Chapter 3

Sister Ji rushed to the hotel with her usual decisive efficiency.

The entire way there, she kept wondering just how insane Zhai You had gone to say something like that.

With the help of the hotel staff, she forcefully pushed open the door, looking very much like she had come to catch someone cheating. But after walking around the room once, she found no little beauty Zhai You had hidden away.

Sister Ji folded her arms across her chest and silently stared at Zhai You.

Luckily, she was a Beta and couldn’t smell the outrageously strong pheromones filling the room. Otherwise, she definitely would have assumed Zhai You had gone at it several times last night.

But if an Alpha or Omega came in, there was no way they would believe Zhai You had done absolutely nothing the night before.

“Which role in Deliberate Love do you want Jiang Bailu to play?”

After several rounds of staring at each other, Sister Ji was ultimately the first to speak.

During that time, Zhai You had also been mentally preparing herself nonstop, terrified that the other woman might notice something was off.

She secretly sized Sister Ji up and eventually reached a conclusion: as expected, anyone saved in the contacts as “Old Hag” had a completely different kind of presence.

Honestly, Zhai You never bothered reading books-within-books.

So she had no idea what Deliberate Love was even about, but judging by the title, it was obviously a romance drama.

And a yuri one at that.

“Obviously the female lead.”

After Zhai You said this, Sister Ji seemed momentarily stunned.

“Is there a problem?” Zhai You didn’t understand.

Sister Ji opened her mouth several times, only to stop herself. In the end, after repeatedly reminding herself that Zhai You paid her livelihood, she managed to speak nicely. “If you’ve thought it through, then there’s no problem. Has Jiang Bailu agreed?”

Zhai You: “I haven’t told her yet.”

But getting to play the female lead—Jiang Bailu would probably be thrilled.

The book had mentioned that Jiang Bailu loved acting very much and treated every performance seriously.

Now that she finally had money she could spend however she wanted, why wouldn’t she arrange a good job for her wife?

Female lead it was!

“Fine.” Sister Ji agreed without hesitation. “You know the screenwriter already wanted Jiang Bailu in the production anyway. We’d only be… changing her role.”

“Exactly, exactly.” Zhai You nodded along.

The sight gave Sister Ji an enormous headache.

Honestly, she had never wanted to manage Zhai You as an artist in the first place.

Second-generation rich kids were the most troublesome people to have in the industry. To them, it was all just a game. And Zhai You was the type who couldn’t even be bothered to pretend otherwise. Every single time, she caused some huge disaster, making Sister Ji feel like several more wrinkles had appeared on her face recently.

Yet she had still agreed to be Zhai You’s manager.

There was a reason, though now that she thought about it, it wasn’t anything particularly important.

In any case, Sister Ji genuinely regarded Zhai You as one of her own. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have rushed to the hotel like this.

“Then tell me why you suddenly agreed to give Jiang Bailu an opportunity.”

Sister Ji began interrogating her.

Well, about that… Zhai You immediately perked up and pulled a pen and paper from the drawer.

Because conditions had been limited last night, they hadn’t formally signed a contract yet. They had only discussed things briefly.

The paper read:

“Party A and Party B hereby establish an engagement, with a term of three years.”

“During this period, Party A may not engage in ambiguous or inappropriate relationships with any other Omega. Likewise, Party B must stay as far away as possible from other Alphas. For the duration of the agreement, both parties are required to remain faithful.”

“Party A will not force Party B to do anything. Before Party B makes any major decision, she must discuss it with Party A.”

“Party B must compliment Party A’s appearance once every day.”

“……”

Sister Ji’s brow visibly twitched as she read.

“You want to marry Jiang Bailu?” And she had even drafted such a ridiculously childish… marriage agreement? “Have you lost your mind?”

Sister Ji’s eyes widened.

It was unbelievable. If she kept listening, [unauthorized copy]she felt like ten years were going to be shaved off her lifespan.

“Didn’t you say you were only fooling around?”

“Sister Ji, you can’t say things like that anymore. During the contract period, I have to remain faithful!”

“……”

Last night, Jiang Bailu had looked visibly dumbfounded, staring at Zhai You almost as though she were looking at a ghost.

