Fall In Love With A Substitute

She really was quite eager to see Lin Qinglu’s expression

After the dinner party, Ji Jing at first thought that HY would be quite quick to reply, but he didn’t expect that—

“President, HY said that it will be done in accordance with procedure. A reply will be sent within seven business days,” said Xiaozhou as he hung his head low.

Ji Jing displayed a look of displeasure. HY sure does have the gall, becoming more and more arrogant.

Even so, the fact of the matter was that he was the one depending on others for help. As such, he could only obediently wait.

Ji Jing tossed aside his pen and said, “Find a way to communicate with HY’s higher-ups.”

He emphasized the word “communicate”. Xiaozhou understood what he meant.

Before the results were even announced, HY suddenly shifted its stance. There was definitely some sort of trouble that arose without his knowing.

I must figure this out. 

Ji Jing was just then thinking when a burst of racket could be heard from the doorway. Starlight’s gold-level manager Wu Cai had rushed into the room.

“President Ji, please don’t stop me.”

Wu Cai raised her eyebrows and screeched, “Out of all of Starlight’s female celebrities, the face of the business is obviously our Weiwei who is also Starlight’s movie queen!”

“Ultimately, when it came time for HY to begin selecting people, you let that wet-behind-the-ears and unpopular Ye Zixuan go up? What is the meaning of this?” Wu Cai ridiculed, “Has Starlight just turned into a place where only you have any say? Giving priority solely to your own people—”

“What nonsense!” Ji Jing snapped back. After a few moments, his expression relaxed and he said, “Who should be considered as a spokesperson is HY’s own decision. It’s not something that can be influenced by Starlight.”

What he said sounded reasonable, but Wu Cai wasn’t some sweet, naive young woman. She had her own channels.

She asserted, “That’s enough, isn’t it? The list of names is full of movie stars: Tianhou or the trending Ji to cite a few. Does Ye Zixuan’s name deserve to be written with theirs?”

“You should pay careful attention to what you say!” Ji Jing had honestly lost his patience due to the woman who was shrieking like a chicken. If it weren’t for the board of directors behind Wu Cai’s back—

“To say it like this, does this mean you know who is on the list?” Ji Jing set aside the loathing he felt and seized the key point.

“Hah, naturally.” Wu Cai, no longer agitated, tidied up her clothes and leisurely said, “Truthfully speaking, my visit here today was firstly, to let you know that the entirety of your deeds is known to everyone, so stop making people out to be idiots.”

“Secondly, it’s to graciously inform you that you should hurry and stop wasting your efforts. As far as the people on that list are concerned, the switching out of our Weiwei is, nonetheless, our loss.”

Once she was finished speaking, without waiting for Ji Jing to interrogate further, she merely cast a sidelong glance at him and left without turning back. Acting as if she were a great rooster that had won a cockfight, shaking its grand and brightly-colored tail feathers, she strutted back to her office.

The first order of business was to open WeChat. Among the sea of people, she found the person she was looking for, a partner of her own—Luo Chun.

With a pit-a-pat, she recounted the whole affair. Immediately after, she took a few hearty gulps of water and then said, “Despicable. I’m just disgusted with Ji Jing. He dares to act but doesn’t dare to admit to it and takes a person for a fool.”

“Lin Qinglu will be able to secure it, right? Despite the fact that it’s only a spot as a spokesperson for the Asia-Pacific Region, that’s still no reason to waste it on Ye Zixuan.”

On the screen Luo Chun, wearing black-framed glasses, chuckled after hearing what she said. “HY’s director contacted me and took some data, which implied that they had a thorough understanding of the situation.”

Now, this is promising! Just as Wu Cai’s eyes brightened, Luo Chun said, “However, I’m still uncertain about the Asia-Pacific Region.”

“Eh?”

“HY’s intentions behind leaking their further inspections are to review Qinglu and see whether or not she is capable of doing international endorsements.”

“?!!!” Wu Cai’s body straightened abruptly. “Fuck!”

“Are you serious??” Wu Cai felt like yelling again. “Thud! At this point our Weiwei is even less of a match for Lin Qinglu.”

