After Flirting with the Wrong Stand-in, I Overturned (GL) - Chapter 10

The terms “clumsy beauty” and “falling into a trap” made Lin Shuyan swallow the words she was about to say, her mind going blank once more.

Receiving no response, Ren Xuan immediately pulled the girl toward her. She wanted to stay outside to survey the area, but the men and women passing through the corridor kept throwing prying glances their way. Having no choice, Ren Xuan pulled her into the VIP room.

Once inside, Ren Xuan scanned the room first. It was no different from any other bar setup—no hidden cameras or suspicious items. Satisfied that everything was normal, Ren Xuan sat her down on the sofa.

“Miss Ren, why did you come here?” Lin Shuyan allowed herself to be pulled along the entire time, without a hint of resistance or reluctance. Deep down, she was even joyful to see Ren Xuan again, but thinking of the setting, she suppressed her excitement. Did Miss Ren come here with friends?

This bar had a nickname: “The Lovers’ Bar.” It was said that many couples fell in love at first sight here. Did Miss Ren come here to try her luck too?

“Where is the contact information I gave you?” Ren Xuan asked instead of answering.

The topic changed so fast that Lin Shuyan answered without thinking: “At home.” Those two contact methods were too precious for her to carry around. As soon as she got home, she had tucked them away in her secret cabinet. Especially the card with the Ren family landline—Lin Shuyan knew it wasn’t Ren Xuan’s private cell, but it was her only link to her, so she had quietly saved it.

At home? Zhao Meili wouldn’t have gone to Shuyan’s house to scavenge for it. In that case, where did she get the number? Ren Xuan set that question aside for a moment. “Lin Shuyan, how did you end up here?”

“I…” Lin Shuyan’s voice trailed off. She clearly didn’t want Ren Xuan to know. Normally, Ren Xuan wouldn’t pry, but today…

This girl was too dazed, too easy to trust people.

“Lin Shuyan,” Ren Xuan’s voice softened, her gaze encouraging. “Tell me, why are you at this bar at this time of night?”

“It’s very important,” Ren Xuan emphasized. Her tone was peaceful, but Lin Shuyan could tell she wasn’t going to let it go.

But Shuyan couldn’t say it.

She lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes. She tried desperately to swallow them back down.

It’s too embarrassing…

Why was it that every time she met Miss Ren, it was at such a humiliating moment? She had been ready to leave Xingyu, only to discover a fourteen-year contract. When she originally signed, it was for four years. Zhao Meili had used some trick to make her sign another one. She only blamed her own poor eyesight for failing to see it, wasting all of Miss Ren’s previous efforts.

“Then tell me, are you here of your own free will?” Ren Xuan didn’t want to push her too hard. She liked things to be clean and decisive, but dealing with the female lead required a gentle touch.

Lin Shuyan’s shoulders trembled. She nodded, then immediately shook her head.

What does that mean? Ren Xuan was puzzled.

“Is Zhao Meili using something to threaten you?” Ren Xuan thought of the contract. It was a guess, but Shuyan’s fingers clenching into a fist gave her the answer.

“The contract?” Ren Xuan continued. “The fourteen-year contract with Xingyu. You can’t leave.”

“So Miss Ren knows everything.” Lin Shuyan nodded slowly, her tears finally overflowing. Fortunately, her head was down, so no one saw her crying.

“You didn’t want me to know?” Ren Xuan understood. After a moment of thought, she blurted out, “Is it bad that I know?”

She held back the follow-up: Why didn’t you want me to know? Perhaps Shuyan had her own reasons.

Of course it’s bad, Shuyan screamed internally, shaking her head.

“It’s the company and Zhao Meili who trapped you. You’re the victim,” Ren Xuan reasoned. To Shuyan, she was likely just a slightly familiar stranger, and it was normal not to want a stranger knowing your private struggles.

“Miss Ren,” Shuyan said in a muffled voice, “that contract really has my name on it.” Even if she didn’t know when or how it got there, it was genuinely her signature.

“I know.” The fact that Shuyan was willing to talk was a good start in Ren Xuan’s eyes. “You aren’t the first artist Xingyu has treated this way. Do you remember an artist at your company who was mildly popular but suddenly quit the industry?”

Lin Shuyan looked up. Only then did Ren Xuan notice her wet lashes. Resisting the urge to reach out and wipe them, she continued: “She was signed to the same kind of contract.”

“How did she leave Xingyu?” Lin Shuyan remembered that actress. Xingyu didn’t have many famous stars. Recently, as “retro” trends grew, fans often edited videos of retired or deceased artists. That was how the woman had come back onto people’s radars. Since they were from the same company, Shuyan had paid attention; she remembered the actress’s family couldn’t have afforded the breach-of-contract fee. How did she get out?

“She passed the Civil Service Exam.”

Lin Shuyan’s eyes dimmed instantly. She had only finished middle school; she didn’t have the educational background for that.

“Do you know why I showed up here today?” Ren Xuan asked. She paused for a few seconds, then smiled and answered her own question. “Zhao Meili sent me a message saying you were at a staff party, that you were drunk, and asked me to pick you up.”

“I’m not drunk…” Shuyan quickly remembered. When she first arrived at the bar, someone had asked to borrow her phone, saying theirs was dead. That person had made the call right in front of her… It must have been then that they peeked at her contacts.

She shouldn’t have saved Miss Ren’s number in her phone, and she definitely shouldn’t have used her name.

“I came because of that contract,” Shuyan stammered an explanation. “Zhao Meili told me to come to West Street Bar. I didn’t want to, but she said we’d be working together for over ten more years, and if I didn’t show up, she’d come to my house to find me…”

“So you felt you had to come?”

“Yes.”

