"You just need to deal with Dad. Chuanchuan and I will take care of things here," Murong Shi said.
As the head of the family, Sun An was the last hurdle Murong Shi and Xu Chuanchuan needed to cross.
On the night after the two returned to work, they paid a visit to the Murong household.
Sun An was also present when they arrived. And when they ate, Xu Chuanchuan could feel Sun An staring at her with a strange look. To Xu Chuanchuan's surprise, Sun An even started asking about her parents. Although Xu Chuanchuan truthfully answered the man, she couldn't help but find the situation strange.
After returning to the room, Murong Shi told Xu Chuanchuan that Sun An had already found out about their relationship. Hence, he had asked such detailed questions during dinner.
Xu Chuanchuan was shocked by this revelation.
It turned out that during their visit to Xian City, Murong Mingshu had already found a suitable opportunity to reveal everything to Sun An. As to what the husband and wife discussed exactly, only they knew themselves. However, judging by Sun An's attitude today, he had probably accepted Xu Chuanchuan and Murong Shi's relationship. Regardless if he had done so willingly, he had not voiced any objections at the very least.
"It seems your father isn't as unreasonable as you make him out to be," Xu Chuanchuan said, recalling Murong Shi mentioning that Sun An had slapped her.
"It's all thanks to my mother's efforts."
Xu Chuanchuan was confused.
"Ever since my brother died, my dad has been very sorry for my mom. So, he will listen to whatever my mom says," Murong Shi said. Then, after a slight pause, she continued, "If my mom likes someone, he must like them, too."
With that, both their parents were finally dealt with.
Now that Xu Chuanchuan no longer had any concerns, she could focus her attention on writing. She worked in the office during the day and wrote her novel at night. She lived a very fulfilling life.
Afraid of delaying the publication process, Rosa had asked Xu Chuanchuan to finish After Being Bent by Reader within a month. So, Xu Chuanchuan dared not slack off for even a moment.
Eventually, after striving for a month, Xu Chuanchuan sent the documents containing 500,000 characters to Rosa.
Half a year later, After Being Bent by Reader was officially released in Taiwan. On the day of release, Xu Chuanchuan asked the publisher for a few copies to use as gifts for friends. She also saved a copy for herself to commemorate the occasion.
Apart from making preparations for her book's publication, Xu Chuanchuan had also completed another novel during the past six months. Although the new book's performance wasn't comparable to the previous one, it still raked considerable profits.
Many things happened during the past six months, and they varied from large to small. However, there was one matter that was carved deeply into Xu Chuanchuan's mind.
One day, Xu Xiangxiang happened across Xu Chuanchuan's pen name and downloaded jjwxc's app to start reading her elder sister's ongoing novel. Whenever she finished reading the latest chapter, she would send her elder sister a message asking for spoilers, annoying Xu Chuanchuan greatly.
At one point, Xu Chuanchuan got fed up with her little sister's questions, so she simply sent her story's entire plotline to Xu Xiangxiang. When Xu Xiangxiang finished reading the plotline and found out about the story's development and ending, she thoroughly lost interest in the book and stopped pestering Xu Chuanchuan.
In the meantime, Xu Xiangxiang and Little Yan's relationship remained excellent. When either of them was bored, they would invite each other out for shopping. If it was the weekend, Little Yan would even invite Xu Xiangxiang to her house for a meal.
Little Yan's bedroom was primarily pink in color. As soon as Xu Xiangxiang entered the room, she could smell a sweet, fruity fragrance. The room had a very girlish aura. After inspecting the room, Xu Xiangxiang enviously said, "When I have money in the future, I'm going to decorate my room just like yours."
Little Yan smiled but did not make any comments.
As the two were tired from shopping, they laid on the bed and fiddled with their phones.
Little Yan thought Xu Xiangxiang was playing games on her phone. However, when she leaned closer to take a look, she couldn't help but be surprised and asked, "You're reading novels as well? What are you reading?"
Naturally, Xu Xiangxiang, with her big mouth, exposed her elder sister's side job to Little Yan without hesitation.
After listening to Xu Xiangxiang's words, Little Yan had a look of worship on her face as she said, "Chuanchuan is amazing!"
"It's quite good. Do you want to read it together?"
"Okay, okay!" Little Yan excitedly said. However, after reading only a few chapters, she gave up and said, "No good. It feels so awkward."
