When I Woke Up, I Had Three Romantic Partners - Chapter 2

Qin Song particularly warned Chi Jinqing about three people: Si Jiamo, Su Yunhui, and Zhuge Wei. He told her to be extra careful around them. Previously, she had been very close to these three, and to prevent them from realizing that the current Chi Jinqing was easily fooled and knew nothing, Qin Song insisted that she must watch and learn more, and absolutely not speak carelessly.

He stressed that in the entertainment industry, saying one wrong word could easily lead to misunderstandings and rumors.

And there was no such thing as true sisterhood in the entertainment industry.

Qin Song emphasized, “You need to be sharp and alert. Don’t tell people everything when they ask questions, and don’t immediately rush to be a good Samaritan when something happens. They might not even appreciate it.”

Chi Jinqing held her phone, nodding blankly.

Looking at the text messages, she felt a massive headache.

Qin Song said she used to be very close to these three people. Just how close were they?

She felt like she was sensing an unusual dynamic.

The text messages from the latter two didn’t seem like they came from ordinary friends. Were they really her 26-year-old self’s “best sisters”?

After being discharged, Chi Jinqing had been recuperating at home. Her leg was broken at the time, and a broken bone takes a hundred days to mend. Including the time she was in a coma, it had been about a hundred days.

During these hundred days, she tried her best not to run around, focusing on learning her 26-year-old self’s habits and the technological advancements of the past eight years.

This world was no longer the same era she had left. Eight short years felt like eighty, with everything developing at a rapid pace.

Finally accepting her new reality, Chi Jinqing was searching her house when she unexpectedly found a notebook with a lock. The password was easy to guess; it had been the same one for over ten years: 1010, the day she met Si Jiamo.

Lying on the bed, she opened the notebook. The handwriting was recognizable, much better than her 18-year-old self’s, but a small habit remained: she used a dot instead of a period at the end of every paragraph.

2088.3.14, Sunny

Si Youmo said she could pay off my family’s debt and transfer the creditor status to herself. But she proposed one condition: she asked me to be her underground lover.

I had been in the industry for a year, hadn’t earned any money, and had no connections. My family couldn’t keep going like this. I agreed.

Chi Jinqing: “…”

1. Wasn’t that when she was nineteen?

She was playing a complicated game. In just one year, Si Jiamo had learned about contracts and started an underground relationship.

2088.3.16, Cloudy

I always knew she hated me for abandoning her back then, and I knew she just wanted revenge. But I didn’t expect her to genuinely only want me as her underground lover. She publicly flirts and forms CP with people in every drama she films.

I don’t understand what she’s trying to do.

Chi Jinqing: “???”

Huh?

Si Jiamo was being so reckless with her reputation?

These past few days, she had looked through a lot of domestic entertainment news, watched many variety shows and dramas, with most of them featuring Si Jiamo.

She had lived well all these years, everything going smoothly. With her older sister’s protection, her first film was a collaboration with a famous director, where she played the second female lead. The film had a high rating of 8.6.

Her role was very prominent. Though she was a newcomer and had never acted before, she skillfully portrayed the character’s youthful awkwardness and reserve, winning the Best Supporting Actress award that year—not just a nomination, but a direct win.

She had always known that Si Jiamo demanded perfection in everything she did and was a quick learner. But she hadn’t expected her acting skills to improve this fast.

After that film, she specifically went to study acting for a period. When she returned for her second film, she was already the female lead.

Her acting improved even more this time. She held her own against veteran actors, though she initially followed their rhythm, she was able to match them by the later stages.

Though Chi Jinqing wasn’t an expert, she could see Si Jiamo’s progress.

It was after this film that the rumors started—with the second female lead of the drama.

Chi Jinqing read through, page by page. The dates in the first few years of the diary weren’t very close together. Most entries described who Si Youmo was rumored to be with, and how she would come back and sarcastically mock Chi Jinqing’s slow progress in acting.

More importantly, she would occasionally use her own rumors to provoke Chi Jinqing.

Chi Jinqing didn’t know the purpose of her actions, but she thought she was quite childish.

However, the other party was constantly gaslighting her, frequently getting touchy-feely with other female guests on variety shows, looking very intimate. When she returned to the villa, she would continue to order Chi Jinqing around like a personal servant and would even play those intimate variety shows in front of her.

She never imagined her 26-year-old self would learn mental gaslighting (pua).

Frazzled, she quickly flipped through several pages, skipping the entries about Si Jiamo’s arbitrary treatment of her 26-year-old self.

By the third year recorded in the notebook, a second character, Su Yunhui, appeared.

2089.5.18, Light Rain

Su Yunhui came to see me in private. She said she knew about my relationship with Si Jiamo. If I wanted to escape Si Jiamo, she could help me. The price was for me to be her substitute lover.