That’s what’s called a blue-blooded luxury brand endorsement! 

There’s no way that Wu Cai wasn’t feeling sour. Nevertheless, despite Ji Jing’s telling one lie after the other, there was a speck of truth in what he said. Xu Weiwei not being accepted is simply just that. Not being accepted. It has nothing to do with other people.

Wu Cai had just come to terms with the reality of the situation, and yet now she was told that what Lin Qinglu was on the verge of receiving was more than a blue-blooded regional endorsement? That it was perhaps the unparalleled international endorsement??

“It’s still not definite, so I’m unable to say,” Luo Chun said reservedly.

“The way you’re currently acting is like a child prodigy’s parents telling us that the grades of our family’s child aren’t particularly good.”

Luo Chun smiled without a word.

Wu Cai felt so sour that she was compelled to spend an enormous amount of money treating others to dinner. Luo Chun simply smiled and agreed, disregarding the lack of justification.

After Wu Cai left, Ji Jing’s complexion darkened.

He thought for a while and then had his secretary get in touch with Song Zhe. Once the phone was connected, Special Assistant Li Hua obstructed him.

“The project has already been finalized. In regards to the specific details, Starlight may directly connect with Cedarwood.”

Cedarwood is a business that recently went through an enterprise transformation and wanted to collaborate with Starlight.

Ji Jing only just realized this: with Starlight’s level, they could not hope to have a personal dialogue with the policymaker Mr. Song and talk about private matters that had nothing to with the project itself.

Ye Zixuan’s face flashed through his mind, and he resolved himself: “The contract has been signed, but only once the follow-ups[1] are fully established, can Starlight once more make concessions.” Ji Jing asserted, “This time, will I have the chance to speak with President Song?”

No businessman would reject attainable profits.

From the time he first sat in this position within the entertainment circle, he, Ji Jing, had always been successful in every endeavor. Presently, he had determined this to be the case and that this time would be no exception.

Thus, in front of the worshiper Ye Zixuan, though Mr. Song still had not sent a formal reply, Ji Jing was sure of his success. Concealed within his lukewarm smile was arrogance: “You can rest assured about the issue of the endorsement.”

Once Ye Zixuan received the affirmation, the weight in heart lifted and she became increasingly more lofty.

When she saw Luo Chun arrive behind the cast and crew members, this bit of confidence she had gained instantly began to waver.

She was unable to explain clearly what that sensation was. It were as if a small rock hung from her heart and made a jolt, painfully scraping against it.

Ye Zixuan just then noticed something: as the results hadn’t been released yet, she still subconsciously feared that there would be mishaps. And what she feared most was this mishap. Her. Lin Qinglu.

While Lin Qinglu was in the middle of shooting a scene, Luo Chun went to chat with the director. Ye Zixuan grabbed her glass of water, thought for a moment, and moved closer to them. Then, acting as if nothing had happened, she looked at the film site.

“…What are you here for this time?”

“We’ve more or less finished discussing the endorsement we managed to get for Qinglu.”

Ye Zixuan tightened her grip on the glass, her fingers turning pale from the pressure. 

“Eh? What endorsement?”

“A line of watches,” Luo Chun said as she pushed down on her glasses.

Ye Zixuan let out a sudden exhale and felt her heart fiercely returning to her chest.

Good, it’s not HY.

Plus, Ji Jing had also already mentioned that HY was hers. What did she have to worry about?

The smile on Ye Zixuan’s face was once again restored and was even more apparent than before.

If Lin Qinglu receives an ordinary endorsement at the same time I personally receive a blue-blooded one…

She really was quite eager to see Lin Qinglu’s expression.

The author wants to say something:

No computer and a new phone, so if there are any mistakes, wait for me to go home and then fix them qaq

Goodnight, everyone

TL Notes:

Recently caught up with a webtoon called Surviving Romance. If ya don’t have anything to read I highly recommend it. Doesn’t have much romance (if at all) but the character development and plot is really good. Sweet Home is also really good tho it’s a bit more on the graphic side

[1] Not too sure about this TL tbh, feel like something else would sound better