Transmigrated as the CEO's Top-Tier Stand-in - Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Ji Yu restrained her impulse to turn back and left.

Perhaps it was due to a long period without rest, and the high expenditure of energy preparing for the stage yesterday. While others relied on sleep to recover from extreme fatigue, she was still struggling to hold on, resulting in a dullness in both her mind and body after excessive exhaustion.

She kept feeling that she should grasp something, as today’s Meng Rendong seemed exceptionally different.

It was as if something inside her had changed.

But she couldn’t see it. Her mind was like a ball of paste right now; on the surface, it seemed to be functioning normally, but the information gathered by her senses was sinking into that mire, like a stone dropped into the ocean, never to be heard from again.

When Ji Yu reached the corner, under extreme inner conflict, she still chose to turn back to look at Meng Rendong.

But Meng Rendong, at her turning motion, instantly had a flash of light in her dark eyes, like dawn breaking through the night, like the end of the polar night in a winter wilderness.

She stepped half a pace toward Ji Yu, tentatively asking:

“Would you like… to have breakfast together?”

Ji Yu slightly lowered her eyes, seeming to struggle to observe the person in front of her with reason, even when at her limit of fatigue. After Meng Rendong’s words settled, Ji Yu hesitated for a few seconds before asking:

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

She felt that today’s Meng Rendong was very unusual.

But exactly how unusual.

She couldn’t figure it out.

In the past, Meng Rendong had not refrained from persistently clinging to her… For example, right after they broke up, Meng Rendong would unreasonably corner her on her way to the show, asking incredulously why she wanted to break up with her.

Until she realized that she was merely being used as a substitute for another person.

Then she finally put away that air of arrogance, self-importance, and the notion that the whole world revolved around her.

Only a lingering sense of unwillingness remained.

But no matter what version of Meng Rendong, Ji Yu could tell the other person’s mood with a casual glance. Even if she was reluctant to admit it, Ji Yu had to face the fact: during those four years with Meng Rendong, through every intimate touch and night spent sleeping side-by-side, she had gained a better understanding of the person beside her.

Except for this moment.

She found that she couldn’t read Meng Rendong’s eyes.

This person who always wore her emotions on her sleeve, who played the role of being arrogant, self-important, and believing the world revolved around her, seemed to finally have had her empty soul filled by something. Consequently, she now carried an air that Ji Yu couldn’t decipher.

And Ji Yu had a gut feeling that it had something to do with her.

Meng Rendong had initially thought she was lucky enough just to see Ji Yu after enduring half a night of cold wind here, and she hadn’t expected such a caring question from her. Although she told herself to take things slowly and make amends little by little, the door of greed, once slightly ajar, tempts one to push further. So much so that she couldn’t help but ask again:

“Breakfast?”

Ji Yu thought she really should have gone back to the dorm to rest this morning.

Otherwise, why would she be sitting on this balcony, cheek by jowl with her ex-sugar-daddy, watching the distant forest and the rising sun, gnawing on a bun in the morning breeze?

But the soup dumplings at this hotel were truly superb. The semi-transparent thin skin held tender meat filling, and the boiling hot broth could easily scald one’s lips. Fortunately, she patiently waited for it to cool down a bit.

On the small table provided for guests to enjoy the view were two or three other dim sum baskets. Besides a basket of custard buns, the rest were savory breakfast items.

And Meng Rendong only ate custard buns.

She wondered if Meng Rendong had used her authority to secretly acquire these while the kitchen was working.

The system couldn’t understand why Ji Yu was so exceptionally lenient toward Meng Rendong today, but this didn’t prevent it from finding Meng Rendong, the unqualified ex-sugar-daddy, an eyesore. So it secretly asked Ji Yu:

“Yuyu, if I take a picture of her un-CEO-like bun-chomping face right now, and casually let her see it next time, will she be mortified to death?”

Ji Yu curved her lips and timely stopped the system from persecuting Meng Rendong:

“That’s too cruel, let it go.”

She knew how seriously Meng Rendong took her CEO image.

But…

Ji Yu turned to look at Meng Rendong again, realizing that this person didn’t mind her image being compromised at all. She was carefully wiping her hands with a wet wipe beside her, then gently pinching the snowy white custard bun with her fingertips while blowing on it, and then tearing off the bottom skin little by little.

Then, because she put it into her mouth too quickly, Ji Yu saw her chewing motion stop for a while.

She must have been scalded by the overflowing filling.

But Meng Rendong didn’t even frown, pretending nothing happened, swallowing the mouthful whole.

Ji Yu put down the spoon she used for the soup dumplings, watching Meng Rendong swallow the food. When the other person noticed her gaze and looked back, she offered an appropriate smile and asked:

“Breakfast is already being eaten—”

“Can CEO Meng tell me what she wanted to see me about now?”

