Everyone Spends Money to Make Me Debut as Center (GL) - Chapter 3

Chi Rui kept her eyes fixed straight ahead and continued walking, her pace so fast it looked as if she might break into a sprint at any second.

“Who was the one claiming they weren’t acting on impulse? If you’re truly so calm and rational, think about it: with no money and no transportation, how long can you survive out here?” Bai Chang raised her right hand, displaying an object. “Besides, I have your phone.”

“…”

“Get in,” Bai Chang repeated, opening the car door.

Fine, I’ll get in. It’s not like I’m afraid of you.

They drove in silence until the car turned into a small side street and slowed down. Only then did Chi Rui realize they were nearing a destination.

“Where are you taking me?”

Bai Chang pulled into a parking spot and turned her head, looking at Chi Rui as if she were a once-in-a-century idiot. “You don’t even recognize your own house?”

With that reminder, Chi Rui finally remembered. This must be their marital home. After the wedding, Chi Rui mostly lived here alone, while Bai Chang spent most of her time in hotels arranged by film crews or in a suite she rented for herself downtown.

Chi Rui had only read descriptions of this house in the book; naturally, she didn’t recognize the way.

“You have money, right?” Bai Chang led her upstairs and opened the door. “If you’re short, there’s a supplementary card in the guest bedroom’s nightstand. The PIN is my birthday.”

Chi Rui had been staying with her parents lately, and Bai Chang had moved out a year and a half ago. Aside from the maid who came periodically to clean, the house lacked any sense of being lived in.

“I have enough.” Chi Rui nodded. After a pause, she added, “Thank you for the ride.”

Bai Chang was drawing the curtains on the balcony. Hearing this, she turned back with that strange, unreadable look again. “No need to thank me. I don’t know what you’re up to now, but from your parents’ perspective, I have one last piece of advice: go back early and apologize to them. Right now, they are the only ones who truly have your best interests at heart.”

Chi Rui nodded along as she listened. She slid open the glass balcony door and leaned against the railing. The warm afternoon sun turned her fine hair into translucent gold; her pale face, bathed in light, took on an ethereal, porcelain quality.

Long ago, a film critic had said of Chi Rui: If she were given a three-second silent cameo in a movie, that single shot would undoubtedly become one of the most cherished classic moments of the century.

Realizing she had been staring for too long, Bai Chang cleared her throat and spoke quickly, as if trying to hide something. “Just… think it over.”

“No, I won’t.” Chi Rui leaned against the railing in a casual posture, but her tone was completely serious. “I don’t need supporters. I don’t need anyone on my side. Having myself is enough.”

Bai Chang looked up in a daze. She saw the light of the sun shattered within Chi Rui’s eyes. For a fleeting moment, she felt as if she saw a phantom—a stranger she had never met before.

Yet, despite the strangeness, there was a faint sense of familiarity. Who was it? Where had she seen that look?

Seizing the moment while Bai Chang’s guard was down, Chi Rui struck back. “You speak with such preconceived prejudice. You’ve concluded I’ll fail before things even begin. Is this the ‘nobility’ you always talk about?”

Chi Rui leaned forward, half of her face sinking into the shadows, while her eyes remained bright. She lowered her voice, her eyes curving with a hint of mischief. “Ms. Bai, don’t you think you’re being a bit… despicable?”

Bai Chang met her gaze with a cold face. An emotion she hadn’t felt in a long time was boiling within her. Strangely, it wasn’t anger, but a sense of exhilaration.

“Then I’ll see you in a week. I look forward to your performance.” As she said this, Bai Chang smiled.

A week was indeed enough for Chi Rui to prepare. The first thing she did was find a highly-rated hair studio nearby to trim her waist-length hair and dye it red. The color made her already fair skin look even more luminous.

Since her luggage had been left at the Chi villa, she stopped by a nearby mall to buy a few daily outfits. At that point, a bank notification arrived: her personal card only had a five-digit balance left. The original owner had been a big spender, mostly using family money; her own salary savings were pitifully low.

