Question him
Zhuang Yu'an's eyes were startled, and there was suddenly a hint of panic in his eyes.
In anger, Zuo Xiao grabbed the armrest and said, "Speak!"
The other person's eyes flickered under his questioning. After a long silence, he moved his lips and said timidly, "I'm just curious..."
"Curious? Is that why you're spying on me?!"
"Voyeurism?" Zhuang Yu'an panicked suddenly and explained in a trembling voice, "How can this be considered voyeurism? I just... read your novel, just like your other readers..."
"This is voyeurism!" She slammed the armrest in anger. "You exposed me and spied on the novel I published while hiding my true identity. This is an invasion of privacy! You...you are despicable and shameless! You are vulgar!"
The person she scolded turned pale with his lips moving, obviously he had not expected such a thing.
"I'm sorry..." His face was ashen, and his hoarse voice was filled with bitterness. "I really didn't expect this..."
"I didn't expect that?" Zuo Xiao clenched the armrest of the sofa and continued to blast him. "Are you mentally retarded or just pretending to be stupid?! Why would an author use a pseudonym and hide their true identity? It's because they don't want to be linked to reality! They don't want people with ulterior motives to over-interpret things, or even label them or engage in literary inquisition! Is that so hard to imagine?!"
The other person's lips trembled for a while, and he finally spoke with difficulty: "I was wrong, please forgive me, I——"
"What's the point of you saying this now!" she interrupted, her voice gradually becoming shrill. "You've seen everything! Can you erase your memory and forget what you've read? What's the point of you saying this!"
"I'm sorry..." Zhuang Yu'an was so ashamed that he promised hoarsely, "But please rest assured, I know the difference between reality and fiction, and I will never over-interpret your work. I can swear!"
"Shut up!"
The more he talked, the angrier she became, her cheeks flushing red with anger. Zhuang Yu'an seemed frightened by her appearance, looking at her in panic, at a loss as to what to do.
Realizing that her emotions were out of control, she clenched her fists, suppressed her emotions for a long time, and then said coldly: "I will never forgive you."
Zhuang Yu'an panicked immediately, subconsciously shaking his head and begging, "No, no... You can hit me, you can scold me... Or you can give me a chance and let me make it up to you, okay?"
"Shut up!" She raised her hand and pointed to the door. "Get out! I don't want to see you now!"
His deep black eyes had lost their luster, as if mist had formed in them. He looked at her distraught, as if his heart was broken.
If I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place? She turned her head away, not looking at him.
After a long while, Zhuang Yu'an stood up and walked silently to the door. Before the door was closed, he whispered, "If you want to go downstairs, call me anytime."
Zuo Xiao sat alone in the room for a long time.
First, she cursed him in the air. Then, a hundred ways of making amends surfaced in her mind. Now that it had happened, she couldn't let someone else see her for nothing! She had to get double the compensation from him for the mental damage she had suffered!
As for the possible consequences of Zhuang Yu'an reading her novel, he gradually sorted them out after his brain regained its sanity.
The shame, fear, and anger she had just felt were primarily a stress reaction to being unexpectedly exposed. Writing was an unavoidable act of self-exposure, especially for her. Novels were like her secret room, housing her carefully concealed ideal self and the desires she couldn't reveal to others. Using a pen name to conceal her true identity separated her work from herself, fulfilling her desire for expression while shielding her from the scrutiny, judgment, ridicule, and even vicious attacks of others. Hatefully, Zhuang Yu'an had cracked the combination lock on her door and forced his way into her room.
However, in reality, he was not as much of a threat to her as she intuitively thought.
At most, he could see through her writings and use them as evidence to judge and humiliate her, or seize on her weaknesses to control her. But it was not difficult for her to escape his influence - at worst, she could just quit her job, move away, and never contact him again, and he would be unable to do anything to her.
The worst case scenario: he spreads her privacy widely, letting her family, friends, and colleagues know about it, and everyone sees through the part of her that she hides under her skin and doesn't want to be seen in the light.
But thinking about it carefully, the consequences didn't seem unbearable. At worst, I could just block everyone and start over somewhere I didn't know anyone.
