Alone, Beautifully – Chapter 154
by Little PandaA Story About Happiness (1)
“Jiejie…”
“Hm?”
Xu Jiao stared at the content on the computer screen, making a confused sound to herself.
Since returning to the real world, her life rhythm had obviously become much fuller than her original stay-at-home mode. First, she came out to her family with Ye Zhen, then the two were unsatisfied with the security of this apartment building and discussed moving to a new neighborhood. During this time, Xu Jiao was busy writing new works and revising manuscripts with her contracted publishing house, while Ye Zhen was busy with her own work and career.
Although it didn’t keep the two so busy that their feet never touched the ground (an expression meaning extremely busy), they indeed didn’t have much time for vacations and leisure. Weekends spent going out to the park together or shopping at the supermarket were already rare cozy moments.
Therefore, when Xu Jiao finished this busy period, submitted her manuscript, and found a new house, she had some free time and remembered the works she had modified after being taken through time by the system. She clicked in and found…
The stories had indeed changed.
As if the memories of the entire world had been modified along with it, starting from the previous book 《The Celestial Doesn’t Need Emotions》, her articles now had a whole series of yuri works added below. The comments were no longer those criticizing her for bad endings that she had seen before, but about other additional content. It even led to discussions about these works of hers appearing in the website’s forum—
Post: 《It seems like a bigshot in the romance channel has gone crazy, not only turning all their unfinished works into yuri, but also making the plots a total mess.》
1L: “Holy crap? When did this author start writing yuri? And they wrote a whole series right away?”
2L: “Wait, that’s not right. I’ve read 《The Celestial Doesn’t Need Emotions》. I even cursed the author for the crappy ending back then. I didn’t delete it from my bookshelf, and now I come back to find… it’s been changed to yuri???”
3L: “What trauma did the author experience? Changing it to yuri is one thing, but why the f*ck is it a BE? What’s the point of revising it then! Are you messing with us? Except for Xia Jingzhe’s childhood being less miserable, nothing else is different! Thumbs down!”
6L: “Holy sh*t, holy sh*t, how did 《Starlight》 become no-cp (no couple)! Oh my god! I always thought Feng Qingyu was so pitiful, I wanted to chop the male lead into pieces while reading. Turns out the author actually heard the people’s voices, and the male lead! The plot! Gone! Hahaha! I’m satisfied, I’m satisfied! I can take Sister Qingyu home again!”
23L: “Am I the only one who cried over Lilith’s story? Waaah, her redemption! Her light! Why can’t she have a HE with the Saintess?”
56L: “Is no one curious about why all these stories now have a supporting character called ‘Xu Jiao’? What does it mean? Is there some deeper meaning? Or has the author finally gone crazy from all the criticism and started writing random bullsh*t?”
134L: “Loyal fan passing by. I’ve read through it all, and would you believe me if I said this author can now write sweet stories? I feel like there’s some deeper meaning to this series, but I can’t figure out what it is yet.”
145L: “I like 《Building No. 18》. All the previous ones were too tragic. It feels like… the author wanted to give these protagonists some sweet stories, but wasn’t good at it, so they kept trying book after book, and finally succeeded with the later works?”
197L: “I think these could be compiled into a collection? It’s really weird that the protagonist in each book is the same, after all, the other person isn’t the same one, right?”
Xu Jiao quickly scanned through the netizens’ discussions, reading ten lines at a glance. Some cursed her for being crazy, while some were loyal readers who patiently read through everything. But later, someone started a thread, and people on the forum requested sweet fanfiction of the previous angst-filled story, hoping that talented and inspired writers who were once angry about the story would come forward to write.
Xu Jiao rested her right hand on her chin, while her left hand reached into the snack box beside her and pulled out a thin, long matcha-filled Pocky stick, placing it in her mouth. As she crunched on it crispy, her eyes revealed a thoughtful expression.
Once the idea occurred to her, she decided to put it into action.
Soon, she clapped her hands, pulled out a wet wipe from the box on the table, cleaned her fingers, and then, a continuous, rhythmic tapping sound could be heard from the keyboard.
“Didn’t you say you’d rest for a while before starting a new story?”
6:30 PM.
Ye Zhen came back from work, holding a bag of fresh cherries. When she entered the room to see what Xu Jiao was doing, she found her sitting in front of the computer. The screen showed an open document. From a distance, the content wasn’t very clear, but she could vaguely glimpse dense Chinese characters on it.
It was obvious she was writing a novel again.
Xu Jiao had just finished revising a paragraph. She leaned back in her chair, turned it to face the door, and said with a smile, “I’m not starting a new one, just revising a previous work.”
Ye Zhen raised her eyebrows a bit: “The publishing house still hasn’t approved it?”
