Li Jing happily received a piano and also had a fancy Western meal at the club.
Of course, it was all on President Fu’s tab.
When she left, she changed out of the Ye Yan-style clothes she was wearing and left them at the club.
“Freebies are truly delightful,” Li Jing sighed with satisfaction.
System: “I feel it!“carpreads.pages.dev
Li Jing, having eaten and drunk her fill, felt a gaze of scrutiny as she left the club.
Judging from the backend earnings, Ye Yan hadn’t hired a more expensive detective. It seemed like the same person who had lost her trail last time was still following her. Li Jing could understand, after all, at this stage, Ye Yan wouldn’t think much of her.
The White Moonlight’s influence could easily crush her favorability with the male lead and the second male lead. It was just that she wondered what Ye Yan’s reaction would be when she found out that Fu Lingchu had donated a piano for her.
The emotional tug-of-war between these people was quite interesting.
However, what surprised Li Jing was that Fu Lingchu had actually left a car outside the club and had his assistant send her back to school.
A 10% favorability rating could already show some changes. She was quite looking forward to seeing what President Fu would be like when his favorability rating reached 30% or above.
The car drove all the way to the gate of Yinggui University. Before Li Jing could get out, she heard the system’s prompt sound.
Attention, the second male lead is approaching! 20m, 10m…
Li Jing raised an eyebrow, then timed her exit, pushing open the car door and burying her head deeply as she walked towards the school gate.
She hadn’t taken a few steps when she was suddenly grabbed by someone.
“How come you’re in this car?”
This time, Feng Ce didn’t make a mistake. After carrying that meal card for so many days, he had already memorized the name of this person who looked exactly like his sister, Li Jing.
A broke-ass who couldn’t even afford to top up a meal card and wouldn’t even finish a piece of cheap bread, how could she get out of a luxury car?
There was only one answer.
Feng Ce’s eyes were filled with disdain: “Are you selling yourself?”
How could she use that face to sell herself?!
This was a desecration of his sister!
Feng Ce unconsciously tightened his grip on Li Jing’s hand, but suddenly noticed that the slender arm beneath his hand was trembling.
Li Jing took a deep breath, then raised her face. Her skin was pale, but her eyes were filled with a red haze. The slight moisture made her eyes sparkle, both beautiful and pitiful, like a small animal that had been threatened.
Feng Ce’s favorability +2%
Li Jing: …Men are indeed visual creatures.
Feng Ce frowned, sensing something amiss: “Did you run into some trouble?”
Li Jing forcefully pulled back her arm, stubbornly defending her dignity: “You… let go!”
Feng Ce frowned fiercely: “Talk to me, don’t you dare use that face to do something disgusting!”
The girl in front of him seemed to be stung by his words and froze for a moment.
Feng Ce suddenly remembered that someone who would rather eat leftover bread than take his card wouldn’t betray herself.
Perhaps because that face was too similar to Ye Yan’s, the big Young Master, for the first time ever, subconsciously explained: “I mean, I can help you…”
“No,” Li Jing smiled faintly, but there was a sense of broken despair in that smile, “I didn’t run into any trouble, it’s all my own doing.”
Absolutely not forced by Fu Lingchu, absolutely not.
Feng Ce thought, bullshit, how could this be a willing look?
Li Jing: That’s right, be curious and go check it out. Then you’ll find out that that cunning profiteer Fu Lingchu got involved with Ye Yan’s substitute earlier than you, and then start a fight, fight!
System: “I suspect you’re trying to earn more, but I have no proof.”
Li Jing: Hee hee.
Since Li Jing refused to talk about it, young master Feng wasn’t kind enough to meddle in her affairs. He crossed his arms and looked at her with displeasure.
“Thanks for your concern,” Li Jing wiped her eyes and took a few steps back, “Unfortunately, I can’t do anything for you.”
Feng Ce sneered: “Who cares—”
Li Jing suddenly asked: “Are you still willing to go to that cake shop?”
