Fall In Love With A Substitute

Lin Qinglu leaned backward, her flexible and supple body glued against the back of the sofa.

Her eyelashes drooped, and it were as if the light within her eyes scattered due to a shadow.
As a result of the sense of loss in her heart, some of her enthusiasm had waned at this moment.

“I’ll publicly come out of the closet.”

Sure enough.

Jian Yixin was not in the least bit surprised.
It could even be said that when she had learned of the enemy’s scheme, the Lin Qinglu in her impression was indeed a person who would make this exact decision.

“No matter what you do, I will always support you.”

Lin Qinglu didn’t know that this light and simple sentence, which merely sounded like words of comfort, actually contained behind it Jian Yixin’s solemn promise.

Nevertheless, the sense of loss in her heart was softly whisked away by this single sentence.
Like a wind that blew adrift the many whitish-pink petals on the branch of a peach tree and caused the branch to lighten up instantly.

Those faint, heavy worries all transformed into a dense rain of sweet-smelling flower petals that fluttered and floated about.

Lin Qinglu let out a quiet mhm and leaned her head sideways to avoid looking face-to-face at Jian Yixin.

Ba-dump, ba-dump.

Her heart was beating way too much.

After she said goodbye to Lin Qinglu, 09 quietly sighed: “Why is it like this… Before even taking a bite out of the fish, she’s attracted a fishy smell.”

“Hm?” 

09 muttered, “Oh, I mean, Lin Qinglu’s obviously a person who’s been single since birth and isn’t even seeing anyone, but she of all people has to carry the burden of coming out of the closet.
It’s really too cruel.”

Jian Yixin couldn’t help but laugh as, when she listened attentively, she genuinely had no way of refuting it.

“It’s based on one’s nature: some will hide, while others are bound to come out.”

Before, I did say that it isn’t necessary to publicize it, but it’s also not necessary to deny it if someone asks.

It’s not like this is some kind of shameful matter.

Because of the rays of light, the end of the corridor became increasingly warm, and the autumn sunshine was vivid and tranquil.

Jian Yixin stopped for a moment at the boundary between light and dark before continuing forward.

“The more that Ji Jing stretches out his hand, the farther its reach becomes.”

She said mildly, “09, can you help me check what the contact details for Starlight’s Manager Wu Cai are?”

09 detected her host’s intentions.
Rousing her spirit, she said, “I will immediately!”

Luo Chun returned to the company in a hurry, first instructing the little assistant to go to the Finance Department and retrieve the expenditure record of Lin Qinglu’s team two years ago.
She, on the other hand, proceeded to the Advertising Department that was on the tenth floor.

When she opened the door to the meeting room, the Advertising Department’s head Xu Guanghui and the Public Relations Department’s head Bao Peng were both inside.
As such, the room was full of those from either the Advertising Department or the Public Relations Department.
Seeing Luo Chun enter, their gazes uniformly looked over.

“Seems like everyone’s present,” Luo Chun greeted.

Bao Peng took the initiative to cry out with a bitter face, “Big Sister Luo, you’ve finally arrived!”

Many fans had poured under the company’s official account, pressuring the company to step up and give an explanation.
Lin Qinglu had too many fans.
The momentum was so fierce that they simply could not contain it! And that’s saying nothing of the people making mischief in the back to keep the tempo going.
Those who were envious of Lin Qinglu also took part in the commotion and tried to fish in troubled waters.
For Brilliant Moon over here, it had become a massive headache.

A roomful of people was waiting for Lin Qinglu’s team’s stance on the issue.
As such, it could also be considered as them waiting for Luo Chun to return.

Xu Guanghui clicked his tongue: “When it comes to movie queens having a strong attitude, other artists listen to the company, while for this Movie Queen Lin, the company listens to you all.”

Xu Guanghui was always at odds with Luo Chun but also didn’t dare to make life difficult for Luo Chun and Lin Qinglu, and he had acted in this shameful manner for many years straight. 

Luo Chun paid him no attention and said directly, “The situation’s pressing, and I won’t talk nonsense.
Jiang Meng’s matter is pure slander to start rumors.
I’ve already let someone go retrieve evidence.
In a moment, we’ll need the official Weibo to step in and issue a statement, confirming Jiang Meng’s reason for resigning.”

