I Rely on Gifting the Female Supporting Character to Get Cash Back (GL) - Chapter 8

After a gap of nearly 20 years, Qin Ran actually couldn’t remember the specific developments of the novel very clearly. Being able to recall some vague details was already the result of her hard work. She knew a poor memory is better than no notes, so after seeing Ling Miaohan today, she returned to her dorm and made an effort to recall the novel’s plot.

She genuinely couldn’t remember much. That’s why, even when she heard the name “Yu Shuman” and saw what happened to her in high school, she couldn’t recall the novel’s events. It wasn’t until she saw the internal data and realized the name Ling Miaohan and her profile were too familiar that her memory came rushing back, revealing the true nature of this world.

Now, going back and sorting through it, she indeed remembered more things.

Cross-referencing the information, Qin Ran filled three dense sheets of paper. Ling Miaohan’s success in the entertainment industry wasn’t accidental or solely due to the protagonist’s halo; her brothers and childhood friend played a major role. Firstly, the male protagonist of the story, her childhood friend, was the CEO of an entertainment company with a very high standing in the industry. With him promoting her, she already had the innate conditions to become famous.

Secondly, she herself was the pampered daughter of a wealthy family, protected by three brothers working in different industries. Even without the male protagonist, she had a high chance of becoming popular.

It wasn’t that Qin Ran was being cynical, but in every world, people are accustomed to looking up to the powerful and down on the weak. When many rich second-generation individuals enter the entertainment industry, they are inherently given higher labels. Tags like “rich, beautiful, and successful” or “rich, handsome, and successful” would be slapped directly onto their heads. Due to their wealthy backgrounds, any kind of “casting couch” or unspoken rules wouldn’t touch them. If anyone claimed they rose through such means, press releases would write, “Casting couch? Who has the qualifications to sleep with them?” easily washing away the scandal.

Moreover, a fundamental human instinct is to admire strength, and having money in the family is certainly a way to be stronger than others.

It was just pitiful for her Senior, who came from a humble background and a small company, and thus deserved to be crushed into the mud.

Qin Ran was accustomed to navigating the world of so-called capital, wealthy families, and the rich in her previous life, so she naturally knew what kind of characters the so-called “upper class” were. Some were noble as white snow, while others were the filthiest beings on earth. Not to mention the entertainment industry, where the lines are even more blurred. That’s why, initially, she hadn’t planned on binding the System. Qin Ran always felt that having enough money was sufficient and didn’t want to step back into the circle of demons and monsters. Even after binding Yu Shuman, she didn’t plan on using the System lavishly and without restraint; a small fortune was enough security.

If helping Yu Shuman also made her own living conditions better, Qin Ran wasn’t opposed. She even thought that one day when her Senior went into business, she would fund her while living a comfortable life as a wealthy person in the background, and that would be great too.

But the sudden truth made Qin Ran choose to return to the world of capital. Money itself is not wrong; the only mistake lies with the person who uses it. She couldn’t let the novel’s plot unfold upon Yu Shuman, so all Qin Ran could do was use capital to fight capital.

Qin Ran wrote down everything she knew about the plot, filling four whole pages, with two pages dedicated to Ling Miaohan’s information. She heavily circled several of Ling Miaohan’s secret identities (Marjia). She had wanted to complain when reading the novel: how on earth did Ling Miaohan have so much time to do all these things?

Ling Miaohan was the same age as Qin Ran, having just graduated from high school. Initially, her family planned to send her to study abroad, but Ling Miaohan, with her high scores, resolutely chose to dive into the entertainment industry, telling her parents she planned to “play around” for two years before going back to her studies later.

As the protagonist of a “group favorite” novel, her family agreed to anything she said. Moreover, they felt that Ling Miaohan was certainly capable of getting into a top university even after two years. So, her brothers waved their hands and made arrangements, telling her to have fun without worry.

The overbearing CEO male protagonist, who was her next-door neighbor and childhood friend, was even more excited by Ling Miaohan’s decision. The male protagonists in these group-favorite novels are always disliked by the female protagonist’s family, especially since the dominant male protagonist was five years older than Ling Miaohan, which made her family wary, not wanting him to “eat the young grass.”

Now that the opportunity presented itself, he was naturally happy to support Ling Miaohan, just like Qin Ran’s attitude towards Yu Shuman: as long as Ling Miaohan had fun.

Ling Miaohan’s goal in the entertainment industry was also very clear: to become a top celebrity, to make everyone know her name, just as she did in her other professions—when she did something, she had to be the most outstanding person. But she crossed too many industries… Being a master in the traditional Chinese music circle was one thing, but clothing design, the fashion world, and traditional Chinese medicine seemed like they would require an immense amount of time.

Clothing design requires an artistic foundation and a lot of time for refinement, and she was only nineteen… Of course, there are prodigies, but the clothing designs produced under her identity were frequent, continuing throughout her high school senior year. Furthermore, in traditional Chinese medicine, there are no shortcuts or prodigies; diagnosis requires a wealth of experience. How did she manage to make a name for herself at 19? Even if she studied under a famous master, Qin Ran couldn’t comprehend it.

