“Smack—!” The sharp sound cut through the air and the press conference fell into instant silence.

A clear red handprint appeared on Ji Jinghan’s left cheek. She stared in disbelief at Xia Chengcheng, who stood half a head taller than her, and tears fell silently in her eyes.

【What the hell?! Wasn’t this supposed to be a public apology?】

【Xia Chengcheng hit Ji Jinghan again?! What is wrong with this woman?!】

【This arrogant and tyrannical rich girl Xia Chengcheng thinks she can do whatever she wants! Did you really think she would apologize? No way!】

【Ji Jinghan is so pitiful. Why did she have to run into someone as disgusting as Xia Chengcheng?】

【Does Xia Chengcheng have a screw loose or something? If she’s sick, go get treatment! Don’t cling to the entertainment industry!】

……

The entire press conference was livestreamed. The moment Xia Chengcheng slapped Ji Jinghan was instantly broadcast across the internet.

Both reporters and netizens were stunned. Even Ji Jinghan herself didn’t have time to react.

In the midst of everyone’s shocked gazes, Xia Chengcheng strode away from the press conference, perfectly composed.

The system immediately realized something was wrong. Seeing the overwhelming flood of curses in the livestream chat, its data began crashing. 〖Why did you hit Ji Jinghan?!〗

Xia Chengcheng answered righteously, “Because I’m the vicious supporting female character!”

〖System: ……〗

That actually made sense. It had no rebuttal.

The system was frantic. 〖You’re finished! The entire internet is dragging you, and Brother Zhang is furious! You won’t even be able to leave the building!〗

“Is that so?”

Xia Chengcheng walked into the restroom with her handbag, took out her cosmetics, and began applying makeup with a calm and breezy expression.

“That might apply to others. But not to me.”

While the system was metaphorically stomping its feet, Xia Chengcheng had already completed a male disguise.

Her facial proportions were harmonious. With just a few expert strokes, it was like she had become a different person.

She then put on a silver-white wig and wrapped her chest tightly to hide her curves.

When she stepped out of the restroom, she had transformed into a delicate, silver-haired male idol. Her height of 175 centimeters wasn’t tall among male idols, but her cool, unapproachable aura gave her an air of sacred untouchability.

The system was stunned. If it hadn’t witnessed Xia Chengcheng’s transformation process, it would never have believed that the ‘man’ in front of it was the same Xia Chengcheng from ten minutes ago.

Everything that followed went exactly according to Xia Chengcheng’s plan.

Brother Zhang and the reporters were scrambling to find her, crowding Xingkong Entertainment’s office building. But Xia Chengcheng walked right out of the company, swaggering past them all.

Several reporters even snapped photos of her, but instead of focusing on Xia Chengcheng, they were saying, “That new guy is kind of handsome!”

“Xingkong has such a promising newcomer? How did I not know?”

“With that face alone, he could blow up if marketed right!”

“I need all the info on this guy in the next ten minutes!”

……

The system felt numb.

It wasn’t a brand-new system anymore, but it had never seen anything like this.

〖Aren’t you a paparazzi? Why do you know how to do disguise makeup too?〗

“Isn’t that a basic skill for a paparazzi?” Xia Chengcheng said casually. “If I couldn’t disguise myself, how would I sneak into events and catch hot gossip?”

〖System: ……〗

That made sense. It had no rebuttal.

While chatting with the system, Xia Chengcheng effortlessly signed autographs for a few fans staking out celebrities near the door. Her flamboyant signature was completely illegible, but the system was still able to analyze the scribble.

——Paparazzi.

Dear heavens!

“Brother! You’re so handsome~ I’m gonna stan you!” A little fangirl squealed.

“I’m only eighteen, still a trainee. But I’ll work hard to debut!” Xia Chengcheng declared solemnly, using a youthful male voice to spout nonsense.

“Yes, yes! You have to keep going~ I’ll always support you!”

Xia Chengcheng bid farewell to the fangirls with reluctant eyes full of youthful innocence and longing for the stage. The sincerity in her gaze melted the hearts of the star-chasing fans.

