After Transmigrating Back, I Became My Own Stand-in - Chapter 17

Shi Xu had no intention of seeing that psychopath.

Even if the woman had brought funding to the show, Shi Xu didn’t want to risk her life. She didn’t reply to Shen Tianqing’s message, pretending she had already fallen asleep.

From the ocean-view room, one could see the beach and the sea. Shi Xu didn’t like the ocean; she hated that boundless sense of the unknown. Years ago, Xin Xiaoxuan had said she was a strange person—outwardly bold and fond of thrills, yet afraid of being on a boat.

At the time, Shi Xu had corrected her righteously: “I’m not afraid of boats; I just hate the feeling.”

So, she felt nothing for the luxury view. She pulled the curtains shut and lay in bed, thinking about her upcoming performance.

Play Meng Heng. Play her clumsily. Worry about the future later.

The world twelve years later wasn’t like the old days with single promotion channels. Being an entertainer wasn’t just defined by being an actor. If you had no roles, you could livestream or sell goods; there were too many ways to make money, provided you had fame.

And Meng Heng’s fame? That was undeniable—she was a top-tier traffic star.

She fell asleep with the dream of making a comeback and buying a house, but she didn’t expect some people to be truly insane.

As she slept, she felt a slight itch. She rolled over and sat up abruptly the next second, seeing a silhouette beside her bed.

There were no lights on in the room; Shi Xu didn’t need a nightlight to sleep.

The only light came from the lamps outside and a sliver of moonlight filtering through the curtains, just enough to outline Shen Tianqing’s figure.

Shi Xu blurted out: “Are you sick?”

The figure in the dark nodded as if it were perfectly natural: “I’m sleepwalking.”

Shi Xu turned on the light and scratched her head in frustration. She touched her face and turned around in a breakdown: “Director Shen, what brings you here in the middle of the night?”

Shen Tianqing: “Can’t sleep. Came to see you.”

Shi Xu obviously didn’t take that nonsense seriously. As the bedside lamp flickered on, she saw Shen Tianqing wearing a velvet robe. The neckline was open from her neck down to her abdomen; the belt was tied so loosely it might as well not have been there. Her hair—straight, in direct contrast to her “lesbian energy”—was tucked inside the robe, looking rich and textured in the dim yellow light.

At first glance, Shi Xu thought the neckline had been pulled open on purpose.

Surely not, right? We’re recording a show. Is she really that thirsty?

Then Shi Xu reconsidered—the woman was at this age; it would be too pathetic if she didn’t even have a bedmate.

“What exactly do you want?”

She leaned against the headboard, her face filled with the grogginess of unfinished sleep. Her slightly wavy hair caught the light in a warm arc. Shen Tianqing reached out and grabbed a strand. “Ignoring my messages on purpose?”

Shi Xu: “I was asleep.”

Shen Tianqing snorted. Between yawns, Shi Xu asked: “How did you get in? Don’t we use key cards?”

Shen Tianqing: “I have a master card.”

Shi Xu: “…” I really want to report her for abusing her power… but isn’t Producer Yan her friend?

Only then did she notice a scratch on Shen Tianqing’s neck.

“Get into a fight?”

This was the first time she had seen this “kid” without makeup as an adult. She didn’t actually look that unapproachable; she just had a bratty personality.

Shen Tianqing’s expression soured further.

Shi Xu tried to hold back a laugh but failed, letting it slip out.

“Sun Sitiao scratched you?”

Shen Tianqing: “Are you jealous?”

Her gaze was quite fierce. Shi Xu waved her hands quickly. “I wouldn’t dare.”

Shi Xu thought about Sun Sitiao’s appearance, then looked at Shen Tianqing’s annoyed face, and started laughing again.

She wasn’t unaware that she was quite different from the original Meng Heng in many ways. If the original “6900” were on a mission, there wouldn’t be such loopholes. But now, without the Mainframe and without a control panel, she was in her original world, living in a stranger’s body.

Shi Xu knew she was much more relaxed than before.

But what did it matter? She wasn’t going to be Meng Heng forever.

Shen Tianqing: “You seem to have changed a lot since hitting your head.”

Shi Xu: “Amnesia. Blindness.”

Shen Tianqing hummed. “Give me a piece.”

Shi Xu didn’t react for a moment: “What?”

Shen Tianqing: “The Interrupted Dream.”

Shi Xu: “…” Are you ordering off a menu, for God’s sake?

She finally realized this person’s goal was just to have her sing opera.

“Isn’t Sun Sitiao a professional?”

Shen Tianqing sneered: “I hate people who like me most of all.”

She had no idea how childish she looked.

