4. Bullet comments
◎Teasing the Stiff-Hearted Writer◎
After hanging up the phone, Xu Huaihuai tapped the chat window that had turned into an emoticon "oo" and was always offline. "Does she know something inside? The female lead got divorced, and the feeling she gave me was like she was glad her best friend finally escaped the clutches of evil and survived a catastrophe?"
Thinking of some terrifying possibilities, Xu Huaihuai couldn't help but shudder. "Could my ex-husband really be some kind of pervert? The kind who seems warm, sunny, and innocent on the surface, but is actually a dark, gloomy, and scheming old man?"
The original novel portrays the male protagonist in a very positive light! Unless he suddenly develops a split personality and becomes a psychopath after the finale.
As Xu Huaihuai was pondering, Zhao Yuan knocked on the door and called out to her, "Sister Huaihuai, come downstairs for dinner! My mom has cooked!"
Nothing is more important than eating. Time to pause thinking!
Xu Huaihuai responded, "Coming!"
After dinner, Xu Huaihuai discussed the home visit arrangements with Director Zhao and then went to wash up. She returned to her guest room, feeling refreshed, and sat cross-legged on the bed with her laptop, beginning to think about her next move.
The decision to come here for a short business trip wasn't made on a whim. On one hand, Zhong Xuelu's offer of 20,000 yuan was hard to refuse, and on the other hand, she intentionally wanted to avoid the female lead's circle of acquaintances.
The fact that the female lead got divorced couldn't be kept secret from her relatives and friends. Many people on her contact list tried to find out about her divorce indirectly, and some even invited her to get together, but Xu Huaihuai politely declined them all with various excuses.
After all, I'm new here, and even with the protection of the live chat, I probably won't be able to handle everything in a short time.
She needs some time to adjust.
Open the drawing board, draw a diagram of the relationships between the characters, and clearly label the identities and life stories of each character.
The female lead, Xu Huaihuai, successfully started her own beauty brand at the age of 24 and married the male lead, Ling Zhou, in the same year. She chose to divorce at 29 and is currently a childless, financially independent single woman.
The male lead, Ling Zhou, and the female lead were high school classmates. Due to some misunderstandings, they were separated for four years during university. After graduation, they reunited, rekindling their old flame and mending their broken relationship. In terms of career, the male lead founded his own public relations company during university. Now, his net worth is soaring, and his looks and abilities are impeccable.
The novel ends with the 24-year-old woman and her husband happily walking down the aisle and kissing each other under the aurora borealis.
What could be the reason that two people in love part ways after five years?
Don't love me anymore?
This answer is too simplistic and vague. Why doesn't he love her anymore? Or has he fallen in love with someone else?
Xu Huaihuai doesn't believe that the reason for the male and female protagonists' divorce can be summarized as "they no longer love each other."
There must be more specific reasons.
Xu Huaihuai circled "childless single women".
"Egg, do you think it could be because we don't have children?"
[What eggs? I'm the comment section! Comment section!]
"Isn't that amazing? How did you know I meant egg, not bullet? I didn't write it out, did I?"
The comments section was completely silent, as if it had died.
"Everything I know about this place comes from you. You said this is a world of novels, but here, in the evening sky, there are many small flying insects, and moths fluttering their wings on the streetlights. It's so real, not much different from my original world. The only difference is the people."
"You told me to enjoy the life of a female protagonist. Yes, achieving financial freedom is indeed very satisfying. But there's always a feeling that I might stumble at any moment, like the Sword of Damocles is hanging over my head."
"I don't know which number of transmigrators you're in charge of. Will the others adapt well? Will they be as confused as I am? I only scanned a QR code, filled out a questionnaire, and put a lucky charm sticker on the door. Even though I'm living a good life now, I shouldn't be questioning things, but I still feel like you're hiding something."
The comments section remained calm, and the person in the "zzz" chat pretended to be asleep.
This reaction shows that he felt guilty after being called out.
Xu Huaihuai decided to tease this pretentious and aloof commenter, so she said with pure malice, "Although I don't know the mechanism of transmigrating into a book, nor do I know the principle behind the existence of comments, I can use my years of experience reading all sorts of books to guess what your true form is?"
"By the way, speaking of children, could you be a spirit born from a fetus? The male and female leads had a falling out because of the child, and you were the unfortunate unborn child who was abandoned. Because you still wanted to say 'Mom and Dad, I'm born' to the male and female leads, you transformed into a spirit to guide me to find the reason for your parents' divorce..."
[Ugh! Enough already! Human, please stop your pointless imagination!]
The seemingly indifferent comment section finally snapped, its words turning into a gradient color in anger. After a brief moment of rage, it typed out several lines of flattened text.
If I were a spirit born from a fetus, this wouldn't be some kind of redemption romance novel about going from school to marriage!
[That's a supernatural horror story, okay?!]
[If this were a supernatural horror story, set in the middle of the night in a rural village, in an unfamiliar inn, something strange would be knocking on your door right now!]
Da da da—
There really was a knock on the door.
"Seriously? Egg, you hold a grudge that much? Don't mess with me." Xu Huaihuai shrank back. "You're going to make a knocking noise?"
【It wasn't me! ⊙﹏⊙∥】
"Hahaha, if it's not you, then it could be..."
Xu Huaihuai could no longer laugh. Although it was summer, she felt a chill on her back.
The thin guest room door looked extremely vulnerable. Xu Huaihuai tried to recall whether she had locked it while thinking about the plot of a horror story: if she opened the door, there might be something that looked like her or was strangely shaped; if she didn't open the door, something strange might slip in through the crack.
