After Transmigrating into the Role of the Villain Forced to Pamper the Heroine of an Angsty Novel - Chapter 1

At the beginning of September, the autumn wind began to stir. The intensity of the heatwaves in the air weakened as a touch of desolation made its first appearance. Modern society no longer relies excessively on the heavens for survival; instead, preferences for the seasons have begun to shift along with the frequency of holidays and entertainment activities. What should have been the prelude to a lonely season had instead become the overture to a grand entertainment festival.

For the past week, the city of Berlin had been so bustling that it lacked any hint of autumn chill. Stars, journalists, and fans flocking from all over the world had crowded this European city to the bursting point. The annual Berlin Film Festival was underway, and both the quantity and quality of the competing films had reached a new high for recent years. Furthermore, faces from the East were more prevalent than they had been in half a decade.

When Meng Qiuran arrived at the bar at 5:00 PM, her colleague David leaned over. “Qiu, are you really not going to the Delon tonight?”

She gave a reserved smile and shook her head, maintaining her previous stance.

Nighttime was when the bar’s business was at its peak. Coupled with the influx of tourists in Berlin, they were severely short-staffed. David was a cinephile and a hardcore celebrity stalker; he was madly obsessed with Demi, an American actress competing for Best Actress, and had cleared his schedule with the boss a month in advance.

The Delon was the venue for tonight’s awards ceremony—a theater with a rich medieval style.

Business wouldn’t be particularly good until the ceremony ended. The explosion in demand was merely delayed; tonight was destined for overtime.

This was Meng Qiuran’s most intuitive take on tonight’s ceremony.

As for celebrity worship, she truly had no interest.

The rotten scandals of the entertainment industry were recycled over and over for hype. Aside from making money, it was utterly meaningless.

David patted his hair; he had applied more hair wax today than ever before, and the scent of his cologne nearly made Meng Qiuran sneeze.

“Then I’m off! Remember to follow my FB updates.”

Whistling with his hands in his pockets, David swaggered out.

Meng Qiuran shook her head with a smile and wiped down the bar counter.

This was her tenth day since transmigrating. Her name in this world was the same as her original one: Meng Qiuran.

The biggest difference was that upon arriving here, she had become a “bad guy”—a bona fide villain.

This was an unfinished angsty novel, telling the story of how a popular Movie Queen plummeted from the peak of her career to a bleak end. However, when the story stopped, it was only halfway through; many details and potential plot twists hadn’t had the chance to unfold yet.

At the time, Meng Qiuran had just completed a brilliant corporate merger, winning praise from the entire industry. She had slipped away early from her so-called victory banquet and, while alone, found a random web novel to relax with. Who knew she’d end up transmigrating into such misery?

The original host was a wealthy socialite, pampered since childhood and raised in the lap of luxury—a stark contrast to Meng Qiuran’s own upbringing. But Meng Qiuran was far superior to the original host in other ways: she was clever, bold, and had skipped grades to win scholarships. She started her own business in university and earned her first pot of gold from the capital markets during her sophomore year.

She possessed a keen business sense, extraordinary vision, and intellect. Having made a fortune herself, she became something of a minor celebrity on campus.

But she wasn’t satisfied. She wanted to perform on a grander stage and take flight with more powerful forces. Thus, upon graduation, she walked into the HR department of the Shengcheng Group—the country’s most prestigious investment bank—with her track record in hand.

In a place like that, even for an internship, resumes were screened from top-tier universities first, followed by several rounds of group and individual interviews. Those who remained were either from deep-seated families with their own resources or individuals with outstanding potential.

Meng Qiuran had no family connections to lean on, nor had she participated in those competitive interviews. But her academic qualifications were sufficient, and her practical experience made her impossible to ignore.

In this day and age, someone actually “walked in” to Shengcheng Group to find a job, and with such confidence.

Anyone else would have become the laughingstock of the building’s security team.

But Meng Qiuran was different; she became the exception.

Investment banking might look high-end on the surface, but to put it bluntly, it was about capital operations and making money.

Meng Qiuran was like a fish in water. One successful performance after another proved just how discerning the boss who broke the rules to hire her had been.

The noise in her ears gradually grew louder. Even if there weren’t many customers, several tables had been filled. Meng Qiuran sighed inwardly and pulled her thoughts back.

Currently, she was a rebellious young lady feuding with her family, a “working-class” bartender who had intentionally wandered from the US to Berlin to escape her troubles.

The original host was 24 years old and had stumbled her way into a Master’s degree. Meng Qiuran was also 24, but she had already graduated with her Master’s three years ago and had made a name for herself in investment banking.

However, if one were to compare wealth, the Meng family in the book was truly formidable—a genuine elite clan.

But the original host was a contrarian who insisted on saying “no” to everything.

The cause of the recent fallout was her refusal to accept an arranged marriage. Upon hearing that her blind date was coming to see her, she packed her bags overnight and hopped on a plane.

Naturally, the family had ways to deal with her: all her cards were suspended, leaving only a tiny bit of living expenses in her account.

By the standards of Miss Meng, that amount wouldn’t even last half a month.

It didn’t matter. If she had no money, she would work. Fortunately, the original host wasn’t entirely useless—she knew a bit about bartending and coffee making. However, bar income was higher than at a café, and more importantly, she could start work in the evening, which suited a socialite who loved to sleep in.

Meng Qiuran actually agreed with the resistance against being used as a tool for marriage. Coincidentally, she also knew how to mix drinks, and the bar the original host had chosen wasn’t too chaotic. It was fine for making ends meet for now.