“Jiang Meng’s family situation is something I’ve made a copy of beforehand.
Her reason for embezzling funds is all in here, and all of you will be writing out articles about this,” Luo Chun said as she passed over the electronic data to the Public Relations Department.

The Public Relations Department let out a sigh of relief and hurried to get people to start writing as everything afterward didn’t require Luo Chun’s instructions.
Even they knew how to deal with it.

Xu Guanghui looked on with cold eyes and said, “Worthy of being a gold-level manager.
Even a resigned assistant’s data is in your clutches, perhaps out of fear that the other person will turn around and trample on you— What exactly did your Movie Queen Lin do to the other person, hm? To be this afraid?”

The light in Luo Chun’s eyes, hidden behind the lenses, shot out sharply toward his face.

“Absolutely nothing,” Luo Chun said, pausing between each syllable.

The meeting room was dead silent.
Bao Peng hastily tried to smooth things over: “Head Xu is just joking.
Big Sister Luo was being the most careful.
Leaving a card or two to deal with this sort of misbehaving person is normal.”

“Lin Qinglu didn’t touch Jiang Meng? Then, Lin Qinglu isn’t gay?” Xu Guanghui was unwilling to let it go.

“These are two separate issues.” Luo Chun said profoundly, “Head Xu has the two ideas confused, or to say it differently, is simply unable to see the situation clearly.
I’m quite skeptical of your professional abilities.”

“You!”

“I was just going to talk about the second matter.” Xu Guanghui still wanted to spit drivel, but Luo Chun ignored him and switched to looking in the direction of the employees who were genuinely working.
She took a deep breath: “I’ll be greatly troubling everyone for the next matter.”

This sentence somehow gave off the feeling that they’d have to work overtime for three days and three nights…?

Everyone’s heart thumped.

It couldn’t be that—

“Qinglu intends to announce her orientation and publicly come out of the closet.”

“……”

The fuck?

The! Fuck!

For real???

Because their mood was complicated, an intriguing confused and sluggish reaction appeared on all of their faces, and for a very long time, no one spoke.

Bao Peng wobbled: “I-I-Is that so.
Th-Then, she’s about to come out? How about you hide it first? Look at all of these couples within the circle, and the bent ones also number a dozen.
The lesbian next door is still selling the image of being the shut-ins’ goddess, you know.
Our Qinglu doesn’t necessarily have to directly confront it…”

Whereas Xu Guanghui sprung forward, laughing lightheartedly: “Movie Queen Lin has always walked the straight and narrow and definitely wants to make it public.
Saying any more is useless, haha.”

“I’ll be awaiting the good news to come once Movie Queen Lin publicly comes out of the closet.” His manner of speaking was entirely like that of someone who was waiting to watch a good show, and his schadenfreude was exceedingly obvious.

After Xu Guanghui left while humming a song, everyone finally reacted and the meeting room burst into commotion.
From how astonished the company’s own employees were alone, one could imagine just how chaotic the outside world would become after she came out.

“Big Sister Luo, has it really been decided?”

“Mhm.” Luo Chun’s expression was also complicated, and she sighed softly: “This was Qinglu’s choice.”

Xu Guanghui returned to his office, carefully closing the door, and dialed a phone number:

“Hey, President Ji, this is Little Xu— Yes, yes, there are results now.
Lin Qinglu intends to come out of the closet.
Sure enough, President Ji has incredible foresight… I only used a bit of effort and don’t want to trouble you, but thank you, President Ji, haha… Rest assured, I will make sure the future tasks are also done well.
I absolutely will not disappoint you.”

Ji Jing hung up the phone, and at the right moment the secretary said, “Miss Jiang Meng doesn’t want to stay in the Western Mountain Villa.
She wants to meet you one time.”

“Tell her that if she complains again, she won’t get any of the agreed-upon money.”

“Also, transfer another five million to Xu Guanghui’s account.”

