Villainous Stand-in (2)
Song Xuyi immediately decided: she would add a romantic subplot to the story she was conceptualizing, using her current memories as the framework to imagine a completely new story.
She had heard of the Muse of inspiration before, but had never experienced it until today when she was unexpectedly inspired by a girl she met!
But this really wasn’t her fault!
Song Xuyi couldn’t help but glance at the girl again. This girl’s flawless beauty almost crazily trampled on her aesthetic sense: the girl’s entire aura appeared cold, mysterious, and captivating. Almost the instant she saw the girl, countless stories emerged in Song Xuyi’s mind…
At that moment, Song Xuyi’s eyes met the gaze of the girl looking over.
Caught peeking, Song Xuyi instinctively averted her gaze.
“Thank you.” Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Song Xuyi noticed an easel placed on the ground next to her and, with a dry cough, tried to find a topic to talk about: “Are you from the Academy of Fine Arts? What a coincidence, I am too.”
“Hello, I’m Song Xuyi.” Song Xuyi extended her hand.
The girl, however, did not respond.
Song Xuyi couldn’t help but glance at the girl again: under the soft sunset glow, the girl was surrounded by a layer of pale golden light. She wore a white dress that accentuated her slender waist, her black hair cascading down to her waist, and her face devoid of any makeup. She looked like a fairy who had descended to the mortal world.
At this moment, the girl quietly gazed at Song Xuyi. Her beautiful face was expressionless, but her eyes were filled with extremely complex and obscure emotions…
She seemed to be very agitated…
As if she was about to cry…
But Song Xuyi had never seen her before.
Perhaps because the girl was so extraordinarily beautiful, looking at her made Song Xuyi involuntarily start to reflect on herself. She belatedly realized that her arrival had interrupted the girl’s creative process, and the girl might not welcome her presence.
Thinking this way, the guilt and embarrassment in Song Xuyi’s heart grew even deeper. She lowered her head and was about to leave sensibly when a fair, soft hand reached out from in front and held Song Xuyi’s hand.
“Actually, I’ve heard of you. I really like the paintings of your father, Professor Song,” the girl said. She seemed to be in poor health, coughing lightly twice. She gently squeezed Song Xuyi’s hand and then let go, a faint smile appearing on her face. “Hello, I’m Li Yuqing.”
Later, when Song Xuyi recalled this moment, she felt that her expression upon hearing Li Yuqing’s name must have been utterly foolish. Because seeing her expression, Li Yuqing’s originally polite and distant eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of genuine smile, making her extraordinarily beautiful in that instant, enough to make one’s heart tremble.
However, the smile in Li Yuqing’s eyes vanished almost immediately, as if something had stung her. She pressed her lips together, withdrew her hand first, and no longer looked at Song Xuyi’s face, turning to shield the drawing board on the ground.
Instinctively, Song Xuyi glanced at the drawing board. It seemed to depict a woman, but most of her face was blocked by Li Yuqing, making it unclear what the woman in the painting looked like. Song Xuyi had no intention of prying into Li Yuqing’s privacy, and she was too embarrassed to continue staring at her stunning beauty. She casually found an excuse and left the lakeside.
It wasn’t until Song Xuyi had walked a long distance away that the heat on her cheeks finally subsided, and the sound of the system letting out a sigh of relief echoed in her mind: “That was terrifying! Xuyi, you have no idea, that woman is like a ghost that won’t go away. She was just staring at you from behind!”
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Li Yuqing hated the Song family so much that she had probably already investigated her thoroughly. Seeing the granddaughter of her enemy, Song Xuyi could somewhat understand Li Yuqing’s reaction.
However, the system’s attitude was a bit strange: it was understandable for Song Xuyi to be surprised when she realized that the peerless beauty was actually the villain, Li Yuqing. But why did the system also seem extremely fearful of Li Yuqing?
The system, realizing it had slipped up, quickly tried to cover it up: “Who would have thought such a great beauty would turn out to be the big villain? You really can’t judge a book by its cover!” Despite saying this, the system couldn’t help but shiver, recalling the miserable years in the last world when the villain had used magic to isolate it from Song Xuyi for nearly ten years.
