Chapter 35: Straightforward Approach

The person involved, Su Shiyi, was now very panicked—extremely panicked. Her legs were trembling under the table, and she was sweating slightly on her forehead.

Just like how men dream of embracing two women at once, what girl hasn’t dreamed of “choosing from all the handsome guys in the world”? But those are just daydreams. At most, you joke around with your best friends a bit, then face the reality of life.

But her reality was—these elite figures from wealthy families were seriously planning this whole thing!

Good grief, aren’t you all busy? Don’t you have contracts worth billions or even trillions to negotiate? Why are you wasting time on such nonsense!

Look at how clearly they’ve divided the tasks—Gu Lang set the framework for the whole event, Gu Chen drafted the details, Li Shuman added the precautions, and Gu Pan excitedly recommended candidates.

Secretary John’s fingers flew over the keyboard, and just a few minutes later, an outline for the open audition was synced to everyone’s mobile devices, still being updated. The speed of it left Su Shiyi, who had once worked as a planner, dumbfounded. She suddenly realized why others had annual salaries in the millions, while her previous monthly salary was only around 6,000.

Excluded from the conversation, Su Shiyi hugged herself tightly, feeling like an out-of-place, useless person. She had wanted to speak several times, but these people were so into the conversation that they didn’t leave her a chance to get a word in.

During the discussion, they even had a disagreement caused by differing viewpoints. The elites didn’t argue or throw insults. The four of them reasoned and debated logically, speaking with the grandeur of delivering important speeches at the United Nations, as if solving a problem that would affect the development of over seven billion people worldwide.

Su Shiyi: …

Please, can you not take this so seriously? She thought this was just casual talk, but they were seriously planning to execute it?

Yes, they really would. In this world, whatever the Gu family does always carries the aura of “this seems reasonable.” You could say that the power of a Mary Sue character is simply too strong.

But why involve Su, the female lead? Why does it have to be her? Just because her last name is Su?

Finally seizing a gap, Su Shiyi weakly and helplessly voiced her objections. The idea of an open audition for a love interest was too embarrassing. She really didn’t think she could do it.

Su Shiyi, who had been single for 20 years, hadn’t even thought about starting a relationship. Isn’t lying around like a salted fish, playing with cats and dogs, and shopping all she needs?

Men only affect how fast she spends money.

Hearing this, the four of them frowned simultaneously.

How could this be? They had barely managed to reach a point of partial agreement, and the person involved was unwilling to cooperate? This wasn’t looking good.

Gu Pan didn’t try to persuade Su Shiyi. Instead, with a mysterious smile on her lips, she sent her several photos and a message saying that these were the standards for the invited contestants. Those who would qualify for the open audition were roughly at this level.

Su Shiyi opened the album.

Her eyes froze on the photos. She swiped left and right, swallowing involuntarily.

What contemporary male bodhisattvas are these! She could do this!

Damn it, Gu Pan had been secretly keeping such good stuff to herself and only sent it to her today! Handsome guy resources should be shared, isn’t that a basic principle between best friends?

Wait, isn’t Gu Pan supposed to be the pampered wife of a domineering CEO? Why is she hoarding pictures of handsome guys?

Not realizing that it was she who had led Gu Pan down the wrong path, Su Shiyi still felt a wave of sympathy for Gu Chen.

Gu Pan handed her a tissue, telling her she had some cake at the corner of her mouth, but Su Shiyi knew Gu Pan meant she should wipe off her drool.

Gu Lang understood and asked, “Have you reconsidered your decision?”

“Of course I have. I was wrong earlier. This is all something my dad, mom, older brother, and Panpan had in mind for me.”

With handsome men present, Su Shiyi quickly changed her tune, her face full of gratitude towards her family. “How could I not agree? That would be too much of a disservice to everyone’s good intentions. I must agree!”

Actually, she had a sense of shame at first.

