Translated by: Riela_Rin
Proofread by: Daed
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At 2.30 AM in the morning, Siyu pulled herself together, revised her rough sketch, clicked save, and sent the ma.n.u.script to her manhua editor.
After everything was finished, she rubbed her sore eyes, yawned, and habitually opened the website to check the reader"s comments.
Siyu was a freelance webtoonist. She was a true dog blood1 enthusiast. Her work had always followed this kind of style and thus various exaggerated cliché plots emerged endlessly. Dog blood drama wasn"t something new, but Si Yu had the exact ability to make her readers complain that it"s too old yet still keep them seeking for more.
This new serial manhua 《Superstar Pampered Marriage》continued with her usual style. Her comment section was crowded; however, the readers were unexpectedly not interested in the development of the male and female lead"s love. Rather, they expressed more interest in the significant role of the supporting female lead —— the male lead"s half-sister, Zhou Siyu.
When she created this supporting female lead, Siyu casually gave the character the same name as herself. Furthermore, she also added many details to the supporting female lead such as: being weak and sick since childhood, vomiting blood after a few steps, etc. She decisively portrayed the supporting female lead as a sickly fragile beauty.
Just like all the supporting female leads in the dog blood stories, Zhou Siyu"s purpose was to drive the development of the story and be the obstacles between the male and female lead. She was jealous that her half brother could have everything. This jealousy turned into a strong desire for revenge. For this reason, Zhou SiYu did everything by hook and crook. She even took advantage of Ji Lin"s guilt to discreetly kill him.
Of course, the supporting female lead"s scheme was destined to be exposed. After her deeds were uncovered, Zhou Siyu was scorned and cursed by many people. Ji Lin lost the last tiny bit of affection for his sister. In the end, she had her retribution and died an incomparably desolate death.
This was the ending that Siyu had planned for the supporting female lead. She thought that the readers would continue to act like they did in the past and condemn the malicious supporting female lead. Yet unexpectedly, the majority of the readers like this character very much and demanded extra drama every day in the comment section.
【azmin】：The sick and delicate beauty is so charming! I"m going to f.u.c.king explode!
【A Flower in TangMen】：Seeing the supporting female lead scheming while spitting blood, for some reason I feel like supporting her…. This kind of contrast is better than that pure white lotus female lead, Xu Qingwan, ah. I think sister-brother pairing is also entirely acceptable!
【Pineapple Sauce Pineapple Cake】：Please give Siyu-XiaoJieJie a good ending! Author, if you drop her into cannon fodder, I"ll certainly hang myself three feet on the crooked tree branch under your house aaaaa!!
Siyu: "….." The readers" tastes this time seemed to be getting heavier and heavier.
Siyu skimmed through the comment section and turned off her computer, speechless. Despite the reader"s violent cries, she would never be affected by their thoughts. Besides, if a malicious supporting female lead couldn"t be cannon fodder, then how could it still be considered a dog blood manhua?
Siyu turned off the light and lay down on the bed in a good mood. She was still thinking about it before she fell asleep. When the manhua reached the end and readers came to know about the supporting female lead"s tragic ending, she wondered how they would react….
"Zhou Si Yu! Haven"t you had enough rest?! Everyone is waiting on you. We"ve wasted the whole morning, until what time do you plan to drag this out? There ought to be a limit on feigning illness!"
In a daze, Si Yu seemingly heard an angry female voice howling by her ears. The voice was sharp and ear-piercing. She knitted her brows and opened her eyes. There, she saw an unfamiliar woman standing in front of her. The woman was looking down on her with an ugly expression.
Seeing that Si Yu had woken up, the woman snorted and commanded impatiently: "Quickly get up and wash your face. Mr. Zhang Chao only reserved one day of shooting time. If your cover page shooting can"t be finished by today, you"re going to pay for it!"
Si Yu was dumbfounded. What"s this all about? Wasn"t she sleeping at home?
Without waiting for her to figure out what was happening, two people arrived at her side, lifting her from the sofa. Si Yu was bewilderedly dragged into the dressing room next door. Once she came back to her senses, she was already sitting on a chair to be styled.
