Solidity – How to Log a Returned Variable Instead of Entire Transaction Receipt in Hardhat (TypeScript)

I have a function, fn(), in a contract that returns a variable. I am then testing said function's returned variable value in a Hardhat unit test written in TypeScript. However, when I console.log the output of calling fn(), it logs the entire transaction receipt.

If I then alter the function to be either a view or pure function, it logs the actual value of the returned variable. The problem is that I need to test that the function actually alters a state variable. How do I remedy this?

function that logs tx receipt:

fn() public returns(uint8) {
    uint8 numberLogged = 1;
    return numberLogged;
}

function that logs variable's value:

fn() public pure /*or view*/ returns(uint8) {
    uint8 numberLogged = 1;
    return numberLogged;
}

unit test:

import { FnContract } from "../typechain/FnContract";

describe("FnContract contract test", function () {
    let fnContract: FnContract;

    it("logs the output of fn()", async function() {
        const fnContractFactory = await ethers.getContractFactory("FnContract");

        const accounts = await ethers.getSigners();

        const accountOne = accounts[0];
        const accountTwo = accounts[1];

        fnContract = (await fnContractFactory.deploy()) as FnContract;

        const numberLogged = await fnContract.fn();
        await numberLogged.wait();

        console.log(numberLogged);
    })

Lastly, I am currently learning TypeScript, so could it possibly be in how I set up the TypeScript test file?