When the girl raised her eyes, although they were still slightly red, they were clear and bright, “If you go, mention my name, the membership card can get you a discount.”
Mention her name, use her account. Li Jing would call that a gain from the air.
Feng Ce was stunned. For a wealthy young master like him, he didn’t care about those low-end cake shops, but at this moment, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything sarcastic.
Li Jing turned around, “I can’t do anything for you, this is all I have.”
The girl’s thin and slender back disappeared into the distance.
System: “Feng Ce’s favorability +5%”
Li Jing: “Very good. It’s over 15% √”
In the gaps of the plot to raise Fu Lingchu’s favorability, she could also raise Feng Ce’s favorability. It was safe to say that a young man’s emotions were easier to manipulate.
Li Jing returned to school calmly.
Not long after, she saw the big Young Master topping up his membership card at the cake shop.
[Feng Ce cake shop top-up, 30,000 yuan]
Li Jing: Thank you.
Fu Group.
Night had fallen, and Fu Lingchu was still working overtime.
The assistant knocked on the door and walked in. The distinguished man in the boss’s chair looked up, “Did you send her back to school?”
The assistant nodded respectfully, then hesitated and said, “But when she left, Miss Li ran into young master Feng, and they had some…disagreements.”
Before he could drive away, Feng Ce grabbed Li Jing’s arm.
However, he dared not interfere with the affairs of the Feng family’s big Young Master.
Fu Lingchu narrowed his eyes slightly, “Feng Ce?”
The Fu family and the Feng family were once considered close friends, but in this day and age, there were no real friends in the business world. The Fu family, now headed by Fu Lingchu, had ruthlessly cut off many past favors and partnerships, mercilessly swallowing up businesses, his ruthless tactics had greatly expanded the Fu family’s commercial empire.
The Feng family would be inherited by Feng Ce in the future. Although he had also achieved many successful projects under elite education, Feng Ce was still a child after all, and could not be compared to Fu Lingchu.
To say their only commonality, perhaps it was…they were both infatuated with Ye Yan, the daughter of the Ye family.
So, could Feng Ce’s feelings for Li Jing be…?
A strange sense of unease rose from the bottom of his heart.
So much so that when the caller ID displayed Ye Yan’s name, Fu Lingchu’s mind was still filled with the relationship between Li Jing and Feng Ce.
The face he had been thinking about day and night seemed to overlap into two figures for a moment. However, this feeling only flashed by, and Fu Lingchu immediately pressed the answer button.
Ye Yan rarely called him proactively, and Fu Lingchu didn’t want to make her wait for even a second.
Fu Lingchu’s voice was low and gentle, “A’yan…?”
“Are you working again? It’s so late, you need to take care of yourself.” Her voice was still like a clear spring, gently brushing past his ears.
Fu Lingchu’s usually cold and hard heart softened, and he softly replied, “Yeah, you too.”
“It’s a pity that I…can’t be by your side. So as long as someone can accompany you, no matter who it is, I’ll be happy,” Ye Yan said with a hint of sadness, “I just want you to be happy.”
Fu Lingchu closed his eyes.
But he only wanted Ye Yan by his side, not a fake with only a similar shell.
“—By the way, I heard that A’heng’s banquet can’t get you to attend. You should relax a bit too.”
How could Fu Lingchu refuse her? He said softly, “Okay.”
Then Ye Yan said goodnight to him.
After the short call ended, Fu Lingchu could still hear Ye Yan’s voice in his ears. Thinking that he had actually been momentarily confused between Ye Yan and Li Jing, and even donated a piano to the orphanage for Li Jing, Fu Lingchu’s eyes turned cold.
How could he be concerned about a fake?
Fake was fake after all.
Except for a face, there was nothing that could be compared to Ye Yan. Once brought into the light, it would be exposed.
He and the fake should both be clear about this.
