Chapter 16

She thought back to the one scrap of obsession the original Wen Jiu had managed to pass on before leaving this body behind:
“My last wish is that you treat the Young Ladies a little better, and more sincerely. No matter that I approached them for money at first, at least they were the ones who truly let me get through university in peace.”
At the time, Wen Jiu had been baffled. What “Young Ladies,” plural?
Now that Yue Ling’s name had popped up, the door to the true story creaked open.
These “Young Ladies” were probably all girls who’d helped the original Wen Jiu back in university, and after graduating, Wen Jiu had chosen to work as their “follower” to repay their kindness.
Mm… something like that, probably.
Once Qin Yao mentioned “Yue Ling” and “repay a debt,” Wen Jiu’s brain started buzzing. Memories slowly rose to the surface.
She clutched her head, eyes wide.
So she had to meet people to trigger their memories?
And given that “Young Ladies” was plural… there probably weren’t just these two.
Yue Ling had great grades and a spotless reputation. Even though she’d enrolled in Beicheng University as an art major in painting, her academic scores were high, close to those of students who’d gotten in purely on exams.
In her sophomore year she’d become student council president. At the time, the original Wen Jiu was a freshman who’d just joined the council. Yue Ling had noticed she was struggling financially, and that her department and her dorm were bullying and ostracizing her. She’d stepped in more than once, pulling the original out of the mud, keeping her from going down the wrong path or ending her life early.
In the original Wen Jiu’s memories, Yue Ling was a genuinely kind girl with a quiet, steady strength. She looked delicate, like a willow in the wind, but everything she did was measured and grounded, radiating a vibrant will to live.
Putting those memories together, Wen Jiu really couldn’t imagine that kind of girl turning dark over a man. Yue Ling didn’t seem like the type to wreck herself or hurt other people for some love affair.
But she’d taken over this body and been given a new life. Its benefactors were now her benefactors.
She really had promised the original Wen Jiu she’d treat all the Young Ladies well for the rest of her life.
So she typed back to Qin Yao:
Wen Jiu: Young Lady, when is Miss Yue Ling’s flight? Let’s go together.
Wen Jiu: Young Lady, I plan to resign from my position as President Chu’s secretary. From now on, I’ll only follow you and Miss Yue Ling.
Qin Yao replied at top speed.
First came a cute “hehe” sticker.
Then:
Qin Yao: Then what about your other big sisters? Wen Jiu, your road of repaying debts is going to be a loooong one.
If she hadn’t “triggered” them yet, Wen Jiu had no way of accessing those memories.
She swallowed all the questions piling up in her chest and could only send back a cute sticker of her own, muddling through with fake innocence.
So it really wasn’t just two Young Ladies.
But as the person involved, she couldn’t just directly ask. She’d have to take things one step at a time.
Other people had mortgages and car loans; she had a lifelong “repayment plan” of gratitude. It felt like one of those loans with no clear end date.
Being a rich family’s follower was hard, she didn’t even fully know who she was supposed to be following yet.
Wuwuwu, this murky fog of uncertainty is the cruelest torture…
On Monday, while the Young Lady and Chu Yan went to get their marriage certificate, Wen Jiu submitted her resignation to Chu Group HR.
Lan Mingyan circled her like a satellite. “Why are you suddenly quitting, Wen Jiu? Are you unhappy here?”
Wen Jiu pressed her back down into her chair. “No, I just want to try something new.”
“Work is only one part of life. Finding what’s best and most suitable for you is what really matters. We can’t work just for the sake of working, if we do, life becomes nothing but a bonus feature of our job, and we turn into walking corpses.” Wen Jiu fired off the nonsense with a straight face.
She sounded righteous enough that Lan Mingyan was left blinking. “You actually… make a lot of sense.”
The southern girl had already grown more steady and mature after her breakup. Tilting her head, she sincerely wished her friend well. “Wen Jiu, you have to take care of yourself.”
She’d already moved into a new place, finishing the move in just two days. “When you’re free, tell me, I’ll invite you over to my new home as a guest.”
“I’ll work hard too. One day, I’ll find my own path and buy a place that’s really mine.”
Looking at the determined light on Lan Mingyan’s face, Wen Jiu suddenly thought of the other heroine she’d seen the day before, Wen Ling.
It occurred to her that even if Lan Mingyan had known the book’s plot before Wen Jiu transmigrated, she wouldn’t necessarily have followed it.
Deep down, Lan Mingyan was fiercely independent. She wanted to carve out her own future with her hands and her brain, not lean on someone else’s power.
Heroines weren’t interchangeable. Different personalities created completely different lives.
Wen Jiu’s resignation didn’t need a one-month buffer; by that afternoon, it was already processed. She didn’t have much stuff to pack, just one personal mug, and then she was out the door.
At 5:30 p.m., on her wedding night of all nights, Young Lady “escaped” to wait downstairs at Wen Jiu’s place.
Qin Yao: Wen Jiu, hurry down, we’re going to pick up Big Sister Yue Ling.
Wen Jiujiu: Coming, Miss!
Young Lady drove again today, Wen Jiu still didn’t have a car.
Her little private stash could easily cover a small runabout now, but with so much going on lately, she’d decided to wait a bit before buying.
She’d already picked out what she wanted: that internet-famous “glutinous corn” baby bus EV. The cuteness factor wasn’t the main point, what mattered was the price. Plus, the seats in the updated model were much roomier than the original baby bus.