It’s so strange. What are these people thinking?

Chi Jinqing was truly shocked now. Seriously, what were these people thinking?

Su Yunhui was a famous gold-medal manager in the entertainment industry. She was known as a veteran expert in spotting and training talent, having launched many careers.

She started in the industry at eighteen, self-learning while assisting others, and by twenty-three, she was an in-demand, famous agent.

In ten years, she had nurtured over twenty successful singers and actors, including several Best Actors and Best Actresses, the youngest being Si Jiamo, a double Best Actress winner at twenty-six.

Countless people wanted to work with her, but she rarely took on anyone she didn’t like. Now, she was rarely seen managing new people; she only had Si Jiamo left.

Chi Jinqing didn’t understand why this person, who was seemingly unrelated to her, would inexplicably want her as a substitute lover.

Was she serious? Didn’t she know she was Si Jiamo’s underground lover?

2089.6.19, Sunny

I was wrong. All Su Yunhui wants is my face. She said my face looks very much like her first love’s. She only needs me to cook for her every Saturday and Sunday and watch the sunset with her. She said her first love used to accompany her like this, but because she was ambitious and always prioritized work, they broke up.

So, she doesn’t want me as a lover. She just wants an ‘auntie’ who will cook and eat with her.

I wanted to refuse, but she offered me 200,000 yuan a month.

Chi Jinqing: “…”

Refusing that kind of money seemed disrespectful to the cash.

She knew without a doubt that her twenty-one-year-old self wouldn’t refuse. She desperately needed money back then, and it was just for company. 200,000 yuan a month! She wouldn’t refuse.

Sure enough…

2089.6.20

Even though she’s crazy, I agreed.]

These two were sorted, but what about Zhuge Wei?

What was her deal?

The notebook quickly moved to the fifth year, and Zhuge Wei appeared.

But when she saw the entry about Zhuge Wei, Chi Jinqing realized this person seemed even crazier!

The notebook said she even tried to kidnap her pet goose! She was hugging the goose and took out a household register from her backpack, saying she would marry Chi Jinqing for the goose!

Chi Jinqing threw down the notebook and frantically grasped her hair, muttering with her eyes closed, “I’m going crazy, is this world crazy?!”

How could such outrageous things happen?!

One Si Jiamo was already terrifying enough, and now there were a Su Yunhui and a Zhuge Wei! What was all this?!

What exactly was her 26-year-old self doing?!

Wasn’t she afraid of getting caught?!

How could her eighteen-year-old self possibly handle these three people?!

Frustrated, she messed up her long hair. She had never imagined such a future for herself. This was absolutely terrifying.

“Goo-goo—”

A big white goose with a clean, thick neck flapped its snowy-white feathers, barged open the door, and rushed in. Its beady black eyes focused on Chi Jinqing. With a fierce expression, it waddled onto the bed, cocked its head at Chi Jinqing, seemingly asking why she wasn’t responding.

Chi Jinqing: “…”

The goose was also mentioned in the notebook. Si Jiamo had picked it up as a gosling and, being busy, had given it to Chi Jinqing to raise.

Her 26-year-old self had taken meticulous care of it, but because Si Jiamo rarely visited, the goose had a distant impression of Si Jiamo and was very clingy to Chi Jinqing. They had a great relationship.

Furthermore, the goose was exceptionally well-trained by Chi Jinqing. It knew how to use its designated toilet, would swim in the lake and return home by itself, could navigate, and was polite, never biting anyone.

Therefore, Chi Jinqing’s feelings towards the goose were complex.

She had never raised an animal and lacked patience, but her 26-year-old self seemed to be skilled at it.

She bravely reached out and stroked the goose’s feathers. The big white goose looked at her, lowered its head to preen its feathers, and then nestled down beside Chi Jinqing.

“Goo!”

The downy feathers on the big white goose were dense and firm, and the texture was pleasant. It had no peculiar smell; it bathed every day and was regularly de-wormed.

Chi Jinqing slowly wrapped her arms around the big white goose and whispered, “My dear goose…”

The big white goose remained still in her embrace: “Goo?”

“Tell me, why is your mother so fickle? What will happen if her boat sinks?”

While the 26-year-old Chi Jinqing had only agreed to be Si Jiamo’s underground lover, she also agreed to be Su Yunhui’s substitute ‘nanny.’ And she hadn’t completely rejected Zhuge Wei, but hadn’t given her much hope either.

Just thinking about it gave Chi Jinqing a headache. She had absolutely no idea how to keep up the act.

“What am I going to do, my dear goose? The variety show starts in half a month. What if I give myself away?”