Chapter 26: A Chance Encounter

Su Shiyi had only said it casually, after all, it was Meng Yiyao who started the provocation. After her verbal jab, she was ready to drag Wu Feifei away.

However, Meng Yiyao called out to her, “Su Shiyi, wait!”

Su Shiyi thought the confrontation was over, so she was surprised that this beautiful supporting character still had something to say to her.

“I want to speak with you alone,” Meng Yiyao still wore that proud expression, but her tone was a bit awkward. “Come with me to the VIP room, and don’t let anyone else in.”

After saying this, she led the way inside, leaving her followers behind, looking at each other in confusion. They hadn’t expected things to develop this way.

Su Shiyi was also puzzled. This was her first time meeting Meng Yiyao, so why was she being treated like an old acquaintance? But seeing that the other party had taken the initiative to invite her, she decided to go inside and chat with the beautiful supporting character.

Sigh, the original author of this novel was a disaster when it came to world-building, but clearly put a lot of effort into character development. Even a pitiful character like “Su Shiyi” had been assigned a delicate and charming image, while the true “second female lead,” Meng Yiyao, was the epitome of a seductive beauty.

Why did all the beautiful women like Gu Chen? Was it just because he had the protagonist aura?

The VIP room in the store was elegantly decorated. After the staff served drinks to Su Shiyi and Meng Yiyao, they quickly left, fearing that they might get caught in the crossfire.

Catfights among wealthy daughters were common, and they had seen enough to know it was better to leave quickly.

Su Shiyi thought Meng Yiyao was going to continue the argument, but just as she began to wonder what else the other could pick a fight over, Meng Yiyao took out a bank card from her small bag and pushed it in front of Su Shiyi.

She awkwardly adjusted her skirt. “I was going to ask my secretary to do this, but since we met, I’ll just give it to you. This is twenty million, and the password is 220530.”

Su Shiyi: ?

Wait, what’s going on here? Why do you people always like to throw bank cards at others when you’re upset? And considering her current status, is this amount supposed to humiliate her?

Even if you added a zero, Gu Lang’s dad could still give her that amount.

Meng Yiyao cleared her throat a few times. “About that… women’s support organization of yours, I… I’ll give a little support. But you can’t tell anyone that I contributed, just count it as an anonymous donation, and keep it confidential!”

Su Shiyi: …

She remembered now. After the Xue Lanying incident caused a stir on Weibo, Gu Pan was the first to speak up for her, and the entire high society in the capital had been somewhat involved in donating money, except for Meng Yiyao.

She hadn’t really thought much about it. After all, money given away in this way was basically charity—it wasn’t going to come back, and she wasn’t going to morally pressure anyone into contributing. She had donated five million to help women trapped in difficult marriages on a whim, and later, with Kevin’s leadership, a non-profit organization named HMW (Help More Women) was established.

The organization’s main focus was still on female victims of domestic violence within marriages. With sufficient funding, numerous volunteers, and professionals coming forward, they were working on structuring the organization internally, drawing from both domestic and international experiences to make HMW more professional and diverse.

For Meng Yiyao, twenty million wasn’t much. Su Shiyi didn’t feel guilty about accepting the money, but she was still curious. “Helping women is not a bad thing, and it would also have a positive impact on your reputation. Why don’t you want to make it public?”

Meng Yiyao pouted. “Gu Pan was the first to donate. If I follow her, it’ll seem like I’m just jumping on the bandwagon. Hmph, I’m not going to do that.”

Su Shiyi: …

It seemed like she understood why Meng Yiyao was donating twenty million now. Even if it was anonymous, she wanted to one-up Gu Pan, didn’t she?

Clearly, everyone was just doing good together—what’s the point of all this? They had all donated to the women’s support organization, anonymously and without seeking fame, but still, Meng Yiyao was full of hostility toward Gu Pan, another woman. Does this really make sense? Doesn’t Meng Yiyao realize her logic is flawed?

She just didn’t understand. 【Image: confusion】

But then she suddenly thought of something. “So, what you were saying earlier… was that to grab my attention?”