But these handsome young men were simply too charming, and she was knocked out by their good looks! (Heartbroken)

After intense discussions with the Gu family, the audition event was officially labeled as a “Young People’s Social Gathering,” starting with friendship before anything romantic. After all, relationships still had to be mutual. Even if they all thought it was a good match, if Su Shiyi didn’t like them, it wouldn’t matter.

Su Shiyi actually wanted to ask, is there a possibility that the top pick might not even be interested in her?

No, no, how could she think like that? She’s no longer the same person. The salted fish is going to make a comeback! She has to stand tall and confidently become the wealthy woman who will make others work for twenty less years!

—

The audition event was still in the preparation stages. The day after Gu Chen’s birthday, the busy Gu family had to fly around the world again. Compared to the others, Gu Pan was still the most relaxed. She’d be back to rest in Taihe in a few days.

Although Su Shiyi regretted not being able to take Gu Pan to the Shanghai amusement park, there would be plenty of opportunities once she returned. She said she wanted to organize a gathering and introduce her good friends to Su Shiyi.

In fact, she had received private invitations from others these past few days, but she had politely declined them. She preferred lying in bed to socialize with strangers. However, if it was a gathering organized by Gu Pan, she was still willing to participate.

In the morning, after saying goodbye to everyone, Su Shiyi arranged for Kevin to book the flight to the Shanghai. The lucky fans must already be having fun at the amusement park, and two hot topics were trending on Weibo. Many well-known self-media accounts were there, posting pictures and videos everywhere, likely having bought spots for the winners.

Their happiness was theirs, while Su Shiyi sat comfortably in her walk-in closet, eating freshly picked fruits that were air-shipped to her, enjoying the runway show of luxury brand new releases. On either side of her sat her personal stylist and the editor-in-chief of Qingling Fashion Magazine.

Qingling was a rising star in the fashion industry in recent years, and its editor-in-chief, Anna, had played a pivotal role in its success. She gained fame for her sharp and unique vision, and although she had been questioned in her early years, those who made it into her radar had mostly achieved great success. The truth was the best way to prove people wrong.

Anna and Su Shiyi’s personal stylist had known each other for a while, and today, thanks to the stylist, Anna was able to come here for a small interview with the internet’s most popular wealthy lady, who was also the most followed online.

No photos or videos were allowed. Kevin said it was too much trouble and didn’t want to waste Miss Shiyi’s time. He would send a few professionally edited photos from the banquet later and grant permission to use them. No need for an interview outline either, as Su Shiyi wasn’t interested in looking at it. It would just be a casual chat, but they should have the drafts reviewed before publishing.

Fortunately, Anna was used to big shots and didn’t mind small flaws from the wealthy. Su Shiyi was cooperative, and Anna was careful with her questions, mostly receiving satisfactory answers.

“These new pieces are nice,” Su Shiyi rested her chin in her hand, feeling a bit sleepy. “But somehow, they’re missing something. There’s no real desire to wear them, no urge to put them on immediately.”

Anna thought to herself, this rich lady’s walk-in closet was bigger than most apartments, with clothes being replaced every month. Most new releases didn’t even have a chance to be worn, and many didn’t even make it into her sight. For a piece to stand out in her massive wardrobe and be chosen by her stylist, it had to be a top-tier design, and those were the kinds of clothes Su Shiyi typically wore.

As for the new clothes she hadn’t worn, they were usually given to her assistants or team members. Of course, male employees could also take them, and giving them to family members was also a good option.

Aesthetics needed to be cultivated, and anyone with eyes could appreciate fashion when they were surrounded by only the finest designs. Their standard of beauty was naturally far beyond that of ordinary people.

For designers, the hardest part was finding the inspiration for their most brilliant creations. That was a matter of luck and didn’t always come when expected.

Anna chatted with her for a while on this topic and then took the opportunity to recommend a newly discovered potential designer, Yu Zhaozhao.

Su Shiyi: …

Well, this is quite a coincidence.jpg

Hearing that name, Su Shiyi felt numb. She had already figured it out—this world was like that. Even if she didn’t want to take on the supporting female character role, the story with the leads would still keep entangling her. There was no way to escape.

