Chapter 49: Worn Out

“Anyway, we are truly sorry.”

“We’re so sorry, Sister Fang.”

The young couple apologized to her incessantly before leaving, making Fang Chenxi feel a bit embarrassed.

After all, she had clearly just been using the two of them.

Fang Chenxi waved them off, indicating it was truly fine, and watched as they boarded their vehicle and departed.

The call Liu Mo made had been effective; his parents doted on him just as he had said.

A moment later, Fang Chenxi’s father called her.

“Chenxi, Manager Liu just told me that this blind date was a misunderstanding. Don’t take it to heart.”

“Mhm.”

Even though the situation concerned his daughter’s reputation, Fang Chenxi could hear nothing but satisfaction and joy in his voice.

The other party must have felt guilty and promised him something in return.

“Well, that’s that then. I’ve sent the driver to pick you up. Go home and get some rest early.”

Her father’s voice cut off abruptly, but Fang Chenxi’s expression didn’t flicker.

She was already used to this.

In fact, it would have been strange if her father hadn’t acted this way.

However, despite the twists and turns, things had proceeded exactly as she had anticipated.

Fang Chenxi didn’t dwell on it further.

Suddenly, she felt a trace of envy toward Liu Mo and An Ya.

Fang Chenxi didn’t know if she envied their romantic love or their harmonious family relationships; perhaps it was both.

Looking at the dim yellow streetlights along the road, Fang Chenxi wrapped her arms around herself.

The night breeze felt a bit chilly, enough to cause goosebumps.

Fang Chenxi’s eyes shimmered, and those phoenix eyes were filled with an unreadable depth, but she was likely happy.

At least, that was how she felt.

“Didn’t you say we’d wait for the cosplay outfit to arrive before drawing?”

At Lu Yuyao’s request, Jiang Ling was sitting on the bed in a duck-sitting pose.

She leaned forward, pressing her soft, slender waist down while bracing her hands on either side.

It was a blatantly provocative position, but Jiang Ling’s struggling expression ruined the aesthetic.

Lu Yuyao was very dissatisfied and shot her a glare.

Only then did Jiang Ling resume a serious, solemn expression.

‘That’s the one! That reluctant expression paired with such a seductive pose—it’s a total turn-on!’

‘This is exactly what I want to draw!’

Lu Yuyao suppressed the excitement in her heart, her face flushing as she decisively pressed the shutter button.

Next, she made Jiang Ling change through several more poses.

Without exception, every single one perfectly highlighted Jiang Ling’s figure and was filled with suggestive energy.

Once she had gathered enough reference material, Lu Yuyao didn’t say a word.

With a bright red face, she slipped out of the room and even thoughtfully closed the door behind her.

She looked as though she were desperately holding back a trip to the bathroom.

Jiang Ling, however, had no energy to pay attention to that.

She was exhausted from the torture of those high-difficulty poses and lay on the bed, panting heavily.

It took a good while for Jiang Ling to recover slightly.

She really didn’t know what had gotten into Lu Yuyao.

After returning from the log cabin, the girl had inexplicably dragged her into a photoshoot, muttering things like, “My inspiration is overflowing.”

The kind of words that were easy to misinterpret.

But before she could rest for long, her phone rang.

Someone was calling.

Jiang Ling was too lazy to get up.

Following the sound, she fumbled for her phone and pressed the answer button by memory.

“Who is it?”

She hadn’t looked at the screen, so she didn’t know who was calling.

“Jiang Ling?”

Hearing Jiang Ling’s voice, Fang Chenxi’s delicate, lipstick-coated lips pursed slightly, her eyes filled with resentment.

‘This person didn’t even save my contact information?’

She had specifically told her to do so when she gave Jiang Ling her number.

“Oh, it’s you. What’s up?”

Recognizing the familiar voice, Jiang Ling asked in confusion.

It was already dark out; Fang Chenxi couldn’t be calling to ask her to play games, could she?

“Are you two…”

Fang Chenxi had called to ask how many more days they would stay there.

Now that her issues were resolved, she was incredibly bored at home and wanted to visit them at the New Village.

But hearing Jiang Ling’s heavy panting, Fang Chenxi’s brow furrowed.

