Troublesome – Chapter 119

The Extra Chapter Across the Hall

Perhaps, you can start thinking about it now.

【Eh eh eh eh?】

【What? After all this, my wife is the number one on the leaderboard?】

【KSWL, KSWL!¹ Sisters, do you remember the day this account appeared? Wasn’t it the same day Qiuqiu first came to the stream? This is an account that Teacher Jin registered specifically for Qiuqiu!】

【Hehehehehe, everyone please proceed to the Super Topic.】

Several links were thrown out. Lu Zhenqiu was looking down and playing her game, occasionally glancing at the bullet comments. Actually, even before Jin Shuilan revealed herself, some people had already guessed that the number one on the leaderboard² was Jin Shuilan. First, the timing of the account’s appearance was too much of a coincidence. Then, for someone who liked her so much, Jin Shuilan had never appeared in the stream, which didn’t make sense. But, well, her previous IDs had been too outrageous; no one dared to associate the cool and aloof her with those IDs.

【Oh my god!】

【It really is Teacher Jin!】

【When fanfiction becomes reality!】

【So Teacher Jin wanted to be slept with by Qiuqiu all along. Alright, say no more, the top and bottom are clearly defined!】

【Jin-top, Jin-top, Jin-top! I don’t care, it’s Jin-top!】

【Stop struggling, Qiuqiu is undoubtedly the top!】

【What a human tragedy, why would a Baihe god become the bottom for love?】

The bullet comments were hilarious enough to make one die of laughter.

Lu Zhenqiu occasionally glanced at the bullet comments and couldn’t help but purse her lips in a smile. Of course, not all the comments were good. There were some harsh remarks, but they were permanently banned by Jin Shuilan just as a few of them popped up.

The fourth match ended.

For the fifth match, Jin Shuilan closed the game to focus on handling the bullet comments. Lu Zhenqiu started the fifth match without getting distracted by the comments. After Jin Shuilan banned all the negative remarks, the atmosphere in the bullet comments became cheerful and harmonious.

When her game ended, Lu Zhenqiu glanced at the bullet comments and found that they had already started chatting like a heavenly steed soaring across the skies³. The most remarkable thing was Jin Shuilan, who had appeared in the comments. The color of her username was very conspicuous, and she would answer questions with just one or two words each time. Lu Zhenqiu bit her lip as she watched. The fans clucked their tongues: 【I can’t bear to look.】

【My wife is looking at the screen, is she looking at me?】

【She smiled at me, I’m going to cuckold Teacher Jin!】

【First of all, you don’t have the money.】

With a single sentence, they lowered the flags and silenced the drums⁴. Lu Zhenqiu pursed her lips and smiled, then sang two more songs for them. Xiaoyu’s messages came beeping in: 【Holy crap, you hid it really well!】

Hualuo: 【What else are you hiding from us! Confession gets severity!⁵】

Xiaoyu: 【It’s useless, confessing is useless now. You’ve already lost my trust, unless you tell me which one of you is the top and which is the bottom?】

Lu Zhenqiu guessed it was because Jin Shuilan’s previous IDs were too outrageous, causing Xiaoyu and Hualuo to misunderstand—misunderstand?

Why did she say misunderstand.

She could be very much the top too.

Lu Zhenqiu bit her lip and didn’t reply. The small group chat was being blown up with tags from Hualuo and Xiaoyu. Her face flushed a little when she saw the group chat icon jumping.

Finally, after much effort, she placated Xiaoyu and Hualuo and was able to focus on the bullet comments.

【Teacher Jin came prepared.】

【A big bad wolf who has stored up in her heart and accumulated in thought⁶.】

【Let’s not talk about Teacher Jin. If I were Teacher Jin, I’d probably feel incredibly wronged. If that fucking idiot hadn’t stolen Teacher Jin’s credit two years ago, Teacher Jin would have long since returned with the beauty in her arms!⁷】

【Yeah, and our Qiuqiu would have suffered two fewer years.】

Lu Zhenqiu fell silent for two seconds after seeing this comment. She got up to pour some water, and when she returned, her expression was calm. “Let me sing for you. What do you want to hear? You want to hear the details of my love life? What’s there to talk about?”

