Novel Turned Yuri – Chapter 28

Do I really favor Lin Qingqing so obviously?

The awkward moment didn’t last long, as Qiao Yu quickly sent a flurry of new messages.

Qiao Yu: Sorry, I sent the wrong message just now.

Qiao Yu: Anyway, I accidentally bumped into you in the game yesterday, my apologies!

Qiao Yu: And then, it seems I made some very rude gestures after getting drunk… I really appreciate you taking me home after that!

Qiao Yu: Also, if you can forgive this lowly one, please do me the honor of attending my birthday party on October 6th…

…With each sentence, the tone became progressively more humble.

She sent a string of messages so quickly that Lin Qing didn’t have a chance to respond to each one. At this moment, her attention was completely captured by Qiao Yu’s last message, and she hastily replied.

Lin Qing: October 6th is your birthday?

On the other side of the screen, Qiao Yu, like a prisoner awaiting judgement, shivered and waited anxiously for a long time. Instead of a verdict, what came was this reply. She didn’t dare to delay, and sincerely explained to Lin Qing.

Qiao Yu: Yes.

Qiao Yu: But I had forgotten about it until today! It was my parents who reminded me of it! I definitely didn’t mean to not tell you on purpose!

Given Lin Qing’s question, it was evident that Cong Ye had certainly not mentioned this matter to her yet. Qiao Yu, thinking this, breathed a sigh of relief. At least she had avoided the worst-case scenario; otherwise, it would have been like adding frost to the snow.

Lin Qing: I see.

Lin Qing: Thank you for inviting me, I will go.

Yay! It seems Lin Qing still doesn’t dislike her!

With half a stone lifted from her heart, Qiao Yu carried the remaining half with trepidation, mustering her courage to revisit the old issue.

Qiao Yu: Okay, okay, it’s a stroke of great fortune for me across three lifetimes that you can come. So about yesterday’s matter…?

She couldn’t help it! She just worries without Lin Qing’s direct response!

She really doesn’t want there to be any lingering unease between herself and Lin Qing!

After Qiao Yu finished speaking, she sat in front of her cell phone, staring at the screen with a resigned determination, waiting for Lin Qing’s reply.

But Lin Qing’s response wasn’t as prompt as before. Qiao Yu became anxious, her heart withering away at an alarming rate, two minutes feeling like two years. Just as she began to lose hope, Lin Qing’s reply finally arrived, albeit much delayed.

Lin Qing: I don’t mind.

Lin Qing: It was just an accident, no worries.

Lin Qing: But you should still drink less in the future.

Qiao Yu read those three lines of text back and forth at least five times, then took a deep breath, and silently struck the “Praise the Sun” pose on her bed.

Perhaps here she should be praising Lin Qing, ah, what a broad-minded person Lin Qing is, the eternal god!

Qiao Yu was almost moved to tears, deeply feeling that the trouble-filled day could finally be turned over.

That afternoon, when Qiao Yu knocked on the door of her home, it was Cong Ye who opened it.

Looking pale, Cong Ye appeared sick and feeble. Qiao Yu initially wanted to greet him but, seeing him like this, asked in puzzlement.

“…What’s wrong with you, did you have a problem with drinking yesterday?”

“No, it’s just that I took a cold shower yesterday, seems like I’ve caught a cold.”

“…”

Feeling the slightly cool breeze of October, Qiao Yu found his actions incredibly brave.

She followed Cong Ye into the living room to sit down and listened to him narrate the tragic story with a heavy nasal voice due to his cold.

“Didn’t we get drunk yesterday?”

Mentioning this made Qiao Yu angry, her gaze sharp as she glared at him, while Cong Ye deliberately turned his head away.

“…I also didn’t know those drinks contained alcohol. Considering we’re both victims here, can we just let bygones be bygones and not pursue this matter further?”

“You’re saying you didn’t know the drink you ordered had alcohol in it? Your bad luck is because you can’t hold your liquor; what’s my misfortune due to, huh? Because I’m your friend?”

Ultimately, not wanting to kick Cong Ye when he was down, Qiao Yu didn’t press further. She restrained her anger and continued to listen as he woefully recounted his sufferings.

“Then, after I got back home yesterday, my mom caught me, and when she heard I was drunk, she got angry.”

“She dragged me straight to the bathtub, fooled the drunk me by saying it was hot water and convinced me to get in.”