The words she intended to say turned into, “Where are you right now?”

“On the bed.”

“On the bed?”

Panting like that while just being on the bed?

Fang Chenxi’s pupils dilated as if she had thought of something terrible.

Her voice trembled slightly.

“Is Lu Yuyao with you?”

“Lu Yuyao… She just left. Why? Are you looking for her?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Now.

Right now.

Immediately.

Fang Chenxi booked the earliest bus ticket back to Lotus City for the next morning.

She gritted her teeth.

How had their relationship reached this level after only a few days apart!

Jiang Ling thought Fang Chenxi was acting strange.

If she wanted Lu Yuyao, why didn’t she call Lu Yuyao?

Why call her instead?

‘No, I have to go see what Lu Yuyao is drawing.’

If she dared to draw her completely naked… Jiang Ling would grab a backup copy first, then fight her for her life.

“You can’t draw anything too suggestive, okay?”

“Mhm.”

“You can’t show it to anyone else, either.”

“Mhm, mhm.”

Jiang Ling gave her instructions, but Lu Yuyao just nodded like a programmed robot.

Jiang Ling didn’t know if she was actually listening.

Just as she was about to say more, Lu Yuyao pushed her by the shoulders and kicked her out of the bedroom.

“I can’t draw with you here,” Lu Yuyao stated.

“Sigh.”

Jiang Ling let out a helpless sigh and returned to her own room, only to find that her phone screen was still lit up.

Jiang Ling was puzzled.

Had she set the standby timer to be that long?

She walked over and picked up the phone.

It showed an active call that had been going for forty minutes and was still counting.

Jiang Ling was speechless.

It turned out Fang Chenxi hadn’t hung up the phone at all.

“Fang Chenxi, are you crazy? Don’t your phone minutes cost money?”

“I have money.”

Fang Chenxi sounded as though she had truly been guarding her phone for the past half hour; her voice even held a hint of grievance.

“You ignored me for thirty minutes. I kept calling your name.”

Fang Chenxi was currently lying on her bed.

Thirty minutes ago, Jiang Ling had suddenly gone silent.

She thought Jiang Ling had gone to the bathroom, but after she didn’t return for so long, Fang Chenxi’s temper flared.

‘If you won’t hang up, then I won’t either.’

They would just waste time together.

“You really are something else, Fang Chenxi.”

Jiang Ling was almost laughing from frustration.

She had no idea what Fang Chenxi was doing; the girl wasn’t usually this nonsensical.

Suddenly, Jiang Ling remembered something and asked, “Didn’t you say you had to attend something? Is it over?”

“Mhm.”

The conversation suddenly went cold, and the atmosphere became a bit awkward.

After not seeing each other for a few days, Jiang Ling felt they had grown a bit distant.

“So, what were you doing?”

Jiang Ling asked, trying her best to liven up the mood.

“A blind date,” Fang Chenxi replied plainly, as if speaking about something trivial.

“A blind date?!”

After a startled cry, Jiang Ling covered her mouth, realizing she had lost her composure.

Her eyes were wide with shock.

The original book had never mentioned Fang Chenxi having any experience with blind dates.

“Why would you go…”

Before Jiang Ling could finish, Fang Chenxi added, “My family arranged it, but it’s been resolved.”

Jiang Ling understood what she meant by “resolved.”

Jiang Ling suddenly recalled that the original book had briefly mentioned that, for certain reasons, the relationship between Fang Chenxi and her family was strained.

However, it was only a mention and hadn’t been described in detail.

Thinking about it now, Fang Chenxi likely faced many obstacles from her family while pursuing Lu Yuyao after coming to Lotus City.

Jiang Ling’s gaze turned complicated.

If she were just reading a book, she might not feel much, but Fang Chenxi was currently on the phone telling her about it.

Perhaps Fang Chenxi had clashed with her parents and finally resolved the blind date issue, but she couldn’t bring herself to call Lu Yuyao for comfort because of her pride.

So, she could only vent to Jiang Ling as a friend.

Jiang Ling filled in the blanks, thinking it seemed quite reasonable.

On some level, Fang Chenxi actually had it quite rough.

‘Sigh. Jiang Ling, oh Jiang Ling, why are you, the villain, empathizing with the heroine again?’