The secretary wrote everything down in order, while Ji Jing stood in front of the French windows and overlooked the mass of common people below his feet, a darkness lurking within his eyes: “Some of the recent projects that Brilliant Moon has invested in—”

Bang!

The door opened, and Ji Jing frowned and stopped talking, turning around to look.

“President Ji.” Wu Cai entered with an insincere smile.
Wearing a snow-white overcoat made of mink fur and exquisite makeup, she did not resemble a manager but was rather the spitting image of an upper-class lady.

Ji Jing was displeased in his heart yet couldn’t lose his temper.
He said indifferently, “What’s the matter?”

Wu Cai’s tone was casual, as if she were going out to buy some groceries: “Oh, I just wanted to let you know that Weiwei and I are terminating our contracts with the company.”

“……”

Off to the side, the secretary’s heart skipped a beat.

Starlight’s number one female star Xu Weiwei is terminating her contract?!

And Wu Cai, this valuable manager, is leaving with her??

Storms and thunderclouds were brewing within Ji Jing’s eyes.
He took a few deep breaths to recover.
His voice contained anger:

“Terminating the contracts with Starlight? Where else can you go?”

Wu Cai tossed the termination agreements onto the table and picked her nails as she said smilingly:

“To Brilliant Moon, in fact.”

“Brilliant, Moon.” Ji Jing spouted these two words as if through the cracks of his teeth.

“I’ll send the compensation for breaking the contracts to the company’s account later.
You don’t need to worry.” Wu Cai sneered, “Saves our Weiwei from being used as a stepping stone by your white lotus flower[1].
Blame her for being a vicious person.”

“Everything can just be pinned onto Zixuan? Don’t talk nonsense.”

“What? You’ve already forgotten about how, during the PR emergency last time, you wanted Weiwei to be the scapegoat for that bottom-of-the-barrel person? Alzheimer’s? There’s no way, right?”

Wu Cai sized up Ji Jing with pity in her eyes.
It was like she genuinely treated and pitied Ji Jing as someone with Alzheimer’s.

“Don’t forget what your identity is!” Ji Jing’s complexion was unsightly.
If he really let Wu Cai leave, then his face would become even more unsightly in the future.

“Director Zhao is a board member of Starlight.
You, as his wife, are running to the opponent’s side and becoming a manager for them?”

Ji Jing was actually angered by this woman to the extent that he was burning with rage. Is she sick? Fighting with her own family??

“To leave a few refreshing words for you, life must be lived for oneself.” Wu Cai held her chin high, not sparing even a little bit of the other person’s feelings.

“The feelings between us, husband and wife, isn’t something for you to worry about.
You take that white lotus bitch for a white lotus flower.
With this EQ of yours, you should stop pretending to be a relationship expert.”

“……”

The secretary held her breath and trembled with fear as she shrank to one side and watched the president suffer the cursing from the director’s wife.

“Quickly sign it,” Wu Cai urged.
“I still need to go to Brilliant Moon and see the new office, you know.”

“……” Ji Jing endured until his heart was filled with humiliation while he signed his full name on the termination agreement.

Wu Cai, enveloped by a mink fur overcoat, strutted away without any reluctance at all.

Very well, Brilliant Moon.

Very well, Lin Qinglu.

The violent fury surged within Ji Jing’s chest.
He clenched his fists and ruthlessly pounded on the wooden tabletop.

The secretary didn’t dare to bear the brunt of the president’s fury and just wished to sneak away, but her phone, unfortunately, received a notification at that exact moment—

“Pres-President, Lin Qinglu’s Weibo has shown signs of activity… She really did come out of the closet.”

The author wants to say something:

Yesterday’s talks about who was top or bottom was fun, yeah.
This novel has a switch couple, shouts loudly

Those saying that Lin cannot possibly be a top definitely have not seen the extras for my previous novel (gaze used to look at youngsters)

Lin: Although my answer is quiet, my heartbeat is loud (bold and confident)

TL Notes:

“a switch couple”, what a cultured author

[1] 白莲花 (bai2 lian2 hua1): “white lotus (flower)” is used to describe a kind, pure, and innocent girl; can be nice to a fault; used sarcastically a lot of the time