And there was no need to escape. Her father was Gu Lang. Was she supposed to fear Zhou Yingzhe’s reversal of fortune after thirty years? Forget it, he didn’t have that kind of talent or aura.

She took the tablet Anna handed her, which displayed Yu Zhaozhao’s latest works. Su Shiyi had to admit that Yu Zhaozhao, a designer who focused on fashion design, had a certain aura. Although Su Shiyi, an outsider, couldn’t understand the intricacies, she thought her work had great aesthetic appeal.

However, didn’t they say that Yu Zhaozhao had a terrible reputation in the industry, and no one dared to interact with her?

Su Shiyi tentatively asked, and sure enough, Editor Anna appeared completely unaware. She switched the topic, rummaging through her memory for the name of the design competition the system mentioned yesterday. After a long pause, her stylist and Anna, both fashion industry insiders, barely recalled what she was referring to.

“It’s not a professional competition,” Anna briefly introduced. “It’s just something to fool the outsiders. Essentially, it’s filled with sponsorship from private companies, with a flashy gimmick to lure in newcomers. It seems to have disappeared in the past few years.”

Her stylist added, “I remember the prize money was pretty high, which attracted a lot of people. Most were just after the money.”

Su Shiyi thought for a moment. If that were the case, the possibility of Gu Yuxuan taking the risk to steal Yu Zhaozhao’s work for the competition was even lower.

But wasn’t the original story saying that “Yu Zhaozhao had a bad reputation in the design world”?

From the looks of it, neither Anna nor her stylist knew about this matter. Or was it just a bad reputation in a small circle, one that hadn’t yet reached the ears of the higher-ups?

Since the plot would inevitably find its way to her, Su Shiyi decided not to avoid it anymore. She might as well figure out the cause and effect, especially since the system’s words were not reliable.

She extended an invitation: “I think this designer is quite good. I’d like to meet her.”

Anna was pleasantly surprised, feeling honored. She was happy for the rising star she had discovered. She had expected Yu Zhaozhao to succeed but didn’t anticipate it happening so quickly.

For Shiyi, the wealthy lady, to want to meet her meant she had caught her attention with her designs. Whether to buy her designs or invest in her personally, with just a little bit of publicity, Yu Zhaozhao’s future would be a red carpet laid out for her. Anna, too, would gain a better reputation in the industry for her sharp eye and prove the doubters wrong.

Anna immediately contacted Yu Zhaozhao and confirmed the meeting time with Lucy, while Su Shiyi sighed helplessly.

She just wanted to be a lazy salted fish, but events kept finding her. It seemed like she was the one getting exploited for wool as a female supporting character. Her character had shifted from a pitiful one to an evil one, even though she was always so gentle and kind.

Well, aside from that incident yesterday when she kicked Zhou Yingzhe out, most of the time she was gentle and kind.

—

By the time Su Shiyi arrived at the Shanghai amusement park, she could still catch lunch at the Royal Banquet Hall. This restaurant was usually reservation-only, with the highest per capita cost, and guests could take photos with actors dressed as princesses or cartoon characters. Among the event’s private bookings, this location was the most popular.

Everyone was busy taking photos, shooting videos, and posting online. No one noticed Su Shiyi and her group, who were wearing masks. This was perfect, she could enjoy a quiet lunch.

In addition to Su Shiyi, Lucy, and her four plainclothes bodyguards, there were also her specially invited guests: Director Wei Qiu and his daughter Wei Ningdong.

The copyright for July Green Plums had been successfully acquired by Director Wei, and now, Su Shiyi was the largest beneficiary of the profits from Lujiang. She was also the biggest beneficiary of the movie’s box office, and the copyright holder was still the director’s daughter. This copyright fee was largely an internal matter, with most of it being “transferred.”

To Su Shiyi’s surprise, Wei Ningdong was only seventeen years old. Both her contract with Lujiang and the movie’s agreements were signed by her guardian.

