Transmigrated as the CEO's Top-Tier Stand-in - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The CEO’s Regret and Waiting

Meng Rendong didn’t sleep very well that night.

When she sat up from the large hotel bed, she unusually felt a sense of physical and mental exhaustion, as if she hadn’t rested but had run a marathon. She vaguely remembered having a dream, but when she tried to recall the plot, it was fragmented; she couldn’t reproduce a single complete scene.

As a result, she sat on the bed in a daze for a long time after waking up.

After ordering breakfast, washing up, and changing into a fresh set of clothes, it was still only a little past six o’clock. Meng Rendong didn’t rush to the empty and cold office but left her room and headed to the floor where she had seen Ji Yu dancing last night.

She harbored a faint hope.

Ji Yu choosing not to practice in the crowded main studio last night must have had her own reasons, and that spacious balcony was a secret base temporarily undiscovered by the production team. Perhaps if she went there now and waited, she might just run into Ji Yu practicing early?

Meng Rendong thought that she wouldn’t disturb Ji Yu’s practice; she just needed to watch from a distance.

The small thought spun around in her heart, and when Meng Rendong realized that this idea had completely occupied her mind, she had the belated thought:

She seemed a little humble.

In the past, when Ji Yu waited for her, racked her brains to cook for her, and let her arrange everything, Meng Rendong found Ji Yu too delicate and clingy. She would even decide when to visit Ji Yu based on her mood, like an emperor selecting a concubine, regardless of whether the other party had time.

Now that Ji Yu no longer focused her attention on her, Meng Rendong found that she had acquired a taste for it and was desperately seeking her out, pressing herself into the dust. It felt like merely seeing the sun that once shone only on her was a blessing for the day.

Meng Rendong reached the corner corridor where she was last night and pulled the corner of her lips down, revealing a self-mocking look.

There was no one on the balcony.

No music either.

But she wasn’t in a hurry. She leaned against the wall as she had last night, completely unconcerned that her newly changed high-end custom-made clothes might touch the dust on the wall. She even lowered her eyes, thinking aimlessly:

Generally, at this time in the show, the trainees would get up for breakfast or continue practicing. After all, with everyone around being diligent, no one dared to openly sleep in.

Ji Yu must be awake. If she wasn’t here, she must be in the cafeteria.

What kind of breakfast would she like? Chinese or Western?

Thinking of this, her mind went blank.

Meng Rendong realized that although she and Ji Yu had eaten breakfast together so many times, the food on the table was always what she liked. Because she had been an exchange student abroad for a while in her early years, and it happened to be in the country with the poorest diet (Y-country/UK), even with money, she still had to face cold sandwiches and baked ham, which made her even more fixated on domestic cuisine after returning. She couldn’t even tolerate the combination of milk and bread for breakfast.

Even a simple cup of sweet soy milk with a basket of xiaolongbao (small steamed buns) was something she never tired of.

Would Ji Yu like this combination?

She probably wouldn’t.

Ji Yu had a sensitive stomach, so sweet soy milk wouldn’t likely be on her breakfast table.

Meng Rendong tried to recall Ji Yu’s expression during meals, but in her memory, the other person was always quietly and politely eating with her head down. Ji Yu’s movements occupied more of her attention than the contents of the plate.

Whenever they ate, Ji Yu always had to sit close to her, enjoying the comfort of their arms and legs brushing against each other unintentionally. When the rubbing movements stirred a tickle in her heart, and she pressed the person onto a chair after the meal, the one who had proactively seduced her would look innocent and bewildered, her fingers gripping Meng Rendong’s shoulder, wanting to scratch but not daring to use force, eventually having to tilt her head up to seek out Meng Rendong’s lips, begging softly while kissing:

“Gen-gently…”

“I can’t take it…”

But Meng Rendong often dismissed it, instead seizing the opportunity to bite the soft lips offered to her, her eyes full of playful mockery, and countered: “Gently? Why do I think you like it rougher? The harder I go, the more excited you get?”

As if to prove herself right, she would force Ji Yu to look at the inadvertently stained water marks on the chair, forcing Ji Yu to admit that she was the one who initiated the seduction.

Meng Rendong struggled out of the sensual past memories, then gently let out a breath.

The sun was gradually rising, bringing the heat in the air up with it. The adjacent floor had an open platform, and the corridor was not equipped with central air conditioning. Even from a distance, Meng Rendong felt the fabric on her collar and waist sticking to her skin, feeling suffocating.

She lowered her head to look at her watch.

6:50 AM.

Ji Yu still hadn’t appeared.

Yanxia Mountain Scenic Area was in the suburbs, while Imperial Entertainment was located in the city center. Even without traffic, it would take at least an hour for her to get there from here, and it was currently the peak morning rush hour. If she didn’t leave here by 7:20, she would likely be late today, and she had a board meeting at nine.