How else could he hurt her?
Could he sue her? Most likely not. Since her novel had passed Green River's rigorous review and was published, it wouldn't have violated any laws or regulations. Even if he compromised and reported her work, at most it would be removed from the platform, which wouldn't hurt her.
Once I figured this out, my heart gradually calmed down.
The situation was this: this rotten piece of wood had a crush on her, and it was quite overbearing, the kind that could be called humble. Forget about maintaining pride, this guy had completely lost his backbone.
Perhaps driven by a desire to explore the person he admired, he read her novel. He even praised her writing as "very good"—an act of either flattery or simply a form of affection. She herself didn't think her writing was particularly good, and as a straight man, he wasn't her target audience, so how could he truly discern the goodness of her writing?
In short, the block of wood seemed to be stuck. He longed for intimacy with her, fearing being kicked away by her, yet at the same time, he felt guilty about her... She could use this to manipulate him and recoup her losses with interest! From now on, not only would she be able to call the shots at the bank, she could even walk all over the company!
Thinking of this, she suddenly felt happy. At the same time, she reminded herself: be sure to stop when it's enough, and don't go too far and burn yourself.
Suddenly, the door opened a crack. She turned around and saw a mass of white.
It was the proud Ragdoll cat named Daxi. It walked over gracefully and stopped at her feet.
Suddenly, he jumped lightly and landed on my legs.
The cat sniffed her carefully, then its head softened and it rubbed its furry cheek against the back of her hand. It was so adorable.
Stop it! She's still angry!
"Zhuang Yu'an!" she yelled towards the door, "Come here!"
The footsteps gradually approached, and the tall and straight figure of a man appeared at the door.
Zuo Xiao looked at him intently. He was still wearing his dark grey shirt, tucked into his black trousers. His figure perfectly matched the "tiger back, bee waist, and mantis legs"—the legendary Ming Dynasty Jinyiwei standard for hiring personnel.
But one look at his face: drooping eyebrows, timid, that expression is exactly the same as Zhou Zhihui when he makes her angry! Forget about having half the deterrent power of the Jinyiwei, he is just like a coward!
She curled her lips and said with disgust: "Get your cat away."
"Daxi, come down." He clapped his hands three times. The cat kicked its claws and jumped off her legs.
"I want to take a shower." She said expressionlessly.
The other party was stunned for a moment, then took a step and slowly approached.
Seeing that he was obviously born with the heroic spirit of war, but his eyes were hesitant and cautious, Zuo Xiao couldn't help but sigh: The software is not worthy of the hardware, and the user experience is greatly reduced!
It’s strange to say: Is it true that she really has a good physique and is easily attracted to the two-faced “King Kong” type of men?
What's the point of conquering a man like this?
As she sighed, Zhuang Yu'an approached. Without her saying anything, he leaned over and picked her up as soon as she raised her hand.
Zuo Xiao lay in his arms, hesitant to speak. Forget it, let's not talk to him about compensation yet. Compared to the guillotine falling, the unresolved situation was the most painful. At least tonight, he wouldn't be able to have his moment.
Zhuang Yu'an carried her back to her room and got a change of clothes. He then carried her upstairs and into the bathroom, where he placed her on a stool. She glared at him, and he quickly dodged away.
After taking a shower, she called him at the door and gave the order: "Blow dry my hair."
It was obviously not the first time he had done this. He waved the hair dryer in one hand and gently stroked her long hair with the other, being careful to avoid the wind blowing into her face.
Is he really planning to become her dog? Zuo Xiao looked at the submissive man in the mirror and thought to herself.
The door opened and Zhuang Jinghao returned home.
The scene before her eyes was unusually harmonious: her brother and Zuo Xiao were sitting side by side on the sofa, she was watching TV, and he was peeling lotus pods, taking the fresh lotus seeds out of the honeycomb one by one.
It was Peter Pan lying on the carpet who responded first and rushed over.
"I'm back." The brother stood up. "I made mung bean and lily soup. Have a bowl."
