Transmigrated as the CEO's Top-Tier Stand-in - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Ji Yu spent her days practicing dancing in the hotel, facing several large mirrors pieced together. When she was free, she and the Corgi explored the various dining and entertainment areas on the tens of floors of the Y Hotel. Thus, the day for the start of Chasing Dreams 100 filming gradually arrived.

Early in the morning, she took her room card to the hotel entrance to check out, then walked out with the Corgi on a leash. When they reached a small, unmonitored alley behind the hotel, the Corgi, sensing they were alone, immediately transformed into a beam of light and merged into Ji Yu’s glabella.

Ji Yu unhurriedly packed the leash into her backpack, pulled down the brim of her white baseball cap, and strolled out of the alley. She flagged down a taxi and headed towards the Chasing Dreams 100 filming base.

Lizhi Net was wealthy and ambitious, determined to make this program a huge success. The base selected for the 100 girls was in a scenic, fresh-aired 5A nature reserve in the city. Though a bit remote, the environment was genuinely excellent, suggesting the enormous expense required to lease the entire area.

The reserve was surrounded by mountains, lush with greenery, and rich with various flowers and birds. Modern facilities were also complete, developed in partnership with the Meng Group for leisure villas and high-end hotels. The villa area was deeper inside, but the hotel was located just over ten minutes from the reserve entrance, where the dazzling sunlight reflected off the towering, azure glass of the building could be seen from afar.

As Ji Yu paid and got out of the taxi, she smelled the scent of grass mixed with the intense heat and heard the buzzing of unseen insects.

September in the South was still holding onto the tail of summer, the hot wind stirring people’s restlessness. She looked up at the blue building. Up close, the structure was incredibly tall, seemingly soaring into the clouds, giving off an imposing aura. Ji Yu retrieved her gaze before reaching the top—

She had no great ambition.

She didn’t care to know the view from the top.

Pulling down her cap, Ji Yu walked forward with her large backpack. The hotel lobby doors opened automatically, and the blast of central air conditioning coolness dispelled the surrounding summer heat. Looking up again, Ji Yu saw several bright figures standing next to piles of luggage.

For a moment, Ji Yu didn’t know whether to focus her gaze on their dazzling long legs or the piles of black leather suitcases, taller than a person, that nearly engulfed the several-meter-long front desk.

Due to the collaboration with Lizhi Net, the hotel no longer accepted tourists. The front desk staff had been trained to cooperate with the program’s personnel for registering the participating girls. The girls currently at the front were the girl group members sent by Xiaoxi Entertainment this time.

Getting closer, Ji Yu unintentionally overheard them mentioning “Chu Nanxing.”

“I heard CEO Yan say that Chu Nanxing is back from Country H. That TIME company! She was a backup for TIME EIGHT GIRLS (TEG) Unit 2 before. She supposedly came back right before the debut competition, otherwise she might have gone straight into TEG Unit 1!”

“Wow! Truly CEO Yan’s friend! My bias is also from TIME! TIME ELEVEN BOYS (TEB)! And he’s back in the country recently! I heard this show invited a senior boy group member as a mentor. I wonder if I’ll be so lucky—”

“Girl, if only you had a shred of self-awareness…”

Ji Yu had no interest in others’ affairs. She slightly retreated, watching as their belongings were continuously sent toward the elevators. Figuring the staff wouldn’t be free to attend to her anytime soon, she walked towards the waiting area next to the lobby.

The ceiling featured an intricately designed starry sky, and the floor was covered in low-key, dark-gloss black tiles. A silver-haired girl with her back to her sat in the center, with only a suitcase about half a meter tall beside her, clearly also opting not to wait at the front desk.

Ji Yu took two steps closer, reaching the girl’s side, and asked kindly, “Excuse me, is this spot taken?”

The girl was slim, wearing a black inner fitted top paired with black denim micro-shorts, covered by a translucent, oversized sun-protection jacket. The fluorescent material of the jacket gave her a flashy, trendy look, which framed her delicate face.

When she heard the voice, she looked up. The black iPod she held was still playing, headphones snaking to her ears. She looked at Ji Yu. Perhaps due to the very light color of her eyes, she gave off a cold, indifferent impression.

