After Being Bent by Reader

Chapter 4

When Xu Chuanchuan first began writing, she had joined a group of anonymous writers.

The first novel she wrote was about romance. Unfortunately, she had written it so poorly written that nobody wanted to read it. However, Xu Chuanchuan did not feel discouraged by her failure. Instead, she would always strike up conversations with people in her group chat and invite them to group writing sessions. From what Xu Chuanchuan could remember, there was a person named "Cultivator" in the group, and this person would always be the first to volunteer themself whenever an invite for a group writing session appeared.

There were more than 20 people in the group, and everyone was very active during the first month of the group's establishment. But as time passed, many of the group members stopped writing because of various reasons. As a result, the group became increasingly deserted and eventually reached a point where nobody would speak.

One time, Xu Chuanchuan asked a question in the group: "Anyone want to write together?"

The group's members appeared to be "dead" as nobody responded to her even after several minutes had passed.

Just when Xu Chuanchuan was about to give up and start writing by herself, Cultivator privately messaged her: "Me."

From then onward, Xu Chuanchuan had gone from being groupmates with Cultivator to friends on QQ[1]. The two of them would make an appointment to write with each other every day. Sometimes, they would also hold casual conversations with each other once they finished writing.

However, even after writing for two years, Xu Chuanchuan could never secure a writing contract because of her lacking talent. One day, though, Cultivator suddenly said to her: "Why don't you try writing yuri? It's easy for yuri writers to get contracted. The ranking is much less competitive as well, and the readers are generally cute and loyal."

Hesitantly, Xu Chuanchuan responded: "But I'm not a lez. I don't understand anything about yuri."

Cultivator: "You'll get the hang of it after reading a few books. It doesn't matter even if you're not a lez. Many yuri authors are straight women."

Meanwhile, just when Xu Chuanchuan was about to conclude her first yuri novel, Cultivator asked her: "We've known each other for quite some time now. Do you want to exchange pen names?"

Xu Chuanchuan: "

Xu Chuanchuan had always been curious about Cultivator's pen name. However, as the other party had never bothered to reveal themself and she was too embarrassed to ask, she was never able to find out about Cultivator's pen name.

After they exchanged pen names, Xu Chuanchuan learned that Cultivator was Ange, a famous God-level yuri writer.

Meanwhile, after accidentally boarding Ange's pirate ship, Xu Chuanchuan had since fallen into the deep ocean of yuri and ended up writing for six years straight.

Xu Chuanchuan's life was straight and simple. Even after writing for six years, Ange was the only writer Xu Chuanchuan was acquainted with. However, Ange was different. The number of yuri writers she befriended was more than enough to form a harem.

"But you are the one I've known for the longest." Ange once said so to her.

After welcoming another rare weekend, Xu Chuanchuan finally managed to conclude her current serialized work after much effort. Just when she was about to drag the document into her manuscript folder, a message popped up in the lower right corner of her screen.

Ange: "Do you know Fragrant Citrus?"

Xu Chuanchuan: "Yeah. Why are you suddenly bringing her up? Did you two get back together?"

Ange: "I never look back on relationships. It's impossible for us to get back together. Do you still remember the incident half a year ago where Citrus spammed sub-accounts to give you point reductions?"

After searching through her memories for a bit, Xu Chuanchuan replied: "I do. What about it?"

Ange: "She has a cultivation novel that's been ongoing for a year now. Someone gave her a negative review a few days ago, and her brain-dead fans have gone crazy."

Growing even more confused by the conversation topic, Xu Chuanchuan asked: "What then?"

Ange: "Then, congratulations, you got hit by a stray bullet. [Image]"

Passerby: Very immature.

#1: Why are you giving a point reduction for no rhyme or reason? Do you have a grudge with Citrus? Or are your eyes blind?

#3: If you're that great, write a novel yourself! Don't act smart if you can't!

#4: You dare call such a great novel immature? Are you perhaps an old lady who's about to become one with the dirt?

...

#17: Let me make a conspiracy theory here. Perhaps this "Passerby" is a certain author focused on writing sweet novels?

#18: #17, Malatang? The third-party?

#19: Who? Who? Who? Who are you guys talking about? Please enlighten me! I'll curse anyone who dares talk bad about my husband to death!

#20: Isn't it that author I Love Malatang? If you don't even know this, you must be a newbie, #19.

When Xu Chuanchuan saw her delicious, stupid, and straightforward pen name being mentioned, her pupils shrank, and she inwardly wondered, Who did I offend this time?

Seeing no response from Xu Chuanchuan for a long time, Ange asked, "Have you finished watching? Don't get angry. She has a lot of brain-dead fans. In any case, we have nothing to feel guilty about. Just ignore them."

Xu Chuanchuan's mood was subtle, and she did not feel particularly angered by this situation. She just thought that this situation was bizarre, and she couldn't help but think back to the incident that had taken place six months ago.

Fragrant Citrus was also a yuri writer. Not only that, but she was also an internet celebrity with many fans on a live broadcasting platform. A year ago, Fragrant Citrus had taken the initiative to seduce Ange and became Ange's girlfriend. However, their relationship ended half a year later.

Separations and reunifications were a norm when it came to relationships. However, as an irrelevant outsider, Xu Chuanchuan never expected to get dragged into the matter.