"Oh, okay..." Zhuang Jinghao said absentmindedly, tilting her head to look at Zuo Xiao. She smiled: "How is it?"
Zhuang Jinghao looked at his brother's back, waited for a moment, made an OK gesture with his hand, and lowered his voice: "There's a chance!"
She washed her hands and sat down next to Zuo Xiao. Mung bean and lily bulb soup was already on the coffee table, along with a small bowl of peeled lotus seeds. Her brother, hands hanging low, said, "I'm going to walk the dog."
Zhuang Jinghao subconsciously looked up and glanced at the clock. It was already half past ten.
Taking a walk now? Did your brother come home late today?
When he left with the dog, she quickly asked, "What happened?"
"What?" Zuo Xiao's eyes were still fixed on the TV screen. It was "Robot Dreams," which he hadn't finished watching the night before.
Zhuang Jinghao hugged her arm and said sweetly, "You and brother seem to be very close."
"Are you close?" Zuo Xiao stared intently, "As close as you and Chen Liqing?"
Zhuang Jinghao blushed immediately and stammered, "We were intimate only that one time..."
"You sound quite regretful." Zuo Xiao turned around and said with a smile, "Keep going, and try to have your second intimacy as soon as possible."
"Yeah!" She nodded frantically. "Let me tell you, Chen Liqing has been much more enthusiastic towards me lately! He replied to me eight messages on WeChat today!"
Zuo Xiao was speechless and turned his gaze back to the screen.
As expected of siblings, the sister is just like her brother, a spineless person.
Zhuang Jinghao picked up a lotus seed and found that not only the outer green skin had been peeled off, but also the thin white skin inside had been removed.
"Did my brother peel these?"
"Anyway, I didn't peel it."
"Wow, he's so nice to you!" She buried her face in the crook of Zuo Xiao's neck and asked tentatively, "Xiao Xiao, baby, what do you think of my brother?"
"What?"
"It's just my personality, my temper..."
"It's okay."
"I knew it!" Her heart was as sweet as if she had drunk full-sugar milk tea. She raised her head and continued to ask, "So, have you forgiven his past mistakes?"
Zuo Xiao smiled and said, "I forgive you, but not completely."
"Huh?" Zhuang Jing was stunned. After pondering for a moment, she said, "Does that mean his performance wasn't good enough? That he needs to keep working hard?"
"Well, it depends on his performance."
Late at night, after Zuo Xiao went to bed, Zhuang Jinghao took his brother upstairs.
"Brother, your relationship with Zuo Xiao seems to have improved recently?"
Zhuang Yu'an was slightly startled and lowered his eyes: "Really?"
Right? Now it was Zhuang Jing's turn to be confused: "Brother, aren't you a little too slow? Don't you know whether it's good or not?"
That’s right, my brother seems to be born without understanding girls’ minds... Oh, it’s really worrying!
"I just asked her!" She smiled. "She said she thinks you're a nice person!"
The brother's eyes lit up and he said in disbelief, "Really?"
Zhuang Jing tried hard to suppress her guilty conscience: "Really? Why would I lie to you? Look, she's been at our house these past few days, and you've made delicious food for her every day and taken care of her meticulously. Just now you were even peeling lotus seeds for her! We're not plants, so it's only natural that she'd be touched!"
The elder brother was skeptical, and after a while he squeezed out a word: "Hmm."
Zhuang Jinghao frowned. She felt like there was something strange going on between her brother and Zuo Xiao, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
At this time, I heard my brother say that he was going to Shanxi that night. After asking, I learned that Luffy's grandfather had passed away due to illness and his brother was going to attend the memorial service.
Zhuang Jinghao suddenly realized what was going on, and then felt sad. She and her brother had attended the old man's 70th birthday party together. He was a kind and amiable grandfather, and it was obvious that they had a deep bond. Luffy had been returning to his hometown frequently recently, and it turned out to be because of his grandfather...
"Brother, do you think Zuo Xiao knows about this?"
"I guess Luffy didn't tell her," the brother warned, "Since he chose to keep it a secret, we shouldn't reveal it either."
"Yeah, okay."
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