Chapter 17

Act. She absolutely had to act in it!

Once Zhai You made up her mind, Sister Ji stopped replying.

After all, Alpha/Omega pheromones… you couldn’t smell those through a screen anyway, even if they smelled like pickled radish. As long as the face looked convincing enough, that was all that mattered.

And Zhai You’s appearance was unquestionably that of a great beauty.

Her features were exquisite, her eyes vivid and expressive. A single turn of her head or lift of her gaze could steal half a person’s soul.

As long as she didn’t open her mouth.

Zhai You had quietly gone and accomplished something this huge. Putting everything else aside, surely Sister Ji could at least go brag about it to someone.

As her manager, Sister Ji felt it was absolutely necessary to show off, and Director Guo was the obvious first choice. Ideally, while she was bragging, she could also help Zhai You settle the matter.

She casually hung up, then just as casually called Director Guo.

It took Director Guo several minutes to answer. “Hello, Sister Ji. Look stolen contenthow slow I was. I was busy just now. Really sorry about that.”

He had clearly made her wait on purpose before answering, yet his sincere tone made it sound completely genuine.

Sister Ji didn’t care. She merely adopted a slightly emotional tone. “Director Guo, I remember you previously tried negotiating with No. 1 High School about using the campus as a filming location, but it didn’t work out, right?”

Director Guo immediately caught the implication. “Could it be that Sister Ji has a solution?”

Sister Ji secretly rejoiced.

He took the bait.

She cleared her throat.

“It’s nothing much. After our Youyou heard about it, she specifically went to speak with Principal Xu. Principal Xu has agreed to reconsider.”

“……” A burst of noise came from the other end of the phone.

Director Guo was angrily pounding the table, making it bang repeatedly. Why? Why had Zhai You managed to negotiate successfully?

Hadn’t Principal Xu rejected them precisely because Zhai You was going to be in the cast?

After finally swallowing his frustration, Director Guo still had to ask with great enthusiasm, “Really? That’s wonderful! I wonder how Zhai You managed to persuade her.”

“You know yourself, our production team negotiated with them for ages without succeeding. Zhai You is practically the production’s great hero now!”

Director Guo knew this “great hero” was about to come asking for a reward.

But he couldn’t understand why Zhai You insisted on tormenting his production.

His production—

What had it ever done to deserve this?

“Sigh.” Sister Ji thought about that entire building and felt her heart ache, but she had to pretend she didn’t care. “Youyou was worried about No. 1 High School’s learning environment, so she donated a teaching building.”

“……” Director Guo’s heart began aching for that building too.

Honestly, if she was really that rich, he wouldn’t have minded simply renting a location and having the props team build a temporary school set.

Now, though, Zhai You had paid to secure the filming location, [read the original at bailiantales.com]and the investment money had come from her too. No matter what request she made, it would hardly seem excessive.

Being rich really was wonderful.

Director Guo fell silent for a moment before speaking in a negotiating tone. “I discussed it with the screenwriter.”

“There’s absolutely no problem with Jiang Bailu playing the female lead. But does Zhai You really want to play the second female lead?”

Sister Ji also fell silent for a moment before answering with complete certainty, “That’s right.”

Director Guo said, “Can I ask why?”

It couldn’t possibly be because she lacked money. Between the investment and donating an entire building, how much money had she already spent?

Then was it true love?

That was even more absurd.

Sister Ji answered mysteriously, “She probably wants to… experience forced love.”

Director Guo: “……” What the hell?

*

When Zhai You arrived home, she happened to receive Sister Ji’s reply.

The negotiations had succeeded.

Swinging her phone in one hand, she sauntered into the house. With each stride of her long legs, she radiated an extraordinarily flamboyant air.

A smile appeared in the butler’s eyes. He was very pleased to see Young Miss this happy. “Would you like the chef to prepare something for you?”

Zhai You had been traveling for hours and hadn’t eaten yet, so of course she did.

While waiting for the food, she looked upstairs. “Has Bailu eaten?”

The butler’s expression disappeared. “She has.”

In reality, when the servants had brought food upstairs, Jiang Bailu had only eaten a few bites and hadn’t followed the family doctor’s advice.

