Everyone Is Spending Money to Push Me Into A Center-Position Debut - Chapter 3

Chi Rui kept her eyes straight ahead and continued walking forward. Her steps were so fast it looked as if she might break into a run the very next second.

“Who was the one who kept insisting she wasn’t acting impulsively? If you’re really that calm and rational, then think properly. With no money and no transportation, how long can you survive outside?” Bai Chang raised her right hand, showing the object in it. “Besides, your phone is with me right now.”

“……”

“Get in.” Bai Chang repeated herself and opened the car door.

Fine, I’ll get in. Do you think I’m afraid of you?

The entire drive was silent. It was only when the car turned into a small road and slowed down that Chi Rui realized they were almost at their destination.

“Where are you taking me?”

Bai Chang maneuvered the car into a parking space, then turned her head. The way she looked at Chi Rui was like she was looking at an idiot that only appeared once in a century. “You don’t even recognize your own house?”

After being reminded like this, Chi Rui finally remembered. This should be the marital home the two of them shared. It was just that after their marriage, Chi Rui had been the one living there most of the time. As for Bai Chang, more often than not, she stayed at hotels arranged by film crews or in the apartment she rented downtown.

Chi Rui had only read descriptions of this house in the book. Of course she did not recognize the way there.

“You have money, right?” Bai Chang led her upstairs and opened the door. “If you’re short, there’s an additional card in the bedside cabinet of the guest room. The password is my birthday.”

Chi Rui had been staying at her parents’ house recently, while Bai Chang had already moved out a year and a half ago. Apart from the housekeeper coming by regularly to clean, there was not the slightest trace of human presence in this place.

“I do.” Chi Rui nodded. After thinking about it, she still said to Bai Chang, “Thank you for giving me a ride.”

Bai Chang was pulling the curtains on the balcony. Hearing this, she turned around again and looked at Chi Rui with that strange, hard-to-read gaze. “You don’t need to thank me. Although I don’t know what exactly you’re planning now, from Uncle and Auntie’s standpoint, I still have to give you one last piece of advice. Go back early and admit your mistake to them. Right now, the only people who truly have your best interests at heart are them.”

As Chi Rui listened to her, she nodded. Then she pulled open the balcony’s glass door and leaned against the railing. The warm golden afternoon sunlight shone through her soft, fine hair, giving it an almost transparent golden glow. Her fair face, draped in light, looked like it had an unreal porcelain texture.

A long time ago, a film critic had once said this about Chi Rui: If Chi Rui were given a shot that appeared for only three seconds in a movie, and if she did not speak in that shot, then that scene would certainly become one of the most treasured classic moments of this century.

As though realizing that she had been dazed for too long, and that her stare at Chi Rui was a little too abrupt, Bai Chang curled her hand into a fist and coughed lightly against her lips. Her speech quickened as though she were hiding something. “Think about it carefully.”

“No, I won’t think about it.” Chi Rui leaned against the railing in a somewhat languid posture, but her tone was completely serious. “I don’t need anyone to support me. I don’t need anyone to stand on my side. Having myself is enough.”

Bai Chang lifted her head in a daze. She saw the shattered sunlight hidden in Chi Rui’s eyes. For one instant, it was as if she saw the phantom of a stranger she had never seen before in the girl before her.

Although that figure seemed unfamiliar, as if she had never seen her before, there was always some faint sense of familiarity. Who was it? Where had she seen her?

Chi Rui caught the moment when Bai Chang relaxed and continued to strike back. “Your words carry preconceived prejudice against me. Before the matter has even begun, you’ve already concluded that I’ll fail. Is this the nobility you’ve always hung on your lips?”

Chi Rui leaned slightly forward. Half of her face slipped into shadow, leaving only those eyes still bright and shining. She lowered her voice. Her curved eyes made her gaze seem sly. “Ms. Bai, don’t you think you’re being rather despicable?”

Bai Chang met her eyes coldly. Some emotion she had not felt in a very long time was boiling inside her. Strangely, what this feeling brought her was not anger, but a sense of exhilaration.

“Then I’ll see you in a week. I look forward to your performance.”

When she said this, Bai Chang smiled.

……

A week was indeed enough time for Chi Rui to prepare properly. The first thing she did was find a nearby hair studio with good reviews, trim some of her waist-length hair, and dye it red. The color made her already fair skin look even clearer and more translucent.

Since her luggage had been left at the Chi family home, Chi Rui also stopped by the mall next door and bought a few sets of everyday outfits. Around this time, the spending notification from her bank card came in. There was only a little over five figures left on her personal card—the original owner had spent money lavishly, mostly using her family’s money, while the savings on her own salary card were pitifully small.

Chi Rui comforted herself. There were plenty of ways to earn money. For now, she could only take care of the most urgent matter first.