Facing the mirror, Siyu finally had a good look at her appearance right now. A beauty was reflected in the make-up mirror. Indeed an exceptional beauty, but it"s a pity that her complexion was too pale. The tip of her eyes and eyebrows showed traces of sickness. Just like beautiful but fragile porcelain, one touch and it would break into pieces.
This person…. It"s not her!
Siyu felt like she was struck by a thunderbolt. Although she liked to stay at home and lacked exercise, she definitely wouldn"t look this sickly. It looked like she could drop dead at any moment.
At this time, the stylist who was arranging her hair smiled and said: " Ms. Zhou, you are indeed the most suitable model for this time"s photoshoot theme. You virtually don"t need to put on makeup; your natural appearance is already able to bring forth that feeling. This time, the chief editor"s pick is really accurate! Don"t you agree, Ling-Jie?"
The stylist"s last words were directed to the person sitting on the sofa at the back. Siyu identified her as the woman from a moment ago who had ridiculed her.
Hearing the stylist"s comment, Yu Ling pursed her lips. She suppressed the discontent in her eyes and replied unhappily: "What the use of being suitable? She"s not the only model in the world. I"ll say, next time we should look for ones with more professionalism! At least it"s not like a certain someone who was dizzy and vomiting all morning, impossibly fragile!"
Faced with Yu Ling"s indirect criticism, the stylist forced an awkward laugh and stopped talking.
Yu Ling"s mind was filled with complaints towards Siyu. She"s been in the field for several years, yet this was her first time seeing such a troublesome model. Usually, Yu Ling would immediately replace her. However, Zhou Siyu was personally requested by the Chief Editor. Yu Ling couldn"t do anything but hold back her annoyance and hope the shooting would be finished quickly.
This type of model that didn"t know how much they are worth, they should just be put on the blacklist once they"re finished with the shooting!
Yu Ling was one of the Vice Chief Editors in the《Feng Shang》magazine, and she was also the person in charge of the current photo shooting. 《Feng Shang》 was the top local fashion magazine. Every time, their cover page could always lead the current trend for a while. Those who were able to be on the cover page were either famous stars or well-known models. One could say, this was one of the important indicators to measure the professionalism of celebrities.
Because they were cooperating to promote a product, the cover this time required a pale, delicate, and sickly characteristics. It was extremely hard to find models who had this kind of style. Even after running dozens of interviews, the Chief Editor of《Feng Shang》was still not satisfied and always felt that there was something lacking. Seeing that the time was not enough, a manager who worked under the company unexpectedly recommended Zhou Siyu—– the girl was ill, yet she was amazingly beautiful.
The Chief Editor took a glance and agreed. As a matter of fact, wasn"t she perfectly made just for this shooting? Hence, without minding that Zhou Siyu was a newcomer, he signed the contract immediately and made her the model for this period"s cover page.
When Yu Ling first saw Zhou Siyu, she was also very satisfied with her looks. It"s a pity she was just too much.
It wasn"t that she wasn"t cooperating in this work, rather it was that Siyu"s several fits of fainting and running to the toilet to vomit seriously affected the shooting progress. It made Yu Ling completely lose her patience, taking on a rude manner of speech.
Si Yu was totally unaware of Yu Ling"s thoughts. She was merely astonished from the information she had just received: Zhou Siyu, 《Feng Shang》magazine, several fits of unconsciousness…. Wasn"t this the plot from her book 《Superstar Pampered Marriage》?
Did she just transmigrate into her own manhua"s supporting female lead, Zhou Siyu?
Si Yu"s face turned green. She didn"t feel well. As the author, there"s no one else who knows more about the supporting female lead"s circ.u.mstances than her.
Zhou Si Yu lost her father in her early years and her mother was a vain and greedy woman. She had an illicit affair with a rich businessman and became pregnant. Once Father Zhou died, she ran away to follow the man and became the mistress of the rich and powerful family. The child who was born was the male lead, Ji Lin.
As soon as the mother ran away, the family thoroughly collapsed. Zhou Siyu could only live with her paternal grandmother. She was frail and excessively ill, unable to live without medicine since childhood. Yet, how could medicine not cost money? Just like this, the household savings were used little by little until they were strapped for cash when Siyu got into the college.
