Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Breakfast was simple.
The coffee tasted ordinary as well.
As for the water… it didn’t taste any different.
However, in a place like Nanmu, it was already not bad at all.
Xiang Wan was very appreciative. “Your Excellency, thank you so much!”
Bai Muchuan gave her a lazy glance. “Don’t be so polite to me…” Suddenly, he thought of something. “Aye, Xiang Wan, why did I suddenly have a feeling that I’ve fallen from being a general to a slave…”
Xiang Wan was eating her breakfast—a meat bun; she smiled but did not reply.
Bai Muchuan shook his head. “In just a night, everything has changed. Aye!”
Xiang Wan finally finished eating the bun.
“Don’t worry,” she smiled. “There’s no change in your position… It’s the same right from the beginning!”
“…”
Bai Muchuan chuckled and pointed at her.
“Little thing! Okay, I have some work to do; you can go ahead and do your work too.”
Xiang Wan nodded her head a few times. “Alright, see you later!”
Bai Muchuan reminded, “Remember, don’t…”
Xiang Wan continued his words with a grin. “I know! Don’t leave the hotel unnecessarily and call you if there’s anything!”
Hur! Bai Muchuan pinched her cheek. “My girl’s so obedient!”
“Then give me a kiss!” Xiang Wan puckered her lips and looked at him.
Bai Muchuan pecked her lips. “Wait for me to come back!”
…
They had come to Nanmu for work, not to be on a holiday. Xiang Wan did not dare to expect that Bai Muchuan would keep her company all day long.
Furthermore, she had her own work to do. She would not want to interfere with each other unnecessarily. Having their own personal space was healthy for their relationship.
When she finished her meal, she went to the bathroom before continuing her work.
After writing some words, a thought went to her head and logged in to QQ in her laptop.
Finally…
Yuan Qianqian replied to her messages.
“Babe, don’t worry, I’m fine. I went back to my hometown for a few days and didn’t come online. That ‘temptation of the rich and famous’ scam, you’ve specially told about it to me before, so why would I get deceived? Do you think I’m so silly…?”
Huff!
Xiang Wan felt relieved.
“Girl, you don’t know how worried I was about you!
“But it’s good to know you’re fine.
“Do be careful and keep in touch!”
Xiang Wan sent several messages consecutively, but Yuan Qianqian did not reply.
She pursed her lips and continued to write her story. After writing about close to a thousand words, she received messages from Fang Yuanyuan.
This girl’s messages were the same as her personality—fast and always in a hurry.
“Are you there?
“I’m here!”
“My dear, when are you coming to Xi City?”
Xiang Wan was about to get into her momentum into writing. She felt troubled and scratched her head when she saw the message notifications. Originally, she did not want to reply to them but was worried Fang Yuanyuan might have something urgent to tell her. She heaved a sigh and replied to her.
“I don’t call the shots. I need to wait till they finished their work here!”
“Why can’t you take charge? Why did you turn into a slave from a general in just one night?”
“…”
Looking at that familiar sentence Bai Muchuan had said to her earlier, Xiang Wan revealed a smile on her face.
“What nonsense are you spouting? They’re here for work after all, how can they leave when they like!?”
“Hohoho! As if I’ll believe you.” Fang Yuanyuan was just joking, but it was evident she sounded serious in her next message. “If you don’t come to Xi City soon, we might not be able to meet.”
“You’re going back to Jin City?” Xiang Wan paused for a second. “What about Huang He? Can you bear to leave him here?”
“… My mom called me earlier; she wanted me to go back soon. What’s more, I still need to go back to work…”
Although Fang Yuanyuan’s work could also be done on a laptop without going back to an office, she might incur resentment if she did not show up in the office after a period of time. Xiang Wan could understand her concerns.
“So, what’re your plans?”
“I didn’t really think it over… I’m just dragging it as it comes…”
Fang Yuanyuan’s tone sounded a little depressed.
It was as though she did not have confidence in having a future with Huang He.
She was totally different from when they messaged each other the previous day.
Xiang Wan sighed. “Did something happen?”
Fang Yuanyuan did not seem to want to reply. “Nothing much. In any case, the sooner you arrived in Xi City; we can still have a meal together. If you’re too late, I don’t know when we can have a meal together!”
Xiang Wan frowned when she saw that message.
She recalled that both of them used to stick to together almost every day for meals.
Xiang Wan replied right away, “I’ll ask Bai Muchuan later about his plans.”
“Mm, hurry and ask! I miss you so much!”
Fang Yuanyuan seemed to be in good spirits again.
“Oh yes, there’s another piece of good news I wanted to tell you!”
“Mm? What is it?”
“The approximate date for the Annual Awards Ceremony has been fixed; it will be around mid January. Hehehe, we can see each other again.”
“That’s nice!” Xiang Wan was also a little excited to know that. “But I don’t know if I can get an invitation…”
“You will, you will! You definitely will!” Fang Yuanyuan could not resist and revealed some “spoiler”. “You—Xiang Gongzi Wan, is considered well-known in Wen Quan…”
Xiang Wan cracked up. “Well-known? I thought it should be infamous?”
“Both have a similar meaning anyway. Haha, in fact, your novel is actually doing well with decent results. From what I can see, your number of hits and retention rate are not bad. Your novel is actually leading against other murder mystery novels in the female genre. You’ve already seen the number of subscriptions to your novel. Your royalties are quite stable most of the time now…”
“Yeah, very few authors have really stable royalties.”
“Oh please, don’t be so pessimistic! Think of the time when you got converted to a VIP account…”
“I’m kidding.” Xiang Wan’s current novel statistics when compared to the time she received her VIP status with the platform was indeed a substantial improvement.
Although it had not yet reached her goal, she should be satisfied.
She asked with a smile, “Where will the Annual Awards Ceremony be held?”
The Annual Awards Ceremony was akin to an organized gathering for authors.
The authors would have a get-together, talk, or share their experiences. Most of them liked such events.
Fang Yuanyuan smiled mysteriously when she saw Xiang Wan’s question. “Make a guess.”
“… I’m clueless!”
“Jin City!”
“I…”
If she could go to another city, it would be a tour.
However, if it were held in Jin City then that was equivalent to just going for a stroll outside her home.
Xiang Wan groaned in disappointment when she saw that. “This is too boring! Can’t the event be held somewhere further away or even somewhere abroad? Places in Southeast Asia should still be within their budget, right?”
Fang Yuanyuan sent a ‘laugh out loud’ emoticon.
“Dear, the budget’s being cut. You need to know; everyone’s talking about cost-cutting. The company claimed that they don’t have money…”
“Fine! As if I’ll believe that!”
“… Anyway, I’m the one who doesn’t have money!”
Fang Yuanyuan continued by talking about how “extravagant” she had been for the past few months. She did not have much savings left. For the past few days in Xi City, it was initially all right. However, when she wanted to live better with Huang He—the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.
Xiang Wan asked, “Do you need help?”
Fang Yuanyuan rejected her help. “Huanghuang gave me a bank card earlier!”
“Oh gosh! So you’ve ‘strike lottery’ huh? Gimme a treat!”
“Dream on! I don’t want to spend his money.”
“Why? You’re not really spending his money; you’re going to use them on him anyway, right?”
“… I just don’t want to.”
For this issue, Fang Yuanyuan seemed to be struggling with something and was keeping it from Xiang Wan.
As Xiang Wan did not want to force her, she sent a ‘goodbye’ emoticon and was prepared to go back to writing.
However, Fang Yuanyuan suddenly stopped her. “Wait up, I’ll add you into a chat group, there’s something interesting…”
A chat group? What’s interesting in there? she thought.