“When did we meet? Last year, around September or October, I think. We met when I was renting an apartment.”

Although Lu Zhenqiu said there was nothing to talk about, she was very honest and shared some details. Jin Shuilan found her mellow voice to be exceptionally pleasant to listen to. Seeing that the bullet comments were peaceful, she minimized the screen and leaned back in her chair, listening to Lu Zhenqiu’s rambling stream.

It wasn’t until the evening that Lu Zhenqiu took a short break. Jin Shuilan ordered takeout for dinner and also took Maomao out for two laps. While singing, Lu Zhenqiu replied to messages on Weibo. Many were about collaborations, and there were promotional offers too. After giving some brief replies, Lu Zhenqiu turned her head and saw the view outside the window. She got up and walked to the window. Jin Shuilan was standing under a tree, holding Maomao’s leash. Maomao was circling the tree, and she was taking pictures of him.

Her phone beeped twice. Lu Zhenqiu picked it up and saw a message that Jin Shuilan had just sent.

It was a photo of Maomao sitting under the tree, panting. Lu Zhenqiu looked at it for a few seconds, then walked to the window, took a picture, and sent it to Jin Shuilan. A few seconds later, Jin Shuilan looked up and glanced at the upstairs window from a distance. A warmth spread through Lu Zhenqiu’s heart.

While eating dinner that evening, Lu Zhenqiu scrolled through Weibo for a bit and saw some posts that had tagged her.

【Heh, isn’t she just hugging a big thigh⁸.】

【Talks about being self-reliant, but in reality, she still relied on Teacher Jin to get popular.】

【Turning the big thigh into your girlfriend means it’s not a big thigh anymore, huh!】

Just as Lu Zhenqiu was about to close Weibo, Jin Shuilan tilted her head to look. Jin Shuilan’s sharp eyes caught the three words “Teacher Jin.” She said, “Give me your phone.”

Lu Zhenqiu hummed in agreement, turned her head, and handed her the phone. She then watched as Jin Shuilan blocked the accounts that had tagged her one by one. Lu Zhenqiu chuckled. “It’s okay, really.”

She had thought she wouldn’t be able to accept it, that seeing such comments would be very upsetting, but it actually wasn’t. He Jinmei’s words had had a great impact on her. When she accepted Jin Shuilan, she had already anticipated that there would be comments like this, or even—more extreme ones.

But Jin Shuilan protected her, minimizing the harm. Plus, with the incident involving Tang Yingxia a while ago, the fans and readers felt very sorry for her. When they encountered such comments, her fans and readers had already cursed back before she even had a chance to respond.

Jin Shuilan asked, “Really okay?”

Lu Zhenqiu said, “Really okay.”

She was no longer the original Lu Zhenqiu, who would shrink back into her shell at the slightest provocation. She was now open and bright.

Jin Shuilan handed the phone back to her.

After dinner, Lu Zhenqiu streamed for a while longer. Maomao circled around her, and Lu Zhenqiu brought him over to greet everyone. Looking at the smiling face on the screen, Jin Shuilan let go of her mouse.

As it neared eight o’clock, Lu Zhenqiu received a phone call. She was a bit dazed after answering it, but then she reacted and rushed into Jin Shuilan’s study.

Jin Shuilan was still typing, her gold-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. She looked up when she heard the commotion. Lu Zhenqiu walked in in just a few steps and said with a smile, “I just received an invitation.”

“What invitation,” Jin Shuilan said. “A radio drama?”

“No!” Lu Zhenqiu’s face was slightly flushed with excitement. She said, “It’s for a game character voice-over!”

She spoke every word slowly, and every word was filled with happiness. Jin Shuilan was slightly taken aback. “A game?”

Lu Zhenqiu nodded repeatedly. “Uh-huh, their person in charge just contacted me. It’s for a game I used to play. They released a new character and want me to do the voice-over!”

Jin Shuilan smiled. “That’s great.”

It was great, and it was a kind of great that Lu Zhenqiu had never dared to imagine before. The tip of her nose tingled. She walked over to Jin Shuilan’s side and buried herself in her embrace, nuzzling against her. Jin Shuilan chuckled. “Aren’t you streaming?”