“…”

Goodness gracious, dear mother, this method of sobering up must have been learned from her dad, and it’s like an advanced version, too.

Qiao Yu was dumbfounded by the parents’ radical remedies, rendered speechless.

“Although I only soaked for a short while before getting up, when I woke up this morning, I still felt like I was somewhat affected by it.”

Cong Ye sniffled with difficulty, sighing.

“You don’t say, soaking in cold water is quite effective for sobering up.”

“…I see.”

She hopes she’ll never have to use this knowledge in her lifetime.

After hearing such a sad story, Qiao Yu looked at Cong Ye with a softer gaze. Cong Ye, however, didn’t mind and belatedly thought to ask Qiao Yu why she came.

“Speaking of which, why did you suddenly come?”

“I am—”

“Qiao Yu?”

Hearing the noise from downstairs, Lin Qing, feeling the voices were especially familiar, walked down from upstairs with a look of surprise on her face as she saw Qiao Yu.

Upon seeing her, Qiao Yu’s eyes lit up with delight, and she bounded over to her as swift as an arrow leaving the bow, hands cupping a golden-lettered invitation.

“I’ve come to deliver the invitation to my birthday party!”

“Ah… thank you.”

This sudden visit hadn’t been announced in advance to Lin Qing, leaving her both startled and pleased. She took the invitation from Qiao Yu’s hands, opened it, and checked the time and place. The words “To Lin Qing” must have been written by Qiao Yu herself—neat and tidy, giving off the feeling of calligraphy practice, which brought a knowing smile to Lin Qing’s face.

“An invitation?”

Cong Ye stretched his neck to take a glance, then turned towards Qiao Yu with a look of confusion.

“How come I don’t remember such a thing? Did you give it to me?”

“I must have…” Qiao Yu furrowed her brow and thought, “Maybe my dad accidentally included your copy with the one given to Aunt Cong.”

“Oh—”

Cong Ye, dragging out his words, looked at her with a meaningful expression that made Qiao Yu feel uneasy all over.

“You’re partial to Lin Qing, I can understand that… but you could be a bit nicer to me occasionally—”

“No, I, I definitely don’t favor Lin Qing, okay?!”

Qiao Yu exploded at having her sore spot poked by the very person concerned, posturing like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, puffing herself up in defense.

“……Even I don’t find the host very persuasive…”

“No, no, I’m just going with the flow here, really, in my heart I treat you both with equal love and regard!!”

Even the system found her statement hard to endorse, giving her a metaphorical cold shot, but Qiao Yu still didn’t want to admit to the reality of her biased ass, desperately providing a pale explanation to Cong Ye.

As a parent of her creations, the author’s conscience was subtly pricked; what could be more indefensible for an author than to have a character from her own writing accuse her of favoring another character… She even began to feel a sense of pity for Cong Ye, while he magnanimously patted her on the shoulder.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I understand.”

To tell you the truth, she had no idea what he had ‘understood’, but Qiao Yu still let out a shameful sigh of relief, taking his words as a form of forgiveness.

She sneakily glanced at Lin Qing, who had been standing by the side without saying a word, and saw that Lin Qing seemed to have developed a strong interest in the invitation in her hand and did not react to the conversation between Cong Ye and her, prompting a silent sigh of relief.

Qiao Yu let out a long breath, but still felt somewhat uneasy, quietly questioning the system in her heart: “…Is it really that obvious that I favor Lin Qingqing?”

“Yes, host, it’s very obvious.”

Qiao Yu fell silent, feeling that perhaps she needed to find some time for a good self-reflection.

Since they had come, they should at least sit for a while, so the three of them took seats on the living room sofa. Cong Ye sniffed repeatedly, and then suddenly sneezed.

“Are you okay?”

Qiao Yu, who had just begun to reflect on her bias and decided to turn over a new leaf, was especially attentive, handing him a tissue.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help when I came back yesterday from Auntie’s… “

Looking at Lin Qing’s slightly apologetic face, Cong Ye waved his hand nonchalantly: “It’s fine, it’s fine. Anyway, my mom is very stubborn. Even if you were there, she would have definitely thrown me into the cold water behind your back.”

…This is simply a parenting method akin to an eagle pushing its chicks off a cliff.

Qiao Yu was inwardly taken aback and suddenly thought of a question.

“Eh? Speaking of which, why was it Lin Qing who took me home? Shouldn’t it have been Cong Ye?”