Song Xuyi, with her emotions fluctuating, didn’t notice the guilty fear in the system’s words. She nodded in agreement: “I also didn’t expect Li Yuqing to be so beautiful.”
In this world, Song Xuyi had promised the system to enjoy life, so she put the mission aside. She originally planned to find someone to monitor Li Yuqing’s movements, and at an appropriate time, find an opportunity to help the male lead and meet Li Yuqing. But she hadn’t expected Li Yuqing to appear in front of her so suddenly.
Thinking of Li Yuqing’s unparalleled beauty, Song Xuyi couldn’t help but admire the male lead, Song Shi: Song Shi didn’t like the stunning beauty Li Yuqing and chose to fall in love with the female lead. It must be true love between him and the female lead…
While marveling with the system, Song Xuyi walked home. For some reason, the usually talkative system became a bit disheartened when Li Yuqing was mentioned. After a brief conversation, Song Xuyi stopped bringing up topics related to Li Yuqing and began to ponder her own manga.
Although she had decided to add a romantic subplot to her manga, as a novice, Song Xuyi didn’t know what kind of protagonist would be popular with readers. She finally decided to start from her own aesthetic preferences and conceived a partner she would like: they must be good-looking and must like her…
Song Xuyi excitedly shared her plan with the system. After hearing Song Xuyi’s outline, the system remained silent for a long time before saying, “Xuyi, your character has no distinct features. The only commendable trait is being attractive, but is that enough for every attractive person?”
“Of course not!”
Song Xuyi almost instinctively responded, but then she frowned: she realized her problem. She couldn’t clearly articulate the kind of character she wanted to create.
For the next few days, Song Xuyi was deeply engrossed in her thoughts, yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get it right. Half of the manga was based on her own perspective, but Song Xuyi had no real concept of what kind of partner she liked. Moreover, in Song Xuyi’s view, there were no set standards for love; when you meet the right person, all standards become irrelevant, and the frequency of your heartbeat and the smile on your lips will prove everything.
The system looked at the pile of discarded drafts beside Song Xuyi’s desk and the dark circles under her eyes, and sighed in her mind, deeply regretting the suggestion for Xuyi to draw mangas: how was Xuyi enjoying life when she was clearly working twice as hard…
After several days of struggle, the system finally spoke in a resigned tone: “Then just write about a female star! She should be stunningly beautiful but have a tragic background—her biological mother went insane, and her biological father is a scumbag…”
At first, Song Xuyi didn’t think the system could come up with a good plot and listened half-heartedly. But she gradually got drawn in, and by the time she heard about the female star falling in love with the protagonist but never daring to confess, continuing the protagonist’s legacy after her death until her own demise, Song Xuyi found herself in tears.
This feeling was very strange; Song Xuyi had seen tragic works before, many even sadder than what the system described, but for some reason, the female star from the system’s story deeply moved her. It felt as if she had really encountered such a woman—one who was glamorous in front of others but cautious and devoted all her love to her.
Song Xuyi thought about it and figured that if she were the protagonist, she would probably fall in love with such a female star too.
Song Xuyi didn’t want to see the heart-wrenching ending for the female star that the system described, so she immediately decided to draw the female star from the system’s story and change the ending.
As for how to change the ending, Song Xuyi hadn’t figured it out yet, but that didn’t stop her from starting to draw the female star she had envisioned.
Ignoring the system’s advice, Song Xuyi once again drew deep into the night. The image of the female star began to take shape, and with the final touch of a small mole at the corner of her eye, the radiant female star leaped off the page.
Song Xuyi looked at the female star she had drawn with satisfaction, absolutely in love with her creation. If there really existed a woman who could kill with her beauty, it would undoubtedly be the one she had just drawn!
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Song Xuyi stared at the drawing for a long time, feeling more and more familiar with her character. Suddenly, she remembered the stunning face she had seen by the lakeside a few days ago—the face that bore a sixty percent resemblance to her drawing!