If Qin Yao ever found out what she planned to buy, she’d definitely demand Wen Jiu raise her standards immediately.
The worst car Young Lady had ever ridden in was a BMW. Anything below that level was simply beyond her imagination.
Poverty really had limited Wen Jiu’s imagination. She’d always thought only people flying could get into the VIP lounge, who knew there was a whole special service just for people coming to pick someone up?
An airport staffer in a little waistcoat opened the car door with practiced politeness, welcoming the Young Lady out of the car and personally escorting her into the VIP reception room. Another driver took the car away to park, no need for them to worry about a thing.
Wen Jiu trailed after the Young Lady, stunned again and again.
Fresh juice was served. Young Lady wasn’t in the mood and waved it off, telling Wen Jiu to drink both glasses.
She opened her phone and started texting her brand-new husband.
A sweet, pink-bubble atmosphere floated all around her.
Wen Jiu was completely unaffected, in fact, she wished they’d be even more lovey-dovey.
She still remembered that one-million red envelope.
The love between Young Lady and Chu Yan was worthy of epic songs and ballads!
The moment Yue Ling stepped out, all the fragments of memory that had just surfaced in Wen Jiu’s mind snapped into focus.
White moonlight, pure, gentle, and one of a kind. Standing there, she was like a stalk of ghostly white lily in full bloom, cool and fragrant, her temperament outshining even her looks.
According to the book, Wen Ling, the stand-in heroine, shared her back view, her eyes, her lips. But when it came to aura, the text said nothing.
Wen Jiu had been curious before. Seeing the real person, all doubts vanished.
The air around a true “white moonlight” wasn’t something anyone else could imitate.
“Big Sister Yue Ling.” Qin Yao put her phone away and ran over to hug her, pretty face flushed and glowing. She dug around in her bag, then pulled out the marriage certificate. “Look, I married Chu Yan!”
“Big Sister Yue Ling, you were right. If you don’t give up, you really do get the best ending.”
Yue Ling was a head taller than Qin Yao. Once she was hugged, the younger girl rubbed against the hollow of her shoulder, sticky and clingy, like a spoiled kitten.
Yue Ling gently straightened her up. “Then I wish you everything you hoped for. Congratulations on your marriage.”
Wen Jiu had originally stayed for the sky-high salary and ridiculous tips. But listening to the two of them, and especially hearing Yue Ling sincerely bless Young Lady’s marriage, she felt something tighten in her chest.
It really did feel like finally seeing the clouds part and the moon come out.
“Big Sister Yue Ling, I brought Wen Jiu with me. Mm… you have to treat her well, okay? She’s actually an amazing girl.” Qin Yao lowered her voice on the last sentence, tiptoeing up to whisper it against Yue Ling’s ear.
Wen Jiu didn’t hear a word, she only heard her own name and instantly snapped to attention, spine straightening like a board.
“I want to try the entertainment industry now that I’m back,” Yue Ling said. Her voice was as gentle as her face, but there was a steady, upward force in it that made your head clear just listening to her. “Would you be my agent, Wen Jiu?”
The simplest way to describe it was: she sounded like that most-loved teacher on campus.
Then it hit her, and Wen Jiu hurriedly shook her head.
You want to trust me with something this important?
No, that wasn’t even the main issue.
The main issue was, Why are you acting exactly like in the book, white moonlight? Back in the country and straight into showbiz?!
Wen Jiu was genuinely scared she’d go dark and twist into that obsessive second female lead from the novel, locked in a death match with Wen Ling and getting stepped on as a ladder.
She was still too stunned to speak when Qin Yao casually took over:
“Big Sister Yue Ling, Wen Jiu could handle being an agent, but she’s way too lazy. Just make her your little assistant. Let her run around with you to studios and sets, that’s enough.”
Qin Yao never said it out loud, but she’d long since counted Wen Jiu as “one of hers.” She knew all about her laziness and still spoiled her, paying her happily anyway.
Wen Jiu stared at the floor.
The VIP lounge carpet was thick and soft, no sound at all when you stepped on it, and definitely no miraculous hole for Wen Jiu to crawl into and hide.
“That works. You have to respect her wishes, after all,” Yue Ling said. “How much are you paying her per month?”
Like Qin Yao, she didn’t think “repaying a favor” meant free labor. A salary was non-negotiable.
Qin Yao tilted her head, playful. “I think it’s thirty-five thousand.”
She’d always been carefree, but now she deliberately dropped her voice, sneaking a glance at the utterly lost Wen Jiu out of the corner of her eye. “Big Sister Yue Ling, Wen Jiu’s really short on cash. If she says something that makes you happy, or does something useful for you, you can give her a little ‘tip.’”
“Mhm.” Yue Ling glanced at her. “You’ve grown up, Yao Yao. You know how to put yourself in other people’s shoes now.”
Qin Yao squirmed at the compliment, rubbing her ear. “I’m not a good person. I’m just good to Wen Jiu.”
Then a thought hit her, and she casually lobbed a verbal thunderbolt: “Big Sister Yue Ling, did you tell Cousin Yanting you were coming back? I heard he’s keeping some nobody stand-in right now.”
Wen Jiu, who had personally witnessed the film-emperor male lead and the B-list heroine not interacting at all over the weekend: !!!
Gone one day without watching them and the male and female leads had already ended up together?!