After Being Bent by Reader

Chapter 26: Pt.1

Xu Chuanchuan felt that she needed to get her brain replaced. What kind of person was Murong Shi? How would Murong Shi be willing to dine with her?

Xu Chuanchuan didn't know what was currently going through Murong Shi's mind, but it was probably filled with criticism toward her whimsical thinking. When Xu Chuanchuan sensed Murong Shi's indifferent eyes scanning her body from head to toe yet heard not a word coming from the latter's mouth, she found herself growing embarrassed. She felt distressed as she thought of what she should say if the other party rejected her invite.

However, contrary to Xu Chuanchuan's expectations, Murong Shi calmly returned her gaze to Xu Chuanchuan's face and said, "Sure."

Xu Chuanchuan's brain momentarily failed to process Murong Shi's answer, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

Murong Shi then spoke again, asking, "What are you going to treat me to?"

Xu Chuanchuan didn't need a mirror to know how stupid she looked right now. Wetting her dried lips anxiously, she responded with a question, "What do you want to eat?"

Although Xu Chuanchuan didn't know much about Murong Shi, many types of food had surfaced in her mind within a short period. French cuisine, high-end Chinese cuisine, steaks, foie gras, bird's nest Xu Chuanchuan mentally went through all the high-class cuisine she could think of. When she estimated how much these meals would cost, she felt that she would be breaking the bank today.

Crossing her arms, Murong Shi tilted her head and pondered for a moment. She then said, "I don't have any particular requirements. I'm quite hungry, so I just want some meat."

Images of steak, foie gras, and bird's nest ran through Xu Chuanchuan's mind.

Letting out a dry laugh, Xu Chuanchuan asked, "Can you be more specific?"

"Are you treating me, or is it the other way around?" Murong Shi raised an eyebrow at Xu Chuanchuan's question.

"..." Xu Chuanchuan couldn't even bring herself to smile anymore. After shaking the camera she held, she said, "Give me a moment. I'll go drop this thing off first."

"Mhm."

Xu Chuanchuan rushed back to her desk, locked the camera away, grabbed her bag, and dashed out of the office. When she looked down the corridor, she found that Murong Shi had disappeared already.

Confused, Xu Chuanchuan made her way downstairs. She then saw the familiar Maserati Quattroporte parked outside the entrance. After taking a deep breath, she made her way to the car.

When Xu Chuanchuan approached the car, the driver's window lowered, revealing Murong Shi's figure in the driver's seat. Turning toward Xu Chuanchuan, Murong Shi said, "Get in."

"I have my own ride. You" Before Xu Chuanchuan could finish her words, Murong Shi silenced her with a cold gaze. Xu Chuanchuan then obediently got into the passenger's seat.

With the two of them sitting so close to each other inside an enclosed space, Xu Chuanchuan could smell even the perfume Murong Shi wore. Realizing how close they were seated to each other, Xu Chuanchuan grew even more nervous.

The instant Xu Chuanchuan fastened her seat belt, the car also gradually began moving.

"Have you thought of what to eat yet?" Murong Shi asked with her eyes focused on the road.

Staring at the side of Murong Shi's face, Xu Chuanchuan said, "There's a restaurant that serves Chaoshan beef hot pot on the left of the second traffic light. The taste is quite authentic. Why don't we eat there? You can eat beef, right?"

Murong Shi paused and pondered for a moment before faintly responding with an "mhm."

With their dinner location decided, Xu Chuanchuan secretly wiped the sweat off her forehead.

However, Murong Shi had perceptively noticed this small action, and she asked, "I have the a/c set at 25 degrees. Is it that hot?"

Xu Chuanchuan stiffened. After trying but failing to smile, she said, "I ran a little too fast just now By the way, Miss Murong, do you like hot pot?"

Xu Chuanchuan began trying to make conversation but regretted her decision as soon as she finished speaking.

"I do."

"..." Forget it. We don't have any common topics. Let's just avoid an awkward conversation.

There was a traffic jam ahead, so Murong Shi had to slow down the car. As neither of them spoke and no music was playing in the car, the two ended up spending several minutes in silence.

Feeling as if she was sitting on pins and needles, Xu Chuanchuan turned to look out the window. When she saw the long line of cars outside, she thought to herself, How nice it is to ride a bicycle. You can just 'whoosh' and bypass the traffic.

Seeing the rental bicycles parked on the roadside, Xu Chuanchuan felt as if she found a new conversation topic. Turning toward Murong Shi, she asked, "Do you know how to ride bicycles?"

"No." Murong Shi didn't even turn to look at Xu Chuanchuan.

"..." Having made a fool of herself, Xu Chuanchuan returned to keeping her mouth shut.

The traffic ahead started loosening, so Murong Shi moved the car forward a little, only to stop it again the next moment.

Xu Chuanchuan's heart screamed in agony. Every minute and second she spent in this car felt like torture. Xu Chuanchuan suddenly started pitying Linda. The latter must be under a lot of pressure if she had to face Murong Shi's icy expression every day.

Xu Chuanchuan carefully pulled out her phone and found it was already close to ten minutes since they left the company. If it weren't for this traffic jam, they would've arrived at their destination by now.

Xu Chuanchuan then began reminiscing about the bicycle she had been forced to leave at the company.

The traffic started moving again, and the car advanced at crawling speed. Xu Chuanchuan retracted her gaze from her phone and snuck a peek at the person next to her.

Xu Chuanchuan didn't know if it was because of the terrible traffic, but Murong Shi's emotionless face finally revealed some other expression. Currently, Murong Shi had her jaw tensed and wore a frown on her face. She looked as if she was sulking.

Is it because of her boyfriend?

That was a possibility.

