Chapter 5: CH 5

Outrageous

As Sang Wan Ci fell into deep and shocked contemplation.

Far on the other side, Lu Zhi Wei who was being talked about sneezed.

Wen Yao immediately wound up the window on the passenger side and nagged concernedly: “It’s already autumn, you have to take care of your body, don’t fall sick.”

Lu Zhi Wei burrowed deeper into her coat and replied lightly: “Thanks, you too.”

Silence fell upon them. Please read at jiulian lian . wordpress .

Lu Zhi Wei lowered her head and unlocked her phone, habitually scrolling through Weibo silently as she saw that “Bai Meng proposed to by a fan” result on the hot search.

Wedding veil, kneeling on one knee, everything was complete.

Nobody would have thought a fan would pull it off.

After looking at it for a moment, she was about to exit the page when she saw there was still a “Sang Wan Ci’s unedited photo” topic on the hot search.

Because of the system, now whenever she saw “Sang Wan Ci”, she would inexplicably be drawn to it.

So she clicked into it and opened the photo.

The image was a little blurry, but it couldn’t hide Sang Wan Ci’s beauty.

The person in the photo was wearing a plain-coloured dress with Zhang Xian Rui in front of her as she was taking off a Bluetooth earpiece.

Her skin was white as porcelain, her finger joints clear and distinct.

The autumn wind rustled through her hair and dress, as her lowered eyelashes seemed to hide her grace. Everything in the world was reduced to merely being embellishments at that moment.

This was the female lead, the darling of the world.

That’s what Lu Zhi Wei thought.

Speaking of which, she had to go back and brush up on her knowledge of Sang Wan Ci’s works, otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to live up to that sentence of “always support” she had said to Sang Wan Ci.

It had just been politeness back then, and also to leave as good an impression as possible on Sang Wan Ci amidst all that black history to help them get along better in the future.

But since she said it, she would do it. Thankfully Sang Wan Ci had just debuted this year, so she didn’t have too many projects that would require a lot of Lu Zhi Wei’s time to watch.

She was just thinking about it when Wen Yao suddenly asked: “Did you see the hot search?”

She snapped back to reality, as if she was waking up from a dream: “What?”

Wen Yao: “Hot search.”

“Bai Meng was proposed to by a fan, didn’t you see it?”

“Oh, that, I saw it just now.”

“The crazy devoted fans nowadays are really inexplicable, you never know what they’re going to do next. But thankfully this one is okay, at least the artist wasn’t harmed.”

“Yeah, it’s still alright.”

Lu Zhi Wei’s reply was a bit boring.

She wasn’t good at social interaction, she was used to quietly doing her own things. She was used to never being able to be part of a group, like before she resigned, she was always the quietest, most hidden person in the whole company.

When other people were gathered around gossiping, she was silently sitting aside and working on her own things. She didn’t need to say anything, nobody would care about her anyway.

It was like she was an alien who had crashed onto Earth.

This sort of situation played out every day, and it was already a part of her daily life.

So even after getting the male protagonist halo, she still didn’t have the ability to adjust right away, constantly thinking she was living in the past.

—— A small white cabbage that nobody doted on, nobody loved.

“I can’t really understand you.” Wen Yao suddenly said. “There are times when you’re very withdrawn, like you don’t like to socialise. But today, you went to find Sang Wan Ci on your own…… Is it because Sang Wan Ci is more attractive?”

If it was because of Sang Wan Ci’s face, then it was understandable.

She had never seen such a good-looking person before in her life.

Lu Zhi Wei heard that and couldn’t help laughing: “That’s not the reason.”

She thought about it and decided to tell a half-truth: “There’s no reason why I don’t talk much, it’s just that I lived very introvertedly before without friends and without much social interaction. I’m afraid I can’t speak well, so I don’t take the initiative to talk much.

“The reason I went to speak to Sang Wan Ci was because misunderstandings need to be cleared up.”

No friends? Please read at jiulian lian . wordpress .

Wen Yao stayed silent for a few seconds before asking carefully: “You…… were ostracised before? Are you alright?”

Startling, Lu Zhi Wei raised her eyebrows and said half-jokingly: “Yeah, I was ostracised before. But not in the same way others were, I was ostracised by the whole world. Doesn’t it sound particularly tragic?”

“……”

Wen Yao: “…… I might look like I’m easy to fool, but I’m 24 this year.”

What do you mean ostracised by the world, what sort of outrageous thing was that!

Lu Zhi Wei’s face immediately grew solemn: “Xiao Yao, when it comes to these things, it’s better to believe it than to not believe it.”

Wen Yao: “……”

She was fooled.

Because Lu Zhi Wei’s expression was too serious, serious to the point it was like she had really experienced it.

“…… Really?”

Lu Zhi Wei’s serious expression dissolved as she smiled: “I fooled you.”

Wen Yao: “……”

Despicable, can you not fool an adult and leave her some face!

This was the first time Lu Zhi Wei has spoken so much to Wen Yao after joining Sheng Yue.

Not about work, just idle chatter.

She didn’t plan on letting Wen Yao see her past, because Wen Yao had no duty to handle her emotions.

Nobody had a duty to do it.

It was good now, chatting about life lightly and looking forward.

“Thank you, Xiao Yao.”

She turned her head to look out the window, a trace of a smile on her lips.

“Thanks for your concern.”

She didn’t hear an answer, seeing only the changing landscape outside the window.