Xu Jiao shook her head mysteriously: “It’s not about the publishing house.”
Although Ye Zhen was confused, she didn’t think too much about it. She planned to log into her account before bed tonight to see what new works appeared under Xu Jiao’s pen name. At the moment, she beckoned to Xu Jiao, showing her the fruit in her hand:
“You’ve been busy all day, want to take a break? I saw some fresh cherries on my way back, I tried them, they’re quite sweet.”
Xu Jiao nodded, got up from her chair, stretched lazily, then quickly walked towards Ye Zhen to wash the cherries together in the kitchen and check what was left in the fridge for dinner.
“How about zha jiang mian (noodles with soybean paste) for dinner? There’s some meat left, and we have doubanjiang (fermented broad bean paste). Cooking noodles is quicker.”
“Sounds good.”
The old tube-shaped apartment building always wafted out delicious smells at mealtimes.
In the winding alley in front of the door, electric bikes nimbly passed by, and tired office workers could be seen returning home after a day’s work. Even more noticeable were the chattering voices of children. Someone was cooking a big meal, and the aroma of stir-frying wafted out from a window, so fragrant that even the old men playing Chinese chess at the stone table by the roadside couldn’t help but look up and crane their necks.
In a certain room—
Xu Jiao peeked over Ye Zhen’s shoulder to watch her fry the zha jiang, her hands slowing down while washing bean sprouts. After smelling the aroma, she couldn’t help but say, “Can I taste it for you?”
Ye Zhen saw her eyes fixed on the pot, smiled and took a spoon from the side. After scooping some up, she didn’t rush to give it to Xu Jiao, but first blew on it near her lips. During this time, Xu Jiao’s gaze followed her spoon as it moved.
“Be careful, it’s hot……”
Finally, as the spoon reached her lips, Ye Zhen still cautioned her worriedly, afraid she might get burned.
Xu Jiao ate the minced meat from the spoon contentedly, shaking her head: “It’s not hot.”
Ye Zhen sighed in relief, then asked: “Is it too salty?”
“It’s just right! Delicious!” Anyway, Xu Jiao felt this was the best zha jiang she had ever tasted.
Seeing her praise, the smile in Ye Zhen’s eyes didn’t fade. After the two busied themselves shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen for a while, they quickly brought two big bowls and some side dishes to the dining table.
Xu Jiao ate very fast, finishing the food in her bowl in no time, then sat across from Ye Zhen, resting her chin on her hand, watching her eat dinner.
Ye Zhen thought she wasn’t full, and asked if she wanted to share some from her own bowl.
Because Xu Jiao sometimes gets hungry too quickly when writing, she easily fills up on snacks, leading to little appetite during proper meals. So Ye Zhen wasn’t sure how much dinner to prepare. She had left some zha jiang in the kitchen, planning to put it in the fridge after it cooled down. Who knew Xu Jiao still wasn’t full.
Xu Jiao shook her head, but then looked at Ye Zhen and suddenly nodded.
Ye Zhen: “?”
Just as she was about to take the bowl from across the table and share some from the clean part of her own bowl, suddenly, there was a slight tickle on her calf under the table, crawling up her leg.
Ye Zhen: “……”
She discreetly looked at Xu Jiao across the table and said meaningfully: “Looks like you’re full after all.”
As she spoke, she also gave up on the idea of adding more food for the other person.
Unexpectedly, when Xu Jiao heard this, she just shook her head and smiled: “I’m not full, I still want jiejie (older sister) to feed me.”
Her words weren’t honest, and neither was she. Ye Zhen looked at her alluring face, feeling the mischievous movements under the table reach her thigh and then slowly fall back down, finally circling around her ankle.
Ye Zhen: “!”
She put down her chopsticks.
Xu Jiao slowly blinked once, quickly adding: “You eat first.”
Ye Zhen looked at her with a half-smile: “After you’ve said that, how dare I continue eating? Don’t I have to serve my little ancestor (xiaozuzong, meaning a spoiled or pampered person) first, lest she say later that I didn’t feed her enough?”
Xu Jiao was speechless for a second.
Then she showed a very sweet smile, replying in an especially innocent tone: “What? How could that be? Is your partner such a demanding person? If so, why don’t you break up with her and be with me instead? I’m different, I like the type that keeps me hungry.”
The smile at the corners of Ye Zhen’s lips deepened: “Remember your own words, baby.”
Two hours later—
Under the warm light of the study, Xu Jiao sat on Ye Zhen’s lap, shifting left and right, wanting to get off her lap, but was held by the waist and not allowed to move. Ye Zhen gently tightened her arms:
“Don’t move.”