“I have to,” Lu Zhenqiu’s voice was slightly hoarse. “I told them I was going to get some water.”

Jin Shuilan chuckled, accompanied her back to her room, and poured her a glass of water. Lu Zhenqiu’s eyes were slightly red from excitement. The person in charge had said they would contact her later to discuss the details. For the next two hours of the stream, Lu Zhenqiu knew nothing that she did not speak⁹, her feeling of joy overflowing from her words and expression.

Jin Shuilan returned to her room and surfed the web for a while. She clicked on the official Weibo for the game Lu Zhenqiu had mentioned and, sure enough, saw the teaser for the new character. It was just a character teaser; nothing else had been announced. Jin Shuilan wasn’t surprised that they had sought out Lu Zhenqiu, because in her eyes, Lu Zhenqiu was simply the best.

After briefly looking over the game, Jin Shuilan downloaded it and played a couple of rounds. It was quite interesting. When Lu Zhenqiu finished her stream, Jin Shuilan was still playing. She leaned against the doorway of the study, and just as she was about to speak, her phone rang. It was the person in charge of the game calling her. Lu Zhenqiu entered the study with a smile on her face and sat on the sofa to discuss the details with them.

The call lasted for a full half hour. Her phone was slightly hot, and her ears were warm too. After Lu Zhenqiu got a detailed understanding, the other party quoted a price and said that if she wasn’t satisfied, they could still negotiate.

For Lu Zhenqiu, this price was something she had never encountered before. She wasn’t swept away by joy. Instead, she said, “Let me think about it.”

The person in charge arranged a time for their next call before hanging up.

The moment Lu Zhenqiu put down her phone, an irrepressible smile spread across her face. Jin Shuilan turned her head. “Did you settle it?”

“Not yet,” Lu Zhenqiu said. “But almost.”

After speaking, she looked at Jin Shuilan with a smile. “They gave me a quote. It’s very high!”

Seeing her adorable gesturing, Jin Shuilan couldn’t resist pulling her onto her lap and asking, “How high is it?”

“It’s…” Lu Zhenqiu was about to say, but then she thought of Jin Shuilan’s publishing fees and felt a bit deflated. She didn’t say anything and instead started counting on her fingers. Jin Shuilan smiled. “What are you counting now?”

“Counting how much money I’ve earned so far,” Lu Zhenqiu said.

Jin Shuilan was curious. “What are you counting your earnings for?”

Lu Zhenqiu said, “To buy a house.”

She looked at Jin Shuilan. “How big is the apartment across from yours?”

Jin Shuilan thought for a moment. “One hundred square meters.”

“It’s that big,” Lu Zhenqiu said. “I thought it was only a few dozen square meters.”

Jin Shuilan was puzzled. “Why are you asking this?”

“To save money to buy a house,” Lu Zhenqiu said. “If we fight in the future, I won’t have a place to go. I need to save money to buy a house.”

Jin Shuilan nodded and said, “We won’t fight.”

Lu Zhenqiu said, “What if? I’m just saying, what if.”

Jin Shuilan: “Alright, then if we do fight, I’ll go across the hall.”

Lu Zhenqiu burst out laughing. “Why would you be the one to go? We haven’t even bought it yet. If we really buy it, I’ll be the one to move in. I hope it has a bay window, like the one in my room. And a study. The study should preferably have a floor-to-ceiling window, a really, really big one, so we can see the scenery outside. At night, we can stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and look outside. If it rains…”

Jin Shuilan muttered, “Aren’t we supposed to be in a fight?”

Lu Zhenqiu shot her a glare, blaming her for ruining the atmosphere. Jin Shuilan smiled. “Okay, you continue. Is there anything else you want?”

Anything else she wanted.

Lu Zhenqiu shook her head. “Nothing else. I’ll think about it when I can afford it.”

Jin Shuilan said, “Perhaps you can start thinking about it now.”

Lu Zhenqiu was confused. “Why?”

Jin Shuilan looked at her for several seconds, then reached into her desk drawer, took out a key card, and handed it to Lu Zhenqiu.

Lu Zhenqiu blinked, a look of complete confusion on her face.

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