Chasing-the-wife-to-the-crematorium / substitute romance / sweet on the outside, dark underneath, and a master of seduction
The famous triple-threat actress recently started dating an adorable young Taoist.
The young Taoist is refined and gentle, with delicate features and a smile always ready. She treats everyone politely. One day she reads fortunes for the crew, the next she drives out ghosts on set. When it's hot, she treats everyone to cold drinks; when it's chilly, she makes ginger soup for them.
She's the perfect homemaker, gentle and considerate.
Only those who know her well feel sorry for the young Taoist. They all know she's a stand-in for the actress Qiushui's white moonlight. The deeper she falls in love now, the more she'll suffer later.
Qiushui thinks so too. Once she's tired of her, she'll have to throw her away. All her tender care and readiness to do anything Qiushui asks are just a way to satisfy her longing for a shadow.
A shadow is still only a shadow. No matter how much it resembles the moonlight, it can never be the moonlight itself. Qiushui never expected the young Taoist to meet her white moonlight, much less to put on a brave smile without crying or making a fuss, becoming ever more humble and attentive.
Her white moonlight would never be so humble, and she would never lack the young Taoist's backbone. So Qiushui gets tired of her and discards her without mercy.
The young Taoist cries. The young Taoist begs. The young Taoist kneels on set all night, but still can't make Qiushui look back. Everyone assumes she's given up. Qiushui thinks she should give up. Otherwise, she'll ruin someone who looks so much like her white moonlight.
But Qiushui gets hit with a face-slapping. She dates several more people, but none of the relationships feel right. They aren't like the young Taoist, not as pure, not as gentle, without her immaculate aura or clear smile.
At last, on a drunken night, she knocks on the young Taoist's door, only to see her smiling with a pure yet unfamiliar look in her eyes:
"Big sister, the script is over. Time to come out of character."
Later, Qiushui learns that people like them are born to be supporting characters in someone else's story. She was a tool-like supporting character in a white-moonlight novel, while the young Taoist was a villainous supporting character in another novel.
And the young Taoist had known this for many years. She defied fate and wrote a new script for herself, titled:
The Years I Spent as an Actress's Stand-in Lover
The fickle actress x the naturally dark young Taoist
A cliched story of mutual exploitation
[The blurb is tentative and may change, but the core will stay the same]
Reading Guide:
✨ The early part moves at a slow pace to show the young Taoist's unhurried personality. The pace will pick up later.
☆ This novel is tagged as angsty. The angst mainly concerns the stand-in storyline, with Qiushui on the receiving end. She will suffer physically and emotionally. The degree of angst depends on the characters' development: the more scummy they are, the more angst; the less scummy, the less angst. The process of putting her through it is also You Zhifei's process of "training" her, digging away at the white moonlight's presence bit by bit until Qiushui gives herself over completely and has nothing left but herself.
☆ The entertainment industry in this novel has no real-life inspirations. All characters are original, and the plot differs greatly from the real entertainment industry. There are some Mary Sue elements, such as Qiushui's status. Just have fun.
☆ The two heroines have both never been with anyone before. Qiushui, one of the heroines, is a separate character from the Qiushui in my other novel, Conquest of the Abstinent Heroine. That novel's supporting character Qiushui is a bisexual queen who dates everyone; I changed her character for this one for personal reasons. I hope you understand.
☆ The metaphysical elements in the novel are made up by the author. I did look up some reference material before writing, but it's only for reference. I hope readers who know about metaphysics won't take it too seriously. Please feel free to point out anything that seems unreasonable. Thank you!
Theme: The way you treat the world is the way the world treats you
