Chapter 43

“I’ll go too. If I can’t use the main entrance, I’ll climb the wall. I’ll just take the cousin away and cut the problem off at the root.” Ever since starting the job, Song Qin had been extremely dedicated.
But, Wen Jiu raised her eyes. “We don’t need to be that sneaky and dramatic. We can go into the Chu family’s old residence openly.”
Song Qin’s brain spun. “Oh! So we’re going in as the Young lady’s dowry maids?”
Wen Jiu: “……”
“Author,” she said slowly, “do you also write historical romances?”
Mentioning her former profession was like summoning a damp ghost from the past. Song Qin’s face took on a look of deep despair. “Working isn’t easy. You always write as much as you can.”
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee money, but not working guarantees poverty.” She wasn’t a rich second generation, after all.
“I get you now. In just two hours, I’ve already fallen in love with this job. By the way, when do we get paid? Do we have social insurance and housing funds?”
“Six insurances and two funds. Salary is paid on the 3rd of every month.” Wen Jiu had that date memorized perfectly.
“Isn’t that soon?! Then I must protect the Young lady’s love properly this time. Forget male leads and female leads, this is the world I’m meant to be in!” Song Qin clenched her fist.
Wen Jiu gave her a quiet look. “You weren’t saying that last night.”
Someone had been losing her mind yesterday, demanding the male lead divorce immediately and marry the female lead.
Song Qin crossed her arms. “Times have changed. I am now the Young lady’s most loyal lackey.”
After a short lunch break, the two immediately drove off to find the Young lady.
Before leaving Chu Group, Wen Jiu checked in with Assistant Li.
Workers sympathize with workers, she felt bad constantly coming and going and half-working, half-not, causing trouble for others.
Li Xuan accepted the coffee Wen Jiu bought out of guilt, distributed the remaining hundred or so cups to HR and the offices, then told her, “It’s no trouble. The CEO’s wife already sent us red packets.”
Wen Jiu, who had paid for the coffee herself, held out both hands. “Give me my coffee back.”
Li Xuan quickly escorted her to the underground parking lot, waved goodbye, and carefully avoided mentioning the coffee again.
For an elite special assistant with a seven-figure annual salary, a cup of coffee really was nothing. But on a packed, high-pressure job, getting to tease a good-tempered coworker now and then was rare, and oddly satisfying. It was like keeping a cat in the office.
Wen Jiu drove off in her little glutinous-corn-colored car, taking Song Qin along with her.
Before the young lady could do her final styling, there were still plenty of procedures, head therapy, spa treatments, and the like.
Wen Jiu couldn’t remember the names of the individual programs anymore, but she was already skilled at automatically lying down and relaxing.
Song Qin stood by the door, looking at the warmly decorated private room, and quietly asked with great caution, “If we’re accompanying her, do we pay ourselves, or can we get it reimbursed?”
For a moment, Wen Jiu felt like she was seeing her past self.
Before she could answer, the young lady spoke up herself. “Just enjoy it. When you’re my follower, do you really think I’d make you spend your own money?”
Wen Jiu nodded. “The young lady’s treating.”
“In a bit, someone will style you too, hair, outfit changes. All brand-new custom designs. Wear whichever set you like; you can take it home. Of course, that’s also on me.”
Wen Jiu was so used to this that she didn’t even feel surprised anymore, but Song Qin looked like someone who’d just struck it rich overnight and had no idea how to spend the money. Her mouth fell open and refused to close.
Thinking the young lady couldn’t hear her, Song Qin leaned closer to Wen Jiu and whispered again, “Sis, your fate is way too good. Don’t worry, even if it’s just this one time, for the rest of my life I will never betray the young lady.”
Wen Jiu turned her head just in time to see the young lady with her eyes closed, the corners of her lips faintly curved upward.
The young lady loved being praised more than anything.
There were a lot of people in the evening, but since it was a family banquet, there was no need to dress too extravagantly. Unfortunately, understated luxury often cost even more.
Song Qin wasn’t used to her new clothes or high heels and walked all crooked and unsteady. Wen Jiu wasn’t much better, so she secretly took Song Qin to change into flats.