For the rest of the time, Chi Rui seemed to enter closed-door cultivation. She spent every day practicing in her room, from seven in the morning until two in the early morning. She would repeat a single move at least hundreds of times before barely feeling satisfied.

On the weekend morning, Chi Rui, still asleep, was jolted awake by the ringing of her phone. Because her phone had been so quiet these past few days that it was almost as if it had been on silent mode, for a moment, she truly could not guess who would be contacting her at this time.

The key point was! It was only five o’clock! Five in the morning!

Squinting, she finally saw the note on the screen.

Manager…

“Hello?”

“I’ll pick you up at your place in half an hour. There’s a brand commercial performance today. Prepare five songs yourself and sing them when the time comes.” After saying that, Zhou Ping on the other end hung up.

Chi Rui blinked her big, confused eyes. “Didn’t I leave the industry?”

Then she remembered. Chi Rui’s withdrawal from the industry had been far too sudden. Many contracts probably had not expired yet. During the contract period, advertisers did not care whether she had left the industry or not. If she had accepted the money, then she had to do the job properly. The offline events she was supposed to attend still had to be attended.

After the call ended, Chi Rui, her mind still groggy and disordered from sleep, barely managed to sort out the information about this Zhou Ping.

At first, the original owner and Bai Chang had both signed under the entertainment company MK. Later, after Bai Chang had her own studio, the original owner naturally signed over to Bai Chang’s side as well. This Zhou Ping was the manager Bai Chang assigned to her.

As for this sudden phone call… it was Zhou Ping’s long-standing “habit.” No matter whether the schedule was important or not, she would only give a symbolic notification when the schedule was about to begin. If Chi Rui acted willful and refused to go, then the next day, a scandal about little Princess Chi acting like a diva would appear. But if she did go, most of the time, because the preparation was too rushed, her performance would be poor, and she would be criticized for being unprofessional and disrespecting the collaborating party.

Whichever path she took, it was truly a dead end. Under Zhou Ping, it was no wonder Chi Rui’s popularity had been consumed so quickly.

Chi Rui went through the chat records between the two of them on her phone. Fortunately, the little princess did not have the habit of deleting chat windows.

After simply reading a few pages, she could already see Zhou Ping’s hostility toward the previous owner. This hostility had even affected the basic duties she was supposed to perform as a manager.

Whether it was TV dramas, endorsements, or variety shows, Zhou Ping accepted everything without refusal. Some crude, shoddily made production crews were so obviously doomed to flop that even people outside the industry could tell, yet she still accepted them all the same. Not only that, Zhou Ping sometimes even accepted discounted jobs for Chi Rui—ones from which she herself could take kickbacks.

After being tossed around like this, the high-end persona Chi Rui had finally built at MK was completely ruined. She became an “internet celebrity” who only acted in bubble dramas and took commercial performances and advertisements everywhere.

“So… there isn’t even a schedule?” Chi Rui confirmed that she had not seen any file related to a “schedule” in the chat records.

In other words, she did not even know which brand’s commercial performance she was going to today?

But there was not much time for her to think. Half an hour later, Zhou Ping called right on time. Her tone was still as annoyingly authoritarian as ever.

“The car is downstairs. Hurry up and come down.”

Zhou Ping, waiting by the car, saw a red head coming toward her from far away. She suddenly pushed her glasses up and nearly thought her eyes had gone blurry.

This little princess dyed her hair? In the past, she had begged her countless times to change her styling, but she had never agreed, saying it would damage her hair quality. And now, on her first time dyeing it, she had chosen such an eye-catching color.

“Sister Zhou.” Chi Rui pretended not to see Zhou Ping’s surprised expression.

“Forget it. Get in first.”

Chi Rui did not have morning grumpiness, but she also had no intention of plastering a smiling face onto a cold backside. Very consciously, she sat in the back seat, put in her earphones, and began reviewing the few songs the original owner had released.

As someone used to soaking in the practice room, how could Chi Rui possibly stay idle? Over the past month, she had picked several relatively higher-quality songs from the original owner’s twenty-something songs and used them as evaluation pieces to practice. Although the number was rather large, fortunately, the original owner had no real foundation in dance, so the choreography for her songs was simple and not complicated. There were not many movements she needed to remember. By breaking them down from morning to night every day, she had actually managed to memorize ten title tracks completely.

“Go to the makeup room first. We’ll arrive at the site at eight-thirty and start rehearsal. The event starts at eleven.” Zhou Ping read through the list from her tablet, then turned her head to look at Chi Rui, who was wearing earphones. “I told you to prepare five songs. Did you prepare them?”

“What type do they want?”

