The Female Lead Insists on Being My Wife [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Stealing the Wife in a Romance Reality Show (Part 1)

Hai City was at its hottest. Chen Suihe was huffing and puffing as she hauled equipment parts for the film crew.

The chief director and the producer were commanding the scene. Though the set was noisy, there was order within the chaos. Before long, the seaside villa was filled with cameras, leaving not a single blind spot!

After installing the last hidden camera on a guest’s balcony, Chen Suihe stood up and wiped away the sweat that was pouring down like rain. Her cheeks, dusted with a light pink hue from exhaustion, looked exceptionally beautiful under the sunlight.

“Hey, is that kid some kind of star?” The chief director spotted her immediately and nudged his friend’s shoulder. “Weren’t you stood up by a guest? Why not just have her fill the spot?”

Having been stood up right before filming, the producer was currently filled with a resentment she had nowhere to vent. She was prepared to follow her friend’s gaze and give him a sharp retort, but when she actually looked over, the words died in her throat.

After a long silence, she called over the chief stage manager. A few hours later, Chen Suihe sat in a modest office, signing her name stroke by stroke on a labor contract.

“Pleasure doing business, pleasure doing business.” The producer smiled so widely her eyes disappeared. “Our show has no script. Just act naturally. If you can guide the audience to ‘ship’ some couples, that’s even better.”

Up close, Chen Suihe was even prettier. Through brief communication, her easy-going personality became apparent. The producer beamed from ear to ear, feeling she had truly picked up a treasure. With a face like that and a personality like that! How could she not go viral? How could people not like her? This was a romance reality show—she fit the theme perfectly!

Not only did the producer feel she had found a treasure, but Chen Suihe also felt she had hit the jackpot! How could it not be? A seaside villa, a single room, and all she had to do was act as a matchmaker to guide the audience to ship couples—and she’d get a fifty-thousand-yuan appearance fee! What kind of god-tier job was this!

Chen Suihe’s eyes burned with determination, her tone firm: “Boss, you can count on me. I’ll make sure they ship ’em!”

Seeing her so energized—though it felt like that energy was slightly misplaced—the producer nodded vigorously. Although she was a last-minute addition, the producer worriedly reminded her to put on some makeup later since the show would be live-streamed nationwide. Chen Suihe nodded, promising her with full confidence.

In today’s society, even if one doesn’t know how to do professional makeup, everyone knows a little bit. Combined with Chen Suihe’s natural looks, the producer was already sitting next to the director, ready to kick back and watch the praise-filled bullet comments.

However, Chen Suihe gave her a massive “surprise.”

As the stage manager snapped the clapperboard, the official live stream began. The program hadn’t revealed the guest list beforehand, so the heat wasn’t high, with only a scattering of viewers.

A moment later, a pitch-black head appeared. Teeth so white they practically blinded everyone on set shone at the camera. After a brief self-introduction, she walked into the living room of the “Heartbeat Cottage” without even taking her luggage and sat down obediently in a corner.

She knew the producer would be watching on the first day of the stream. She stared intently at the camera in front of her: Don’t worry, Boss. I’m an expert at being the “green leaf” to the flowers. I’ve got this!

She had no idea that behind the monitor, the producer was being held up by the director while frantically inhaling oxygen.

She just knew it! But the live stream had started; it was no longer realistic to have the stage manager pull her off to remove the makeup.

“!”

A sudden sharp pain hit her arm. The producer’s face contorted as she looked at her friend gripping her arm. Her friend’s face was flushed with excitement as he exclaimed, “That kid is a lucky star!”

Chen Suihe’s appearance—looking like a wild monkey—was screenshotted by the few viewers in the live room and posted to “cringe-posting” bots. Despite being a romance show guest, she looked like a wild monkey from Mount Emei. This contrast sparked the curiosity of many passing netizens.

Chen Suihe was completely unaware. She silently recited her responsibilities in her heart, sitting upright in the furthest corner of the camera’s view. Only half of her body was in the frame, but she sat there obediently. She didn’t look like a wild monkey that beats up tourists; she looked more like a well-behaved golden snub-nosed monkey.

The hashtag #MountEmeiWildMonkeyOrGoldenMonkey quietly climbed the trending searches, bringing a wave of traffic to the live room. To retain these viewers, it wasn’t long before the remaining guests took the stage one by one.

The guests’ reactions were uniform: the moment they saw Chen Suihe, they were so shocked they forgot their facial expressions. After all, seeing a pitch-black creature showing nothing but a row of white teeth was indeed a bit startling at first glance.

Including the last-minute Chen Suihe, there were three men and three women. Aside from her and one other female guest who hadn’t appeared yet, the other four were all somewhat famous figures in the industry.

Chen Suihe sat obediently, but her eyes flickered between them with an endearing curiosity. One guest couldn’t help but ask, “Suihe, do you have a question you want to ask?”

Suddenly called upon, Chen Suihe’s flickering gaze froze. She was about to say no, but as a diligent worker, she suddenly remembered her duties. She cleared her throat and asked the question representing the general audience: “Excuse me, why did you all join a romance reality show?”