Chi Rui comforted herself, knowing there were plenty of ways to make money, but for now, she had to focus on the most urgent task.

For the rest of the week, Chi Rui went into “seclusion,” soaking herself in her room to practice. She trained from seven in the morning until two past midnight, repeating a single movement hundreds of times until she was satisfied.

On Sunday morning, a ringing phone jolted Chi Rui from her sleep. Because her phone had been as silent as if it were on mute for days, she couldn’t guess who would contact her at this time.

The point was—it was only 5:00 AM! 5:00 in the morning!

Squinting, she saw the caller ID: Manager…

“Hello?”

“I’ll pick you up in half an hour. There’s a brand event today. Prepare five songs to sing.” After saying this, Zhou Ping hung up.

Chi Rui blinked her large, dazed eyes. “Didn’t I retire?”

Then she remembered. Chi Rui’s retirement was too sudden; many contracts likely hadn’t expired. During the contract period, advertisers didn’t care if she “retired” or not. They had paid the money, so she had to perform. She still had to attend offline events.

After the call, Chi Rui forced her sleep-deprived brain to sort through information regarding this Zhou Ping.

Originally, both Chi Rui and Bai Chang were signed under the entertainment company MK. Later, when Bai Chang started her own studio, Chi Rui naturally signed there as well. Zhou Ping was the manager Bai Chang had assigned to her.

As for that sudden call… it was Zhou Ping’s long-standing “habit.” Regardless of whether an itinerary was important, she would only give a token notification right before it started. If Chi Rui threw a tantrum and refused to go, news of the “Little Princess acting like a diva” would appear the next day. But if she went, she was usually so poorly prepared that she’d be accused of being unprofessional and disrespectful to partners.

It was a dead end either way. Under Zhou Ping’s management, it was no wonder Chi Rui’s popularity had burned out so quickly.

Chi Rui scrolled through their chat history. Fortunately, the “princess” didn’t have a habit of deleting messages.

After a few pages, the hostility Zhou Ping felt for her predecessor was obvious. This hostility even bled into her professional duties. Whether it was a drama, an endorsement, or a variety show, she accepted them all without filters. She even accepted low-budget, trashy productions that even outsiders knew would flop. Furthermore, Zhou Ping would sometimes book Chi Rui for jobs at a discount just so she could pocket a kickback.

Because of this sabotage, the high-end image Chi Rui had carefully built at MK was completely ruined. She had become an “internet celebrity” who only acted in soap operas and did endless commercial events.

“So… there isn’t even a schedule?” Chi Rui confirmed she hadn’t seen a single document related to an “itinerary” in the chat.

That meant she didn’t even know which brand’s event she was attending today?

But there was no time to think. Half an hour later, Zhou Ping called punctually, her tone as autocratically annoying as ever.

“The car is downstairs. Get down here now.”

Waiting by the car, Zhou Ping saw a red head walking toward her from a distance. She pushed up her glasses, nearly thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her.

The little princess dyed her hair? Previously, no matter how many times she was asked to change her look, she refused, saying it would ruin her hair quality. Yet for her first dye, she chose such a loud color.

“Sister Zhou.” Chi Rui acted as if she didn’t see Zhou Ping’s surprised expression.

“Whatever, get in the car first.”

Chi Rui didn’t have a “morning temper,” but she wasn’t going to be warm to someone so cold. She sat in the back, put on her headphones, and began reviewing the songs the original owner had released.

As someone used to living in practice rooms, Chi Rui couldn’t stay idle. Over the past month, she had picked a few higher-quality tracks from the original owner’s twenty-odd songs to practice as evaluation pieces. Although the volume was large, the original owner had no dance foundation, so the choreography was simple. By studying them day and night, she had actually memorized ten title tracks perfectly.

“First to the makeup room. Rehearsals start at the venue at 8:30, and the event begins at 11:00.” Zhou Ping read from a tablet, then turned to Chi Rui. “I told you to prepare five songs. Did you?”

“What’s the theme?”