“I wasn’t!” Meng Yiyao immediately reacted, as if she’d had her tail stepped on. “How could I do something like that… That would be so childish, I wouldn’t do that!”

Su Shiyi nodded with a slight smile. Meng Yiyao repeated herself: she didn’t, absolutely didn’t.

If she had any knowledge of psychology, she wouldn’t be so obvious—her gaze darting away, her speech speed fluctuating, her facial muscles out of sync, and the constant small movements that practically screamed “I’m not telling the truth.”

Sexy beauty (×)

Foolish beauty (√)

The conversation could have ended here, but Su Shiyi couldn’t suppress her curiosity and asked:

“Is it because of Gu Chen that you’re so focused on Gu Pan?”

At the mention of the male lead’s name, Meng Yiyao almost reflexively nodded. “I’m the one who’s most qualified to be Mrs. Gu. It’s Gu Pan who stole my spot.”

“Do you like Gu Chen?”

Of course, Meng Yiyao thought this was ridiculous but still answered, “Of course, I like him.”

“What do you like about him?”

Su Shiyi rested her chin on her hand, her eyes filled with curiosity. “I don’t mean anything by it, just asking out of a spirit of scientific exploration. I understand why other girls like him—he’s very rich, but you’re rich too. So why do you like him?”

Meng Yiyao hesitated for a moment but still replied, “Liking someone doesn’t need a reason.”

Su Shiyi: “…I think it’s more like you can’t even come up with a unique quality of his, huh?”

Since the conversation was getting rather dull, Su Shiyi began to list out points one by one with Meng Yiyao. She wasn’t really aiming for anything in particular, she just finally had the chance to complain about Gu Chen to someone else, so of course, she was going to say everything on her mind.

“If it’s his looks you’re into, well, okay, he’s decent-looking, but there are plenty of male stars in the entertainment industry who are better looking than him. There are all kinds of styles, and they definitely wouldn’t give you a cold shoulder.”

“If it’s because he’s good at making money—Meng’s family doesn’t lack excellent business talents. Even if your family can’t compete, the person you admire most should be my dad, who’s Gu Lang.”

“If it’s because of his personality… uh, well, you should watch some videos of those arrogant, over-the-top CEOs. There are even more exaggerated ones out there. And do you really think it’s cool, a guy who acts like his eyes are at the top of his head?”

Su Shiyi could go on for days and nights complaining about Gu Chen. As a typical overbearing CEO male lead in an old-fashioned Mary Sue novel, Gu Chen’s baffling behavior and thought patterns were filled with so many flaws. If it had been before, she might have cared a little about how the golden sponsor thought of her, but now it was different.

She, Su Shiyi, had the support of Gu Lang behind her. (feeling smug)

The more she spoke, the more excited she got, while her system, always on silent in her mind, was still making useless, angry noises.

Su Shiyi, this unpredictable troublemaker, how dare she stir up conflict between the male and female leads, and now she’s badmouthing the male lead in front of the second female lead? How could this be allowed?!

Even if Gu Chen isn’t perfect, he’s the male lead! With the male lead halo around him, no matter what he does, all the female characters should worship him, shouldn’t they? Isn’t it natural for them to adore him and fawn over him?

The system was furious, jumping up and down, but there was nothing it could do about Su Shiyi. It could only watch as Meng Yiyao—this second female lead, who was deeply in love with the male lead, willing to die for him—had her expression gradually change in some way.

At first, when she heard Su Shiyi badmouthing Gu Chen, Meng Yiyao couldn’t be bothered. Since Su Shiyi had a good relationship with Gu Pan, she assumed Su Shiyi had ulterior motives and was trying to tarnish Gu Chen’s reputation and break her bond with him. But as she listened…

Hey, it seemed like everything she said was actually true, and there was no exaggeration. Some things she hadn’t heard before even felt like “this is totally something Gu Chen could do.”

What’s going on? The examples Su Shiyi gave sounded so infuriating. How did she not notice these bizarre actions of Gu Chen before?