“The protagonist’s halo is way too big…” Qin Ran muttered to herself. She knew she had to be extremely cautious of the female protagonist’s secret identities. Otherwise, there was a high possibility that when Ling Miaohan faced a crisis, one of her secret identities would suddenly be revealed, leading to a reversal of public opinion and a “face-slapping” moment for the antagonist.

This was a frequent trope in the novel. Otherwise, why would they arrange so many secret identities? They were specifically for those face-slapping moments.

Qin Ran tore the papers detailing Ling Miaohan and her supportive family and friends into tiny shreds and flushed them down the toilet so they would never see the light of day. She reasoned that even a computer wasn’t safe, especially since one of the female protagonist’s three brothers was a super hacker. Qin Ran curled her lip. Ling Miaohan’s hacker brother had better not provoke her, or she would simply report him and send him to become a “Red Hacker” (hacker for justice).

After dealing with these matters, Qin Ran had other things to do. She had hired a professional manager to run the company, but that didn’t mean she could completely relax as a hands-off boss. If she didn’t keep the general manager in check, they could easily grow their own ambitions like a runaway wild horse. In her previous life, although her parents showed no affection towards Qin Ran, they never failed to teach her everything she needed to know.

Qin Ran didn’t need world-class business acumen or an MBA. She only needed to tightly hold the reins, ensure the people working under her suppressed their ambitions, and serve her interests. This was what she had learned since childhood: discovering people, using people, and if anyone developed unusual thoughts, severing all their outreaching claws and making them regret their disloyalty.

The current Qin Ran was no different. She hadn’t forgotten the lessons she learned for so long in her past life. Although the new reins felt somewhat unfamiliar, controlling the general manager she had recruited was not difficult. She could remotely manage things and deal with the few necessary tasks just by using her computer and phone.

In truth, if Yu Shuman were to check a business software, she could easily spot the anomaly, such as the fact that the actual controlling shareholder of 99 Interactive Entertainment was named Qin Ran. However, even if she saw it, Yu Shuman would probably assume it was someone with the same name and wouldn’t connect it to her junior.

After finishing work, Qin Ran clicked into her chat window with Sister Li. Sister Li had sent a file, and upon opening it, Qin Ran could read the daily report she had compiled for Yu Shuman. Sister Li’s report was unlike her flamboyant personal style—it was very strict and factual, detailing what time she woke up, trained, and filmed. Even though Qin Ran had been at the recording site today, Sister Li still faithfully sent the report.

Although the text was cold and rigid, like a class schedule, just seeing these fragmented bits of information conjured Yu Shuman’s image in Qin Ran’s mind. She often wondered how Yu Shuman was pouring her sweat into the dance studio. Yu Shuman was a very serious person; since she entered the survival competition, she would definitely not be perfunctory.

Yu Shuman hadn’t studied dance, but her sports performance was good. Her long-distance running scores during her college entrance exams were among the top few in the school. Qin Ran, however, was different. Looking like the homebody she was, her physical fitness was close to that of a novice. Running 800 meters left her panting with a pale face, looking half-dead.

When Qin Ran was in her first year, Yu Shuman hadn’t graduated yet. Sometimes when their gym classes coincided, Yu Shuman would accompany Qin Ran for a run. The first time Yu Shuman saw Qin Ran’s state, she was terrified and almost carried Qin Ran to the infirmary. Qin Ran waved her off, admitting that she was just incapable, thus avoiding the achievement of entering the infirmary less than two months after school started.

Yu Shuman couldn’t understand why Qin Ran’s physical fitness was so poor. She often worked part-time, so logically her stamina should have been good, but then she remembered that Qin Ran had never been adopted since childhood, perhaps due to physical reasons.

Thus, Yu Shuman became even more compassionate towards Qin Ran. After being told by Yu Shuman, the other seniors in Grade 12 also felt more pity for Qin Ran. But they didn’t dare to openly pity her, afraid of hurting Qin Ran’s self-esteem. However, with the combined age of two lives, Qin Ran was twice as old as the high school students, so she wouldn’t be sensitive about such things.

She just found it slightly amusing that everyone clearly pitied her but pretended to be nonchalant. Even funnier was that Yu Shuman, using the living allowance that Qin Ran had secretly funded, would in turn eat lunch with her and give her food.

Qin Ran swore that she initially didn’t intend to leech off Yu Shuman’s lunch, but Yu Shuman sat next to her every day and served her food, making it increasingly difficult for Qin Ran to refuse. It wasn’t until Yu Shuman graduated, and no one actively sat next to her and chatted with her at lunch anymore, that Qin Ran felt a sense of loss.

Before Yu Shuman appeared in her life, she never felt lonely; but after Yu Shuman left, she did.