Chapter 23: Who’s the Fool?

Translator: MintCatnip  Editor: Chrissy

Anyone who earned a living by writing online cherished their laptop or computer.

The computer or laptop was their partner, and they spend more time with each other than anyone else…

For Xiang Wan, the anguish of having her laptop being damaged by others was similar to discovering her boyfriend being forced to spend a night with someone else.

So, it was not that she must pit herself against a spoilt brat like Bai Lu, but her heart just couldn’t take it lying down.

Especially when Bai Muchuan that fool came back, not only did she fail to get a penny for compensation, she accumulated more anger in her heart instead.

After leaving the Bai Residence in a huff, she visited several computer repair shops where they had expressed that they were unable to fix her “boyfriend”. Xiang Wan felt that every part of her was not in good condition.

A new laptop would still cost a few thousand yuan even if she went for the cheapest one.

As she could hardly save, after paying the rent for that month, she hardly had any money on hand.

She was already 26 years old, so she shouldn’t be asking for money from her mom.

She puffed a sigh and called her “Omnipotent Editor”, Fang Yuanyuan.

“What? Borrow my laptop?” Fang Yuanyuan’s volume increased. “Xiang Wan, what have you been up to lately?”

Although Xiang Wan lived on a shoestring, she had never borrowed from others.

She never had the cheek to ask for help from others. She told Fang Yuanyuan the whole story and had to be thick-skinned enough by asking for her help to lend her a laptop.

“My boyfriend’s gone now. I really have no choice but to ask for your help. You mustn’t refuse me, otherwise, I’m not able to update my novel for one month…”

It was not the first time Xiang Wan called the laptop as her “boyfriend”. Fang Yuanyuan was not surprised by that. What was surprising was that Xiang Wan actually gave up asking for compensation.

“Xiang Wan, don’t be daft! Let them compensate! How can they not compensate, on what basis? What in the world? What’s so great about being the police? So a police officer can just bully people like this?”

“Forget it, count myself unlucky. I blame myself for not tying my boyfriend on my belt, and unwittingly gave someone else the opportunity to do evil!”

“… You’re a moron, right?”

“Fang Yuanyuan! Are you lending me the laptop? Just say yes or no!”

“After all you’ve said, how I can not lend it to you?” Fang Yuanyuan gritted her teeth. “There’s no other editor as dedicated as me. In order to let the author update on time, I’ve even contributed my boyfriend!”

“…”

Xiang Wan heaved a sigh of relief now that she managed to borrow a “boyfriend”.

During this hour, Fang Yuanyuan would still be in the editorial office, so she went to Fang Yuanyuan’s house to pick up the laptop.

Her eldest aunt was Fang Yuanyuan’s mom. When she saw Xiang Wan, she asked her all sorts of questions. Xiang Wan felt as if her brain was full of humming and buzzing sounds. She was wary as her eldest aunt might snitch on her by telling her mom, so she dared not say much. She quickly left after getting ahold of the laptop.

Back in her rented apartment, she took a shower, changed her clothes, and sat before the computer table.

She had written an exact 100,000 words for her book till now, and at the moment, she had reached a state of a small bottleneck.

In particular, the murder case in her book had been connected with reality, and the female protagonist in her book was also connected with the real her. It had now become “a book in a book, a case in a case”. This evolved into a tricky situation for her to continue the story.

After thinking for a while, she still couldn’t get any ideas. Then, she thought of the hateful Bai Muchuan and directly wrote a similar version of what happened to her in reality for her book.

In her book, “Murder The Dream Guy”, the “wise and brilliant” Detective Fang Yelan closed the case just like that. Yes, he closed the case. This was because Er Niu’s lover, Ah Sheng, had surrendered to the police. He claimed that he was “righteous” by plotting to kill the scumbag who bullied Er Niu. However, the female protagonist, Rong Xiaonuan, felt that the case was still full of doubts. Detective Fang Yelan had closed the case rashly, and consequently, they got into a dispute. Both of them were agitated, and Detective Fang Yelan even smashed her laptop, refusing to compensate her…

Has anyone ever said that one should never offend an author?

For they could be a group of merciless people!

It is entirely possible that without one’s knowledge, one might have died countless times, and got tormented by all sorts of vicious methods…

See? Bai Muchuan had been “demonized” and entered Fang Yelan’s world.

When the chapter was updated that day, the comments section got flooded!

“Scum!”

“I’m wrong, I shouldn’t have shipped RongFang!”

“Officer Gu Yusheng is better. RongGu! Ship RongGu!”

“Choose your side! A young female fan here sailing on the RongGu ship!”

Supporters for RongFang ship dropped drastically, while RongGu ship rode the tide. Damaging a laptop and refusing to compensate for it became something that the young female readers found intolerable. But there were still some die-hard RongFang shippers who felt that the “wise and brilliant” Detective Fang Yelan would not go to such an extent by not compensating a laptop and that there must be a reason for that. They even guessed that he might have wanted to see how Rong Xiaonuan would react…

However, their voices were too weak. The moment they appeared, they were blasted by RongGu shippers who felt that they were forcibly salvaging the image of the scum!

