home on her bicycle.

When Xu Chuanchuan got off work at six, the sky was already dark. When she left home this morning, she saw the weather forecast stating that heavy rain would start around seven o'clock. So, after taking a look at the sky, she hurriedly got to her bicycle and pushed it out of the shed. However, before she could hop onto the bike, she heard someone calling for her.

"Little Xu, it's going to rain soon, yet you still dare to ride your bike? Why don't I bring you home in my car?"

Looking toward the source of the voice, Xu Chuanchuan found that the person calling her was the male employee who had invited her to his birthday celebration previously. Without putting too much thought into the matter, she refused his offer, "No need."

Another male employee sat on the passenger seat of the car. When he extended his neck and saw Xu Chuanchuan's tattered bicycle, he clicked his tongue and said, "Little Xu, your bike's already in tatters. You should get a new one."

Smiling awkwardly, Xu Chuanchuan said, "But it still isn't broken yet. I can still ride it fairly well."

The two men in the car laughed in amusement at Xu Chuanchuan's words. The male employee seated at the back of the vehicle then chimed in and said, "It's tough for a girl to ride a bicycle to work every day. You should quickly find yourself a boyfriend."

Xu Chuanchuan maintained her smile and did not reply. However, as the car was blocking her way, she couldn't exactly leave.

"As it so happens, Xiao Li just broke up with his girlfriend. He's also quite an excellent kid. He has a high salary, a car, and a house. Why don't you consider him? If you two get together, he can send you to work and fetch you home in the future."

Xiao Li referred to the male colleague who had his birthday before.

Xu Chuanchuan wasn't aware that Xiao Li had broken up with his girlfriend. If she had to be honest, Xiao Li was quite good-looking. He had a clean and handsome face like Jiang Shaohua. Unfortunately, Xu Chuanchuan wasn't interested in him. When Xiao Li stared at her, she would only feel shaky and uncomfortable.

At this time, Xu Chuanchuan noticed a black car slowly approaching out of the corner of her eye. Turning to look at the car, she found two women seated in it. Linda sat in the driver seat, while Murong Shi sat in the passenger seat. Currently, the two of them were staring at the car ahead of them.

Xu Chuanchuan's heart thumped when she recalled the incident in the printing room this afternoon. Hurriedly moving her gaze away, she said to Xiao Li, "Miss Murong's car is behind. You should stop blocking the road."

Upon hearing the words "Miss Murong," Xiao Li's smile disappeared. After taking a look at his rearview mirror, he immediately stepped on the accelerator.

After Xiao Li left, Xu Chuanchuan remained standing still as she watched the black car drive up to her. Just when it was about to drive past her, the car stopped, and Linda greeted her, "Little Xu, it's going to rain soon."

Xu Chuanchuan responded with a sweet smile and said, "I know. I'll leave after you."

From start to finish, Xu Chuanchuan dared not look at Murong Shi for even a moment.

Xu Chuanchuan felt as if she had been cursed. Whenever she saw that pair of thin and long eyes, her heartbeat would accelerate. She had never experienced such a feeling before. However, she felt that it must be related to the incident where Murong Shi "accidentally" touched her chest today…

The weather forecast was quite accurate. During the 20-minute cycle home, not a drop of rain fell on Xu Chuanchuan's body.

After arriving back home, the first thing Xu Chuanchuan did was to get herself a carton of cultured milk. However, when she opened the refrigerator, she found that she had run out of cultured milk. The nearest supermarket was only five minutes away by foot. Seeing that it wasn't raining yet, she decided to restock on some cultured milk.

There were few people in the supermarket at this time. While Xu Chuanchuan was attentively checking the production date of the cultured milk on display, someone suddenly approached her. Thinking that she was blocking the way, she leaned into the display shelves and resumed inspecting the cultured milk cartons.

However, to Xu Chuanchuan's surprise, the other person moved closer to her. When she sensed a stream of hot air hitting the back of her neck, she hurriedly turned around and saw the magnified face of an unfamiliar man. Frightened, she yelled, "What are you doing?!"

The man looked to be in his early 40s. He had messy hair, a repulsive face, and shifty eyes. His body smelled of sweat, and he was currently staring at her with an extremely vulgar smile.

When Xu Chuanchuan saw the man extending a sleazy hand toward her, she was so frightened that her face paled. After grabbing two packs of cultured milk, she promptly ran for the checkout.

Xu Chuanchuan only brought her phone with her. While paying via WeChat Pay, she sensed a searing gaze scanning her body without restraint. Goosebumps rose all over her body, and she ended up mistyping her password several times.

After completing her payment, she fled the supermarket without even looking back. She then ran back to her apartment as if she was running for her life, shut the door with a "bang," and locked it.

Xu Chuanchuan panted heavily by the door. When she recalled the sleazy man's vulgar expression, she felt both disgust and fear.

After this incident, she no longer dared to order takeout. Instead, she boiled some water and cooked herself some instant noodles.

While sipping on some cultured milk on the bed, Xu Chuanchuan suddenly recalled the analysis Murong Shi made regarding her rented apartment's lack of safety this afternoon. She had been living peacefully in this place for the past two years. Yet, as soon as Murong Shi gave her analysis, she had immediately come across a pervert.

Either Murong Shi was omniscient, or she had a very unlucky mouth. Xu Chuanchuan was confident it was the latter.