The sky was very blue and cloudless, while the wind whipped the tree leaves into a frenzy.

In this moment, the world had become very quiet.

“You will have friends. As long as you work hard, you’ll have everything.” Wen Yao suddenly spoke. “Zhi Wei jie, I believe you’re a good person. God won’t let good people down!”

She was met with a mouthful of chicken soup[1].

Even the way she was addressed was changed.

As a good person that God let down for 26 years, Lu Zhi Wei froze for a moment as her smile got deeper.

“Alright, I’ll work hard.”

…

At night, Lu Zhi Wei blew dry her hair as she watched her laptop screen while sitting on the sofa. It was time to attend the “Sang Wan Ci’s works” preparatory class.

Magazines, interviews, advertisements and endorsements, movies and television shows, everything was included.

As she watched, she made notes.

After two hours, she had a general understanding of Sang Wan Ci.

Sang Wan Ci was a very strong-willed person. Others could negotiate with her on anything, but they absolutely could not make a decision for her as she hated that sort of feeling.

Lu Zhi Wei could understand, not many people on Earth would be willing to accept it.

But it was just that plenty of people couldn’t be as free as Sang Wan Ci.

She was young, she was capable and she had a backbone. She also had the courage to reject what she didn’t like.

But it was strange. Please read at jiulian lian . wordpress .

In the system’s original script, the original male lead, Qiu Luo, was a man who loved to help his girlfriend make decisions. The two of them had quarrelled over it many times.

Qiu Luo clearly didn’t hold the same values as Sang Wan Ci and they weren’t a match. Even like that, they could still become the top couple that everybody envied?

Was the script really correct?

She prodded the professional who was online.

Lao Wu turned on his mic as the sound of pouring water entered her ears.

Lu Zhi Wei: “?”

“What are you doing?”

Lao Wu: 【Making coffee.】

Lu Zhi Wei was shocked: “What, you actually drink stuff!”

Lao Wu: 【Nonsense, I’m a human so of course I drink stuff. What are you making such a fuss for?】

Lu Zhi Wei was even more shocked: “I thought you were some high-tech robot!”

Lao Wu: 【…… Wake up, that sort of toy is super expensive and the technology is complex. Right now, it can only be used to be security guards and follow simple commands.】

Lu Zhi Wei: “Such as?”

Lao Wu picked up his cup: 【Like catching rule-breaking administrators and punishing them.】

Lu Zhi Wei was even more curious: “What sort of punishment?”

Lao Wu tsk-ed at her ever-increasing questions: 【Where did this curious baby come from, stop asking questions about the system. Spit it out, what did you come to me for?】

Lu Zhi Wei held in her curiosity and stopped asking.

Lao Wu had said before, the system and the world were secrets not to be revealed, even to the host.

But there were exceptions, it just remained to be seen if she could draw this “exception”.

Back to the main topic, Lu Zhi Wei brought up her doubts about the male lead.

Lao Wu calmly said a sentence after hearing it: 【The protagonist halo covers up all flaws.】

The lead of this world naturally had to be the most successful person, whether it’s their family background, looks or more. Everything had to be perfect.

Although there could be small flaws with their personality that might result in small problems, but it wasn’t a big issue as the halo would cover up these flaws and magnify the lead’s own excellence.

Lu Zhi Wei furrowed her brows: “So they don’t love each other, but the halo.”

Lao Wu: 【You could say that. More accurately, the halo magnified their attraction to each other, so they love each other more.

【As long as there’s love, people can change, they can even give up their lives for the other person.】

Lu Zhi Wei’s brows knit even tighter: “But is that really fair to them?”

Without the protagonists’ halos, would they really still like each other?

Did anybody ask them if they were willing to be with each other?

Why was it that just because they were the leads, they had to be together?

It wasn’t fair. Please read at jiulian lian . wordpress .

【Fairness doesn’t exist in the world.】

Lao Wu poured his coffee, then turned around to look at the person on the screen who was in a daze, staring off into the distance.

【It’s the same everywhere.】

—— And it’s especially harsh on you.

Lao Wu slowly sipped his coffee.

He realised that Lu Zhi Wei had a good, kind heart.

Even though she had been abandoned by the world before, when she stood at the top of the world, she was still willing to consider other people’s feelings.

How could a person like this not be liked?

Lu Zhi Wei suddenly put down her notebook and leaned back: “Then if I refuse to do it now, what would happen?”

Lao Wu calmly blew on his coffee: 【Then wait for bugs to appear and the world to descend into chaos.】

Lu Zhi Wei’s curiosity was stoked again: “What sort of bug?”

Lao Wu thought for a moment then said: 【For example, stuff that doesn’t belong in your world will appear. It might not just be one or two. By then, you might see stuff like ——】

【The boss fighting little monsters.

【The lead of tragic young adult stories entangled with the lead of a ghost movie.

【Mechas and immortals fighting in the sky.

【Anyway, it’ll be a mess, primordial chaos.】

After he finished speaking, Lu Zhi Wei didn’t move for a long time. It seemed as if her eyelids were the only part of her body that was still alive.

He didn’t call out to her, lowering his head to sip his coffee.

After a while, Lu Zhi Wei said something only a villain would say.

“…… Sorry, I kind of really want to see what you just described?”

【……】

Lao Wu slowly put his cup down.

【Can the male lead be more honest and not try to take the villain’s script, thank you.】

[1] 鸡汤 – Literally chicken soup, think of it like, chicken soup for the soup. Encouraging words etc.