Xu Jiao was sitting face-to-face on her lap. Hearing her words, she turned her head to look at the stuff on the computer, found some data she couldn’t understand, and felt overwhelmed for a couple of seconds. She raised her hand to hug Ye Zhen’s neck, softly calling her: “Jiejie…”
Ye Zhen calmly responded with an “Mm.”
Seeing that Ye Zhen wasn’t falling for this, Xu Jiao had to steel herself. She pulled Ye Zhen’s hand from the desk and guided it towards her waist, but Ye Zhen avoided it, telling her: “Not allowed.”
Xu Jiao lightly kicked her shin, tilted her head to bite her lip, and said unclearly: “It’s allowed…”
Ye Zhen’s light laughter was somewhat swallowed by her.
Xu Jiao became a bit urgent, a thin layer of sweat seeped out from her neck skin, making her neck skin appear milky white and moist under the light, looking somewhat tantalizing.
Only the seductive one was unaware, still softly throwing a coquettish tantrum: “Hurry up, take that… out, I want you.”
Her voice carried a hint of impatience.
If it weren’t for Ye Zhen teasing her earlier, she wouldn’t be left hanging like this now, using all her charms to throw a tantrum here, just to remove the itching feeling inside her body and be truly filled.
Ye Zhen asked with a smile: “Didn’t you say you like being kept hungry?”
Xu Jiao: “……”
She knew it!
Some people may look beautiful and powerful on the surface, but inside they’re secretly grudge-holding bastards.
Meeting the challenge head-on, she started to answer using her previous nonsense mode: “Really? Who said that? You must have misheard. Do you have another dog (lover) outside?”
Ye Zhen was so amused by her that she laughed.
Then, she pulled open the drawer next to the desk, tore off a piece of purple packaging from inside, and decided to make the person speaking carelessly experience her seriousness and devotion.
Xu Jiao stubbornly resisted for less than five minutes before completely collapsing and declaring surrender—
“No, no, no…… I, I don’t want it anymore…… Let me down……”
Ye Zhen pressed down on her waist, not letting her go, and said with a smile: “What’s the hurry? Don’t I need to prove with physical effort whether I have other dogs or not? If I can’t last just these few minutes, wouldn’t it be impossible to explain clearly?”
Xu Jiao’s waist was completely soft, and she whimpered an explanation: “No, there isn’t, I was talking nonsense…… uh!”
The two of them went from the study to the bedroom.
After a passionate time, it wasn’t yet time to rest, so Ye Zhen casually took out her phone to check if the things Xu Jiao wrote in the afternoon had been uploaded. Sure enough, there was an additional quick transmigration themed book.
Surprisingly, the romance genre was yuri.
But the title was a bit strange, called 《I want to be alone, beautifully》.
She raised an eyebrow, tapped lightly with her fingertip, and went in to read the beginning. Her eyes flashed with surprise.
Xu Jiao didn’t know what she was looking at. After lying on the bed for a while and regaining her strength, she got up to take a shower. When she came back all warm, she pulled the thin blanket and lay down next to Ye Zhen. While playing with her phone, she unconsciously fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Ye Zhen’s movement of getting up to take a shower woke her up.
Hearing the pitter-patter of water, Xu Jiao drowsily stirred.
Afterward, she groggily reached for Ye Zhen’s phone, wanting to see what had caught her attention to the point of staying up so late. Just as her eyes were about to close, she caught a glimpse of the title and suddenly snapped them open, blinking several times—
《A Story About Happiness [Xu Jiao × Xia Jingzhe] 》
“18r oriented” (18r refers to R-18, meaning adult content)
“Minors not allowed”
“Today I saw my favorite writer write yuri! Hehe, this is something I wanted to write myself when I read the story before. Now that Jingzhe has a cp, well—hehe! Everyone read quietly, keep it low-key!”
Line by line, the key points entered her eyes.
Xu Jiao: “???”
Wait, she just posted the story this afternoon, how come there’s already fanfiction out in the evening?
The sound of water in the bathroom had stopped at some point. Ye Zhen opened the door and came out, wiping her slightly wet hair ends. Seeing Xu Jiao awake, she instinctively asked, “Why are you awake?”
Xu Jiao said gloomily: “If I hadn’t woken up, I wouldn’t have known you were so thirsty (slang for sexually eager), staying up late for this kind of novel.”
Ye Zhen: “……”
She was helpless for two seconds, wanting to say that she had read Xu Jiao’s previous stories and thought about those previous worlds, recalling those not-so-good emotions, so she wanted to read something nice to suppress them. The 18r content wasn’t intentionally sought.
But she didn’t say that, instead just going along with it: “Yes, since you’re still not asleep, want to try again?”
Xu Jiao flipped over the phone in a second, closed her eyes, and said righteously:
“I’m asleep!”
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