Song Xuyi knew she had a fondness for beauty, but she hadn’t realized she would become so obsessed with Li Yuqing, whom she had only met once, to the point of subconsciously drawing her into the manga…
Song Xuyi inwardly berated herself.
Luckily, the system had developed a habit of taking breaks after becoming a tool spirit in the last world, and was currently offline resting, so it hadn’t noticed this draft yet.
Feeling guilty, Song Xuyi tossed the draft aside and covered it with a notebook. She had no desire to continue drawing, so after washing up, she went to bed.
However, even in her dreams, she found no peace. Song Xuyi had an extremely strange dream.
In the dream, Song Xuyi saw a little girl about five or six years old.
The dream felt incredibly real. Song Xuyi found herself in a brightly and luxuriously decorated room. The little girl, dressed in a pink princess dress, sat by the window playing with castle blocks. She was adorably cute, with exquisitely beautiful features, sitting in the sunlight like an angel descended to earth.
When she saw Song Xuyi, the little girl furrowed her brows.
“Who are you? Why is there a cloud of mist on your face?”
Song Xuyi couldn’t see her own appearance but knew she was dreaming. Glancing at the hundreds of castle blocks scattered on the ground, she smiled and said, “I’m the fairy sister! I’ve come specifically to help you build a castle…”
The little girl gave Song Xuyi a look, seemingly torn about whether to believe her words. But the thought of successfully building the castle won over, and she hesitantly let Song Xuyi sit next to her.
The little girl’s chubby face was puffed up, and she gazed at Song Xuyi with wary eyes, like a curious kitten—she was simply too adorable!
Song Xuyi’s heart trembled with affection. As she quickly assembled the blocks, she struck up a conversation with the little girl: “Where are your family members?”
The little girl pursed her lips and sighed like an adult: “Mom and Dad are busy with work, Grandpa went to pay respects to Grandma, and my sister sneaked off to see that brat from the Song family. I don’t like the new maid; she always looks at Grandpa’s study with a weird expression…”
It was heart-wrenching to see such a young child being so sensible. Though she spoke lightly, a trace of sadness still showed on her face.
Song Xuyi sighed inwardly, feeling more and more pity for the little girl. She quickly tried to comfort her: “That’s why the deities in the heavens saw how sensible and cute you are, and they specially sent me down to help you build the castle…”
As Song Xuyi built the blocks with the little girl, she also told her stories. Song Xuyi felt extremely fortunate that she had read a lot of novels recently to meet deadlines, making her quite adept at storytelling. The little girl was completely captivated by her tales—
……
Time flew by quickly in the dream, and soon Song Xuyi had finished building the castle with the blocks. During this time, a maid came by to deliver some milk, but it seemed that apart from the little girl, no one else could see Song Xuyi.
Seeing the completed castle, the little girl was visibly excited. She happily ran back to her room and returned with a beautiful Barbie doll, carefully placing it inside the castle. She even went as far as to hang a small lock on the castle door, just to be safe.
“Thank you, fairy sister,” the little girl politely thanked Song Xuyi.
“The doll has been disappearing a lot lately, and it takes the maid a long time to find it. If I lock it up, it won’t be able to run away!” The little girl raised her chin proudly, clearly pleased with her clever idea.
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Song Xuyi hadn’t expected the little girl to build the castle for this reason and was almost melted by her adorable words!
The little girl, tilting her head and speaking in her innocent way, was simply too cute! Song Xuyi couldn’t resist squatting down and doing something she’d wanted to do since she first saw the little girl—she pinched the little girl’s cheek.
“You’re so smart! To come up with such a good idea!” Song Xuyi praised the little girl, holding back her laughter.
The little girl squinted her eyes and smiled after being praised, her pretty face shining like a blooming flower in the sunlight. Song Xuyi couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful the little girl was at such a young age. She wondered how stunning she would be when she grew up…
At that very moment, Song Xuyi noticed a small red mole at the corner of the little girl’s eye…
She is…?!
Song Xuyi was shocked and suddenly woke up from her dream!
LP: Re-translated on June 25, 2024
Thanks for the chapter!
Could it be?! (´･ω･`)
Thanks for the chapter!
Could it be?! (´・ω・`)