Ange was a very well-established writer. When she broke up with Fragrant Citrus, the incident had been blown out of proportions. However, it wasn't because Ange had gone and announced the incident to the public. Instead, the problem laid with Fragrant Citrus.

Unwilling to break up with Ange, Fragrant Citrus had written a lengthy post on Weibo and tagged Ange in the post in an attempt to recover their relationship. However, Ange was determined to end the relationship between them, so she paid no attention to Fragrant Citrus's post.

The next day, however, Fragrant Citrus published an angry post on Weibo, accusing: "A certain author should stop writing sweet novels and cheating the readers of their money! Is it fun to be a third party? Don't think that she'll be with you just because she has broken up with me! Who do you think you are?! You're a bastard who only knows how to suck up to others! Go choke on your malatang!"

Although the blog post did not mention the third party's name, any discerning person would know that Fragrant Citrus was talking about Xu Chuanchuan.

Meanwhile, because of Fragrant Citrus's cryptic post, many readers who were ignorant of the exact situation began picking a fight with Xu Chuanchuan's readers on Xu Chuanchuan's Weibo.

Seeing that the situation was developing in a bad direction, Ange took the initiative to clarify the situation: "The reason for our breakup was a disagreement. There is no third party or fourth party involved. Also, I have known @I Love Malatang for six years now. She will forever be my best friend. A certain someone should just focus on writing novels and stop cooking up a storm. Let's just separate on good terms. Can't you show some dignity?"

After Ange clarified the situation, the war raging at Xu Chuanchuan's Weibo finally stopped. However, her latest serialized novel at the time had suffered an attack instead.

At the time, a reader going by the name of "Disgusting Third Party" had flooded Xu Chuanchuan's latest novel with negative reviews filled with all sorts of unpleasant remarks, the situation thoroughly stunning Xu Chuanchuan.

Afterward, one of the girls in Xu Chuanchuan's reader group who was proficient with computers privately messaged Xu Chuanchuan: "Lord, this negative reviewer's IP is the same as Fragrant Citrus's. This is clearly her sub-account. Should we help you in cursing her?"

When would the matter end if we keep on cursing at each other? Xu Chuanchuan only wished to live a peaceful life. Hence, she had rejected that girl's kind intentions. Eventually, the platform administrator had also deleted the malicious reviews and retracted the point reductions.

During her first two years of writing, Xu Chuanchuan had received plenty of negative remarks due to her poor writing. Even with her present achievements, there would still be people giving her negative comments from time to time. Although she would find it uncomfortable whenever it happened, it was not to an acceptable degree. After all, everyone had their likes and dislikes.

However, despite this Passerby not making any unreasonable comments on Fragrant Citrus's novel, this person still ended up getting flooded with curses. Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but sigh and muttered, "Keyboard warriors are scary."

Meanwhile, the cursed Passerby was none other than Murong Shi. at this time, her complexion had turned livid, and her eyes were practically giving off flames as she stared at her iPad.

While waiting for a red light, Linda glanced at the rear-view mirror and noticed that something was amiss with Murong Shi's expression. In a quiet voice, she asked, "Miss Murong, are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"

Her thoughts interrupted, Murong Shi retracted the hostility she radiated. She then looked up, met her assistant's worried gaze, and calmly said, "I'm fine."

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Linda said, "You were wearing a scary expression just now. I thought something happened to you."

After getting cursed by a group of unknown netizens, no matter how much Murong Shi pretended to be fine on the outside, there was no way she would feel fine on the inside.

After lightly swiping her sharp nail across the malicious comments and suppressing the rage burning within her heart, Murong Shi looked toward Linda and asked, "If someone swore at you one day, what would you do?"

"I would swear back, of course," Linda responded without even thinking for a second. When she finished speaking, she carefully looked at Murong Shi's complexion. Although she felt that something was amiss, she dared not ask Murong Shi what was wrong.

Swear back at them? That probably isn't possible.

While Murong Shi wasn't above swearing, and neither was she ignorant on how to do so, she knew that she was no match for those keyboard warriors. Murong Shi also couldn't bring herself to tell Linda that she had gotten cussed when reading a novel. However, she also wasn't willing to just take this loss lying down.

While tapping her finger on the screen, Murong Shi inadvertently noticed the words "I Love Malatang" and couldn't help but find the name familiar.

If she remembered correctly, the author of the previous book also recommended the novels of an author going by the name of "I Love Malatang."

However, back then, as Ange had made the recommendation part way through the novel and Murong Shi had been immersed in reading the story, she had ignored the recommendation after taking a glance at it. Though, when she saw the recommended author's name, she couldn't help but laugh and thought to herself, This author must be a glutton.

Meanwhile, after reading the infuriating comments, Murong Shi guessed that the author Fragrant Citrus had a grudge against the author I Love Malatang.

What was that saying again? My enemy's enemy is my friend.

After typing the words "I Love Malatang" into the platform's search bar, Murong Shi tapped into the author's latest publication and sent a Deep-water Torpedo without hesitation. When she did so, she felt an indescribable sense of pleasure.

Since she had spent all of the 100 yuan she had just topped up, Murong Shi tossed her iPad to a side and inwardly swore to herself, I'm never reading web novels ever again.

TL Notes:

[1]QQ: This refers to the QQ messenger, a live messenger application like LINE that's commonly used in China.