Meng Rendong saw that Ji Yu looked a little better after eating something. She intended to reveal the whole truth about Si Tian but somehow couldn’t bring herself to speak in this atmosphere. She could only look down at the unfinished bun in her hand and casually brought up a topic:

“Why are you… being so nice to me today?”

Ji Yu: “…?”

She was asked with some confusion.

When her gaze landed on the food on the table, Ji Yu looked somewhat conflicted. She couldn’t imagine what kind of blow some CEO had suffered in her breakup that lowered her standards for being “nice” to merely accepting her invitation for a breakfast?

Until the next moment.

That familiar Meng-style narcissistic tone rang out again: “Are you, perhaps, actually still quite concerned about me?”

Ji Yu: “…”

She lowered her eyes, staring at the bun in front of her, and her calm voice sounded: “I had a friend before, who had some unusual behaviors before saying goodbye to this world, but I was oblivious at the time and was easily brushed off… I regretted it later, always feeling that it would have been better if I had been a little more attentive back then.”

“Coincidentally, CEO Meng has also been having some baffling things happen to her recently, things that are hard to connect with your usual style. Since we are acquaintances, although I don’t like you, I’m not so callous as to be completely indifferent.”

Meng Rendong: “…”

She was a little annoyed, yet also wanted to laugh, so she finally curved her lips slightly and said to Ji Yu: “Don’t worry. No matter how stressed I am, I won’t resort to taking my own life.”

Ji Yu nodded along and replied: “That’s great then.”

Meng Rendong was almost choked by her heartless manner.

So much so that for a moment, she couldn’t judge whether Ji Yu’s attitude was cold-blooded or genuinely kind.

The breakfast table fell silent again.

After confirming that Meng Rendong’s unusual behavior today seemed unrelated to her, Ji Yu’s appetite gradually decreased in the awkwardness. She barely managed to eat a second soup dumpling before putting down her chopsticks.

She stared at the plate, musing carelessly, that people really need sufficient sleep to maintain their normal state.

Such behavior as eating with an ex should be avoided in the future.

Meng Rendong noticed that she quickly stopped eating, lifted her eyes to glance at her several times, and asked: “Is it not to your taste?”

Ji Yu shook her head: “I’m full. Thank you for the treat, CEO Meng.”

Meng Rendong suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness, like punching a wad of cotton—she couldn’t tell if Ji Yu’s appetite had recently decreased or if she simply couldn’t eat when facing her.

It was inappropriate to urge her, yet not urging her felt wrong too. Nothing felt right.

She could only force out another topic: “Did you… find that friend of yours?”

It was an obvious question.

And a poorly concealed one.

Ji Yu had already been prepared to get up, but perhaps because she was too concerned about Si Tian, she keenly sensed an unusual message in Meng Rendong’s words.

So her peach blossom eyes fixed tightly on the person beside her, as if the truth would automatically surface if she just looked harder.

“No. Why, is CEO Meng interested in her too?”

Meng Rendong had the words on the tip of her tongue, but she had never been so hesitant about anything. Her dark eyes clashed with Ji Yu’s gaze. Both tried to get the answer they wanted from the other’s window to the soul, making the scene like a silent standoff.

Ultimately, Meng Rendong was the first to look away.

Ji Yu silently breathed a sigh of relief and quickly turned her gaze away too, but Meng Rendong didn’t notice this detail.

She cautiously said: “It would be a lie to say I’m not interested—”

“From your description, since you were able to endure four years… by my side, it suggests that she and I share some similarities. I’m very curious about how alike we are.”

Ji Yu’s fingertips, resting by her side, lightly picked at the wicker seat.

Realizing that Meng Rendong hadn’t given her the information she wanted, her reply held a subtle disappointment: “Not very similar.”

Meng Rendong: “Hmm?”

Ji Yu casually said: “We look very much alike. That’s all.”

Meng Rendong: “…”

She recalled Si Tian’s appearance and temperament when they met. Perhaps because their personalities were so vastly different, she hadn’t felt much similarity between Si Tian and herself.

She refused to give up and decided to try and recover the situation. She thought that if Ji Yu showed even a tiny, minuscule hint of attraction to her, she would immediately bring Si Tian forward, honestly tell Ji Yu the truth, and then beg for her forgiveness—for all her blind, uncherished behavior during the previous four years.

“If… in the previous four years, I had been nicer to you, and cherished your feelings and efforts, would you, would you have fallen in love with me?”

Ji Yu looked at her with a very strange look: “The past is past, these hypotheticals are meaningless, CEO Meng.”