-—–
Li Jing’s small mobile phone received a second text message when she was standing in front of the school bulletin board.
There was a poster that had just been put up:
【The xxth Yinggui University Election is starting! The election includes School Belle, School Hunk, and School Pet. Each will have an online voting channel where you can send gifts and votes to the person you like! Come and support your favorite person!】
Someone had already written Feng Ce’s name on the poster with a marker, along with many hearts.
Li Jing touched her chin, this was also an important plot point for her.
Before this, Li Jing was completely invisible in school. Her bangs and glasses hid the female lead’s beauty, making everyone think she was ordinary. Until this election—
But it wasn’t that she would be crowned School Belle, but in a way that would hurt the original owner, her beauty would be known to everyone.
Li Jing thought for a moment, and came up with some… well, good ideas.
Then she opened her mobile phone to check Fu Lingchu’s message.
[Tonight 8 pm]
Just these words.
Because his assistant would pick her up, he didn’t even bother giving a location. It seemed that Fu Lingchu with 10% favorability had still restored his rationality. As expected of an old man who had been in the business world for a long time, he was shrewd and deep.
But even if he didn’t say it, Li Jing knew what would happen next - Fu Lingchu would take her to a banquet, where she would be forced to play the piano in public. Fu Lingchu wanted to tell her that even though he donated a piano for her, she was just a pitiful little trinket, and there was an insurmountable gap between her and the upper class of their wealthy family.
So Fu Lingchu didn’t buy her any clothes. And the original owner, who was so poor she couldn’t even afford to eat, had no money to buy a dress. In the original plot, she went to the banquet in a drab outfit, and even though she tried to maintain her pride, she was so humiliated by the contemptuous gazes of the wealthy circle that she couldn’t even lift her head. She could only use her bangs and glasses to cover herself up.
This plot point was pure melodramatic torture. Fu Lingchu wanted to see her embarrassed, distressed, and miles away from his White Moonlight.
“Very good,” Li Jing put away her mobile phone and said seriously, “I also need to engage in some high-end consumption that matches my asset status.”
Including the two phones and a piano from President Fu, Li Jing’s current bank account balance was 1,224,677.1 yuan. It was considered a small fortune.
The system excitedly asked, “Are you going to buy some clothes and jewelry for the banquet, and then outshine everyone?”
Visual impact was beneficial for increasing favorability, this had been proven.
“Hmm.” Li Jing did go to the mall, but she didn’t even look at the luxury stores. She went straight to the most ordinary women’s clothing store and picked out a very simple white dress, priced at 298 yuan.
She took off her glasses, pushed back all her bangs, and when she walked out of the fitting room, all eyes in the store were on her.
- Is this the effect of a 300 yuan dress??
Li Jing was tall and slender, and the white dress wrapped around her body, revealing the soft and beautiful lines of a young girl. Her face was small, but her features were exquisite, like they were drawn by a brush. Her peach blossom eyes seemed affectionate when she smiled, but when she didn’t smile, they were innocent and pure. Moreover, her beauty had an indescribable familiarity, making her look like a star.
Li Jing was very satisfied with herself: “Let’s go.”
System: “Did… did you finish your consumption?”
Li Jing looked calm and said, “Ah, the high-end consumption I mentioned refers to eating at Fu Lingchu’s high-end banquet later.”
System: “…”
Sometimes it really wondered how Li Jing, with her personality, could complete every transmigration mission. But Li Jing’s mission completion rate was the highest in the entire Transmigration Bureau, which was truly amazing.
Li Jing contacted Fu Lingchu’s assistant through her mobile phone. When the assistant came to pick her up, he was also taken aback.
Not only because Li Jing was incredibly beautiful at this moment, but also because Miss Li now had absolutely no air of a poor student. Her calmness and composure amplified her beauty to the fullest.
“Aren’t we leaving?”
“Ah, let’s go.”
The car drove all the way to the city center and finally stopped at the entrance of a luxurious hotel.