“And you dared to come to this kind of bar?” Hearing the reason, Ren Xuan felt that “clumsy beauty” was no exaggeration. “Lin Shuyan.”

Her voice rose slightly. “What if this was another setup? Do you have any idea what goes on in bars? Here, drugs can be tasteless and odorless in a drink. If Zhao Meili had the same intentions as last time, who knows where you’d be right now?”

“I didn’t drink anything,” Shuyan murmured softly.

“Not even water,” Ren Xuan glanced at the glass on the table.

“I didn’t drink the water either.” Shuyan gripped her clothes tightly, her voice barely audible. Before coming, she had decided she wouldn’t touch a single thing Zhao Meili gave her. She whispered this to Ren Xuan.

“You shouldn’t have even entered this room!” Ren Xuan snapped. If you don’t touch food, what if they use knockout gas?

“Then… why did Miss Ren come?” Shuyan finally gathered the courage to ask. Ren Xuan knew everything; she must have known why Zhao Meili called her. Zhao Meili thought she was Miss Ren’s mistress, but the truth was clearly otherwise. If Miss Ren only cared about a chance encounter, she could have sent someone else.

“Because I’m kind-hearted,” Ren Xuan praised herself. Given their current relationship, she couldn’t exactly blurt out that she wanted to keep her as a mistress. “I’m talking about your problem right now,” she added sternly after a brief pause. “No changing the subject.”

Shuyan stopped whispering. Ren Xuan ran out of things to say for a moment. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Shuyan followed her.

“To your house first.”

“I can go home by myself,” Shuyan replied immediately.

“Cabs at night aren’t safe.”

Coming down from the third floor and passing the dance floor, the music was still pounding. In the center of the stage, a man and a woman reached the climax of their dance and kissed passionately. The crowd below followed suit, kissing their partners. It was a place for couples, after all.

Lin Shuyan, seeing this for the first time, shrunk her neck and ran outside quickly. Ren Xuan, seeing her so shy, shook her head helplessly and followed slowly. This is clearly a white rabbit falling into a wolf’s den. This place is not for her.

Leaving the dizzying lights of the bar, Shuyan let out a long breath. In the end, she couldn’t refuse Ren Xuan’s insistence on driving her. After hesitatingly giving an address, she buried herself in the car seat.

Ren Xuan relayed the address to the driver. Leaving the bustling city center, they wound through alleyways until the car stopped in front of a residential complex.

“Miss Ren, I’m home.” Shuyan practically bolted from the car. Ren Xuan had seen her preparing to open the door, but she hadn’t expected her to be that fast.

Ren Xuan got out and spoke a few words to the driver. The car turned around, and Shuyan looked at her in confusion.

“Lin Shuyan,” Ren Xuan said, “how long do you plan on being an ostrich?”

Shuyan’s heart tightened. She really did want to bury herself.

“Aren’t we going up?” Ren Xuan’s gaze rested on the building. “Which door?”

“Miss… Miss Ren, my house is…”

“Is your home not welcoming to me? I’ve already told you all my family information,” Ren Xuan teased.

“My house is very small,” Shuyan said weakly.

“A home isn’t about size.”

“It’s… very messy.” Shuyan searched for an excuse.

“Then you must be very happy to go home often,” Ren Xuan said.

“?”

“Only those who are never home have clean, organized houses where everything is stacked neatly because they never know when they’ll be back.”

Seeing that Ren Xuan was determined, Shuyan led the way. She tried to mentally prepare Ren Xuan; Ren Xuan came from a wealthy background, and if she didn’t warn her…

They reached the door. The key turned, and the lock clicked. Shuyan hadn’t found the words all the way up. She opened the door silently, stopping at the threshold. “My… the hallway in my house can only fit one person at a time.”

“I should,” Ren Xuan smiled, looking from Shuyan to herself, “not be that fat, I hope.”

Shuyan’s heart lightened. The door opened.

The apartment was narrow and small, with mostly old furniture, but the girl kept it spotless. Ren Xuan stood in the bedroom. In the small space, their breaths almost intertwined. Shuyan wanted to say something but didn’t know where to start.

“Lin Shuyan,” Ren Xuan said, acting as if she didn’t notice the lack of space, “have you made up your mind?”

Are you going to try out for Sheng Huang? Shuyan fell silent again.

“Do you plan to stay at Xingyu?” Ren Xuan laid it all out. “I can help you.”

“I know,” Shuyan said. That contract was a mountain she could never climb over, but for Ren Xuan, it was a flick of the wrist.

But why? The world shouldn’t work on the principle that the weak just wait for someone to save them.

“You know what Zhao Meili said to me today,” Ren Xuan brought up the manager again. “She thinks you are my kept mistress.”

Shuyan’s pupils dilated. She stood there like a stunned piece of wood. She was an ostrich; she knew what Zhao Meili meant. Miss Ren hadn’t punctured that bubble until now, so why…

“I don’t have that intention,” Ren Xuan said calmly, lying through her teeth. Zhao Meili had mentioned it to both of them; even if it wasn’t official, it didn’t mean Shuyan wouldn’t overthink it later. If she really wanted a future with Shuyan, it was best to snuff out the “transactional” assumption before Shuyan could develop feelings.

“On the balcony that day, I just wanted to help. In that situation, I think any citizen with a conscience would have stepped in.” That, Ren Xuan didn’t lie about.

“Later, I felt you could be better. You should know the Ren family does a lot of charity. I want to make an investment, and you have potential. Is that not allowed?”

“What if I’m not worth it?” Shuyan asked hoarsely.

“I trust my own eye,” Ren Xuan said confidently. “So, will you try? I’ll handle the Xingyu situation. Sheng Huang is recruiting in November; you still have over a month to prepare.”