The young lady wore a fresh, elegant qipao, goose-yellow as the base, embroidered with flowing Su-style patterns. As she walked through sunlight and lamplight, the embroidery rippled like waves, petals flickering in and out, as though blooming and folding with each step.
The stylist had given her curled hair, more mature than her usual soft waves, yet still retaining a hint of girlish charm.
Song Qin said to Wen Jiu, “I never thought the female supporting character I wrote would be this beautiful.”
Wen Jiu replied, “Everyone you write has great looks. Speaking of which, we didn’t have time to introduce you to Su Yaoyao today. Let’s see how things look tomorrow.”
Song Qin scratched her head, feeling a little guilty.
If Wen Jiu hadn’t mentioned it, she would’ve nearly forgotten her own “most dearly loved” daughter.
The group arrived at the Chu family’s old residence.
Unlike the plot, the male lead, Chu Yan, who was supposed to appear only at night, was already there in the afternoon.
When the car door opened, he waited for the young lady, took her hand, and half-held, half-embraced her into his arms.
Song Qin instantly overturned all her previous opinions of the male lead. She tightly grabbed Wen Jiu’s arm, eyes glued to the couple in front of her as she grinned. “So sweet. So sweet.”
Wen Jiu tugged at her arm and realized she couldn’t pull free.
She decided she couldn’t let the author keep watching, or her arm wouldn’t survive, by tonight it’d be covered in bruises.
“Song Qin, I’ve got a solo mission for you. Go find the cousin and get a feel for her personality.
Don’t judge her all at once. Lan Mingyan and the young lady aren’t doing any female rivalry, and the cousin might not be exactly like how she’s written in the book, dead set on ending up with the male lead. First, figure out what she’s like, then we’ll talk strategy.”
On her first day at work, Song Qin was brimming with enthusiasm and immediately headed off.
The old residence was crowded today. The servants knew Wen Jiu and Song Qin were guests, so they didn’t ignore them and quickly led Song Qin toward the garden.
With Song Qin gone, Wen Jiu stayed with the young lady, it counted as splitting up.
The noblewomen sat together for afternoon tea, their gentle conversation inevitably brushing against matters of personal interest, tinged with subtle rivalry.
“The Ji family has been planning to take over Yi’er Film and Television together with us these past few days. Chu Group will also be selecting someone to station there soon. Earlier, A-Yan removed his uncle from headquarters, it was indeed the uncle’s fault, but it’s been over half a year now, and he’s recognized his mistakes. It’s time to arrange a position for him.”
“I think the management role Chu Group sends to Yi’er Film would be perfect. What do you think, Yaoyao?”
The moment the words entered Wen Jiu’s left ear, her brain started rapidly analyzing.
“Aunt” was the adoptive mother of the cousin mentioned by the author. “Yi’er Film” was Wen Ling’s former company. “Uncle” was likely a corporate parasite who’d made a serious mistake and been cleaned out by Chu Yan, probably related to the Brother Lin incident from when she first transmigrated.
Yi’er Film wasn’t some nobody; it ranked near the top of the industry’s second tier. It had smeared Ji Yanting and Yue Ling, and Ji Yanting wouldn’t let that go. Rumor had it that once this Film Emperor male lead took office, he’d already swallowed several companies whole.
Chu Group agreeing to cooperate likely had something to do with the young lady as well. Back then, when Wen Jiu called the young lady and Li Xuan to help Wen Ling terminate her contract and sign with them, she’d never imagined the fastest way to break a contract wasn’t a lawsuit, but outright acquisition.
Now that Aunt Chu brought it up, she was probably trying to make things difficult.
No matter whether the young lady agreed or not, Aunt Chu would mock her openly or in veiled terms.
Wen Jiu wasn’t worried at all.
In the book, Lan Mingyan would hesitate because of her family background. The young lady had no such concerns. In the entire Chu family, she only had a romantic blind spot when it came to Chu Yan, no one else got that privilege.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate at all. He allowed his subordinates to harass female employees. Once he’s stationed at a film subsidiary, who knows, maybe in a year he’ll produce ten illegitimate children for you.
He might even break the law. When that happens, he’ll end up in prison. It’d be utterly disgraceful.”
This was the first time Wen Jiu had witnessed the young lady’s offensive power head-on.
So strong.
It seemed Uncle Chu really was connected to Brother Lin. Wen Jiu felt secretly pleased, the young lady still remembered that incident and was helping her get revenge.