The two made eye contact for a few seconds. Ji Yu thought she had disturbed the girl’s listening and was about to leave, when she saw the girl’s pale orange lips part, followed by a series of theatrical opera vocals with a raised, drawing tone:

“Cannot guess from how many lives this good girl comes? The beautiful celestial beings are uglier than her, Chang’e is shy upon seeing her, the youths never tire of loving her, it’s you, seventy-seven, eighty-eight, ninety-nine…”

Ji Yu: “…?”

She was bewildered for two seconds, distractedly thinking she had heard this segment somewhere. It sounded like a Northern Chinese opera style, perhaps Pingju?

Before she could process what kind of unique person came to participate in the program, the girl stood up. She gestured for Ji Yu to sit in the spot beside her, then took off her headphones and smiled at Ji Yu:

“Ling Lan, 京剧 (Jingju, Peking Opera) background, from Lingtian Studio. Currently trying to switch to rapper. What about you?”

Ji Yu’s eyes widened. She quietly communicated with the System in her mind: “Do the kids these days… have such a wide range of interests?”

The System stared blankly with her for two seconds, then suddenly remembered: “Oh? This is one of the nine people who eventually formed a group with Chu Nanxing. Because her specialty was Chinese national art, her switch to rapper earned her a lot of scorn in the industry. Later, this became a point of attack for antis, who called her a sycophant for foreign culture, forgetting her roots. She faded out of the public eye after the group disbanded. She didn’t appear again in the original text.”

Their internal communication was instantaneous. Ji Yu had initially wanted to maintain her original attitude: keep her distance from Chu Nanxing’s friends and colleagues to avoid trouble. But in the latter half of the System’s introduction, her heart unexpectedly twinged.

She instinctively met Ling Lan’s gaze seriously, her eyes scanning the other girl’s face inch by inch. Then, she also offered a friendly smile and introduced herself:

“Ji Yu. No special skills. Currently an individual trainee.”

Ling Lan laughed at her “no special skills.” She didn’t expose Ji Yu’s obvious attempt to conceal her talents or be deliberately low-key. She simply sat back down, patted the sofa beside her, and squinted at Ji Yu.

Then, she started another piece: “Look carefully, she is only eighteen years old, like Chang’e descending to the mortal world, with beauty that shames the moon and makes the fish sink and the geese fall—”

Since the singing was directed straight at Ji Yu, Ji Yu thought the girl was testing her. After sitting down, she tentatively said, “Is that Slaying the Three Passes with a Sword from Peking Opera?”

Unexpectedly, Ling Lan frowned, staring intently at her: “Was my praise not sufficient? Then I’ll switch to another song!”

Ji Yu: “?”

She suddenly realized what was happening and quickly waved her hands, her face belatedly heating up. “No, no, no, stop, stop! You, you are very pretty too! Don’t praise me like that!”

Seeing her blush, Ling Lan burst out laughing. Staring into her eyes, she finally spoke a normal sentence: “It’s not the same. You are so beautiful, especially your eyes, which seem to carry endless affection—”

Before her face temperature could internally combust her, Ji Yu quickly looked at the front desk in the distance. Realizing a staff member was free, she immediately said: “Why don’t we go register now?”

Ling Lan gracefully followed the beautiful older girl’s pace.

It was another successful day of using a cold exterior to hide my true nature as a beauty admirer, she thought. She pulled her suitcase along and gave herself a small victory sign.

Chasing Dreams 100 did not impose too many restrictions on the trainees’ accommodation. The dormitory rooms directly used the hotel’s original rooms, with only minor adjustments: the large double rooms were changed to three-bed rooms, and the presidential suites were converted into six-to-eight-person rooms. Trainees could freely choose the size of their dorm.

Ling Lan and Ji Yu both set their sights on a twin room converted from a corner single room.

It was a bit cramped, but it was fully equipped—air conditioning, a mini-fridge—and it avoided the trouble of living with too many strangers.

Next, they were scheduled to meet with the mentors sequentially in the meeting hall on the 12th floor. Since this was a formal meeting with the mentors, they couldn’t go together; they had to go according to their assigned numbers.

Ling Lan’s number was 32, and Ji Yu’s was 44. The numbers were drawn randomly. They could organize their belongings in the dorm before the staff came for them.

It was only then that Ling Lan noticed how little Ji Yu had brought. Seeing Ji Yu casually put a few sets of clothes in the closet, she exclaimed: “Wait, where are your skincare, makeup, remover, and masks?”