This made Su Shiyi feel a bit sympathetic. A child so young suffering from depression, with her heartfelt work not appreciated by the readers—it must be difficult for her.

No wonder Director Wei could swallow his pride and beg for investments to make the movie…

Su Shiyi took the initiative to ask about the progress of the film, “Director Wei, how is the preparation for July Green Plums? Are the funds sufficient? If not, I can invest more, don’t skimp on the budget.”

Wei Qiu nearly choked up. Most investors try to spend the least to get the highest return, but an investor like Su Shiyi, who had the audacity to say, “Don’t worry about the budget, spend as much as you need, if you spend too little, I won’t be happy,” was a first for him.

If it were a sci-fi blockbuster, Wei Qiu wouldn’t have hesitated to take her money, as he was confident in the return. But with this youth campus film… Even with his daughter’s filter, he knew the movie’s box office was unlikely to be optimistic. He could only hope for opportunities to include advertisements.

Given the situation, he couldn’t even bring up the idea of additional funding. Eighty million for a campus movie was already enough, especially without hiring popular stars.

Wei Qiu: “Don’t worry, Miss Su. For the script, I’ve invited an old friend to help. He and Ningdong got along well, so the script should be ready soon. We’ve already chosen the school filming location, and most of the crew is set. We’re just waiting for the actors.”

Su Shiyi nodded, “As long as it’s going smoothly, I don’t know anything about this industry. Director Wei, you handle it, and if money’s tight, just ask my secretary.”

Wei Qiu was once again deeply moved, nearly moved to tears. She gave money without interfering and had the status to deter ill-intentioned people—what kind of divine investor was this!

He patted his daughter’s head. “Dongdong, say thank you to President Su. She’s the one who decided to invest in this movie, and she’s also the one who invited you to the amusement park today.”

Wei Ningdong was a delicate beauty. Although her straight bangs covered her eyebrows and made her look a little stiff, her lively big eyes were still noticeable.

“Thank you, President Su,” Wei Ningdong said timidly. “President Su, was it you who threw a strawberry at me when I was at Lujiang?”

Su Shiyi didn’t mind revealing her identity. “Yes, I read your novel, and I thought it was quite good. The Model United Nations part was nice. You must have put a lot of effort into writing it.”

Wei Ningdong said another thank you, just nodding as a response to Su Shiyi. Seeing she wasn’t very willing to talk, Su Shiyi decided to leave the topic there and focused on eating.

Sigh, there was no hope for this movie’s box office. All she could hope for was good reviews, so those who truly appreciated it could see it and help Wei Ningdong recover from depression.

After lunch, Wei Qiu and his daughter left first, while Su Shiyi stayed behind to digest her food. Once she was full, she didn’t feel like moving and liked to stay seated.

She unlocked her phone, ready to play a game — Dream Garden.

That’s right, even though Su Shiyi loved gacha mobile games, she only enjoyed the thrill of drawing cards and the sense of achievement when completing the collection. She didn’t usually do the daily tasks, they were all handled by Linda. What really took up most of her time were casual puzzle games like “Match-3.”

She wouldn’t hesitate to spend 648 in a gacha game and would even complain about how inconvenient it was that the game didn’t have a direct VIP entrance for 888888. But in Dream○Garden, she never spent a penny.

Why should she pay? She refused to spend money on extra steps. If she bought the steps once, she’d get used to it, and with her wealth, it would be like using infinite cheats. The game would lose its fun, so she preferred to challenge herself and enjoy it.

That was the reason she abandoned Dream○Garden.

Is this one of the troubles of the rich? When you spend too much on games, the difficulty becomes almost zero, and the fun is lost.

Being a rich woman is hard (cat shaking head.gif).

Su Shiyi was in charge of collecting stars and completing tasks to gather items and coins, while Linda handled most of the rest. As for the levels that Su Shiyi couldn’t pass even after dozens of tries… that was Kevin and Lucy’s job.

