When the Female Lead Becomes Obsessive – Chapter 7

Volume One: Those Years I Was a CEO

So-Called Kindness

【Cough, cough, I’m telling you, the female lead’s blackening value has decreased. It’s now 3.5.】 The System looked at Wen Nuan, who was lying in bed, not asleep at all.

Wen Nuan: “…”

What a disaster!

It must have been because she drank too much and got muddled, and she actually sent a message to the female lead.

By the time she realized it, the message had already been sent for two minutes, and there was no way to recall it.

She had thought that the female lead probably wouldn’t see it at this hour, but then the System notified her that the female lead’s blackening value had decreased by 0.5?!

That meant she not only saw it, but it also lowered her blackening value.

Wen Nuan couldn’t help but freak out.

Doesn’t she sleep at night?

Staying up late can lead to sudden death¹!

She just fell into the sea during the day, and now she’s staying up late at night. Is she working herself that hard?!

The System saw Wen Nuan’s ashen appearance and sighed: 【Why be so troubled? Haven’t you discovered a good method?】

Wen Nuan raised an eyebrow: “What good method?”

System: 【Haven’t you noticed that whenever you show the female lead a little kindness, her blackening value decreases?】

“You’re so sure just based on this one time?” Wen Nuan felt that there was still a large element of luck involved.

She had sent the female lead a WeChat message of concern, but it was possible that it wasn’t her message that had the effect. Maybe it was the male lead, Gong Yurao, or the second female lead, Cai Zi, who caused the female lead’s blackening value to decrease.

Besides, her WeChat message was just a simple greeting, without even a single emoji. Was the female lead crazy?

To lower her blackening value because of a very ordinary greeting?

The System said calmly: 【Then do you want to test it?】

Wen Nuan frowned: “Test what?”

【Test whether the female lead’s blackening value decreased because of your kindness, or because she already has feelings for Gong Yurao or the second female lead, Cai Zi?】 the System suggested.

“What’s the point of testing this?” Wen Nuan felt that this test was completely meaningless.

The System said: 【The purpose is very simple: to reduce the female lead’s blackening value.】

“The method I thought of before could also work, right?” Wen Nuan thought that as long as she could get the female lead back into the entertainment industry, to act, and finally win a Best Actress award, that would be fine.

And in the entertainment industry, there are plenty of handsome men and beautiful women. Whoever the female lead likes, she can help her get them. By then, the female lead’s blackening value will naturally decrease little by little.

Wen Nuan still remembered that the last time she and the female lead had a fight, the female lead’s blackening value increased. It seemed to be because she had rejected the female lead, and the female lead was angry, which caused it to increase. So, in the future, she shouldn’t appear in front of the female lead too often, and not try to make her presence felt, then the blackening value naturally wouldn’t increase.

The System naturally knew about Wen Nuan’s idea. It wouldn’t object to Wen Nuan implementing this method, but it always felt that Wen Nuan was resisting.

【Host, are you… don’t you believe that your showing kindness to the female lead… will have an effect?】

Wen Nuan was startled, her eyes complex and changing. Then she smiled and didn’t answer the System’s question.

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe it, but that she had self-awareness².

Emotions are the most fragile things to test.

She doesn’t like others testing her, nor does she like to test others.

So, Wen Nuan didn’t want to do the test that the System proposed.

Even if following the previous method to advance the plot might make the task completion very slow, Wen Nuan really didn’t want to use emotions to deceive the female lead.

She didn’t want to repeat the mistakes she had made in the past.

Perhaps it was guilt at work.

For the entire night, You Jiayi held that phone and looked at it all night.

She typed out replies over and over again, thinking of many things to say, but she rejected them all one by one.

Back and forth, dawn arrived.

Five hours had passed since Xu Wen Nuan sent her the message.

It was now a little after 8 AM. She should be sleeping, right?

Would sending a message at this time disturb her rest?

But—

You Jiayi looked at the message. At that time, Xu Wen Nuan should still have been at the bar. Was she drunk when she sent her the message?

Will she wake up, see this message, and be annoyed and disgusted, and regret sending her this message?

Could it be that this message wasn’t… meant for her? Who would care about someone at three in the morning?

Actually, falling into the sea didn’t injure You Jiayi. She just choked on some water slightly.

And she knew how to swim and deep dive. The moment she fell into the sea, she was indeed caught off guard, but she immediately reacted, stabilized her shaking body, and waited for rescue.

