Chapter 35: The Little Writer’s Second Attempt
She slowly walked back home.
Looking at the fifteen missed calls on her phone, the white-haired girl fell into deep thought.
They were all from Shen Muxue.
What exactly had happened? What important thing did Shen Muxue want to say?
But in the end, Shen Muxue had left very decisively.
Mu Yi rolled her eyes, tilted her head cutely, and raised her fair left hand to her lips, lightly biting her teeth.
“Hmm… I’ll wait one more minute. If she calls again, I’ll answer. If not, then I won’t care anymore.”
She nodded, her tone firm.
One minute passed in a flash.
Her phone stayed silent.
She kept her word and ignored the missed calls. She turned on her computer and sat at the desk, resting her chin on her left hand.
On the document were the results of her hard work under Gu Zhiren’s supervision.
Don’t underestimate these 6,000 words.
These 6,000 words came at the cost of being “acted out” with Gu Zhiren. Him putting a tie around her neck, pinning her against a chair, her being forced to poke his chest with her finger, and even being made to lift her legs onto his shoulders…
All of that, just to write this.
Mu Yi glanced at the comic book on the table, reached out her right hand, and covered it.
Her cheeks puffed up.
And on top of that, Gu Zhiren had found out she reads this kind of book…
She thought she wouldn’t care about such things, but for some reason, it still bothered her.
Switching to resting her chin on both hands, Mu Yi pouted as she looked at the document unwillingly.
She really, really wanted—
Really, really wanted to skip updates tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that…
When she accidentally recalled how Gu Zhiren had laughed several times during their “scene practice,” she became so angry that her whole body tensed up, even her teeth felt itchy.
Was she the only one who felt embarrassed and uncomfortable the whole time?
Mu Yi had to stay strong.
Sure enough, she couldn’t just obediently listen to him. She had to drive that annoying guy away!
“My freedom is not something you can control!!”
“So what should I do…”
Muttering to herself, Mu Yi thought hard, and almost instantly came to a conclusion.
She had been thinking about it the wrong way from the start. It wasn’t about making Gu Zhiren think she was dangerous. It was about making him feel that supervising her was too troublesome, that spending so much time and effort on her wasn’t worth it.
After all, business people care about return on investment. Gu Zhiren should be no exception.
Hehe~
With a plan in mind, Mu Yi cheered up and placed her hands on the keyboard.
This time, she couldn’t slack off.
She had to develop quietly.
Write first.
Save drafts.
Grr…
“I’m so hungry… I forgot to eat dinner.”
After her stomach growled, her voice became weak and tired. In just a second, she went from full of fighting spirit to completely drained, collapsing onto the desk.
She gave up.
…………………………
In the blink of an eye, it was Monday.
On this bright and pleasant afternoon, Mu Yi called the number on the business card.
“Hello? Mr. Gu, this is Mu Yi. Sorry to bother you. Actually… I’m having writer’s block again today, so I was hoping you could help me like last time… You wouldn’t want me to stop updating because of this, right?”
Her voice was clear and gentle. It started polite and direct, then slowly turned into a hesitant, almost pleading tone, like a soft cat paw scratching at someone’s palm, making them feel a bit ticklish.
……………………
That same night.
At the entrance of the movie theater, Mu Yi, wearing a pink men’s turtleneck sweater, took a light breath and tilted her head to glance at Gu Zhiren beside her, who was also wearing a pink sweater (though a different style).
Seeing that he was still as calm as ever, the white-haired girl curved her eyes and showed a sweet smile.
Then, as if searching for something, she started looking around—left, right, up, down—leaning forward and backward, completely ignoring the looks from others.
Her confusing behavior made Gu Zhiren sigh quietly, his lips moving slightly.
He didn’t really understand it. In short, he just felt speechless.
But everyone else’s attention was drawn to her, as if they were looking at her through a “beauty filter.”
“Whoa! That’s top-tier. A once-in-a-lifetime beauty, and I actually saw her!”
“Hey, is that guy next to her her boyfriend?”
“He must fall asleep surrounded by her sweet scent every night… and she probably turns soft like a cream puff! Why isn’t that guy me?!”
“Ugh, I’m so jealous.”
“…If I could have her for one minute, I’d trade a hundred of my current girlfriends.”
“Say that again?”
The girl reached out and twisted the boy’s ear, then punched his stomach and kicked him.
“Let’s break up! I must have been blind, waaah…”
Hearing all these comments, Mu Yi didn’t feel much at first. But suddenly, she felt a little shy.
Wasn’t this exactly the kind of scene she had imagined before?
Ah—
She shook her head. Even while still looking around, she lowered her eyes slightly and couldn’t stop herself from smiling.
“What are you doing?”
Gu Zhiren finally rolled his eyes, turned to look at her, and frowned.
“Huh?”
After realizing he was talking to her, Mu Yi stopped looking around. She stood straight, slightly raised her chin, and gave him a small smile. Then she covered her mouth and held back her laughter.
“Mm.”
She pressed her rosy lips together, as if only now realizing how strange she had been acting, and looked a bit embarrassed.
“It’s nothing. I was just wondering if there might be paparazzi around here.”
She explained seriously, her brows slightly furrowed, her clear eyes blinking.
“Isn’t that how it always is in novels? A rich, powerful man takes a girl out on a date, paparazzi secretly take photos, and the next day they’re on the front page!”
At this point, she made a small “ugh” sound. Her expression turned a bit disgusted, and she waved her hands slightly.
“I’m just worried we might get photographed and end up in some scandal. I don’t want to wake up and suddenly become some ‘cute wife’ in everyone’s eyes.”
Gu Zhiren quietly looked at her, listening. A faint, amused smile slowly appeared on his handsome face.
Then he turned his head away. His expression changed into helplessness, and he couldn’t help but curl his lips slightly, sounding like he wanted to laugh but was holding it back.
“When you asked me to come to the cinema, you should have been ready for whatever might happen. And ‘cute wife’? You really have a lot of imagination. Let’s go.”
“Huh? You’re the strange one. I was also worried about you, you know. Whatever, we just don’t understand each other.”
Mu Yi and Gu Zhiren walked into the theater together, side by side on the red carpet. Not long after, the latest special-effects movie began playing on the big screen.
“Hey… hey! Can’t you be a bit more professional like before?”
Looking down at the bucket of popcorn in her arms, Mu Yi tilted her head and glanced at Gu Zhiren beside her. She pouted slightly while grabbing a piece of popcorn.
“Did you already forget what you promised me?”
Hearing this, Gu Zhiren frowned slightly and glanced at her, speaking in a lazy, casual tone.
“Isn’t it fine to eat your own? Why do you have to eat from someone else’s bucket?”
“Because that’s how it’s written in romance novels. Isn’t that how dating works? Don’t tell me you’ve never done it before.”
It seemed like she hit the mark. Gu Zhiren went silent for a moment. He looked down at the popcorn in her arms, then met her eyes, and finally smiled as if giving in.
“I feed you, and you feed me. Is that okay?”
They each fed the other a piece. After making eye contact, Mu Yi grinned and said,
“At times like this, shouldn’t you also say those three words? Don’t be shy, just say it.”
Raising his eyebrows slightly, Gu Zhiren’s lips curved into a meaningful smile.
People sitting nearby all gasped quietly, feeling like they shouldn’t even be in their seats, they should be hiding under them.
Among the crowd, Bai Zhi was also there.
What did she just see? That was Gu Anran’s brother, the guy who was known for being completely uninterested in romance!
Still shocked, Bai Zhi quickly took out her phone and sent a message.