“It does.” Luo Chaoxue squinted, her eyes curving into crescents. “After all, it’s the first time I’ve experienced this kind of confusion.”
Ming Li said, “Then you really should think it through.”
“Of course,” Luo Chaoxue said candidly. “I haven’t slept well in days.”
“Try melatonin,” Ming Li suggested. “Or listen to a podcast. I cured my insomnia for a while by listening to podcasts.”
Ming Li even provided a list of channels she followed. Originally, under her doctor’s recommendation, she only listened to the Snowy Mountain Peak podcast, but when that creator’s updates couldn’t keep up with her pace, she discovered several other high-quality channels.
Ming Li recommended them one by one, finally revealing her most precious collection: the archived episodes of Snowy Mountain Peak, which she called her ultimate sleep aid.
When Luo Chaoxue heard the name “Snowy Mountain Peak,” her lip twitched, and she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. When she heard the words “ultimate sleep aid,” her expression nearly crumbled. “Is that… a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It’s great, of course!” Ming Li said. “Before, I’d listen with great interest for over an hour before falling asleep. Now, I’m out in less than five minutes.”
Luo Chaoxue was speechless.
“Her content is wonderful,” Ming Li added. “You should give it a try.”
“…Alright,” Luo Chaoxue replied.
Back home, the first thing Luo Chaoxue did was message Zhongli Shi: [AAAAAAAAAAAGH!]
Zhongli Shi replied lazily: [What now?]
Luo Chaoxue: [Who else did you tell about my secret identity?! Zhongli!!]
Zhongli Shi: [You don’t trust me? I’m going to block you.]
Luo Chaoxue: [My neighbor found out about my pen name. I’m literally dying of embarrassment.]
Zhongli Shi: [?]
Luo Chaoxue suffered from “alias shame.” When she first started writing, she hadn’t expected to become famous, so she chose the somewhat arrogant name Snowy Mountain Peak because her own name contained the word “Snow.”
After her work took off, many people mocked her pen name, calling it arrogant or uncultured. This led her to quit social media and avoid reading reviews, and she was always too embarrassed to tell anyone her alias.
Zhongli Shi, being her first reader, naturally knew the truth. When Ming Li mentioned it just now, Luo Chaoxue had been so flustered she didn’t know where to put her hands. Her face had flushed instantly; luckily, Ming Li was too busy searching for podcast channels to notice. By the time Ming Li realized something was off, Luo Chaoxue had blamed it on being sleepy and rushed home.
Zhongli Shi asked: [How does your neighbor know?]
Luo Chaoxue: [I don’t know.]
Zhongli Shi: [Who is this neighbor anyway? Since when are you two so close?]
Luo Chaoxue: […]
A few minutes later, Luo Chaoxue’s phone rang. Zhongli Shi’s first words were: “Well, well, Snowy Mountain! I knew you were up to no good! Having an illicit affair behind my back, are you?!”
Luo Chaoxue sat at home, her head throbbing. “Zhongli, have I ever told you that you shouldn’t use idioms you don’t understand?”
“First, explain why you moved next door to Ming Li. Do you even know who she is?!” Zhongli Shi said indignantly. “I knew the way you looked at her wasn’t pure, but how could you do something like a sasaeng fan? This is going too far.”
Luo Chaoxue defended herself, “My moving here was purely accidental! It’s a coincidence.”
“But with coincidence after coincidence, I don’t think it’s a coincidence anymore.” Zhongli Shi paused. “You aren’t being the ‘other woman,’ are you?”
“Get out,” Luo Chaoxue snapped.
Zhongli Shi finally spoke seriously. “How should I put this? My feelings about this potential relationship of yours are… complicated.”
Luo Chaoxue was speechless. “Why are you complicated? Besides, it’s not a relationship yet. It’s just a one-sided attraction on my part.”
Ming Li was being perfectly candid with her. Previously, perhaps because Ming Li was going through a dark time, she hadn’t wanted to be friends. But now, Ming Li had clearly moved on from the past and didn’t see it as a big deal anymore. They had become friends.
The things Luo Chaoxue said this morning were both a way to help Ming Li and a way to pave her own path. Luo Chaoxue could see that Ming Li had invested a lot of emotion in her previous marriage, and extracting herself must have been agonizing. Furthermore, Ming Li was far too gentle; her lack of clear boundaries with people she cared about allowed others to constantly invade her territory.
Luo Chaoxue had subtly reminded her that Gu Qingshuang was already knocking on her door again. If she had no intentions, she shouldn’t leave the door unlatched.
But she didn’t tell Zhongli Shi any of this. Until she had sorted out her own thoughts and feelings, this one-sided attraction could not be voiced aloud. Zhongli Shi was simply too smart and knew her too well.
“The person is good, but her emotional history is too complex,” Zhongli Shi commented.
Luo Chaoxue was stunned. “She’s only had one relationship, and you call that complex?”
“…”
The statement left Zhongli Shi dazed for a few seconds before she said awkwardly, “Well, she was married to the head of the Gu family.”
Luo Chaoxue spoke with conviction, “Getting married isn’t the same as going to prison. Why do you make it sound like she has a criminal record?”
“Damn! I was taking your side! You ungrateful dog, Luo Chaoxue!”
Luo Chaoxue gave a flat “Oh.” Zhongli Shi was shocked. “You really don’t care at all? She’s been married, and you’ve never even been in a relationship.”
Luo Chaoxue frowned. “It doesn’t matter.”
As long as she decided she liked someone, nothing else mattered. Whether they had been to prison or committed a crime wouldn’t change her mind. Because the person she liked was that specific person.
After hearing this, Zhongli Shi whispered, “Sister Luo, it seems my understanding of you was far too shallow.”
With the distraction from Zhongli Shi, Luo Chaoxue finally forgot the shame of hearing her alias from Ming Li’s mouth. She played with her dog for a while before getting ready to work.
When she opened her laptop in the study, she remembered her podcast hadn’t been updated in a long time. Ming Li had just mentioned that Snowy Mountain Peak updated too slowly.
So, Luo Chaoxue’s fingers flew across the keyboard. She quickly drafted a new script, skipped lunch, and began an emergency recording session.
At 8:30 PM, the Snowy Mountain Peak podcast updated with three new episodes. This was so rare that it actually began trending on Weibo.
Luo Chaoxue had worked non-stop. Once the upload was complete, her mind felt empty, that sensation of blood loss that comes from overexertion. She leaned back in her chair for a moment, then walked out of the study and collapsed onto the living room sofa, falling fast asleep. Insomnia? It didn’t exist.
![[GL]Whose Wife Is Always Acting Pitiful? Oh, It Turns Out It’s Mine](https://i2.wp.com/dobytranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/wiffff.png?resize=151,215 "[GL]Whose Wife Is Always Acting Pitiful? Oh, It Turns Out It’s Mine")