Chapter 4
When Lu Mingxuan saw Qiu Chi, he was stunned for a moment before smiling. “Instead of a bodyguard, miss, you might be better suited as an assistant. How about considering becoming my assistant?”
“I have no interest in waiting on people. Just give me a straight answer—are you hiring a bodyguard or not?”
Lu Mingxuan sized up Qiu Chi’s slight build and fell silent.
Qiu Chi looked down at her current small frame and grew angry. “Isn’t a bodyguard’s value based on their fighting skills?”
“Since you insist on being a bodyguard, it’s not impossible. Room and board included, with a monthly salary of one hundred thousand. The condition, however, is that you must be a personal bodyguard, on call 24/7. What do you think?”
Although Lu Mingxuan had relented, it was clear he wasn’t taking her offer to be a bodyguard seriously, nor did he pay any mind to her talk of fighting skills.
As for this so-called “personal bodyguard,” Qiu Chi only had to think about the plot to know what he was up to.
Without a second thought, Qiu Chi refused directly. “I’m not suited for this position. Farewell!”
With that, Qiu Chi turned and walked away, giving Lu Mingxuan no chance to stop her.
The System didn’t understand. 【Weren’t Lu Mingxuan’s terms good enough? Why did you refuse? It’s much better than just working for him.】
“The terms are excellent. With my fighting skills, I’m worth not just one hundred thousand, but a million. But Lu Mingxuan is just a rich CEO. He doesn’t encounter any real danger in his daily life. Hiring a bodyguard is more for show, to intimidate people. You know exactly what he’s really thinking. I have no interest in playing his substitute game.”
In this world, it was clearly possible for unrelated people to look alike, just like Lu Mingxuan’s white moonlight and Su An’an.
His white moonlight had died saving him, so Lu Mingxuan began to consciously or unconsciously collect things that reminded him of her. The assistants around him now, aside from one man who had been with him from the start, were all women who resembled his white moonlight.
And Su An’an bore a seventy-percent resemblance to his white moonlight; with a little makeup, it became ninety percent.
But this wasn’t Su An’an’s good fortune. On the contrary, it was just another stroke of bad luck after Gu Ting.
“I’ve made an appearance in front of Lu Mingxuan and made him remember me. Does that count as finishing this plot point?”
The System was suddenly speechless. 【So that was your plan. No, it doesn’t count. At the very least, you have to work under him and then trigger the plot.】
“Then I’ll be a celebrity. Su An’an dies pretty early anyway.”
Originally, Qiu Chi had genuinely planned to be Lu Mingxuan’s bodyguard. After all, to follow the plot, she had to work for him. But Lu Mingxuan’s conditions were too absurd, and Qiu Chi no longer wanted to deal with him.
His actions, in particular, reminded her of that disgusting fellow, Qing Yue. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she wouldn’t be able to resist taking out the anger she couldn’t vent on Qing Yue on Lu Mingxuan instead.
Qiu Chi took out the business card and called the agent.
The agent, Brother Chen, was a bit surprised when Qiu Chi introduced herself. “You’ve made up your mind so quickly? Alright then, since you’re willing to sign, I’ll prepare the contract. You can come over again tomorrow.”
Qiu Chi agreed. After hanging up, she went straight back to her small apartment and continued playing games to earn money.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Su Yingying’s brow furrowed slightly, her face growing paler. Noticing something was wrong, Gu Ting quickly asked, “Yingying, what’s the matter? Are you feeling unwell again? If you’re not feeling well, just say so. Don’t force yourself to endure it.”
Su Yingying wasn’t actually feeling unwell. She had just heard that Qiu Chi was unwilling to give her a kidney and wanted to add fuel to the fire in front of Gu Ting and the Su family’s parents.
Who knew that Gu Ting would be so worried about her that he called a doctor immediately. She was wheeled into an examination room. As she was being pushed in, Su Yingying wasn’t the least bit flustered; she had already thought of an excuse for when the results came back showing no deterioration.
The next morning, Qiu Chi arrived at Huaming Entertainment again. After calling Brother Chen from outside, he brought her in.
In the agent’s office, Brother Chen handed the contract to Qiu Chi. “Take a look and see if there are any problems. If you can’t read it yourself, you can take it home and consult a lawyer. Huaming is one of the two giants in the entertainment industry, after all. We don’t go around cheating people.”
