Novel Turned Yuri – Chapter 68

I want to fall in love

Spending more time with Lin Qing made Qiao Yu mostly very happy.

The reason why “mostly” is because these days, she was secretly carrying out a task to write a chapter—of course, she mostly completed it alone after going home. But, you can’t ignore that Lin Qing is a very meticulous and strict person, so…

“I absolutely never thought like this here.”

“…No, this is a necessary artistic touch, please be more understanding…”

Claiming to be checking for typos but actually protesting, Qiao Yu watched Lin Qing, with a face full of disagreement, pointing at a certain part of the chapter on the screen. Qiao Yu lowered her head in submission, assuming a very humble posture.

“Humph… Will your satisfaction increase if it’s written like this?”

“Well, probably…”

After all, judging from the comments of her readers, most of them really enjoy the ambiguity. Despite the fact that there’s literally no progress in the relationship, the comment section still explodes with praise, complimenting her delicate emotions and excellent writing. Some even encourage her not to rush the emotional progress for the sake of the readers. Qiao Yu thinks to herself, rest assured, if there’s any emotional progress in this book, she loses.

Scrolling down the comment section, half of the page is filled with “Oh my god, I’m so obsessed,” and the other half is a mix of dissatisfaction towards the character Qiao Yu and praise for the author herself. Having seen too much, Qiao Yu feels a complex emotion, thus she reluctantly opens the comment section only about once every half a month.

But Lin Qing has been checking the comments quite diligently these days. She opened the comment section again and flipped through a few pages, sighing with a complicated expression.

“Really? It seems to be indeed so.”

“It’s really good that you can understand.”

Seeing her furrow her brows in acceptance of the reality, Qiao Yu breathed a sigh of relief and tentatively asked, “Then… should I go ahead and post this chapter… now…?”

“…”

Lin Qing did not speak, but switched back to the chapter’s interface and carefully read through it from beginning to end again.

“No.”

Unexpectedly, Lin Qing, with an understanding expression, spoke out the word of refusal. Qiao Yu, at a loss, then saw her shifting her gaze from the screen to her, her eyes clear and innocent.

“If that’s the case, then why don’t we make more thorough changes?”

“…”

At her words, Qiao Yu had a bad feeling.

In the hour spent editing her manuscript, Qiao Yu felt like she was undergoing a sweet form of punishment.

“Ah, at that moment, I was thinking—how nice it would be to hold hands.”

“…”

Her female lead generously shared her most authentic psychological activities in great detail, but Qiao Yu found herself unable to write them down.

For instance, the sentence just now, what Lin Qing said was her thought when the plane took off.

…So, they ended up walking together, holding hands, all the way.

“And here, on one hand, I’m not quite comfortable with Japanese-style inns, and besides, it was only us there, which felt a bit creepy. Also, there’s…”

Lin Qing stopped halfway through her sentence and didn’t continue. Qiao Yu sneaked a peek and noticed her ears quietly turning red. When Lin Qing caught Qiao Yu looking, she shyly glared at her, her eyes full of mock anger, absolutely harmless.

Well, it’s understandable. After all, Lin Qing was pointing out what Qiao Yu had made up about her feelings on the first day of the trip when they returned to their room that night. Even though Lin Qing didn’t finish her sentence, both of them knew what had happened next. (LP: the hotspring incident)

“…That part definitely can’t be written down.”

Adding that in and getting questioned by readers is a small matter, the most important thing is not to make Qiao Yu herself write about their first time sleeping together. That would be too embarrassing for her, she would explode.

“I know, so why don’t you just change the names in the psychological activities, wouldn’t that solve it?”

Having read the whole thing, Lin Qing confidently raised an eyebrow.

“Isn’t that what your readers love to see?”

“…”

“Well said. You’ve got a point,” Qiao Yu was at a loss for words and couldn’t argue back.

So, under the direct guidance of the female lead herself, Qiao Yu made even more detailed revisions to the whole narrative on Lin Qing’s psychological activities.

It really was a grinding task. After all, what she wrote about was Lin Qing thinking about Cong Ye, but deep down, Lin Qing was actually thinking about someone else at that time.

