84 Blackholes (1/2)
The moment Fang Yuanyuan came back, she collapsed onto the sofa and began to order her elder cousin around, not moving even a finger.
”Sis, hurry and get me a cup of water, I'm dying of thirst!”
At that moment, Xiang Wan had an apron on and was making dinner in the kitchen. When she heard Yuanyuan's voice as if she was ordering a maid around, she wished she could kick her to the outer space.
”There's no young missy in my house! Don't order me around when you get home!”
”Oh, you sure this is your house to begin with? Will you help me or not?”
”Fine!”
Xiang Wan snorted and placed the water on the coffee table.
”Drink up, young missy!”
”Heheh! Thank you.” Fang Yuanyuan picked up the glass of water and drank more than half of the water before puffing a sigh of satisfaction. ”You're still the best! You're the nicest to me! You're not my cousin, you're totally my real sister.”
No matter what happened or how awkward Xiang Wan could be at times, she would still help her ultimately. This was the reason why Fang Yuanyuan loved to hang out with Xiang Wan—she was honest, straightforward, and loyal. Xiang Wan handled things in a way that could make one comfortable. She was someone who knew when to stop.
The kitchen lights were on.
Fang Yuanyuan saw the lights and closed her eyes. She relaxed herself by lying flat on the sofa, relieving her work stress accumulated during the day.
”It smells so nice. Sis, what kind of delicious food are you making me today?”
”Who's making you delicious food? I want to eat them myself too.”
”Haha! Don't say such hurtful things?” Fang Yuanyuan sighed and suddenly talked about life. ”Why do you think women need a man in their lives? We are able to earn and spend our own money. We buy our own bags, lipsticks; we even cook our own meals and fix the toilet bowls. We depend on ourselves for everything. By finding a man, we actually restrain ourselves, we get heartbroken and worry all the time, isn't that self-torture?”
”Hurhur!”
Xiang Wan lifted the lid of a cooking pot and filled a bowl of soup for Fang Yuanyuan.
”Wait for it to cool a little before you drink.”
”Wow! It's my favorite beauty and slimming tonic soup? Sis, I love you, I love you so much.”
”What happened to you today?”
”Nothing?” Fang Yuanyuan stroked the soup bowl with a finger, but it was so hot she immediately touched her ear lobe. ”A girl at the editorial department fell out of love and cried the whole day. I felt vexed and suddenly realized that I loved you the most.”
”Nah, cut it out, you always say this whenever you're out of love. If you have time to say you love me, why not prove it with your actions? Hurry and help me setup the table for dinner.”
Fang Yuanyuan pouted and got up lazily from the sofa.
”Geez, there's really nothing much to talk to a female otaku like you.”
”What? Who's the female otaku?” Flames of anger shot from Xiang Wan's eyes. ”Don't eat what I've cooked tonight!”
”I'm wrong, sis.” Fang Yuanyuan giggled and slapped her mouth lightly. ”How could I say my cousin who's as pretty as a fairy is a female otaku? It should be old virgin!”
”Fang, Yuan, Yuan! I'm going to kill you!”
”Help! Detective Bai…”
Xiang Wan felt surprised and dismayed at the same time.
”What's this got to do with him?”
”Hahaha!”
Both of them joked around, and soon enough, the table was cleared.
In principle, Xiang Wan liked to cook but she did not like to clean up the kitchen. The kitchen was in such a mess because of her sudden urge to whip up a good meal. At the moment, it was hard to find a place to walk. All the ”battle marks” in the kitchen made Fang Yuanyuan felt numb all over.
”Sis, I beg of you, don't ever cook again in future.”
”You're responsible for washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen anyway. Why shouldn't I cook? This is perfect! Sumptuous! Let's eat!”
Xiang Wan removed the apron, ignoring Yuanyuan. She sat down, grinning as she filled her bowl with rice.
Fang Yuanyuan gave her a stare when she turned her head suddenly. ”Which family's kid is crying?”
Xiang Wan listened carefully as she heard the familiar voice of the little boy who was crying at the top of his voice.
”It's the fourth floor kid, I met them when I came back. His mom is at home, we need not worry about it.”