The system watched in disbelief. Amid the adoring gazes of the fangirls, Xia Chengcheng’s completely depleted reputation points suddenly increased!

〖Reputation: +12〗

〖System: !!!〗

〖Your reputation went up!〗 The system was jumping with excitement. 〖Why? How did your reputation go up?〗

It didn’t understand, but it was thoroughly shocked.

Xia Chengcheng got into a Beetle, the car the original owner used for daily transport.

“It’s simple. It proves my theory was correct.” She quickly took off the silver wig and exaggerated silver contact lenses, answering while removing her makeup, “The reputation value can be shared across different identities. Xia Chengcheng’s value was zero, but Paparazzi just gained twelve, which means I now have twelve reputation points!”

The system was overjoyed. 〖This means you don’t have to die anymore! You can earn reputation points as Paparazzi!〗

“Not just that.” After wiping off her makeup, Xia Chengcheng opened her Alipay app.

The system peeked— and holy cow— Book Xia Chencheng had an eight-digit bank balance!

〖System: Didn’t Book Xia Chencheng get financially cut off by her father? How is there so much money?〗

In the novel, Xia Chencheng is the heiress of the Xia family. When she was ten, her mother, Xia Bailu, died in a car accident. Her father, Xia Yongde— who had married into the Xia family— remarried Ye Liufeng and brought along Ye Liufeng’s daughter, Ye Shiwen, the female protagonist.

Three days ago, Book Xia Chencheng bullied Ye Shiwen. Xia Yongde was furious and cut off all her credit cards.

Her father’s abandonment, Han Jialin’s disgust, and the internet’s overwhelming hatred…… all these had pushed Book Xia Chencheng toward her death.

But what no one knew— what wasn’t even recorded in the novel— was that Book Xia Chencheng had so much money before she died.

Where did it come from?

Xia Chengcheng didn’t know. She hadn’t inherited the original owner’s memories.

Everything she knew came from the novel the system had given her.

Half an hour ago, when she first saw the video in the dressing room, Xia Chengcheng had known instantly that Ji Jinghan had staged the whole thing.

The palm print on the right side of Ji Jinghan’s face in the video had the thumb pointing downward, something that could only have been caused if she had slapped herself.

Yet this entire scene wasn’t written in the novel at all.

“Now, the original owner has suddenly come into a fortune, but that also wasn’t introduced in the novel. From this, I can confirm my second hypothesis.” Xia Chengcheng’s eyes sparkled as she declared firmly, “The novel has hidden plotlines. If a scene has no bearing on the future storyline, the novel will skip over it!”

The system, intrigued by Xia Chengcheng’s analysis, grew even more curious and responded in a lively tone, 〖Host, I have an idea!〗

The system sounded eager and excited, 〖Forget all that messy stuff, just switch your identity and debut to earn reputation points!〗

It was convinced that debuting was the best way to earn those points. After all, that’s what every other transmigrator did.

“Debut to earn reputation points?” Xia Chengcheng rolled her eyes. “You think I can debut and go viral in a single day?”

〖Uh…… no.〗 The system’s algorithm calculated quickly and reached a conclusion. 〖Then what will you do? There really isn’t much time left!〗

“It’s too late to debut, but there’s still time to eat some melon^[1]be a bystander to gossip or drama!” Xia Chengcheng smiled sweetly and started the car. “In the entertainment industry, it’s hard to make someone famous, but to ruin someone? How hard can it be? If the other party collapses, won’t their rival rise up?”

────ρя

This translation is by Pocketrobbin at S h a n g h a i f a n t a s y . c o m

Makeup Room, Xingkong Entertainment

Ji Jinghan was livid. She swept all the cosmetics on the table to the floor with one furious motion.

“This is what you call a press conference apology?!” Ji Jinghan screamed hoarsely. “You let that b*tch Xia Chengcheng slap me!”

Her manager was so terrified she didn’t even dare to breathe.