If it was beverages or alcohol, a fresh and energetic style would be better. For cosmetics, something more lyrical. For clothes or shoes, she’d go with dance tracks.

Zhou Ping frowned, looking at Chi Rui strangely. “It’s just Alfredo’s mid-to-low end line anyway. Sing whatever you want. Just don’t mess up.”

Alfredo?

Chi Rui quickly searched online. It was an Australian brand with a wide range of products—cosmetics, shoes, clothes, and bags. Its most famous line was the “S Series” high-end women’s shoes, currently endorsed by Ruan Yuequan—the very person Bai Chang had just replaced on the variety show.

Chi Rui scrolled down to the ads. The cold, detached aura paired with vintage makeup wasn’t jarring at all; those long, straight legs made the shoes look incredibly high-design.

But Zhou Ping said a mid-to-low end line?

Alfredo had at least a dozen such lines. Chi Rui searched her own name alongside the brand and finally found a marketing piece from six months ago: she endorsed a pair of “girly-style” sneakers.

After reading the brand introduction, Chi Rui opened the photo gallery on her phone. She had a habit of recording her practice videos; now she just needed to pick five suitable song-and-dance routines.

From the rearview mirror, Zhou Ping saw Chi Rui wearing headphones and moving her hands along to the rhythm. She curled her lip in annoyance.

She didn’t know what had gotten into this princess to suddenly join National Girls, which resulted in Bai Chang contacting her yesterday to arrange as much exposure as possible for Chi Rui. The thought of the uncalled-for increase in workload made her irritable.

Must be nice being a rich girl. Job opportunities that others kill for are just like playing house to her.

The makeup artist gave Chi Rui a light look with peach-toned blush and curled her hair. The face that had looked like it was on the verge of death from overwork instantly brimmed with life.

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

“Ah… you’re welcome.” The girl looked flattered and lowered her head, but after Chi Rui left, her eyes stayed glued to her.

“Hey, what are you looking at?” a colleague bumped her.

The girl clasped her hands to her chest and smiled sweetly. “Who was that? She seemed so nice and well-bred. Even looking at her up close while doing makeup, I couldn’t see a single pore. She’s perfect!”

The colleague pointed toward Chi Rui’s car with a look of disbelief. “Are you sure you’re talking about her?”

“Yes, yes!”

“That’s Chi Rui.” The colleague patted her shoulder. “Two possibilities: either you saw the wrong person, or there’s a second Chi Rui in this world.”

The girl was new to the industry but had heard the gossip. “Really? She looks so different in person compared to the videos. She has so much more presence. And she was watching dance practice videos just now; I caught a glimpse, and she was dancing quite well…”

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

“Is that so…”

…

At 8:30, Chi Rui arrived at the venue—a shopping mall. A banner with her name hung at the entrance, and staff were handing out flyers, but the line of people was pitifully short.

“I’ll go inside to coordinate. You follow Xiao Li,” Zhou Ping said before disappearing.

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

At that moment, a girl leaning against a glass pane writing something caught her attention. The girl turned around, and the numbers “156833” appeared clearly above her head, confirming Chi Rui wasn’t seeing things.

Simultaneously, a “BEEP” sounded in her head, followed by a mechanical, childlike voice.

【Perfect Idol Spending System Activated. Grade-A Target 10 meters ahead. Please take note! Please take note!】

Before Chi Rui could process these cryptic words, a wall of text materialized before her eyes.

Name: You Xiaotao

Fan Category: True Love Fan

Occupation: Freelance Illustrator, President of Chi Rui’s Official Fan Club (About to leave the fandom)

Hobbies: Writing fanfiction

Specialties: Eating, jumping rope, gossiping…

Measurements: …

Stop!

【Pause command received. Target information transmission suspended.】

Chi Rui: Who are you?

System: Your “Golden Finger” (Cheat code). [Innocent blink.jpg]

Author’s Note: Ms. Bai is about to experience the “True Fragrance” (regretting her initial dislike/falling for her).