As CEO, Meng Rendong needed to prepare her script in advance, be thoroughly familiar with the market data from the last quarter, and follow up with the marketing department on several major IPs she was interested in, discussing adaptation collaboration after acquiring the copyright.

She looked again at the empty balcony, bathed only in sunlight.

Meng Rendong had never found waiting to be so grueling. In fact, she had waited for people before. Even as the CEO of a company, during business negotiations, it was inevitable to encounter partners being late. In the early years when Imperial Entertainment was not well-known in the industry, it was common to be stood up when approaching some famous international directors for scripts.

Meng Rendong had waited through all those times before.

But now, her heart felt somehow as if it were being fried in a pan, and listening to the crackling sound, she couldn’t help but feel anxious. Yet, she had to suppress her nature and wait patiently.

But…

Would such waiting yield a good result?

Meng Rendong slowed her thoughts, relaxed her perception of her surroundings, and zoned out quietly for a long time. When the music from the dance studio downstairs had been playing for a while and the silence in the air was broken.

She raised her hand to check the watch face again.

7:19 AM.

… She had indeed not waited for her.

Meng Rendong turned her head again to look at the balcony. The sunlight reflecting off the tiled floor was even more dazzling than before, and she stood a few meters away, shrouded in shadow. Looking at that increasingly brilliant direction, it was as if, through the sunlight, she saw the person who was moving farther and farther away from her, destined to reach a place she could no longer reach.

Ji Yu’s Unintentional Spotlight

As Meng Rendong left, Ji Yu happened to finish dancing the song “Go!” in the studio.

She was gently panting, her pose frozen with her right index finger pointing at the ceiling. Her face was slightly turned toward the mirror in front of her, her eyes like small hooks, fixed on the position straight ahead. A few strands of hair clung to her cheeks from the previous singing and dancing movements. Her curled, wavy long hair cascaded from her shoulders, subtly revealing the wine-red strands hidden in her hair, adding a touch of sexiness to her back view.

Having finished the dance with complete focus, Ji Yu realized that the music of the other people around her had stopped somehow, leaving only the fading tune from Ling Lan’s phone to play out slowly, plunging the entire studio into silence.

The confidence and openness she had while dancing were gone. She subconsciously lowered her raised hand, gently hooked off the hair clinging to her face with her little finger, and cautiously turned back to look—

She found that all the girls were looking in her direction.

Ji Yu’s chest was still rising and falling from the exhilarating performance. She reflexively took a step back toward Ling Lan, licked her slightly dry lower lip, and met the gazes of the trainees not far away one by one, then offered a small smile, and asked softly:

“Why did you all… stop dancing?”

Didn’t they agree to practice separately? How did she end up being the only one left?

Ji Yu subconsciously glanced in the direction of the camera, assessed the distance, and felt a little relieved, thinking it should be too far to capture clearly. Besides, it was still early, so not many staff members should have seen this scene.

Hearing her question, the trainees in the studio all reacted. Rong Bai was the first to raise her hands and clap. Hearing the loud applause, the surrounding girls also clapped, then started talking at once:

“That was amazing!”

“She’s in F-class, yet she dances so well! My goodness, she must have studied hard last night!”

“A hidden powerhouse has appeared!”

“Mom, why are there so many talented jiejies here? I quit; I’m going home.”

“Don’t! If you think about it this way, when we practice now, we get guidance from Lian Que, we can feel Rong Shen’s abs, and we can tease this gentle and shy xiaojiejie. My heavens! What kind of heaven on earth is this show!”

Amidst the stream of voices, Rong Bai leaned against the barre used for stretching near the studio wall and praised the familiar A-class girls nearby: “She’s very good. She dances even better than in the video.”

Rong Bai paused, then added: “I feel like she must have at least five years of experience.”

The A-class members began to recall Ji Yu’s stage performance from yesterday, but there were simply too many stages with a hundred girls. They could only conclude that Ji Yu’s originally chosen performance was not outstanding enough, resulting in the mentors giving her low scores.

Otherwise? Deliberately hiding her talent?

The A-class trainees debated the ethics of holding back talent, concluding that intentionally underperforming to create a dramatic comeback story would likely be seen as “disrespecting the stage” and carry unnecessary “stains” before debut, making it an undesirable strategy for someone with true skill.

Ji Yu didn’t know the thoughts of the A-class members in the corner.

Because of the recent singing and dancing performance, Rong Bai and Jiang Lianque now divided the trainees they couldn’t coach among themselves to her, striving to at least get through the entire song before the dance and vocal mentors came to check the progress today.

“Ji Yu, is this movement correct here? I feel like I can’t keep up with the beat of the singing.”

“How old are you, xiaojiejie? I’m twenty-one, what about you?”

