Chapter 31: That… Thing
The room felt a bit empty, and the lighting was quite dim. Only the glow from the computer softly lit the surroundings.
Under that light, the girl’s expression looked a little unclear.
Everything around her was very quiet. The only sound was the tapping of her fingers on the keyboard.
Even though the night had grown late, the air still felt a bit hot and stuffy.
Because of that, a thin layer of sweat had formed on the tip of her nose.
Tap…
After a long time like this, with the final character typed, Mu Le finally let out a small sigh of relief.
She wiped the sweat from her nose, then stretched a little to ease the soreness in her neck.
Looking at the document filled with saved chapters, a satisfied smile appeared on her face.
Writing novels is actually a very boring task.
You can have many ideas, but turning those ideas into a complete story is not easy.
It’s easy to start a story, but hard to finish it. This is especially true for long novels. After the initial excitement fades, the middle and later parts are often the hardest to write.
If you keep going, things will open up. If you can’t, the story might never be updated again.
Many authors give up because they can no longer find the passion they had at the beginning.
Maybe the idea was great at first, and inspiration came easily, allowing them to write many chapters at once.
But repeating this again and again can make it feel more and more dull, until they start thinking about quitting.
This kind of thing is very common.
When Mu Le first started writing novels, it was only because of her interest.
So she had experienced these situations before.
But luckily, compared to those who slowly lose motivation because no one supports them or their effort is not rewarded, she had better luck.
From her very first novel, there were already some people who kept supporting her.
Of course, where there is support, there are also complaints and even mockery.
Fortunately, Mu Le has a good mindset. Writing novels is for people to read, after all. Sometimes, what others point out may really be her own weaknesses.
Of course, for those who are just being unreasonable and not real readers, she simply ignores them.
Over the years, through all kinds of ups and downs, Mu Le has managed to write several novels.
It’s not that she never thought about quitting halfway. But when she looked at the supportive or playful comments under her stories, she somehow kept writing.
Even after all these years, she still considers herself just an average, laid-back author.
She’s not very popular, but still doing a bit better than most. More importantly, she enjoys writing, and her readers enjoy reading.
As long as everyone is happy, there’s no problem.
“With this, I won’t need to write for the next few days…”
After updating one chapter on the author’s dashboard and saving the remaining drafts, Mu Le leaned back into a more comfortable position, looking relaxed and lazy.
Although she had scraped her leg that afternoon, her inspiration had burst out while writing.
She wrote enough content for three or four days in one go. By the time she realized it, the porridge Xiao Yuze had bought for her had already gone cold.
She turned her head to check the time at the bottom of the screen and realized it was already close to 10 p.m.
No wonder her back and waist felt sore, she had been sitting for so long without noticing.
This is probably one of Mu Le’s strengths. When she finds her rhythm, she can write a lot in one go, almost as if she can’t stop.
However, on the other hand, when she had no inspiration or ideas, she could get so annoyed that she felt like biting the keyboard.
She moved her leg a little. The pain in her knee had eased a lot, so Mu Le slowly stood up from the chair.
In fact, her injury was not serious at all. That was why, when Xiao Yuze forcefully carried her back earlier, she suspected that the man just wanted an excuse to take advantage of her.
And in truth, that was probably the case.
“Maybe I should have acted a bit more reserved before?”
Touching her chin, Mu Le seemed to think of something and showed a strange expression.
“But from today’s test, that guy doesn’t seem completely indifferent either. No, that look in his eyes… it was like he wanted to swallow me whole, right?”
Thinking of Xiao Yuze’s expression at that time, she couldn’t help but swallow nervously.
Actually, even though it looked like she was teasing or trying to tempt him, if things really went further, she would probably be the first to back away.
There was nothing she could do about it. Even now, she had not fully accepted or gotten used to all the changes in herself, let alone anything deeper.
The reason she acted like that today was only because of the alcohol. For some reason, she just wanted to test what he was thinking.
The answer she got made her feel a little happy, but also a little troubled.
Love should be something beautiful.
But Mu Le felt confused and uneasy. After all, she was not truly a girl.
Because of that, she couldn’t help but doubt this so-called “love.”
Could it be that this feeling was just a kind of attachment she couldn’t let go of, or a twisted sense of security?
Mu Le didn’t know, or maybe she just couldn’t be sure.
She had never been in a relationship before. Since she was young, her world had always been simple and quiet.
She started writing novels because her life felt too dull and lonely.
Only in her stories could she freely build a world that belonged to her, and feel happiness and satisfaction from it.
What exactly is love?
Even though she had watched many romance anime, she had never really understood this question.
And even if she truly liked him, so what?
Because of her special situation, Mu Le could never be like a normal girl, throwing everything aside and simply saying “I like you,” whether she would be accepted or rejected, without regret.
And what did Xiao Yuze think of her?
Was it just a man’s desire for a woman? Or the feelings of an old friend? Or something else?
She didn’t know. Mu Le couldn’t read minds, and that man hid his thoughts very well.
If she could only judge from the surface, then she could only understand surface-level things.
“This feels… so complicated.”
She picked up the now cold porridge, sat back down on the chair, and began to eat slowly.
“What am I… even hoping for?”
Or rather, what did she really want? That was the real question she should be thinking about.
“What are you mumbling about?” At that moment, while Mu Le was eating with her head down, another voice suddenly came from nearby.
She instinctively looked up and saw Xiao Yuze, shirtless, wiping his hair with a dry towel.
It wasn’t the first time she had seen him like this after a shower. After all, men usually don’t care much about these things.
But this time, she strangely felt a bit guilty and quickly looked away.
Xiao Yuze didn’t pay attention to her reaction. Instead, his gaze fell on the food container in her hands.
“That… isn’t that the porridge I bought this afternoon? Didn’t I tell you to eat it quickly before I left?”
Mu Le glanced at him and snorted lightly. “So noisy. If I eat first, I won’t feel like writing anymore.”
“…That’s not a good reason to skip meals.”
And it’s already cold, isn’t it?
Xiao Yuze was about to say more, but Mu Le quickly finished everything in the container in just a few bites. Then she patted her stomach with a satisfied look.
She looked at him and smiled. “Thanks for the meal, Mr. Talkative.”
Xiao Yuze shook his head helplessly. He took the empty container from her and went outside to wash it.
What he didn’t see, as he turned around, was the complicated and hard-to-explain emotion in the girl’s eyes.