Fall In Love With A Substitute

It’s this much of a coincidence?

“The endorsement this time is the new collection that the Chen family is releasing, The Mermaid.”

After Lin Qinglu was done recording, she headed back to her personal make-up room. Luo Chun followed her and brought up the subject of the endorsement: “Chen has always continued to go the high-end, niche route. The style of TM’s series is easier for the public to accept as a brand trying to pioneer a domain. Taking these into account, they’ve selected you.”

Lin Qinglu’s power to rally supporters, influence, and the frequency in which she’s the hot topic are all undeniable. From the time she debuted, she had always occupied third place in the overall celebrity ranking. Regardless of whether or not any works had been published or whatever trending little flower made it into the market, none of it was able to affect her position.

The brand was under her endorsement, and its power continued to grow. It was able to form many miraculous sales, so many, to the extent that it would offer up money with cupped hands to Lin Qinglu, begging her to be its ambassador.

“This is the result of a mutual choice. Chen’s brand image is very good and is beneficial for improving your reputation.” Luo Chun pushed down on her glasses: “Of course, they’ve also given you a really sincere reward.”

“Mhm.”

Lin Qinglu replied sluggishly and scanned through the detailed information in her hand. At the beginning of the report, it went over a concrete introduction of the history of Chen’s brand.

Her finger streaked across one group of words: “…acquired by the Song family?”

“Uh-huh, about thirty or so years ago, I’d say. Because the surname of the Song family’s madame is Chen, the patriarch at the time purchased Chen and gave it to his wife as a present.”[1]

Luo Chun who knew the information by heart said, 

“It was also because of this reason that Chen has such a tight grasp over its endorsement, steering clear of trouble and never compromising due to the market. The celebrities that are invited are all ones that the madame is fond of. The invite this time is also an olive branch that the Song family threw.”[2]

Lin Qinglu recalled that there was only that Song Zhe who she had met once.

He was also a member of the Song family?

She stopped speaking momentarily.

“What? Are you unsatisfied?”

“No, that’s not the case.” Lin Qinglu grabbed the report and flipped to end, not paying heed anymore to the Song family. Her voice contained hints of amusement as she said, “With this endorsement that’s been approved by you, how could there be anything wrong with it?”

Luo Chun was quite confident in her own work capability. She lightly sucked in a breath and her tone became more serious: 

“Alright, now that we’ve gone over TM, let’s discuss the second endorsement.”

“Second?” Lin Qinglu raised her eyebrow in astonishment and stared at Luo Chun.

***

At the entrance to the film studio, Jian Yixin encountered two people, Ye Zixuan and Shen Yu.

Ye Zixuan radiated happiness. When she saw Jian Yixin, she perked up with a lovable smile: 

“Pianxian, we were just about to get something to eat. You wanna go together?”

One shouldn’t hit a smiling person, so Jian Yixin merely said, “You two should go. I’m going to find Ms. Lin.”[3]

Moreover, with her there, Shen Yu likely wouldn’t have much of an appetite anymore, no?

Ye Zixuan’s smile fell, her mouth faintly shriveling and her voice tender and indulgent, acting as if she were a spoiled child: “Even after calling out to you and saying hi a few times, you still won’t honor me with your presence?”

Shen Yu’s complexion was exceedingly poor, and in a restrained manner he said, “Little Lily, she has business with Ms. Lin.”[4]

Each word that he spoke contained a gloomy and aggrieved feeling. Additionally, while behind Ye Zixuan, his glare was boring through Jian Yixin.

Jian Yixin was exasperated as she was innocent. She also didn’t understand why Ye Zixuan would always call out to her. How many times had it been by now?

What’s wrong with this supporting male lead? He can’t win against the male lead, and he can’t even win against a stranger?

He really is too weak.

Ye Zixuan reluctantly let Song Pianxian go. When Shen Yu saw her in low spirits, he couldn’t bear it anymore and finally asked her: “You like approaching Song Pianxian that much?”

“She’s very pretty, you know?” Ye Zixuan explained seriously.

Shen Yu: ……

He simply could not find any way to retort.

Ye Zixuan softly sighed and said with a voice of disbelief: “Why does everyone like Lin Qinglu?”

Shen Yu, anxious to make his deep affection known, said tersely, “I don’t.”

It’s a pity that Ye Zixuan’s thoughts weren’t on him, so she didn’t continue the conversation at all.

Even Song Pianxian treats Lin Qinglu this well. For what reason?

She also wanted an amiable big sis like her.

Ye Zixuan didn’t speak, leaving Shen Yu with no other choice but to keep the conversation going by himself: “Didn’t you mention recently that you’ve managed to receive good resources? Once you begin rising, surpassing Lin Qinglu is only a matter of time.”

Yes, that’s right. It’s only a matter of time.

After a momentary gloominess, Ye Zixuan quickly regained her cheerfulness. She raised her spirits, her eyes brimming with passion.

Yeah, obtaining an endorsement that even Lin Qinglu could not was her first step to surpassing Lin Qinglu—

until Lin Qinglu was the one under her feet.

***

“…HY’s director has a very enthusiastic attitude. I’m ninety percent sure that we’ve got this in the bag.” For the always arrogant luxury brand to treat an actress in such an amiable way, Luo Chun had fought against many challenges in the entertainment circle for a very long time and naturally understood the hidden implications. Even so, she didn’t elaborate too much on it.

“Either an individual product or the Asia-Pacific Region endorsement should be guaranteed.” Luo Chun’s gaze turned scorching. “If it’s the international brand endorsement…then in the endorsement aspect, you’d be considered at the very top.”

Lin Qinglu’s acting was indisputable, but her experience was shallow. Not to speak of the fact that five years ago, Lin Qinglu could only be treated as a newcomer in the entertainment circle. Of course they wouldn’t take her into account for such a luxury.

After five years, Lin Qinglu had obtained enough luxury brands for people to cast sidelong glances.

The time it took her to reach the summit was unmatched by anyone.

The reason Luo Chun wanted to meet with me immediately after is because of these two important endorsements.

After the initial shock, Lin Qinglu soon noticed something: “Of HY’s shareholders, is the Song family also one of them?”

Stupefied, Luo Chun affirmed, “That’s right, the Song family also holds some authority.”

Lin Qinglu leaned back and her fingers streaked across her temple. She twirled the strands of hair as they bristled in a lingering way, and her voice was mixed with bewilderment: 

“It’s this much of a coincidence?”

The author wants to say something:

I’m back!

I saw that some cuties were asking what blue blood means.

During the old times in Castilla, Spain the aristocrats declared their own lineage the most noble and pure, using the blue blood flowing in their veins as proof. Hence, “blue blood” is now used as a general term for the noble and elite.

Selected from the ones on a website, the models for the prestigious entities in the world are the six big brands that have stood tall for a century and are known as “blue-blooded brands”: at present there’s Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Calvin Klein.

The information above is from the internet.

TL Notes:

She’s starting to feel suspicious heh

[1] the latter “Chen” that is used refers to the company, not the surname

[2] olive branch: a symbol of peace/end of a conflict

[3] a common saying meaning “to not turn away from/be petty toward someone who’s trying to apologize/be on good terms with you”

[4] would “Buttercup” or smth else sound better, you think? Mainly used “Little Lily” cause the nickname was based off the “萱 (xuan1)” in her name, which means “daylily”