Midnight. Villa #6, Xishui Bay, Beijing. The walk-in closet of the second-floor guest bedroom.
Ni Bingyan stood before the full-length mirror, caressing her face in a state of sheer bliss.
If you were to get closer, you would surely hear her murmur:
"My God! What a heavenly creature! Look at this face! Look at these proportions! We have the same name, but completely different fates!"
It must have been fate. She, too, had been an actress named Ni Bingyan.
But unlike the Ni Bingyan from this cliché CEO novel—a professionally trained actress who looked like a rare, beautiful flower of the upper class—she was just a grassroots Ni Bingyan. A girl who loved acting, started as an extra, and spent over a decade playing supporting roles before finally landing the part of the second female lead in a web series.
Compared to an average person, her looks might have been considered excellent, but in the entertainment industry, a world teeming with beauties, she didn't stand out at all.
That's right. The web series she'd been cast in before she transmigrated was an adaptation of this very cliché CEO novel.
God only knew why the director had chosen her. She didn't fit the role, neither in looks nor in age.
Maybe the budget was tight, maybe the female lead didn't want the second lead to be too pretty, or maybe the female lead was a complete newbie who needed an industry veteran to guide her through her scenes...
Who knew?
But since her transmigration was a done deal, a pragmatic orphan like her wasn't about to investigate where the original owner of the body went. She didn't care how the transmigration happened, and she certainly didn't care if this was a world from a book. As long as she was living in it, this world was real to her.
Since she was here, she would make the best of it. As long as she worked hard, she could live a good life anywhere.
Right now, what made her happiest was—she had become more beautiful! And younger, too!
Excitedly touching her slender waist, Ni Bingyan's eyes gleamed as she sized herself up from head to toe. She spun happily before the mirror—once, twice, three times...
Until she grew dizzy and stumbled, laughing, onto the leather chaise lounge in the middle of the room. She turned her head, and her smile slowly faded as she saw the row of magnificent, exquisite qipaos in the closet, each one like a work of art.
A sour, aching pain swelled in her heart. She couldn't tell if it was a physical memory from the body or her own sympathy and pity for its original owner.
The body's original owner had been poisoned by love. Unwilling to be a mere substitute, she'd wanted to become the president's true lover. She knew the White Moonlight loved qipaos, so even though Jiang Sheng had hired the best tailor to custom-make these for her, she never wore them.
Perhaps women in love were always like this, clinging to that pitiful shred of self-respect, as if that would make him look at her in a new light and accept her feelings.
'Thank God I only love money, not the president. I firmly believe it's better to be single than to be in a one-sided love.'
Ni Bingyan sighed with endless melancholy.
You treated the president like a boyfriend, putting on airs, refusing this and that. But he only saw you as a substitute. In his mind, the transaction was complete—money for services rendered. When you kept pestering him for affection, he only thought you were greedy!
If he had truly seen you as his girlfriend, even if you weren't at the point of marriage, he would have introduced you to his family and friends. He would have shared his daily life with you and had you stay in the master bedroom with him, not holed up in a guest room for three years, neither a proper host nor a proper guest.
When he attended banquets, his companion was never you. When he met business partners, the family member he brought along wasn't you. You could only stay in his house like a cook, making meals and simmering soups. All you hoped for was that he would come home that day, take a bite of food, have a sip of soup. A single smile from him could make you happy for an entire day, sweetening even your dreams at night.
How pathetic!
Everyone, including Jiang Sheng himself, saw you as a canary in a gilded cage, yet you refused to see reality, dreaming of becoming his one true wife.
How pitiful!
To have such superior looks, solid professional skills, a decent reputation in the industry, and a loyal fanbase—so what if they were only fans of your appearance? If you had just worked a little harder, you could have lived a great life on your own. Why throw it all away for a man, only to end up with a ruined reputation?
Having carefully studied the original novel and the script, Ni Bingyan knew full well that the president the original owner so deeply loved was completely heartless. Even though everyone thought he was deeply in love with the White Moonlight, it was merely a case of wanting what he couldn't have.
In the original novel, if the White Moonlight had truly been happy after her marriage, why would she have come back to torment a substitute and cannon fodder character like her?
The web series had just forced a happy ending to cater to the audience, concluding with the White Moonlight and the president getting married.
"Listen, sis. Let's just live our own life and stop craving that swan meat, alright? You have to be strong yourself to forge good steel. We aren't good enough, and he's not blind. Why would he choose us? For a pretty face? A young body? He might be blind for a little while, but can he be blind forever? Instead of wasting time fighting over a man, isn't it better to shoot a few more dramas? What do you think?"
As a transmigrator, the basic etiquette was to fulfill the wishes of the body's original owner, but this was one wish she really couldn't grant.
