Transmigrated as the CEO's Top-Tier Stand-in - Chapter 50

Chapter 50

The director collaborating with Dream Chasing 100 to release this four-and-a-half-minute underwater dance was unaware that the leased venue had changed ownership. He glanced in that direction from afar, instructing a staff member to inquire about the situation.

Because Meng Rendong’s appearance and attire were clearly unusual, the director momentarily made a note, choosing not to wave her away the moment they were interrupted. After all, this venue was known for its privacy; even when higher-profile celebrities were invited previously, determined sasaeng fans were always kept outside.

A moment later, the staff member returned, squatting next to him and whispering:

“I heard someone bought this place for a high price, the contract was just signed, and this is the new owner.”

The director moved his gaze away from the camera in front of him, slightly surprised: “A change of owner? This…”

He was actually concerned that the new owner might change the rules or something else that would disrupt his filming today. Dream Chasing 100 had signed a contract with him, and a successful collaboration on this dance would be a win-win situation. He didn’t want any unexpected complications.

The staff member whispered: “The previous manager has handed over. The new owner doesn’t seem to mind, saying everything will proceed according to the original management… Maybe she’s simply interested in the operation and outsourcing profits of this place and wants to invest?”

Hearing that the new big boss wouldn’t affect the shoot, the director subconsciously sighed in relief, waved his staff back to their posts, and no longer worried about the matter, turning his attention back to directing Ji Yu through the camera lens.

“That last segment won’t work. You must open your eyes underwater—”

“The water here has just been changed, it’s relatively clean. You need to open your eyes when facing this camera angle, or the shot won’t look good… Try again.”

Ji Yu now had the temporary boosts from the system’s buffs, momentarily suppressing her fear of water, allowing her to concentrate entirely on coordinating with the filming and the director. There was no sign of the resistance she had shown on the shore earlier.

This relieved Ling Lan, who had been observing her throughout. Ling Lan relaxed and waited for her own shoot, wrapped in a towel. At the same time, she saw the director in front of the camera nodding in approval, which fueled a sense of motivation in her heart…

If even the water-fearing Ji Yu could quickly adjust her state in front of the camera, what right did she have not to work hard?

“Gurgle gurgle gurgle…”

Ji Yu’s ears were filled with water again. She no longer focused on the sensation of her skin being constantly enveloped by water. Instead, she silently recited the director’s filming requirements in her mind, simultaneously comparing her position when submerging with the distance to the underwater cameras, slowly approaching them with guided movements.

Seeing her quickly achieve a successful short individual shot as the opening for the dance after four or five takes, Chu Nanxing’s expression turned sour.

Jiang Lianque saw her pale lips and thought she was cold. She asked the junior assistant, specially assigned by the production team to look after the nine girls, to bring a cup of hot water over, then quietly asked her:

“Are you okay?”

Chu Nanxing kept watching the other side, contemplating why the new script she had written for Ji Yu yesterday hadn’t worked. She had clearly added the settings of “hydrophobia, prone to cramps” to Ji Yu, and Ji Yu’s genuine repulsion and fear of water were visible when she was on the shore. Why was she now acting as if she were a natural in the water once the filming started?

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she casually reached for the cup of water Jiang Lianque handed her, but her wrist trembled slightly, causing some hot water to spill onto the back of her hand. Jiang Lianque was startled and quickly exclaimed: “Be careful!”

Chu Nanxing was indeed scalded but quickly steadied herself. Her facade nearly slipped, and she managed to force a smile: “I’m fine…”

She paused, then asked, seizing the opportunity: “By the way, how is your family situation?”

Hearing her suddenly bring this up, Jiang Lianque’s attention was instantly drawn away from the filming set. Beneath her dazzling, bright golden hair, her normally confident and gentle face showed a rare trace of worry and confusion. Chu Nanxing listened as she said:

“I’m not sure.”

“I hope things will get better.”

If the hospital hadn’t called the production team, she wouldn’t have known such a major event had happened while she was participating in Dream Chasing 100. It had severely disrupted her peace of mind, making it difficult for her to care for her friends as thoughtfully as before. Fortunately…

“It’s okay. The caretaker I found will start work in the next few days. Don’t worry too much.”

Chu Nanxing said softly.

Hearing this, Jiang Lianque subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief and earnestly told Chu Nanxing: “I don’t know how to thank you—”

Chu Nanxing raised her hand to her lips in a “hush” gesture, then gently bumped her shoulder with her elbow, telling her: “Why be so polite with me? Since we are in the same show, it’s fate that brought us together, and helping each other is what we should do. Alright, I’ll keep your secret. Don’t talk about this anymore. Focus on the upcoming filming content.”