“So, that time, did you deliberately come to sleep with me…?”

“…I don’t know, think for yourself.”

Oops, not good? Made Lin Qing upset again, Qiao Yu quickly shut her mouth to reflect on her own.

After the editing was finished, both of them blushed and dared not look at each other. They stealthily observed the situation for a long while. Then, out of nowhere, the system said.

“…Is this a confession?”

“It’s not.”

Even though Qiao Yu reflexively retorted the system, she was actually flustered and angry, immediately changing the subject.

“Done writing! Hurry up and send it out, will you?!”

“Alright, alright~”

The system briskly completed the task and even started humming a little tune, seeming to be in a good mood.

“…What’s with you? You’re acting like you’ve got a virus.”

“Not at all! It’s because I’ve already kicked the virus’s ass!”

With a proud and robust tone, the system exclaimed,

“Host and Lin Qing make such a good match! That’s enough, the rest can stand aside! Yah ho!”

“…”

If Qiao Yu were to simply describe the transformation, it would be like shifting from lawful neutral to chaotic evil. It seemed that the system had made a pivotal choice at a fork in its existence, undergoing a thorough transformation.

Although this transformation, in theory, should be beneficial to Qiao Yu, her genuine thought was – this must be a victory for the virus.

She wisely didn’t say it out loud, hearing the system continue cheerfully.

“So I won’t read Buddhist scriptures to disturb you two anymore! Rest assured!”

“Ah but, but, to be with Lin Qing, you still have to remember to find a way to solve the satisfaction issue, okay?”

“Only then can you date better! And remember, when turning uncooked rice into cooked rice, make sure it’s after you’re of age—”

“Can we not say that phrase again?!”

With the disturbance of Buddhist scriptures gone, Qiao Yu found herself troubled from another angle. She no longer paid attention to the system, noticing that the interface of the light screen had already jumped to the page indicating a new chapter was published successfully. Lin Qing was quietly staring at the satisfaction sphere above.

“…Wow, it went up.”

Qiao Yu murmured as she looked over as well.

The value of the sphere quickly changed, slowly climbing until it stopped at 75.

It rose by 5 satisfaction points…… It seems having the female lead herself help improve her own fanfiction really makes a difference.

“Good? That’s fast.”

However, Lin Qing’s concern wasn’t on the rise, as she slightly furrowed her brows.

“It was just sent out? Just a few minutes ago, it’s almost like an immediate change.”

She clicked into the comment section and saw that there were already a few pages of new comments, and they were still increasing.

“These readers… where are they from, have you asked?”

Lin Qing suddenly asked, causing Qiao Yu to be startled, careful not to reveal that the flow of time here is different from the outside world and said after pondering,

“…Should be? I’m from that world?”

“Hm? No? Oh.”

“Eh.”

Unexpectedly, the system in her mind gave a negative answer, and Qiao Yu instinctively let out a dumbfounded sound, quickly covering her mouth and gesturing at Lin Qing’s puzzled look, then first speaking to the system.

“Not the same?”

“Yeah, because the original author’s world isn’t the same as the two of you.”

“There’s such a setting? Why haven’t I heard about it before?”

“No, it’s because you, the host, never asked. Also, the previous me without the virus seemed to consider this information as not necessary to mention.”

“…”

Qiao Yu felt somewhat bewildered, coming back to her senses and turned towards Lin Qing.

“It seems like they’re not from my world…”

Although she obtained this new piece of information, its specific usefulness was unclear. Qiao Yu looked at Lin Qing blankly, pondering for a while before continuing to ask.

“So, how exactly is satisfaction calculated?”

“Ah, I’ve asked about this before too, it was said that at the end of each chapter, there are choices for the readers, meaning it all depends on the readers’ subjective will after reading—just like giving a score.”

Hearing Qiao Yu’s answer, Lin Qing quickly asked again, “So, if we’re only looking at integer forms now, is the satisfaction number determined by rounding?”

“What I mean is, does a satisfaction level dropping below 0.5 count as 0, or is it that as long as one person is satisfied, it’s not considered 0?”

This was something Qiao Yu hadn’t considered before. Before she could go ask the system, a lively mechanical voice immediately rang in her head.