The knocking only lasted a short while; this kind of knocking that appears and then stops abruptly appears in many horror stories—to lure the people inside to open the door and check the situation.
Such scenarios usually end in tragedy: either you see nothing at the door but turn around and find yourself inside, sharing a super intimate cheek kiss; or you leave the door and never come back.
But hiding under the covers wasn't a solution; she didn't want to be suddenly grabbed by a cold hand that seemed to come out of nowhere while she was in her warm bed.
Xu Huaihuai steeled herself and opened the door.
Surprisingly, there was no scene that required a high-energy warning—there was a living person outside the door.
Xu Huaihuai breathed a sigh of relief: "It's a person."
Lin Xu, a living, breathing person, looked around and, seeing nothing else, nodded solemnly, "Yes, I am a person."
"A person is a person, why emphasize it? The more you emphasize it, the weirder it gets." Knowing that she was overthinking it, Xu Huaihuai no longer felt a chill down her spine. That's right, how could a romance novel possibly become a supernatural novel?
Having anticipated that something strange would knock on the door, she wasn't actually repulsed by Lin Xu's arrival; she was just a little surprised. "Why are you here?"
"Come help."
"ah?"
"Didn't Sister Lu tell you? Sister Huai, check your phone?"
Xu Huaihuai was so focused on teasing the comments that she hadn't paid any attention to her phone. Now she checked it urgently and saw a message from Zhong Xuelu.
[Zhong Xuelu: Mysteriously, I forgot to tell you, I called Xiao Linzi over to lend you a hand. He'll probably be a little later than you.]
[Zhong Xuelu: I'd give him all the work!]
[Zhong Xuelu: I checked! This place is a bit remote, but it has some ecotourism attractions! I can stay for a while and then come back!]
[Zhong Xuelu: Please accept payment]
[Zhong Xuelu: Spend money freely while traveling! Elegant people holding roses.jpg]
So, does "Xiao Linzi" refer to Lin Xu?
Was it just her imagination? The name "Xiao Linzi" sounds quite comforting.
Suddenly, the comments popped up.
[Like a eunuch. The kind of cannon fodder who appears for a minute and gets killed by the protagonist with a single blow.]
Go! Go! Go.
It feels so good to be kept by a rich best friend. Xu Huaihuai took the money, and also stole Zhong Xuelu's elegant meme, saying that she had received both the money and her brother.
[Zhong Xuelu: OK, is one brother enough to manage? If not, I'll see if my parents can have another one!]
Xu Huaihuai then glanced at Lin Xu and asked, "Do you want a younger brother?"
"Why are you suddenly asking this?" Lin Xu was a little surprised. After all, it's usually parents who are planning for a second or third child who ask this question about their children.
Xu Huaihuai showed Lin Xu her phone screen, and Lin Xu couldn't help but chuckle, "What are you all talking about? Let my parents off the hook."
"Don't worry, I've already declined your sister Lu's offer."
Since we've come up with the topic of children, why don't we take this opportunity to inquire about it?
So Xu Huaihuai asked tentatively, "Do you know why my ex-husband and I didn't have children?"
This was clearly an advanced question. Lin Xu paused for a moment, shook his head, and then looked at Xu Huaihuai with a very cautious gaze.
Like a student unable to answer a teacher's question, or a puppy unable to obey its owner's commands, it was somewhat at a loss.
"Hahaha, I was just saying it offhand, just saying it offhand..." Xu Huaihuai tried to change the subject, but Lin Xu seemed to have his curiosity piqued and eagerly asked, "So why is that?"
You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? Don't play dead, you dead chat!
Xu Huaihuai deeply regretted bringing up this topic. Why was she asking a character who barely appeared in the original novel? What inside information could he possibly know? He wasn't a male third party! Now, she had stumped herself.
I don't have the data after the finale either! Asking me won't help! (﹏)
"Hahaha, I just don't want it, what else could it be?" Xu Huaihuai laughed dryly.
"Actually, I have another question. I've been thinking about it all day, but I still don't understand the meaning of those four thousand yuan."
Thinking about how she had treated him like a male model and tearfully rewarded him with four thousand yuan, Xu Huaihuai felt extremely embarrassed. What should she say?
Nighttime pay? A patron's tip? This month's household expenses?
No, something strange seems to have gotten mixed in.
Are you two staging a scene of a silent wife and a desperate husband?
The viewers in the live chat were detached and just watching the show.
Get out of here!
"It's just... it's pocket money that elders give to younger people..." Xu Huaihuai felt guilty as soon as she finished speaking.
But Lin Xu seemed to believe it and nodded very seriously.
"Xiao Lin, the guest room is ready!" Zhao Yingxiu called out from downstairs. She looked at the young people chatting closely on the second-floor balcony and was genuinely happy for their beautiful relationship. It's so good to be young; you can go a long way to pursue someone.
"Thank you, Sister Xiu. I'm sorry to have troubled you," Lin Xu said.
"What trouble is it? Okay, you guys chat, I'll go check if Yuanyuan is asleep."
The two young people waved goodbye in unison from upstairs, like two lucky cats. Zhao Yingxiu smiled and went back to her room.
"It seems a bit late. How about we rest first? We can talk about it tomorrow." Xu Huaihuai glanced at the time; it was almost midnight.
"Goodnight." Lin Xu's tone was very gentle. When Xu Huaihuai relaxed her guard, he leaned close to her ear and said something.
!!
[Author's Note]
Comment: Since we can't use emojis, we've mastered emoticons. Maximizing cuteness with limited resources [panda head]
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