“If the makeup here turns out bad, even if you don’t have a wig, you should at least bring a curling iron, right? And what about jewelry and clothes in different styles?”

Ji Yu softly “ah’d.” Confronted by Ling Lan’s genuine concern, she licked her lower lip and had no choice but to pretend to be an inexperienced newcomer, asking blankly:

“Do I need to bring those?”

Ling Lan: “…”

Faced with such a innocent counter-question, she couldn’t help but suspect whether her studio assistant was overly concerned about her. After a moment of eye contact, she covered her face in helplessness: “It’s a good thing I brought spares. It’s fine, just come to me if you need anything.”

Ji Yu felt awkward receiving such pure kindness. After thanking her, she looked around and asked, “Did you even bring your own sheets?”

“I’m a germaphobe,” Ling Lan nodded seriously, then added, “But I don’t know how to make a bed.”

Ji Yu: “…Would you like me to do it?”

Meanwhile, Chu Nanxing also arrived at the resort hotel.

In addition to the friend who was temporarily grouped with her, the trainees from Huangting Entertainment also arrived together. Chu Nanxing had interacted a lot with them during the previous final assessment. Seeing Chu Nanxing now, they all greeted her enthusiastically.

“Nanxing, let’s cheer each other on!”

“Do you want to stay in the same dorm as us? I heard there’s a huge eight-person room. Six of us plus you two is perfect!”

Chu Nanxing responded with a smile. At this moment, Xue Lian came in pushing two suitcases, walking right up to her, and told her that the registration and check-in had been sorted out. When the Huangting Entertainment girls saw Xue Lian, they were startled.

“Assistant Xue!”

“Why are you here? Did CEO Meng come too?”

They immediately thought of Meng Rendong’s ice-cold face. Although they guessed she was probably there to drop off Miss Chu, if Meng Rendong was paying close attention to Chu Nanxing and happened to see them perform poorly, wouldn’t that be… embarrassing?

As the six girls worried, Xue Lian saw their expressions and was about to remind them of something, but Chu Nanxing spoke first to reassure them: “Rendong didn’t come. She just had Assistant Xue drop me off today.”

Xue Lian didn’t explain to them that she had been assigned by Meng Rendong to be Chu Nanxing’s assistant. She just gave Chu Nanxing a professional smile and said softly:

“Contact me if you need anything.”

An assistant couldn’t be present during the filming of the program, of course, but if Chu Nanxing had any needs, Xue Lian’s top priority was still her.

Chu Nanxing nodded, thanked her again, and then walked inside with her friend and the girls from Huangting Entertainment.

“Xue Lian.”

In the office, Meng Rendong picked up the internal phone, instinctively wanting to instruct her assistant to do something. However, a different female voice answered, saying, “CEO Meng, how may I help you?”

Meng Rendong was looking at the copyright purchase proposal Xue Lian had submitted a few days ago and wanted to discuss it with her. Hearing the voice, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is Xue Lian on leave today?”

The assistant was silent for two seconds, then tried hard not to let her astonishment show too clearly:

“CEO Meng.”

“Assistant Xue was assigned to Miss Chu’s side by you this morning.”

Meng Rendong’s fingers gripping the phone tightened. She paused her breathing for a moment, then said casually, “Understood. Who is she cross-training with? Have that person come over in half an hour. There are some issues with this proposal for purchasing copyrights in partnership with the website.”

“Yes, CEO Meng.”

Meng Rendong hung up the phone and rubbed her forehead, trying to recall when she had made that decision.

Xue Lian had been with her the longest and was the most familiar with company matters. Why would she assign Xue Lian to Chu Nanxing’s side?

Meng Rendong tapped her head with her fingers, trying to remember the reason.

But the memories from yesterday to this morning were like a fog. She rarely felt this way. After thinking for a long time, Meng Rendong remembered the drinks she had ordered at the bar yesterday.

Was it because she drank too much?

So she couldn’t remember clearly?

She closed her eyes tightly, took a slow breath, and then began to sort through yesterday’s events in her mind: First, meeting Ji Yu, asking why she broke up, then feeling heartbroken, drinking with Wang Luoshui, and later going home, with Chu Nanxing remaining by her side…

There seemed to be nothing wrong.

Then why did she always feel like she had forgotten something?