The assistant, following orders, led Li Jing into the banquet hall. It was strange, she was supposed to be from a poor background and had never seen the world, but she was wearing a simple dress and showed no signs of being intimidated.
Fu Lingchu called her over, but he didn’t actually pay any attention to her. After the assistant brought her into the banquet hall, Li Jing was left alone.
The hotel lobby was magnificent, with marble floors that shone brightly. There were all kinds of snacks on long tables, and people in fine clothes held champagne glasses, chatting and laughing in low voices.
But there was only one focal point in the crowd -
Fu Lingchu was wearing a custom-made black suit, his meticulously styled black hair was pulled back, his facial features were sharp and cold, and his aura was fierce, but it was softened by a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. From afar, he looked like a charming and debonair rogue.
A group of people surrounded Fu Lingchu.
“Brother Fu is still so handsome! You finally came to our event today! You have no idea how excited the girls are.”
“It’s mainly because I accidentally mentioned it to Ye Yan the other day. It seems that Brother Fu really only gives face to Ye Yan.”
“President Fu, I still want to talk to you about the project from last time…”
“Oh, why talk about work? Yuxin is going to hit you… hey? That’s…”
A boy was the first to look at the girl in the white dress, his eyes filled with surprise and shock: “This… this… Ye Yan? No…”
Then everyone gasped. This… this…
Fu Lingchu looked over calmly. Li Jing stood straight, her posture was excellent, and even the simple dress looked ethereal on her.
He suppressed a hint of surprise in his eyes, and a mocking smile appeared on his lips: “Just a kid, I brought her here.”
“Ah…”
“So that’s how it is, haha.”
Everyone immediately understood Li Jing’s status. Did she attract Fu Lingchu’s attention because she looked like Ye Yan? The kind of person who was easily summoned and dismissed, desperately trying to squeeze into high society.
Their eyes immediately took on a hint of mockery and disdain.
A dark sense of satisfaction surged through Fu Lingchu’s heart.
That’s right, Li Jing was just a plaything he could buy with a little money. She didn’t deserve respect, she didn’t deserve care.
The world was just so unfair, and he held the absolute advantage.
Fu Lingchu continued to chat and laugh with the people around him who admired him, but his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a man beside Li Jing.
The young master of the Song family handed Li Jing a drink and said something, the content of which was unknown.
Li Jing responded with a gentle smile.
Under the crystal glass lamp overhead, this smile shone brightly.
Fu Lingchu didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he felt the voices of the men around him suddenly pause.
Then they continued with a chuckle.
Fu Lingchu unconsciously took a shallow breath, a hint of anger flashing in his eyes.
How could she use that face to flirt with other men?
“……President Fu, President Fu?”
Fu Lingchu snapped out of his thoughts, smiling nonchalantly: “Hmm, you continue.”
Li Jing, on the other side, heard the system’s prompt.
Fu Lingchu’s favorability +2%
Li Jing raised an eyebrow slightly.
Favorability not only represented current feelings, but its calculation also represented the progress of the love line. It seemed… Fu Lingchu did care about the substitute to some extent.
Then, he could continue to care.
“——Ah, that’s right,” Li Jing answered the man’s question, “I’m studying at Yinggui University.”
The man in front of her was surprised: “The same school as young master Feng? Why haven’t I heard of you.”
Li Jing tilted her head slightly: “Do you need to have heard of me?”
This man named Song Yuan didn’t have a name in the original book, so Li Jing felt no pressure talking to him.
Without needing to pretend, Li Jing’s personal charm almost naturally permeated every inch of the air. With a light laugh and a raised gaze, the man opposite her had already blushed.
“That, would you like to eat something? I just looked at tonight’s menu…”
Song Yuan very proactively took Li Jing to eat, and Li Jing didn’t refuse. Their conversation went smoothly. However, before long, someone came to call Song Yuan away.