… However, amongst these voices, there was a small group of fujoshi readers who shipped FangGu.

They felt that Detective Fang Yelan was manly, and his love might jolly well be Officer Gu Yusheng. The reason why he smashed Rong Xiaonuan’s laptop was because he was jealous of the two of them.

“Good-looking men like him can be very adorable when he acted up in a fit of jealous rage!” The fujoshi readers defended.

Jealous rage?! That’s utterly ridiculous! thought Xiang Wan.

“Hahaha—”

Xiang Wan was laughing so hard in her own room.

Ding! At this moment, her WeChat sent a notification.

Xiang Wan took a look at her mobile phone. Fang Yuanyuan had sent a message.

Fang Yuanyuan: “Young lass, I’m waiting for you at the bus stop outside your neighborhood. For your life safety and to ensure the quality of your writing, please come home to sleep with me!”

Huff! Xiang Wan’s heart suddenly saw the light.

Xiang Wan: “The one who knows me best is Yuanyuan. Okay, I’ll be right there, wait for me!”

The 720 case had come to a closure. Wang Tongsheng had admitted to his crimes which did explain the previous two strange encounters that Xiang Wan had. Originally, a materialist like Xiang Wan was not afraid of being home alone at night. However, the micro spy camera that was planted on her door and that unexplainable feeling of fear that came deep from her heart still made her uneasy.

If she was to stay at her own place tonight, she would be scared to death by herself.

Xiang Wan packed two sets of clothing with her as well as Fang Yuanyuan’s laptop and hurried downstairs.

The corridor and stairs were dark as usual.

Xiang Wan’s heart was tense once again. She repeatedly told herself that she never did anything wrong, and there was nothing to be afraid of.

However, as she walked along the long and narrow alley, her psychological shadow finally catalyzed her fear. When she was brushed against by the cold wind, perspiration had oozed from her back.

The weather was still too hot!

Xiang Wan flapped her collar two times, hugged her laptop bag tightly, ignored her heart that was pounding loudly and hastened her walking pace.

A long shadow could also be seen in the dark alley that stayed entrenched in front of her, following her every step…

Xiang Wan knew that it was her own shadow, but she couldn’t help feeling nervous about it. She even had the feeling that something dangerous was chasing her from behind.

The invisible pressure hit her mind. Her forehead became wet with perspiration.

What she did not expect was, the real horrifying thing was not behind her, but above her…

Sigh!

A faraway sigh of a female voice was heard from the upper floors of the building on her right.

Xiang Wan looked up, out of reflex, toward the direction where that voice came from.

Yes! That window.

The fourth-storey! Where the flowerpot fell!

That figure by the window! This time, Xiang Wan could see more clearly. That figure belonged to a woman who had long hair. She was wearing white clothes and was moving by the window sill…

When she wanted to look more carefully, the woman disappeared!

That sure looked like a ghost!

A breath of air seemed to have stuck in Xiang Wan’s throat, and it just wouldn’t go down.

She sprinted!

She was panting heavily when she got out of the alley. Outside the neighborhood, it was still as lively and crowded.

The people at the bus station come and go. The street lights there were shining brightly as usual.

That sense of familiarity was exactly the same as that night. Xiang Wan had a sudden feeling that the woman by the fourth-storey window matched that of Er Niu in her memory!

“I saw it!”

“Fang Yuanyuan, I really saw it!”

Xiang Wan was perspiring profusely as she dashed toward Fang Yuanyuan who was playing with her mobile phone. She was shouting loudly at what she had just witnessed.

Fang Yuanyuan was startled by her flustered appearance. “What’s up? You look so pale and scared! Sis, you’re not behaving like yourself lately!”

While saying this, she took a piece of packet tissue for Xiang Wan to wipe her perspiration, then she pointed at her head where her finger drew a circle in the air. “Is there a problem here?”

“You’re the one who has a problem!” Xiang Wan glared at Fang Yuanyuan, and she started to search for her phone in her bag. “It’s no good. I need to call Bai Muchuan.”

“I think you’re crazy about him! Isn’t the case closed already? Why are you still looking for him? Xiang Wan, you’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?”

Xiang Wan was stunned.

Under the street lights, Fang Yuanyuan had a teasing smile on her face.

But as Xiang Wan looked at her cousin’s face, it slowly turned into Bai Muchuan’s face.

That face had a faint smile of slight mockery and unfriendliness…

She stopped her movement of grabbing her mobile phone.

…

In a detention center on the other side of the city.

Detective Bai Muchuan brought Quan Shaoteng and Zhan Se to see Wang Tongsheng for a night interrogation. He was sitting in a chair, looking down at his mobile phone.

The cold light reflected from the screen was like his face, cold and detached without a whiff of compassion.

“What’s up?” Quan Shaoteng noticed that he was not his usual self, and took a glance at Bai Muchuan’s mobile phone.

The screen showed the latest chapter of the novel “Murder The Dream Guy” which was updated on that day…