Shi Xu instinctively asked back: “What if it’s someone you like?”

Shen Tianqing: “She doesn’t like me.”

Shi Xu thought to herself, Indeed, but her mouth turned mischievous again: “Why are you so certain?”

Shen Tianqing wasn’t willing to talk about it anymore. She pulled rank as the benefactor, showing the arrogance of a local landlord: “Sing for me.”

Shi Xu: “Do I get a tip?”

Shen Tianqing glared at her. Unfortunately, in this setting and that robe, it wasn’t intimidating at all; instead, it had a different charm, like a lover’s pout.

Shi Xu waved her hand. “It is my honor to serve you.”

She got out of bed and found an accompaniment track on her phone.

The soundproofing in this building was mediocre. When Chen Xiaoyin came out in the middle of the night to pour some water, she found Sun Sitiao standing at Meng Heng’s door.

She asked: “What are you doing?”

The other girl ignored her completely and went back to her room with a face full of rage.

Chen Xiaoyin, having received a glare for no reason in the dead of night, muttered wordlessly: “Did I provoke her or something?”

The next morning, when Shen Tianqing woke up, it wasn’t quite light yet. She didn’t expect herself to actually fall asleep again while this person was singing. And she didn’t feel the usual exhaustion of a fitful sleep.

She checked the time: 5:11 AM.

The curtains of the luxury S-class ocean-view room were tightly drawn. Outside, the sky was not yet grey. A small lamp was on by the sofa; someone was slumped there with headphones on, looking like she was having the time of her life playing a game.

Shen Tianqing coughed.

Shi Xu looked up: “Awake?”

Shen Tianqing: “Aren’t you sleeping?”

Shi Xu looked up briefly from her busy hands, maintaining a high speed: “Not sleepy.”

“By the way, you should head back quickly. If I get caught on camera, I’m dead.”

She looked as if she were terrified of being “caught in bed.”

Receiving no response for a while, Shi Xu looked up and found the woman lying on the bed, her ink-like long hair spread out like a flowing dark river.

Shi Xu: “Still not leaving?”

Shen Tianqing’s adolescence had been far too obedient, resulting in her later years rebounding into rebellion. At this moment, she rolled over, her robe’s belt coming loose. Shi Xu twitched her lips, wanting to tie her up but having no way to deal with her.

“Then I’m going out first. I have morning practice.”

The production crew usually started work at seven, and the cameras in public areas were on twenty-four hours a day. Shi Xu knew her benefactor was fearless, but…

I still care about my reputation.

She ignored Shen Tianqing and went to shower. By the time she finished and came back, the person was gone.

This show was vital to Yan Muyu. She slept later than a dog and woke up earlier than a rooster, and she even had to be woken up in the middle of the night by Shen Tianqing to help “commit a crime.”

“Can you give it a rest?”

Yan Muyu rubbed her temples. She knew this old friend didn’t need much sleep, but she did! If her older brother wasn’t lying in the ICU, she wouldn’t be here supervising.

Shen Tianqing: “Didn’t you want ‘heat’?”

Yan Muyu: “I don’t dare use ‘bed-climbing’ for heat.”

It was still early; the machines hadn’t been turned on, and the paid livestream rooms hadn’t officially started. Yan Muyu could barely keep her eyes open. She brewed a cup of coffee and asked Shen Tianqing: “Scratched by a cat?”

Shen Tianqing: “Whose fault is it for not telling me Sun Sitiao was here too?”

Yan Muyu: “She scratched you? You went to Meng Heng’s room and got scratched by Sun Sitiao?”

She had a unique way of speaking; no matter how urgent the topic, she spoke flatly, yet her personality was wild—a huge contrast.

Shen Tianqing had also just finished a shower and looked spirited.

Yan Muyu saw she was being ignored. “This is a livestream; keep your head on straight. You’re an actor by trade, Director Shen; it shouldn’t be hard, right?”

Shen Tianqing nodded solemnly.

Yan Muyu felt she was talking to a wall. “Sigh, forget it. Why did you run to Meng Heng’s room? I thought your ‘benefactor’ thing was strictly hands-off?”

Shen Tianqing looked at her. Yan Muyu: “Fine, not a matter of the heart either.”

She found it quite funny. “A loss-making business. Are you a Bodhisattva?”

Shen Tianqing: “She’s not so afraid of me anymore.”

Yan Muyu: “It’s a miracle she didn’t die after that fall. I heard her hand isn’t fully recovered yet, is that right?”

Thinking of the way Shi Xu’s hands were moving fast enough to leave afterimages while she was on the sofa, Shen Tianqing was momentarily choked for words.

“I won’t try to persuade you to move on; you’re just like this. But at least give it a try.”