Jiang Lianque nodded and replied: “Okay.”

“Splash…”

Ji Yu emerged from the water. After finishing her solo shot, she walked to the shore and took the towel handed to her by someone nearby, wrapping herself in warmth just as the water on her body rapidly evaporated with the heat.

The dance required solo shots for all nine members, and after this portion, they would move on to the group dance sections, which included both cooperative and individual parts. Ji Yu estimated her filming time and calculated that the entire dance shoot would take them a full day.

The thought of being submerged in water all day made her feel a sudden thrill of terror again, as if she were constantly surrounded by the soft water, feeling like at any moment, Death might use the rippling water to swing its life-reaping scythe at her.

She stared at the shimmering pool water, musing distractedly:

She probably would never feel an affinity for water in this lifetime.

Just as she was looking at the pool, a gaze was fixed on her as well. Ji Yu moved slightly further away from the pool, then had the time to acknowledge that stare.

Glancing sideways, she found Meng Rendong was near the entrance of the shooting venue, holding her phone in her left hand, her right elbow resting on her crossed legs. The white suit made her look tall and slender. The metal pattern on her cufflinks shimmered with a dull light, but it wasn’t as bright as the jumping reflection of water light in her dark eyes.

Their eyes met.

Ji Yu asked the system: “Did she say something to me when I was preparing to film just now?”

It was difficult for Ji Yu to vaguely make out the opening and closing of Meng Rendong’s lips from such a distance, plus the lighting projected onto the pool. She couldn’t be expected to have the telepathy to interpret the meaning of those lip movements.

Professional matters had to be left to the system.

“She said… ‘Don’t be afraid’,” the system translated for her honestly.

Ji Yu froze, forgetting to withdraw her gaze.

Only when she saw Meng Rendong misunderstand her look and attempt to get up and walk over did Ji Yu belatedly retract her attention, murmuring to herself as if in an aside:

“How did she know?”

The system let out an “Ah” and continued its attempt to figure out the unusual symptom of Ji Yu’s sixteen years of amnesia. After a while, it finally realized what Ji Yu was asking. It reviewed its previous records for Ji Yu and couldn’t help but voice its confusion:

“Huh?”

“When I first brought you here, I didn’t know you had amnesia or that you were afraid of water, so I didn’t weave this into your background in this world… That’s strange. How did she know?”

Ji Yu also fell silent.

But for some reason, she felt a bold guess bubble up in her heart. Perhaps anticipating the thought was too preposterous, she forcefully pressed it down before it could fully surface.

Unbeknownst to them, the entire morning was only enough to complete the solo segment for the opening of the underwater dance. This was significantly behind the director’s planned progress. At this pace—

The dance might not be finished in two days.

So the production team discussed cutting some of the choreography and urged the director to speed up the process. The nine trainees took turns eating lunch hurriedly, using all their free time to learn the next set of moves. The pool was also divided by blue cloth into several spaces, allowing the individual dance portions to be filmed simultaneously and then appropriately synthesized with technology in post-production.

This finally brought the progress up to two-thirds by three in the afternoon.

But…

Ji Yu looked at the few remaining cards in her hand, her already pale, cold face showing a slight worsening of color.

After gradually adapting to the underwater choreography and extending her breath-holding ability, Ji Yu almost refused any rehearsal whenever possible, striving to perform at her best every time she entered the water and faced the camera. Finally, around 8 PM, she finished both her individual segments and the group filming segments.

The moment she was pulled out of the pool, Ji Yu’s body was so heavy that she nearly fell back, but she managed to tightly grip the ladder. Once on the shore, she rushed straight to the venue’s attached shower room without delay.

She was the first to finish.

So the shower room was empty when she entered. She closed the cubicle door, turned on the hot water, and let the warmth pour down. She looked down at her wrinkled fingertips, her arms that had almost lost all color, and her calves and toes that had turned blue from being cold for just this long.

Ji Yu said to the system: “If I really debut in the future, I must try my best to refuse any performance related to water.”

The system earnestly agreed, then switched to complimenting Ji Yu’s dedication and the brilliance of the recent filming results.

Ji Yu smiled faintly and asked: “How many cards are left?”

The system reported truthfully: “One card of ‘You will be fearless for the next three minutes’ remains.”