The four guests looked at each other with strange expressions. Before they could answer, the final female guest finally arrived late.

Everyone’s attention was pulled back.

“Movie Queen Shen!” A stage manager gasped in the crowd.

The producer puffed out her chest and put on sunglasses, looking proud. Unlike the other guests who were startled by Chen Suihe upon entering, the corner of Shen Chuli’s mouth twitched up a few pixels the moment she saw her, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

The bullet comments went completely wild. Hearing that Shen Chuli had appeared, her “left-behind” fans rushed in, pouring out their grievances and analyzing her every micro-expression for the other viewers.

“Heh, this “closet” woman actually pulled the corner of her mouth up by three pixels!”

“Old Lady Heaven has eyes! I hope everyone isolates her and gives her the cold shoulder! Just like she isolates and gives the cold shoulder to us!”

For a time, the screen was filled with Shen Chuli’s fans complaining about her behavior, painting a tragic picture. Meanwhile, the accused herself finished her simple introduction and walked straight to Chen Suihe’s side without looking elsewhere.

“Could you move over a bit, please?”

Chen Suihe was sitting on the far right of the sofa. To her left sat a male star who went by a “Sweet Bean” persona. Since they were of similar age, they had been whispering to each other for a while. Being personally singled out by the Movie Queen, the Sweet Bean star stood up like a soldier. Before he could even try to flatter her, he was pulled over to the side by another male star from his same idol group.

Chen Suihe was baffled. With her pitch-black face and eyes full of confusion, she looked like a total ditz. Shen Chuli sat down beside her gracefully and reached out her hand: “Hello, I am Shen Chuli. Unmarried, currently no romantic partner.”

“?”

Chen Suihe’s hand was shaken up and down, her little brain filled with questions. Why was the Movie Queen saying this to her? She wasn’t the live-stream camera.

“Um, you have to say that to the camera,” Chen Suihe said, thinking she didn’t know the process. She pointed to the working camera, thinking she was being quiet and subtle.

Little did she know, her subtle movements had already been completely recorded by another camera. Chen Suihe thought there was only one big live-stream lens placed opposite them, so she began to relax after the other guests settled in. One moment she was chatting with this person, the next she was gossiping with that person; she was incredibly busy.

What she didn’t know was that every guest had an independent live-stream room. Her “whispering” moments were all recorded. She even kept glancing at the producer’s position while whispering, looking exactly like a student secretly chatting with a deskmate during class. The pitch-black Chen Suihe had no idea how conspicuous her “subtle” actions were.

She tried her best to restrain herself, but as she listened to the producer behind the lens reading out boring rules, she got bored. Looking left and right, she quietly poked the person beside her and asked with blinking eyes, “Movie Queen Shen, why would someone like you join a romance reality show?”

“You can just call me Chuli.” Shen Chuli seemed to have been waiting for the poke. She leaned in to explain, “I owed the producer a favor when I first entered the industry.”

Jiang Wan, the Sweet Bean star nearby, heard them whispering and couldn’t help but join in: “Jiang Suizhou and I were voted in by our fans.”

“Huh?” Chen Suihe’s little head was confused. She leaned in and asked, “Isn’t it a taboo for idols to date?”

“It is,” Jiang Wan’s face fell. “But we were voted in by ‘CP fans’. Our manager said we only have CP fans.”

“Wow—”

Seeing how lively the conversation was on their side, the other two guests leaned in as well.

“My fans submitted my resume too. They said I’m getting old and if I don’t date soon, nobody will want me.” “Me too. They’re afraid I’m going to end up in a lesbian relationship.”

Chen Suihe couldn’t help but widen her eyes. Is this the current atmosphere of the entertainment industry?! An obscure, retired starlet let out a whimper of envy.

Chen Suihe got so caught up in the conversation that she unknowingly followed Jiang Wan’s lead—copying the way he leaned on his teammate’s leg, she leaned onto Shen Chuli’s lap. The other two guests wanted to speak up and remind her, but seeing how Shen Chuli seemed to be enjoying it, they stayed silent. They locked eyes, a look of “my dear comrade-in-arms” passing between them.

“Among the six guests, there is already one couple in a confirmed relationship. In the final episode, the audience and guests will vote for the couple they believe is the most real. If the real couple is successfully voted for, the program will donate to charity in the names of the guests who chose correctly; otherwise, the donation will be in the name of the real couple.”

The producer finished reading the lengthy script and prepared to hear a round of applause, but to her surprise, not a single person was listening seriously! Seeing the director point at the culprit, the producer put down the script, propped her chin up, and grinned at the recording screen.

After all, this was a proper romance show. It was more important for the guests to fall in love sweetly. As for the rules, they could just read them themselves later.

Talking to Chen Suihe gave the greatest sense of “emotional value.” She always managed to catch the points the speaker cared about to offer comfort and analysis. After a while, the group simply sat cross-legged on the rug together.

As they sat there cracking melon seeds and gossiping, the director felt something was off.

“!” With that reminder, the producer finally remembered. She quickly grabbed the megaphone beside her and shouted: “Rooms! We haven’t assigned the rooms yet!!”

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