Yan Muyu’s hair was neck-length and unevenly cut, with a streak of blue dyed behind her ear. She actually didn’t look worse than the celebrities. She just didn’t have that ambition.

Shen Tianqing: “Try with whom?”

The sky was slowly brightening. Her room faced the sea. In the distance, the sun was rising over the horizon, covering the water in shimmering golden light.

Yan Muyu rubbed her eyes. “Sun Sitiao? Meng Heng? Someone else?”

“Great Master Shen, even a widow steals a taste once in a while. It wouldn’t hurt for you to try.”

She was open-minded in this regard; saying such shocking things was perfectly in character.

Shen Tianqing shook her head: “None of them are…”

“Stop. Okay, don’t say anymore.”

Yan Muyu patted Shen Tianqing’s shoulder. “Then what were you doing in Meng Heng’s room?”

Shen Tianqing mentioned a few details.

“No way??? You actually fell asleep listening to her sing? Was it that bad?”

Yan Muyu thought it was strange.

Shen Tianqing kept her eyes down. Her freshly washed hair was still wet, soaking through her robe and clinging to her skin like a ripe fruit that no one had picked, ready to fall and rot in the soil at any moment.

“Meng Heng’s singing is average, but it’s strange,” Shen Tianqing propped her face with one hand. “She actually makes me think of Shi Xu.”

“I think you’re having an episode again. You should see a doctor. I’m really afraid you’ll go back to how you were in school; that scared me to death.” Yan Muyu pinched her temples with a headache. “One of these days, I’ll have to appreciate the work of ‘Teacher Meng Heng,’ the late-comer. It’s quite pitiful that she was a dancer and then forced by you to change her profession.”

Shen Tianqing: “That is her blessing. These training fees are very expensive.”

Yan Muyu thought: I don’t think she wants that kind of blessing.

The dormitory area was very busy in the morning. On the Whale TV app, a camera angle that could be unlocked for 1 Whale Coin was mostly for B-rank members.

The S-rank required the most Whale Coins, but their popularity was indeed high, and many people unlocked them.

Shi Xu’s exclusive camera started from the kitchen. People were already practicing lines in the public rehearsal room before seven. When Chen Xiaoyin got up, she happened to see Shi Xu coming out, gave her a greeting, and said she was going for a morning run.

Shi Xu was a bit hungry and went to eat breakfast first.

【The first one up in this group is actually Meng Heng!! She’s so thin… those legs, this girl’s hardware is truly top-notch, wuu wuu.】

【Actually, it’s the same regardless of whose camera you unlock; you can see the interactions anyway. Sister Xiaoyin, so beautiful! Going for a run this early; the secret to youth really is exercise!】

【The production team’s food looks delicious… why do I feel like Meng Heng is doing a mukbang?】

By eight o’clock, the people on this floor were arriving one after another. Rehearsals started at nine, but Sun Sitiao from the same group hadn’t come out. Finally, Chen Xiaoyin went to knock on the door.

The person who opened it: “What is it?”

“Rehearsal at nine. If you can’t make it, come at nine-thirty.”

Sun Sitiao hummed. Her voice sounded exhausted.

She looked up; Shi Xu was standing with her back turned, saying something to Lu Qinghuai.

Thinking of Shen Tianqing’s rejection, and the voice coming from Meng Heng’s room, Sun Sitiao was dying of jealousy. But her manager had explicitly told her she must restrain herself, so she had to swallow her anger.

But unexpectedly, as if Shi Xu had eyes in the back of her head, she turned around and said, “Hi! Awake? Want breakfast?”

Sun Sitiao slammed the door shut. Chen Xiaoyin was startled.

The viewers in the livestream:

【Even though the post seems real, why do I find Meng Heng and Sun Sitiao quite interesting…】

【Sun Sitiao’s face full of morning grumpiness is so real.】

【Meng Heng really isn’t as annoying as I imagined; she looks so refreshing and poised! (Anti-marketing warning: Her acting eyes are like copper bells.)】

【I’m really looking forward to… this group’s final piece… Sister-in-law and the younger sister-in-law…】

【Would the production team die if they added a camera for the mentors? I’d pay whatever to see Shen Tianqing’s personal camera! I want to see what this woman does every day!】

Sun Sitiao lay in bed looking at the live comments. Finally, she switched out and went to her own thread, posting another message.

— A photo of Sun Sitiao and Shen Tianqing in an intimate pose [Image]

After posting, she stared at the photo for a long time, her heart feeling sour again. She opened a burner account to angrily repost a few pieces of dirt on Meng Heng.

She thought: Where exactly am I inferior to you?