After My Divorce, I Debuted in the Center Position

[Main story complete. Extras are ongoing. This is not a groveling-ex-husband story. His last shovelful of dirt is already on the grave, so don't worry about him.]

[Upcoming stories: I'll Make You a Star [Showbiz] and Setting Hearts Ablaze [Rich Families]. Tap my author page to see them~ Please add them to your collection =3=]

Assistant: Young Master Gu, your wife divorced you and your mother kicked her out three months ago...

Gu Junqing: Has she realized her mistake?

Assistant: She entered a talent competition and is about to debut as the center!

On her eighteenth birthday, Zhu Yiming made three wishes:

For her parents to be healthy and live to a hundred, so she wouldn't have to rush into taking over the family's real estate company and could live freely.

To achieve some success as a TV director and have the audience of a talent show know who she was.

To marry Gu Junqing, the best actor, and be his wife, living happily together for the rest of their lives.

On her twenty-first birthday, every wish came true.

But only halfway.

Her parents' health failed and their company ran into trouble, so she indeed wouldn't have to inherit it.

She got her wish and married Gu Junqing, only to be "divorced" three days after the wedding.

The talent show audience did recognize her, but not as a director. She was a contestant.

A down-on-her-luck rich heiress who had divorced a top-tier star: if she didn't become a sensation, who would?

After her official profile photos were posted, news broke that Zhu Yiming had been married, and the entire internet mocked her:

- A married woman entering a girl group talent show? Has she lost her mind?

- Does she even know what an idol is? The idol world doesn't need housewives.

When people dug up her divorce and discovered her ex-husband was top-tier star Gu Junqing, all hell broke loose:

- She entered the competition just to smear her ex-husband...

- I bet she's trying to hook a rich man and latch onto someone more powerful!

- Ha! Is there anyone richer or better-looking than Gu Junqing for her to latch onto?

As it turned out, there was.

The competition's organizer, the president of Feixing Media, and heir to the Ji family:

Feixing Media - Ji Feiyang: Thank you for your support. I organized this show to make my wife happy. The spot in the group will go to the next contestant. She needs to get ready for our wedding and has no time.

Content warnings:

1. All three characters are virgins.

2. Expect contrived coincidences and conflicts. If that's not for you, drop the story early.

3. My entertainment industry and talent show rules are made up. The competition format is inspired by the Produce 101 series.

---Setting Hearts Ablaze---

Everyone in Pingcheng knows the Tao family's household products company. Tao Yuqian, the old master's granddaughter and his precious darling, can have anything she wants.

Except for one thing. At her fifth birthday party, she fell for a little boy visiting her family, but couldn't win him over.

As he left, the boy even stuck out his tongue at her while she sobbed.

Tao Yuqian held onto that grudge for more than a decade. Then she heard that Liu Songli had left the military to take over his family's company and had gone through four executive assistants in three months, each with a slim waist and long legs.

She looked at her figure in the mirror and knew her chance had come. They were both adults, so why talk about feelings? She simply wanted Liu Songli himself.

So Tao Yuqian secretly booked a flight home and applied to become Liu Songli's fifth assistant.

Liu Songli grabbed Tao Yuqian, who was working in the secretary's office, and pulled her into his arms.

"I have to host business partners at a banquet tonight. Dress nicely."

"Why?"

"Two elders I respect want me to marry their daughters. You know what to do, right, little lover?"

"Don't worry!"

That night, Tao Yuqian put on a low-cut, backless evening gown with a high slit and did her makeup to look like a seductive femme fatale, hoping to make the other women back off.

But as she clung to Liu Songli's arm, practically hanging her whole body on him, she spotted two familiar faces.

"Yuqian?! What are you doing here?"

"Mom, Dad... What are you doing here?"

Liu Songli, who had arranged everything, put an arm around her shoulders and smiled politely. "Father, Mother, Yuqian and I were just playing around. We wanted to surprise you."

"Qianqian, I only made that face to cheer you up and stop you crying."

[She thought she was the one luring him in, but he had been laying the groundwork all along.]

A young lady pretending to be an experienced seductress x a playboy pretending to be a flirt.

---I'll Make You a Star---

Recently, the socialite circle has been buzzing about a strange turn of events: Su Yunqian, the unattainable beauty of Jiangcheng, was dumped by Qu Zixian, the eldest son of Zhongtian International, who had just returned from abroad.

And the reason he broke off the engagement was that he had fallen for Su Yunqian's best friend, Yin Lianqiao, the daughter of a maid working for the Su family!

The truth was that Su Yunqian had bravely pursued love and secretly married her college sweetheart. When Qu Zixian found out, he angrily broke off the engagement, then dragged Yin Lianqiao in to fill her place at the engagement banquet.

Innocent bystander Yin Lianqiao was overwhelmed.

She was a nobody actress who mostly played background roles. Now she was hit with a scandal accusing her of stealing her best friend's fiance and using any means necessary to climb the social ladder. People attacked her on Weibo, but she couldn't defend herself. She lost both her job and her reputation.

Furious, Yin Lianqiao could only burn incense every day and pray for the culprit, Qu Zixian, to go bankrupt, trip while walking, and choke on his own water.

Qu Zixian: Come pick a script.

Yin Lianqiao looks around: They're all lead roles! I'm a nobody who's used to bit parts and doesn't even get a line. How could I possibly handle a lead role?

Qu Zixian: How could my fiancee play second fiddle to someone else?

Yin Lianqiao swallows: I have no popularity, no awards, and no acting skills. No one will buy it if I star in anything. It'll be a huge loss.

Qu Zixian: I'm funding it. I'll take the risk.

Yin Lianqiao stares at the sky, speechless: Do you even know what you're doing?

Qu Zixian: I'm making you a star.

Yin Lianqiao: ...Are you doing this because you feel guilty and want to make it up to me?

Qu Zixian: Yes.

I'm making up for all the years I wasn't by your side.

[See my author page for more completed stories.]

Recommended story by a friend: the historical danmei novel The Master Is a High-Risk Profession by Xian Hu.

Theme: Stand on your own two feet.