“Leave it to me! Let me explain!”

The thoroughly revitalized system was particularly eager, hurriedly starting to explain in Qiao Yu’s head.

“Right? So, although every chapter allows readers to choose between satisfied or not, it turns out that the satisfaction displayed in the end is based on the last choice made.”

“First of all, it’s indeed rounded off. As long as the satisfaction drops below 0.5, it’s considered as 0.”

“But we don’t simply calculate the average based on the number of readers — there’s a very strict calculation method here. Simply put, each reader’s impact on the satisfaction ratio is different.”

“For example, some readers who read from beginning to end will have a greater impact on the choice. Similarly, the impact will be lower for readers who skip chapters or only read the latest one.”

…Qiao Yu didn’t expect to hear such a complex answer. She listened attentively as the system prattled on about how scientific and foolproof their algorithm was, ensuring that authors weren’t maliciously given negative ratings, before finally getting to the point.

“But looking at the current situation, even the most loyal and majority of readers can’t manage to raise the satisfaction level by 0.5 just by her satisfaction alone.”

“Ha…”

Qiao Yu somewhat repeated what was said to Lin Qing, who then sighed in a somewhat defeated manner.

“…Then, it looks like this path is impassable after all.”

Lin Qing frowned tightly, murmuring to herself.

“If we can’t get in touch with the readers, there’s no way to persuade or buy them off. We need a satisfaction level of more than 0.5 to make it. Isn’t it too reckless to put all our hopes on big data alone…”

Watching her nervously making plans for herself, Qiao Yu’s heart suddenly melted into a puddle of water.

Originally, she had to fight alone, but now she had companionship by her side.

This feeling was truly wonderful.

Even though it was a bit inappropriate, Qiao Yu still felt happy. She stood up, walked behind Lin Qing, and started to massage her shoulders earnestly.

“Just relax, you see, hasn’t the satisfaction rating increased today? Normally, I should still be able to scrape by for a while.”

Lin Qing’s expression slightly cleared upon hearing her words, but her brows were still slightly furrowed as she spoke softly.

“…Because, I want to fall in love.”

Caught off guard by this straightforward statement, Qiao Yu was momentarily stunned, hearing the system whistle teasingly—was it to say this fellow’s way of living is rather extreme!

“Qiao Yu.”

Lin Qing called out to her softly, lowering her eyes suddenly becoming nervous.

“Did you… have a lover in the world you came from?”

This question had been weighing on Lin Qing’s heart since the day Qiao Yu opened up about her origins, but it always felt like an accusation to ask, so she never voiced it.

Lin Qing was well aware that it wouldn’t be strange if Qiao Yu had a lover during the time before they knew each other. She knew she shouldn’t and wouldn’t let this affect her feelings.

But if she were to ask herself honestly, she couldn’t say it didn’t matter to her.

Just today, she suddenly couldn’t hold it in anymore and blurted it out, feeling somewhat annoyed at herself when she heard Qiao Yu’s voice, relaxed to the point of deflation.

“Of course not.”

“…Umm.”

Her tone was so casual that Lin Qing felt all the mental preparation she had done was in vain. She became shy all of a sudden, broke free from Qiao Yu’s hand on her shoulder, turned around to face her, and continued to ask in a reckless manner.

“What about a person you like? Is there none either?”

“No, not really… I’ve never paid much attention to that kind of thing.”

Qiao Yu paused, then seemed to make up her mind to continue speaking.

“…It was only after I came here that I started to care about it unconsciously.”

“…”

Her heartbeat skipped several beats, and a feeling indescribable and electric coursed through her body. Lin Qing didn’t need to touch her face to know it was probably burning hot. She lowered her head, as if to hide, feeling flustered.

This kind of confession, veiled like a riddle, filled her with joy and satisfaction beyond control.

This was Qiao Yu, in love with someone for the first time. Only she, only she could see it.

This secretive longing for exclusivity was fully satisfied, making Lin Qing suddenly feel a surge of tears coming on.

She was, after all, so deeply infatuated with Qiao Yu’s slightly clumsy attempts at showing affection, making even the unbearable wait sweet to bear.

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