"Don't you think it's loving and cute for two sweet and soft girls to be together?"
Revealing a polite smile, Little Yan said, "...I think I'll continue reading my BL."
Xu Xiangxiang couldn't understand why Little Yan preferred to read about a love story between two men. When she tried to read the book Little Yan recommended, she couldn't read more than a few chapters no matter how hard she tried. In contrast, she couldn't get enough of Xu Chuanchuan's novels.
Then, after finishing the third book, Xu Xiangxiang suddenly realized that something was amiss with herself.
Xu Xiangxiang had been distracted a lot in class lately, her mind constantly thinking of the sultry scenes described in the novels she read. She would often imagine herself as one of the heroines and Little Yan as the other. Moreover, she didn't find anything wrong in doing so, either. She had even imagined herself hugging and kissing Little Yan. Then, when she recalled the fruity fragrance that filled the girl's room, she couldn't help but wonder if Little Yan's lips also tasted as such...
Xu Xiangxiang was frightened when this thought surfaced in her mind. Eventually, though, she could no longer keep down her thoughts and decided to message Xu Chuanchuan on WeChat, saying: "Sis, I think I'm bent."
Xu Chuanchuan: "What did you say???"
Xu Xiangxiang: "I think I got bent after reading your novel… I keep wanting to find a girlfriend."
Xu Chuanchuan: "……."
Xu Xiangxiang: "Do you think Little Yan will agree if I confess to her?"
Xu Chuanchuan: "…………………………"
Unfortunately, before Xu Xiangxiang got to confess, Little Yan came running to her in joy and shyly said, "Xiangxiang, the secretary in my club invited me out for a movie yesterday, and he...he confessed to me. I already agreed to become his girlfriend."
"..." Xu Xiangxiang felt as if a bolt of lightning had just struck her.
With just a few simple words, Little Yan had instantly crushed Xu Xiangxiang's budding love. Overwhelmed by sadness, Xu Xiangxiang ended up running to Xu Chuanchuan and crying for a long time.
Xu Chuanchuan felt heartbroken and helpless for Xu Xiangxiang, and she consoled her little sister for a long time.
After Xu Xiangxiang left, Xu Chuanchuan did a self-reflection and felt that this situation was her fault. If she had known something like this would happen, she would've tried harder to keep her pen name a secret from Xu Xiangxiang. Now, because of her carelessness, she had ended up bending her little sister.
However, after giving the matter some more thought, Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but find the situation to be ridiculous. Xu Xiangxiang had clearly liked boys before, so how could she get bent after reading just three yuri novels?
"If you can bend yourself with your writing, why can't she get bent from reading your writing?" Murong Shi nonchalantly stated.
"..." Xu Chuanchuan had no words to refute.
During the past half a year, Ange had remained in Shanghai the whole time. Although they didn't get to meet each other in person, Xu Chuanchuan still maintained contact with Ange like always.
Since After Being Bent by Reader's physical publication sold well, Xu Chuanchuan successfully got a contract for another book. As she lacked experience in book publication, Ange had provided her with a lot of help.
One day, Xu Chuanchuan suddenly thought of something and said: "My editor sent me a message this morning telling me to attend this year's Author's Conference. I'm hesitating on whether I should attend."
Ange: "Why not? It's a good opportunity."
Xu Chuanchuan: "Did you attend last year's conference, then?"
Ange: "I'm too lazy. [Shrug]"
Xu Chuanchuan: "I'll go if you go. I don't know any other author, so I won't know what to do even if I attend."
Ange: "Let's go together, then. It's been half a year since we met. I miss you quite a lot already."
In the whole of jjwxc's platform, Xu Chuanchuan was nowhere close to being considered a bestselling author. If one solely looked at reader count, Xu Chuanchuan wouldn't be qualified to attend the Author's Conference. The only reason why she got invited was that her two most recent books performed well and even received approval for physical publication. Hence, her editor in jjwxc had high hopes for her.
With that, the matter of attending the Author's Conference was settled.
Before leaving for the conference, Xu Chuanchuan asked: "How long has it been since you and Fang Qin met?"
Ange: "It's been almost a month now."
Xu Chuanchuan: "Don't you find your long-distance relationship tiring?"
Ange did not answer.