Her train of thought was similar to that of Lu Yao. Without changing her expression, Lin Qing repeated the same explanation that Mi Yi had used to convince Lu Yao.

“Because at that time, Cong Ye was sleeping very soundly, and I might not have been able to move him.”

“Yeah, yeah, can’t move me, can’t move me.”

The person concerned, Cong Ye, nodded repeatedly, sitting up straight as if he weighed a ton.

“That makes sense.”

Qiao Yu smoothly accepted this explanation and used the opportunity to segue into her second reason for coming.

“This really added a lot of trouble for everyone—I wonder, how did you all feel about yesterday’s outing? If it wasn’t satisfying, how about I organize another one as an apology?”

Yes! She came here firstly to deliver an invitation to Lin Qing as a sign of importance, and secondly to find out what the male and female leads thought about their first outing yesterday!

But those mere three hours of yesterday’s activity couldn’t possibly have been a pleasant memory for them. Qiao Yu had carefully reflected on the situation and realized that in the King’s Game, there was only one instance where the two of them were chosen to work together. The instruction given by King Lu Yao was, “Let’s talk about what books you’ve been reading recently”—how utterly boring directives could get!

It was still quite surprising to find out that both of them had recently been reading romance novels, but so what? It wasn’t anything like the beautiful tales of male and female leads reading ‘Romance of the Western Chamber’¹ together!

So, at this point, it was up to her to give a little nudge and then to rally the troops for a comeback battle (the opponent being her own unimpressive self)!

“I think it was quite fun; Qiao Yu, don’t overthink it.”

“Me too! Yesterday was probably the most fun I’ve ever had going out!”

…Strange, their reactions were so different from what she had imagined.

Putting aside Lin Qing, who could be just being polite out of habit to cater to her feelings, Qiao Yu turned her gaze to Cong Ye whose spirits were inexplicably high, casting doubt on his overly positive and unusual appraisal.

“…Are you really that happy?”

“Yes!”

“Why?”

Even a cold couldn’t suppress Cong Ye’s exuberant spirit; his eyes sparkled brightly, his face full of sincerity and emotion.

“Because I’m deeply moved to see the relationship between my friends has taken a step further!”

“…”

Huh? Is Cong Ye really such a person? Is he actually a big-hearted guy that feels happy when he sees the relationships among everyone improving?

Filled with doubt, Qiao Yu started to question her understanding of Cong Ye’s character, speaking uncertainly as she continued.

“So, should we still go out during these next few days…?”

“No, although I really want to go out, I’m having a cold right now. Wouldn’t I infect you guys?”

An irrefutable truth left Qiao Yu speechless.

“And moreover.”

Cong Ye raised his eyebrows with intrigue in his gaze.

“…There are only four days left until your birthday party; do you really still have time to go out and play?”

With the well-experienced gaze of a young master, he looked into the distance, his eyes focusing on the void as he spoke with the weathered tone of someone who has been through it all.

“Look, things like the rehearsal of the ceremony and stuff, you need to memorize the names of the elders in advance, and then there’s the most exhausting part… like trying on clothes…”

“— Qiao Yu, you probably haven’t even started dealing with it, have you?”

After Qiao Yu left the Cong residence with a pale face, Lin Qing also headed upstairs to her room with a heavy heart.

Qiao Yu’s birthday is coming up, and it’s not just Qiao Yu who needs to prepare; she needs to think carefully as well.

The most important thing, of course, is the gift.

Lin Qing slightly furrowed her brows and opened the door to her room.

What should she give her? Qiao Yu seems to lack nothing, what kind of gift would she like—

Her action of closing the door was suddenly impeded, and turning around, she found Cong Ye, who had come over unnoticed, propping the door open with his hand.

Faced with Lin Qing’s questioning gaze, Cong Ye had bright and spirited eyes, smiling in a refreshing and harmless manner.

“Regarding the gift for Qiao Yu, I’ve got an idea, do you want to hear it?”

---

---

1. “Romance of the Western Chamber” is a classic Chinese play written by Yuan Dynasty playwright Wang Shifu. The story revolves around the forbidden love between Zhang Sheng, a young scholar, and Cui Yingying, a beautiful maiden. Hindered by social and familial obstacles, their romance unfolds in a series of trials, showcasing themes of love, perseverance, and societal constraints. The play is celebrated for its lyrical language, intricate plot, and exploration of the enduring power of love against societal norms.