Qiu Chi flipped through it casually. She didn’t really understand this stuff, so she asked the System, “Is the contract okay?”
The System dutifully replied, 【No problems. In fact, the terms are quite good. You can sign it.】
After confirming there were no issues, Qiu Chi directly signed Su An’an’s name. She paused for a moment before signing, almost writing the wrong name.
Handing the signed contract to Brother Chen, Qiu Chi asked, “Don’t people in the entertainment industry have stage names?”
Brother Chen nodded. “Yes, but your name is simple and easy to remember, so there’s no need to change it. Of course, if you insist on changing it, that’s fine too. It’s up to you.”
“Change it! My name is Qiu Chi!”
“Alright. What are you good at? I’ll arrange some classes for you to start with. Then, when the company has an in-house production, I’ll see if there’s a suitable role for you. We’ll start slowly with supporting roles. You’re sure to become a big star.”
“I’m good at fighting.”
“What?” Brother Chen looked at the dead-serious Qiu Chi, thinking he had misheard. “Fighting? Have you studied Taekwondo or something? That works too. You should be able to learn dancing quickly. Let’s schedule you for dance and acting classes then.”
Qiu Chi silently agreed to Brother Chen’s arrangements, preparing to take the classes seriously.
However, a script arrived even faster than the classes.
The next day she came to the company, she was called into the office before her class even started. Brother Chen then handed her a script.
Qiu Chi looked at Brother Chen, then at the script, and said, “What’s this about?”
“It’s an in-house drama the company is preparing. Filming is about to start. Take a look first.”
“Yesterday you told me to focus on my classes, and today there’s a suitable script?”
Qiu Chi wouldn’t believe for a second that there wasn’t something else going on.
Brother Chen smiled. “That’s how the entertainment industry is. You’ve caught the boss’s eye, and he’s willing to promote you. Don’t overthink it. After all, this is an opportunity.”
So Lu Mingxuan’s hand was in this after all. Qiu Chi took the script. “Fine, I’ll read it carefully.”
This was different from being a bodyguard. She was now a signed artist of Huaming, and Lu Mingxuan was the president. While promoting her served his personal interests, it was also an investment, a mutually beneficial arrangement.
She certainly wouldn’t let her boss lose money. At most, she’d just let his rivals earn a little more than him.
When the truly important plot points arrived, it would be fine as long as they didn’t provoke her. If they did, it would be over for them.
She was not as passive as Su An’an.
Qiu Chi took the script and quickly scanned through it.
After reading it, her brow furrowed. Brother Chen was still asking, “How is it? Which role do you want to play? I think the third female lead is quite good. She has a lot of screen time, and the character is likable, making it easy to attract fans.”
It was a xianxia script. The story mainly focused on the torturous, three-lifetime romance between the male and female leads. The second female lead was a villain who was infatuated with the male lead and framed the female lead to drive the plot forward. The third female lead was a fangirl of the male lead; although she also liked him, she never did anything bad and was instead a positive character who watched over him from afar.
Qiu Chi was full of disdain after reading it.
“I’ll play the Dharma Protector who causes the second female lead to fall into depravity and is bent on resurrecting the Demon Lord.”
“Why would you want to play that role? Not only does it have little screen time and is unlikable, but he’s also a man. Take another look, the third female lead is such a great role…”
Brother Chen was still trying to persuade Qiu Chi when he heard her say, “This Dharma Protector isn’t strictly male or female. Changing it to a woman wouldn’t be a problem. I’m allergic to this love and romance stuff. I can’t help it. So please, don’t find me any roles involving romance next time. I’m truly incapable.”
Brother Chen was speechless. What a ridiculous excuse. I’d have to be an idiot to believe that.
But considering the boss’s attitude on the matter, Brother Chen held his tongue. “Alright, I’ll make sure not to find you any roles involving romance next time. You can go to your class now. Filming for this drama will probably start in a week. Focus on studying acting for now.”
“Okay, I’ll be going then.”
On her way to acting class, Qiu Chi ran into a man. The man’s eyes lit up when he saw her, but Qiu Chi walked right past him without a change in expression and went to her class.
But she heard the System say excitedly, 【The script is in place! Male Lead 3 has also appeared. The plot will be on the right track soon!】
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