“Aunt, open your eyes a bit. Learn from me, if you’re going to cling to one person to the bitter end, at least don’t pick a phoenix man like Uncle. Just wave your hand, and men of all kinds will come rushing over.”
The Chu family daughters-in-law enjoying afternoon tea all pricked up their ears, their elegant teacups frozen midair.
Aunt Chu had imagined many possibilities, even being disrespected by a junior wife, but never something like this.
She was clearly being insulted, yet somehow there was a strange sense of harmony, as if she’d even been praised.
Everyone knew Aunt Chu couldn’t have children and had deliberately adopted a daughter just so Uncle Chu could be a father. Her love ran deep, something the sisters-in-law couldn’t understand, but none of them would ever say it so openly like Chu Yan’s wife had.
Of course, Chu Yan’s wife had the entire Qin family backing her. If it were any of them, they’d never dare speak like that to the parents-in-law’s most cherished daughter.
No one present could compare to Qin Yao, but none of them were weak either. Not a single person stepped in to smooth things over, they were all eagerly watching the show.
The atmosphere went quiet. The young lady didn’t seem embarrassed at all. She picked up her teacup and took a light sip.
Wen Jiu, sitting beside her, handed her a small piece of cake.
Aunt Chu said, “A marriage won through clinging and pestering won’t last long. There’s no real affection. Just watch, see whether Chu Yan will stay happily with you for a lifetime.”
She’d spoken without thinking. The sisters-in-law all sucked in a breath, it was finally time to smooth things over.
The young lady used her fork to draw a circle on the dessert, then looked up. “Aunt, are you talking about yourself?”
“I’ve been married to your uncle for twenty years,” Aunt Chu retorted instinctively. “You and Chu Yan haven’t even been married for half a year.”
The young lady replied, “Then you’re quite patient. Uncle’s face is so ugly it kills my appetite, yet you managed to look at it for twenty years.”
Aunt Chu felt as though she’d been insulted, and yet also somehow pulled onto Qin Yao’s side.
If she flipped the table, she could still make Chu Yan compensate her. But these few sentences left her completely confused.
The desserts in front of her instantly lost all flavor. Aunt Chu didn’t want to speak anymore. She now pinned all her hopes on her adopted daughter to do something on Chu Yan’s side.
Noticing her sudden silence, Wen Jiu sensed something was off. After saying a word to the young lady, she stood up to look for Song Qin.
With the young lady’s combat strength, she could handle a whole table by herself, there was no need to worry.
Wen Jiu hadn’t expected the proud, composed young lady to be such a powerhouse, and she’d expected even less that the author Song Qin, who’d arrived full of righteous indignation, would turn out to be a complete rookie.
“I’ve already found the cousin,” Song Qin reported eagerly when she saw Wen Jiu.
“Did you talk to her? What kind of person is she?”
Song Qin squirmed a little. “I… I didn’t dare go up to her.”
Wen Jiu: “?”
Song Qin’s speech sped up rapidly. “You know, I’m a stay-at-home author. If the world hadn’t collapsed five times, I’d never have gone out to look for the male lead.”
“But you were pretty enthusiastic in front of the young lady.”
“The young lady is a living God of Wealth! Can you treat a God of Wealth the same way? If you asked me to worship at a temple, I could rattle off an 800-word prayer without repeating myself.”
Wen Jiu: “……”
“Where’s the cousin? I’ll go talk to her.”
“She’s in that room. Should we sneak in? Would that be inappropriate? Even though we’re both girls, what if the cousin is changing clothes?”
Wen Jiu covered her mouth. “Why are you suddenly talking so much?” Mainly, her words were firing out at lightning speed, like typing at ten times speed.
“I’m nervous.”
“You wait outside. I’ll go in myself.”
Song Qin had imagined all sorts of ways Wen Jiu might get inside, pretending to be a cleaner, delivering something, passing along a message, sneaking in… She just hadn’t expected her to knock on the door directly and say she wanted to make friends.
“Hello, I, ”
The door opened, and Wen Jiu was met with a completely unobstructed view of the other party’s bare chest. She barely glanced over it, not sure whether it was six-pack or eight-pack abs, but each block was solid, stacked, and powerfully defined…
Was the cousin a fitness fanatic?