The original owner's soul was long gone, so her monologue naturally went unanswered.
She picked up her phone to check the time. It was almost one in the morning. Ni Bingyan got up to find some clothes, planning to take a hot shower and go to bed.
The original owner had always liked to stay up late waiting for her president to come home, but she had no such habit.
'From now on, it's early to bed and early to rise. Must get my beauty sleep every single night!'
Otherwise, she'd hit her thirties only to realize that not even the best beauty salon could save a face ruined by years of staying up late.
Just as she found her clothes and was about to head to the bathroom, her phone chimed. DING-DONG. A new message on WeChat.
She casually picked it up and opened the message.
Oh, it was from some rich bitch who also lusted after Jiang Sheng's body but wasn't pretty enough to even be his stand-in, despite plastic surgery. The message contained a photo from a party and a sentence: "Hee-hee, Sister Bai is back in the country! Brother Jiang Sheng is so happy tonight!"
She tapped open the photo. In the center of a crowd stood two people: one was President Jiang Sheng, his face slightly flushed, a refined smile on his lips; the other was the White Moonlight, who had just returned from abroad after graduating. One looked down, the other looked up, and their eyes held only each other.
Tsk. If the original owner had seen this, she might have actually died of anger.
The White Moonlight's figure was extremely similar to hers, but her face had a cold, aloof beauty. The book wasn't clear about it, so she had no idea if the president had found a 'face substitute' in addition to her 'body substitute'.
She had to admit, President Jiang's standards had always been high.
He loved fine food and beautiful women, but his requirements for both were the same: stay quiet, don't fight, don't compete. Just wait where you are for the chopsticks to reach out to you.
The moment a beautiful woman fell in love with him and started fantasizing about a lifetime together with just the two of them, it was, in his eyes, as terrifying as being loved by a plate of braised pork trotters that then forced him to eat only that one dish every single day.
'We're both old foxes. Don't play these ghost-story games with me.'
She screenshotted the bitch's gloating message, then blocked everyone associated with Jiang Sheng. Ni Bingyan stripped off her silk nightgown, quickly threw on a set of athletic wear for easy movement, tied her hair into a messy bun, and began to pack.
Who the hell had time for a shower now? The priority was to move out, clean and simple!
What was there to miss about someone else's guest room?
Once she moved into her own territory, she could shower however she wanted. She could scrub herself raw and no one would care!
By the time she'd transmigrated, the original owner had already been doing this "job" as a substitute for three years. She couldn't turn back time to stop her from doing something so stupid. But now that the White Moonlight was back, it was the perfect opportunity to retreat. And with an idiot handing her a ready-made excuse, how could she not seize it?
Alright, first, put the important documents into a file pouch.
ID card, diploma, property deed, driver's license, passport, CET-4 and CET-6 certificates...
Whoa!
President Jiang was generous!
A fully furnished luxury apartment on Beijing's East Fourth Ring Road, with a floor area of 200 square meters.
She carefully searched the original owner's memories.
Perfect. The apartment had been sitting empty. She could move right in, which saved her the trouble of renting.
Next, she packed the gold and jewelry into a box. Tsk, there was quite a lot!
As for miscellaneous things like clothes and bags, they wouldn't even fit in the walk-in closet. She'd find a high-end moving company to come pack and haul them away tonight.
What's that?
They don't operate at night?
Not an issue.
I'll pay extra.
One job that pays half a year's worth.
The boss, instantly energized, leaped out of bed and called her personally: "Miss Ni, for packing and moving, we are absolutely top-notch! We'll be there in half an hour, no delays!"
If he served this sugar mama well, he could upsell her on deep cleaning services for her new home later. He might even hit his KPI for the entire year!
He was thrilled!
Absolutely ecstatic!
Ni Bingyan was excited too!
Because when she had just paid the deposit, she discovered that the total balance across all her accounts was over twenty million yuan!
Thinking back carefully, she realized the original owner had earned all this money herself!
She had started acting in her sophomore year of college, and in the five-plus years since her debut, she had been in quite a few movies and TV shows.
Although she had been a complete slacker for the past three years and her income had dropped significantly, her clothes and living expenses were all covered by President Jiang. She didn't have a team to support, and she spent all her time revolving around the president, rarely even going shopping. Since she didn't know how to invest, all the money just piled up in her savings.
In that case, why would she still live in the luxury apartment the president gave her?
Buy a house. She had to buy a house!
It wasn't that she disliked such a nice apartment, but it felt like she was just moving from one gilded cage to another.
Even though this gilded cage legally belonged to her, since she had a choice, she wanted to live somewhere that felt more securely her own.