She came to the table and poured Lu Xiaomi a glass of water, saying, "How's your throat? Your voice sounds hoarse."
Lu Xiaomi didn't want to drink water right now. She was filled with frustration, which stemmed from both her failure to finish her work and her lowly status in front of Chen Fu. Their relationship had always been like this: Chen Fu decided the direction of their relationship, and Lu Xiaomi only needed to follow behind her and give her her whole heart.
She didn't want to hear Chen Fu dodge the topic, so she sternly brushed away Chen Fu's hand that was offering her water. Chen Fu's hand holding the water glass loosened slightly, and the glass instantly fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
The person in front of her let out a small gasp, their eyes filled with a hint of grievance.
"I just want to spend more time with you."
A faint glimmer of moisture quickly filled Chen Fu's eyes. She stood awkwardly before Lu Xiaomi, her awkwardness different from her initial unease. At their first meeting, Chen Fu's awkwardness stemmed from her predicament, evoking only a sense of pity and empathy for her plight. But Chen Fu's current behavior stirred up some rather suggestive thoughts...
It seemed as if Lu Xiaomi's act of swatting her hand away excited her; her trembling eyes were filled with tears, an expression that made one want to treat her even more cruelly. Sure enough, like a Stockholm Syndrome scene from a storybook, Chen Fu bit her lower lip and knelt before her, cleaning up the debris scattered on the floor. From this angle, her beautiful curves were visible, making Lu Xiaomi feel like she was an unpredictable lover, while Chen Fu was a wife walking on thin ice to please her.
We're doomed.
She helplessly realized that she had fallen for him. Chen Fu could now manipulate her at will, and this relationship could hardly be considered normal. As a result, Lu Xiaomi's irritability and depression only increased, and the evil fire in her heart was burning brighter and brighter. She picked him up from the ground and threw him onto the sofa, gritting her teeth as she cleaned up the mess on the carpet.
The person in front of her stood there, looking like a deer, completely stunned.
Lu Xiaomi coldly pushed her into the bathroom.
"Go take a shower."
*
To calm herself down, Lu Xiaomi deliberately ran cold water in her shower.
The icy liquid flowing from the showerhead felt distinctly on her back, causing Lu Xiaomi to shiver physiologically. She had recently developed a masochistic fondness for this feeling; whenever Chen Fu was about to drive her mad, this method always helped her quickly calm down.
She reflected on recent events, trying to find solutions. In the process, she remembered her purpose in coming here: to help Chen Fu resolve her troubles and accompany her to the pinnacle of the entertainment industry.
However, the plot is now taking a strange turn. Chen Fu's sudden psychological problems have disrupted Lu Xiaomi's original plans. 0413 did not specify any ending or achievement for her, meaning the ending of the story is entirely up to her. This makes her wonder if the story will fall into a cyclical deadlock if she cannot reach the originally planned ending.
Can she return to her original world?
Lu Xiaomi didn't really have any attachment to the real world. Her relationship with her family was strained, practically severed. She even earned her own living expenses and tuition in college by working part-time. When she was short of money, she even had to rely on credit cards to get by. Her college roommates once suspected that she would be put on the blacklist for not being able to repay her loans. Staying in the world of the novel forever might not be a bad thing for her, after all, Lu Yu's identity was many times better than her original self's.
"I will go back."
When she told 0413 about her doubts, 0413 gave her a vague reply with these few words.
The fox cub looked listless and struggled to appear in her mental sea. 0413 said that the novel world is not eternal. When a certain fixed time is reached or a certain fixed opportunity is completed, the host will be able to return to the real world.
"What about Chen Fu?"
0413 yawned sleepily.
"She is a character in the book. After the host leaves the novel's world, the character in the book will disappear along with the world."
This answer made Lu Xiaomi's heart sink.
In other words, Chen Fu will die as soon as Lu Xiaomi leaves the world of the novel.
Perhaps noticing Lu Xiaomi's unusual silence, 0413 awkwardly offered some words of comfort, saying, "Host, don't be too sad. Actually, it was just Chen Fu from the novel's world who died. The Chen Fu from your world is still alive and well. Isn't the one you love in the real world the one who died? In other words, it was just a substitute who died, so there's no need to be so heartbroken..."
That's true.
Lu Xiaomi is head over heels in love with Chen Fu in the real world. She was so enraged by Chen Fu's tragic fate that she vomited blood, which is why she came here with this obsession. The real Chen Fu is the one Lu Xiaomi cherishes so much, the one she sees only in the water and the flower in the mirror. But the Chen Fu in this world is just an ordinary NPC, no different from the likes of Sun Hao and Yan Shan.
Perhaps Chen Fu here doesn't even possess the ability to think independently, merely following the lines set by the system to complete the plot. Thinking this, Lu Xiaomi felt utterly disheartened. So, the one who made her so emotionally invested and mentally exhausted was actually an AI substitute?
The thought made her laugh, but as she laughed, tears welled up uncontrollably.
Because the person who hugged, kissed, slept with, and fell in love with Lu Xiaomi was this stand-in.
*
After Lu Xiaomi came out of the bathroom, she saw Chen Fu lying on the bed.
The woman was wearing the champagne-colored satin nightgown she had brought from home. With her back to Lu Xiaomi, her slender legs were slightly raised as she lay on the bed, her eyes glued to a travel guide.
Lu Xiaomi slowly walked over and sat down next to her.
Her gaze fell on Chen Fu, filled with a hint of longing. Lu Xiaomi looked at Chen Fu with great reluctance, her hand gently resting on the back of her neck.
Would Chen Fu in the real world also own a nightgown like this?
This intimate gesture startled the person in front of her. Chen Fu gave her a somewhat ingratiating look.
"You're not angry with me anymore?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaomi's eyes flickered.
