CH 63

Yu Zhou wasn’t a big fan of traveling, but she loved the feeling of having something to look forward to in her daily life. She planned her trip to Qing City with Xiang Wan as a chance to get away, meticulously researching the best sights to see. After all, she hadn’t left the city for a while since the pandemic hit.

But things didn’t go as smoothly as planned. Before December 18th arrived, something big happened.

Xiang Wan became popular.

Yu Zhou thought that Xiang Wan’s popularity would slowly accumulate over time, like a frog being slowly boiled in water. But it wasn’t like that at all.

It all started when Yu Zhou noticed that one of Xiang Wan’s posts criticizing sesame cookies had gathered four hundred comments. When she clicked on Xiang Wan’s profile, she saw that she now had ninety thousand fans.

It was not a long time since the thirty thousand when they held the streaming.

This meant that she had received a lot of exposure in a very short time.

Due to Yu Zhou’s ostrich mentality, she had given up on forums a while back. Only when she thought about whether Xiang Wan had become popular did she click on the forum again and found a post recommending Xiang Wan’s work.

The reply tower wasn’t very high, with only five or six hundred replies and didn’t seem particularly popular.

So she searched the forums of the adjacent channel and found that while Xiang Wan’s name wasn’t mentioned, her romance audio drama, which was adapted from a middle-size IP, practically monopolized the entire front page.

This drama was wildly popular. It came out of nowhere, as everyone thought it was a typical, mediocre romance story. But people got overwhelmed unexpectedly and two episodes later, it shot up to first place on the platform’s tipping chart.

First, it caught the attention of a wealthy woman who donated an astonishing six-figure sum. This huge donation led many others to pay attention to the drama and the buzz began to grow.

As one of the second female leads, who had many scenes and was also adorable, Xiang Wan’s increase in fans even surpassed that of the female lead.

This low budget non-commercial audio drama wasn’t even recorded in the studio and was quickly recorded, made and uploaded. It was originally intended to be free, but thanks to that wealthy woman, it had made its way onto the charts.

Yu Zhou was stunned by how lucky Xiang Wan was.

On the high-speed train to Qingcheng, Yu Zhou asked Xiang Wan, “Your audio drama is so popular, don’t you feel anything? Why don’t you ever mention it to me?” Yu Zhou was a lesbian and usually didn’t pay much attention to the romance forum.

“What should I feel?” Xiang Wan asked with her chin resting on her hand.

“Don’t you see the comments and views of your drama?” What a strange person.

“I have. It’s all normal things,” Xiang Wan said, still holding her chin.

“Normal things? What’s normal about it?”

Xiang Wan thought for a moment, “What praises me is normal.”

LMAO, perfect logic.

“I’ll tell you since you mind,” Xiang Wan said humbly, “my short drama has also gained some popularity from this romance drama.”

“I mind? What do you mean by ‘I mind’?” Yu Zhou felt like retorting, but considering Xiang Wan’s popularity, she bit her cola straw and backed off, feeling sulky.

“Since that’s the case…”

“Remember you when I get rich and prosperous, I know it,” Xiang Wan giggled.

Yu Zhou felt comforted.

The high-speed train captured the scenery along the way through its glass windows, running and spreading it all around before quickly arriving in Qing City.

Yu Zhou led Xiang Wan out of the station, carrying Xiang Wan’s backpack like a mother. They hailed a cab to take them straight to Fushi Hotel next to Jing Shan Park.

Since their train arrived late and they had to take a forty-minute taxi ride to reach the hotel, by the time they arrived, it was already dark. Tired and sleepy, they abandoned their plan to visit the night market and decided to rest early.

Yu Zhou brought Xiang Wan’s backpack to her room before putting it on the bed. She took out her own change of clothes from it, planning to take them to her own room. Xiang Wan closed the door and went to the bathroom first.

As Yu Zhou was sorting through her pajamas, her phone rang.

It was Su Chang.

She got straight to the point: “Is Xiang Wan there? I need to talk to her about something.”

“Oh, she’s in the bathroom. I’ll let her know and have her call you back.”

“No need, just tell her this: I’ve sent the modified version of the contract to her email. She hasn’t replied to my WeChat messages.”

