Playing Pretend [Entertainment Industry]

In her third year since debut, Lin Yi has become the most popular member and the darling of her girl group, winning countless fans. Just as her life reaches its peak, she learns that her boyfriend's long-lost first love has come back from the dead.

She finally understands that Xu Zhengze has given her everything without holding back, except his genuine love.

She's nothing but a so-called substitute.

Lin Yi turns around and walks away without hesitation.

Fine, she's out. Let the star-crossed lovers have their space.

*

At two in the morning, luxury cars fill the street outside Minghua's most famous nightclub, where celebrities and socialites indulge in pleasure.

Lin Yi is surrounded by a crowd. Despite the snowy weather, she's wearing a tight miniskirt, her tipsy face breathtakingly beautiful.

A tall man's figure in the distance is already dusted with snow. Someone laughs loudly in her ear. "Hey, which young master is here to declare his devotion to Sister Lin today?"

Ever since she became single, she's had no shortage of suitors. But someone deliberately stirs things up. "Could you have it wrong? Isn't President Xu here to pick up his first love?"

The girl neglected at the edge of the crowd trembles at those words. Her features bear a five- or six-tenths resemblance to Lin Yi's. Her eyes redden as she calls out hopefully, "Aze..."

Amid the crowd's teasing, Xu Zhengze walks past without so much as a glance, lifts the coat from his shoulders, shakes off the snow, and wraps Lin Yi up from head to toe.

Lin Yi pushes his hand away, weary of him. "What are you doing?"

"Having fun?" The man's voice is low, yet carries an unconcealed plea and an indulgence that ignores everyone around them.

"It's cold tonight. I'm here to take you home."

*

After years together, everyone around them says Lin Yi is too difficult, and Xu Zhengze won't indulge her forever. Their ill-fated relationship is bound to end sooner or later. They also say Xu Zhengze's first love has returned to his side, and that is the match written in the stars.

Who would have guessed that the destined match wouldn't catch his eye, while he clung desperately to the ill-fated relationship and refused to let go?

Even Lin Yi herself never saw it coming.

This ill-fated relationship became real as they kept pushing each other's buttons.

*

Radiant and unruly × cool and abstinent

Your Sister Lin, a natural center with expressive looks and an easygoing attitude × President Xu, who got a pet bird and ended up locking himself in a cage

Not your typical substitute romance

The male lead has terrible eyesight. The female lead is the first love herself.

**

The next book will be Please Don't Send Me Flowers

As a phenomenon-level influencer renowned in mainstream media, Jiang Miao is a controversial figure because of her "beauty" and her "craving for attention."

She has a sweet-looking face but a cold, solitary personality. She runs an outdoor adventure channel, and her account, "Little Jiang Is Still on the Road," has tens of millions of followers.

"She could be a beauty streamer, but instead she climbs mountains with a cold expression!"

"Little Jiang keeps going to more and more remote places. Every time she stops posting, I worry so much about her..."

"She's just trying to get attention. Is something wrong with her for seeking out dangerous places to die? Something will happen to her sooner or later."

Whenever Dai Yingshi is interviewed on camera, he smiles and says he'll respect his wife's personal interests.

Married for three years, they treat each other with polite respect. This world-famous, award-winning music producer never cares what the public thinks of him, but fiercely defends his wife and can't bear to hear a single bad word about her.

He fell in love with Jiang Miao at first sight and pursued her for two years before they finally got together. After their wedding, he looked after her devotedly. Even though he worried constantly, he still gave her freedom and hired a professional expedition team to accompany her into the mountains.

Until Jiang Miao fell off a cliff during a climb.

Struggling with grief, he searched every corner of their home for traces of his wife's existence, and unexpectedly discovered a box of diaries in the attic.

Her supposedly cold and solitary nature was merely a shell protecting her heart. Before she met the person she loved, she had already endured too much pain.

Love that came too late couldn't erase the dark backdrop of her life.

After being reborn, Dai Yingshi returns to the year his wife was eighteen.

There's still time.

This time, before all the pain can befall her, he'll protect her completely.

*

Jiang Miao has had a difficult life. When she is eighteen, her stepfather runs up enormous gambling debts and is hunted down by his creditors.

She and her frail mother live in constant fear and poverty. Just as their family is about to fall apart, they receive a message: a philanthropist is willing to settle their debts and sponsor Jiang Miao through university.

Hearing that their benefactor is coming to her school to discuss the donation, Jiang Miao decides to sneak a peek. On the way, she runs into Dai Yingshi, who is secretly nervous.

After all these years, he's about to meet his eighteen-year-old wife, and his feelings are complicated and uneasy.

According to the diaries, his wife is currently a rebellious high school senior. She must be a tough one.

"Sir, could you please not smoke in the classroom?"

A girl suddenly appears outside the window, interrupting his thoughts. In a gentle voice, she says, "Otherwise, I'll have to call security to come get you."

Dai Yingshi: "..."

What a soft tough cookie.

*

Tough on the outside, soft at the center, like molten chocolate × a possessive, lovesick, self-proclaimed gentleman of a male lead

The male lead is reborn. The main story is still told from the female lead's perspective.

Ten-year age gap.

Theme: Respect and honesty