“We didn’t expect Xia Chengcheng to be so audacious either. But now the public opinion online is overwhelmingly in your favor. People are sympathizing with you. That’s a good thing, right?”

“A good thing?” Ji Jinghan let out a cold laugh. “To hell with your good thing!”

The next second, she hurled a jar of concealer straight at the manager’s face!

A bruise instantly bloomed at the corner of the manager’s eye.

But Ji Jinghan acted like nothing had happened, calmly sitting back in her chair.

Her phone rang. The caller ID showed ‘Ye Shiwen’.

The storm on Ji Jinghan’s face vanished in an instant. She took a deep breath, composed herself, and answered the call with the gentle tone of a delicate flower, “Hello, Shiwen~”

“Jinghan, are you alright?” Ye Shiwen’s concerned voice came through. “I saw the livestream. Chengcheng was really out of line. It’s my fault as her older sister for not teaching her properly.”

“How can I blame you for that?” Ji Jinghan frowned. “You’re just unlucky to have a stepsister like Xia Chengcheng. Now that she’s in my hands, I’ll make sure to teach her a proper lesson for you.”

“That’s really kind of you.” Ye Shiwen’s voice sounded apologetic, tinged with guilt that made her all the more pitiful.

“Don’t worry, leave everything about Xia Chengcheng to me!”

After hanging up, Ji Jinghan’s expression darkened slightly. After a moment of contemplation, she made another call.

When the call connected, her entire demeanor changed. Her gloom turned into delight, and her gaze softened.

“CEO Hong~ You haven’t contacted me in so long~”

────ρя


Meanwhile, on the other end, Ye Shiwen looked at the phone she had just hung up. Her beautiful face turned dark.

Ye Shiwen had been reborn.

In her previous life, she had watched as Xia Chengcheng gained everything— from Han Jialin’s love, to control of the Xia family’s assets, and finally, to rising to the top of the entertainment industry.

While she, Ye Shiwen, had been scorned by Han Jialin, kicked out of the Xia family, and blacklisted by the entire industry.

She had ended up with nothing.

But now, having lived through it once, she knew that she was also a daughter of the Xia family.

Outsiders thought she was the stepdaughter brought into the Xia family by Ye Liufeng, a stranger with no blood relation to Xia Yongde.

But the truth was that Xia Yongde and Ye Liufeng had been entangled for years. Ye Shiwen also carried Xia Yongde’s blood!

Why was it that even though they were both Xia Yongde’s daughters, Xia Chengcheng lived a pampered and blissful life from childhood, while she endured hardship and ridicule— mocked for having a mother but no father?

After entering the Xia family, she still had to live under Xia Chengcheng’s shadow!

Even Han Jialin, the man she had loved all her life, only ever loved Xia Chengcheng!

Now reborn, with the memories of her past life vivid in her mind, Ye Shiwen swore that this time, she would take back everything that should have been hers!

And facts proved that with her omniscient perspective, a little effort could go a long way.

Like winning Han Jialin’s affection.

Like gaining the love of countless fans.

Like watching Xia Chengcheng get completely destroyed online.

Ye Shiwen looked at her phone and smiled faintly.

Now that Xia Chengcheng was being vilified online, shouldn’t she, as the so-called stepsister, do something?

With that thought, Ye Shiwen used her main account to repost the viral livestream video.

【Jinghan, I’m sorry. I didn’t manage Chengcheng well. Let me apologize to you on her behalf. I’m truly sorry!】

【Oh my gosh! Our Wenwen is such a sweetheart!】

【Baby girl, hugs! Love you~ Don’t get involved with Xia Chengcheng anymore. That woman is so annoying!】

【Xia Chengcheng is trash. She’s so lucky to have a sister like Wenwen!】

【Xia Chengcheng should just get out of the entertainment industry already! I only want to see the beautiful and kind-hearted Wenwen, not her!】

【Homewrecker Xia Chengcheng, go die!!!】

As expected, the comments were filled with praise for Ye Shiwen and curses for Xia Chengcheng.

Ye Shiwen looked at the replies and a smug smile tugged at the corner of her lips.