After finishing her cultured milk, Xu Chuanchuan still couldn't calm down. She felt that she needed to vent this matter to someone. Opening up her reader group, she typed a message and sent it: "I just met a pervert when out buying cultured milk at a supermarket! I nearly got scared to death! Girls, make sure to be careful when going out in the future! You must stay alert when someone comes close to you! There are too many bad guys out there now!!!"

Many people in the group immediately asked if she was okay.

Xu Chuanchuan then sent another message: "Thank you for your concerns, everyone. Fortunately, I reacted and ran away quickly."

—Lord, hugs.

—Lord, don't be afraid. Send me your address, and I'll fly over to protect you right away!

—Lord, don't go to the supermarket from now on. Just shop online.

—Online shopping isn't necessarily safe, either. Have you never heard of perverted couriers before?

—Don't scare me like that. I love online shopping. _(:з」∠)_

…

Xu Chuanchuan felt a lot better after being comforted by her readers. When she tapped on Ange's avatar and saw that her status was set to "Busy," she guessed that the other party was in the midst of writing.

While swiping her finger across the screen, she accidentally tapped on Passerby Shi's avatar and found that the capricious tycoon was online. 

Of course, Xu Chuanchuan didn't bother the other party. She felt that what Ange said was correct. Authors should maintain a certain distance from their readers. Otherwise, overstepping this boundary would certainly lead to trouble.

In the blink of an eye, the unread message counter for her reader group had reached 99+. Although Xu Chuanchuan couldn't keep up with the barrage of messages, she saw a notification stating that someone had responded to the first message she sent.

To Xu Chuanchuan's surprise, the person who replied was Passerby Shi.

—Get yourself a boyfriend.

Clicking into the group chat, Xu Chuanchuan finally understood why the number of unread messages had suddenly skyrocketed. This was because a certain someone had decided to show up.

—Caught me a live Darling Shi!

—Hold her down! Hold her down! Don't let her get away!

—Darling Shi, have you eaten yet?

—Darling Shi is right. Lord, you should quickly find yourself a boyfriend. @I Love Malatang

…

After getting teased by Passerby Shi, Xu Chuanchuan immediately felt her anxiety disappearing, and she couldn't help but laugh. Along with Passerby Shi's message, the conversation in the reader group had also changed from "How girls can protect themselves" to "Author, hurry up and find a boyfriend."

However, Passerby Shi herself had disappeared after leaving her message. And as everyone in the group knew that she wasn't fond of speaking in the group, they quickly started having their own conversations a short moment later.

Sometime later, Ange was finally done with her daily writing. When she saw the discussion held in Xu Chuanchuan's reader group, she sent a private message to Xu Chuanchuan asking about her well-being.

After Xu Chuanchuan described the situation in detail to her, Ange thoughtfully said, "I'm still short of 5,000."[1]

Xu Chuanchuan: "You head inside first. I'll turn on my computer and join you right away."

Ange: "Mhm."

Ange had created a room inside the "Dark Room"[2] writing software, and the two of them would frequently have writing sessions inside. And because Ange was writing for a living, she needed to write at least 10,000 words each day. Fortunately, her writing speed was fast, and she could typically complete five to six thousand words in two hours. And by the time Ange completed the 5,000 words she promised, she found that Xu Chuanchuan had only written around 2,000 words.

Xu Chuanchuan had always been troubled by her slow writing speed. However, she truly couldn't find a way to improve it. The books she wrote were sweet novels. She had to mull over every word she wrote to describe the feelings of the two female protagonists in detail, so she couldn't write quickly.

Fortunately, Xu Chuanchuan only had a daily quota of 3,000 words.

Because of the little episode Xu Chuanchuan experienced today, she couldn't maintain her calm the entire time. As a result, it was already midnight by the time she completed her 3,000-word quota. Both her back and her eyes had also become sore. Rubbing her shriveled stomach, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten about the instant noodles she had cooked just now.

By now, the noodles had long since cooled down and turned into a soggy pile. However, probably because of her hunger, she actually found the cold and soggy noodles delicious. She had even finished the little broth that remained.

Maybe it was because she had shared her unfortunate encounter in the reader group today, but she had received many donations today. She had to scroll down quite a while before she managed to reach the end of the comment section. Feeling that she seemed to have missed something midway, she scrolled up a little and found a familiar ID in the comment section.

Passerby Shi had sent another Deep-water Torpedo, which was paired with the following comment: "The five-year-old Xiao Guaiguai already has a male confidante, yet a certain pitiful author is still single."

"Pft—" Xu Chuanchuan sprayed some spittle onto her phone.

Yet, instead of properly commenting about this scene, a certain someone had taken advantage of this scene to dig at Xu Chuanchuan's wounds!

Lying on the bed, Xu Chuanchuan lamented, First it was Murong Shi, now it was Passerby Shi… Was I born to be enemies with anyone who has the word "Shi" in their names?

TL Notes:

[1]I'm still short of 5,000: Ange said this sentence in consideration of Xu Chuanchuan. What she means by this is that she would accompany Xu Chuanchuan in a writing session, even though she has already finished her daily writing quota.

[2]Dark Room(小黑屋): This is a writing software that helps writers focus on their work. I'm not sure if this is true, but according to the information Baidu provided, users of the program can set a writing quota for each session, and before meeting this quota, users will not be able to close the program. So, this program basically helps you cope with distractions such as alt-tabbing to watch youtube. *cough*