But Zhai You hadn’t been joking. She had really called over a hotel employee, asked for paper and a pen, and written all of this down beneath the cloyingly sweet pheromones that threatened to ignite at any moment.

She wanted to marry Jiang Bailu.

But Zhai You hadn’t lost her mind. She knew everything the original owner had done meant Jiang Bailu definitely wouldn’t agree to marry her.

That was why she had written such a childish-looking agreement and asked for Jiang Bailu’s opinion.

To keep Jiang Bailu from becoming too wary, Zhai You had even said, “If you agree, I’ll cover your mother’s medical expenses. But during the contract period, if anyone starts coveting me, you have to help keep them away.”

The temptation of having her mother’s medical bills covered was simply too great for Jiang Bailu.

And the request Zhai You made wasn’t ​unauthorized copy​particularly unreasonable either.—At least compared to being kept as a mistress.

Someone coveting Zhai You? Was she joking?

When Jiang Bailu wrote her name on the paper, she secretly glanced at Zhai You.

Skin so pale it practically glowed, and dazzling red hair.

If it weren’t for all the things she had done, judging by appearance alone, Zhai You really was… attractive.

And her pheromones smelled like pleasant roses.

“Why are you signing your name now? This is only a draft for you to look over. We’ll print the official contract tomorrow.”

“……”

“……”

Sister Ji kept staring at the handwriting on the paper, as if she intended to stare a flower into existence.

At the bottom, she saw the three characters of Jiang Bailu’s name. The handwriting was clearly different. Compared to Zhai You’s flamboyant—or rather, chicken-scratch-like—writing, Jiang Bailu’s handwriting was neat and delicate, just like the woman herself.

Sister Ji truly didn’t understand. “What exactly do you gain from doing this?”

If she liked Jiang Bailu, then why had she initially proposed keeping her as a mistress?

Only now was she claiming to be serious. Everything she had done before was practically the definition of lifting a rock only to drop it on her own foot. Did Zhai You think this was fun?

“Forget it. I’m not getting involved.” Sister Ji put down the notebook in disgust.

Zhai You’s family could deal with this sort of thing. She was only her manager.

Besides, Zhai You’s image didn’t need protecting. She could do whatever she wanted. She was the one who would get cursed out for it anyway, and she couldn’t blame anyone else.

“Back to business.”

“My marriage is no longer considered business?” Zhai You looked shocked.

“……” Sister Ji struggled with whether or not to beat her to death. “Who knows if this is just some new game of yours? Forget that. There’s no problem with arranging for Jiang Bailu to play the female lead.”

“But the investment your family provided has already pushed the production team to their limit by getting them to agree to one person. If you really want to start calling the shots, you’ll need to invest more.”

And that still depended on whether the production team was willing.

Still, Sister Ji thought that since the [stolen content]screenwriter already wanted Jiang Bailu, there might be room for negotiation.

“So basically, either she gets the role or I do. We can’t both have it.” Zhai You summarized.

Sister Ji’s mouth twitched.

Technically, she wasn’t wrong. If replacing Jiang Bailu as the female lead meant Zhai You would withdraw from the production, the crew would probably be overjoyed.

Zhai You hadn’t had any real desire to act in the first place, so she didn’t care whether she stayed in the production.

Arranging a job for her wife sounded great.

But then something occurred to her!

This drama was yuri! If she withdrew, wouldn’t she basically be paying money so Jiang Bailu could fall in love with someone else?

“I suppose I could reluctantly play the second female lead…”

“……Then you’ll need to invest more money.”

*

Zhai You returned home.

Before arriving, she had been nervous and on edge. After getting home, however, she immediately relaxed. She discovered there were tons of servants in the house, and every one of them treated her with utmost respect.

This feels amazing…

At first, she was still cautious and restrained. Then she accidentally bumped into the corner of a table, and her temper flared up instantly.

The servants, meanwhile, all wore expressions that seemed to say, Now this is how Young Miss normally acts… and so Zhai You became even more at ease.

And even happier.

But she hadn’t come home just to lie around doing nothing. She had important business to handle.

While waiting for her parents to return, the kind of butler Zhai You had only ever seen in novels walked over holding a telephone.

“Young Miss, there’s a call for you.”