Several girls surrounded Ji Yu, wanting her to coach them. Ji Yu was concentrating on correcting a movement for one of the girls. Hearing the question about her age, she was about to answer when she heard another person say: “She must be younger than me! Maybe just turned eighteen! Isn’t that right, little Yu meimei?”

Ji Yu: “… I’m twenty-three this year.”

The girls: “?”

The girl who had just called her meimei paused for a second, then stammered a correction: “Big Yu jiejie (older sister).”

The surrounding trainees burst into laughter. Ji Yu also couldn’t help but smile. When it was past eight o’clock, she decided to go back, take a shower, change clothes, and then come back down.

Ling Lan saw her leaving, came over, put her arm around her shoulder, and walked out with her. Her bright eyeshadow made her eyes look even more spirited:

“Yu-Dad, amazing!”

“I just got goosebumps! An ancient beauty’s Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Dress dance would be about this level!”

Ji Yu: “…”

She reached out to cover Ling Lan’s mouth again, while whispering a reminder: “That’s too much, sister, seriously, that’s too much.”

Ji Yu quickly said she needed to go back, shower, and then come back down, finally escaping Ling Lan’s colorful flattery.

The System’s Revelation

About ten minutes later.

Amidst the sound of running water.

Ji Yu heard the System’s voice: “Yuyu, were you happy when you were dancing just now?”

Ji Yu replied ‘Happy’, then instinctively countered: “Were you… busy just now?”

The System quickly replied: “Yes! I was just checking on the issue of your failed transmission before. Since it involves the world mechanism, I performed a self-check…”

Listening to its technical explanation, Ji Yu slightly relaxed, realizing she had grown accustomed to the System’s presence. She applied shampoo, her posture gradually relaxing in the steam.

The System eventually stopped, having watched Ji Yu’s dance clip repeatedly in its space.

A little while later, Ji Yu dried herself, changed into a brand-new gray trainee uniform, and opened the door.

A knock came at the door: “Ji Yu, are you there?”

A staff member with an ID badge stood there and smiled gently, delivering the news:

“Director Wang just saw your segment in the dance studio.”

“There’s a chance they’ll edit that part into the later broadcast, so they plan to have you do an interview to use as material for the broadcast. Amazing, xiaojiejie. Keep up the good work and break out of F-class!”

Ji Yu’s eyes widened. She looked more astonished than happy.

Director Wang Luoshui saw it?

The staff member urged her toward the interview room. Ji Yu, walking forward in a daze, suddenly asked the System in her mind:

“If I proactively ask Director Wang to cut that part out…”

The System instantly became tense: “No! Yuyu!”

It quickly explained in her mind: “I just checked the world mechanism and discovered something!”

“As the protagonist of the world, Chu Nanxing’s various metrics are fundamentally insufficient and cannot meet the support requirements for the ‘World Core.’ The world with her as the female lead is inherently unstable and still has the possibility of collapsing at any time, even four years later. And your weight in this world has increased, so you’ve been automatically defaulted as a critical component of the plot. That’s why you couldn’t leave!”

Ji Yu: “?”

“Speak slower; I don’t quite understand.”

The System explained the origin of the instability: “The world line underwent a significant change once. The story didn’t start as The Stand-in’s Love.”

“It should have been My CEO Girlfriend and Me.”

“The original protagonist chosen for this world was… Chu Jianyu, she is Chu Nanxing’s biological older sister. But in the year she turned fifteen, she accidentally drowned and died, leading the world to the brink of collapse. It had no choice but to transfer the energy previously poured into her to Chu Nanxing, who was the closest match, and the entire world’s storyline changed with it.”

“But ever since Chu Nanxing inherited the protagonist’s energy, she has constantly kept the world in a state of turmoil… Even four years later, it’s still not working.”

Ji Yu was speechless by the massive information dump, unsure whether to focus on the ridiculous original book title or Chu Nanxing’s failure to stabilize the world.

Arriving at the interview room, she paused and asked:

“So…?”

The System responded brightly: “So! Yuyu! Chu Nanxing can’t be considered the true female protagonist right now!”

“Don’t hold yourself back. Nothing you do counts as stealing the spotlight.”

“If you ask Director Wang to cut that segment, she will definitely be unhappy, and you won’t be happy staying in this production team afterward. You really like it here, don’t you? Then don’t suppress your nature anymore!”

“Yuyu, stand on this stage, grasp your starlight. The higher you stand, the more people will see you—”

“Besides, you want to find Si Tian sooner, don’t you?”

Then rush forward!

Don’t worry about the plot. Since this world hasn’t settled on a protagonist, you are the core character of your life story!

You must keep moving forward, stand on the highest ground, let the world see your brilliance, write your story to the extreme, and turn all past regrets.

Into fulfillment.

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