Meng Rendong opened her eyes, her cold gaze fixed on the computer on the desk. After searching online for symptoms of intoxication, she stared at the page for a long time, then dialed the internal line again:

“Notify Uncle Zhang, I need to go to Yanxia Mountain in an hour.”

Yanxia Mountain Scenic Area was the filming base for Chasing Dreams 100.

The assistant who answered the phone wondered silently: CEO Meng didn’t even remember that Assistant Xue was taking Miss Chu to the show today. Why is she in such a hurry to go now?

As expected of the boss, always keeping subordinates guessing.

Hotel 12th Floor.

The wide, open floor plan was well-lit. A row of cameras was set up along the wall. Ji Yu walked through the middle, along the corridor, to a room. After politely knocking, she pushed the door open—

Her gaze met the four people sitting at the far end of the long wooden table.

The man on the front left had soft black hair, and a mole under his left eye made his otherwise cold, stern appearance a bit charming. Sitting next to him was another handsome man with a long metal earring on one side, his phoenix eyes looking sharp.

The System, afraid she wouldn’t know the situation, quickly provided information in her mind:

“The first person you saw is the PD of Chasing Dreams 100, Qi Feng, a member of the H-Country boy group TEB. He returned to the country two years ago and just released a new solo album. The one next to him, who was in the same group, is the rapper mentor, Night.”

The System then introduced the dance and vocal mentors on the right. Ji Yu maintained a smile, bowed politely to the mentors after the System finished the introduction:

“Good afternoon, mentors.”

“I am individual trainee Ji Yu.”

Qi Feng assumed she was nervous. Thinking of the program’s atmosphere, he responded: “Trainee Ji Yu, introductions usually include special skills and hobbies, you know.”

The others smiled subtly, amused by his use of “Trainee.” They also looked at her with expectant eyes.

Ji Yu smiled: “No special skills. My hobby is cooking.”

Mentors: “…?”

Qi Feng was stunned for a second. He turned to the nearby camera: “Are you sure the program you invited me to is called Chasing Dreams 100 and not some ‘Cooking King’ competition?”

The girls already seated at the long table laughed too.

Night, sitting next to him, nudged him with his arm, softly reminding him to stop joking. Qi Feng didn’t leave Ji Yu standing there awkwardly. He gestured kindly to the side, said a playful remark, and told Ji Yu to choose a seat.

Ji Yu walked to the very end.

Night sat with his arms crossed, his gaze following her obliquely, then casually pulled it back.

After all 100 trainees had entered, Qi Feng stood up with the other mentors and smiled first: “It’s a pleasure to meet everyone today. Now that I’ve gotten to know you, it’s my turn to introduce myself—”

“But I don’t plan to use words. I want to use my stage to introduce myself.”

“Everyone, don’t be too reserved. Feel free to eat and drink, and just spare a moment to watch me.”

Ji Yu heard a familiar scream from the Xiaoxi Entertainment trainees nearby: “Ahhh, Feng Ge, I’m yours! I’m already twelve parts full from your good looks!”

It was clearly a large-scale fan moment.

The others were chatting and laughing. The vocal mentor happened to walk over, carrying an afternoon tea pastry, and reminded them with a smile to enjoy the sweets now while they could, as asking for them later when they couldn’t would be pointless.

When she walked over, Ji Yu shook her head, smilingly declining the cake, but Ling Lan, sitting next to her, reached out and took a piece.

Ling Lan took a bite and looked at Ji Yu’s physique, sighing: “Is this the legendary ultimate self-control?”

Ji Yu shook her head. Her gaze followed Qi Feng’s steps toward the large stage where the curtain had been pulled back. She smiled and shook her head: “No.”

She paused, then said: “I can’t eat sweets.”

Ling Lan’s gaze instantly shifted from admiration to sympathy. After a moment’s thought, she said, “Alright then, I’ll eat a couple more bites for you!”

Backstage of the performance stage.

Qi Feng, who was adjusting his mic equipment, had changed his clothes. He smiled and asked Night next to him: “Brother, seeing them, does it feel like when we were preparing to debut overseas?”

Night was half-squatting, letting the stylist fix his hair. He closed his eyes and said nothing.

A few seconds later, he suddenly opened his eyes: “Very similar, and not just when we debuted.”

Qi Feng was momentarily distracted and confused: “Hmm?”

Night looked at him seriously: “Didn’t you notice? That Ji Yu… the look in her eyes.”

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