It wasn’t exactly outrageous, though—though strange, they weren’t illegal. At worst, he was just impolite and had low emotional intelligence. But for Meng Yiyao, who had received elite education and had great manners, Gu Chen had always been the epitome of the perfect partner in her mind, which is why she felt Gu Pan didn’t deserve him, and only she was worthy.

Meng Yiyao’s mindset slowly shifted from “What is she even talking about?” to “What’s really going on here?” Her feelings went from disdain to confusion, and finally to an inexplicable anger. She didn’t know what had happened to her, but Su Shiyi understood—

“This is a collapse.” She casually summarized, “You’ve been holding Gu Chen up as your faith, but now you realize, he’s not all that great. At least, to you, he’s not excellent enough to make you act like you did before—crazy in love with him.”

“To be honest, I feel like you were brainwashed before. Do you really like Gu Chen? If you do, shouldn’t you accept everything about him?”

Like a thunderbolt out of nowhere, these words struck Meng Yiyao’s brain with precision. For years, the instinct within her body had tried to prove her “love” for Gu Chen, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out.

Yes, she wasn’t lacking in money, and she was loved by her family. The Meng family treated her like a precious gem. What was she really after, following Gu Chen around, watching his disdainful glances? What made her unable to forget him, his unique qualities?

She couldn’t answer.

Su Shiyi had no idea that the system in Meng Yiyao’s head had already cursed her future lives, then dropped another bombshell that was even more destructive than a nuclear bomb to the original plot:

“And… knowing that Gu Chen has someone else he loves and is already in a relationship, your constant provocation towards Gu Pan… Hmm, I don’t want to use harsh words for a girl, but it’s really not great. Have you ever thought about how this might look to others? It’s actually quite embarrassing, isn’t it?”

Meng Yiyao froze.

She wasn’t stupid. Su Shiyi was speaking gently, but the ultimate meaning of those words was, wasn’t it saying that she was the third party?

She, Meng Yiyao, was an influential figure in the elite social circle of the capital. The image others had of her was now… that of the third party?

Any girl with even a little dignity would go crazy after hearing herself described like this!

Meng Yiyao stood there like a statue, unable to react. These revelations, which shattered her long-held beliefs, were too powerful, making it impossible for her to immediately digest this information. Meanwhile, Su Shiyi had already stood up and politely bid her farewell.

Compared to the stunned Meng Yiyao, Su Shiyi, who had just shattered her worldview, felt completely relaxed. As for the system nearly being driven crazy—she had no idea.

She had only shared a few of her opinions, pointing out a few bugs in the world’s logic chain. She hadn’t really done anything, had she?

Girls like Meng Yiyao, who came from privileged families and had received elite education, would always experience a drop in IQ when it came to matters regarding the male lead. From being kind-hearted, they’d lose their moral compass. It wasn’t unreasonable at all.

Sigh, even though the dog-like system kept setting her up, she, with her good heart, still actively corrected the world’s irrationalities. If the system had any conscience, it should be grateful to her.

As the system watched the plot about to stray tens of thousands of miles off track, it muttered:

“Well, thank you! Thank you! YOU!”

Ahhh, how did I end up choosing this guy? The whole book is about to be ruined by her!

—

After leaving the luggage store, Su Shiyi and Wu Feifei visited a few more luxury stores. Along the way, it was mostly Wu Feifei occasionally picking out something to buy, while the salesgirls eagerly anticipated Su Shiyi, the rich woman, with all their enthusiasm, but her spending amount was zero.

Sitting in the Haagen-Dazs store, with a sweet ice cream platter in front of them, Wu Feifei recalled the slightly sad expression on the salesgirl’s face when they left CK, which she had to quickly hide, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

There was no helping it. In front of Su Shiyi, they were so weak, pitiful, and helpless. If it had been any other customer looking but not buying, it could have been due to limited spending power, but with Su Shiyi…

It was just that the rich woman didn’t think their stuff was worth her attention. TAT

“It feels kind of boring.” Su Shiyi scooped a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. “The nicest batch is in my wardrobe, the stuff on display here isn’t anything special.”