“Hey, I’m looking for you! President Fu called for you, don’t just focus on eating—”
“Ah.” Song Yuan had no choice but to get up.
The Fu family was currently the most prominent, and Fu Lingchu stood at the pinnacle of all the wealthy families. Being called by him to discuss matters was a great opportunity, and Song Yuan couldn’t refuse.
He said to Li Jing regretfully: “I’ll excuse myself for now, you sit here for a while.”
Li Jing was enjoying tonight’s cold-brewed green tangerine Pu’er tea, and she nodded in response: “You go ahead.”
Fu Lingchu’s thoughts… she wonder if he wanted her to be alone or if he wanted her to not talk to others? Tsk tsk.
Song Yuan left, but Li Jing didn’t get any peace. A sarcastic voice, neither high nor low, reached her ears: “Just a little toy by brother Fu’s side, and people are actually rushing to get close to her.”
Li Jing calmly finished her cup of tea, the sweetness lingering on her lips and teeth. With a good mood, she turned her head.
The speaker was a beautiful socialite, her expression unfriendly as she looked at Li Jing.
The system promptly provided information: “This is Qiao Yuxin, the eldest daughter of the Qiao family, one of the most powerful families. She is the most likely person to become Fu Lingchu’s fiancée. She has liked Fu Lingchu for many years and sees Ye Yan as her biggest rival.”
In the original plot, this socialite also caused a lot of trouble for the original owner, the substitute. For Li Jing, this kind of person who was stupid, rich, and love to stir up trouble had a unified role in her eyes—
A leek.
Qiao Yuxin looked Li Jing up and down, her eyes filled with disdain: “So you’re the one who went to Qin Yu with brother Fu?”
Li Jing raised an eyebrow, did Ye Yan leak this information?
“It was me,” Li Jing asked, “What’s the matter?”
The other party readily admitted it, and Qiao Yuxin was speechless. She didn’t know why, but Li Jing’s calm demeanor made her feel that she was even more difficult to deal with than Ye Yan, that big green tea.
Qiao Yuxin’s eyes rolled, and she looked Li Jing up and down, noticing her lack of any logos, a sign of poverty. She decided to take a different approach to belittle her.
She pretended to be friendly and sat down opposite Li Jing, resting her chin on her hand and asking: “Do you also like piano and art and all that? Me too! Let’s add each other on WeChat.”
Qiao Yuxin’s WeChat profile, from her avatar to her daily posts, was all about the lifestyle of a wealthy and powerful heiress. That kind of life was probably something Li Jing would never be able to touch in her lifetime. She just wanted to make Li Jing feel ashamed and understand her own status.
Li Jing remained calm: “Okay.”
Qiao Yuxin smiled triumphantly, thinking that Li Jing would be eager to add her as a friend. So, she arrogantly opened WeChat and clicked on “Scan.”
Li Jing also reached out and took out her brick-like mobile flip phone.
Qiao Yuxin: “…”
Qiao Yuxin: “Are you doing this on purpose???”
How could someone not even use a smartphone?! She felt a pang of frustration, like punching cotton, and for a moment, she didn’t know who was angrier at whom.
At that moment, the melodious music in the banquet hall stopped, signaling the start of the dance.
Qiao Yuxin came up with another idea. She pulled Li Jing along: “Didn’t you accompany brother Fu at Qin Yu? So you must know how to play the piano, right? This is a great opportunity, why don’t you perform something?”
The classic scene of humiliating the female lead, it was bound to happen.
Qiao Yuxin deliberately spoke loudly, and those who had been surrounding Fu Lingchu also looked over.
Someone whistled: “Oh, really? Then show us something!”
Those with more cunning minds first observed Fu Lingchu’s expression. After all, it was President Fu who brought her here, so most people had to weigh their words carefully.
But Fu Lingchu, holding a champagne glass, simply smiled coldly, without saying a word, his gaze fixed on Li Jing from afar.
As if waiting for her to ask for his help.