The director told her to rest for three days before continuing filming. You Jiayi originally wanted to rest for just one day, but Shu Changning forced her to rest, not allowing her to work herself so hard.

“Actually, your scenes by the sea are almost finished. We can just reshoot that day’s scene when the weather is calm and sunny. So you don’t need to be in such a hurry. Rest well first and take care of your body. Your body is the capital of the revolution³. Without a good physique, how can you create a revolution?” Shu Changning looked at You Jiayi’s still pale face and patiently persuaded her again and again.

You Jiayi was the most worry-free artist he had ever managed. She had no messy scandals, a gentle and obedient temperament. Basically, whatever he asked You Jiayi to do, You Jiayi would do it. She was very easy to manage and never opposed any of his decisions.

But while she was worry-free, Shu Changning felt that You Jiayi was like a puppet.

Before he started managing You Jiayi, he had learned about her beforehand. You Jiayi debuted through a talent show. At that time, she seemed to be ranked sixth, failed to debut, and was eliminated.

In the interview after the show ended, You Jiayi wasn’t sad about being eliminated. On the contrary, she was very happy to have the opportunity to enter the entertainment industry.

Because of her performance on the show, a web drama’s third female lead role was offered to You Jiayi. Although the pay was not high, You Jiayi valued this web drama very much. And because of this web drama, You Jiayi officially made her appearance in the acting circle.

Because of You Jiayi’s outstanding performance in this web drama, Mingxin Entertainment found You Jiayi and signed a five-year contract with her. Mingxin Entertainment’s reputation in the industry was so-so. It was only because the profit-sharing ratio was good for the artists that many newly-minted young actresses chose Mingxin Entertainment.

But Mingxin Entertainment’s greed⁴ was too much. They often gave artists a large amount of work, making them work around the clock. Many artists couldn’t stand this intensity and wanted to terminate their contracts, but the disgusting thing about Mingxin Entertainment was that their termination fee was very high. Many artists couldn’t afford the penalty and could only continue to work for them. Even if the artists paid the penalty, it was equivalent to emptying their family’s savings.

And Mingxin Entertainment was ruthless towards artists who terminated their contracts. They would sell the artists’ scandals to major marketing accounts, ruining the artists. It was a typical “if I can’t have you, no one else can” approach, and their behavior was extremely vile and shameless.

You Jiayi was considered to be doing well at Mingxin Entertainment, mainly because she was striving. She could still perform well even with a very high workload. Before that mess happened, You Jiayi had a very good reputation in the industry and even earned the title of “Desperate Third Sister”⁵.

Later, Tan Xin, the daughter of a Mingxin Entertainment shareholder, signed a contract, and You Jiayi was asked to help mentor her, which caused You Jiayi’s reputation in the industry to plummet. In addition, the “drugging” incident happened, which led to You Jiayi being attacked by the entire internet. Mingxin Entertainment took the opportunity to promote new talents, shelved You Jiayi, and forced her to accompany clients. You Jiayi couldn’t bear the humiliation and used all her savings to buy her freedom.

After that, what happened to You Jiayi could be easily found out by anyone who cared to investigate.

As You Jiayi’s manager, Shu Changning naturally investigated and was also aware of the ambiguous and elusive relationship between his artist and the president of the Xu Corporation.

Shu Changning looked at You Jiayi, who didn’t speak, just quietly looking at her phone. But the phone screen hadn’t changed.

“Tired?” Shu Changning came here to tell her about a variety show invitation. He had a good relationship with the variety show director. The variety show director knew that he had come out of retirement⁶ to manage an artist, so he invited You Jiayi to participate in the show’s recording.

You Jiayi had always been obedient to his arrangements, without asking too many questions.

“No, I just woke up. How could I be tired?” You Jiayi took a nearby water glass and took a sip. “When will the recording of that variety show start?”

Shu Changning glanced at his phone. “Early next month. The recording will start in the first week after returning to B City. I told the director, and I’ve asked for leave for you.”

You Jiayi nodded. “Okay.”

She was very satisfied with the work Shu Changning arranged for her. Shu Changning was not like her previous unscrupulous manager. Mingxin Entertainment exploited her, she knew that, but as long as she could act, she didn’t care. And at that time, with Xu Wen Nuan accompanying her, no matter how much hardship she endured, her heart was filled with sweetness.