She thought that since the boy's mother was at home and it was dinner time, there was no need for her to meddle with their affairs.
Both of them filled their bowls of rice and ate their meal. Xiang Wan talked about her plot with Fang Yuanyuan.
Around 10 or more minutes later, the kid gradually stopped crying.
Xiang Wan furrowed her eyebrows. She suddenly felt out of sorts as she kept recalling the images of the expressionless face of her fourth floor neighbor.
After dinner, Fang Yuanyuan washed the dishes while Xiang Wan sat in front of her laptop.
As if under the influence of the creepy thoughts, she made a bold move by making her female protagonist link up the ”Case of the Fountain Goddess” together with the earlier murder case of ”Charming Tycoon Killed by His Car”…
”Recently, Rong Xiaonuan had been having the same dreams every night. In the dream, the path that she always took was filled with deep, black holes that no one knew how deep it was. A soul of a dead person was hidden in every such hole. Every time she walked past a hole, a case would be unlocked. She seemed to be related to the development of the events but was unable to control it. She could only look on as each black hole gets activated and the soul within slowly appeared, growling and bawling ghastly in the dark night, saying, 'there is no justice in the world', 'the order of the world is brutal', and 'the ugliest is the human nature'…”
”Rong Xiaonuan was alarmed, terrified and helpless. She treaded carefully along the path as she stepped on the barren land of darkness, trying her best not to step on the black holes. But the black holes keep appearing in front of her, relentlessly. She got extremely tired but was unable to stop anything. As if guided by destiny, she could only search for the cause of the reason why the black holes were activated…”
She elevated her story.
To that of where conspiracy and darkness pervaded.
A simple murder case and a suicide case turned into a conspiracy which was made up with numerous corpses.
As she wrote her story, she got completely absorbed in it. She was progressing toward the direction of the conspiracy as though she followed the smell of it. Gradually, she seemed to be in a trance, unable to ascertain between her story and the reality.
She was writing her story; in her story, the female protagonist, Rong Xiaonuan, was also writing her story. In Rong Xiaonuan's story, her female lead was also writing the same story…
It kept repeating and repeating.
The case within the novel, the novel within the case.
There was a story within her novel, and a novel within the story.
All of Xiang Wan's senses, including her sixth sense, were at work. Her nerves were tense, and the sounds of the keyboard continued to fill the room. It was as if she had entered another dimension of her own as she failed to notice when Fang Yuanyuan entered the bedroom.
”Sis?” Fang Yuanyuan called her.
Xiang Wan did not respond. The light emitting from the laptop screen made her seem as if having an ashen face.
Fang Yuanyuan took a look at her and placed a plate of fruits on the table. Then she got onto the bed and played with her mobile phone.
Subsequently, Fang Yuanyuan did a lot of things.
She bathed, blow dried her hair, and watched television shows, but Xiang Wan still did not respond.
…
Xiang Wan wrote that chapter till 11:00 p.m.
The long hours were like trekking, and she was completely caught up in her story.
When she turned around, Fang Yuanyuan had already fallen asleep.
The plate of cut fruits on the computer table were totally untouched.
Xiang Wan was a bit lost. She felt an unusual sense of strangeness to what happened in reality as if she had never experienced this before.
Writing a book really required a great amount of brain power.
No wonder there were writers who suffered from mental illness and seeked psychiatric help…
…
After Xiang Wan uploaded her chapter, she would check out her reviews and comments page as per usual.
The recent chapters for the past two days were catered to the female audience, and her readers were especially active in leaving comments.
”When will we see holding hands and kissing scenes?”
”Does Detective Fang really like Rong Xiaonuan? I feel like he is so proud, arrogant, unreasonable, and doesn't know how to treat others nicely. I'm worried for Nuannuan.”
”You may feel good to act aloof, but it's going to be a hell lot of difficulty to win her heart back. I'm dedicating this sentence to Detective Fang Yelan.”
”Gu Yusheng obviously likes Rong Xiaonuan more. Why did she want to make her life difficult to go near someone who treats her neither hot nor cold? I don't like the female lead. She's not capable and likes to create drama…”