She’d seen her boyfriend naked before, she could definitely tell male from female. There was no way she could lie to herself about that.
Wen Jiu’s voice got stuck in her throat, and she completely forgot why she’d come in the first place.
Stunned, she turned her head to look toward the author, Song Qin, who was hiding in the corner.
Author, isn’t the “cousin’s” gender a little… off?
Song Qin hadn’t seen a thing. She was on the other side of the corner, aligned with the cousin’s door, stuck perfectly in a blind spot.
The “cousin” stretched out a long arm, grabbed Wen Jiu by the collar, and dragged her inside. With a bang, the door slammed shut.
Song Qin only heard a distorted scream of “Ah!”, she had no idea who it came from.
Were people from her hometown really this fierce? What on earth had happened to make the cousin scream like that?
The room was a guest room in the old residence, fully equipped. Since no one usually stayed there, it had just been thoroughly cleaned, anything extra lying around was extremely noticeable.
Wen Jiu was lifted by her collar, forced onto her tiptoes. Carried by inertia, she could only fall forward toward the “cousin.” At the moment he turned sideways, she grabbed the bathrobe on his body, tugging it off balance.
What little chest line had been visible was now exposed far more, red where it was red, white where it was white. One more glance and you could practically admire the craftsmanship.
Wen Jiu didn’t look.
Her attention was fixed on the bra casually tossed on the bed.
Such thick padding…
“Y-you, you’re a man?!” Wen Jiu rarely stuttered. This was genuinely beyond expectation.
Out of so many side characters across three books, she’d seen personalities go off-script, but never genders.
“I know you. Wen Jiu, the one by cousin-in-law’s side. I saw you through the window when you came in.”
Maybe because he’d been cross-dressing for so long, his voice wasn’t deep, but it wasn’t sweet like a girl’s either. It hovered somewhere in between, with a faintly seductive quality.
“You’ve discovered my secret. What should I do now?”
Wen Jiu looked up and finally saw his face clearly.
No wonder something had felt off, he was much taller than her.
She had to take a step back and tilt her head up just to see his full face.
The “cousin” had straight, jet-black hair, stood around 180 cm tall, and looked similar to Su Yaoyao, delicate yet bewitching, possessing a beauty that could charm anyone.
Probably because he was male, his nose bridge was more defined, making his appearance androgynous. He’d look good whether dressed as a man or a woman.
Wen Jiu rarely used the word beautiful for men.
But the “cousin” really was beautiful.
“Wait, if you saw me from upstairs, how did you know my name? Did you investigate the young lady?”
Surrounded by protagonists and side characters, Wen Jiu had built up some resistance to good looks. Besides, she didn’t know whether the “cousin” was friend or foe, she stayed alert.
Unmoved by beauty, her brain worked fast.
A honey trap might work. A handsome-man trap? Eliminated.
Wen Jiu took two more steps back until her back pressed against the door.
According to Song Qin’s novel logic, if the cousin needed to compete with the young lady, then investigating her would obviously be for replacing or harming her.
But now that the “cousin” was male, investigating the young lady couldn’t possibly be because he liked her, right? This wasn’t Su Yaoyao’s harem novel, surely not.
So,
“You want to fight President Chu for the family assets!”
Her mouth was too fast. Wen Jiu clamped it shut instantly.
Think fast. Fix it!
“You figured it out again. That makes things troublesome.” He advanced step by step, that otherworldly, enchanting face enlarging in Wen Jiu’s vision.
“Can I ask one more question?” Sensing no immediate danger, just a scare, Wen Jiu’s courage came back.
She raised her hand to ask, but he was standing too close. Her raised hand smacked squarely into his face with a solid slap.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Habits were terrifying, her first instinct in this situation was to apologize.
Perhaps amused despite himself, the “cousin” stepped back, the corner of his lips lifting slightly as he looked down at her. “Ask.”
“Could you step back a bit more? You’re not even bending over, and I’m craning my neck, it’s tiring.” Seeing that he wasn’t angry, Wen Jiu gained confidence and started making demands.
The smile on the “cousin’s” face deepened. This time, he stepped back three full steps.
“Why are you investigating the young lady?”
“Chu Hong wants me to replace Qin Yao.”