If it was beverages or alcohol, a fresh and energetic style would be more suitable. If it was cosmetics, then something slightly more lyrical. If it was clothes or shoes, she would dance to a dance track.

Zhou Ping frowned and looked at Chi Rui strangely. “It’s just Alfredo’s mid-to-low-end line anyway. Sing whatever you want. Just don’t make mistakes.”

Alfredo?

Chi Rui quickly searched it online. It was an Australian brand with a fairly broad brand line, including cosmetics, shoes, clothes, and bags. The most widely known product was the brand’s S-series high-end women’s shoes. The current spokesperson was none other than Ruan Yuequan, whose job had just been snatched by Bai Chang.

Chi Rui scrolled down and tapped open the advertising image. Her cool, aloof temperament paired with retro makeup did not feel out of place at all. Her long, straight legs truly made the shoes look very well-designed.

However, Zhou Ping had said mid-to-low-end line?

Alfredo’s mid-to-low-end lines numbered at least a dozen. Chi Rui searched her own name together with the brand and finally saw a marketing press release from more than half a year ago. What she endorsed was a pair of sneakers with a relatively strong girlish style.

Chi Rui read through the brand introduction, then opened the photo album on her phone.

She had a habit of saving recordings of herself practicing. Now, she only needed to choose five relatively suitable singing-and-dancing pieces from inside.

From the rearview mirror, Zhou Ping saw Chi Rui wearing earphones and raising her hands to follow along with the movements. She pursed her lips with slight irritation.

Who knew which nerve in this little princess’s brain had suddenly connected wrong for her to suddenly decide to participate in National Girls? Because of that, Bai Chang had suddenly contacted her yesterday and told her to arrange as many exposure opportunities for Chi Rui as possible. Just thinking about the inexplicable increase in workload made her irritated.

It was really nice being a young lady from a rich family. The job opportunities others fought desperately for were nothing more than playing house in her eyes.

The makeup artist gave Chi Rui light makeup, using peach-toned blush. Finally, she curled her hair a little, instantly reviving a face that had looked as though it was about to die from staying up too late.

Chi Rui smiled in satisfaction at herself in the mirror and thanked the makeup artist.

“Ah… there’s no need to thank me.” The young makeup artist looked somewhat flattered as she lowered her head. But after Chi Rui left, her eyes stayed glued to her, unable to move away.

“Hey, what are you looking at?” A coworker came over and bumped her.

The girl held her hands in front of her chest and smiled sweetly. “Who was that? She looks like she has such a good temper and such good manners. Even doing her makeup up close, I couldn’t see any pores at all. She’s too perfect.”

Her coworker looked at her as if she had seen a ghost and pointed toward Chi Rui’s car. “Are you sure you’re talking about that one?”

“Yes, yes!”

“She’s Chi Rui.” The coworker patted her shoulder. “There are two possibilities. Either you saw the wrong person, or there’s a second Chi Rui in this world.”

The girl had not been in the industry long, but she had eaten some melons before. “Really? She looks so different in person compared to the videos. She has so much more presence. And just now, she was watching dance practice videos the entire time too. I glanced at it, and she was dancing pretty well…”

“Then you definitely saw the wrong person. That Chi Rui cracks her voice and forgets her moves eight times out of ten performances. There’s absolutely no way they’re the same person.”

“Is that so…”

……

At eight-thirty, Chi Rui arrived at the venue on time. It was a shopping mall. A banner with her name on it hung at the entrance. Beside it, staff members were handing out papers similar to flyers and posters, but the number of people lining up was pitifully small.

“I’ll go in first to coordinate. Just follow Xiao Li.” After Zhou Ping finished speaking, she disappeared one step ahead.

Chi Rui put on a baseball cap and lowered the brim to cover half her face, then followed Xiao Li toward the entrance.

At the same time, directly in front of Chi Rui, a girl lying against the glass and writing something attracted her attention. The girl quickly turned her head, and the number “156833” above her head was fully revealed, allowing Chi Rui to confirm that she had not seen wrong.

At the same time, there was a beep in her mind, and a somewhat mechanical childlike voice sounded.

[Perfect Idol Money-Spending System activated. An A-rank target is ten meters ahead. Please take note, please take note!]

Just as that sentence left Chi Rui completely confused, a large pile of words instantly appeared before her eyes.

Name: You Xiaotao

Fan Category: True Love Fan

Position: Freelance illustrator, president of Chi Rui’s official fan support club [about to leave the fandom]

Hobbies: Writing fanfiction

Specialties: Eating, jump rope, gossip…

Measurements: …

Stop!

[Host’s pause command received. Target information transmission paused.]

Chi Rui: Who are you?

System: A golden finger. Innocent blink.jpg

Author’s Note:

Ms. Bai is about to eat her words very soon.