She said slowly and in a low, hoarse voice, "I won't have any more children."
"Very good."
The person in front of her let out a long sigh of relief, then nestled affectionately into Lu Xiaomi's arms. Chen Fu held up her travel guide to Lu Xiaomi, which was covered with different colored markers. Pointing to the colorful circles, Chen Fu said, "Our next destination could be this place first, then the small town near Orus, and then this place... This place is a bit far from Orus, it might take several days to drive there. We'll have to wait for the rest of the places, at least until spring."
"You've... planned everything?"
Chen Fu gave a knowing look and said, "We can't always stay together, so of course we should take this opportunity to make up for it."
As she spoke, she leaned closer, sitting in Lu Xiaomi's lap and contemplating their future together. She said, "If you don't want to travel for so long, then I'll work for a while first. But if I can't see you while I'm working, it will be so boring and unbearable."
"Anyway, you'll come to see me after you've finished dealing with things at the company, right?"
Lu Xiaomi gave a vague reply.
"Don't just disappear suddenly."
Chen Fu said pitifully.
"Um."
*
Sensing that the atmosphere between them was finally easing, Chen Fu lay down on the bed and fell asleep peacefully, while Lu Xiaomi hardly slept a wink all night.
When she was extremely tired, she would be briefly pulled into sleep. In her dream, she saw Chen Fu and slowly told Chen Fu that she was leaving. Chen Fu replied indifferently, "Okay, when will you come back?"
"I want you to love me a little longer, a little longer."
The words Chen Fu had confessed to her on New Year's Eve flashed through her mind again, and Lu Xiaomi suddenly woke up from her endless dream. She fumbled for her phone under her pillow; it was just 6:20.
There was a series of knocks at the door, and Lu Xiaomi closed her eyes in annoyance.
The production team had arranged a wake-up call segment today. Seeing that no one answered the door for a long time, Qin Niannian, who came to wake everyone, simply took out her key and opened the door. Two cameramen followed her in, and Lu Xiaomi's grumpy state while lying in bed was clearly recorded.
"Get up! It's already 6:30. If you don't get up now, you'll miss the bus."
Lu Xiaomi sat up in bed, feeling irritated.
She sat on the bed, unwilling to get up, when she suddenly woke up when she saw the dark camera. If the scene of Chen Fu and her sleeping in the same bed with their clothes disheveled was filmed, it would become a major talking point for a variety show.
She instinctively tried to cover Chen Fu with the blanket, but when she turned around, she found that there was no one beside her.
Where is Chen Fu?
Lu Xiaomi asked in confusion.
"What, Chen Fu? Don't you live alone?"
Qin Niannian gave the same puzzled answer.
--------------------
Author's Note:
Chen Fu: I want to be with you forever.
Lu Zong: (Heartbroken)
Chen Fu: We should travel together in the future.
Lu Zong: (vomiting blood)
Chen Fu: You will come to find me, right?
Lu Zong: (ko)
The start of the semester has been incredibly busy. As a senior architecture student, everyone's comments are my motivation to write.
Chapter 36 CP36
"What did you say?"
The person in front of her turned pale instantly, and his voice became so deep it was almost a growl. Lu Yu stared intently at Qin Niannian, his clenched hands revealing clearly visible veins. This frightened Qin Niannian, causing her to take a step back. The photographer who followed her in also looked at each other in bewilderment. Lu Yu's reputation for being difficult to get along with was widespread, and the atmosphere in the room became incredibly tense.
"The production team added another room yesterday, so the two of you don't have to squeeze into one room anymore. Didn't Chen Fu move in last night...?"
Despite it being the show's production team's arrangement, Qin Niannian's words became increasingly hesitant. She carefully observed the expression on the person in front of her, afraid that she might say something wrong and upset her.
The expected attack didn't occur; instead, Lu Yu's expression relaxed. Qin Niannian gave her a perfunctory "oh" and slowly sat up on the bed. Seeing that Lu Yu was mostly awake, there was no need to continue the planned wake-up call. Qin Niannian held a large pile of prank props in her hands, and the more she looked at them, the more disappointed she became.
"Chen Fu didn't go over last night."
Qin Niannian quietly hummed in agreement, saying that it was time to gather in a bit, and asked if she could look for her.
After she finished speaking, she turned and left, and the cameraman following behind her also went out. Lu Xiaomi sat on the bed feeling extremely weak all over, and didn't even have the strength to see him off to the door.
She had just woken up from a nightmare. Qin Niannian's incoherent words made her think that Chen Fu had disappeared. After hearing the explanation, she realized that it was all a misunderstanding. The feeling of fluctuating moods was not pleasant. Lu Xiaomi stood up and poured herself a glass of water.
But where did Chen Fu go?
The hotel suite arranged by the production team wasn't very big. Lu Xiaomi walked around the room to make sure Chen Fu wasn't there. She felt a little uneasy. The events of the past few days had made her used to all sorts of strange things. She comforted herself that everything was fine, and Chen Fu's coat was still hanging on the hanger.
Perhaps she went downstairs to buy breakfast. There's a bakery downstairs in the hotel that sells pretzel bread every morning at six o'clock, and Chen Fu really likes to eat that.
She sat quietly on the sofa for five minutes, but Chen Fu did not return from outside. Instead, the production team sent a message saying that they were about to depart and urging her and Chen Fu to come down and assemble.
Lu Xiaomi sat on the sofa and dialed the first phone call she made to Chen Fu that day.
No one answered.
Maybe she didn't hear it.
She then dialed a second number.
Still no one answered.
Okay, maybe she still didn't hear it.
The same thing happened with the third and fourth calls. Lu Xiaomi seemed to have lost the ability to think, mechanically pressing the call button and then quietly listening to the entire sequence of prompts.