The problem was, she couldn’t stay here bartending forever. She would either be found and brought back to the Meng family, or she would return to her original world.

She naturally hoped to go back, but logic told her to prepare for both possibilities.

She had read many “transmigration” novels before, most of which featured a system. Meng Qiuran had waited for several days without a trace of one, and she was slowly accepting the fact that an unfinished novel didn’t deserve a system.

There were very few customers today. Even the owner had gone to the Delon to join the excitement, so the others naturally started slacking off.

Meng Qiuran had done this job part-time before and occasionally played around with it in her spare time; she hadn’t expected her muscle memory to remain so intact.

In the first few days, she was a bit flustered due to nervousness, but over the last two days, she had basically adapted and could occasionally let her mind wander. Whenever she was free, she thought about going back—to her career and the world she was used to.

The most popular topic among the customers today was tonight’s awards ceremony. There were noticeably more Chinese-speaking guests because two of the five Best Actress nominees were Chinese.

“It’s definitely going to be Gu Ruolan this year! Did you see how long the applause lasted after her film finished screening?”

“In theory, yes, but who can say for sure in the entertainment industry? Demi and Su Yunzi also have a great chance; after all, their ‘buzz’ is right there.”

Demi was a veteran Movie Queen who had won the Silver Glow Award ten years ago and had been nominated no fewer than five times.

Su Yunzi, like Gu Ruolan, was a figure whose status in the domestic film industry had skyrocketed in recent years, but their styles were completely different.

Su Yunzi navigated perfectly among various investors and maintained close relationships with several industry big shots; her film resources were thriving. Gu Ruolan was the polar opposite; aside from filming and necessary promotional activities, she was rarely seen on other occasions. As for so-called “socializing,” it was limited to public group settings. No one had ever heard of her attending a private dinner with a boss or being intimate with any major investor.

Strangely enough, despite being so “uncooperative,” Gu Ruolan had made it into the finals with a clear advantage.

Meng Qiuran overheard all of this from the idle chatter of a table near the bar. She was quite curious about how Gu Ruolan had been nominated. Since there were no orders, she simply leaned on the bar and began to “eavesdrop” openly.

“Oh please, domestic awards might have dark horses, but this is the Silver Glow! No matter how much pressure is put on the committee, they wouldn’t ruin their long-standing reputation. You’ve all seen the nominated films this year—be honest, who can win?”

“Gu Ruolan.”

The answer was unanimous.

Gu Ruolan was the heroine of this angsty novel, and her winning the Silver Glow Award tonight was part of the original plot. This was her first international Best Actress award and the mark of her entry onto the global stage.

However… Meng Qiuran suddenly recalled the plot. Shortly after this award, Gu Ruolan would be plagued by black PR and scandals, her star path turning dim.

When reading the book, she only saw it as a plot twist, but experiencing it “in person” felt distinctly different.

She didn’t go to the Delon because she already knew today’s outcome. At the same time, because she knew what was coming next, she felt a bit sorry for Gu Ruolan.

Anyone would find it hard to endure a sudden downward spiral at such a moment of triumph, let alone a celebrity.

At the investment bank, Meng Qiuran had been responsible for several different industries, but she had specifically skipped the entertainment industry. It was an industry where capital was active, but she… looked down on it slightly. The water there was too murky. The moral boundaries of the people involved were constantly lowering, yet they dressed up glamorously to deceive everyone who liked them on screen.

She had searched for news about Gu Ruolan online over the past few days. The vast majority of it was related to her movies, and the rest was very formal biographical data. She was almost entirely untouched by so-called gossip or scandals. The most frequent criticism was likely her “eccentric bad temper.”

Adopting a “cold and aloof” persona in the entertainment industry didn’t seem very smart.

If that was her true nature, she must be having a very difficult time in the vanity fair of the industry while stubbornly refusing to change; if it was a facade, the persona could collapse at any moment. After all, trying to act like a “pure white lotus” in a giant dyeing vat is more precarious than walking a tightrope.

There weren’t many photos of Gu Ruolan online—mostly stills from her movies or official promotional photos. The number of times she had been caught in private was few and far between, and her attire was always very casual. At first glance, she looked no different from an ordinary person, but the blurry outlines couldn’t hide her outstanding posture and temperament. Meng Qiuran thought that was perhaps why people could recognize her even in such low-quality photos.

“If Gu Ruolan takes the Silver Glow this time, she’ll be setting a record—the first person in the country to do it!” A girl with short blonde hair and a jacket at that table looked like a fan of Gu Ruolan, excitedly counting on her fingers. “Of the five major domestic awards, she’s only missing the Golden Branch now. If she takes the awards in Venice and Cannes later, she’ll have achieved the Grand Slam!”

The girl sitting next to her bit her straw and smiled. “Yuan Yi, I’m not trying to bring you down, but do you think Venice and Cannes are that easy to win? Not to mention the Oscars.”

“Oh, the Oscars are too commercial, no fun. Whether she gets it or not doesn’t matter,” the blonde girl named Yuan Yi argued seriously with her companion. “The other two are difficult, but currently, the most hopeful person in the country is Gu Ruolan, okay?”

As she spoke, her face was full of admiration and pride, as if liking Gu Ruolan was something very much worth bragging about.

The others seemed used to her being like this and just watched her with smiles.

Yuan Yi suddenly sighed. “It also depends on whether there are good scripts. Scripts are getting harder to produce these days. We waited three years for this movie; let’s hope the next one doesn’t take five.” After saying this, she froze, covered her face, and whispered, “Ahhh, I was just talking nonsense! Please don’t let it come true!”