“Even Haagen-Dazs is something I’ve gotten tired of eating at home. Ugh, it’s so boring out here.”

Wu Feifei: …

Damn, she’s been tricked again!

As Su Shiyi boredly spun her finger around on the table, Lucy timely handed her a tablet.

“Miss Shiyi, this is the information on the artists under Sunflower Entertainment. Please have a look.”

Oh right, she had also acquired Li Deyuan’s company. Kevin had already sent this information to her inbox, and Su Shiyi had intended to look at it but had subconsciously forgotten…

Fortunately, her secretary and assistant were reliable and thoughtful. See, the reminder came at just the right time.

The first page was a general overview. Sunflower Entertainment wasn’t a large company, and it only had ten artists, which wasn’t surprising. But what shocked Su Shiyi was that all the artists signed with this company were male?

“Why is that?” Su Shiyi, who loved beautiful girls, couldn’t understand. “I think it’s much easier to find good-looking girls than good-looking guys.”

Wu Feifei: “Maybe male celebrities are just more likely to get famous. Right now, in the domestic entertainment industry, everyone is going into acting. Besides a few major female lead dramas, how many female leads do you know who are more popular than the male leads?”

She was just casually saying this, but after Su Shiyi thought about the logic behind it, she surprisingly couldn’t find a flaw in it…

Wait a minute, this is the biggest problem!

Su Shiyi quickly flipped through a few pages. She had already looked up Li Deyuan’s information, and the other nine male artists were all former idols. Whether or not they had debuted as a group, without exception, they had all transitioned to acting.

If she hadn’t acquired Sunflower Entertainment, perhaps after the Dream Chasing Boys 505 limited group disbanded, the company’s plans for Li Deyuan would have been the same, wasting his natural gift for singing.

“…Well, these who have already transitioned into actors are fine, but even if they went back to being idols, they’ve probably forgotten the basics by now, so they might as well just keep acting.”

Su Shiyi, with a headache, handed the tablet back to Lucy. “Sign new people, prioritize signing girls first. Isn’t there a female talent show coming up in the second half of the year on Kiwi? I need to improve the male-to-female ratio of the artists in this company. I don’t want a monk’s temple, I want female idols!”

With more than 50% of the company’s shares, and backed by the Gu family’s influence, Su Shiyi held absolute control over the development of Sunflower Entertainment. Her request was quickly conveyed by Lucy to the entire company, and all the agents were now focused on finding potential new female talent.

After flipping through a few pages of the PDF and making a quick decision, Su Shiyi felt like her workload for the day had already exceeded the limit (?).

Oh my god, she could totally be a salted fish (lazy), but she’s still worrying about the company’s development—she’s trying too hard.

Wu Feifei: …

It’s just that you like pretty girls, right? How annoying!

She watched Su Shiyi, who was once again doing nothing, and had an idea to sell her a recommendation. “How about I introduce you to a store that all girls love? Aren’t you tired of these big-name brands? I’ll take you to explore a new world.”

Su Shiyi was indeed interested. “What store?”

“Hehe, it’s the ^[1]“Three Pits” (三坑) is a slang term in Chinese subcultures referring to three specific types of alternative fashion: Lolita fashion (洛丽塔/Lo裙) – Elegant, Victorian-inspired … Continue readingThree Pits physical store in the capital!”

—

Shen Yuwei was an ordinary college student at a university in the capital. She had another identity as a fashion district UP (content creator) on a popular streaming platform, and her videos were mostly related to Three Pits.

Today, she and a friend were visiting the Three Pits physical store in the capital to shoot an exploration video. When the store first opened, they had invited many self-media influencers to promote it online. Compared to the crowds back then, it seemed much emptier now.

“When can I get someone to pay me to promote? I’d love to take on a paid ad gig,” Shen Yuwei said, glancing at the 522 followers on her account. There was no increase from yesterday.

“Never mind, no more dreaming.”