“Hang up.” Zhai You answered without even thinking. If this was someone she was close to, wouldn’t they call her cell phone? Why bother calling the house phone?

She still hadn’t completely adjusted to the original owner’s identity, so naturally, she wanted to avoid interacting with people whenever possible.

After saying that, Zhai You casually picked up the phone lying beside the sofa and looked at it.

More than ten missed calls.

Then she looked at the butler, her eyes flickering repeatedly as guilt crept in.

So they had only called the house because they couldn’t reach her phone.

The caller was Su Luo, a cannon-fodder character who had never appeared in the book.

Zhai You wasn’t sure what kind of relationship this person had with the original owner. She cleared her throat before answering the phone. “Hello. What is it?”

“Resort villa. Coming?” Su Luo spoke very concisely. Clearly, the original owner had gone out partying with him plenty of times before, so he didn’t even bother explaining the details.

Zhai You pursed her lips and coldly said she wasn’t going, then hung up.

The moment she ended the call, she hurriedly searched her phone for information related to Su Luo.

The next second, another call came in. Zhai You didn’t look closely and answered immediately, saying coldly,

“I’m not going. Stop calling.”

There was silence on the other end for a long time. After speaking, Zhai You subconsciously waited two seconds before remembering that she should hang up.

Just as her finger moved toward the end-call button, a clear, soft voice came through the phone.

“Didn’t you say we were going to sign the contract? I’ve been waiting specifically for you.” There was even a trace of helplessness at the end of her sentence, as if she were afraid Zhai You might go back on her word and then there would be nowhere to get her mother’s medical expenses.

Zhai You moved the phone slightly away from her ear, but her grip tightened instead. Her voice remained reasonably calm. “Okay. I’m coming right now.”

After glancing at the address Jiang Bailu had sent her, Zhai You hurried out the door.

Then very quickly came right back.

Zhai You had returned home by taxi, but the Zhai family mansion was built in a remote area. There was no way she could get a taxi from here.

The house had an underground garage and certainly wasn’t short on cars, but Zhai You didn’t know how to drive.

She remembered that the original owner did.

To avoid exposing herself, Zhai You stubbornly resisted asking the butler or chauffeur for help. She stared at the rows of luxury cars in front of her, all painted in various flashy colors.

Finally, she called her assistant and gave him a chance to redeem himself.

The assistant hurried over.

When he arrived, Zhai You had already been standing beside a red Ferrari for quite some time. She was tall and had a beautiful figure, looking even more like a professional car model than an actual car model.

This particular “car model” couldn’t drive, so she could only stare coldly at her assistant.

She didn’t recognize him.

After confirming his identity, Zhai You tossed the car keys directly at him. The assistant fumbled to catch them, then looked at Young Miss Zhai in confusion.

“Sister Zhai, there’s no need to be so generous. You’re even giving me a car?”

“……” Zhai You gave him a chilly glance. “Why would I give you a car?”

“Didn’t you ask me to handle something yesterday? I did a great job!”

“?”

The assistant said rather foolishly, “You sent me that text, and I immediately understood what you meant. I even went out of my way to urge Jiang Bailu to hurry up so you wouldn’t have to wait too long!”

After saying that, he looked extremely pleased with himself. For such a clever and considerate assistant, shouldn’t he get an extra bonus?

But giving him a luxury car was far too generous, [bailiantales.com]and his salary wasn’t even enough to pay for the maintenance.

So the assistant beamed brightly. “Sister Zhai, if you really want to reward me, just give me a red envelope or something.”

They stared at each other.

“Drive. Stop talking nonsense.”

The whole reason Zhai You had dragged the assistant over was so he could act as her driver.

If anyone asked, Zhai You would simply say she was in a bad mood and didn’t feel like driving.

Young Miss really was willful.

They drove all the way to the roadside where Jiang Bailu was waiting. She wore a floral dress, her hair hanging loose over her shoulders, and no one knew how long she had been standing in the cold wind.

Her small face was pale and completely devoid of color, looking so fragile that she might collapse at any moment.

Zhai You lowered the car window and gestured for her to get in.

Outside the window, Jiang Bailu slowly gave Zhai You a smile.

It was faint, but exceptionally beautiful.