“Oh, right. It might be because we were on the road and had poor connection. She’ll probably reply as soon as she sees it,” Yu Zhou explained.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, before Su Chang asked, “On the road?”

She asked so casually, making Yu Zhou feel a bit guilty for no apparent reason, “Uh, yes. I’m not in Jiang City right now.”

“Where are you?” Su Chang asked again.

“Qing City,” Yu Zhou scratched her head.

She didn’t know why she had such a reaction, but it might be because ever since the breakup, she hadn’t left Jiang City and before the breakup, Su Chang would always be the first to know wherever she went.

She was a little afraid that Su Chang would ask, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

This left her unsure whether to respond with a confrontational tone, “Why do you need to know?” or to compromise and say, “I forgot to tell you.”

But Su Chang didn’t say anything. After a few seconds of silence, she asked, “Is something wrong?”

Although Su Chang’s voice was gentle, Yu Zhou could sense a hint of restrained emotion.

Yu Zhou went to Qingcheng with Xiang Wan, but Su Chang didn’t know and called her, thinking they should be at home.

“She’s participating in an activity and I’m accompanying her,” Yu Zhou said, then added after a moment’s thought, “She’s never taken a high-speed train before, so I’m worried.”

“I see,” Su Chang replied.

Yu Zhou sat on the bed, picking at the stitched patterns on the bedcovers.

Sure enough, the voice on the phone asked, “Are you at the hotel?”

“Yeah, we just got here.”

“I see.” Another “I see,” but with a lighter tone, as if the emotion had been thrown away.

Yu Zhou suddenly remembered that Su Chang had also participated in out-of-town comic conventions in the past, offline events for voice actors, but Yu Zhou had never accompanied her.

Because she was busy with work and her face was thin-skinned, she always felt embarrassed to take leave, especially for the kind of thing of taking leave to accompany her girlfriend.

She thought about it and blurted out a slightly impulsive statement.

“We booked two rooms, I’m just here to pick up some things.”

This explanation was not necessary and Su Chang did not seem to expect her to say it, so there was a brief silence on the other end of the phone. The sound of breathing was light and then it became active again because Su Chang laughed.

She laughed and said, “Okay.”

This “Okay” was short and light, as if she had curled her tongue slightly in her mouth, enclosing the joy that she didn’t want to take too seriously.

Yu Zhou suddenly felt that the atmosphere had become ambiguous. She didn’t want to play the part of the big-hearted person, but during the last live streaming, she was a bit harsh on Su Chang and hadn’t apologized yet.

Su Chang remained silent again.

Yu Zhou said, “Is that it then?”

“Okay, get some rest.”

“Oh,” she suddenly remembered something, “You said she wasn’t replying to your WeChat messages?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you call her instead of calling me?”

There was no sound on the phone again, and then Yu Zhou seemed to hear the sound of Su Chang’s lips parting from being pursed. Su Chang said, “Oh.”

It was a bit like the “Okay” just now, but slightly heavier.

The answer was not relevant. She used an acknowledging tone to answer a question. Combined with her very pleasant voice, it always made people imagine.

Yu Zhou had to admit that she always felt a little overwhelmed by Su Chang’s subtle push and pull that left room for ambiguity. There had been several such situations in their recent conversations, making her feel uneasy.

It was like going back to the ambiguous period with Su Chang at the beginning when Su Chang would occasionally call her. They would say some serious sentences while the words seemed to be deconstructed with a tone of wanting to say something but holding back.

So annoyed. She didn’t like this feeling of being ambiguous.

She uttered, “I’m going to bed. Goodbye.”

Then she quickly hung up the phone.

There was no movement from Xiang Wan in the bathroom as if she knew that Yu Zhou was on the phone. Once she hung up, the sound of Xiang Wan washing her hands could be heard.

Yu Zhou picked up her pajamas and said to her, “I’m going over. Your things are on the bed. Remember to lock the door and fasten the anti-theft chain. If anything happens, message me.”

This was Xiang Wan’s first time living alone, so Yu Zhou couldn’t help but give her a few more reminders.

Xiang Wan’s soft voice came from inside, “Okay.” She cast a slender shadow through the glass door while saying goodnight to her.

“Goodnight, Xiang Wanwan,” Yu Zhou replied.

Now that she was a celebrity, Yu Zhou had to speak more gently to her.