Ji Yu sighed. She had just applied shower gel to her arm when the system uttered another “Hmm?” She paused her movement and asked in confusion:

“?”

The system: “Before coming to the venue, I felt an increase in unexpected factors around you, which I managed to lower, but there was a moment of fluctuation again just now, increasing—”

Then it stated definitively: “It must be Chu Nanxing causing trouble again.”

Ji Yu nervously looked up, standing farther away from the showerhead, also being careful not to let the shower gel on her palms fall to the ground. But quickly, she felt cramps in both her calves and couldn’t help but gasp heavily.

She asked, somewhat helpless: “What is Chu Nanxing… even plotting?”

Why does she pull these harmless pranks every time I’m on high alert?

Is she hoping I’ll slip and fall while showering because of a leg cramp and die?

The system had just said, “But I already eliminated the unexpected factors,” when Ji Yu gritted her teeth and groaned again. Done for. This time it wasn’t Chu Nanxing’s doing. She had been in the water too long, and her body was too cold. The previous cramp had been a warning shot, and now the full force hit her.

So much so that her back instinctively slammed against the door. Her hand reached out to grasp the tightly locked handle for support. While steadying herself, the door handle gave way due to the pressure and automatically swung open.

Meng Rendong saw that Ji Yu’s lips were blue with cold when she left.

Because she had stayed in the swimming venue all day, like a giant dragon inspecting its newly acquired treasure, she had seen the hard work of these artists. Other than lunch, she hadn’t seen them receive any other energy supplements, yet soaking in water all day causes a massive loss of heat.

She had ordered afternoon tea in the name of the production team earlier, but it was just a drop in the bucket. Now, holding a sandwich that the venue staff had kindly given her, she walked toward the shower room.

Meng Rendong originally intended to wait outside for Ji Yu, staring at the sandwich and thinking that this shouldn’t count as sweet. Still unsure, she started searching on her phone:

“Can people with bad stomachs eat sandwiches?”

“Are sandwiches easy to digest?”

“Are sandwiches healthy?”

Her frown deepened the more she read. Just as she was about to turn and leave, she suddenly heard a faint movement from inside the shower room.

At first, Meng Rendong thought she misheard.

Then, there was a muffled groan, followed by the sound of someone hitting the door and slipping, and the distinct ‘click’ of the lock automatically disengaging. She rushed over without thinking, first knocking outside the door and asking:

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Ji Yu was startled by the commotion and wondered why Meng Rendong had followed her. She wanted to refuse, but her foot was already immobile from the cramp. Coupled with the slippery material of the door, she lost her balance and cried out as she sat on the floor.

Meng Rendong outside: “!!!”

She asked anxiously: “Did you fall? Don’t move carelessly. I’ll help you look…”

The word “No need” was stuck in Ji Yu’s throat. She could only watch helplessly as the door was pushed open. The hot steam blurred the newcomer’s clothes, and the powerful spray of the shower quickly soaked the other person’s dark red shirt, even showering her black hair and fair face—

But the person merely bore the water stream, reached out to turn off the tap. Before wrapping Ji Yu completely in the towel hanging nearby, her eyes briefly took in the intimate sight.

Meng Rendong quickly lowered her dark eyes, suppressing the fluttering thoughts in her heart. She immediately asked Ji Yu:

“Where did you fall?”

“Did you hurt your body?”

“How are your legs and feet? Can you get up and walk?”

She treated Ji Yu like a precious, fragile object. She wanted to reach out and hold her but feared touching her anywhere, so she hovered nearby awkwardly, her gaze fixed on Ji Yu’s instep, which was slightly reddened from the hot water.

Ji Yu looked up at her, seeing her hair clinging to the side of her face, dampened into strands by the hot water. Half of her shirt was wet, clinging to her skin in a translucent, hazy way. For a moment, Ji Yu felt like she had been scalded by the sight and quickly looked away.

In the cramped space, their breaths mingled for the first time in a long while.

The hormones in their bodies intertwined in a long-awaited embrace, seemingly trying to awaken that ridiculous desire.

Ji Yu suppressed her momentary anomaly with reason and said, a beat late:

“I’m fine…”

Meng Rendong, however, looked at her with a slight frown, her bright black eyes showing clear heartache, which then turned into deep disappointment. She timely lowered her eyes, preventing Ji Yu from seeing her loss of composure. She even suppressed the bitterness and discomfort in her heart, speaking softly and pretending to be gracious:

“If you don’t want me to help you look…”

“I’ll go call the emergency response team over for you.”

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