“Yesterday, Gong Yurao and Cai Zi came over to see you. I was worried that your body hadn’t recovered, so I politely declined. When you return to work tomorrow, you should let them know.”

“Okay.”

It was You Jiayi’s first time working with actors of Gong Yurao and Cai Zi’s caliber. Both teachers had excellent acting skills and were easy-going and approachable, without any airs. They got along very well.

“Okay, that’s all I have to say. You rest well, and I’ll go first.” Shu Changning was about to leave.

But You Jiayi took the initiative to ask, “There are still two months until 《Qing Yan》 wraps up. I want to join another crew seamlessly⁷. Can you help me choose another script?”

Originally, Shu Changning planned to let her rest for a month after 《Qing Yan》 wrapped up. And even during the filming of 《Qing Yan》, Shu Changning didn’t give her much other work. If there were some particularly good interviews and variety shows, Shu Changning would carefully consider them before deciding whether You Jiayi should accept them.

At the very least, compared to Mingxin Entertainment, he, as a manager, was a person with a conscience and moral bottom line.

Shu Changning stopped, standing at the foot of You Jiayi’s bed, his eyes showing suspicion. “Jiayi, not everything can be achieved overnight. Being too desperate is not a good thing.”

“I know.” You Jiayi smiled, her expression calm and composed. “I just feel that it’s quite boring not to work. You know, I really like acting.”

“I know you like acting, but excessive liking becomes torment. I also like drinking, smoking, and chasing girls. If I drank, smoked, and chased girls every day, I would have died long ago from exhaustion and alcohol poisoning, with a blackened heart.” Shu Changning looked at her stubborn appearance and said speechlessly.

“…” You Jiayi was both amused and exasperated by Shu Changning’s example. “It’s not the same. I just feel that having to rest for a month after filming 《Qing Yan》 is a bit too long. How about resting for just one week?”

Shu Changning put his hands on his waist and said sternly, “No, one month. I’ve booked you an appointment with a specialist to treat your back pain and headaches. You’ve injured yourself everywhere while filming 《Qing Yan》, and you also need time to recuperate. I don’t want the last artist I manage to die from overwork, damaging my reputation as a gold-medal manager.”

You Jiayi naturally knew that Shu Changning was concerned about her, but she really didn’t want to stop. Once a person stops, they will be lost in thought.

She couldn’t bear the bone-chilling longing.

Shu Changning saw her silent, as usual, always not speaking, holding back.

“You don’t want to let yourself rest and relax, is it because of President Xu?” he asked tentatively.

You Jiayi was very stubborn, and sometimes it was really impossible to persuade her.

Shu Changning keenly noticed You Jiayi’s change. Her pupils trembled, her lips moved slightly, and her fingers placed on the blanket unconsciously curled up.

This was a kind of panic and nervousness of having one’s innermost thoughts exposed.

It seemed that there really was a relationship between President Xu and You Jiayi, and it was a very close relationship.

Shu Changning took out his phone, found Xu Wen Nuan’s number, and pretended to dial. “You won’t listen, okay, I’ll call President Xu and let her deal with you.”

“Don’t—” You Jiayi was so frightened that she jumped directly off the bed and quickly ran to Shu Changning, wanting to hang up the phone. “I’ll listen to you, hang up the phone quickly!”

Shu Changning didn’t expect You Jiayi to compromise immediately. His eyes darted, thinking that if You Jiayi was stubborn again in the future, he would use this trick to scare her.

“Okay, you said it yourself,” Shu Changning saw You Jiayi nodding like pounding garlic⁸, and was about to put away his phone when he found that the call had connected.

An extremely tired male voice came from the other end of the line, “Hello?”

Shu Changning looked at the phone screen. It was Xu Wen Nuan’s phone number. He had accidentally pressed the dial button during the struggle with You Jiayi. But why was it a man’s voice?

You Jiayi heard the man’s voice, and her whole body froze in place as if struck by lightning.

Shu Changning saw her like this and immediately said to the other end of the line, “Sorry, wrong number.” He hung up the phone.

He looked at You Jiayi standing barefoot on the floor and pursed his lips. “Then we have a deal. One month of rest. I have something to do, so I’ll go first. You rest well.”

Shu Changning turned and left. When he closed the door, he saw You Jiayi… crying.

---

---