Today was, after all, the 20th of May. It was a romantic day for couples, and even Murong Shi's assistant had run off to celebrate this day. Yet, Murong Shi had worked overtime by herself. Her boyfriend didn't come to pick her up, either. Looking at this situation, Xu Chuanchuan guessed that a conflict must've come up between Murong Shi and her boyfriend.

Murong Shi was indeed sulking, but for a completely different reason than what Xu Chuanchuan assumed. Instead, she felt baffled by the fact that she had agreed to Xu Chuanchuan's invite to dinner.

Unfortunately, it was already too late for regrets. However, Murong Shi would still inexplicably grow angry whenever she thought about the meat article Xu Chuanchuan sent her. Hence, she decided to ignore Xu Chuanchuan and make her feel as uneasy as possible.

Meanwhile, Xu Chuanchuan currently felt torn inside. Although she was the one to have invited Murong Shi out for dinner, if this awkward situation continued for any longer, she feared she would die from suffocation before the actual meal.

Looking at the crawling traffic ahead, Xu Chuanchuan cleared her throat and broke the silence. "The traffic here usually isn't so bad. Maybe it's because everyone is rushing home to celebrate today."

Murong Shi didn't respond to Xu Chuanchuan's words.

Xu Chuanchuan's heart thumped as she thought to herself, Oh no, I said the wrong thing.

Xu Chuanchuan wanted to smack herself right now. She cursed at herself for her low EQ.

As Xu Chuanchuan dared not look at Murong Shi's reaction, the two of them fell into an awkward silence once more.

At this time, Murong Shi suddenly asked, "Everyone else is celebrating today, so why aren't you doing the same?"

Startled by Murong Shi's question, Xu Chuanchuan quickly organized her emotions, put on an awkward smile, and said, "Others have boyfriends, but I'm still single."

Murong Shi stopped speaking.

Xu Chuanchuan then resumed looking at the scenery outside.

The silence continued until the traffic ahead cleared, and the black sedan accelerated. Xu Chuanchuan loosened her clenched fists as the car began moving. However, before she could breathe a sigh of relief, she snapped her head toward Murong Shi and asked, "Why did you take this turn?"

Murong Shi turned to look at Xu Chuanchuan's eyes and asked, "Didn't you say to turn left at the traffic light?"

"I meant the second traffic light"

Murong Shi's eyebrows twitched slightly. While tapping her finger on the steering wheel, she said, "It'll be hard to turn around."

Xu Chuanchuan was also afraid of getting into another traffic jam. Biting down on her lower lip, she said, "Why don't we eat at another place?"

"Up to you."

At Murong Shi's words, Xu Chuanchuan began agonizing again over what to eat.

With nothing good coming to mind, Xu Chuanchuan scanned the shops outside the window.

Braised Chicken Rice, Northeast Dumpling House, Hunan Big Bowl Dish, Wallace, Pizza Hut Why is everything fast food?

Even after scanning through all the restaurants within view, Xu Chuanchuan failed to find a slightly upper-class place to dine at. Helpless, she pulled out her phone and began searching through DianPing[1].

Suddenly, Murong Shi said, "There's a malatang restaurant over there."

Upon hearing the word "malatang," a word that had accompanied her in her writing career for the past six years, Xu Chuanchuan instinctively perked up her ears and looked at Murong Shi in surprise.

Murong Shi then slowed down the car, raised her chin, and said, "Why are you looking at me? Look outside."

Xu Chuanchuan looked toward the direction Murong Shi indicated and found herself looking at a restaurant named Zhang Liang's Malatang. However, a second later, she returned her gaze to Murong Shi, seemingly wanting to say something.

At this time, Xu Chuanchuan's previous speculation regarding the identity of "Passerby Shi" resurfaced in her mind, and she couldn't help but grow suspicious.

Out of the many restaurants outside, why did Murong Shi choose Zhang Liang's Malatang?

Could it be

The next second, Murong Shi dispelled Xu Chuanchuan's suspicions as she nonchalantly said, "Your little sister told me you liked malatang."

Hearing Murong Shi's explanation, Xu Chuanchuan quickly shook her head and forced a smile as she said, "I liked it a lot when I was in university. I ate it almost every day back then. But I rarely ate it later on after realizing that it was unhealthy."

Putting on a cold smile, Murong Shi asked, "Is it that good?"

Murong Shi's eyes were bright and dark, and they gave off a compelling aura. After staring into those eyes for ten seconds, Xu Chuanchuan timidly looked away and said, "It's not bad, but it's probably because it has a lot of pepper in it. It's easy to get addicted to eating numbing things."

That's strange. Why are we talking about this? Though, despite Xu Chuanchuan's confusion, her mouth inadvertently watered when she spoke about malatang. However, with Murong Shi staring at her, she couldn't bring herself to swallow her saliva.

Amidst her embarrassment, Xu Chuanchuan found that the car had stopped moving completely.

After parking the car by the roadside, Murong Shi casually said, "The traffic in front and behind are both bad. I don't want to waste any more time, so let's go to that place."

"Which one?"

"Zhang Liang's Malatang."

Xu Chuanchuan's jaw dropped. Seeing Murong Shi unbuckling her seat belt, Xu Chuanchuan subconsciously asked, "Do you want to eat malatang?"

Murong Shi sent Xu Chuanchuan a sidelong glance and responded, "If you can eat it, why can't I?"

After swallowing her saliva in her mouth, Xu Chuanchuan said, "No, but"

Before Xu Chuanchuan could finish speaking, the ringing of a phone interrupted her. Xu Chuanchuan subconsciously turned toward her phone, finding that the screen remained dark. She then saw Murong Shi pulling out her phone.

TL Notes

[1]DianPing: It's a food review site in China.