After greeting the store owner, she took photos of various areas in the store with her phone. Then, she switched to the front camera using a selfie stick and recorded her introduction.

In the phone’s display, Shen Yuwei had her hair tied in high twin ponytails, with fluffy white hair ties on both sides. She was wearing a white shirt and a JK skirt, with a matching plaid bow tie at the collar.

Next, she was going to film her introduction of the dresses in the store, with her friend holding the camera. Shen Yuwei walked backward while speaking.

“This area is the Lolita section. There are quite a few brands we’re collaborating with, both mid-tier and Japanese brands. You can find a lot of cute styles here. The prices are the same as the online store, and the staff are very gentle and friendly.”

“The dresses are all beautiful, and there are also various small accessories. Sisters who live nearby can come and try them. I came here today to buy a dress as a reward for myself, but as everyone knows, I have severe decision-making paralysis. I really want to take them all home, but sadly, my wallet doesn’t allow it.”

“Ah, if only a rich woman could appear right now. I’d be willing to lose ten pounds in exchange for a rich woman’s favor.”

After recording this segment, Shen Yuwei seemed to feel something and turned around to look behind her. At the glass door of the entrance, a girl took off her dust mask, revealing the face that had been all over Weibo these past few days.

She happened to hear the last part and saw Su Shiyi smile at her. “Hello, were you calling me just now?”

Shen Yuwei:?

Shen Yuwei:???

Ahhh, it’s the rich woman Shiyi, her wish has come true!

Shen Yuwei, too excited to know where to put her hands, looked like she was about to cry. It was her friend who regained her composure first and quickly reminded her to introduce herself.

What they didn’t know was that Su Shiyi was even more excited to meet Shen Yuwei. The twin-tailed, cute girl with a soft voice, her appearance perfectly matching Su Shiyi’s aesthetic, was exactly the type of potential female idol she had been looking for!

It must be a special fate, otherwise, how could they have met in such a big city like the capital?

Lucy, who understood Su Shiyi’s thoughts the best, stepped forward to communicate. “Hello, I’m Miss Su Shiyi’s assistant, you can call me Lucy. May I ask your name?”

“Sure, I’m Shen Yuwei.” She said, while quietly turning her head to look at Su Shiyi. “Um, although it’s a little embarrassing, could I possibly take a photo with Ms. Shiyi?”

Lucy replied that the photo could be taken later and then asked her questions like her age, current occupation, and whether she had a management contract. Shen Yuwei could roughly guess her intentions but couldn’t quite believe it. Was the rich lady planning to sign her?

Could she really be that lucky? She hadn’t even done a full makeup today!

Of course, it was impossible to finalize signing an artist in a clothing store, so Lucy gave Shen Yuwei a business card and mentioned that someone would contact her later. Then, she returned to Su Shiyi’s side.

Su Shiyi was, of course, happy to agree to the photo with Shen Yuwei. Just when Shen Yuwei thought the luckiest moment of her day had arrived, the rich lady always seemed to provide an extra surprise.

Su Shiyi’s strategic mind kicked in again. “You just mentioned you’re a content creator on the platform, right? So, how about taking an advertisement deal?”

Who wouldn’t want to get paid for a gig? But Shen Yuwei honestly replied, “I only have a little over 500 followers, so it might not have much promotional effect.”

“It’s okay.” Su Shiyi didn’t think that was an issue. “Just add my name in the title, and this video will trend.”

Shen Yuwei: …

That made sense, but with such a big star like Su Shiyi involved, she would be advertising for her? Was this charity? QAQ

Su Shiyi already had an idea. “I want to create a fun video, the kind that could generate some buzz. At the beginning and end, you can mention and promote the variety show ‘Return to Senior Year’.”

“Okay, what kind of video is it?”

“It’s a ten-minute limit, and you can pick any area in the store. Take as many clothes and dresses as you want, as much as you can carry. After the time is up, I’ll buy everything you picked and give it to you as a gift. How does that sound?”

“Don’t worry, it’s a gift, you won’t be taking anything for free.”