Zhai You nodded, yet for some reason, she felt vaguely uneasy.

She hadn’t seen Jiang Bailu for almost ten hours. There was an indescribable feeling in her chest… worry, perhaps?

Or maybe she simply wanted to see her and was using concern as an excuse.

Zhai You really wanted to see Jiang Bailu.

“I’ll come back down to eat later.” She went upstairs and knocked on the bedroom door.

Standing on the other side of the door, Zhai You thought: She hasn’t turned on the lights again. Reading without lights on is going to ruin her eyes.

“Bai…” Zhai You paused, then called her out in a cold tone. “Jiang Bailu, open the door.”

The door opened.

The servants had a habit of using scented candles, but Zhai You disliked having unnecessary fragrances in her room, so none had been lit in the room Jiang Bailu was currently staying in either.

The moment the door opened, however, a sweet honey fragrance rushed toward her, so rich and thick it almost seemed impossible to pull apart.

Jiang Bailu stood there with her elegant figure, her eyes showing little emotion as she silently stared at Zhai You.

Zhai You’s throat moved.

How could someone so aloof and quiet have pheromones this sweet?

She ran her tongue over one of her canine teeth and couldn’t help thinking—could that aloofness merely be a mask she used to protect herself?

It made Zhai You want to tear it off.

Sensing the aggression in Zhai You’s gaze, Jiang Bailu warily stepped back several times. “Why are you here so late? Is something wrong?”

That single sentence immediately snapped Zhai You back to her senses.

No.

Not yet.

Zhai You’s gaze darkened slightly, and her voice sounded a little muffled, almost complaining. “Didn’t I tell you before about a drama?”

Jiang Bailu’s eyes immediately lit up.

Realizing that, in Jiang Bailu’s heart, she apparently wasn’t even as important as a drama, Zhai You felt deeply wounded!

Then she remembered the forced-love plot in the drama.

Ahem.

She suddenly started looking forward to seeing how Jiang Bailu would force herself on her.

Once she got back to her room, she was definitely reading the plot!

“I just finished negotiating with the director. You’re going to play the female lead.” Zhai You hesitated and decided to temporarily hide the fact that she would be playing the second female lead.

“Try to recover as soon as possible. Tomorrow, I’ll take you out to buy a few outfits, and then we’ll go for an audition. Is that okay?”

Even if the role was already decided internally, they still had to go through the motions and take costume photos.

Looking at Jiang Bailu’s fair face, Zhai You began looking forward to tomorrow. “You don’t need to worry about anything else. Just get a good night’s sleep.”

“Wait.” Jiang Bailu stopped Zhai You, anticipation in her eyes. “Can you [stolen content]tell me which drama it is first?”

She had assumed it would be some web drama.

Even a web drama would already be an enormous opportunity for a newcomer like her.

And it was the female lead.

So many people begged for opportunities like that and never got them.

Although all it took was one word from Zhai You, she had genuinely been willing to say that word for Jiang Bailu.

It seemed that as long as Jiang Bailu properly fulfilled what was written in the agreement…

The way Jiang Bailu looked at Zhai You relaxed considerably, and there was even a faint trace of friendship in her gaze. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you with the matter involving Qiao Yan.”

Zhai You had just been wounded by Jiang Bailu and was currently licking her emotional wounds, consoling herself that the road ahead was long and she couldn’t rush things.

Then she heard Jiang Bailu’s next sentence.

She was completely confused.

“What happened between me and Qiao Yan?” Zhai You thought about the phone call she had made to Qiao Yan and suddenly felt strangely nervous. “You know about it?”

Jiang Bailu nodded but didn’t explain that the butler had told her.

The butler had probably been trying to test her.

Jiang Bailu said gently, “Don’t worry. I won’t object.”

She and Zhai You were only bound by a contract. Why would she object?

Zhai You breathed a sigh of relief. “As long as you don’t object.”

It still felt a little strange.

Unable to figure it out, she returned to Jiang Bailu’s previous question. “Deliberate Love. The screenwriter should have invited you before, but only for some minor roles.”

Jiang Bailu’s eyes widened in shock.

Deliberate Love?

It was actually this drama—

and she was the female lead.