Meng Rendong was insistent: “I want your direct answer.”

She wanted to know for sure, to know if she had a chance for a bright future if time could rewind.

Ji Yu lowered her eyes and answered very calmly: “I don’t know.”

In fact, at that time, she was experiencing a major life change, deep in despair, and had tragically lost the close friend for whom she had developed a vague fondness. If, at that time, a person who looked exactly like Si Tian walked into her world and treated her with utmost care, Ji Yu truly didn’t know if she would have transferred her affections to them.

But fortunately.

Meng Rendong hadn’t done that.

So she could clearly state now that she hadn’t fallen in love with Meng Rendong during those four years.

Ji Yu left.

Meng Rendong, looking at the three remaining custard buns in the steamer basket on the table, instantly lost her appetite. She sat there for a while before remembering to take out her phone and make a call.

The person on the other end, who also hadn’t slept all night, was just being woken up, their voice carrying fatigue and drowsiness:

“Hello?”

Meng Rendong looked at the cooled white bun, accented with a touch of light yellow in the center, and spoke with some gloom and darkness: “…I think I understand now why you didn’t dare show up in front of her.”

The person on the other end of the line had a similar voice, only much gentler: “Right? I can tell how obsessed she is with the original Si Tian… which was you back then. There’s a certain desperate resolution, she’s placed all her hope on reuniting with that person, and she harbors too many regrets over missing them…”

“If I were to appear now and tell her that person wasn’t me, I think it would be too cruel. Sometimes people need a mental pillar, and not everyone can accept the truth and still live on, clearly and rationally.”

“Moreover… from what you’ve said, you seem to have done some terrible things to her, to the point where if she discovers it was you, she might break down.”

At this point, Si Tian paused, somewhat perplexed, then said: “You’re strange too, CEO Meng. You were willing to sacrifice so much for her back then, even staying in a different world—”

“Why, when she came back to you, did you not only fail to recognize her but also treat her so coldly?”

Meng Rendong felt her head ache again because of her words.

She could only answer with some confusion and pain: “I don’t know.”

“Perhaps you’ll think it’s strange for me to say this, but the more I look back at those four years, the more I have a vague feeling, as if everything that happened to me was false. I feel like I was in a daze the whole time.”

“Even thinking about these things now gives me an inexplicable headache. I feel like I’m being split, not myself.”

Meng Rendong felt like she was losing the ability to distinguish between reality and dreams.

Si Tian, however, said “Hmm” and pondered for a moment before saying: “I still feel that there are some issues here that are very strange. Look, why did you suddenly transmigrate to my world and then suddenly disappear?”

“I don’t know if it’s because of my pessimistic outlook on life, or maybe it’s my persecution complex, but I always feel like there are other factors involving you that caused all of this to happen.”

Meng Rendong asked: “What could it be?”

Si Tian frankly replied: “I don’t know, but now there’s a more important matter before us—should we tell Ji Yu about both of us?”

Meng Rendong: “…It’s up to you.”

Si Tian sounded a bit lost: “Huh?”

Meng Rendong thought of Ji Yu’s attitude just now: “I don’t know what to do now. I’m worried that if I tell her, she’ll become desperate and break down, but I’m also worried that if I don’t tell her, and she finds out later, she’ll hate me even more than she does now—”

“So, you decide.”

Si Tian’s voice became even more conflicted: “Ah…”

Both fell silent on the phone. Meng Rendong was due to confusion, and Si Tian was simply suffering from decision paralysis.

Just as they were concluding that there was no harder decision in the world, a piece of news suddenly reached their ears.

Dream Chasing 100 was giving the top nine contestants of the first round a reward—

Filming an underwater dance.

With Ji Yu as the Center.

When Wang Luoshui casually mentioned this to her, Meng Rendong was sitting in the director’s office, her mind blank. It took her a long time to react and object:

“That won’t work. Change the reward.”

Wang Luoshui didn’t react immediately: “Hmm?”

Meng Rendong stared intently at her: “Ji Yu is afraid of water. She can’t film this.”

Wang Luoshui waved her hand, dismissively: “It’s fine. There are others here who can’t swim, and Nanxing also has some after-effects with water, but everyone has expressed that they can overcome it. This has already been decided; the venue and date are set. Don’t worry.”

Meng Rendong didn’t know how to explain Ji Yu’s fear of water to Wang Luoshui. When she was in Si Tian’s body, she had once taken Ji Yu to the swimming pool, but the terrifying memory of drowning was deeply etched in Ji Yu’s soul.

Ji Yu had gone into shock by the side of the pool back then.

Thinking of this, Meng Rendong stated emphatically:

“No.”

“She cannot film it.”

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