Su Shiyi: Look, even without spending money, you can still play this game smoothly!

And, she really liked the feeling of changing the decorations of the garden and house in the game. She had already told Kevin to contact the game developers for authorization to build a similar garden villa on Billion Island, following the same model. The decorations and design of the garden and villa should match her progress in the game.

This way, she would have more motivation to pass the levels. She was really good at self-motivation!

#I want all the simulation games I like to become real.

#If I play, I want the real version.

#Soon I’ll be designing an island in the game.

The crowd in the banquet hall gradually dispersed, and the amusement park was large, so everyone rushed to other attractions to take photos. Su Shiyi, however, remained calmly seated, unaware that she had simply changed her spot to play on her phone.

She had just passed a very hard purple level when a message popped up from the Gu family’s five-person group chat. Su Shiyi clicked on it and saw a compressed file sent by Father Gu Lang.

【The secretary organized it. Take a look, you can filter out the ones that don’t meet your taste.】

Su Shiyi: !

Wow, is this efficiency a bit too high? This is the kind of dedicated worker that makes her want to shed tears.

After unzipping the file, there were a total of 101 photos, and Su Shiyi couldn’t help but joke, “Is this a talent search for debuting?”

Just as Gu Pan requested, the file only contained handsome men, each with a different style, all good-looking enough to make it in the entertainment industry, and their beauty was at the level where fans would forgive them for any mistakes.

Su Shiyi felt like a fickle person, getting excited over this and that, constantly caught up in a whirlwind of emotions. She just wanted to say that classic line: “Only children make choices—”

Well, okay, adults can’t have it all, Lujiang doesn’t allow that.

Fortunately, this was just the initial selection, not a decision she had to make right away. Su Shiyi found it difficult to pick her favorite among so many, and as for the ones who weren’t up to par, well, there were none of those.

Sigh, why couldn’t she be divided into 101 pieces? She liked all these handsome guys…

Reluctantly, she switched back to her messages and told her good dad, Gu Lang, that all these boys were excellent, and she’d be happy to be friends with them, to develop some real-life friendships.

Yes, friends!

A few minutes later, Gu Lang replied with a “Okay” emoji, followed by a message that nearly scared Su Shiyi to death.

【Candidate #67 happens to be a fan who won your Weibo giveaway. John has already arranged for him to meet you in the banquet hall. You can spend some time with him.】

Su Shiyi: ?

Good dad, how could you spring this surprise on her? She wasn’t prepared for this at all, and she hadn’t even touched up her makeup after lunch. How was she supposed to meet a handsome guy like this?

Wait a minute… no, she should be the one who’s going to meet the handsome guy, so she better get herself together. After all, her current identity was that of a wealthy woman.

Thinking of this, Su Shiyi let out a sigh of relief and even patted her slightly bulging stomach after the meal.

She had planned to at least touch up her lipstick out of courtesy. But when she looked away from her phone, a brown-haired, curly-haired young man had already sat down across from her.

He smiled, revealing dimples on both sides, his gaze a little shy. The young man was wearing a plain white T-shirt, his skin fair and smooth, and his delicate features made him look soft and youthful.

“Hello, I’m He Zhiqiu,” he said, extending his hand. “Sister Shiyi, can I call you Shiyi directly?”

Su Shiyi shook his hand. “…Sure.”

He Zhiqiu flashed a big smile. “Alright, Sister. I’m going into my third year of university after the summer vacation, just one year younger than you. Calling you Sister should be fine, right?”

Su Shiyi: ?

Something seemed off here. Who’s having trouble understanding things—her or this younger brother?

He Zhiqiu remained calm, as if his logic was perfectly sound. He gently let go of her hand, and it seemed like he even winked.

“I originally thought just getting to participate in the amusement park activity was lucky enough, but meeting you today is the real gift the lucky star gave me.”

Su Shiyi: …

Alright, she could barely keep it together anymore.

If you were to ask her how she felt right now—

Thanks for the invite, but it’s a kind of pain mixed with happiness.