Chu Hong was Aunt Chu’s name.
Wen Jiu’s brain froze. “Replace the young lady… but you’re a man.”
“Chu Hong doesn’t know my gender.”
“Lin Zepan adopted me, thinking I was the biological son he had with his first love. After my mother died, he deliberately sent me to an orphanage and had Chu Hong adopt me. What he didn’t know was that I wasn’t his child either.”
Wen Jiu clutched her head, raising a hand weakly like a stop sign toward the “cousin.” “Wait, I’m not really following.”
“You can listen until I’m finished.”
The “cousin” continued on his own, and Wen Jiu could only struggle to keep up.
“Lin Zepan’s first love was my mother. They both came from the mountains. All the money my mother earned went to him so he could attend university.”
“When he was twenty and my mother was nineteen, he tricked her into getting pregnant with me. His character was terrible, but his grades were good. At an academic conference dinner, he met Chu Hong, my adoptive mother.”
“He latched onto Chu Hong and married her quickly. By then, my mother was already pregnant. He knew, but he turned it around and claimed my mother seduced him. After all, twenty years ago, he was a promising university student, while my mother was just a service worker with a primary school education.”
“Every time my mother found a job, she’d be fired for various reasons. His goal was to force her to leave Beicheng. But she was stubborn, she insisted on getting an explanation from him.”
“When she gave birth to me, she had no savings. She was discharged after three days, rested briefly in a damp, rundown basement, then immediately went back to work to support me.”
“To avoid Lin Zepan discovering and sabotaging her jobs, she could only work at illegal factories that exploited migrants and had no labor contracts. No matter how strong her body was, she couldn’t endure that. In just five years, all her vitality was drained.”
“I remember the day Lin Zepan sent my mother to be cremated, her hair had turned white. He sent me to an orphanage and had Chu Hong adopt me, without her knowing my background.”
“Chu Hong may have once loved Lin Zepan, but she’s older now. The twenty-year-old Lin Zepan is forty-five, no longer young. What she wants most is the Chu family.”
“She only chose Lin Zepan back then because he was easy to control and could marry into the family to fight for assets.”
Wen Jiu: “……”
She felt ashamed. Faced with such a cruel and tragic story, she didn’t even feel like crying.
She went straight for the key point. “Don’t tell me Chu Hong wants you to marry Chu Yan, replace the young lady, and then take actual control herself?”
“Lin Zepan would definitely support that. He knows you’re male, once your gender is exposed, you wouldn’t have to return the Chu family to Chu Hong. You’d be his ‘biological son,’ and he’d sit back as the supreme emperor.”
The “cousin”: “……”
“You’ve got quite the imagination.”
Wen Jiu: ?
Wasn’t she just logically deducing things based on his story?
“Chu Hong isn’t that ambitious. She just wants me to make Chu Yan loosen his grip and hand Chu Group Film to her.”
“As for Qin Yao, Chu Hong actually hopes I can get along well with her too. She’ll play the bad cop, I’ll play the good one, using Qin Group’s help so that once Chu Group Film is in her hands, it won’t lack fashion resources.”
Wen Jiu had pieced together all kinds of melodramatic conspiracies, only to find reality was surprisingly… simple.
She put on dead-fish eyes. “You’ve told me all this, and I’ve discovered your real gender. What exactly do you want?”
This time, the “cousin” genuinely laughed.
A soft laugh, spilling lightly from his throat.
It sounded nice.
“I want Lin Zepan to be abandoned and experience despair himself. As for Chu Hong, she’s treated me well. Raising is greater than anything. I’ll repay her.”
“I’ve been waiting here for you for half an hour. I want to work with you.”
Wen Jiu, who’d spent that half hour enjoying afternoon tea: “……”
No wonder someone had suddenly been inexplicably nice to her, it turned out he wanted to cooperate.
“Do you have any special skills?” Wen Jiu asked.
The “cousin’s” brows dipped briefly, then lifted again. He clearly hadn’t expected such an unrelated question; confusion was written plainly on his face.
“I’m good at photography and photo editing… including video editing.”
Perfect. Straight to work at Lin Yu Studio.
“We can cooperate, but on one condition.”
“Say it.”
“You work for me for twenty years.”
The “cousin”: ?