Li Jing thought, a strong little white flower wouldn’t back down at this moment, right?
The system said: “Host, plan A and plan B have appeared again! Do you want to pretend you can’t play and go through the humiliating melodramatic love line, or simply show off your skills and amaze everyone?”
Li Jing: ^_^ then I still choose plan C
Given her current situation, showing off her skills wouldn’t be appropriate. After all, she had just fabricated a persona of someone who longed for the piano but couldn’t touch it, just two days ago in front of Fu Lingchu.
So “talent” was more convincing than “technique.”
Li Jing walked confidently to the piano, lowered her head and said: “I don’t really know how to play.”
Qiao Yuxin looked smug: “Oh, it’s okay, with your kind of upbringing, you probably wouldn’t have had the chance to touch a piano anyway.”
Li Jing nodded: “Fortunately, someone helped me make up for my childhood regrets.”
Fu Lingchu: “…”
The hand holding the glass tightened slightly.
Li Jing’s slender white fingers brushed across the black and white keys, and Fu Lingchu suddenly recalled the scene in the private piano room that day.
Li Jing slid her fingers across the keys, starting from the leftmost side. Amidst the clear piano notes, those fingertips, tinged with a healthy pink, were slender and beautiful, gliding across the smooth black and white keys, exuding an inexplicable artistic charm.
Fu Lingchu heard the men around him gasp.
A stronger sense of displeasure surged within him.
Then Li Jing played two bars, very slowly, but everyone was startled—
Wasn’t this the background music from the banquet hall just now? This person actually copied it directly?!
What kind of talent is this??
Fu Lingchu’s pupils constricted.
Fu Lingchu’s favorability +2%
Qiao Yuxin was stunned for a moment, then quickly said: “Are you just playing randomly—”
Li Jing’s fingertips turned, striking two keys, directly simulating a human voice:
—idiot—
Qiao Yuxin: “???”
Li Jing’s fingertips turned again, using her extraordinary musical sense, accurately striking the keys: “You—all—are—idiots—”
Everyone: “???”
They must have heard wrong, right??
Li Jing stopped abruptly, and withdrew gracefully: “I really don’t know how to play.”
Everyone felt like they had been stabbed in the dark but couldn’t find the wound, yet they inexplicably dared not make fun of Li Jing anymore.
Li Jing had dealt with this round, and easily retreated. The system suddenly spoke:
「Perfect pitch, huh?」
The voice was different from the system’s usual tone. Although it was still the system’s electronic voice, it seemed to hold a hint of amusement.
“System?” Li Jing asked.
The system didn’t answer.
Li Jing looked around. On the second floor of the banquet hall, there seemed to be a flash of silver, but when she looked again, it had disappeared.
Did she see wrong…?
Only Fu Lingchu’s dark and unclear eyes were fixed on her.
Qiao Yuxin was furious.
Fu Lingchu had never looked at her for so long!
One Ye Yan was annoying enough, now there’s another one who’s even more troublesome?!
Qiao Yuxin glared fiercely at Li Jing: “You’ve messed with me, you’ll regret it.”
Li Jing looked at her weakly.
Then this time’s earnings kpi will depend on you.
In the original plot, Qiao Yuxin, in order to teach her a lesson, found someone at school.
This was all money spent on Li Jing, it could be directly credited.
The system returned to its normal electronic voice, and couldn’t help but count the skill points that this host with exceptional business capabilities had maxed out: “Taekwondo, self-defense, oh, looking at the records here, you’ve also cultivated immortality and practiced swordsmanship…”
Li Jing’s expression was distant.
“So the question is…”
How can I get her to put my name on the assassination list?
The kind with bounties of ten million.
The poster is still waiting online, so urgent ah.
System: “?”
Author Note:
Big Sister Li: I really want to live in a big villa with a sea view.
end of chapter
carp: I tried searching for an example of perfect pitch sounding out words but nope, not quite… willing suspension of disbelief here please~~~