Although in the manhua Zhou Siyu was a cruel and ruthless woman, she was obedient and filial towards her grandmother. She didn"t want her grandmother to worry about her anymore, so she planned to take a part-time job to subsidize the family allowance. However, her health was too poor. The general work department rejected her, afraid that there would be an accident. Afterward, the company manager took a fancy to her face and invited her to work as a model. Zhou Siyu urgently needed money, so she immediately agreed.
Not long after, she received the invitation to the photoshoot for《Feng Shang》cover page. This was the turning point of her life—– precisely because in this photoshoot, she saw her younger brother, Ji Lin, for the first time.
Siyu"s mind was chaotic, yet there was even more trouble. Just when she absent-mindedly gazed at the unfamiliar sickly beauty in the mirror, she suddenly noticed that there was a faint pink light emerging above the head of the stylist behind her. Siyu was startled. She subconsciously pointed and asked: "Above your head….."
The stylist looked at the mirror, but the top of her head looked normal. There was nothing on it, ah.
Seeing the stylist"s baffled expression, Siyu immediately knew that the stylist couldn"t see it. Thus she moved away her gaze towards Yu Ling who was sitting quietly on the sofa. She saw a similar light above Yu Ling"s head. It"s just that the light on top of Yu Ling"s head was deeper than the stylist"s.
Siyu once again probed Yu Ling with the same question, but all she got was Yu Ling"s impatient remark: "What the heck are you up to now?"
Siyu obediently shut her mouth. Fine, for now, what she understood was: those light weren"t illusions, she was the only one who had the ability to see it, and that"s all.
As soon as the styling was done, Yu Ling immediately took her to the stage. Along the way, in Si Yu"s eyes, there"s flashing lights above everyone"s head. Yet, everybody else was unaware of it.
The light only appeared when she concentrated. Siyu didn"t know what this meant. Perhaps, it was a side-effect caused by her transmigration into the manhua. However, why was there nothing on top of her own head?
Siyu was pushed by Yu Ling, deep in thought, to the center of the studio. The stage was set up with a forest scenery. She steadied herself and stood there in confusion until she heard someone yelling from behind :
"You there, quickly lay on the flowers. This shot is supposed to show "beauty in dying", dying, understand? Just like the feeling of you almost pa.s.sing out just now was very good! "
The corner of Siyu"s lips twitched. Turning around, she saw an eager middle-aged man who seemed to be the photographer — the color on top of his head was the deepest among the people present, close to a reddish-orange.
Siyu didn"t understand what "beauty in dying" was supposed to be, but she still lay down obediently and rigidly posed according to the photographer"s instructions.
"Wrong! Wrong! The feeling is wrong!" The photographer Zhang Chao had won numerous awards yet he also demanded perfection. If there was a tiny bit that was unsatisfactory, he would do it all over again. He frowned towards the seemingly nervous girl among the flowers whose hands and feet seemed to have no idea where they should be placed . He roared, "Relax a bit, why are you as rigid as a rock for!"
Siyu cried internally. Please just leave her alone, alright? She was merely an artist, she really couldn"t do modeling ah!
After adjusting for half an hour, Siyu hadn"t made any progress. As time pa.s.sed, she felt more and more uncomfortable. Her head was dizzy, her sight blackened, and her chest felt like it was being pressed down by a heavy stone. She immediately understood, this was the sign of her illness.
……why would she be so unlucky!
At that time, Siyu had cheerfully added sick, weak, and vomiting blood attributes to the supporting female lead"s body. Now, she just wanted to go back and beat her ignorant self to death: let you eat until you burst!2 Now you"ve eaten your own bitter pill, haven"t you?
Siyu was hesitating whether to call for a rest or not. Yet, just as she opened her mouth, a gush of sweetness suddenly rose from her throat.
With all eyes on her, Siyu retched and vomited a mouthful of blood.
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1: 狗血 or dog blood refers to exaggerated cliché used in TV dramas/movies/novels/comics
2: Basically it means that she had nothing to do, so she did this to herself.